Finding A Fresh Violet

Kimberly did not come for the next 'Family Day' or for his small graduation ceremony.

Kimberly continued to drink wine and smoke pot. She was in a drunken stupor when Dennis picked up his one year chip; he did not tell her when he picked up his two year chip.

The end came when Dennis noticed several cash advances on their credit cards and several ATM withdrawals. He immediately cancelled all the joint credit cards as well as his own; if Kimberly had any in her name, those cards were her problem.

"Hey, I just tried to get some money and it says it won't let me," Kimberly slurred into the telephone.

"Kimberly, you just got two fifty out yesterday; what do you need more money for?" Dennis asked, keeping his voice low.

"I didn't just get..." Kimberly lied.

"I asked what you need more money for." Dennis demanded, still keeping his voice low.

"Fuck you! You're not my father!" she screamed into the telephone.

She attacked him the moment he walked into the house, clawing at his face and screaming obscenities. A neighbor, hearing the ruckus, called the police.

Dennis agreed to press charges; he hoped that a few nights behind bars would do what three interventions had failed to do.

Then Kimberly was gone.

Dennis came home from work to find all of Kimberly's things gone and all of his things slashed, ripped, mangled, or burned. Her four brothers and two sisters did not know where Kimberly was; she'd burned her bridges with them when their parents had died, demanding more money, more properties than an equitable split.

A few months later, the harassing telephone calls from various creditors and debt collection agencies began. Still, her brothers and sisters did not know where Kimberly was or how to get in touch with her.

"Yeah I seen her and that little n*gger boy she's running around with, looking rough, you hear? Probably weighing about eighty pounds," Brent, her oldest brother spat, disgustedly. "Tried get about fifty bucks out of me, told them fuck off and that was about a month ago."

Kimberly may have run up the credit card debts but the collectors had no way of finding her. So Dennis had to bite the bullet and open his wallet; his name had been on those accounts as well.

Because of a little clause in his contract with DeGarde National Bank, Dennis could not declare bankruptcy. He was part of management and management was not to default on their debts.

And because he had no way of finding Kimberly, he could not collect any reimbursement either.

Now, swatting at mosquitos in the dark church parking lot, Dennis looked up when he noticed that the lights of Chuck had gone out. He smiled tightly at Mitch.

"Well, sponsor, we're not going to solve the problems of the world here tonight, huh?" he said and the two men hugged and left the church parking lot.

The next day at work, he again had to correct one of Babette Babineaux's mishaps. He noticed, as he used her computer, that there were a large number of shopping sites saved in her 'Favorites' list.

Ms. Frentz made no comment when he reported this to her and he shrugged. If his boss was too incompetent to care, why should he?

Clark's has got the best burgers," he heard one of the tellers say to a customer.

"Nuh uh, the Dead End does; and you don't have to get your car all smelling like greasy ass food," the customer argued.

"Y'all need to try Chuck, out in Baylor Lake," Dennis interrupted.

The two women looked at him and smiled.

"Right by that church? They any good?" the teller asked.

"They're great, or at least I think so; know what? That's where I'm going for lunch," Dennis decided.

"Brought mine," the teller said.

"I'm on my lunch break and I only gotten minutes left," the customer said.

"Oh well, Mickey Dee's for you, huh?" Dennis smiled.

"Ew!" the customer and teller both declared.

"Hey! Where's your buddies?" the Asian girl asked when Dennis strolled in to Chuck. "Violet's off today."

"Oh, damn; well, tell her I stopped by," Dennis said.

Dennis was surprised at how disappointed he felt that Violet wasn't there. He looked over the menu and decided to try their Texas Chuck, three strips of thick cut bacon, cheddar cheese, sweet and tangy barbeque sauce and grilled onions.

"Quarter pound," he told the Asian girl. "Got to get back to work and I eat a half pound, I'll be falling asleep at my desk."

"Bring your buddies next time," the manager said as Dennis left the building.

"Believe it or not, some of them work," Dennis smiled and left the building.

At the Tuesday Night meeting, Carter, picked up another white chip and made promises that 'this time he was serious about his sobriety.'

"No; we're not going to Chuck; I'm fucking sick of burgers," Paul said the minute they stepped out of the church. "I don't care if your girlfriend gets all upset or not; or Fast Fingers either, hear?"

"Well we not going Jade Garden, what you want, what you order, no separate check, I spit in your food," David said, imitating the surly waitress.

"Casa Ole's is pretty good," Carter suggested.

