Ding Dong!! Is She Dead?

by Alathia Morgan

  Chapter 12

  Monday morning was an adjustment for the whole group. Justin went to take care of the chores before anyone was up. His dad met him out in the barn to start feeding the animals. The other ranch hands normally showed up around 7 a.m. to help finish up the chores and get started on the field work for that season. His mother normally cooked breakfast for them and sent them back out to work in the fields. On days when Justin stayed in town he got there with the ranch hands, helping finish whatever hadn’t been taken care of.

  The ladies were all up and showered by the time the chores were done. Justin and his dad stopped in the washroom to clean up and found that breakfast was almost ready.

  Sally was helping his mom in the kitchen while Allie set the table. Karen was setting out the chicken to thaw. Megan was preparing the vegetables that would go in the crockpot so that it would be ready for dinner that night. Seeing all of them working together like one big family, gave Justin hope that these ladies would be able to recover from the painful scars that violence had given them.

  “Good morning ladies.” Mr. James said as he walked in and gave the cook a big kiss.

  Swatting her hand at him, “James, behave there are children present.” She gave Sally a big wink. Having been married for almost 40 years there wasn’t much that their children hadn’t seen in the way of hugging and smooching. He blew her a kiss as he walked out with the last tray of cups to be put on the table.

  “I think that it’s sweet that you guys still like each other enough to flirt. That gives me hope there might be some nice men left in the world. I didn’t think that they existed.”

  Megan had never been around anyone that displayed affection with their spouse before. Sure, in high school there was always someone making out, but not a married couple flirting. That was for the bedroom, which was not to be spoken of in polite circles.

  Karen spoke for G.G., “They have been chasing each other for many years, thank goodness they keep it all P.G rated for those of us who don’t want our eyes to fall out. G.G. and James have kept it together by always expressing themselves and I’ve heard they keep it spicy in the bedroom. It has been a good example for the rest of us even when they fight, they always have made up eventually.”

  Allie had never seen a married couple flirt, all of her foster parents had at least tolerated each other. Most of them cared enough about the happiness of the other person. Watching this family maybe she could find a way to make a relationship into a lasting marriage.

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  Karen took the ladies out after breakfast for the shooting practice. While Allie had no problem holding a hand gun, a shotgun was a little more difficult. Sally had lots of fun with the B.B. guns trying to shoot the coke cans off of the tree stumps. Megan on the other hand was not quite so willing to join in.

  “Now, that Allie and Sally are top notch shooters, we have to give Megan a chance to see what she is made of.” Karen was hoping that some light joking would take away thoughts about what they were really practicing to shoot at.

  Allie saw the trouble that Megan was having and suggested that she take Sally back to the house to cool off for a while out of the hot Texas sun.

  Megan just nodded okay and waited for them to be out of hearing range. “I don’t really feel comfortable shooting a gun. I know all of the reasons that G.G. gave last night, but I just don’t like the idea that I might have to use one of those on Mike.”

  Karen understood her dilemma, “You still love him, don’t you?”

  Megan just nodded her head. She put her hands in her face and started crying. “I really shouldn’t love him after all that he did to me. I know that up here.” She tapped her head with her finger, and then pointed to her heart. “It’s here that I can’t tell how to feel.” Tears were running down her face as she tried to stop crying.

  Karen sat next to her on the stump, scooting Megan’s bootie until they could both sit there.

  “The thought of violence is repulsive to many people, but in this case we know that there is someone that is ready and willing to use violence against you and others that you care about. Loving him explains why you were able to stay with him for so long. Even if you can’t do something for yourself, you have to remember that you have Sally. While I know that Mike beating you up or trying to kill weren’t exactly the best way to leave your situation; I am so glad that you are going to be able to build a new future with Sally. You are giving her a chance to have a different future than you were given.”

  “Megan, you have been telling us that you have not had a good example of how to love, but you have been looking to others and not inside of yourself. You are the only example that Sally will care about and you have shown her love constantly since she has been born. Now, you have a chance to show her how other good people can love her by the family that has chosen to take you in. The Greenleys may make mistakes, but taking you in even with all of the risks shows that they can love even those that aren’t blood relatives.”

  “While no one expects you to shoot Mike, there will always be evil people out there for who we need to defend ourselves from. I haven’t ever had to shoot anyone so I can’t help you if that happens, but I do know that knowledge can be a deterrent to someone else that might try to harm you.”

  Karen would never force or urge a person to go against their convictions, but she didn’t think that was what was holding Megan back.

  Megan sat there listening to what Karen was saying, but even though her words made sense logically, she just wasn’t sure that she had any love left in her. Learning to shoot was a simple thing to do considering all that Karen and the Greenleys had done for them. Assuming that they wouldn’t leave her in peace until she learned how to shoot, Megan stood and faced Karen. “All right let’s get this done.”

