Chapter 30

Melissa pulled the black dress out of the bag and took one glance at it. She didn’t have to look at the label to know that it wasn’t a designer dress. With as much disdain as she could muster, she asked, “Where did you buy this dress? The hardware store?”

Jenny was very tempted to answer that she had bought the dress at Whores-R-Us on the understanding that it was where Melissa bought all of her clothes, but she controlled her anger. Instead, she answered, “It doesn’t matter.”

Putting as much sweetness into her voice as was possible, Melissa retorted, “It might not matter to a trailer park slut like yourself, but I assure you that it matters a lot to ladies such as myself. Unlike you, I have standards about what I wear.”

Turning, Jenny marched out of the bathroom before she acted on the temptation to do something that she might regret later. As the door closed behind her, she muttered, “She can go naked to that funeral for all I care.”

“I’m sorry, Jenny.” Jerry had never been so ashamed of anyone in his entire life as he was of his daughter at that moment. Her behavior convinced him that she had no love for anyone except herself.

Trembling in anger, Jenny marched up to Jerry and said, “That girl is a total bitch.”

“Melissa takes after her mother,” commented Jerry as he hugged her to him. He could feel the tension in her body. It matched his tension and he knew that Melissa was the cause of it. She was so much like her mother.

“How can anyone be that hateful?” asked Jenny holding onto the big man with all of her strength. In less than five minutes, the girl had called her whore, slut, tramp, white trash, trailer park bimbo, home wrecker, and gold digger. She couldn’t believe the profanity that came out of that young girl’s mouth. A woman with less strength would have been in tears. As it was, Jenny wondered if she would have to put up with that foul creature if she were to marry Jerry. The thought was almost enough to make her question the wisdom of marrying him.

Melissa came out of the bathroom and asked, “Can’t you even pretend to be a lady for five minutes?”

As Jenny bristled, Jerry answered, “Melissa, watch your mouth.”

She rolled her eyes and asked, “Did you bring my makeup case?”

Surprised by the question, Jerry answered, “Your what?”

“My makeup case, you fucking moron. I have to put on makeup before I go out in public,” screeched Melissa at her father. She had a black eye, given to her by one of the black girls that had been locked up with her, and she had no intention of going out in public without covering it with makeup. A little incident in which she had called the girl a nigger had prompted a violent response.

“Sorry, I didn’t think of that,” replied Jerry not used to thinking about the beauty needs of a woman. He had been lucky that Jenny had taken it upon herself to pick up a dress for the funeral.

“Can’t you do anything right?” The girl rolled her eyes and looked off to the side with her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

Jenny attempted to make a peace offering by saying, “I suppose that we have time to stop by a pharmacy to pick up some makeup on the way to getting Bill.”

“I’m not putting that cheap shit on my face,” argued Melissa.

Jerry had enough and, with considerable anger in his voice, said, “We’re going now.”

“Not until I get some makeup,” replied Melissa while giving her father a challenging look.

Jerry, with a tight smile on his face, stepped forward and grabbed his daughter by throwing his good arm under her ass. With a smooth motion, he stood with her draped over his broad shoulder. The action stressed his old wounds, but he ignored the discomfort.

Turning to Jenny, he said, “Let’s go get Bill.”

Melissa screamed at him to put her down. She beat on his back with her fists and kicked her legs. Ignoring her movements, Jerry left the facility carrying her to the car. Reaching the car, he stared at the door handle wondering how to open the car door. Awkwardly, he knelt down and opened the door with the hand sticking out his cast. It was hard, but he got the door open and threw his daughter into the back seat.

With a growl, he said, “Stay or I’ll get a rope.”

Jenny had been taken completely by surprise when Jerry had grabbed the girl and refrained from laughing only with great effort. She ran into the bathroom and picked up the clothes that had been discarded by Melissa. The girl might not be upset about throwing away her clothes like that, but the waste would bother Jerry. Throwing the dirty clothes into the bag, she raced out to catch up with Jerry.

She made it to the car in time to hear Jerry say, “I haven’t decided. I just might throw you in the trunk. Of course, I’d feel sorry for the spare tire that has to be in there with you.”

Melissa was enraged by his treatment of her. Men were supposed to be doormats for women, but he wasn’t acting like a doormat. She glared at her father and said, “You’re a fucking bastard. I hate you.”

Jenny smiled over the hood of the car at her boyfriend. His demonstration of strength had a definite effect on the area between her legs. She said, “You’re my bastard and I’d love for you to throw me over your shoulder like that.”

