The Broussard Sisters Ch. 12

"God damn it! What is wrong with you?" Charlie bellowed at his son and gave Trey two sharp slaps to his rear end.

Trey stared in shock at his father. His father had never raised his voice, had never spanked him before.

"Go to your room, Right now!" Charlie ordered the child.

Trey ran, sobbing, to his home.

"And you!" Charlie yelled at Richard. "You could have been killed? What in the hell is so God damned important that you would run right into a busy street?"

"My girlfriend gave me this!" Richard sobbed as he showed his father the precious car.

"Go. Go to your room," Charlie said, deflated.

"Ma'am? You all right?" he gently asked Bernie who was still trying to catch her breath.

Bernie finally let out the terrified scream that had been captive in her throat.

"Oh, my God I could have killed that little boy!" Bernie shrilled, horrified.

"Yeah, it would have been the perfect end to this day," Charlie mused then slowly walked up the driveway into his home.

He had to tell two boys that their beautiful, loving mother would never be coming home ever again.

Elise was there, fixing their dinner, woodenly going through the motions.

"They're upstairs, both crying; you already told them?" she quietly asked as he entered the house.

"No; trey threw some stupid car of Richard's out into the street; Richard almost got hit by a car, I gave Trey a bit of an ass warming, and now I got to go up there and tell them that Lala's gone," Charlie told his sister in law. "And that's not even the worst of it."

"What's worse?" Elise asked, baffled.

"You're cooking," Charlie forced a smile.

----

"And here's Mommy," Daphne smiled as they heard a car screech to a stop.

The front door slammed open and Elizabeth entered, making a beeline for Nadia.

"Hi Elizabeth!" Daphne called out cheerfully and intercepted her step-daughter and gave the angry woman a tight hug.

"Not. In. Front. Of. The. Children," she hissed into Elizabeth's ear.

"She destroyed my house!" Elizabeth hissed back.

"Yes she did," Daphne agreed, still holding the struggling Elizabeth tightly.

"Nadia?" Daphne called out. "Think you could check on the gravy?"

"Yes Miss Daphne," Nadia agreed and bustled into the kitchen.

"Come on, into the study," Daphne hissed and herded Elizabeth into the small room.

"Yes, this is where you and Nadia will be sleeping tonight, see the couch opens up into a sleeper sofa," Daphne said loudly as Eddie and Deonia played with TeddiAnn.

"Daphne, my kitchen is ruined!" Elizabeth growled as soon as Daphne closed the door.

"And did you see her hands? They're all blistered from that cleaning solution," Daphne said, pouring two glasses of Big Eddie's scotch.

"You're supposed to add water!" Elizabeth yelled.

"Yes, but she didn't," Daphne smiled and handed one of the glasses to Elizabeth. "Now, let's see why your Dad likes this stuff so much, huh?"

"And my floors! Even the bathroom's ruined!" Elizabeth coughed out as the scotch burned her throat.

"You said it best when you said she ruined your house," Daphne calmly agreed.

"My house!" Elizabeth yelled again.

"Uh huh, It is your house," Daphne said and again hugged her step-daughter.

"But its Nadia's home," she said quietly.

"Wait, what?" Elizabeth asked.

"Elizabeth, it is your house; you pay all the bills, you pick out all the furniture, you make all the major decisions," Daphne explained and made a face as she sipped the scotch. "But it is where Nadia goes to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel happy. It's your house, but it is her home. All she was trying to do was clean her home, and hopefully make it more your home too."

"You know, don't you?" Elizabeth asked quietly, blushing hotly.

"That y'all are lovers? Yes. So what?" Daphne said and took Elizabeth's empty glass and pressed her own into Elizabeth's hand. "God, this stuff is horrible. Give me a good Farrisoie, or even just a crisp white wine, huh?"

"It's not that bad," Elizabeth blushed, averting her eyes away from her step-mother.

"Not that good either," Daphne said.

She smiled at her step-daughter. Elizabeth coughed down the rest of the scotch and pursed her lips.

"Okay, think you can say 'hi' to her without killing her?" Daphne asked.

Nadia watched fearfully as Elizabeth strode toward her and cringed down. Elizabeth took Nadia's hands into her own and looked at the red, raw, blistered flesh, then kissed each hand lightly.

"You're supposed to add water," Elizabeth said quietly.

"I will next time," Nadia whispered and burst into tears of relief.

"I am still so mad at you," Elizabeth assured the girl as she hugged her tightly. "But I do understand what you were trying to do."

"I love you so much," Nadia sobbed as she held Elizabeth tightly.

----

Dr. Yuan sighed as he picked the pellets from the girl's face.

