One Voice

"That's not my call, Chelsea. You might try your parents. They're still around as far as I know. If you don't have a phone, I could call them for you to come to pick you up. Nothing of yours is here. Nothing. Whatever you decide to do with the rest of your life, it will not include me."

"But I have your clothes and things that we packed for you to go to France. It's all here," she offered.

"Burn 'em, sell 'em, give 'em away if you like. There's not a single thing in your possession that I will ever lay claim to. If you leave anything here on the porch that formerly belonged to me, I'll just toss it in the community dumpster so save us both some time. Just go, Chelsea."

She was sobbing and shaking like a leaf as all of my words cut through her like a knife. I quietly disappeared back into my apartment. Her parents appeared twenty minutes later and drove her away. I didn't tell her I was unemployed. I didn't want to give her any ammunition to use against me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All of my friends and family were shocked at my spiraling predicament. I'd burned my house down along with an expensive car, lost my job, and recently learned that all of my financial accounts had been hacked leaving me virtually penniless. The next day I received an official notice from the medical review board notifying me that I was being investigated for inappropriate behavior at my former job. The outcome of the investigation could result in the revocation of my professional credentials. I might have to change careers. I could not imagine myself in a worse dilemma. I knew that Pierre had to be behind all this somehow but I couldn't prove it. And even if I could, it wouldn't change the outcome. It appeared to me as if Pierre was having the last laugh after all. Looking back, I wondered if I would have done anything differently knowing what I know now. I concluded that the only difference would be closing my accounts and stashing my money to keep me afloat through these grueling times.

It seemed as if all of my monthly bills and expenses were hitting me all at once. I went to my bank and after exhaustive conversations learned that their position was that I transferred all of my money elsewhere myself. Until I could prove otherwise, they would not be replacing any of the funds I claim to have lost. I had no idea what to do. I knew that my parents didn't have room for all of us to move in with them, nor were they financially able to suddenly support four more mouths to feed on their social security. I might be able to sponge off my sister for a short while but I didn't want to risk ruining our relationship. I had promising interviews at four different places but each one later called back saying I was unsuitable for the position. Why was my life going to hell?

Chelsea had pawned most of the jewelry that Pierre had given her to secure the services of an attorney. He would represent her in her divorce, or rather in its potential prevention but more importantly, secure her visitation rights as the mother of the children. The attorney required a deposit for $9,000.00 of the $10,000.00 that she'd received and served me with a summons to appear in an arbitration meeting in three days to see if an amicable agreement could be achieved about custodial issues of the children before invoking a judge's ruling. I wasn't looking forward to hashing anything out with her but I must honor the legal process.

The meeting went as expected. The arbiter was an attorney experienced in these kinds of negotiations. Of course, Chelsea wanted full custody as did I. We were at opposite ends of the spectrum. She was very nervous and fidgety. Pointing out the abandonment of her family for her affair with my brother didn't seem to matter to the arbiter. Well, it mattered to me. We were unable to agree on a single matter, so a follow-up meeting had been ordered to take place in two weeks, giving us both time to rethink what is in the best interests of the children.

A week later, I received a call from the local jail. When I agreed to accept the call, surprisingly Chelsea was put on the phone.

"I'm sorry to call you out of the blue like this Paul but I didn't have anyone else I could turn to. I didn't have your new number so the police used their resources to call you and then connect me. I only have two minutes to complete this call. Can you come down to the police station right now and talk to me? I wouldn't ask if it wasn't of the utmost importance, Paul. Please. I have no one else. I have nothing else, please, you MUST help me," she wailed.

I gave a deep sigh and wondered what kind of shenanigans was being pulled this time. Yet she was crying and pleading in earnest. "Let me call Anita to come over to watch the kids and I'll see what I can do," I responded.

When I finally arrived at the station and arranged for a face-to-face visitation, a very shaky and desolate Chelsea met me. We both picked up the receivers on our side of the glass.

"You look terrible, Chelsea. What happened? What's going on?"

"Thank you so much for coming, Paul. Your kindness is one of the many things I have always loved about you."

