Mean Tucker- the Bully

by Edwina Fort

  I can’t allow them to take her away from me. In fact, I need to somehow get them to sign over their rights temporarily, just long enough for me to break Daisy’s mind.

  I’ve been following the work of Dr. Fields. He’s administered small doses of LSD to a group of soldiers that caused them to go into a suggestive state, a state in which thoughts and desires can be applied. I think this may be the key to opening Daisy‘s mind completely.

  The negatives: A) She’s only sixteen and will more than likely develop a dependency on the drug.

  B) The damages done to her brain will be irreparable

  The positives: A) I will find out who the man with no shoes is and be able to relay that information to Dr. Baxter, helping to solve some of the mystery behind Sergeant Major Law’s physical abilities.

  B) Maybe even find out that Daisy is the perfect candidate for impregnation with Sergeant Major Law.

  June 11, 1972

  After administering small doses of LSD to Daisy and planting thoughts of suicide in her head. She finally made the attempt. As predicted, her parents phoned me the next day. I told them that they had called at the perfect time. There is a trial of a new drug that is said to be able to help get rid of depression permanently.

  God, I can’t believe they bought that. If there had been another doctor around, they would have instantly called me on my BS. But because Daisy's parents are amongst the uneducated, that went over with flying colors. The same day, they signed a waiver, admitting Daisy into my custody for the next year.

  I almost feel bad for what I’m about to do to her. But as Dr. Baxter always says, a few will have to be sacrificed for the overall good of the many.

  “I hate him, so much!” Rachel growled as she collapsed next to me on the couch.

  I was so tired I didn’t bother to move my legs out of the way, which meant she was halfway sitting on me. However, if she was as tired as she looked, I don’t think she cared. I don’t know about her, but for me, it had been a long week. All I wanted to do was crawl in my bed and sleep the weekend away.

  Last Sunday, I found a box of tapes in the attic of short recordings my grandmother did, documenting her studies on Daisy. So instead of coming home after work and sleeping all week, I’ve been up through the night listening to them. There are hundreds of them., each one ghastlier than the one before.

  I can’t believe I came from the loins of a woman so evil. The things she did to that innocent girl, whose parents trusted her with her wellbeing was past horrifying. And I have a bad feeling what I heard so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

  “If he was standing in front of my car, I would just step on the gas and run him over. God! Why does the man have to plague me so? What did I ever do to him?” Rachel whined, drawing me out of my thoughts.

  “What did he do this time?” I muttered, already half asleep as I lazily drew my fingers through Grapefruit’s mohawk. His gentle purring wasn’t helping me stay awake at all.

  As you guys can see, I still had him. I didn’t think it was wise to send him home with Tucker after what happened last Tuesday. Plus, I was in love with him, I wouldn’t give him back if Tucker asked for him.

  Anyway, Rachel called for an emergency girl’s night, and since she was temporarily staying with her mom and Oaklee’s place was the size of a closet, my house was the designated bachelorette pad.

  “That bastard came into the shop, sat his arrogant ass in my chair, and demanded service."

  My head was resting against the back of the couch, I chuckled without opening my eyes.

  “Free!” Rachel cried, startling me awake. “Did you hear what I said?!”

  “Oh my God, Rach! I heard you…you don’t have to yell at me!”

  Oaklee stuck her head out of the kitchen. “Do you guys want to do watermelon margaritas or strawberry?”

  “I don’t care, just make sure you clean up behind yourself, I’m too tired to do anything in there tonight.”

  “Why do you bother to ask us about the flavor? By the time you’re done, the only thing we taste is tequila anyway,” Rach told her.

  Oaklee thought about her words before shrugging. “You know what? You’re right…watermelon it is.” And then she disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “What did you do after he sat in your chair?” I asked, knowing she wouldn’t let me rest about this until we went into a full-blown Jackson bashing session.