  Sally had put new cans up before she left, so Megan walked over to a small table they had put up to hold the guns, targets and ammo. She put on the earplugs, picked up the shot gun, made sure that there were shells in it, raised it to her shoulder and shot. She was determined to get this over with so that she could move on and try not to think about what would happen when Mike came for her again.

  She hit the first target knocking over both cans on the first try. Using Sally as her inspiration, she picked up the hand gun and flipped the safety off. Using both hands to make sure that she had a firm grip, she squared up both legs and slowly squeezed the trigger. Hitting the other target, she put the safety back on and took the earplugs out. She jogged out to pick up the target cans and headed back to a stunned Karen.

  “I never said that I couldn’t shoot, just that I didn’t want to. I live in Texas after all. Can we go back to the house now?”

  Megan didn’t mean to sound bitchy, but she was tired of being treated like she had no idea how to do anything.

  “Mike may have taken my self- respect and confidence, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t lived in the world for the past 30 years. I actually knew how to do a few things before I married Mike. It’s like riding a bike, something that you never forget.” Megan took the ammo and targets with her as she headed to the house not waiting for Karen to join her.

  Karen shut her gaping mouth and smiled. That was the Megan they had been hoping was inside. She was a fighter; it would just take a while for it to resurface from all those years of hiding.

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  Justin had finished up for the day and planned to clean up then have lunch. While lunch was normally one of the highlights in a long day of work, during the hottest part of the summer it signaled the siesta break of the day. Justin was looking forward to seeing Allie at lunch and talking her into getting out of the house and into town for a while if Karen would let her go.

  Feeling the quiet atmosphere when he came in, he looked to see where everyone was. His mom was in her office taking care of ordering tractor parts that they would need next week. He waved and continued searching. He found Allie and Sally in the play room taking advantage of the foos
ball table for a little practice before the weekend when all the other grandchildren would be in to challenge Sally.

  “Hey, beautiful ladies.” Justin included Sally making her giggle.

  “I’m not a lady, Mr. J. I’m just a beautiful child. You have to be old to be a lady.” Sally took advantage of Allie’s distraction of looking at Justin to score a goal.

  “No, fair it was a time out.” Allie pouted at Sally.

  “Okay we can redo that one point, because he was a disturbance to our game. Ugh! Men!” Sally shook her head at Justin so seriously.

  “I’m gonna take a shower and then we can go grab some lunch and pick up that stuff from the apartment that you needed. Sorry for disturbing you, my lady and child.” Justin bowed to them and backed out trying hard not to laugh at Sally’s unintentional play on words.

  Allie finished by letting Sally have the very last point that broke their tie breaker.

  “I think that you might be able to beat some of the other kids that come over this weekend to hang out, but it will only be us kids playing. You will be doing something that grownups do while we have all the fun down here. Thanks for letting me play so that I can make Timothy take back all those times he says, ‘I’m just a girl’. Cause girls can be good at sports and games too, right Allie?” Sally was already planning poor Timothy’s downfall.

  “Girls, can win at sports, but it’s not really nice to gloat when we win. It could make the other person feel really bad about losing.” Allie was trying to make sure that Sally didn’t take it too far if she won.

  “Exactly! Last time he did this dance about him winning and me losing. I didn’t like it at all.” Sally was certain that she could show him just how awesome girl-power could be.

  Knowing that Sally could continue with explanations for quite a while, Allie decided they should head back upstairs instead of continuing a discussion of the battle of the sexes with a seven year old.

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  Justin and Allie headed out to Justin’s truck with the promise that if there were any problems, they were to call 911 or Karen’s cell phone immediately. They were going to check in on Julie and see how her recovery was going.

  Allie had worked out the sore muscles, but would have to recover from the nightmares which would probably continue until this whole situation was over with.

  Julie was in a secure room of her own now that it had been two days since they had moved her from ICU. The nurses were glad to see Allie and she promised that she would bring them new Nova brochures when she came to see Julie the next day.

  Following the nurse in charge of Julie’s room, she checked to make sure that Julie wanted visitors since Justin was with Allie. Motioning them into the room, they saw that Julie was awake, but she still didn’t look good.

  “So we meet at the hospital again? Can we please stay out of this place for a while?” Allie pulled the chair up close to the bed so that she could be closer.

  “I’m alive. I’m told that it was this guy that saved my life. There is nothing that can say ‘Thank you’ enough, but I want you to know that I am so glad that you were there for both Allie and I. I won’t forget it.”

  Julie had leaned forward to shake Justin’s hand and when she laid back it was as if all her energy had gone into that handshake.

  “They didn’t think that I would make it. I was in surgery for 6 hours and then they kept monitoring me to make sure that they hadn’t missed something when they were in there. Mike stabbed me at least 10 times, but he managed to miss any major arteries. Not so lucky were my organs, some were just nicked and then the other wounds weren’t quite as deep as they first thought. They got everything stitched up inside and had to give me two transfusions. They were able to get me stabilized.”

