Reconciliation Ch. 03: Redemption

"How could you run away like that?" Rage fueled by his own abandonment made Reg swat Wes again. "They are your KIDS!"

"Because it's SCARY! They look at you and look at you like you are some kind of superman and you KNOW, you just KNOW you're not! That you do bad stupid, cruel things sometimes. And when you fail them, or disappoint them, they look at you and you just want to die! It's like you had cut them! It was easier to walk away. She was always pining for you, so why shouldn't I look for my own diversions? She...the cheating...it was the excuse I needed. I shouldn't have married her. I'm not ready to be a husband or a father." Despair crossed Wes' features.

Fear. Reg slid back on the car facing Wes, gun grasped in both his hands and carefully pointing to the sky. Was that the answer? Did his mother run away, not because she loved someone better,

but because she feared being less than perfect, because she wasn't ready to be a parent? There was no way he could know. But somewhere, was his mother having her own problems looking in a mirror...just like him? Just like Wes?

Wes hadn't stopped talking. "But...I was feeling like shit. I mean...I tried to keep busy...but I couldn't forget them. I tried! But I started to miss their little faces. I tried to get together with them. But YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE!" Wes lashed out his foot, kicking Reg's ankle again.

And there is was. The universe was presenting Reg his bill. He could have Beth...but he would have to be the man who stole a man's kids from him. Or he could look in a mirror and lose the only woman he had loved. He looked at the sniveling wreck of a man in front of him...and he realized he had helped create him; making a man even worse off than his father, who at least had Reg in his life. It wasn't in Wes' character to make the most of reality. If Reg was in Beth's life, Wes would not be in April and Jimmy's. Reg had to choose if he was going to do that. After his ruining so many relationships for others, Karma decided she wanted one from Reg.

So what did Reg owe Wes?

Reg pointed the gun in the air, looking for something to say. Finally, in low tones, he said, "I had a car accident. I was convalescing at Beth's new house. We were never intimate after that first time. Every time the phone rang...every time there was a knock on the door...your kids were watching. They were waiting... for you. Even after all these months, no calls, no visits, they are still waiting for you to show up. To show that you care about them. They like me...but I'm not their Dad."

"You don't get to just...toss kids away like a puppy who piddles on the floor. I don't care how scared you are. I don't care if you want to be a father. Ready or not, here they are! They don't care if you're perfect. They care if you're there." Bitterness filled his voice. "They love you...GOD how they love you! Even though you're a piece of shit. Even though you abandoned them. I wish...I wish I had that." Reg paused. "There is a swing set at Beth's new house. I can't put it together. I tried. I think...whether you can stand Beth or not, that maybe you need to go over there and take a crack at it yourself. For your kids. It is the very least you owe them."

++

Curtis sighed. "Well...that was interesting." He said as he watched the two separate.

"Now I get to clean up this mess you made." Ed shot at the criminal.

"ME? Wow...you think even more highly of me than she does. I didn't make them cheat. I didn't make them hate. I left A business card. They made all the choices from there."

"A business card?"

"I am very good at marketing. There is always a Reginald Perry. There is always a Wesley Moran. I didn't really feel compelled to get too involved. Besides, she asked me not to push too hard."

" 'She'...you mean that woman you wander around with." He paused. "I can't let you keep her." Ed stated.

Curtis gave him a disgusted look. "Don't let her hear you say that. I won't be responsible. When she's away, she gets sulky and homesick. Someone else thought they had a better handle on her than I did." The tone suggested late nights and shovels. "It was a big mess until I could fetch her back."

Ed paused. Curtis tended to use people like matches. "Fetch her back? You? Why would you 'fetch her back?"

"She knows exactly how I like my coffee, she has this secret cookie recipe where she burns them just a little perfectly and I would maim three large men for just one of her baths."

"Coffee?" Ed asked, nonplussed.

"One has to have priorities in life."

"Try Starbucks. Reg says's she's violent and unstable. Hanging around you isn't going to help her."

"We all have our little faults...present company excluded." Curtis smiled contentedly. "If she wasn't with me, she'd be dead in a year. Her own people would be terrified of her when she's tripping. She doesn't scare me. She's a wonderful caring person who is appropriately pragmatic. She's frigging perfec..." He stopped and glared at

Ed was immune to his glare, but decided a subject change was in order. "Why did you get involved here?" He gestured at the parking lot where the little drama took place.

"Reginald Perry involved himself in my life. I returned the favor. Once high moral choices got involved, you couldn't' keep me away."

"This was none of your business."

"Is it any of yours? That 'free will' thing. For the most part, they came to me. They always do. And this sort of thing is the result."

"If they are as flawed as you believe, then how is it that they are both still alive? There is grace inside them."