Her left eye was a complete loss as was a good portion of her left ear. As of yet, they did not know if there was any hearing loss; every time she regained consciousness, she screamed in horror until they sedated her again.

"Anything yet?" a detective tiredly asked.

Dr. Yuan began the litany of the extent of her injuries and the detective tiredly shook his head.

"No, I mean, she able to tell us anything yet?" the detective asked.

"Oh, oh, no sir," the doctor said. "She is still too traumatized; we'll see how she is in morning, okay, thank you, you come soon, okay, bye bye."

"I notice you speak perfect fucking English unless I'm asking you a question you don't have an answer for, Doctor," the detective said, sneering.

----

They ate the chicken and gravy; even Eddie and Deonia ate with little fuss. Elizabeth engaged TeddiAnn in conversation about Christmas.

"And can you believe it? Miss Mouton gave us homework!" TeddiAnn shrilled.

"Oh?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, we're supposed to write two hundred words on what Christmas means!" TeddiAnn said, outraged that she would have homework over the Christmas holidays.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," Big Eddie smiled. "I mean, you already know what Christmas is about, right? See, there was this big tornado and it picked up Dorothy's house and..."

"Daddy, that's 'Wizard of Oz,'" Elizabeth smiled.

"Oh? Um, then it's about this kid named Jack, and he's taking the family cow to market, and them this guy offers him some magic beans and..." Big Eddie smiled.

"I think that's 'Jack and the Beanstalk,'" Daphne smiled. "TeddiAnn, why don't you tell us about Christmas, okay?"

----

Pam drove down I-10, Paul sleeping soundly next to her. He wasn't drunk; there had been nothing for him to drink at the hospital. But he had been in an increasingly bad mood as the day progressed; she was grateful he was finally asleep.

Miss Bobbi and Mr. Jake said they would keep Paulie and Barbara; Paul didn't even seem to notice that his two children weren't with them.

Pam wondered for the thousandth time why she wasn't pregnant. Paul's semen seemed to be fine; Paulie, Barbara, and now Candy were proof of that.

A tear trickled down her cheek.

"Maybe God thinks I don't deserve to be a Mommy," she said aloud.

"Huh?" Paul woke up and looked around in mild confusion.

He sat up straighter and looked at the landscape.

"Oh, hey, stop by Early's, okay?" Paul asked as Pam put the blinker on to pull off at the DeGarde/Bender exit.

----

"Your um, your brother's getting out next week," Big Eddie said as he sipped his scotch.

"You're kid... I thought he had another year and a half?" Elizabeth asked, safe and warm in a pair of Daphne's sweat pants and sweat shirt.

Nadia, dressed in one of Big Eddie's tee shirts, leaned heavily against Elizabeth, tired from her ordeal.

"Yes well, he um, somehow he managed to..." Big Eddie cleared his throat.

"He got a hold of some really bad meth and it ate up his liver and his kidneys and now he needs a double transplant and it's not very likely he'll ever get one," Big Eddie spat out. "So, rather than deal with him, Dequincy has decided the 'Humane' thing to do is to give him an early release so WE'RE the ones have to deal with in."

"Where's he going to go?" Daphne asked, sipping her wine.

"Hell, I don't know," he said, sipping his scotch.

"Momma can't take him?" Elizabeth asked.

"She CAN, but she won't," he said, almost angrily.

"What? Why not?" Elizabeth asked, angrily.

"This is your brother?" Nadia asked and pulled the hem of the tee shirt down to her knees.

"Yes," Elizabeth spat.

"He's in pretty bad shape, on dialysis twice a week; your mother says she doesn't have time to run him back and forth," Big Eddie sighed. Doesn't have time to help him; he's almost in a wheelchair right now."

"I'll do it," Nadia volunteered.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the selfish, immature girl.

"I said 'I'll do it,'" Nadia repeated. "I know where the dialysis center is, it's right there on Banks street, in DeGarde; I got the truck so I can get him back and forth. It'll be fine."

"Okay, that's the dialysis taken care of, but..." Daphne said.

"Elizabeth, he's your brother; he can stay in the spare bedroom," Nadia said, looking at Elizabeth.

"Nadia, you don't know what you're saying," Elizabeth insisted.

"He's your brother," Nadia repeated.

"And um, has some problems," Daphne said.

"Who doesn't?" Nadia asked, seriously.

"I'll tell you later," Elizabeth muttered.

"No, tell me now," Nadia said, voice rising a few decibels.

"He, Elizabeth's brother, um, is somewhat fixated on Elizabeth," Big Eddie said.

"And? You said it yourself, he's in bad shape," Nadia said.