  She exhaled, resting her head against the back of the couch. “You know I’m a perfectionist. I gave him the full treatment, washed his hair, cut it, massaged, and moisturized his beard. By the time I was done, he was purring in my hands. I should have slit his throat then.”

  The 'he' she’s speaking of murdering is Jackson. Their hate for each other went back to high school. Poor baby…she’d suffered from Jackson’s bullying a lot worse than I had from Tucker. Tucker bullied me because he was a grade-A psychopath. Jackson bullied Rachel because he blamed her mom for his parents divorcing during sophomore year.

  Rach had managed to escape his cruel intents after she graduated by leaving town like I did. But after going through a horrible divorce two months ago, ended up back here in the very town she’d thought she would never see again, sleeping in the very bedroom she hated more than Jackson. She and I were two peas of a pod.

  But at least she and her mom were getting along better these days. Even still, Rach is working around the clock at the beauty shop to be able to get her own place as soon as she can.

  “Why didn’t you just refuse to serve him?” I asked.

  She sucked on her teeth. “Please, that would be all the excuse Kathy needs to get rid of me.” Kathy is the lady that owned the beauty shop she worked at.

  “God forbid anyone upset her precious sheriff. If I wasn’t bringing in the most clients, she would have already gotten rid of me. That just show you how the Most High works, she behind my back talking with all the rest of them heffas up there, and I’m the only one that ain’t never late with my booth rent.”

  “What’s her problem anyway?” Oaklee asked as she carried three frosty glasses brimming with watermelon margaritas into the living room as well as a pitcher with the left-over mix. Goodness, it was going to be a long night.

  I sat up to take my glass and Oaklee took that as an invitation to squeeze herself between us on the couch.

  “The crazy b*tch is jealous because Jackson is harassing me and not her.”

  I took a sip of my drink and cringed. “Good God, Oak! How much tequila did you use in these?”

  She grinned. “Enough…” Her gaze went back to Rachel. “So, she wants the sheriff to harass her?”

  “Girl, all these heffas imagine themselves in love with the Beautiful Ones.”

  Oaklee frowned. “And let me guess... Ashur was a Beautiful One as well?”

  Both Rach and I nodded our heads. “Yep, he ran with them.”

  She sucked her teeth. “That’s his damn problem…he assumes I should be impressed with that. And because I’m not, he’s decided to make my life hell.”

  Rachel waved her hand. “Consider yourself lucky. Free and me have been suffering with this crap for a long time, and I’m damn tired of it! We’re not kids anymore! Who the hell does he think he is? I’m tired of him charging me for the sins of my mother.” She angrily shoved her straw in and out of her drink.

  “I mean, I get it, she split up their family. That’s got to be tough. But why not place the blame solely on her shoulders? Or better yet, blame his dad who was going behind his mom’s back sleeping with my mom. He forces me to wear her scarlet letter and that sh*t ain’t fair. Kathy shouldn’t worry that I’m attracted to Jackson, however, she should be worried that I might take my gun and shoot him with it!”

  Because I was trained to pick up on certain things in speech patterns, I had to ask…

  “Should I be worried that this is your third time threatening bodily harm on the sheriff since you got here?”

  Her gaze came to mine. “I don
’t know, should I be worried that you’ve set out to humiliate one of your patients for a vendetta?”

  I blinked, not prepared for such a rapid comeback. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, give it up! Oaklee already told me what’s going on. She told me what you did to Tucker last Tuesday at the support group meeting.”

  “Oak!” I screeched. I distinctly discussed the importance of keeping my plan between her and me. I could lose my license if it ever got out.

  “What? I didn’t tell anybody else,” she said hiding her smile behind her cup.

  Rachel lifted the pitcher of margarita mix off the coffee table and poured us all a refill.

  “You care to explain yourself? That is so unlike you to jeopardize your practice in such a way. So unlike you to take a risk of any kind as a matter of fact.”

  My mouth opened, insulted. “I take risks!”

  Both she and Oaklee laughed at that, insulting me more. “Please, Free, the last risk you took was adding a spoonful of white sugar to your coffee a month ago.”

