Wrongful kiss
Chapter 1
An Old Man
As the old man opened the front door of the grey double wide trailer
he looked all around the yard before stepping out onto the full size front
porch that span the entire front of the trailer.
His eyes were not the eyes of the young man he had once been but
Thomas could still see well enough to enable him to live alone. But he was
worried that this might change soon, because he was beginning to have trouble
with his eyes.
In any case he had lived in this trailer for thirteen years and
he knew every inch of the yard. If any thing was out of place he would know it.
If there was any one watching him, he would know it. And there was still about
thirty minutes of day light left in the day before the night lights on the
light poles would come on so he could still see well enough to move freely even
in this late hour of the day.
Satisfied there was no one around Thomas put his gun, a 38
revolver, into his right front pocket. That was where the gun lived and it was the
only thing he ever carried in that pocket. The gun was registered in the name
of James Addison, a long lost friend and the father of someone very special to
Thomas.
His cell phone was assigned to the left front pocket. The cell
phone was almost never used because it did not work most of the time. This was because
Thomas almost never remembered to charge the battery. Thomas did not like using
the damn phone anyway. It was for emergency in case he ever had to shoot
someone. He would want the meat wagon to get there fast so he could get the
body out of his yard and get back to his drinking.
Thomas did not carry coins in his pockets. Everything was paid
with a card kept in an old beat up wallet with a few picture ID’s and one old
beat up photo of the only person Thomas had ever really truly loved, Kelly. The
wallet went into the rear left pocket. That left the right rear pocket for his
keys.
Thomas opened the door all the way and then stepped out onto the
porch. Out side, the first thing Thomas did was walked to the end of the porch
on the left side of the door. The trailer faced north so this was the west side
of the trailer.
At the end of the porch Thomas looked back behind the trailer
and seeing that nothing needed his attention he then walked to the other end of
the porch, the east side to again look behind the trailer.
Satisfied the area was secure Thomas then walked back to the center
of the porch which was where the door into the living room was.
The trailer was a double wide and the living room took up the
entire middle of the trailer. Then on the east side of the trailer was first
the kitchen and then the master bed room. The master bed room had a master bath
room also.
The west side of the trailer had two bed room and another bath
room with a laundry room. A hall ran down the wall on the back side of the
trailer from the living room to the bed rooms on both sides. The other bed room
opened into this hall with the bath room and laundry room between the two bed
rooms. The back door to the trailer opened off of this hall way to a small
porch on the back side of the trailer.
Here on the porch, setting just to the right side of the door
was the reason Thomas had come out side. Reaching down Thomas picked up the large
red cooler he had known would be setting there.
Thomas noticed the weight of the cooler and guessed that what he
thought was inside would be there. That would be enough to just get started
tonight he thought, but he would have to make a store run soon because he was
out of power juice.
He had not left the trailer in three days and so his stash was now
low. Way low in fact, because he was out.
Thomas turned to the table setting in front of the west side living
room window, glancing at the window, and made sure that it was still covered
from the inside and could not be seen into as he set the cooler down on the
table and pulled a chair up to the table.
Thomas again looked around the yard as he pulled the gun out of
his pocket and laid it beside the cooler before setting down at the table.
Thomas Wayne Saratoga was not a scared man. But he was careful.
There was no reason for Thomas to be this careful. He had no beef
with anyone that he knew of, or at lease, no one he was worried about. But
Thomas had dark secrets that kept him on the alert all the time. At lease all
the time when he was not drunk. And beside that, he knew people around these
parts thought he was kind of weird. There was no telling what one of the local
punks might think to do.
Thomas did drink a lot. Over the last year he had started to
drink more and more. He knew this was not good for him but he could not bring
his self to really give a damn.
As Thomas had set down in the chair, she popped into his mind
again. She was always there. And he wanted her there. She was the reason he had
not used the gun to stop drinking. The thought had come to him many times that
it would only take a few seconds and then it would be over. But then if he had
followed the thought, she would be gone from him for ever. As long as he was
alive, he still had a chance to see her again.