"Why are you in here? Why were you arrested?"

"Paul, I, I never wanted you to find out. I had hoped to kick this before it kicked me. I guess I lost."

"Lost what, Chelsea?

"When you finally talked to me on the phone right before all hell broke loose from your press conference, I lost it. You were right all along. Pierre is an asshole but I was blinded by his wealth, celebrity, and status. But when you told me I had no husband, no home, and no children, it did a number on me and I nearly lost my mind. Pierre provided me with heavy doses of Xanax to calm my nerves and help me deal with my emotions which were all over the map. Soon he added oxycodone pills and weaned me off the Xanax. I was popping oxy pills like candy. It numbed my mind and gave me a sense of euphoria, but when I came down from the high, I needed more to remain stable. I had to incrementally increase the dosage of oxycodone over time to maintain my nerves and stability."

She continued, "After about six weeks, I was completely addicted. I'd get the shakes if I didn't have my pills. He sent me home with a one-week supply of pills. I had pawned the jewelry he'd given me for pennies on the dollar to advance my attorney his fee. When my supply of pills ran out I became desperate. I eventually found a source for the drugs I needed but had no money to pay for them. I'm ashamed to admit that my supplier had me perform sex acts on him and his friends in exchange for the drugs. Tonight I was caught soliciting for prostitution and brought here. Since this is my first offense, bail is set for only $250.00 but I'm flat broke. I can't call my parents to bail me out because if I do, they'll kick me out of their house and I'll be out on the street and homeless. Please don't let that happen to the mother of your children," she said nearly unintelligibly between sobs.

As much as I hated everything she'd said and done for the last three to four months, I still had compassion. The only problem was I had no money either. I couldn't even feed my children. How was I going to help her?

"Chelsea, I'm as penniless as you are. Pierre got me fired and got a hacker to steal every financial asset I had. The only way I can think of to raise $250.00 is to get a collateral loan against my car. You'll have to give me a couple of days to do it but I won't do it unless you agree right here and now for me having primary custody of the kids and you to have visitation every other weekend. You either agree to that or I'll walk."

"Every other weekend? Can't you offer me better terms than that?"

"Never mind. Good luck Chelsea." And I started to get up to leave.

"Okay, okay. Every other week. I agree. I swear. I won't go back on my word to you this time."

"I breathed a sigh of relief. Alright, Chelsea. Call your parents and tell them you might not be home for a couple of days while I work something out."

"I will, Paul. Thank you. I still love you, you know."

I said nothing in return but rose and walked out of the jail. As bad off as I felt I was, I had just met someone worse off than me.

The next day, my parents took my children with them camping at the beach for the holiday weekend. They wanted to give me some time to regroup and rethink my life without the pressure of seeing to their needs for a few days as well as keeping them away from Chelsea. I decided not to tell them of her plight just yet. I didn't want any kind of talk getting back to the kids until details had been worked out.

It was summertime and that night there was a large July 4^th celebration at the town center. I went hoping to see some friendly faces and perhaps snag a free hot dog. Yes, it was getting that bad. There was a platform stage with a live local band entertaining the large assembled crowd. Around two thousand were in attendance. I was about two hundred feet away in front of the stage when two well-dressed brawny men took to the stage, seized the microphone, and began talking to the crowd. One of the men was carrying an aluminum bat.

"Hey! Hello everybody. Is everyone having a good time tonight?" One of the men shouted into the microphone. Raucous yelps and applause from the crowd soon followed.

"Sorry to interrupt the festivities folks but we're looking for Paul Blaylock. Can anyone tell us where he is tonight? Someone said he might be here."

A voice in the crowd called out, "What do you want him for?"

"We aim to teach him a lesson about abusing his position as an occupational therapist and inappropriately molesting a lot of women. One of them was my sister. Now can anyone here help us out? We'd sure appreciate it."

