In the House of Spite Ch. 04

On this rainy autumn morning, while Pearl was sitting on the living room couch and folding laundry, Darren approached her with something gleaming in his pretty ice blue eyes. He'd decided to stay home, which meant that Pearl was already planning out a fresh lunch for him. There was some frozen, packaged ground beef thawing out in the sink, partially submerged in warm water.

"Hi," Pearl said as she folded a wash cloth on her lap. "What can I do for you?"

He bent down a and held a small piece of paper out to her. "I got you a present."

"Oh, you didn't have to!" She smiled and took the paper. It was a free pass for a tour at his wildlife preserve. "I've never been to one of these places before, never even been to a zoo. Is there a certain type of clothing I need to wear?"

"Don't wear heels. Get a pair of comfy sneakers."

Pearl shrugged. "I haven't worn heels in eight years." She put the pass in her pocket and then got up. Grinning, she actually stretched her arms out in a nearly universal symbol for hugging, and she said, "Thank you so much!" Her arms went around the great man's torso.

"Well you're welcome, Little Girl!" Darren patted her back. She didn't hate being called a Little Girl. Maybe she should've, but she honesty couldn't find the hate. "I was worried you wouldn't like it. You don't seem like the outdoorsy type."

Letting him go, sitting back down, Pearl said, "I do love learning about nature and animals. Why did you give the pass to me? Did you think it was my birthday?"

"Nah." He went over to his recliner and got comfortable in it. "I wanted to show off how cool I am."

"The cool kids never care about being cool." Pearl went back to the folding. "Did you just feel like being nice?"

Darren picked up a remote control. "Sure, why not? You're my friend."

"Well that's sweet," Pearl said as she put a neat stack of cloth in the laundry basket. "If I'm your friend, then you have to be mine too."

"Deal."

Pearl hooked her fingers under the basket's handles and smiled.

She chose a sunny Saturday to visit the wildlife preserve. Dogflower Nature Center. The entrance was fairly utilitarian but the welcoming sign was charming enough. At least the script wasn't in Comic Sans. The pathways and bridges that guests traveled on were typically bordered by different types of fences.

For an extra fee, one would be driven around on golf carts by an employee. It seemed that Pearl's pass included the ride. She went up to where the carts were, and she found that a large group of students, along with teacher chaperones, were being set up. They seemed to be from a high school.

Pearl waited until she believed all the students were settled in the carts. Then she walked up to an employee and asked to be put in an empty one. This employee, a man with a bit of a beer belly, told her it would be easier if she sat with the students.

"Oh no," she said with a firm shake of the head. "I shouldn't be riding with them. I should be by myself."

Rolling his eyes, which rustled Pearl a bit, the man said, "Look, you really shouldn't act like you're special."

Pearl wanted to pull the "I know the owner" act but she thought that would be too embarrassing. Instead, she folded her arms and insisted on being given a cart separate from the students. "I know I don't look like it," she said, "but I'm almost thirty years old, and I have nothing to do with any of those students. If I sit on the same carts they are, then someone will think I'm a student. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened."

An employee who seemed to have a slightly more authoritative uniform stepped in and said, "Yes, Ma'am. We'll do that for you, but could you please show us your ID so we know you aren't one of the students? We don't want to be held responsible if you do turn out to be a student and you sneak away from your teachers."

Pearl didn't have a purse. She'd thought it wouldn't have been a practical accessory. Instead, she had a small leather backpack. Inside were the essentials. She took her wallet from this backpack and fished out her ID. Within fifteen seconds she was given the ID back and an empty cart was pulled out for her.

The route she rode on was different from what the high school group took, although they crossed paths sometimes. The fresh air was slightly cool, but pleasant. Pearl's long sleeved shirt was perfectly fine, although she had a flannel shirt tied around her waist. The driver was easy to listen to. Everything was lovely. She saw beautiful flowers, water full of fish, and quite a few other creatures. Rabbits, squirrels, birds, even some far off bears and wildcats.

At the end of the tour, she was taken off to an area close to the exit gate, and the gift shop was right there. Inside, she saw the students and teachers. Normally, Pearl would've waited for them leave, but she felt that she'd already been reasonable enough. She wanted a souvenir and she didn't want to wait what could be a full hour or more for the students to leave.

