The Garbage King Pt. 01

Arnold, however, had flown into a jealous rage and had actually slapped Freyja for talking with another boy. And because they did not have any shared classes, Todd and Freyja did not see each other much during the average schoolday.

"What the fuck you smiling about?" Arnold asked Freyja as Todd walked past.

"Smiling; I'm happy. My birthday's like in two days," Freyja lied.

She did not want Arnold taking his anger out on Todd. It looked like Todd was finally gaining a little weight but Arnold was twice Todd's size.

"Oh yeah?" Arnold said and put his hand on Freyja's flat chest. "Think you might get some titties for your birthday?"

"Quit!" Freyja squealed, pushing Arnold's hand away.

"Fuck, why you even wear a bra, huh?" Arnold sneered. "Ain't like you got nothing there."

"Same reason you wear a jock strap," Freyja mumbled under her breath.

"Now, you really having your party at your aunt's house?" Arnold asked.

"Yes Arnold, no Arnold I'm not changing my mind Arnold, I know you want to fuck Arnold but I'd rather have the party Arnold," Freyja blew up.

"Fine, fucking bitch," Arnold said, shoving her.

"God damned asshole!" Freyja screamed.

At Dr. LeMoine's office, Kelly called for Gordon and he again followed Kelly's compact backside to the small room.

Kelly was not wearing a lapel pin, but Gordon did not comment on the lack of a pin. He instead looked into her pretty eyes and then frowned slightly. Kelly Straughter normally had a smile and her eyes seemed to reflect that smile. But today, there was no smile and her eyes seemed dull.

With her usual professional efficiency, Kelly had Gordon bite down on the plate. She did the x--rays and clucked at what she saw. Dr. LeMoine came in, did not like the x-rays and also looked inside of Gordon's mouth to confirm what the images showed.

"Yes sir, sorry, Mr. King, let it slide just a little too long there; we're going to have to do a root canal it looks like," the man said.

"Told you," Kelly said.

Kelly gasped as Gordon gave her the finger and slapped his shoulder.

"Kelly!" Dr. LeMoine said sharply. "Don't hhit the patients."

"But he..." Kelly protested.

"Did what?" Gordon teased her. "I'm just an innocent angel, just sitting here."

"Uh huh," Dr. LeMoine said and started the numbing process.

It was five o'clock when Dr. LeMoine called an end to Gordon's torture. He packed the nub of the tooth and scheduled Gordon to come in for the implant.

Kelly said she still had some last minute paperwork, so Dr. LeMoine left shortly after Gordon King left the office.

Gordon drove to the dry cleaners' on Highway 19, hoping that they might still be there. Unfortunately, though, they were closed, no sign of anyone. Gordon put another mental 'X' on his list of things that had gone wrong thus far this miserable day.

Outside of Dr. LeMoine's office, Kelly prayed silently and again tried to start the 1992 Cutlass Supreme. The rust heap had been her mother's car, had never been completely dependable, but this morning it had really given Kelly a difficult time in starting. Now, the car's motor would not even turn over.

"Problem?" Gordon mumbled, mouth still numb.

"Won't start," Kelly admitted, looking up at him.

"Open it," Gordon asked.

Kelly got out of the car and showed Gordon how to open the hood. At his signal, Kelly again tried to start the old car, but again it would not even turn over.

"I'll be the first to admit, I don't know. Could be the starter, could be the alternator, could be this or that, but it's not going anywhere tonight," Gordon said and lowered the hood.

He opened the passenger door of his car.

"Come on; I'll run you home," he said.

"Oh, no, that's not necessary," Kelly protested.

"Come on, Kelly, I am not in the mood for an argument," Gordon said, a little more sharply than he had intended. "You're out here by yourself, a cab will take at least an hour come all the way out here, probably charge you fifteen, twenty bucks take you home and I'm standing right here. You know me, you know who I am and you know I can be trusted."

Kelly looked at him for a long moment, then locked her car. She got into the low slung sports car and tried to keep her knee length skirt from showing too much of her legs.

"Where?" Gordon said, more calmly now.

Kelly winced but recited the address. If Gordon recognized that it was a lower middle class neighborhood in the north side of DeGarde, he did not say anything. He just punched the address into his GPS system and pulled out of the parking lot.

"That's a what? Nineteen ninety one or two?" Gordon asked as he turned off of Highway 27 onto McLaughlin Avenue.

"This is just the cutest little car!" Kelly suddenly blurted out.

"Yeah, I like it," Gordon laughed. "Bought it at Superior Motors, right there on fifty two."