"You really think you're going to be able to do this?" Elizabeth asked.

"For you, I will," Nadia promised.

"I mean it; once he's in our house, there's no saying 'oh, this is too hard, I changed my mind,'" Elizabeth said.

"I said I will do it," Nadia agreed.

"Okay," Big Eddie said. "I guess it's settled then; good night."

"Yep, that folds down into a sleeper sofa; it's actually not bad; I've slept on it before," Daphne said.

"You said 'our house,'" Nadia bubbled as Elizabeth took the cushions off the couch.

"Huh?" Elizabeth asked, looking at her.

"You said, 'when he's in our house, there's no changing my mind," Nadia smiled happily.

"And I mean it," Elizabeth said.

"It's my house too, right?" Nadia smiled

"Yes, you big pain in the ass, it's your house too," Elizabeth laughed, hitting Nadia with a pillow.

"You'll see," Nadia said as they lay down on the mattress. "I'm not stupid; you'll see."

"That's the problem, Nadia," Elizabeth sighed. "I KNOW you're not stupid."

----

The images kept replaying, over and over; Ray's head exploding, Mom's chest exploding, Taylor falling, blood spurting from his chest, Rochelle falling, half her face gone, the back of Rayona's head opening up and spraying her with brains and bone and blood, then the fiery pain in her face and then it started all over again.

The doctor injected her with a strong sedative and smiled tightly as Crystal Simone quit screaming and again lasped into a drugged slumber.

"Good God; she's burning up," the doctor noticed her temperature was one hundred and four degrees.

He ordered a massive dose of antibiotics, along with a saline drip and left.

"Damn it, wish Charlie was here," he muttered to the nurse on duty.

"Heard his wife was killed earlier today," the nurse said.

"Yeah; it was on the news; gang members," the doctor said and resumed his rounds.

----

Angel smirked at Sheriff Dick Davis.

No matter what this man threatened him with, Judge Harold Monroe would make sure nothing happened to any of the Angels 270.

"She was only twenty five years old, you little punk!" Dick bellowed.

"Ah? So she had a good long life," Angel smirked.

Dick stared at the gang leader for a long moment, then suddenly got to his feet and left the room.

He waved all of his officers together. They congregated outside of the small room, looking at the arrogant gang leader.

"That, that little piece of shit is Angel Morales," Dick spat, pointing through the glass.

"Uh huh," Officer Eric Greene agreed. "Been popped a few times for..."

"We're releasing him," Dick continued."

What?" Orville Jackson asked, disbelieving.

"Now," Dick said. "What I'm about to say never, ever, ever leaves here, y'all hear? But every time you see him and you see any of his buddies around? You arrest all of his buddies but leave him alone."

"You are kidding me," Becky, the only female officer asked.

"In fact, every now and then, start to slap the cuffs on him, then stop and say 'Oh, sorry, Angel,' then continue to arrest all the others hanging around," Dick said, smiling maniacally.

"Oh, that is, oh you are good," Orville laughed.

Chapter 107

"Thanks," Bill mumbled as Nadia assisted him to the small bathroom.

"Now, need me to come in, or you got this?" she cheerfully asked.

"I got this," he grunted and she let go of his arm and stepped out of the small room.

"Okay, but I'm right here if you need me," she said.

"Nuh uh, wash those hands, Mister," she ordered as Bill opened the door of the bathroom.

He did and she guided him back to the bed.

"Now, you want to read something? Or, we got a few movies we haven't seen yet; I downloaded a bunch of them for you last night," Nadia cheerfully said when she'd gotten him back into his bed.

"Just rest, please," he said.

"Oh, come on, Billy Boy; we've been resting all week!" Nadia said, sitting down in the chair she had positioned next to his bed.

"Why are you doing all of this?" he asked her, looking at the beautiful young lady.

"Because," she shrugged. "I love your sister."

"Oops, I hear a certain little girl ready for her breakfast!" Nadia said. "Okay, Mr. Billy Boy; I guess you'll get your rest after all. But remember, I want you to go for ten minutes on the treadmill today, not three, okay?"

"It was too fast," he whined.

"Bill, it was on the lowest setting!" Nadia said, smoothing his face with her fingertips.

She smiled and left the room.

She had been shocked when Big Eddie and Elizabeth brought Bill into the home. She had expected a male version of Elizabeth; they were twins, after all.

Elizabeth was a lush figure of a woman. Her hair was a thick, lush, curly mop of brown that fell to below her shoulders. Elizabeth's lisp was full, lush, her cheeks were full and round, her smile was a wide, warm smile.

