Jelly Bean Theif

"Hospital; I took you to the Trauma Center," Ryan told her.

"You fucking crazy?" Alida croaked in fear. "Carl's here! He's going to fucking kill me!"

"He's not here; they arrested him yesterday," Ryan quietly told her.

"Ryan?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said.

"Ryan, I can't see," she whispered.

"Your eyes are swollen shut; he really did a number on them," Ryan said.

"My baby!" Alida suddenly said and managed to pull herself up into a sitting position.

"The baby's fine," Ryan assured her, pushing her back down. "They did an ultrasound; it's fine."

"He kicked me," Alida whispered. "He kicked me in the pussy and in my stomach."

She began to sob.

"He told me I had to get an abortion but I wouldn't do it," she sobbed. "It's eight weeks; it looks just like a jelly bean!"

Ryan grippe her right hand.

"I couldn't do it," she whimpered. "Girl there tells me it's a woman's right and I screamed at her that it's a woman's right to keep the fucking baby too and all I could think of was how you held me and kissed me and I just couldn't, I couldn't get rid of our baby."

Alida pulled his hand to her face and kissed it.

"You held me and you kissed me like you loved me," she whispered.

"Because I do love you," he whispered back.

"Right there, right fucking there in front of all them fucking ass holes at the clinic, Carl punched me right in the face; think any of them mother fuckers did a fucking thing?" she asked bitterly. "All about a woman's rights but I guess if you ain't no baby killer then you ain't no woman in their eyes, huh?"

He lightly stroked her face. She gripped his hand tighter.

"He slammed my head into the car door; got me by my hair and is just slamming my head into the door," Alida recounted. "Some guy yells at him stop it and he throws me in the car and we get home and he started kicking me and..."

"My God," a nurse said from the doorway.

"Need me out of the way?" Ryan asked her.

"Please," the nurse asked.

But Alida would not release Ryan's hand so the nurse smiled and told him to stay.

"My... Our baby, our baby is all right? Right?" Alida asked the nurse as the nurse fussed around, checking vital signs.

"Yes ma'am, according to your notes," the nurse agreed.

"See? Told you," Ryan said and smiled as Alida kissed his hand again.

"When he quit hitting me, all I could think of was get to you," Alida whispered when the nurse left.

"One more day and I wouldn't have been there," Ryan said.

"Why? Where you going?" Alida asked, fearful.

"Moving; I bought that house and..." Ryan said.

"Our house?" Alida asked. "You really did buy our house?"

"Yeah, didn't know it was 'our house' but yeah I bought it," Ryan said.

"When was you going to tell me you was moving?" Alida asked.

"I wasn't, remember? I make you sick," Ryan said, bitterness creeping into his voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I said all that shit," Alida said, tears beginning to spill.

At the Bender Police Department, Sonny Lambert met with his client, fighting down the revulsion Dr. Carl Betsingal inspired within himself. His revulsion from reading the police report and the hospital report was intensified as he listened to the whining man's attempts to exonerate himself.

"Do what I can," Sonny promised abruptly and stood to leave.

"So when am I being released?" Carl snapped. "I've got a hospital to get back to."

"Sir, you've been relieved of your duties," Sonny said.

"What? They can't..." Carl snapped.

"They can and they did," Sonny said and left the room when Deputy Orville Jackson opened the door.

"Hands on the table," Orville ordered.

"Oh come on; this is preposterous," Carl complained as his hands and legs were shackled.

In room 337, Alida blinked against the harsh light as Dr. Charles LaPointe examined her. He smiled warmly which made her smile as well.

"Good, good, your reflexes are excellent; I was real worried; there was a bit of swelling," he told her.

"Would like just a couple more MRIs of her head, though, just to be sure; also get one of her upper chest left side," Charles told the nurse's assistant. She does sound a little congested, okay?"

"Where's Ryan?" Alida asked as the nurse's assistant paged for an orderly to bring a gurney.

"That cute guy brought you them jelly beans?" the young woman asked.

"Yeah," Alida smiled and felt for the bag of black jelly beans.

"Said something about his house, I think," the woman said and smiled as an orderly came into the room.

In Penny Richards' office, Ryan showed Penny two of the photographs he'd taken with his cell phone.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, horrified. "Was she in a car wreck?"

"I um, you're a great real estate lawyer, but I need somebody completely ruthless when it comes to getting a divorce," Ryan said bitterly. "I need somebody that will..."

"I'm your lawyer," Penny assured him. "When it comes to divorce, I don't stop until there's not a scrap of meat left on them bones."

"Then you're hired," Ryan smiled tightly.