"Perhaps. But before you excoriate me and what I do, think about this: would you be so certain of Reginald Perry's 'show of grace' if he hadn't been tested? Read Job." Curtis started to walk away.

"I hadn't finished talking." Ed called out to him.

"So talk. Who's stopping you? But I'm not listening. I'm a busy guy. I had this perfect Anniversary gift fall into my lap. She wants it badly. Well...you try to help someone and it always bites you on the ass! They ran off. Now I have to go find them again. That's okay. I have the Devil's luck when it comes to finding people." Curtis disappeared into the shadows.

Ed blinked hard. "Anniversary gift?" he said to himself, appalled. They were married? And yet Curtis let Reggie go. He was left reflecting on both the redeeming and corrupting power of love...and wondering which fit here.

++

Ed walked back into the bar. Reba the barmaid intercepted him. "Your latest social project came back in here looking like he was ready for suicide watch. I stuck him in the private booth with a glass, a bottle and a bucket of ice. If he's opened his wrists, you get to clean it up."

Ed wedged his bulk into the small, well padded booth. A quick glance at the bottle showed only two long pours were missing to his practiced eye. Reg looked like death.

"You know...she was a cheater when she was dating me. She cheated on Wes. She'd probably cheat on me again. Once a cheater, always a cheater. And I'd probably get sick of all the kid trash and snot all over the place." Reg said dolorously. "I'm a pretty fastidious guy. I've never been in a real relationship. It wouldn't have worked out."

Ed nodded. He put another long pour into Reg's glass and put some in a tumbler he had snagged from the bar. "So...do you believe any of the nonsense you just got finished spouting?" He asked the bereft man.

"No...but I want to." Reg took another sip.

The barkeep nodded again. "To the right thing." After a pause, Reg grudgingly clinked his glass to Ed's.

"This must be the right thing, because it hurts so bad. So what do I do now?"

Ed nibbled the bottom of his lip. "I have a couple of ideas. If you want to brighten things up a bit."

++

The man came in with a pasty, shell shocked look on his face. He struggled to the bar. Ed considered. Fiscal ruin? Death in the family? It only took two drinks to get the truth flowing out of him. "She...I think she's seeing someone else. Fourteen years!" the man was close to tears.

Ed patted his shoulder. "This one's on the house. Just give me a minute. I think I have someone who can help you." He walked to the other side of the bar where Reg was taking a few minutes from bartending to check out his Intro to Psychology book. "Reg...we got one for you over here."

He closed the book and went over, taking the man to a booth. "So...tell me about your marriage..."

Epilogue

The phone rang. "Hello?" Mrs. DeVecchio responded. The caller ID said it was an unknown cell phone, but she picked up anyway. Her husband had a lot of clients, many of whom were troubled by issues which caused them to need new cell phones, particularly among the newly divorced.

A bright female voice came over the line. "Hi Mrs. Devecchio. I'm Anna, one of the girls in your daughter's math class. We'd swapped numbers before and I've been out of class for two days with a fever and I wanted to get our assignments from your daughter. Liz was out of class too with her parents, so I can't call her. Would you mind if I spoke to Kelly for five minutes?"

Wendy DeVecchio hesitated. It was a mere two months after the break in to their house and 9 weeks since their daughter was almost terminally stupid. But maybe it was time to loosen the strings for her a little bit. It was, after all, just a phone call. "Kelly! Phone!"

Kelly, shocked at the latitude, came up disbelievingly. "Who?"

"Anna from math class."

There was no Anna in her math class. "Oh. Okay." She took the receiver. "Hello?" Her voice was a bit tremulous.

"Hi. We both know there is no Anna in your math class, so you know this call isn't on the up and up. For your information, I know your Uncle Reg." There was a significant pause. "Not like that. I assume your mother is listening. Tell me 'page 148, section C, all the odd questions'." Andrea said slowly and calmly.

It took Kelly a moment to gather her thoughts. "Yeah. I know! Luckily you didn't miss too much since we had a sub one of the days. We just have section C, the odd ones." Pause. "Oops. I forgot. Page 150." Her mother, watching this exchange, walked off to the kitchen to straighten up, still within earshot if she paid attention.

"I said page one 148, but nice adlibbing." Andrea said.

"So...what's going on?" Kelly asked in vacuous teen tones since she dared not lower her voice to ask all the questions she desperately wanted to ask.

"Good girl. You have a talent for this. Use it for good. I'm calling to brag a little bit. My husband got me this absolutely AMAZING anniversary gift and I need to share with someone. You know how you get a gift and you want to show it off to all of your girlfriends? I can't do that. You, however...you can probably...appreciate this gift more than most. I'm willing to share it with you. Now say something teen aged stupid."

"Really?!? Go on!" Kelly said, her tone light but her eyes were slightly wild.