Careful not to knock herself into anyone, and very careful not to fall onto shelves and damage the overpriced goods, Pearl went around in search of a T-Shirt or a key-chain. Her stomach growled, and she thought she should eat soon. Her mood could get incredibly crabby when she was hungry, but many people were like that.

One purchase of a shirt later, her prize folded up in her backpack, Pearl went to the shop's exit. She was just outside the building when a strange man's voice burst out in her direction. "Where do you think you're going?!"

Flinching, Pearl stopped in her tracks and turned around. A somewhat chubby man with a beard and a balding head marched on over to her. "Come back here right now!" His face was a little pink. He might've been irritated with something else that had happened to him.

"Excuse me?" Pearl retreated a little, switching her backpack to her chest, putting it on backwards. "What's the problem?"

He pointed down at her with a slightly quivering finger. "Get back in the shop! You can't just walk off like that!"

Pearl's eyelids narrowed. Her calf and thigh muscles tensed. "Excuse me? Why do you think you can talk to me like that? Do you think I'm one of those kids?"

His hand flew up in a very impatient gesture. "No way. I'm not listening to that. Get back over here."

He tried to get close to her, but Pearl retreated even more, and she reached into her backpack. "I can show you my ID. That way, you'll know I'm not a student."

"I'm not interested in your fake ID. This isn't a bar, now move!"

He tried to grab at her.

He missed.

The truth was this: most people in the world are sane, thoughtful, and fairly innocuous. But Pearl believed that something about her appearance attracted a good portion of two different kinds of people. One, the type of person that wants to protect her. Two, the type of person that thinks they can get away with treating her poorly because they thought she was weak.

Okay, in all fairness, Pearl knew she was pretty weak.

But that didn't mean she was the type to easily put up with bullshit.

Instead of her wallet, she pulled out a pocket-knife, ready to stab anybody. She held it out and screamed for him to get away from her.

No way in fucking hell was she going to let a strange man drag her off somewhere, not even to a school bus.

Several people, mostly students cuddled up to the gift shop's windows to watch the scene. Another teacher, a slightly older woman, ran outside and hollered out, "What's going on?!" An employee did pretty much the same thing.

The chubby man, likely a teacher, he stuttered, then he pulled a phone out of his pocket. As he dialed, the older teacher turned to Pearl and asked in a frightened tone, "Why do you have that knife?!"

"BECAUSE I'M NINETY-FIVE POUNDS WHEN WET AND I DON'T WANT TO BE FUCKING KIDNAPPED!!" Yep. Pearl was in rage mode again. She didn't take her eyes off the chubby teacher. "GO ON AND CALL THE COPS, DUMBASS!!"

"WOAH!! WOAH!! LET'S CALM DOWN!!"

Pearl let her eyes slide to see who that was.

Darren Booker was running towards the scene. He was wearing a uniform-like T-Shirt with the name of the preserve printed on it. Pearl lowered her voice a little, but she was still technically shouting. "This guy tried to grab me when I said I wasn't a student!"

"You can't have a knife!" The chubby man's face was now red. "You'll be expelled!" Then, he seemed to get through to someone on his phone. "Hello? Yes, I'm a teacher from ..."

Darren walked right up to that chubby teacher, his full height clearly making the teacher look that much smaller, and he pointed back at Pearl. "I know for a fact that woman is NOT one of your students! She's my god damn housekeeper! I invited her here! She's old enough to smoke, drink, join the military and get fucked on a kitchen counter!! I'm calling your fucking school!"

Both the teachers' jaws dropped. Pearl finally felt safe enough to put her knife away. She noticed the students were visibly shocked ... and amused. Some were laughing and banging their palms on the windows.

A few hours later, the situation had been resolved, and Pearl was sitting at a Bojangles restaurant. Across from her, Darren tried his best to get comfortable in a plastic booth. At least he didn't have to balance himself on a stool.

He'd insisted on taking her out to dinner as an apology for all that ridiculousness, even though he wasn't the cause. Pearl had insisted on something low cost. And that was pretty much why she was eating a spicy chicken sandwich with a sliced buttery biscuit instead of a bun. Darren had the same thing. Also, two bowls of that spicy rice stiff with sausage bits. It seemed that even the most educated on exercise and nutrition still had fast food every once in a while.

"Does that kind of stupid mess happen a lot?" he asked.