"But, does she want a divorce?" Penny asked.

"What? Look at her!" Ryan stammered, shocked that she would even ask such a inane question.

"Yeah, she looks horrible," Penny agreed, holding out her hand to stop him from showing her the pictures again. But until she comes to me and says 'I want a divorce and I want you to represent me' there's nothing I can do."

"And, believe it or not, some women need to die before they'll leave their husband," Penny shrugged.

"But, why don't you tell me your side of it?" Penny asked, making sure the recorder was on.

After he finished telling her everything he knew, Ryan walked across the street to the Bombay Café.

As usual, Hashim greeted him warmly.

"I have a lady friend, she's in the hospital," Ryan told Hashim. "I'm sure she'll get pretty sick and tired of hospital food pretty soon; what you think I should bring her?"

"Does she like spicy? We have many good..." Hashim asked.

"Oh, and she just had her wisdom teeth out," Ryan said; he remembered that Alida was now missing a few teeth but didn't think Alida would want a stranger to know about her injuries.

"Ah, okay, so, the lentil soup, mm, oh, vegetable psanda; it's a puree and the lamb dorna. The lamb dorna? Very tender, fall apart in her mouth," Hashim decided. "Vegetable psanda a little spicy but the yogurt sauce cools it down."

"Okay, I'll have that to go, but first, for me..." Ryan agreed.

"Soon as she gets out of hospital, you bring her here, right?" Hashim said as he put a large bag on Ryan's table.

"As soon as she's able," Ryan promised.

In her hospital bed, Alida took one jelly bean out and chewed it carefully. Her tongue told her the story; she was missing five teeth on the top and three teeth on the bottom, right in front.

How could her husband do this to her? How could he hit her over and over? How could he kick her and when she fell to the floor, how could he kick her in her belly, over and over?

Yes, she had an affair; it wasn't even an affair. It was one crazy afternoon.

And how could he lie to her? He agreed; they would have three kids and love them and teach them how to roller skate; she had loved to roller skate when she was a child and he would take them out on a dune buggy; he'd been on one when he was a kid and it was one of the happiest memories of his childhood the whole time he knew they wouldn't be having any kids. What kind of man would get a vasectomy and lie about it?

"Not much of a man," she said out loud, bitterly.

Hey, I um, I kind of thought you might be a little sick of hospital food," Ryan said moving the swing table in front of her.

"Oh my God; what is this? It smells unbelievable!" Alida gasped when Ryan uncapped the lentil soup.

"Careful; there's usually a lime in the bottom of it," Ryan cautioned as he got out the plastic spoon.

"Oh my God, this is from that place you was telling me about?" Alida asked.

"Uh huh and as soon as your able, I'll take you there, okay?" Ryan said. "Now if you like spicy..."

"Love spicy, are you kidding me?" Alida said.

"And, one large strawberry malt from Clark's," Ryan said after laying out the lamb dish.

"Oh, ma'am, I'm going to have to take all of that away from you, but don't worry, I'll eat it for you," a nurse joked from the doorway.

"Nuh uh!" Alida said, slurping the soup.

"Yeah, that girl at Clark's? Said to tell you hi," Ryan said.

Alida suddenly had a thought.

"Um, Ryan, my sister?" she asked.

"Pam? I called her this morning; she said she'll be here this afternoon," Ryan said and took a slurp of his chocolate malt.

"Thank you," Alida said.

"And I know I was way out of line, but I went and talked with my lawyer and..." Ryan went on.

"And did you tell him I want that mother fucker buried?" Alida growled. "I want Carl Betsingal crucified! I want him to pay out the ass for this!"

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere with you being so vague about this," Ryan joked, relieved that she wasn't mad about him seeing a lawyer on her behalf. "But him is a her; my attorney is a woman."

"Ryan, he tried to kill my, our baby," Alida spat bitterly.

"So you do want to proceed with a divorce?" Penny Richards asked from the door of the room.

"Oh, hey!" Ryan said. "Alida, this is my lawyer, Penny Richards; she is one of the absolute best legal minds you'll ever meet."

"Oh my God; Ryan showed me some pictures of..." Penny said as she looked at the diminutive woman's injuries up close and personal.

"But if you'll just sign this release, I'll get started," Penny said, becoming business-like.

Chapter 10

Sonny Lambert was relieved to be fired as Carl Betsingal's attorney; John and Corrine went over Sonny's head and hired his boss, Sophia Coutre to represent their son.

Even though she informed them that she would not discuss their son's case with them, the Betsingals insisted on a meeting with her. Sophia shrugged and charged them three hundred dollars for the consultation.

