We all felt like we’d taken a smack across the face.
Serena saw our looks. “That was his word not mine. My mother was kind and loving to me. He on the other hand despised me. How you can despise a child, I’m not sure, but he did. I swear the man had no soul. No one in town liked him, yet his business boomed. Mainly because he was a good lawyer and could get most people off. There was talk that he paid off the judges, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Even though business was good, he did nothing to help mother and me.”
Serena shifted in her seat and looked down at the floor. “My mother worked two waitress jobs and it still wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Clifford had more than enough but would he help us? Not on your life. He’d rather see us starve than raise a hand to help us. Even at my tender age, I grew to despise him and the way he treated my mother. I hated going over to his office, but once a week mother and I would go. He’d usually berate her, look at me as if I had the plague, and then toss a few coins at her so we’d leave. I hated how he treated her and I was angry with my mother for allowing herself to be treated in such a fashion. Where was her pride? My young mind didn’t understand that mother went through the abuse so she could get the measly amount of money he gave us each week to ensure I was fed and clothed. She didn’t care about herself, wearing the same tattered dresses and shoes year after year. It was because of me that she put up with the abuse he divved out to her weekly. I hated him. Here I was, this little girl, consumed with hatred.”
I glanced over at Stormi, Paige and Bruce. They were entranced with the story unfolding in front of us. I shifted in my chair and it creaked mercilessly. Serena stopped, but didn’t look up.We all held our breath, not know if we should say anything or remain quiet. Then she continued.
“One day my mother finally stood up for herself. She and my uncle argued. It had to do with their parent’s inheritance. It was supposed to be divided equally between the two of them, but at the time, my mother was a minor, so the court put her share in a trust for her. However, since Clifford was over 18, he was named the trustee or whatever they call it. Anyway, he was in charge of it. Mother was so distraught over her parents’ death; she didn’t understand anything about a trust or the money in it. She didn’t even know she had money coming to her.”
“The day Clifford and his partner had their falling out, we had just arrived. There was yelling, quite a commotion.”
“Your mother told us about that,” Stormi interjected.
“Yes, she still remembers certain things from that day, but not all of it,” Serena replied.
The air in the room grew tense. We knew we were about to hear something that had lain hidden for many years. I’d almost forgotten about Winchester and when I felt him rub against my legs as he sat on his haunches it almost sent me through the roof. I bent over to pet his head and immediately felt calm. I was glad to have him in my life. I was finding that even in unsettled times, he had a relaxing effect on me.
Serena looked over at Winchester and smiled. “I wished I’d had a dog while growing up. Perhaps it would have made times less lonely.”
My heart ached for Serena. She’d been holding in something dreadful for all these years. I hoped she would find some peace after divulging what it was.
“When Uncle Clifford’s partner left that day he saw us in the front waiting area. He walked up to my mother and told her that at one time, she had a trust fund that contained $20,000, but Clifford took the money and spent it. I remember my mother shaking her head. She told him it couldn’t be true. The man told her to look into it, that her brother was shady and he couldn’t leave without telling her the truth.”
“That day my mother confronted Clifford about the trust fund and he confessed! He told her that yes he took the money and used it towards building his legal career. He knew she’d just squander it so he thought it would be put to better use if he took it. He had no shame whatsoever. My mother screamed at him that it was her inheritance and he had no right to it. He didn’t care. Then my mother asked if he took the money then why not help us out more rather than making her beg for a few coins each week. He looked her square in the eye and said he liked watching her beg. That it was his weekly entertainment.”
We heard how malicious this Clifford Ewing was, but this was beyond the pale. How could you treat anyone, let alone your own sister and neice, like that? I could see Bruce clenching his jaw and the fire in Stormi and Paige’s eyes. The man had been dead a long time, but his sinister deeds still resonated through this woman.
Serena twisted a ring on her finger as she continued her tale. “My mother ran out of the building and to the bench outside where she sat and cried. I watched her from the large window unable to move. My uncle walked out of his office and up the stairs to the second floor. He never looked at me. I wanted to go to my mother and hold her, but I couldn’t. Something was building within me. A hatred I felt for him only compounded. I walked up the stairs to the second floor. I wanted my turn. He never paid me any mind, but today would be different. Even if I simply screamed ‘I hate you’ I knew I’d feel better than having it locked up inside me.”