The man with the bat was scanning the crowd while his partner was speaking. Suddenly he saw me from the stage and they were approaching me to likely take me away from the crowd for a severe beating. No one in the crowd said a single word in my defense. I had a very bad feeling about how this night was going to end. I was frozen in my tracks and couldn't move. The two men forced their way through the crowd as they quickly made their way to my position. Then something unusual happened. Right before they reached me, an eight-year-old girl suddenly pushed her wheelchair between me and the two men and every voice in the crowd was silent as the little girl spoke.

"Misters, when I was in a bad car wreck a while back and became permanently disabled, Mr. Blaylock showed me more patience and kindness than anyone I had ever met in my entire life. He helped me when no one else could and he's the nicest man anyone could ever hope to meet. He's my friend, and if you want to get to him, then you'll have to go through me first."

In a crowd of two-thousand people in an outdoor setting, you could have heard a pin drop. The two men were about to abruptly push her out of the way when a forceful woman jumped in front of her. "Fellas, if you have any inkling about touching my daughter, let me correct your thinking. You'll have to go through me to get to her and I swear I'll defend her with my life. You raise one finger toward her and you'll draw back a nub!"

A man had been hurriedly forcing his way through the crowd to get to the scene and he placed himself in the line of fire in front of the woman. "This is my wife and daughter, and if you even THINK about touching either one of them, I'm going to rain hell-fire and damnation on you, the likes of which you've never seen before!"

The two men smirked at the boast of the man. They knew they could easily take him out, move the two females out of the way and get their man. Suddenly five muscular men stepped forward in front of the man. One of them spoke to the two would-be assailants. "This man is a building contractor and we all work for him. He's the best boss we've ever had and we can assure you of one thing boys, you'll never touch him as long as one of us is still standing."

Next, their five wives stepped in front of their brave husbands and so on until the entire township stood in defiance of the threat against this one individual owing to the courage and admiration of one eight-year-old disabled girl who had raised her one voice in this defeated man's darkness whose whole world had just changed for the better in those few moments.

Greg was standing near the mayor next to the stage and, in a hushed tone spoke to him.

"My name is Greg Dickson and I work at New Directions, Inc. I hired Paul straight out of college and have known him for many years. I don't know who these two guys are but I never heard of a single complaint about Paul from anyone, male or female. As a matter of fact, he's received stellar praise from everyone he worked with. No one that I know of has ever accused him of inappropriate conduct before tonight. He was unjustly fired from his job for no reason whatsoever and has three children depending upon him for support. What's happening to a good man like him isn't right."

The mayor nodded and stepped up on the stage and took the microphone.

"Hello everyone. I'm Grant Mastin, your mayor." Everyone turned their attention toward him.

"I'd like to ask a question. Has anyone here ever been abused by Paul Blaylock or a victim of any impropriety concerning him?" Silence pervaded the crowd. "Let me rephrase that then, does anyone here even know of a person who had ever been abused by Paul?"

Finally, one woman raised her hand. "My mother fell and broke her hip last year. It took her a long time to resume normal activities. Mr. Blaylock worked with her and me as well to help her recover. If you ask me, the man is a saint. He went way beyond the call of duty to help us and never said or did anything inappropriate."

Then, one by one, person after person spoke up and shared their inspirational stories about him, his kindness, and his good work. The mayor interrupted the testimonies, "That's what I thought. This man is one of our own and he has been railroaded by a vengeful wealthy miscreant seeking revenge because this man dared to tell the truth when the rich man spoiled his wife and ruined his life. You've all, no doubt, heard the stories and rumors. We here in this town, as long as I'm mayor, take care of our own. I understand he was let go from his job for no reason. Probably more shenanigans. Is there anyone here in a position to do so who will offer this man gainful employment at a good wage until he can get back on his feet? One by one, hands went up all over the crowd. In less than thirty seconds, over 100 hands were raised.

"Officers," the mayor resumed. "Officers, will you detain these men until Mr. Blaylock has a chance to make his safe and timely exit? Also, collect their names and identifications in case anything else comes up involving them. In addition, I think it would be wise for the department to schedule random patrols by Mr. Blaylock's residence to abet a speedy response if need be. Mr. Blaylock, if you didn't know this before, as you can see, your town loves you. You're a good man. These gentlemen aren't going anywhere until you've safely reached your destination. Thank you for being such a good citizen.