  “I won’t be able to work again for at least six months and possibly a year depending how things heal. They wouldn’t tell me anything except that you and Megan were okay. What is going on?”

  Julie was so glad to see someone other than a nurse that she might have over done it with her question and answer session. She took a deep breath and hit the button for a nurse to come in.

  “Well, as far as we know Mike has never been found. Megan and Sally stayed at the Greenley’s house last night. Karen stayed out there with us and they are going to let us stay until this has been resolved. No, more hotels and traveling for us. They have really been awesome.”

  Allie wasn’t sure how much she should tell Julie or even what had been done about the Mike situation.

  “We all had target practice with their guns this morning, so if Mike shows up again we won’t be as defenseless as we have been.”

  The nurse came in to answer Julie’s call and give her some more pain pills.

  “Thanks for coming by guys, but these drugs knock me out so I can rest. Justin, take care of her. She is a rare find these days.” Julie could barely keep her eyes open as the I.V. allowed the medicine hit her system.

  “We will come see you tomorrow. Rest and get better, Julie. Bye.” Allie headed to the door.

  Justin leaned in and kissed Julie’s cheek, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her as long as she lets me catch her at some point. I’ve got her protected for you, just rest.”

  Leaving the hospital room, Justin reached over and took Allie’s hand. Allie wasn’t sure what it meant, but decided that she would just roll with it and see what where this led.

  Chapter 13

  Knowing that Allie had to get her business taken care of so that she could relax, Justin took her by the apartment and helped her load the freight that had shown up that afternoon. Since, she would be working out of his place for the foreseeable future; she grabbed her laptop and enough supplies to get her through a week.

  They took another detour so that they could go by the service station that had towed Allie’s car. Thankfully her demos and books had been in the trunk so they were still intact with no weather damage. Mostly it was the starter backs and current books that needed to be transferred to Justin’s truck. Justin said that he would take care of the glove box and extras while she went to the office.

  Arranging with the owner to have the insurance adjuster come out and take pictures was not difficult. He was willing to let them in so that Allie didn’t have to make a special trip out. The faster they inspected it, the faster he got paid for the towing. They could take care of it and then call her with the information so that they could go ahead and process the claim.

  She was glad that she wouldn’t have to come back unless they could fix her vehicle. Since that seemed highly unlikely she went ahead with her goodbye.

  “Goodbye, faithful car. It has been an honor to use your luxurious seats and air-conditioning in this hot Texas weather. You have done a wonderful job. Go to your salvage yard rest. Peace out!” She tapped her two fingers on her chest in the peace sign.

  Since, coming to Texas, Allie had realized that all cars had air-conditioning. It wasn’t an upgrade or optional in the South, it was a necessity. Southerners always had the air on more than was necessary. Allie was certain that it was to make up for the extreme heat of the summer. When the seasons changed they just forgot to adjust the thermometer. Since it was so hot all year long they never really had a very long winter.

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  Back at Justin’s house, they unloaded everything into his living room so that Allie could sort and organize it into something useable. After two hours, they had all of the orders sorted according to her route. Allie still hadn’t had a chance to read her emails or check on her team’s status. She only had a few team members so it didn’t take long for her to look over all of her updates and see who needed some help with any problems that had come up.

  Answering a few minor questions, it seemed like everyone was doing okay after the weekend. Allie sent a quick message to everyone, thanking them for placing their orders and to let them know that she would be out of pocket for most of the week. If there were any emergencies to call the Nova customer se
rvice line or Mrs. Pat so that they could handle the problem as quickly as possible.

  Justin had sat watching Allie efficiently organize a very chaotic mess into a business system that would let them get it all done before the customers had to leave work for the day. Picking up his extra gun to put in the truck, they loaded up and went to deliver her orders.

  Not quite as jolly as she had been the week before, Allie still chatted and took care of their orders. Since it had been hectic the week before, there hadn’t been as much time to collect everyone’s orders so when Allie showed up this week most of the ladies had their orders written down and ready for her. This was one of the nice parts of getting to know your customers’ needs, because they started shopping on their own without having to be shown all of the wonderful sales all the time. A lot of Allie’s customers didn’t have a chance to look at their books until they were home for the evening or on a break at work. She split up her rounds each week so that she was able to see different people and not overwhelm them with specials or offers all of the time. There were a few places that she tried to get to every week, like Dollie’s salon, since so many different people came through each week.

  Justin opted to sit out in the truck for this delivery since he knew it would include lots of speculation about his presence. Sure enough as soon as Allie stepped in the shop she was assaulted with questions.

  “Who tried to attack you on Friday night? Was there anyone in the car with you? Where have you been all of this time? We were worried about you.”

  The words were jumbled up since they were coming from all directions and were hard to hear because of the hair dryers and running water. Realizing that Allie hadn’t responded, the room fell silent waiting to see what she had to say.