My Sister is a Piece of Work

"You know, I've been thinking. Maybe we should sell the house. Maybe we should buy a house in San Diego. Maybe everyone will assume I'm Mrs. Pete Peterson since our last names are the same. Maybe, I can finish college in San Diego. Maybe..."

"Maybe, I've been thinking the same thoughts. I have another couple thoughts. See what you think. We could have a wedding without getting married."

"Is that legal?" She asked.

"Not here." I held her in my arms and said, "Let's get married. In Mexico. Pictures, witnesses everything. No one will ever need to know about the legality unless we push it."

"Witnesses?"

"People from the ship. They will be in the pictures and never see us again."

"Get on the phone. Let's do it!"

It all got planned and Sam called a real estate person Dad knew and listed the house with him. The sign went up the next morning. When Sam called him he knew all about selling the house. Dad had called him the week before. The sign was up three days and then the man hung a "SOLD" sign from the sign in the front yard.

Sam went with some friends and had an evening of telling them good-bye. While she was doing that I pulled out the slip of paper from my wallet and went to see Tommy. He still lived with his parents! At a little after seven he came out of the house, waved at his Mom and got in his eight year old pick up. I followed him to a topless bar and he went in. I parked across the street. A little after nine he stumbled out and drove three blocks to the next topless bar. He was inside for two hours. When he came out he stumbled and fell flat on his face. I could hear him swear from across the street. He finally got up and made it to his truck. I pulled the bat from behind my seat and went across the street.

Before I took two steps the entire area went dark. Every light went off. I ran to Tommy and hit him with the bat. I heard a bone break. When he fell he blacked out. I stripped him bare and spread his legs on the ground. One swing of the bat and his nuts and cock were pulp. I took his clothes with me and on my way home I found a trash bin and made a deposit. I took the credit cards out of his wallet and dropped them in an alley near Los Angeles street. I'd watched enough CSI to know about leaving epithelials and prints. Latex gloves and a good wipe down were called for. Lots of homeless in that area to smudge and destroy evidence.

I got home before Sam did. I was in bed when she came in. She undressed in the dark and slid into bed with me. She kissed me and we fell asleep. The next morning we turned on the TV while we packed.

Sam had gone out to the garage for some tape when the reporter announced that a man had been beaten in the parking lot of a topless bar during a power outage. The reporter said the police believed it was not a random attack, as the man was stripped naked and his genitals damaged. The reporter was on to the weather when Sam came back.

We discovered that Mom and Dad had planned better than either of us knew. There were stocks, bonds, treasury bills and two pieces of property besides the house. We weren't rich but we weren't poor either. Dad's tax guy called us and gave us his counsel. Use the money from the house to buy a house. Leave the investments alone and let them keep growing. We took his advice and hired him to continue for us just what he did for Dad.

Sam finished the semester in L.A. Every weekend she drove down to San Diego and we looked for a house. We found it and bought it. When the sale of Dad's house closed we took all Sam's personal stuff and the family heirlooms, everything else we gave away. In the new house we bought lots of new things and discovered we liked a lot of the same things.

Sam and I moved into our home over Memorial weekend. The following weekend we took a three day cruise to Ensenada Mexico. We got ten people from the ship to come to our wedding and all it cost us was dinner for them and a hundred for the ceremony. We bought a hundred dollars worth of pictures and were back on the ship an hour before it sailed.

On Mom and Dad's anniversary we drive up to L.A. and visit their graves. We have friends and they have figured out we have known each other all our lives. "We grew up in the same neighborhood. She kept score while I played baseball."

I wear the ring that lived on Dad's hand for twenty-five years. Sam wears Mom's rings. Maybe I should feel bad about Tommy, but I don't. We found out when he went to trial that he had raped three other girls and beat them like he did Sam. He will be an old man when he gets out. If he gets out.