Tom Collins (and Emma)

This story is all from my warped little mind. If anyone recognizes their lives in it, I pity them. It could fit into many categories; I am feeling masochistic and decided to enter it in LW. There should be a little to please and offend everyone. Enjoy it, or not. Comment as you wish, jerks will be persecuted.

Life interfered with my efforts to get stories to you. I have a few more partly written, but pushed this to the front just because.

-----------------------------------------------

I met Emma was when she walked into my English class on the first day of classes in her senior year of high school. She was 18 years old; I was 31 at the time. There was nothing special about her appearance. She was a good student, but not outstanding. Of all my students that year she was the shyest. I admit that I had one boy who was even shyer years before.

I knew her siblings and parents from activities around the school. She was the youngest of their 7 children. Emma was very good at fading into the background.

All that year after school she walked the 4 blocks to her job at Jamison's hardware store. She put in her 3 hours each afternoon and went home to supper and completed her homework. One day she was stocking shelves when a man came into the store; he looked around at the merchandise for a while. Then he picked up a mattock handle and headed to the front. Old Mrs. Jamison was at the register when he arrived. He held the handle in a menacing manner and told her he wanted all the money in the till.

He failed to notice the girl who walked up behind him as he spoke. Emma took the handle out of his hands and started to beat the hell out of him with it. He made it out the door and part of the way across the parking lot before she caught him and continued to beat on him some more.

He went down for the last time just as the policeman arrived to answer the silent alarm that Emma had placed just before she took the handle. After the trial the Jamison's presented that handle to her "...in token of a job well done." Her father has it framed and mounted over the fireplace in their family room.

Later, at the end of the year, the senior class voted her to be the quietest, the most likely to succeed, and the bravest of her class.

Ron, what can I say about him? He married his high school sweetheart at the ripe old age of 17. She never loved him; he was only a meal ticket. Before they were married she had slept with half of the student body of their school. Male, female; it never mattered to her. Sex was sex

They had 3 girls. Well, she did; none of them was Ron's. They were married almost 2 years before she consented to have sex with him. She had just discovered she was pregnant the week before.

Ron was stupid, but he might have figured out that the child was not his if they had not had sex at least once. She convinced him that he was super potent and the best lover in the world. Then she promptly cut him off again. She repeated the same pattern over the next 5 years each time she got pregnant. Then she got her tubes tied.

After that she consented to have sex once per month as her wifely duty. She told him "Now that I can't get pregnant you can have me from time to time. Before, you were just too potent."

After 13 years she changed the locks on the doors and sent him home to Mommy. She let him keep half of his paychecks and he got to keep the cases of clap and herpes she gave him. They cured the clap. The divorce was quick and vicious. He had no idea what hit him.

Normally Ron went to the hardware store on Saturday to get the things that Mommy needed for repairs around her trailer. She called him at work and told him to pick up a flapper valve to repair the toilet since it had run almost all day.

That was the day he met Emma. He was 39 and she had just turned 19 the week before. It was lust at first sight for him. It took her over 4 months to show any interest in him. He was now doing all his hardware shopping in the evenings on the way home. On her part it was definitely not love at first sight. When she finally fell in love, she fell hard and she fell fast.

Cathy Anne and Mark, Emma's parents, were not sure how to take the information that little Emma was going to marry a man old enough to be her father. They decided it was best to support her; since she was old enough to run to the court house and get married without their consent.

The wedding was held in their backyard. Just after the preacher pronounced them "Man and Wife" the clouds opened up and it rained for a week straight.

"Thank God we set up the reception inside." Mark said.

Cathy Anne was concerned about how you get 150 people in a 24 by 36 house; they did it.

When the reception was over the house was a mess, the yard was a sea of mud with big ruts in it where people had spun their tires to get out. The huge tent that was in the backyard was blown over and half way to the neighbors place 1000 feet away. The rental company never got it clean. Since they did the setup they were responsible for the damages.