“I found him upstairs going through a file cabinet. When he turned to look at me his eyes appeared crazed, as if they twirled in his eye sockets. ‘What do you want?’ he yelled at me. The anger I felt only a few seconds before washed away in an instant. Now all I felt was unequivocal fear. I walked along the wall as he advanced on me. Looking up at him was like staring at an angry bear ready to strike at any moment. He kept screaming at me. I can’t even remember what he said. It didn’t matter because I knew he was going to kill me. His red face and bulging eyes were like the monsters children always fear are under their beds or hiding in closets. I finally found my voice and let out a blood curdling scream right before his clammy hands grabbed my arms. He began shaking me, my head whipping back and forth violently.”
None of us breathed.
“And then it happened. I heard a crack and saw my Uncle’s head snap back. He swung around and then there was another whack. This time he fell to the floor with a thud. I felt mother grab my arm and pull me away. Once we were out of the room, she stooped down and grabbed my arms. ‘Are you okay, did he hurt you?’ she asked and I shook my head. She looked me over and then told me to go sit downstairs. She then leaned over and picked up her weapon. It was the last time I would ever see it. It was my Uncle’s prized baseball bat. He had several famous baseball players at the time sign it and he put it on display in his office.”
“I did as I was told and went downstairs and sat and waited. I was probably in shock. Evenutally I cried. I could hear my mother working upstairs, but I never saw my uncle again. I knew she’d killed him or in my young mind, I knew she’d made him go away and we'd never have to deal with him again. We never spoke of it. She closed his office and told everyone he left for some exotic island, although I believe the police did some investigation since he owed money to several people. But since no one liked him anyway, most people didn’t care that he was gone. For years mother kept the building vacant. Sometimes she’d go in and make sure no one had broken in. She finally sold the building to a company that was only going to use the downstairs for storage. By that time his body decayed enough that it no longer smelled.”
I glanced over at Stormi who blanched at the notion. Bruce, Paige and Sammy were entranced by Serena’s story and I had to admit so was I.
“As you can see, this is why I didn’t want to tell the police until after mother passed on. But I couldn’t let an innocent person be charged for the crime.”
Serena stood up. “I should go to the police station and explain all of this. But thank you for allowing me to first tell you all of the events of that time. It will make it easier now when I give my statement.”
Stormi rose out of her chair. “I’m coming with you Serena. My boyfriend is Officer Manning and I’ll have him take your statement.”
“Stormi, that would be wonderful. Would you mind si
tting as I give my statement?” Serena asked.
Stormi grabbed Serena’s arm. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I told Serena not to worry about her mother, that we didn’t think she’d be charged with a crime since she was saving her daughter from God knows what from a devious uncle. While she should have called the police afterwards, we did not believe it would benefit anyone to remove her from the nursing home and charge her with a long ago crime. Bruce, Paige, Sammy and I wished her well and told her we’d see her again soon and her mother as well. Fortunately, we were correct in our assessment as Stormi told us later at the Halloween party.
“Greg thanked her for coming forward with her statement and that no charges would be filed,” Stormi informed us. She and Greg dressed up as bank robbers, complete with black pants, black and white striped shirts, black sock caps, and large bags with dollar signs on them. Stormi dropped her bag on the floor. “No way am I hauling this bag around all night. Someone wants to haul off with my old dish towels, they can have at it.”
Bruce and Paige were the stars of the evening as Bruce dressed up as Dr. Who complete with a brown pinstriped suit, blue tipped screwdriver, and his hair slicked back and spiked David Tennant style. Paige came dressed as the Tardis. Fortunately, she wasn’t wearing a British phone box…instead, she found a dress replication of the famous spaceship.
Brandon picked me up at eight on the dot and we laughed as we rode in his pickup in our biker costumes.
“I should have at least rented a motorcycle for the evening…it would have made our costumes more authentic at least!” He laughed.
I held Winchester in my lap as he sported one of the bandannas around his neck. “I think Winchester feels safer in the truck than on a motorcycle.”
Our easy banter emerged throughout the evening as we all laughed and chuckled at each other’s costumes. Trixie and Ben were there as a witch and wizard. Sammy dressed as Maleficient and Colton, her boyfriend, as a Hobbit.
Afterwards Brandon took Winchester and me home. He walked me to the door as I led Winchester on his leash. Once we arrived at my door, I turned to say goodbye and that’s when it happened. Before I could get a word out, Brandon leaned in to kiss me. When he pulled back he said, “I hope that was okay. I’ve wanted to kiss you for the longest time.”
I smiled and said, “I’ve wanted you to for awhile.”
Winchester looked up at us and ‘woofed’ as if he approved.
*****
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