Thomas reached and took out his wallet and took a picture of her
out to place on the table in front of him. He always ate with her picture
beside his plate.
“Hello my dear.” He said. The picture was of a young girl with
black hair, she was almost fifteen years old in the picture. She was brown
colored like maybe a deep tan or mixed raced. One could not tell for sure with
the picture.
For Thomas the thought of her being gone was death, and the only
reason he had to live was thinking she was out there somewhere. Well maybe she
was. He had not seen her in almost twenty years. He did not know if she was
alive or dead. But he still had his dreams.
Thomas opened the cooler. There set a six pack of beer just like
he thought there would be. They were the kind he liked also, Bud Ice. He
reached into the cooler and took out one of the beers. It was not cold but it
was still cool. Thomas guessed the cooler had not been setting there long.
Next week the cooler would be blue. A different cooler came each
week. It was delivered by Pella Marla the son of Thomas’s best friends Dene and
Doris Marla.
Thomas opened the beer and killed it with two upturns of the
bottle. Then Thomas reached into the cooler and took out a second beer.
Thomas set the second beer on the table after opening it and
then reached into the cooler again to find a bowl and a wrapped slice of cake.
He set this on the table also.
Reaching back into the cooler Thomas found a plastic zip bag
with bread and chicken in it. There was also a large yellow envelope. They were
also set on the table.
Last Thomas found a spoon and fork in the cooler. He laid them on
top of the envelope as he opened the bowl. Inside were pinto beans. Thomas knew
they would have been cooked just the way he liked them, with fat back meat.
Doris Marla was a good cook and she had found out that Thomas
loved pinto beans many years ago. She had found out how he liked them cooked
and she made sure he received some every week.
Doris Marla did not cook for her self or her family. The Marla’s
were rich and they had cooks. But she did cook pinto beans every week for
Thomas Wayne Saratoga. Thomas had saved the life of her son Pella Doris had never stopped
thanking him.
Thomas has almost finished half the bowl of beans when he seen
the old dogs watching him. Thomas chewed the last of the mouth full he had,
swallowed them, and then picked up the second beer and killed it as fast as he
had the first.
“Hello Sooner.” Thomas said to the dog as he turned the bottle
down. She just looked at him.
Thomas then saw the cat rubbing up against the dog. Her name was
Mama Cat. She had not always been called Mama Cat. But after her mother had
died and sense she was the oldest of the cats at that time still hanging around
she became Mama Cat.
“Are you hungry?” Thomas asked the cat and dog. He looked over
to the end of the porch and seen that the plastic pet feeder was half full.
They would not be hungry but they would welcome a taste of his beans.
“Not talking tonight are you? Thomas asked the two friends. They
did not say anything as they set there and watched Thomas.
Thomas picked up the plastic zip bag with the bread and chicken
inside it. He took out a chicken leg and took a bite. Then he pitched the leg
to the dog.
Sooner caught the leg in mid flight then laid it down on the
porch for Mama Cat to inspect. She turned her nose up at the chicken and walked
over to the table and jumped on top of it.
“You want my beans don’t you Mama?’ Thomas asked. He scooped out
some beans and laid them on the table. Mama cat started eating them. Thomas
then took another spoon full and pitched them toward the old dog. Sooner was not
able to catch every one of them but was able to find the ones she had missed.
The three of them set there and finished off the beans. Thomas
even ate a chicken leg all by his self and then washed it down with a third
beer but not as fast as the first two.
Sooner ate the first leg that Thomas had given her. She enjoyed
chicken. But she did not ask for the other leg. She knew Thomas would save that
one for Dog.
There were two dogs and the cat that lived here with Thomas.
Thomas had found Sooner when she was a baby puppy in a dumpster behind the
Lucky Tree Mall. Some one had thrown her away like trash. Thomas saved her and
raised her.
Thomas had an old cat at the time that he called Mama Cat. This
was the mother to the cat he now called Mama Cat. The old Mama Cat had just
given birth to the new Mama Cat when Thomas found Sooner and so the two had
grown up together. Thomas was not sure that Sooner knew she was a dog. She
acted like a cat.