After five minutes with his parents, Sophia Coutre had a much better understanding of her client. Not once did either John or Corrine mention Alida without the word 'trash' or 'low-life' or gold-digging' prefacing her name. They also, in whispered tones, informed Sophia that Alida was the product of a mixed marriage.

"I mean, not that I'm prejudiced..." Corrine was quick to tell Sophia.

Just to gauge their reaction, Sophia showed them a photograph of Alida's face, taken from the hospital's security camera. It showed her as she was being wheeled into the Emergency Room.

"And...?" John finally said when the silence grew too long.

"That's what your daughter in law looked like when her friend brought her into the hospital," Sophia said.

"Oh," Corrine said and glanced at the photograph again, then shrugged.

"You, um, you sure this friend, whoever she is, didn't just do that so they could blame it on our Carl?" Corrine asked.

"Yeah, I read about that; two little low-life sluts get together say they're going to get their man pay out the ass so they beat each other up and say he did it," John agreed.

Sophia showed them a photograph from the free clinic's security camera, showing Carl slamming Alida's face into his car door.

"Car still had her blood on it when it was impounded." she said.

"Doesn't show his face; you sure that's Carl?" John said.

In her hospital bed, Alida woke up to see Cindy Broussard-Robichaux, her sister's best friend, sitting next to her bed.

"Hi," Alida croaked.

"Hi," was Cindy's terse answer.

"You um, where's Pam?" Alida asked.

"Had to go; she's breast feeding," Cindy snapped.

"You um, why you don't like me?" Alida asked.

"Because you're a selfish, self-centered little bitch and you keep breaking my best friend's heart and you just keep right on taking advantage of her," Cindy spat.

"What? What you mean?" Alida asked.

"Birthday cards, Christmas cards, she sends you all kind of money and not one, not one simple 'thank you' out of you," Cindy snarled. "Fuck, you don't even bother sending her a card for her birthday or for Christmas or... I mean, God damn, your husband called up, needed money to move here; you even call let us know you got here safe and sound?"

"In never, y'all never sent no cards and fuck yeah, I been sending y'all all kind of cards; there's this little shop in the French Quarter got some of the funniest cards ever!" Alida protested. "I even sent y'all one on your birthday and on Paul's birthday! It's on my calendar at home! Y'all are the ones never say thanks!"

"Yeah right," Cindy said, voice softening. "When's my..."

"September twentieth and Pam's August ninth," Alida said. "And Paul's is November eleventh. I'd have to look at my calendar for Paulie's or Barbara's or..."

She sat up in the bed.

"And you say Carl got money for us moving?" she asked.

"Uh yeah," Cindy said. "Pam sent him like two thousand..."

"That mother fucker," Alida snarled. "That no good, lying mother fucker."

Pam walked into the room.

"Pam, I'm sorry, I never got none of the cards or nothing," Alida cried out.

"I don't care about none of that," Pam hastened to reassure her baby sister.

"I swear! I been sending y'all cards and..." Alida hugged her sister, sobbing.

"It's all right, it's all right," Pam soothed.

Cindy stood.

"Alida, I am so sorry," Cindy apologized. "I've been pretty shitty to you and..."

"I'd be shitty to me too," Alida agreed. "But it wasn't me!"

"I know that now," Cindy smiled tightly.

"Okay, you're here, let me go before Paul burns the house down.

"Miss Bobbi and Mr. Jake are there," Pam smiled.

"Is Miss Bobbi cooking?" Cindy asked hopefully.

"Well, yeah, but..." Pam said.

"No offense, Pam, but I've had it up to here with your healthy eating," Cindy said, leaving the room.

"Fine, don't come crying to me when your ass is all big and..." Pam miffed.

"Oh, Ryan's been bringing me this stuff from Bombay Café and..." Alida excitedly shared with her sister.

"Bombay, on nineteen?" Pam asked.

"Yeah, ever been there?" Alida asked.

"We go there every Sunday; we called y'all a million times come with us but Carl kept saying y'all were..." Pam said.

"Y'all never called," Alida protested.

In his home, Ryan smiled as he hung his painting over the bookcase in his home office.

Most people that looked at the desolate painting didn't see it. They didn't see the small signs of life in the vast emptiness. There were the wisps of a cloud; there were three cacti and a scorpion scurrying across the sand. Ryan saw that there was still hope when he looked at the painting.

His computer dinged and he smiled when he saw yet another e-mail from 'CuddleUpSoft1990' pop up.