"And I love the color," Kelly said.

"They call it Ruby Red, but I can remember it being called Candy Apple Red," Gordon said as the GPS announced that they'd arrived at their destination.

Kelly nodded when Gordon confirmed that they were at the right address. He pulled up into the cracked driveway.

"So, what time you go to work in the morning?" Gordon asked.

"Oh no, you don't have to..." Kelly protested as he helped her out of the low slung car.

"Kelly, please, the novocaine is wearing off and I'm not in the mood; what time?" Gordon asked.

"I usually leave the house at seven thirty," Kelly said quietly.

"Good, see you tomorrow," Gordon said, closing the passenger door.

He got into the driver's seat again and watched to make sure that Kelly got into her home undisturbed. With a cheerful bleat of his horn, he drove away.

"Oh my God! What kind of car was that?" Kerry enthused when Kelly entered the living room of their home.

"Don't know, Dottie calls it a 'James Bond' car," Kelly admitted, just glad that Kerry was home and was not reeking of marijuana and alcohol. "Are you hungry?"

The next morning, Kelly hurried through her morning ritual and smiled when the same small car squealed to a stop. There were neighbors out, some going to work, some going to school. All that were outside stopped and gawked at the fancy sports car. They continued to gawk as Kelly came out of her house and got into the passenger seat. Gordon closed the passenger door and nodded to Kelly's neighbors as he got into the driver's seat.

"Good morning," Gordon said. "Oh, wearing the cross today; you know I really do like that. I know it was your mother's. I wonder if she bought it or did her mother hand it down to her?"

"I think it was actually her grandmother's, which would have been my great grandmother," Kelly admitted, feeling a little out of sorts.

For once, Kelly had worn a slightly less conservative top. After careful deliberation, Kelly had chosen the cross lapel pin and had pinned it close to the opening of her blouse. The skirt was another knee length skirt and Kelly had been a little less prone to hold it down while climbing into his car.

"So um, how's your mouth this morning," Kelly asked.

"Hurts like a son of a bitch," Gordon admitted.

Dottie was getting out of her car when Gordon and Kelly pulled up. The bone thin red head smiled widely when Gordon King helped Kelly out of the sports car.

Berta was standing by the door, waiting on either Dottie or Kelly to come and let her in. The brunette glared hatefully at Kelly when she saw Kelly getting out of Gordon King's automobile.

"Girl, just say 'no' to the pre-nup," Dottie advised and Kelly laughed.

Berta did not greet either of the women, just stomped to her desk. With a shrug behind the woman's back, Kelly turned her computer on and prepared for the day ahead.

At eight thirty, two African-American men wearing King Sanitation And Disposal, Inc. coveralls came in and politely asked Kelly for the keys to her car. Kelly dug the keys out of her battered vinyl purse and handed them to the taller of the two men.

"God damn!" one of them whispered to the other as they stepped outside.

"Holy cow; would just love to motorboat her, huh?" the other agreed.

The two quickly diagnosed the problem, called the auto parts store to verify the parts availability. After getting prices, the first man called Gordon.

"Six hundred eighty nine," the man said. "About twice what the car's worth."

"Get it, see if anything else needs fixing," Gordon smiled.

"Your money," the man shrugged.

Two and a half hours later, the first man politely handed Kelly her keys and flatly refused any money from her. The second man smiled and silently shook his head in refusal of Kelly's offered gratuity.

"Ma'am, it's already been taken care of; have a nice day," they both said and left.

At five o'clock, Kelly came out and stumbled slightly when she spotted Gordon King. He was sitting in his white Mercedes-Benz parked next to her car.

"Hi, just want to make sure it starts and you get home okay," he said.

"Thank you, Mr. King, but it's just not right," Kelly protested.

"Listen, I got to make sure you get to work all right," he smiled. "If you're not here then I have to put up with Berta."

Kelly laughed at his comment, got into her car and started it. She looked surprised; it didn't cough or give that slightly wheezing 'whirr' when she started it.

Pulling out onto Highway 27, she also noticed that the rear suspension had been fixed; there was no scraping sound when she went over the curb.

"I wonder..." she muttered and laughed when she put on the turn signal; it indicated that it was functioning.

Had Kelly known that the parts alone had cost close to four times the blue book value of the car, she would have cried. She would have also cried if she ever found out that any normal auto repair shop would have charged close to eleven hundred dollars in labor.

Chapter 4

Todd smiled as his father showed him the birthday present, a globe that stood seven feet tall.

"I mean, damn, know? Hear about this place or that place, this way you can look it up, you know?" Gordon said, spinning the huge globe.