Emma and Ron went to the No Tell Motel in the next county for 2 days; then moved in Momma's back bedroom for the time being. Emma applied for and got a job at the distribution center where Ron worked. Their world was wonderful for about 4 months until Emma declared that she was with child. Mr. Potent, AKA Ron, did it again; or so he thought (actually it was only the first time). The 16 times they did it on their honeymoon might have had more to do with it than potency. They were like children let loose in a candy store.

So it was that Emma went from virgin to mommy in 9 months and 3 days. Emma gave birth to a wonderful little girl. That same day Ron was ready to start on making a boy. The staff at the hospital had to sedate him to keep him off of Emma. He might have gotten away with it if he had not been so rough; the pain caused her to cry. The doctor needed to sew her up again where the stitches ripped out.

When Ron woke up he found himself in the prison ward of the hospital, wrists and ankles were cuffed to a bed. He was not a happy man. He yelled for almost an hour, "She's my wife; I can fuck her whenever I want!"

Finally the doctor came in and told him "You can not have sex with her until the stitches heal. I will tell you when it is ok. If you are rough and tear her open again I will have you charged with assault. Is that clear?"

It took 5 days to become clear to him.

Emma informed Ron that "...you need to sleep sometime. If you ever do that to me again I will cut off your balls while you sleep. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

Ron slowly shook his head to indicate he understood. 20 days after that they made slow passionate love that evening, just 1 time.

After a year he could not understand why she was not pregnant again. They had sex at least every other day. Emma did not tell him she was on the pill. Things were fine for about 2 years; Ron brought home a case of the flu. He passed it to Emma, who got it even worse than he did. The week after she recovered she was pregnant again.

9 months later she had another girl, even cuter than the first. Ron was pissed when he found out it was another girl, "You are just as incompetent as my first wife. All she gave me were girls too."

The week the child was born he went on a bender and did not pick Emma and the child up to go home. Cathy Anne and Mark had to come and get her. They took her back to their house to recover. The next week Ron ran the car through the front of the Dewdrop Inn at 4 in the morning. The police found him inside waiting at the bar to be served.

They did not see each other for 5 weeks. When they did Ron lit into her demanding to know how many men she had sex with at work before he found out about it.

"You gave me herpes, if I had sex with anyone else they could get it. I have been faithful to you." Her sobbing was more than Mark could deal with; he escorted Ron out the door at the end of a gun barrel.

The next week Ron filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery. The proof was that both daughters were not his.

Mark and Cathy Anne went to the house and removed all of Emma and the girls' things. The court ordered DNA testing on the girls, Emma and Ron. He refused to give a sample. After 10 days in jail for contempt he finally allowed them to swab the inside of his cheek.

The judge told them all in court the next time, "Heaven help them, but the children are determined to be yours by a degree of certainty of 99.45%. Do you wish to cancel the proceedings?"

"Hell no! This has to be a trick! She is a whore and I won't remain married to her."

Ron got to spend another 10 days courtesy of the county for that outburst. He had been warned to behave.

The court granted a restraining order to keep them apart after that too.

Emma returned to work shortly after that, her shift was changed and Ron was moved to a different part of the operation.

Emma had her suspicions about who was feeding Ron the false information that he was using against her. By watching and listening she discovered she was correct. Tom had been hitting on her since she started working there. She always told him she would never cheat.

The week after the divorce was final she agreed to date Tom. Emma sweetly told him "Now it is not cheating". I told you I would never cheat.

Over the next 2 months they only dated, she hated every minute of it. Finally, she rewarded him for his patience. She insisted that he eat her out for about 40 minutes before she allowed him to screw her. He had to wear a rubber. She said "No glove, no love". No kissing was allowed.

They continued the same way for the next 5 months; then she cut him off. She did not return his calls or talk to him at work. He was confused; until the herpes blisters around his mouth erupted. Then he was royally pissed.

"You wanted to screw me so bad that you never asked if I was clean. Had you asked me I would have given you an honest answer. I know it was you feeding Ron all that crap about me and all the other guys here at work. I got it from Ron; he got it from his first wife. I don't give a fuck where she got it from. ENJOY!"