Her profile had been on a local dating web site and he had contacted her nearly four months ago. There had been no reply so he didn't bother to send another e-mail to her. He had even pulled his own profile off of the site two months ago. Out of the blue, she contacted him with an e-mail that basically told him that she had already been through the cream of the crop and was now willing to sink down to his level.

That wasn't exactly how CuddleUpSoft1990 had phrased it, but Ryan could read between the lines. His response to her e-mail was short and to the point; he wasn't interested.

Since then, she had been sending him e-mail after e-mail, each filled with extremely vulgar and slightly threatening messages. Each e-mail had been forwarded to the web site's Administrator; CuddleUpSoft1990 didn't know it, but she was about to be dropped from the service.

In his parents' home, Carl Betsingal paced back and forth. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do.

TAB Properties had cancelled his lease; there was a clause in the lease that gave them the right to cancel it if anyone in the apartment was ever arrested for any violent crime. It did not matter if they were later acquitted of the crime; TAB maintained the right to remove that person from their properties and to refuse to rent to them ever again.

"But why didn't you just come here when you moved back into town?" Corrine had asked.

"Mom, Alida?" Carl reminded her.

"Oh, oh, yes, her," Corrine had sniffed.

"Hey, boy, going to pick up my Astin Martin; want to take a ride?" John asked, marching through the living room.

"Your what?" Carl asked.

"My new car," John smiled. "It's a DB5; the James Bond car? Had to special order it; Cobalt green; green's so dark you'd swear it's black."

"Yes, John's latest little toy," Corrine smirked, playing with her newest diamond bracelet.

"Yeah, sure," Carl said.

"And on the way back; we'll swing by that Dead End bar," John whispered when they were out of earshot. "Cold brews and hot pussies, huh? Huh? What you say, huh?"

"Sounds good to me," Carl agreed.

After a few beers, Carl tearfully confessed to his father that he had indeed beaten Alida, and confessed why he had beaten her so savagely.

"Little cunt runs off and just fucks some guy?" John snapped. "God damn whore got what was coming to her."

"Glad you got you a vasectomy," John went on. "I mean, fuck! Pop a baby into that black bitch..."

He looked around nervously.

"Can't say the 'N' word no more; God damned ass holes all over the place, I swear it's so stupid; hell, that was just another word when I was a kid, you know?" John went on. "But yeah, you pop a kid into the little black bitch; you'll be paying for her for the rest of your life."

None of the dancers or the waitresses were impressed with John Betsingal's new car, or with Carl Betsingal having the title of 'doctor;' both father and son were showing themselves to be incredibly stingy tippers.

"Plate of wings; want some wings? Place has got some great wings," John drunkenly ordered.

"Yes sir," the waitress smiled tightly.

Father and son staggered out of the Dead End bar, mildly drunk and mildly frustrated.

"Fucking bitches over at Fantastic's? Suck your dick for twenty bucks; these fucking sluts won't even look at you twice for a hundred bucks," John complained.

"Yeah, but them skanks at Club Fantastic's?" Carl wrinkled up his face in disgust.

"Fuck who cares what they look like; just looking at the top of their heads, huh?" John laughed.

"Charming, Dad, real charming," Carl smirked.

"Hey, Carl!" an attractive young blonde greeted John and Carl when they pulled up in front of the Betsingal house.

"Uh, yeah? I know you?" Carl asked, suspicious.

"Yeah, we went to St. Thomas together; you don't remember? Of course, you was all in love with what's her name, that little midget?" the young woman cheerfully said.

"Alida," Carl said, peering at the girl through his thick glasses. "But I still don't..."

"And, you've been served," the girl smiled as she handed Carl a large manila envelope.

"Served? Served what?" Carl asked, baffled.

"Don't know," the woman shrugged. As she snapped a picture with her digital camera. "They don't tell me what's in them; they just tell me who gets what."

It was truly galling to the Betsingals that Alida would actually dare to file for divorce.

"And this is a 'No Fault' State; she's just being a bitch, putting physical and mental cruelty," Corrine snapped as she read through the petition.

"Oh yeah, I remember her now!" Carl said. "Tiffany Woods; sat right in front of me in Miss Mouton's class."

"What? What are you talking about?" John asked; face red with anger as he read the petition.

"That girl gave me this; said we went to St. Thomas ..." Carl said.

"Son, who gives a shit about that," John exploded.

"I'm calling that Sophia Coutre; see if she does divorces too," Corrine said, digging through her purse for Sophia's business card.

"Course, she didn't look like that back then," Carl continued to muse. "She weighed about two hundred pounds back then and about a hundred of that was all her pimples."