Paul, David, and Dennis arrived at the Mexican restaurant and waited and waited for Carter. He would not answer his phone and did not respond to text messages either.

"What you expect?" David quipped as they made quick work of the chips and salsa. "Look at the dick head that sponsors him."

"You're not his sponsor, I am," Paul retorted.

"Exactly!" David laughed.

"Let's see; there are two convenience stores and four bars between here and the Sundowner's meeting," Dennis said.

"And Jamie lives in those apartments off Bailey," Paul said.

"How you know that?" David asked.

"Uh duh? I'm his sponsor," Paul reminded them. "Boy told me where they holed up after their slip."

"Hate that word," David said.

"Really, a 'slip' is when you're walking down the street..." Dennis said.

"...Slip on a banana peel just when someone opens the door to the bar and you slide in and this drunk accidentally spills his drink into your open mouth," Paul and David joined in.

"That's a slip," Dennis said. "Everything else is a pre-planned drunk."

"Yes Mitch, thank you Mitch, whatever you say Mitch," Paul said.

"Worse things to be called," Dennis chuckled.

Carter showed up for the Thursday night meeting, angry and belligerent and stormed out of the meeting before the baskets were passed at 7:30.

"Some of us just have to die from this disease," Mitch contemplated.

"Fuck you, Paul, I'm getting a burger," Dennis said the minute they stepped outside of the meeting.

"But where?" David joked as they trudged across Highway 19. "I don't feel like driving all the way out to Clark's."

"Hey; where were you last week?" Violet demanded when five men and Marjory trooped into the building.

"Getting a triple bypass from all your grease clogging my arteries," Paul said.

"Water, Diet Coke, Unsweetened iced tea, Coke, Coke, ma'am, what about you?" Violet asked.

"Water; I sure don't need any more caffeine," Marjory said, reading the menu. "Any of y'all ever had this Teriyaki Chuck?"

""Sounds gay; hey Dennis, how's the Teriyaki Chuck?" Paul said.

"You'd love it; comes with this special sauce, kind of milky looking," Dennis said as Violet came, carrying their drinks.

"Okay, I'm sick now," Marjory said.

"Guys, guys, there's a lady present," Mitch counseled. "And Marjory's here too."

"Oh, you ass hole!" Marjory shrieked with laughter.

They ordered and kept up the banter. When the food came, they held hands, bowed their heads and did a quick prayer.

"I love that y'all pray like that," Violet admitted as she surveyed their drinks.

"With your food? We have to," Paul said.

"Hey Mitch, you hear an anal echo?" David asked.

As Dennis stuffed the last bite of his burger into his mouth, Violet appeared.

"How was it?" she asked, putting her hands around his neck, prepared to strangle him. "And don't you dare say 'it was all right' you hear?"

"Eh, it was okay," he sighed and laughed when she started to choke him. "Quit! Quit! It was good, all right?"

"Hey, um, uh listen," Violet said as she returned with their receipts. "I uh, um, tomorrow is my birthday and..."

"Well Happy Birthday!" David, Paul, Peter and Mitch said.

"Oh just you wait, Honey, one day you'll be like 'oh my God, not another birthday,'" Marjory said.

"That's wonderful," Dennis smiled.

"And I uh, I you wouldn't want to come huh?" Violet asked, blushing hotly.

"I'd love to," Paul said.

"Not you," Violet snapped.

"Where and when?" Dennis asked.

Violet suddenly gasped and covered her mouth.

"Oh! Never mind! It's at Jumpers! Oh, I forgot you're an alcoholic!" Violet apologized.

"Honey, we can go anywhere free men go, provided we have a good reason to be there," Mitch said. "And Dennis's smart enough get his ass out of there if he starts feeling squirrely.

"Well, it's uh, you sure? We'll probably get there about 9 thirty I mean you know?" Violet said. "But believe me, I'll understand if you can't make it; I didn't even think when I said it at Jumpers."

"Well, at least we know she's over twenty one if it's going to be at Jumpers," Paul said when Violet walked away.

"Yeah, last damned thing I need is you calling me because you got busted with some jail bait," Mitch agreed.

When he got back to his small apartment, Dennis looked through his meager clothing selection and had to admit he needed to do a little shopping.

There were suits, ties, dress shirts and dress shoes. Then there were grubby, stained, ripped clothing. He had nothing in between.

Mitch, and from time to time, Kim Frentz said the same thing; Dennis was either black or white; there was no gray. He was either all, or he was nothing; there was no middle ground.