"Nice. Turn on the 6 o'clock news, channel 4. Our reporter friend told us it would be the lead story." Kelly glanced at the clock. It was 5:45. There was a pause. "He did it for ME!" There was pride in the voice on the phone, but also a bit of desperation. "You have no idea how lucky you are. You fell...but someone picked you up. Tell your Uncle Reg if you see him that his dancing friends are done with him and with you. Tell him we'll keep this promise if he keeps his. So if you fall again, you stupid little girl...there might not be anyone to pick you up again and keep you safe. You have no idea how dark the roads are you might have to travel down." The voice was filled with painfully earned wisdom and more than a touch of self-loathing. "When someone picks you up...you owe them. You make sure to take care of Reggie. Promise!"

"I promise." Kelly squeaked out.

"This phone is going into the trash as soon as I hang up. Don't bother looking for us." Click.

"Dinner." Wendy called out.

"Mom..." Kelly fought to make her voice normal. "Mom...can I please watch the news in the living room while I eat?"

Our top story. Fire fighters responded to fire which occurred at a trailer hidden in Wayne National Forest today, suspected of being a methamphetamine lab. Three men were treated for severe burns and taken to a local ICU unit. The men, one Richard Lewis, Chas Lewis, and Michael Lewis, are suspected of running this operation. The authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire."

Their photos were displayed. It was Rick and his brothers.

Despite Andrea's assertions, Kelly had a very hard time getting to sleep that night...

++

Andrea removed the battery of the cell phone, took out the sim card and folded it several times and burned it with a lighter. She tossed the phone itself into the river. There was no way she was allowing anyone to triangulate that phone to her home. She drove back to her neighborhood. She happily waved to her neighbors as she drove into the driveway of her house in the cul de sac. Home. Where they treated her like normal. Where she was safe to have some she cared for and One she loved. Where He kept her safe from everyone, including her outer and inner demons. The very idea of 'home' was more precious to her than rubies. Entering her house with her shopping, as always, she gave a little sigh of relief. Here, there was only HER monster. She felt safe.

She went to her craft room and carefully wrote the three names of Rick and his two brothers on three separate scraps of paper. Then she burned them one by one and put the ashes in their respective funerary jars, filling them the rest of the way with a fine white sand. 'Never leave evidence and never take trophies.' Curtis always said, and she always had faith in him. There! They were a fine addition to the other jars in their curio case. They weren't technically dead, but she felt they warranted jars. Who cared if the neighbors thought it was a bit morbid; they were artistic.

Going to her bedroom, she tried on the new dress she'd just bought for their trip to Florida, the one with the low cut décolletage. Curtis would just LOVE this one! And she wondered if any other stupid evil men in Florida might like it as well. Well enough to be fatally stupid? Possibly. She got a lot of good use out of her Bad Bad Man. She packed it carefully.

She went upstairs to where Curtis was watching the television on the couch. He was laughing at the news, something he did quite regularly. She stood for a moment next to the couch, looking at him. He scooted to lie down. She contentedly nestled in front of him, his arm naturally draping across her chest and arms. When you walked in the dark, it was a comforting feeling to do it with a warm beast.

++++

I was in a bar in a foreign land in my callow youth. In the bar were some 'bar girls', women who, I won't say 'gladly', but willingly took money for an evening's dalliance. There was nothing official or even semi-official about their status such as in Thailand and if the authorities found out about them, they would NOT get a slap on the wrist. This was a conservative country, and yet they had to do it anyway.

Three of these women were 'regulars'. You could see it in their eyes. They'd been there, done that. They'd been used...and they in turn had used people themselves. There was a hardness to them which is hard to disguise. They were poor. They were far from innocents.

But also in this bar was a fresh looking girl who was just past 18 years old. She didn't have that hardness around the eyes. She still had her innocence...and the men there flocked around her.

The women there were DESPERATELY trying to keep this girl from falling into the lifestyle they had fallen into of selling their dignity a few dollars at time. They tried to keep her around 'reputable' gentlemen who wouldn't take advantage. They tried to limit her alcohol intake. They kept her from being isolated and shunted off by the horny men surrounding her. They FERVERENTLY wished she wasn't' there...not for the competition, but because they wanted to protect her. But they weren't her parents. They couldn't control her or change her circumstance any more than they could change their own.

I hear about how thoughtless, heedless, and immoral whores, cheaters and other such folk are, irredeemable to any change, lacking even the desire. They don't even know how horrible they are. Or so I'm told.

But then I remember the lost look on a prostitute's face in a foreign land as she told me this story and looked upon another young girl falling to the same ways she fell.

The Fallen know exactly what they have lost. Sadly, some of them get to the point where they can pretend they don't care anymore. And if they have NO way of changing, if they are stuck being that way, it's a far sadder world then I imagined. Because what is life without Hope?

This story is dedicated to that woman.