  Even though I didn’t show it, Rachel’s words hurt my feelings, mainly because they were true, but partly because there was a side of me that even my friends couldn’t see. To this day, Rachel didn’t know that I’d allowed Tucker to take my virginity prom night. And neither of them understood how brave and yes, risky it was to open a psychiatric office in the heart of the ghetto and try and tackle mental health among poor black folks, who had been trained their whole life to think of such things as taboo.

  I took a deep drink from my cup before I spoke. “You want an explanation?” She nodded. “Okay, here it is. Last Tuesday, I watched the guy that bullied me all through high school get his ass handed to him by this kitten.”

  I scooped up Grapefruit from where he’d fallen asleep in my lap. “And I can’t tell you how much of a healing that was to me.”

  Smiling, Rachel took Grapefruit out of my hand and snuggled him. Just a really quick side note, I’ve discovered that my kitty loves women, but will not tolerate men. Believe it or not, he already has an alpha personality and really wants to be the only male in his environment.

  Isn’t that amazing? LOL!

  Before we could enjoy our second cocktail, my phone rang. Because I’ve been dodging Dillion’s calls like the plague, I made sure to look at the number before answering it.

  “Dammit! It’s Angie.” The smile left both of my friends’ faces.

  Rachel shook her head. “Don’t answer it, she’s calling to mess up my evening.”

  Hitting the off button, sending the call to voicemail, I tossed my phone back on the table. “You may be right. Too tired to deal with her anyway.” But no sooner had I said that, my phone was ringing again.

  I exhaled; Angie was on the warpath. Knowing there was no way around this, I answered.

  “Where are you, young lady?” she hissed in the phone, sounding very upset.

  “I’m home.” I wanted to add, where else would I be, but thought better of it.

  “Your sister’s bridal party meet-and-greet dinner starts in twenty minutes! You were supposed to be here at the restaurant to help the servants get everything set up!”

  How many times had I heard Angie say those words? Free, you need to help the servants clean this and cook that. Free, for tonight, maybe you should dine in the kitchen with the servants.

  I don’t know why she still pretends that I am anything other than a servant to them. Putting my drink down, I looked at my watch. God, I really didn’t feel like moving off of my couch. But I know if I didn’t, Angie would go out of her way to make my life and the life of my clients hell.

  Who has a bridal party meet-and-greet dinner anyway? I know all of those heffas and they know me. Hell, they were all Laureen’s sorority sisters, so it wasn’t like they didn’t know each other. Who the hell was being introduced?

  I exhaled…Angie has always been this way, just doing the absolute most. She looked for any excuse to rub her wealth in someone’s face. Tonight, she wanted all of Laureen’s sorority sisters green with envy. I’ve seen it too many times. It’s like making people envious of her and her daughters get her high or something.

  “Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “But wait! It starts in twen—” I hung up. I’ll just pretend I thought the conversation was over. No way I was coming to be her f*cking servant. She can kiss my ass!

  “Dammit! I knew she was going to do this!” Rachel said placing Grapefruit back on the couch. “Why did you answer the phone?”

  “What? Would you had preferred for her to come to the door? Because you know that was coming next.”

  Oaklee sucked on her teeth. “I hate that woman.”

  “Yeah, join the party,” I muttered as I pulled my already tired body off the couch.

  “It’s not worth it,” Rach said shaking her head.

  “What’s not worth it?”

  “The clinic. The funding for it… It’s not worth what this woman puts you through. Your cause was and is a noble one. You’ve done great things for the less fortunate. But look at you. You’re always tired because you’re understaffed and overbooked. You’re always stressing out about how you’re going to pay for this or that. You were almost free of Angie, but because of politics and red tape, now you’re at her mercy even more so than when you were young, living under her roof. It’s killing you, Free. It’s wearing you down.”