At work the next day, he asked three of the tellers that seemed to be around Violet's age what an appropriate gift for someone in their age group would be and rejected all their suggestions. They all suggested electronic gadgets, or extremely expensive gifts.

On his lunch break, Dennis dashed over to Abdul's, the exclusive department store in DeGarde, and picked up a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt and a pair of casual suede shoes.

"Oh, that matches that shirt perfectly," the sales girl said as he looked at the red and beige shirt one more time. "See? The beige and the beige?"

"Yeah, how about that?" he smiled.

He saw a jar of gourmet jellybeans as he was on his way out and thought, "Bingo! We have a winner!"

And the salesgirl told him he could get it gift wrapped for free on their second floor.

That evening, dressed in his new clothes, Dennis went to The Fifth Tradition meeting, shot the breeze with Mitch and a newcomer then agreed to read the 'How It Works' for Mitch and barely managed to stay awake through Gene W's story.

The man's story might have been interesting, maybe even entertaining if Gene didn't punctuate every sentence with 'Um' or 'You Know?'

"I don't know, Gene," Mitch said graciously after Gene finally ran out of things to ramble about. "But I think you just might be one of them alcoholics."

Then a few birthday chips were handed out and again, Dennis fought hard to stay awake during the rambling monologues the three chip recipients felt compelled to give as they received their chips.

Dennis felt compelled to actually drink a cup of coffee in the hopes of staying awake long enough to go to Jumpers, greet Violet and wish her a 'Happy Birthday' and possibly even dance a dance or two with the girl before having to leave.

"Working tomorrow?" Mitch asked as Dennis grimaced through the coffee.

"Think 'Fast Fingers' will be there?" Paul asked.

"Yes, ten to two," Dennis agreed, answering Paul's question with a shrug. "Of course it'll be dead but the minute we close, there'll be a line of people wanting to get in."

"Alcoholics aren't the only selfish, self-centered people out there," Mitch agreed.

It was nine forty five when Dennis pulled up close to the nightclub, fighting hard against wincing at the loud music. He checked to see that Violet's present and card were not visible; no sense in giving anyone a reason to break into his car, and got out.

The bouncer looked at Dennis with a cocked eyebrow but nodded and Dennis walked into the nightclub.

Inside, the music was deafening and Dennis could physically feel the thumping, booming music.

He looked around but the darkness was cut only by swirling multicolored lights. There was very little possibility of him being able to find Violet among all the thrusting, jiggling bodies.

"Hey!" Violet screamed happily and squeezed him in a fierce hug, then jammed her lips to his.

"Hi! Oh my God! I can't believe you made it! Oh my God, my friends are going to shit when they see you, I told them I had the most handsome boyfriend ever and none of them would believe me, come on, oh this just makes my whole day, I can't believe you're here!" She screamed, kissed him again and then pulled him through the writhing bodies toward a table.

She was wearing a very tight pink top and in the light it made it look like she wasn't wearing a top at all. Her skirt was so short he could see the tops of her pink thigh high stockings. Her small feet were jammed into impossibly high heels which would explain how the somewhat short girl was able to kiss him; Dennis was almost six feet tall.

"Hey!" Violet squealed at a group of girls when they reached the table.

Of the four girls, Violet, in Dennis' opinion, was the prettiest. Sierra was a tall gangly girl with quite severe acne, but a sweet smile. Tanya, who insisted on pronouncing her name so that he would not mistakenly call her 'Tonya', was a short, plump girl with a very severe mannish hair style. And Olympia had hard eyes, a very large nose, and no smile.

The jeans, shirt, shoes, and jellybeans had set Dennis' budget back just over two hundred dollars, but Violet kissed him again and Dennis shrugged and bought the girls a round of drinks.

"You ain't drinking?" Olympia challenged almost angrily.

"Work tomorrow; doesn't need the hangover," Dennis said easily.

"Come on," Violet demanded and pulled him onto the dance floor.

Dennis really couldn't dance, but packed together like they were, it didn't matter. She rubbed, jostled, bumped and ground herself against him and he returned the favor.

"Woo!" she screamed out loud and again kissed him.

After sweat was pouring freely off of her face, she finally decided to return to her three friends. They were still in the same place, but had fresh drinks in front of them.

"Got you a beer, didn't know what you liked," Olympia snarled at him.

"Oh, well thank you so much, but I've already had enough," Dennis said easily.

"Ooh, I'll drink it," Violet said and did gulp down the entire beer in just three swallows. "Oh my God! I've never danced that much before!"

