Chapter 2
Emmie had the weekend off and decided that since she had the time, she’d fly home and see what was going on with her niece and nephew.
She’d never met them as yet, but she’d been buying them school supplies for the last five years.
Coats and gloves longer than that, even.
As she made plane reservations, she thought of the little bed and breakfast that had been in town that she’d heard so much about, and decided to stay there.
After making plans to stay there, she started packing her bags for a three-day stay and decided that she might even take the entire week off, as she had the time and money to do so.
Not that she was rich. She only had the money because she saved every penny that she made and didn’t do things on the spur of the moment.
She also didn’t own a car, nor did she have a big place to stay.
She rented a smallish studio apartment that had the living room and bedroom combined.
It was tight and small and perfect for her.
She thought for sure that she liked it better than most of her friends’ places that were open and large.
She decided, too, not to take much in the way of cash.
She wasn’t planning on giving her sister any of her hard-earned money, and if she didn’t have it, then she couldn’t.
At least that’s what she told herself. Mary Beth, being with her husband, Bash Humphrey, was a couple of deadbeats.
The fact that they had two children boggled her mind.
She’d never met the two of them before and was looking forward to getting to know them while she was there over the weekend.
Also, if it went well, she might stay the week.
However, she wasn’t going to be making any kind of plans to hang out with her sister and brother-in-law.
They could fend for themselves for all she cared about the two of them.
Her plane was on time, and she arrived in Columbus right on time, too.
As she was renting a car to drive to Dresden, she decided that she’d get one with four doors rather than two so that she could haul the kids around if necessary.
She was about as excited to meet them as she was about anything that she was doing.
Hoping that Bash was still in jail, she thought that she’d take Mary Beth out to lunch, too, just so they could get to know one another again.
It had been ten years since she’d left home at sixteen, and that was the last time she’d seen her for any length of time except when they got married.
And that was just for a couple of hours before they got into a fight, and she came home to avoid being put in jail for knocking the shit out of Bash when he made a pass at her.
The stupid man had only been married for an hour when he tried to get her to go out with him.
She hated him on sight and couldn’t see what her sister saw in the man.
The bed and breakfast was perfect for her. There was only one room, and they served breakfast every morning. After unpacking her things and taking a shower, she felt like she could face her sister and meet the kids. Emmie called her sister to find out what she was doing.
“I’m waiting to visit Bash. He’s still in jail.
No thanks to you. What is it you want?” She told her how she was in town and wanted to meet the kids.
“They’re at home. And did you bring enough money with you?
I want Bash out of jail now so that I can be with him.
You have no idea what it’s like to have to talk between bars. ”
“No, I didn’t bring any cash with me. I came to see you anyway.” She said that she might not have time. “That’s all right. I can get to know the kids. Do you care if I go by your place and get them? I’ll take them to lunch.”
“Only if you bring me something to eat, too. Why can’t I go with you?” She said that she could, that she’d rented a car that they could all go places in. “If you were to pay for Bash getting out of jail, we could all go. But you’re being selfish, and that’s what you always are.”
“Do you want to go or not? I don’t care one way or the other. I’ve come here to see the kids.” She said she’d go, but she wasn’t going to stop demanding money to get Bash out. “I didn’t figure you would. I’ll pick you up first, then we can go and get the kids.”
“Whatever. You’re not going to be happy with the house.
I’ve not had time to clean it up since I’ve been here with Bash all the time.
I’ve had to use some of my card money to pay for a sitter at nighttime.
They won’t let me see him, but I find that I have to be close to him so that I can be around him.
You’d never understand that.” She said that she wouldn’t, but that was all right too.
“You need a man in your life so that you can understand how I feel about Bash. There is no one better than he is, and if you got your head out of your ass and got to know him, you’d see that too. ”
Ignoring her sister over figuring out what Bash did with her to make her so loyal, she told her that she’d pick her up in ten minutes.
The jail couldn’t have been that far away, so she decided to drive around until she found it.
Emmie knew that the town was small and was surprised that she found the jail within three minutes of leaving the bed and breakfast. They were nearly neighbors.
Picking up Mary Beth turned out to be a big deal.
Bash wanted to know what she was going to be doing with his kids and asked her how much she was going to pay him to see them.
She told them that she could just go back home and not bother with him at all, and that shut him up.
He said that Mary Beth would have an easier time getting the money from her if they were face-to-face anyway.
She doubted that. Emmie had been telling her sister no for a long time and thought that she was made of sterner stuff than Bash.
Who was an idiot as far as she was concerned.
Her place was a mess, and there were dishes in the sink just like usual. The entire place smelled, and she couldn’t stand to use her bathroom. She didn’t have any idea how she was able to use anything in the house, as it had thick dust on everything that wasn’t moved every day.
She wished that she’d left her sister at the jail when she took her to lunch.
All she did was complain about how Bash would have enjoyed going out to eat, too, and complained about how much she missed him.
The kids were standoffish. She didn’t doubt that they believed everything that Mary Beth told them about her, and she wasn’t going to win them over in a couple of days.
She doubted that she’d ever be able to win them over enough for a hug when Mary Beth kept pointing out that she was the reason that Bash was in jail.
She’d not had a thing to do with him tying the kids up to the car so that he could play cards, and tried to point that out to them.
The younger one finally looked at her mom and told her that Dad had hurt them when he’d done that.
“How else was he supposed to get some entertainment? They don’t allow kids in the house when they’re playing cards.
You two would have been in the way. I don’t think anyone would have bothered you, but the police got their arms all up in the air about it, and now he’s in jail.
” Marshall, the older of the two of them, said he’d missed a court date.
Again. “Whatever. He wouldn’t have had to be in court if the police had just left him alone.
They’re forever trying to get him into trouble with one thing or another. ”
“Perhaps if he had a job that he went to daily, then he’d be all right with the police.
” Mary Beth told her how it messed up their food card if he worked, and that was the reason that he didn’t.
Plus, she pointed out he had a bit of a back trouble that kept him from holding down a full-time job, too.
“There are jobs that would accommodate his back for him.”
“You just don’t understand the workings of the welfare system.
They have rules about him working. I’m a stay-at-home mom for the brats, and that’s why I don’t have to work.
I could if I wanted to, but I don’t see any reason for me to work when I’m getting everything that I want for free.
They even give us cheese and food when they have enough of it from the pantry. ”
“Yes, I can see where that would be handy.” Mary Beth seemed to think that she was finally understanding when she wanted to knock her around into thinking like an adult instead of someone working the system.
She thought that for all the work she put into working the system, she could have a full-time job and not have to be in the system at all.
“I realize that some people have to have the system so that they can have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies, but the two of you seem well enough to work.”
“Again, you don’t understand what we have to do to have the system work for us.
It’s complicated.” Obviously too complicated for Emmie to understand, she said.
“We have to work hard at being able to get what we need from them. Or they’ll cut us off.
And as hard as we worked to get into the housing, as well as the food card—do you have any idea how much a month we get for having a food card?
It’s nearly a thousand bucks a month just for food.
Then they give us travel money on account of us neither one having a car to drive ourselves around to get to appointments and whatnot. ”