  Tears burned the back of my eyes as I slid my feet into my penny loafers, but I didn’t let a one of them fall. Crying wasn’t going to do any good. And this was the story of my life anyway.

  Rachel didn’t understand the force that drove me, even more so now that I’ve found out my grandmother was the devil incarnate. The whole world is suffering because there are more people taking than there are giving. I’m not alright with that. God just didn’t make me that way.

  “Yeah, well, somebody has to do it.” I pinned her with my gaze. “If not me…then who?”

  When after a moment she couldn’t answer my question, I grabbed my car keys off the table.

  “You guys are more than welcome to crash here. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  “I’m so sorry you and Dillion didn’t work out… But it’s good he and Laureen were able to find happiness, huh?”

  I smiled as I chewed on the stiffest romaine lettuce I’d ever tasted. It felt like it was shredding the top of my mouth.

  “Yeah, good thing,” I muttered to a Laureen look-a-like. In fact, all twelve of the bridesmaids outside of me were Laureen look-a-likes. I remember when she and Layla pledged Sigma Phi Rho, the both of them took great pleasure in telling me that the sorority would never pledge someone like me.

  I could then sit and wonder why Laureen would then go out of her way to have someone like me in her wedding, who was clearly the complete opposite of her and her friends and not to mention the small fact that I am her future husband’s ex. But then I would be wasting my time because I already knew the answer. Everybody knew the answer.

  Angie and her offspring wanted to see me suffer.

  They’ve always wanted me to suffer. And just like I’ve always done, I refuse to give them the satisfaction of knowing that their little antics were getting to me. So I smiled at Tracy just like I smiled at her other friends who gave me their condolences for getting my boyfriend stolen by my sister and pretended that it was no big deal.

  But deep inside, I was wishing with all my might to be anywhere else on the earth than here, especially when Angie dressed to the nines in a cream Lela Rose guipure lace dress, sashayed over to the table she’d stashed me, in back of all the others.

  “Free, can you be a dear and run along and let Chef know we’re ready to set up the dessert buffet?”

  I exhaled before lifting my wine glass and taking a sip. “No, I’m not going to do that. However, I’m sure one of the lovely waitstaff of this exquisite establishment would be honored to do so. We know that someone with y
our impeccable taste would never grace a venue with waitstaff that is not of the topmost echelon of waitstaff.”

  Yeah, I know…It sounded just as stupid to my ears. But I’ve had years of dealing with Angie, trust me, she basks in any compliment sent her way. Typical narcissistic behavior.

  The trick is to speak to her in a quiet calm voice without a lick of attitude in my tone while giving a very sincere look.

  “Careful, little sister, one would think you were feeling bitter about Laureen’s happiness,” Layla said sliding next to her mother. Now Layla on the other hand, has always been an instigating snake.

  I smiled. “Oh no, big sis, I’m overjoyed that Laureen has found the love of her life. What Dillion and I had was clearly a four-year phase. Good thing we figured it out before it got too far gone. I would prefer to see Laureen happy than live in misery.”

  B*tch!

  “Will you have a date for the rehearsal dinner or shall I put you down for one,” Angie gushed with a devious smile on her pretty face.

  “How soon will I have to let you know?”

  “Preferably by the time the invitations go out.”

  I nodded. “Got it! I will let you know by that time…”

  And because God is merciful, my phone chose right then to light up, signifying that I’d just received a text.

  “Excuse me,” I told them as I hurried away from the table.

  The Bully: Help, Doc, I’m on the ledge. I have a Bob Marley size spliff and I’m trying to talk myself out of lighting it. I need you! Meet me at the old pier. Please come quick! I---can’t---hold on----much---looonger!”

  I put my hand over my mouth to hide my smile. He is such an asshole. But right now, he’s a lifesaver.

  Me: Hold on, buddy! I’m on my way! Whatever you do, don’t light the Bob Marley size spliff!”

  When I turned back to the table, the smile was gone from my face. If Angie had one inkling that something had actually made me laugh, she would set out to change that.