Boowie

"Boowie! You tear that up!" Julie protested even as she laughed.

"Boowie, that's mean," Cherie defended Julie. "Do a nice one of her."

"Yeah. Do what your girlfriend said," Julie said.

"Uh huh," Billy said, tearing the sheet from his sketch pad and laying the snot bubble sketch onto the bed.

He quickly drew a beautiful portrait of his sister. He drew her on a giant lily pad and colored a blue lake surrounding her and her lily pad. Cherie watched his actions with amazement. He even had a fish breaking the surface of the water and in the distance, a few ducks lazily paddled the smooth lake surface.

"That's better," Julie said.

"That, that's I mean," Cherie said, looking at the portrait.

"Vickie's about to blow up," Julie warned, pointing across the aisle.

Cherie turned and saw a bone thin girl glaring with ill-disguised animosity at her. The spindly girl had no hair on her head; she did not even have eyebrows. Her color was ghastly pale.

"Who girl?" Vickie signed in ASL when she saw Billy looking at her.

"Friend," Billy signed.

"No girlfriend Boowie," Vickie signed.

"No, no girlfriend," Billy agreed, then did several silly 'V' signs all over his arms and head and torso, making the deaf child laugh.

"No Boowie. I Vickie," Vickie signed.

"You, you know sign language?" Cherie asked, surprised.

"Yes. Vickie and I, we're going to get married when she gets all better and gets out of here," Billy said and signed.

"Oh? Really!" Cherie said with a teasing lilt and Vickie again scowled at Cherie.

Billy rapidly sketched Vickie, sitting in her bed with smoke coming out of her ears as she scowled. Vickie laughed when Billy showed her the sketch. She signed rapidly and Billy again sketched her, this time she had six arms. Two arms were choking a terrified Cherie. Two hands held baseball bats and one hand had a handful of Cherie's hair and the last hand was clenched in a fist. Even Cherie laughed at the sketch.

"She good. She friend. You like," Billy signed and Vickie shook her head in denial, giving Cherie another scowl.

"Nice Vickie," Billy signed then sketched Cherie and Vickie hugging, big smiles on their faces.

Cherie watched as Billy visited a few other girls. Some he sketched riding a horse, or flying their own biplane, or floating in a hot air balloon; whatever they requested. Some, he gave them silly sketches of themselves. Most of these girls flirted clumsily with Billy and he smiled and accepted their adulation with grace.

One girl lay against a mountain of pillows. She did not open her eyes as Billy and Cherie stood, looking down on her. Sitting in one of the chairs next to her bed, Billy flipped to the back of his sketch pad and pulled out a small page of heavy card stock. Slowly, with meticulous strokes from an ink pen he'd pulled from his canvas roll, Billy did a beautiful ink sketch of the girl. He drew her with her eyes open, beatific smile on her thin face.

"That, that's beautiful," Cherie whispered, fearful of waking the girl.

"Uh huh," Billy whispered as he retrieved another card stock page from the back of his booklet.

Cherie watched as he again sketched the girl. This time, he drew her with her arms outstretched, reaching above her head. Cherie watched as Billy gave the girl the wings of an angel. He placed both sketches onto the small table next to the girl's bed. They then spent a few more moments with Julie.

"If you ever want to know where God gets His angels?" Billy whispered, a few tears trickling down his face as they left the ward. "This is where they come from."

"These girls? This, this is Hell. So..." Billy said as they stepped onto the elevator. "...when they break free, when they escape? They become angels."

"Oh," Cherie said, her own tears sliding down her face.

"Oh, so, you really going to marry that Vickie, huh Boowie?" Cherie tried to teaseas Billy opened the passenger door of his van for her.

"Her kidneys are failing and her heart? She was born with a bad heart. She needs a heart transplant," Billy said, starting the van. "But because she developed cancer? She's not a viable candidate for a heart. And then when they tried a mild chemo; you saw she lost all her hair, but even with a mild chemo it shut her kidneys down. Now she's on dialysis three times a week. She, she probably won't see her birthday next month; she'll be another angel."

"Oh!" Cherie said, horrified.

"Wait! You, your sister? What about your sister?" Cherie asked, truly heartbroken as Billy pulled in front of his trailer again.

"God and the Devil are fighting over her," Billy said. "God keeps trying to bring her home so she can be an angel and Satan keeps jerking her back."

"Bill... Boowie," Cherie sobbed.

"But, thank you. Thank you for coming with me," Billy said, opening the door of the van.

When he helped her out of the van, Cherie threw her arms around him and sobbed helplessly. Billy rubbed her back as he held her. Finally, she kissed his cheek, then stumbled to her own car.