"Nope; usually we just sit here and watch," Sierra admitted. "You never had a guy here before.

"As pretty as y'all are?" Dennis lied.

"Oh, please!" Violet laughed and put his hand squarely on her pudgy buttock. "Fat as my ass is?"

"As sexy as your ass is?" Dennis said directly into her ear and she laughed happily and wiggled her buttocks against his hand.

"Well, I got to get," Tanya, not Tonya said, sliding and nearly falling off the stool. "Ass hole's got the kids and you know what a dick he is if I don't get them early enough.

"Love you, happy birthday," Tanya said, hugging Violet.

"Shit; it's already eleven?" Olympia said, also sliding down. "I open tomorrow too."

"Well, since she's my ride, guess I'm going too," Sierra said and hopped down. "Happy birthday, Violet; love you."

"And I work tomorrow too," Dennis agreed.

"Oh, you're my ride," Violet said, grabbing his hand. "April dropped me off.

"April?" Dennis asked.

"My manager?" Violet reminded him.

"Okay then, ready, Birthday Girl?" Dennis smiled.

"Depends," she smiled up at him. "Ready for what?"

The bouncer smirked at them when they left but Dennis really didn't care.

"Okay, first, happy birthday," Dennis said, handing Violet the expertly wrapped present.

"Oh, Dennis!" Violet squealed loudly, but his ears were still ringing from the deafening din inside the club so her squeal didn't hurt his ears.

"You didn't have to get me anything!" she protested, stuffing her tongue into his mouth.

Dennis could taste the beer and the fruity drink she'd guzzled moments earlier and fought against the gag reflex. Other than the foul almost overpowering taste, her kiss was hot, passionate.

"Really? Just you showing up was all I wanted," she admitted when she released him.

"So how old are you today anyway?" he asked as she ripped the paper off the package.

"Nineteen," she said.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Then how'd you get in?"

"Fake ID and Sierra's fucking two of the bouncers, oh my God, I LOVE jelly beans! April told you, didn't she?" Violet squealed.

She stuffed a large handful into her mouth and giggled and hummed happily.

"Glad you like them," Dennis chuckled and started the car. "Where're we headed?"

"Your place; I told my momma I probably wouldn't be home," Violet said.

"What? And she's okay with that?" Dennis asked as she stuffed a second handful into her mouth.

"As long as I don't wake her up when I get home, she don't care," Violet admitted. "I was kind of an 'Oops!' baby; she was fifty three when she had me so she's..."

"And she's all right with you spending the night with a thirty eight year old man?" Dennis asked.

"You're how old?" Violet asked, staring at him.

"Thirty eight," Dennis said.

"Damn! I thought you was twenty nine, thirty at the most," Violet said.

"That change anything?" he asked, almost laughing at her.

"Yeah!" she said and again stuffed her tongue into his mouth.

This time, all he could taste were the handful of jelly beans and he returned her kiss with equal passion. She did not stop his hand when he cupped one of her breasts; it was a little smaller than he'd expected, and he could tell that Violet wore no bra.

"Yeah," she whispered and bit down on his lower lip. "Makes me want to fuck you even more."

Dennis knew his apartment was clean; he was almost fanatical about it, but was still somewhat embarrassed that he was a thirty eight year old man and was living in an apartment.

"Nice," Violet said, looking around the place. "Even smells nice."

"Oh?" he asked, now nervous. "What's it supposed to smell like?"

If it's my momma's place? Like old people," Violet laughed, putting her jar of jelly beans onto the coffee table. "Or if it's Tanya's place, like dirty diapers and weed, or if it's Olympia and Sierra's place, McDonald's and weed and pussy."

"McDonald's and pussy?" he laughed as she approached him.

"Yeah, they work at McDonald's and they're lovers," she said and insinuated herself around him, pressing hard against him.

He put his arms around her and pulled her tightly against himself. She purred and wobbled slightly.

"Ooh, got to go potty," she suddenly said and pulled back. "Please tell me your bathroom is clean."

"It's clean," he assured her and pointed to the door.

Violet gave him a sloppy kiss then scampered to the door.

She did not close the door, but Dennis was too uncomfortable to peek.

Violet was the first woman, girl really, since Kimberly's abrupt and painful departure.

After the required six months of physical separation had passed, Dennis did file for divorce; because Louisiana is a 'No-Fault' state, he did not have to have a reason. But because Kimberly could not be located to be served with the petition of divorce, it slowed the process down considerably. Brandon Johnson, his attorney had told him it would take another six months, and then the divorce would be granted in absentia.