The crowd that gathered when Tom started yelling at her was rolling around laughing at this point. He slunk away, making himself as small as he could. 3 weeks later he quit and moved from the area.

While Emma was busy with her revenge on Tom her now ex husband was busy, or should I say not busy, paying the bills. In the divorce he got the house, she didn't want it anyway. He got one of the trucks and the Harley. He never paid a cent on them. That had always been her job and it was beneath him to do a woman's work.

Emma was able to quit claim the house to him and get her name removed from the mortgage as part of the divorce proceedings. The truck and Harley were another matter; her name was still on both of them. When she received the letters advising that they were about to be repossessed, she went into action and paid off the past due balances. Next she went over to their old house and her brothers drove them out of the yard and out of Ron's life.

Ron reported them stolen and informed the police that Emma was the one who did it. When approached about stealing them she laid out the documentation to prove that she was still on the titles, the vehicles were about to be repossessed and she had to pay the back balances to keep the damage to her credit from taking a big hit. She told the trooper "Tell that asshole that when he pays back the money I spent to bring them up to date and refinances them he can get them back. Here is the letter from the judge allowing me to do this. AND, the protection order is still in effect. If he comes over here he can be shot."

The trooper replied very quickly "Is that a threat?"

"Nope, I would not do it." Mark stood behind her with a big grin on his face.

Ron got the children every other week, joint custody sucks but what could Emma do? One day Kathy, the oldest, noticed her sister had a dirty diaper. Without thinking she changed it. Emma just stood there with her mouth hanging open "

When and why did you learn to do that?" she asked.

"I do it all the time when we are with Daddy." Then she walked into the kitchen and fixed her sister a snack.

"Do you do that too when you are with Daddy?"

"Yeah." It was not a big deal to her.

"What does Daddy do when you are there?"

"Mostly he is gone, Nanny is there but she sleeps most of the time."

Cathy Anne was nearby while the conversation was going on. She walked into the room and gently guided Emma out to the hall. "Go talk with your Dad, I have the little ones."

Mark knew something was wrong as soon as she walked into the garage where he was working on their car. He put the door down to keep the verbal explosion from destroying the neighborhood.

2 hours later she was finally calmed down. Mark promised to look into it. He worked across and slightly down the street from Nanny's place. He fancied himself to be a chef, in reality he was a short order cook at a diner. We all have our dreams; if he wants to be a chef....

Mark and Emma called her lawyer, who filed a motion with the court to get the custody changed. "Just on the word of the children we will have a hard time doing this, but it needs to be on the record." she told Emma.

Shortly after the blowup in the garage Mark was surprised by the children coming into the diner and asking for him. They were 5 and 2; they had crossed that busy street to get to him. He was astounded.

"H-How did you get here?"

"We waited at the curb until a nice man stopped the traffic and allowed us to cross the street. Nanny won't wake up. She has been in bed all day."

Mark called the police to report the children not being supervised.

The police found that Nanny had a stroke and died. Ron was found at the bar. He was drunk off his ass.

Child Protective Services took the children. Emma was pissed and asked the judge for an emergency order allowing her to take them. 3 days later she had temporary sole custody, until there could be a hearing.

A month later Ron showed up for the hearing, he had a new Camero. It was bright orange with all the extras available. He asked the girls if they would like to go for a ride in his new car. Kathy hid behind the table that separated them. She stared wide eyed and shook her head "NO. We don't like the way you drive."

The hearing was short.

The judge asked "What time do you feed the children each day when you have them?"

"Mom does that for me, I need to work to pay the bills. I see them each evening at supper. Then we read books until bedtime."

"What is their favorite book?"

Ron sat there with a stunned look on his face. He slowly replied, "The Bible."

The judge pulled out a Bible and said "Find a part they like."

Ron thumbed through the book and decided to read from a page.

The judge stopped him after he had read a few lines, "They like that one, huh?"

"Yes your honor".

"What exactly do they like about it?"