"Thanks, Dad," Todd said.

Both Gordon and Todd laughed when Todd opened his present from his godfather. Terry Radcliffe had started a tradition when Todd was thirteen; his birthday gifts were the ugliest ties Terry could find and a hardcover science fiction book.

This year's tie was truly a hideous one in a vibrant green with red and yellow dots throughout.

"And also got you this," Gordon said, handing him a gaily wrapped present.

"Oh wow," Todd said as he opened the ebony box and saw the real ebony and ivory chess pieces and ebony and ivory chess board.

Gordon was smiling. Inside, however, it was heartbreaking that it was just him and Todd and Mrs. Greene celebrating Todd's eighteenth birthday. There wasn't even a card from Todd's mother.

It had been the same for Todd's seventeenth birthday. Just Todd, himself, and Mrs. Greene, in the large home, celebrating Todd's birthday.

Todd's thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth birthday had been celebrated at the hospital. Gordon was at least grateful that they were not celebrating Todd's eighteenth birthday at the Oncology Ward.

"And I got you a couple of music CDs; you do like Justin Bieber, right?" Mrs. Greene teased as Todd opened her gift to find several CDs of Handel, Haydn, and other classical composers.

"Nigel Kennedy?" Todd asked and had to smile at the young man's photograph.

The man was wearing a tuxedo but had on bright red tennis shoes and his hair was spiked up.

"Never heard of him, but he looked pretty radical," Mrs. Greene admitted. "And I did some snooping; you don't have any of those CDs in your room or in your car."

Todd's appetite was good and he actually ate two pieces of birthday cake. Mrs. Greene let a smile escape as Todd complimented her on the cake.

While Todd was feeding the Nigel Kennedy CD into his stereo, Amelia, Derek, and Arnold were sitting at Aunt Linda's house. The three teenagers were giving Freyja a hard time about 'The Amazing Andrew,' the amateur magician that Aunt Linda had hired.

"Shut up!" Freyja said. "I like magic, all right?"

"Maybe next year we can get you a clown," Derek taunted.

"Why? You're already here," Freyja snapped.

"All right, young lady, pick a card," Andrew said to Amelia, using the illusion as an excuse to stare down the front of Amelia's blouse at the eighteen year old girl's bra-less breasts. "Okay, now, show that card to everyone, everyone has seen it?"

"Now put it back in the deck?" Amelia guessed after showing everyone (that was paying any attention) that her card was the five of hearts.

"What? No, why would I want it?" The Amazing Andrew asked. "In fact, here, tear it up. I mean, really rip it to shreds."

"You serious?" Amelia asked.

"Just tear it all up and here, put the bits and pieces in here," the man said and took off his top hat.

Amelia shrugged and did tear the card to small pieces and put the pieces into the man's hat.

"Okay, now," Andrew said, again admiring the round globes and dark nipples of Amelia's breasts.

"You tore up your card, right? You put the pieces in here, right?"

"Yeah," Amelia agreed.

"Then why do I have your card right here?" Andrew asked, shuffling the remaining cards, then flipping over the first card, showing Amelia the five of hearts.

"Wait a minute!" Amelia protested.

"I mean, I thought I told you tear that card up," Andrew smiled again getting an eyeful of Amelia's

breasts as the girl looked into his hat to verify that there were pieces of card in his hat.

"Ha!" Freyja said to Arnold. "If magic's so stupid, how'd he do that, huh?"

"They're all the five of hearts," Arnold sneered.

"Oh, no sir, here, you can see for yourself," Andrew said, offering the deck of cards to Arnold. "It's a regular deck of cards."

"See?" Freyja said.

"And, you, Birthday Girl," Andrew said, holding out his hat. "Need you to dig in there, really mix up those bits and pieces your friend put in here, okay?"

Freyja reached into the top hat, affording the amateur magician a glimpse of her lacy bra and her almost non-existent breasts. She did have nice brown areolae and nipples though.

"Wait a minute, there's something else in here," Freyja said.

"Really?" Andrew said, squinting into his hat. "I don't see anything. Why don't you pull it out?"

"Oh!" Freyja gasped as she pulled out a gold chain and gold crucifix.

"Happy birthday from your Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob," Andrew smiled.

The magician then dumped the pieces of the card into the palm of his hand, blew on the pieces and they ignited with a flash.

"Now how'd you do that?" Amelia demanded to know.

"I'm amazing and it's magic," Andrew smiled and began packing up his case.

"Thank you so much," Freyja enthused, hugging her aunt and uncle.

