Chapter 8
Bash and her sister got twenty-five years for their part in debunking the government.
In addition to that, they were to pay back the rental that they were staying in for free for the three hundred and fifty months that they stayed in the house.
That came to a whopping eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The card that they were supposed to be using for food came to just a bit more than that, and she couldn’t believe that Mary Beth still expected her to pay for it all.
“I don’t have that kind of money. What are you talking about?” She said that she could take out a loan. She didn’t want to go to prison. “I think that’s a done deal. You’re going regardless of whether you pay it off on your own or not.”
“Your honor, she should have to pay for some of it. She did send me money there for a while that I didn’t claim.
And the coats and shit that she sent the kids.
” The judge asked her what she thought was going to happen to her kids with her being in prison.
“I don’t know. I didn’t much like them anyway.
They’re whiny. I tried giving them to my sister for the money that she owes you, but you said that was selling my kids.
That’s not what it was at all. Just an exchange of items is all it is. ”
“That’s just selling them to her, in other words.
You have to know that no one is going to see it as anything different than selling your kids, don’t you?
” She said that people were just mean in wanting to find things wrong with the way that she was trying to get her bills paid.
“Regardless of how you put it, you’re still going to prison for twenty-five years plus whatever kind of sentence you get for selling your kids to your sister. ”
“You mean that I could get more time added to the other amount? That’s not going to work for me.
I don’t have any idea where you get off sentencing us to twenty-five years in the first place.
Everyone does that to their government stuff.
” He said that she’d been the only one who got caught.
“Yeah, and that’s not fair either. If not for my sister, none of this would have happened.
You should be putting her in jail for some of this.
She sent the kids the coats and school supplies. I didn’t ask her to do it.”
“Would your kids have had coats or supplies if not for her?” Mary Beth had told the judge that she didn’t want to spend money on shit like that.
“I’ve told you before to watch your language Ms. Humphrey, and I won’t tell you again.
I’ll start adding time onto your time in prison if you don’t behave. ”
“I’m not ten. And I’m sure you’ve heard that language before.
” He slammed down the hammer, and Emmie jumped.
She thought her sister would be better off keeping her mouth shut, but she’d never been able to do that, and now was no different.
“What’s that supposed to mean? That you’re some bigwig who sits up there passing judgement on the small people like me? ”
“That’s it exactly. I am the closest you’ll come to god, and you’d better remember that.” The judge looked around the room. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just as frustrated as you guys are. I don’t know how you put up with her, Mrs. Dixon.”
“It’s why I moved away when I was sixteen.
” He nodded as if he understood and moved on with what he was telling the two of them about their court hearing in January of next year.
She liked the idea that they’d be in jail all that time.
She and Cullen had put in a request to be the guardians of the kids until such time as they could adopt them, and all she had to wait on was the judge to say it was all right.
When the two of them were taken away, back to jail until such time as they could be transported to a federal prison, he asked her to stay for a few minutes so that he could go over the paperwork for the kids.
She gladly would do that and thought it was as good a time as any to be able to get it finished.
“I have no doubt that you can raise these children better than they had been. So I’m going to fast-track the adoption paperwork for the two of you.
” She told him thanks, that she’d not expected that.
“No, you deserve those kids more than the parents did. I can’t understand why they had them in the first place if they weren’t going to raise them right.
Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have children, but there’s nothing I can do about that.
So, you and your husband have full custody of the children as of the moment the paperwork is filed, and I’ll make sure that it’s filed by this afternoon if not first thing in the morning. ”
“Thank you, your honor. I don’t know what else to say.
” He said that he thought that the kids had suffered enough having those two as their parents.
“Even though one of them is related to me, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I promise you that we’ll raise them to be loved and shown what it is to have three meals on the table, too.
I love them already and will care for them for the rest of their lives. ”
“I know you will. And I wanted to personally thank you for your help today. It might not have that much difference in the long run, but with your help, it showed what sort of parents and people they’ve been all along.
How they slipped through the cracks is beyond me, but hopefully the department will take better care in looking into these kinds of people from now on.
” She agreed with him on that. “Now you take those little ones to your heart and love them the way that they should have been all along. I know that you two will do a good job. If not, then those parents and grandparents of Cullen will step in, and that will be the end of that.”
The judge laughed hard as he was getting up from his chair. She thought it was funny that he should mention the elder Dixon family. She thought that the Simpson part of the Dixon crew would be just as hard on them. She’d met them all and found them to be the best family that she’d ever encountered.
On her way home, she thought about Cullen.
She wanted to reach out to him to see what was going on, but was afraid that she’d interrupt him while he was working.
While she didn’t know what he was doing, Emmie knew that it was dangerous and that with her talking to him, he might get hurt.
She didn’t want anything to happen to him while he was away.
She didn’t know why there wasn’t someone else around that could do what he was doing.
He’d told her that he was retired, and to her, that meant that he wouldn’t be working anymore.
Whatever it could be that he was doing had to be something specialized, particular to him, and that he was the only one who could do it.
While she believed that it could be something like that, she didn’t want to believe that it was dangerous for him.
Because as surely as she was thinking about it, she knew that it was more than just a little bit dangerous.
After getting home and deciding that it was just too quiet there, she went to pick up the kids.
They were earning their keep today, what Betty had told them they’d be doing, by picking up sticks out of the yard that had been blown down by the last storm.
They actually seemed excited about it, and she was happy that they were going to be spending the day outside. It was a beautiful day today.
They were right where she expected them to be, and the pile of sticks was huge.
They must have gotten right to work after being dropped off, and their hard work showed.
Even Beth seemed to be working hard, and she watched as she tossed her handful of sticks up on the pile that they’d made.
Laughing a little, she was happy that the kids were learning something from the elder Dixons.
Sometimes you had to work for something that you wanted.
“Come on in and have a glass of lemonade with us. We were just about ready to take a break. They’ve been working since after breakfast.” With a small wink at her, Betty invited her in with the kids.
“You’ve done me a huge favor by picking up the sticks, and I’m going to reward you both.
Do you want money or do you want a treat? ”
“What’s a treat?” Betty explained it to Beth and told her that it would be a gift of something that they didn’t expect. “I think I’d rather have a treat then. I’m too little to have money. Besides, Daddy said it’s worthless anyway unless you get a lot. I don’t suppose you’re paying us a lot.”
“Do you think you did a good enough job to earn a lot of money? Be honest now. I don’t want to give you too little when you think it’s worth a great deal more.
” Beth talked it over with Marshall, and they came up with a good amount.
Five dollars seemed like enough money for them.
“I was thinking you did a better job than that. I’m going to pay you ten dollars each and then take you to the store so that you can spend it on something you want. ”
“I want to save it.” Marshall sipped his drink and smiled.
“I think a treat would be nice, but I’m having such a good time earning my living that I’m going to work hard all the time.
If you need anything done from me, Ms. Betty, you let me know.
I’m going to work for what I want and save it all up. ”
“That’s wonderful, Marshall.” Betty looked at Beth. “You want your treat, and that’s wonderful too. However you wish to have your payment made to you, is all right with me.”