Feeling the tension leave his body, Jerry laughed and said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Melissa was not amused by Jenny’s statement. She glared at the older woman, disgusted that any woman would allow herself to be toted around like that. It only convinced her further that Jenny was white trash.

On the drive over to pick up Bill, Melissa kept up a constant stream of abuse from the backseat. Amazed that his rage hadn’t returned, Jerry said, “Little girl. Your mouth is writing checks that your ass is going to have to cash. You stay here until I get Bill. If you run off, I’m not chasing you down.”

Jerry got out of the car and went up to the door to pick up Bill. When he was gone, Jenny turned to Melissa and said, “Listen to me, Melissa. The world described by your mother is fantasy. You’re living in the real world now. You better listen to your father, do as he says, and stop shooting off your mouth. He’s not going to let you get away with that kind of behavior.”

“He can’t do anything,” retorted Melissa fully confident of her answer.

“If he doesn’t know what to do with you, I’ll tell him how to handle the situation. You run off, we’ll call the police and report you as a run-away. When they catch you, I’m going to make sure that he’s delayed picking you up. I promise you that you can expect to spend another night in jail. If you destroy something around the house, I’ll rip up half of your clothes.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” retorted Melissa in shock that another woman would take her father’s side.

“Just try me,” challenged Jenny. She didn’t want to see Jerry hurt by the malicious little monster seated in the back of the car.

The tone of voice in the woman’s voice convinced Melissa more than her words. She stared at the woman finding it hard to believe that she let a man dictate what she did. In an incredulous voice, she said, “You have to control men. They might be stronger than women are, but they are mentally weak and lazy. They are sheep that have to be told what to do. Didn’t your mother explain that to you?”

Jenny broke out laughing at the younger woman. Shaking her head, she said, “You really have no clue at all about men and women.”

“Bitch,” retorted Melissa. She crossed her arms and stared out the window in time to see Bill come out of the house. She was surprised to see that he had a couple of friends that were patting him on the back and joking around with him. For a moment she wondered how he had managed to trick people into liking him. He was one of the losers and there wasn’t a chance of him going anywhere in the world.

Bill entered the car with a smile on his face. Ignoring his sister seated beside him, he looked over at Jenny and said, “Hi, Jenny.”

“Hello, Bill. Did you have a good time with Woody?”

“It was great. We played Nintendo, went swimming over at Sandy’s, hung around the mall, and watched a bunch of videos,” replied the boy with enthusiasm.

Melissa interrupted, “Billy boy, aren’t you going to say hello to me?”

“No,” replied Bill curtly before he turned back to Jenny. Smiling, he asked, “So what have you been doing?”

“Sharon and I went shopping. That was lots of fun,” replied Jenny. The two women had gone out to find a black dress for Melissa. Once they had found a dress for the girl, the two went looking at wedding dresses. Sharon was getting married in a month and still hadn’t found a dress for the wedding.

Bill wasn’t all that interested in shopping, but knew that Jenny enjoyed it. He asked, “So what did you get?”

“Well, we bought a dress for your sister and then we started looking for a wedding dress...” Her answer was cut off and replaced with a scream when Melissa reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair.

Jerry had been getting into the car when Melissa had yanked Jenny’s hair. Instead of getting into the car, he ran around to the other side to rescue his girlfriend. Bill reacted without thinking and slammed his right fist into Melissa’s stomach in a broad backhand swing. The girl crumpled in her seat letting go of Jenny’s hair. Before Jerry was able to get the door open, Bill had pushed Melissa back and was hovering over her with his fist back ready to pummel her.

Jerry threw the door open and Melissa tumbled out, landing at his feet. Roughly, Jerry picked her up and headed towards the back of the car. He shouted, “Open the trunk!”

Jenny appeared at his side and said, “Don’t put her in the trunk. I’ll sit in the back with Bill.”

Angry, Melissa glared at Bill and shouted, “He hurt me!”

Bill appeared next to his father and waved his fist in Melissa’s face as he growled, “If you ever touch Jenny again, I’ll kill you.”

Jerry snapped, “Melissa, you are lucky this time. Get in the front seat and don’t even say a single word. Bill, don’t threaten your sister.”

“It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise,” countered Bill ignoring the angry look his father gave him. He was staring at Melissa with absolute hatred in his eyes.

Melissa hadn’t believed her father when he had said that he would throw her in the trunk of the car earlier, but based on his actions she found herself believing the threat. When he let her go, she was going to yell at him. After one look at Bill, she slipped into the front seat without arguing.