While Todd King and Freyja Wertzin were celebrating their birthdays, Kelly Straughter was at her home, enjoying a Saturday off. The dental clinic was open for a half-day on Saturdays, but Berta was the one that had drawn the Saturday shift.

And in one month's time, Kelly planned to be in Houston, recovering from breast reduction surgery. At twenty nine years old, Kelly's back was already beginning to strain under the weight of her massive breasts.

By scrimping, careful planning, Kelly had saved up the money that the surgeon required. She had already made the reservation at the hotel. Kelly already filled out and had been approved for the credit to pay the balance of the surgery not covered by her insurance.

After drinking her cup of coffee, Kelly got started on the endless housework. First things first, she went into the laundry room and dug the clothes out of the dryer.

Kelly dumped Kerry's clothes onto the girl's bed, frowning. The bed was unmade. She didn't like that Kerry was out running the streets with her friend, Emily Lopez.

In Kelly's eyes, Emily Lopez was trouble. She was a bad influence on Kerry. Nineteen years old, still a junior in high school, and didn't seem the least bit concerned about it. She had several tattoos adorning her arms, belly, and back. And often, Emily's speech was slurred, her eyes glassy.

At that moment, Kerry was wishing she was at home, even if that meant having to help Kelly with the housework. Emily was having sex with David in the back seat of David's car, loudly encouraging David to fuck her. Neither David nor Emily were concerned that they had an audience.

When they finished having sex, Emily and David smoked two joints and snorted something that Emily had in her purse. Kerry's eyes opened wide; beer and weed was one thing, but snorting drugs was serious.

"Come on; take me to Abdul's, huh?" Emily asked.

"What? Why?" David asked, but did wiggle his jeans back up his legs.

He crawled out of the back seat. Unconcerned that anyone driving past the Basin might see her, Emily sat up and leisurely dressed again.

David opened the driver's door and Kerry opened the passenger door and crawled into the back seat. David made her uncomfortable. He kept 'accidentally' bumping into Kerry's breasts or rear whenever he was in close proximity to her.

"What we going Abdul's for?" Kerry asked.

"Just see what they got," Emily shrugged. "Why? Rather go to Babbage's?"

"Don't matter, can't afford nothing they got," Kerry shrugged.

"Babbage's right here," Davidsaid, causing the car to swerve when he twisted to peer into the back seat.

"Fuck!" Both David and Emily cried out when a police siren sounded from behind them.

Emily quickly pulled a small plastic bag out of her beat-up purse and put it into Kerry's purse. Emily's father had told Emily that if she was arrested once more for possession, she would be joining the military; he'd had enough of bailing his only daughter out of jail.

"Hi, been drinking?" Sargeant Elise Richards asked David.

"No ma'am," David said.

"Mind stepping out of the car?" Elise asked.

"Why?" David flippantly asked. "Told you I ain't been drinking."

"Sir, step out of the car. Now," Elise ordered.

David failed the field sobriety test. Glumly, he turned, leaned against his car and put his hands behind his back. Elise quickly patted him down, then pulled her handcuffs off of her belt.

"Girls, anyone y'all can call?" Elise asked as she handcuffed David.

"Come on, Babbage's is right there," Emily said, getting out of the back seat.

"Let me call my sister," Kerry said.

"Shit girl, used up all my minutes, talking with David," Emily admitted.

"Shit," Kerry complained.

"Come on," Emily said, pulling Kerry into Babbage's, the exclusive department store in Bender, Louisiana.

"Aw, girl, look at this, huh?" Emily said, picking up an IPad.

"What you do with that?" Kerry asked, looking at the odd contraption.

"Shit, download music, can watch movies on this; you can even do email on it," Emily said.

"Way out of my price range," Kerry said, looking at the price tag.

Kerry turned to look at cell phones; Kelly was hinting that Kerry might be getting one for her eighteenth birthday. Her birthday was only a few weeks away.

Emily picked that moment to drop the displayed IPad into Kerry's purse.

"Hi girls, mind coming with me?" An unsmiling woman asked as Kerry and Emily were preparing to leave the store.

Emily broke into a run, barreling through the doors of the store. A dumbstruck Kerry stood, mouth open.

"Little friend there left you all by yourself," a sales associate commented.

It had been the sales clerk that had alerted Security to the theft. Now, the sales associate and Kerry watched as the female security guard tackled Emly in the parking lot.

"What? What's going on?" Kerry asked; the sales associate did not answer.

"Fucking suing this store; I ain't done shit!" Emily screamed, kicking savagely at the guard.