Elizabeth's breasts were generous, full, the breasts of a woman. Her belly was slightly rounded. Her buttocks were also full and round, as were her hips and her thighs. Her pubic mound was also capped with thick, lush curls of brown and hid full, dark lips and a fat clitoris. Elizabeth was the very definition of lush and the very definition of sensuality.

Bill's hair, what was left of it, was also curly, but it was graying. His square face looked pinched, the skin around his jowls sagged, and there were bags under his eyes. He was a tall man, but he looked nearly emaciated.

The only think that identified Bill as Elizabeth's brother was their deep, dark eyes. Nadia could stare into Elizabeth's deep eyes for hours. And she often looked deeply into Bill's eyes. In his eyes, she saw something that never showed in Elizabeth's eyes; loneliness. The same thing she saw in her own eyes when she put on her makeup.

"Hey wiggle butt," Nadia cheerfully called out as she scooped Deonia up.

Nadia made quick work of fixing her daughter oatmeal; she used the instant mix.

Then, she cleaned the kitchen, making sure to dilute the cleaning solution; she still had small scars on her hands from her first attempt at cleaning house.

"Okay, now, let's read this again," Nadia said and got down the book of Russian Fairy Tales.

She read to her daughter in Russian, pointing out the drawings and giggling and laughing with Deonia when the characters did something silly.

"What are you reading?" Bill asked as he wobbled into the living room.

"Fairy tales," Nadia said cheerfully. "Thought you were going to take a nap."

"I was, but I could hear y'all out here and wanted to..." Bill faltered.

He wanted to tell her, he wanted to be with her, with anybody, rather than all isolated in the bedroom. He could hear mother and daughter laughing as he lay in bed and wanted to share in the laughter, wanted to be a part of the happiness.

"Well, come on, sit down. You can here the story too," Nadia said and patted the cushion to her right.

Bill made his way to the couch and plopped down, winded.

Nadia picked up the book and again began reading the story.

"Wait, wait, what? What are you reading?" Bill asked when he realized he didn't understand a word she was saying.

"He doesn't speak Russian," Nadia confided to Deonia, in Russian.

"He doesn't? Why not?" Deonia asked, in Russian.

"Because his mommy didn't teach him," Nadia said.

"That's okay; we'll do it in English," Deon called out to Bill.

"Okay, let me start over," Nadia said and began to read it, translating the Russian text to English.

----

Crystal resisted the urge to touch the bandages. Ray's mother, Patricia Holloway was letting Crystal stay with her; the eighteen year old girl had nowhere else to stay.

"No one disrespects the Angels 270," she heard the angry boy say over and over.

"Stop touching that," Patricia snapped. "What did the doctor say? You keep touching that..."

Crystal tuned her step-grandmother out as she kept haring the young man's voice.

Dr. LaPointe had done his best to repair the external damage. In four days, the bandages would come off and they'd know just how successful he had been. But he couldn't do anything for the internal damage.

Crystal had heard two of the nurses talking; Dr. LaPointe had some internal damage of his own. On the day that her family had been murdered, his own wife had been murdered. Through her one good eye, Crystal looked into his eyes and could read the agony he was suffering.

"What was she like?" Crystal asked him on her last visit.

"Who?" he asked her.

"Your wife; what did she look like?" Crystal asked.

"Kind of like you, really," he smiled sadly. "How about you? I understand you lost you're..."

"Didn't look like none of them," Crystal smiled, then felt the spasm of heartbreak again. "Mom was short and fat, Rochelle had long dark hair and was kind of fat too, but it was kind of starting to go to the right places, you know? Taylor, God, he wasn't nothing but a bean pole; he was going to be real tall. He was already as tall as me. Rayona was the only one kind of looked like me a little bit; we both got blonde hair, but that's about It.?"

"And your dad?" Charlie asked as he continued his work.

"Step-dad was great," Crystal said. "He was a cop. I never told him but I wanted to be a cop too. Now..."

"Now?" Charlie asked and sat back to look at his handwork before applying the bandages to the affected areas.

"I only got one eye and can't hardly hear out of my left ear; no police department's going to want me," Crystal said bitterly.

"You asked?" Charlie asked as he began to apply the gauze to her face.

"Well no, but..." Crystal said.

"My father in law's a cop; he's the sheriff of Bender," Charlie said. "Oh, and my sister in law's getting out of the academy next week; I'll ask them, okay?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Crystal said, knowing that he wouldn't.

"No one disrespects the Angels 270," Crystal heard again.

"I told you stop fiddling with them bandages!" her grandmother fussed.

The clothes and the furniture Crystal had left; let the landlord deal with carting all that stuff away. She'd taken five large cardboard boxes of personal things from the three bedroom apartment, things that would remind her of her family.