After a quick sip of cold sweet tea, Pearl answered, "Not all the time, but it has happened before. Usually it's all taken care of real quick. 'Sorry, I'm not a student. Sorry, I'm not a teenager.' Stuff like that. It's good that I'm not a sub teacher. I'd be walking into trouble every work day."

"I bet it would be hard to get some snotty brats to respect you when you look younger than them."

Pearl nodded. "Yeah. I've had people tell me it's creepy if someone tries to date me."

An eyebrow rising, Darren tapped his straw with a fingertip. "Why's that creepy?"

"I dunno. They usually say something about how it's creepy for someone to date me because I look young, and that would mean anyone who dates me is automatically a pedophile." Stabbing her rice with a black spork, Pearl made a sucking noise with her tongue against her teeth.

"But according to that logic," she continued, "I'd only be allowed to date minors, which would make me the pervert instead. It's so stupid. My looks shouldn't deny me the right to do adult things, and no adult should feel guilty for doing adult things with another adult, no matter how that adult looks."

He only chuckled at that.

A few days went on after that incident. They were very peaceful.

Although Pearl happened to see something rather upsetting.

She was shopping at a grocery store with Mama when she heard something poke into the hard floor over and over. She looked, and she saw, of all people, that same chubby teacher that had tried to grab her at the Dogflower Nature Center.

Only ...

He was missing a leg, and he had some crutches, along with odd bandages and ugly bruises.

A woman was with him, likely his wife. She might've wanted to keep an eye on him.

When the chubby teacher saw Pearl, his eyes broadened and he slowly forced his body around, using his crutches with some minor difficulty. The woman tried to ask him what the problem was, but he insisted that he needed to go to a different aisle.

Pearl chose to avoid the couple.

***

It was the day before Christmas Eve.

Pearl had to wear gloves and a coat as she worked outside, beating hair off of the comforter. She could see her breath misting. There wasn't any snow. Around these parts, snow near Christmas was rare. January and February were the snowy months, and even then the snow rarely caused a problem. Pearl could still remember some years when Christmas Day was downright hot and sunny.

The back door was opened quite loudly, and the storm door creaked as it was pushed aside. From a spot under the hanging comforter, Pearl saw Darren Booker's huge feet in a pair of fresh and cozy looking sneakers. "Hey there, Little Girl. You cold?"

Pant. Pant. A sigh. Her free hand went to her chest. "A little bit, I guess."

"You got enough hair off that thing. Put in in the dryer and take a break."

"I ... haaaaaaah ... I don't need a break. I'm not hurting."

A little laugh, a noise that sounded like it had been dipped in syrup and then grit, and Darren said with only hint of extra effort, "It's cold out here. The fucking dogs are inside. You shouldn't be hopping like that in this weather."

A sudden cough overtook Pearl, making her bend over. That made Darren hiss out, "Jesus Christ!" Then he walked around the clothesline and practically clamped his left hand on one of her arms. Pearl glanced up at his chin. He had a bit of stubble. His jaw seemed tighter than normal. "Don't get sick!" he said.

Pearl cringed as if she was being yelled at. To be fair, his voice did have a bite to it.

She was led, or dragged, inside the snuggly house, where the warm air oozed deep into her bones. She sighed as her butt was put right in Darren's favorite recliner. His pale eyes oddly strict, as if he was punishing her, he took the tennis racket from her and rested it against a wall. Then, towering above her with his hand out, he told her to take off her coat and shoes.

Pearl pouted and looked away. She truly felt like she was being scolded. It wasn't a nice feeling, but it made her want to please. It really did. She unzipped and shucked off her coat, putting her gloves in one of the pockets. Darren took the coat and threw it on the couch. She kicked her shoes away and let them clatter onto the carpet.

She saw Baby Blue chase Gunner up the stairs. Then back down. Then up again. Silly boys.

"Wait here," Darren told her. "I'll get you a cup of hot chocolate." As he walked off to the kitchen, the dogs ran back into the living room. Then they finally calmed down near an AC vent.

Her voice high-pitched, Pearl said to them, "Hey, did you guys have fun?"

Gunner rolled over onto his back. Baby Blue snacked his lips and yawned.

"Is it nap time?" she gently asked.

Baby Blue scratched at his ear and then cuddled up with Gunner.