Tears were streaming down my face. I was overcome with emotion as I took in all the kind words and remarks of staunch support. I had no idea that I was thought so highly of before tonight. I thanked everyone in attendance for being so kind and the crowd parted like the Red Sea before me as I made my exit.

I didn't want to go back to an empty apartment, so I drove to the nearby lake, thinking it would offer a spectacular view of the fireworks, especially with the reflections off the water. I was an impoverished, broken, desolate man sitting alone at the lake shore crying to the heavens about my plight. I didn't have two nickels to rub together and even though I had barely dodged a beating tonight, very soon I'd be homeless and perhaps lose my kids unless a serious well-paying job offer came through. As I sat there considering panhandling for money, something was pressing uncomfortably into my backside as I sat on the shore sand. Thinking it was a small rock, I picked it up ready to give it a toss. But a quick glance revealed it not to be a rock at all. I had found what appeared to be a very expensive diamond solitaire.

After discovering the ring, I drove it to our town's largest jewelry store which was open until 9 pm. When I inquired as to its value, the manager instantly recognized it and disappeared in the back for a few minutes to make a call then soon returned.

"This is your lucky day, my friend. A wealthy client commissioned me to have this ring custom-made to his exact specifications. He has since decided to permanently part with it. So he say's 'finder's keepers'. He paid us $250,000.00 to have it special-made. Its intrinsic value is in the neighborhood of $175,000.00. At this current time, the best I can offer you for this exquisite specimen is $150,000.00. I'm afraid that's my top number."

I couldn't believe my luck. "I'll take it. How much cash do you have on hand in the store right now?" I asked.

"I don't rightly know, sir, without checking. Give me a minute." After counting the cash register he announced, "Just over $1,200.00, sir."

"Alright. I'll take the $1,200.00 in cash and a check for $148,800.00. Do we have a deal?"

The jeweler smiled and responded, "Indeed we do sir, and we shook hands.

After leaving the jeweler's in improved spirits, I immediately drove to the jail and bailed Chelsea out with $250.00, put her in a taxi, and paid her fare to get her to her parents' home. She thanked me profusely for being a good man. The next stop was the grocery store to restock my pantry and refrigerator in the apartment. The cupboard was pretty bare. As I was carrying the first two bags from my car toward the apartment, everything suddenly went black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sluggishly regained consciousness in what appeared to be a hospital room to the face of a smiling angel.

I hoarsely whispered, 'Have I died and gone to Heaven?"

"Paul? Are you awake?" My eyes rolled around in my head as I tried my best to focus. "Somebody please get the doctor in here!" I heard her yell at the top of her lungs. "I think he's coming to."

The hospital doctor soon appeared and performed a flurry of comprehensive checks on me, snapping his fingers, shining his flashlight in my eyes, and re-checking all of my stats. Fifteen minutes later he seemed relieved.

"I'm Dr. Haussmann. You gave us quite the scare Mr. Blaylock. How are you feeling right now?"

"Like I was run over by a dump truck," I retorted. "My head is splitting."

"That's understandable, Mr. Blaylock. You've been in a medically induced coma for three days. We took you off the coma-inducing drugs four hours ago. You've experienced severe head trauma resulting in swelling of the brain. We've had several experts working hard to get you back under control."

"What? But how?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Your wife, Helena is here. She's in a better position to explain to you how you got here. She was on the scene when it happened so I'll leave those answers to her. I'm encouraged that you're doing as well as you are right now, but you're not out of the woods just yet. We'd like to keep you for a few more days to make sure the swelling remains under control." I knew I was still foggy-headed but, wife?

"Thank you, doctor," Helena remarked. "I'll be sure and let you know if any problems develop." The doctor nodded and took his leave.

I looked at the beautiful angel hovering over me. It was a sight that inspired my soul. "Did I miss something? When did you become my wife?"

"I had to tell them that you were my husband when you were brought in so that they'd let me be in your room whenever I could arrange to be here. And since I provided them with your medical insurance information, they just assumed."