The drive to the funeral home was quiet. Bill sat in the back glaring at his sister and holding Jenny’s hand. He was sitting right behind Melissa ready to reach out and throttle her if she did or said anything. He had lived with her abusive comments and behavior for years, but wasn’t going to allow Melissa to do the same things to Jenny.

Jenny watched Bill and Jerry as looks of anger crossed their faces. She patted Bill’s hand with reassurance occasionally. She believed that he was upset about having to be around his sister. She didn’t realize that the boy was more concerned about keeping her safe from his sister.

Jerry drove mechanically. His mind was racing in a futile effort to figure out what to do with Melissa. The past three days had been absolute hell for him and she had been the root cause of all of it. He wondered if there was any hope for her.

Melissa, her stomach hurting from the earlier blow to it, sat in the front seat plotting how she would get revenge on Bill for striking her. Thoughts of destroying his scooter came to mind, but she knew that he would be protecting it from her. She thought about it and knew that she’d have to come up with something much worse to have the desired effect.

When they arrived at the funeral home, Jerry’s ex-wife was standing near the door smoking a cigarette. Before Jerry had a chance to put the car into park, Melissa had jumped out the door.

She hit the ground running while she screamed, “Mommy.”

Jerry sat in the car staring at the pair of women as they went through the ritual of exchanging air kisses. The sight of his ex-wife disgusted him. She had let herself go over the past year and looked twenty years older. She retained the cruel twist to her smile when she looked in his direction. After knowing Jenny, he wondered how he had ever thought his ex-wife was attractive.

Bill broke the silence when he said, “Mom looks like shit.”

“Yes, she does.”

The three of them got out of the car and went up to the door of the funeral home. As they reached the door, his ex-wife said, “Well, if it isn’t the gorilla and his crack whore. What are you doing here?”

Jerry stopped and looked at his ex-wife. In a somber tone of voice appropriate for attending a funeral, he answered, “Bill and I are here to pay our respects to your mother.”

The three did not wait for a response before heading into the funeral parlor. Inside, they took seats in the back row of the room where the service would be held. The room was empty. Jerry wasn’t exactly surprised that they were the only ones there. The time for the service came and a minister came into the room. Jerry looked around and saw that they were the only ones there. He whispered, “We are the only ones here.”

Jenny looked around the room confirming that Jerry was correct; they were alone in the room. She wondered why the ex-wife and daughter were not in the room. They sat through the service with Jerry holding an arm around Bill’s shoulder to comfort the young man. The woman may have been nasty to Jerry, but she was Bill’s grandmother.

Bill sniffed, trying to hold back his tears. He may not have particularly been happy with how his grandmother treated him, but he had still loved her. For years he had hoped that he could do something that would make her proud of him, but that had never come to pass. His sister, on the other hand, could do no wrong. Even in his grief, he felt bitter about the unfairness.

When the service ended, the three of them went to the gravesite. The weather was still and humidity made the cemetery oppressively hot. They waited as the minister gave the graveside service with Bill standing between Jerry and Jenny. Jerry had his hand on the boy’s left shoulder and Jenny had hers on his right shoulder. When it was over, Jerry said, “I know you loved her son.”

Bill sniffed and said, “Yeah, but I don’t think she loved me.”

Jerry frowned and wondered what to say. He decided that the truth was best. After a minute, he said, “Don’t feel bad. I don’t think she was capable of loving a male.”

“Just like Mom and Melissa,” commented Bill with a sad shake of his head.

“I’m not sure that your mother is capable of loving anyone,” corrected Jerry. He stood by the graveside thinking how horrible it was that the old woman had been buried without her daughter or granddaughter in attendance. It was ironic that the two members of the family that the woman had actively disliked had been the only ones that attended her funeral. He wondered if there was any hope for Melissa.

With her heart breaking at the exchange between father and son, Jenny pulled Bill into a tight hug without saying a word. The tension in his back slowly lessened as he took comfort in her tight embrace. When she released him, tears were streaming down their faces. Jerry rocked in place feeling awkward, but not knowing what to say or do.

Bill followed his father and Jenny to the car. He thought about how lucky his father had been to find Jenny. Bill had learned from her that not all women were as selfish and self-centered as the women in his family were. She gave him hope that one day he would meet a nice girl.

When they reached the car, Jenny looked around for Melissa. The girl was nowhere to be found. She asked, “What are you going to do about Melissa?”