Darren came back with a steaming mug and a small folding table. First, with one hand, he managed to set the table up near the recliner. Then he carefully put the mug down. Pearl excitedly kicked her feet as she giggled and took the hot chocolate. "Oh, thank you so much!" Her first sip was met with an, "Owie!" Then she took a longer, more cautious sip.

"Don't burn yourself," Darren warned as his palm went to the little tabletop. The fact that the table could bear the man's significant weight was enough to surprise Pearl. There wasn't even a creak. His voice thawed a little as he asked, "Everything been alright?"

"Hmmmmm, yeah," she said quite cheerfully. "Why are you asking?" She looked past him to see the relaxing dogs. Cute, doofy babies.

"Well ... I guess I worry about you sometimes. You're a little thing, real easy to push around."

Baby Blue was licking one of Gunner's ears. Cuuuuuuuute!!

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess. But it's not bad. I just don't like how some people treat me."

"You mean when people treat you like a kid?"

Another sip of the chocolate beverage. "Not exactly ... I mean, come on. I'm kind of like a kid. Like ... now that I have a good job I've been thinking of getting some stupid toys like Play Doh. And sometimes my voice sounds like a kid. It's not bad to be treated like a kid. What's messed up is when someone's nasty to me, and when they use the 'well you're just a kid' excuse it's even worse because they're using a false premise to justify themselves. And most of the time it's not even good justification. Kids shouldn't be treated like crap."

Darren stepped aside and knelt down on the carpet. It was easier to meet his eyes then. Those oddly pretty eyes had happy lines around them. "You're right. They shouldn't." His hands were slack on his lap. "Did your boyfriend treat you like a kid?"

She wasn't thinking much at all when she replied, "I don't know. We played stupid games, I guess. And I ... we," the slow, aching gloom was returning, "we ... he didn't make a lot of money but he still took care of me. He looked out for me. I was so safe and loved and it was wonderful."

Her fingers loosened.

"Woah!" Darren had to take the mug from her hands. "Don't burn your lap." Then, once the mug's bottom had firmly clacked onto the table, he peered down at her quivering, sniffling little face and said, "No way."

His arms reached for her.

"Huh?"

Those persistent fingers of his dug under her body, at her thighs and back, and he lifted her up from the recliner. Deathly afraid of falling and breaking her neck, Pearl tightly clung to him and said with a begging voice, "Don't drop me! Please don't drop me!"

"I got you, Little Girl."

Still, she wasn't convinced. Her fingers were almost like a cat's claws as they dug into his shirt. He'd apparently taken off his coat while he was making hot chocolate.

Darren settled on the couch and put Pearl down in his lap.

He smelled lovely. Clean cotton. Spicy shampoo. And that wintry air. All blended in with his warm skin.

"This ... this isn't appropriate." Her face was hot and she tried to get up.

A long arm stopped her like a safety bar. "I'm not letting you have a crying fit all by yourself. Stay right here and cry as much as you need to."

Her chest was warm and her belly tingled. A peculiar sort of fear had her looking away, dreading any expression that could be on his face. What she was afraid of, she couldn't quite express if asked. All she knew was that the fear was overpowering her previous misery, and she thought that Darren would feel he was wasting time if she didn't cry.

"I ... I'm okay. I think I'm okay." She tried to put her fingers around his arm, but it was such a thick thing. She had no hope of success. "I'll just ... go back to work."

He still didn't let her go. His hot breath tickled the top of her head, implying that his mouth was unusually close to her hair. "No you don't. Stay right here."

Frisky.

Like he was playing with a pet.

And that didn't sound insulting to Pearl. Darren's pets were spoiled rotten.

But it did sound ...

Not right.

It was like a siren had gone off in her brain. Her temper was cooking. Her fingernails put an almost threatening tension on the man's arm. Even through his sleeve, her nails could've caused some damage. They'd been growing so well lately.

"If you don't let me go right now I'll tear the skin off your arm."

Tight, yet hollow in a way. Barely hiding potential.

She didn't think she could tear the skin off his arm. She didn't think she could fight him off in any meaningful way. But there was nothing wrong with bluffing.

"I'm sorry!" He let her go right then.

She put her feet on the carpet, and she stared down at her sock clad toes. But her hands became fists and she said, "I've had a lot of people act like they own me. People I worked for and people who didn't even know my name. And I don't like it when people just assume they can do whatever they want with me." She gulped down a thick knot in her throat.