Ron thought for a minute and said "The way all the brothers love each other."

"Selling their brother Joseph into slavery is love?"

Ron just looked at his feet.

"I order full custody to the mother. The father is only allowed 3 hour, supervised visitations until he proves he is concerned about the best interests of the children. You are dismissed"

Ron left half of the tire tread on the pavement as he left court. The police pulled him over on the next block.

That evening he was in consultations with his divorce advisers. As they left the Dewdrop Inn, Ron lost control of the Camero. The tractor trailer never had a chance to stop. The rig rolled on its side; there were crates of chickens were all over the highway.

Mark woke up to find someone knocking on the door. The same policeman who investigated the stolen vehicles asked for Emma.

"She's at work, I'm her father what can I do for you."

"It is my sad duty to inform you that her husband died in a traffic accident early this morning out on Route 45."

"He got drunk again at the Dewdrop? Can I kiss and hug you? ...better not I guess. I will tell her when she gets home. Is there anything else?" Then Mark slammed the door shut.

That evening Emma told her daughters that their father was dead. Kathy just shrugged her shoulders and said "OK" then she went back to watching TV. Little Mary did not even hear her.

All was quiet for the next 3 weeks. Then the Sheriff came with a warrant for Emma's arrest. In our neck of the woods police enforce the laws; the sheriff serves legal papers and acts as security for the courts.

The charges included bank fraud, lack of proper insurance on a vehicle; all told there were 15 charges.

When Ron bought the car she was listed as co-signer. Mark made bail for her and life continued as before.

The day of the trial the loan officer from the bank was asked if she saw the defendant in the courtroom. "No, your honor I don't."

The loan documentation was pulled out. The driver's license was not an exact match for the defendant. "Unless she lost about 150 pounds in the last month the woman, at the table, is not her. I don't see the big scar on her forehead either. She is also at least 35 years younger than the woman who signed the loan documents."

The surveillance video of that day was played. The judge called for a recess because Emma was laughing so hard.

Finally she leaned over to her lawyer and said "That... is ....his mother.... in a blond wig...an...an... and... makeup!" Emma went into fits of laughter again. He must have found the drivers license that disappeared last year. Then she added "...my name is not spelled EMMER!"

It took a while for the trial to restart. "Now, can you tell me what is so funny?"

Her lawyer tried to tell the court what she was laughing about but he was continually silenced by her loud laughing.

The judge yelled "Remove her from my court."

After she was gone her lawyer was able to explain why she was laughing so hard. "The co-signer for the loan was her former mother in law, now deceased. The man who signed for the loan is her ex husband."

The judge recalled the loan officer. "Can you explain why you could not tell this was not the person on the photo ID?"

"He told me she put on a lot of weight when she gave birth to their last baby and was still loosing it. I asked about the scar and he assured me it was very recent. She had fallen down some steps about 3 months ago. It appears that everything he said and provided to us that day was incorrect."

Emma was brought back to the courtroom. "Young lady give me a good reason why I should not find you in contempt."

"I tried to tell the Sheriff that was not me on the day I was arrested. He called me a liar. Since he would not listen I decided to play it his way. This is funnier than homemade sex."

"The case is dismissed. I want the Sheriff and the loan people to remain. I hope I never have to see you in my court again young lady."

"No offence your honor, but I never wish to see you again either!"

It started that Emma and I occasionally ran into each other at the diner; mostly on Thursdays. The special of the day was always Chicken Fried Steak, with pan gravy. We both loved it. Many times we would sit across from each other as we ate. We decided it was more convenient if we sat together to talk, instead of talking across the aisle. We started to meet on Thursdays at 6:15 to eat. She insisted on separate checks every time.

I am Tom, Thomas Jamison Collins to be precise; no relation to the hardware people. I still taught at the high school. My wife died a few years back from a ruptured aneurism. It was quick and almost painless for her, we had no children.

Over the months as we had dinner together we became fonder of each other. We had shared all the details of our lives and had no secrets. Sometimes she brought the girls; they were always polite and delightful to be around.