Chapter 6 #2
Then he’d met and married Rachel. He was sure that was her name because his daughter had said her name was Sharon.
She’d been an all right person when he’d met her.
Going to work every day meant that he had money to spend when he wanted it.
Also, since she worked all day, he had her apartment to himself for most of the day, and that suited him just fine as well.
Richard could get into all kinds of trouble during that time, and he usually got to knock her around, too, when she came home complaining about working all day and then having to clean up after him, too.
He nipped that in the bud before it became too much of an issue.
Then one night during his robbery period, she’d been with him.
Richard would always say that it was because of her being with him that got him caught.
They’d been stealing a car that they really didn’t need—it was just the joy of it for him when the police came out of nowhere and busted up their little fun.
Of course, it wasn’t just the car that they’d taken, but they’d robbed the house.
He’d also tied up the homeowner and beat him up a bit, too.
That made it so that he had a home invasion on his record, too.
He’d been surprised that Rachel had gotten any prison time at all.
All she’d done was complain about getting caught.
Then, when they got to the house, she refused to go inside with him, so he’d done all the other stuff on his own.
He’d actually enjoyed beating the man and had been thinking about it a great deal since then.
If he’d been sure that there wasn’t a cell phone on her when they’d gotten to the house, he was positive that she’d called the cops on him.
It would have been just like her to do something like that.
She was forever bitching about how he didn’t have a real job, but he thought that robbing people of things that he wanted was hard work.
She never understood that. Then there was the fact that she left him with their kid all day long while she worked.
She refused to take her with her, and that would piss him off.
But every day, he had to keep an eye on the kid just to make sure that she wasn’t hurt.
By the time she was old enough to go to school, it got easier, but he still resented the fact that he had to make sure that she was healthy and unharmed when Rachel got home from work every day.
And she’d check her out, too, just to make sure that there were no bruises on her.
While she could be a pussy about some things, she sure was a good momma in keeping him in check over the kid.
He might well have enjoyed knocking her around a bit.
She’d been an uppity sort of kid. Then, when they’d gone to prison, she’d made sure that someone would watch over her and picked her momma over his own.
Not that he knew where she was or anything, but he was hurt that she’d never even asked about her.
Feeling better about going to sleep, he laid down on the cot and closed his eyes.
He’d had fun in prison, but it wasn’t a place that he wanted to go back to.
Just too many rules were holding him back from having some real fun.
Like none of the guards would allow him to touch their gun. That was just fucked up.
Also, he couldn’t get in merchandise like he wanted, so that he could make some hard money.
Too many rules is what he thought, and didn’t understand why, with all the rules, someone didn’t pass some kind of law about it.
Laughing to himself, he couldn’t believe the shit that would come up in his mind.
If people could hear some of the shit that he thought of sometimes, he’d be in some kind of loony bin. Or a padded room for sure.
Finally able to get some sleep, he thought about tomorrow.
He was going to have to figure out a way to get out of the mess he was in and get his daughter to turn over her money to him.
He’d not harmed her as a kid, and that should get him something, he figured.
Even if she didn’t give it all to him, she should at least give him half of it.
It’s what he deserved after all the years that he’d had to put up with her bull shit.
~*~
Standing in his office, Kendrick popped his neck twice before he felt like he could face his patients. He’d been in a sour mood since he’d left the jail, and it wasn’t getting any better. Just as he was set to go out and see his first patient of the day, his door opened, and there stood Sharon.
“Are you in a better mood?” He just growled at her.
“Very mature. I know you understand how to use your words. But in the event you care about my opinion, I thought that yesterday went well. I got to tell him off, and you got to be all macho and take some of his blood. I thought for sure you’d be tormenting him about now, but here you are with your feelings hurt, acting like a child without any cookies. ”
“I’m not being childish.” He realized how badly he sounded and growled again.
“I’m not being childish. I’m pissed off because he thinks that you’re stupid enough to just hand over the money without questioning him about it.
You’re not going to do that and never would.
How would he begin to think that was ever going to happen? ”
“I’m sure it’s because he thinks that it’s his way or nothing.
And he’s gotten used to that somehow, and now he thinks that the world owes him, and he can do just whatever he wants.
Are you going to sulk all day?” He said that he wasn’t sulking either.
“Could have fooled me. You’re really in a shitty mood, and I’m not. I wonder why that is.”
“Because you can’t see into his mind to see the things that he’s done.
Not to mention he’s stupid. Did I tell you last night that he can barely read?
That’s the type of person that we’re dealing with right now.
” She said she didn’t care what his mentality was.
“I do. I wonder if it was his upbringing.”
“His father was a pastor at one time, and when Dick started acting out, they asked him to step down. About the time, he was being kicked out of school, too. He was a freshman at seventeen and not going to pass the grade for the third time.” He asked her how she’d found that out.
“Cass did one of those deep background checks on him and my mom. The only reason that she ended up in prison is that she was with him the night he was arrested. They claimed that she was driving the getaway car. I don’t know how that was to work since he stole a car and was driving it when they caught him. ”
“Where were you when this went down?” She told him she’d never thought to ask. “More than likely in the car with one of them. They neither one sounds like they have much in the way of intelligence.”
“Mom didn’t graduate from high school either.
The reason is that she got pregnant with me.
Her parents kicked her out, or she might well have gone on to make something of herself.
As it was, she and my dad got married so that she could put him on her insurance at her job.
That’s what Cass figured out. Because almost as if the ink had dried, he was on her insurance policy at work. ”
“Have you been talking to your mom?” She said other than that first time, no, she hadn’t. “Why not? I thought you wanted to get to know her.”
“I’m going to call her once in a while, but I have no feelings toward her.
I don’t remember her at all from when I was a child.
And she did drop me off at my grannie’s home without telling me why.
Grannie didn’t say either, but someone should have told me.
I just thought that they didn’t want me anymore. ”
“I want you. I love you.” She smiled at him, and he felt better than he had all morning. “You’re very sneaky on how you got me out of my bad mood. Thank you for that. I didn’t know how I was going to see patients with this anger built up.”
“There was no reason for you to be angry in the first place. He’s in jail and will be there for a while.
Also, did you know that he’s threatened the police taking care of him?
He’s making a list of people that piss him off so that he can have them taken care of when he has all the money.
Do you think he has any idea how much money there is?
” Kendrick said he doubted that the amount means all that much to him; he just wants it because he doesn’t have it.
“True. I can see that. He’s like a bully who wants all the toys on the play lot and gets pissy when he can’t have them all.
Yeah, I can see that being the way he thinks. ”
“Do you want to know how much money we have?” She shook her head and smiled at him. “Why not? I mean, there is a great deal of it to be had. I’ve done very well for myself—for us, I mean.”
“I’m happy that I have a roof over my head and food in my belly.
That I can go to the store and get what I want when I want it, so long as I don’t go nuts.
” He told her she’d have to go really nuts to spend it all.
“I won’t do that. But you tell me that we’re all right, and I believe you.
Putting a number on it will just make me crazy, so that I have something else to worry about.
Is it enough that I don’t have to worry about it? ”
“There’s more than enough for you to not ever have to worry about it. I promise.” She nodded and told him she was headed home. “Did you only come here to get me out of my mood? If so, I can’t thank you enough.”
“I came to chase you around the office, but I figured that wouldn’t work out when I got here. You’re really busy.” He said that it was Monday. “I’ll have to remember that from now on. I can’t have any fun with you here at work on Mondays.”