"Where you been?" her father demanded gruffly when Cherie returned home. "Oh. And that Rodney's been calling here like every ten seconds."

"What? I blocked him," Cherie said.

"Yeah? Didn't block his sister, did you?" her brother Cliff sneered, enjoying his sister's misfortune.

"Didn't answer me. Where you been?" her father demanded.

"Hospital. My friend Boo...Billy? His sister's in the hospital," Cherie said.

"Well, would have been nice you'd let us know," Clifton said. "Your brother Gary had that skating party this morning."

"What? No one, how, how was I supposed to know about that?" Cherie defended. "No one said anything."

"Well, if you hadn't run on out of here at the crack of dawn," her father said.

Quietly, Cherie talked with her mother. Her mother gently wiped the tears from Cherie's face.

"Hang on; she's right here," Cliff said happily as he thrust Cherie's cell phone at her.

"Rodney, I told you, it's over. I never ever want to see you again," Cherie said before Rodney could launch into his latest complaints and demands.

"What? Nuh uh, bitch," Rodney snarled.

Cherie ended the call and blocked the phone number. She decided, on Monday, she would talk with the guidance counselor about Rodney, about him putting his hands on her. Cherie overheard Honey ask their father if he was taking their mother anywhere to celebrate Valentine's Day.

"What? Why?" was Clifton's response? "I already married her; why do I need to spend a bunch of money on her just because it's Valentine's Day?"

"Because she's worth it?" Cherie suggested under her breath.

"I, I've got plans for dinner tonight; is that all right?" Cherie asked as they sat to eat their lunch.

"Oh? What should I tell Rodney?" Cliff smirked.

"Tell him to grow up? Tell him to go away? Why, Cliff? Why would you want to tell him anything?" Cherie snarled at her obstinate brother.

"Yes, Cliff. Why would you want to tell Rodney anything?" Clifton demanded. "Since when are you and this Rodney guy the best of buddies?"

"Oh my God!" Cherie gasped, realizing how Rodney always seemed to know so much about her, what she was doing, where she was going. "You! You been telling him!"

"This true?" Clifton asked, fixing his eldest son with a hard stare.

"What? How? What makes you say..." Cliff fidgeted.

"You," Clifton said to Gary. "Go to your room and get me all of your games and the controllers."

"No! Dad!" both Cliff and Gary whined.

"I'm going to count to three," Clifton said, unbuckling his thick belt.

"Maybe a few weeks of no games will make you understand your sister should come first, not this Rodney guy," Clifton said as Cliff sat at the table sobbing.

"I hate you!" Cliff screamed at his siter, fleeing the kitchen.

After lunch, after cleaning the house, except for Cliff and Gary's room, Cherie selected a nice outfit. All of her clothing had to pass her father's scrutiny so all of her clothing was fairly conservative. But she did have some clothing that were pleasing to the eye.

"Thought you aren't going out with Rodney no more," Honey asked, seeing Cherie carefully applying her makeup.

"I'm not," Cherie admitted.

"Then who you..." Honey asked but Cherie ignored her sister.

After verifying her expected curfew, Cherie left the house. She drove to a Brick's Pizzeria and bought a large Meatstragavanza. She drove to Billy's trailer and was relieved to see his van sitting in front of the trailer.

"Hi Boowie," she said when Billy opened the door of the trailer.

"What? What you doing here?" Billy asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Stop, thief. You stole my heart," Cherie smiled.

"Hey, nuh uh!" Billy laughed. "That's my line."

Stepping up, Cherie kissed him. Maybe he'd scuffed his feet on the threadbare carpet, maybe it was because he still had a hand on the metal doorknob, but Cherie felt a large spark when their lips met.

The End

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my enjoyment. I post them here for your pleasure. I thank you sincerely for reading my stories.

I especially thank those that take the time to leave comments, good and bad. I likewise thank those that take the time to 'Favorite' my works, those that rate my words.

Sister Andrea and Coach Daigrepont are first introduced in 'Five Trailers, Lot C' in the Romance category.

Madison Arcenoux, the bald headed nurse is a character first introduced in 'Nicole's Swing' in the Romance category. Her head is shaved as an act of solidarity with her patients.

Crystal Hebert, the woman Boowie's mom is spending a 'Girls' Weekend' with is a character first introduced in 'Five Trailers, Lot B' in the Romance category. Her predilection for seducing straight women with the help of a little marijuana is fleshed out in 'Zig Zag Weekend: FFM' in the Group Sex category.

Boowie is pronounced BOO wee. Ain't it funny how a childhood nickname can stick with a person for years?

Have a swell day. And some of you, have a swollen day.