Sooner had received her name from the fact that she had just as
soon piss in the house as she would out side the house, not caring what Thomas
had to say about it. Thomas and the old dog had gone through many wars on
account of this attitude and over the years this had become a bigger problem
with Sooner unable to wait for Thomas to remember to take her out side. This
was why Sooner now lived out side with the cat.
The animal’s has their own small house which Thomas cleaned
regular for them. And there was five acres of land, all fenced in with a chain
link fence to keep the riff raft out. So for the most part, everyone was happy.
This nice little set up had cost Thomas a little bit of money
but he did not care. He had money. And he was damn well going to enjoy it while
he could. After he was gone someone else could save it. He was going to spend
it. Beside that, he also had a ton of money already saved up.
Thomas now looked around the yard wondering where his other Dog
was as he reached for a forth beer and opened it. The other dogs name was ‘Dog’
and that was all Thomas had ever called him. He was a big black Shepard. Most
of the time he was a shadow to Sooner and Mama Cat but some time he wondered
off by his self.
Thomas then heard a sound behind him. It was Dog.
Dog was very quite and had come up on the porch and walked
behind Thomas without Thomas even knowing he was there. This was a neat trick
because the dog was only about eight months old and already weighed sixty-five pounds.
The dog was just a puppy to Thomas, but to everyone else the dog was a terror.
The dog did not like anyone, and he would bite.
“Hello Dog.” Thomas said. “I got something for you.” Thomas said
as he set the forth beer down and handed Dog the other chicken leg. Thomas then
picked up the forth beer again to finish it off.
As he watched the dog eat Thomas though how much he love the
animal, all of them, the two dogs and the cat. Thomas loved them more than
anything else in the world.
No, that was not true he thought as she again popped into his
mind. Her face so beautiful, her body, her mind; Thomas was not sure why he
loved her so much. Maybe it was because he could not have her.
Thomas picked up the picture he had laid on the table. Setting
there he felt all kinds of emotions running through him. He sometimes wondered
how a man could feel love and hate at the same time. How could a man feel so
much anger and at the same time feel so much peace in his heart because of one
person.
Thomas knew what he had done with her was wrong, but he could
not help his self. Many times he had told his self he wish he could go back and
do it over and that if he could he would never had let it go as for as it had.
But he also had come to understand that he would have done the
same thing if he had been given the second chance. He had not used her and he
had not been with her out of lust. He had loved her. No wait, he still loved
her. Even if he never seen her again he would always love her. What the two of
them had done had been because of love. Sure they had needed each other and
really had no one else at the time except each other. But the love they shared
was real and not just two people comforting each other.
“Sure it was.” Thomas said out load to no one. The right or
wrong of the love he had for Kelly Ann Addison was a war in his mind that he
always lost. He tried so hard to make it right, but at the same time he damned
his self for doing so.
The aches and pains Thomas felt both in body and mind were
beginning to fade away as he finished the forth beer.
Thomas was looking at the yellow envelope when he set the empty beer
bottle down. He knew what was inside it; money and a letter from the doctor. He
really didn’t care about either. He didn’t need the money, and he did not
really want to know what the doctor was going to tell him. He knew it would
have to be bad news. At lease everyone else would think it was bad news. For
him, it would be just an ending to the story.
Thomas put the picture back into his wallet and then picked up
the envelope and opened it. Inside were three smaller envelopes. One had the
name of the doctor on it and was addressed to him care of Doris Marla. The
second envelope had the name of Thomas’s daughter on it and was also addressed
to him care of Doris Marla.
Thomas put both of these back into the yellow envelope and then put
the yellow envelope back into the cooler. Then after replacing the bowl and the
slice of cake back into the cooler Thomas picked up the fifth beer and opened
it. After drinking half of the beer he set it down and opened the third
envelope. Looking inside and seeing what he knew was there he reached in and
took out ten one hundred dollar bills. He knew they were going to be there
because Doris Marla had sent him five hundred dollars a week for as long as he
could remember. And today was his birthday so he knew she would also send five
extra one hundred dollar bills.
A friend, a girl named Tee Tee, had invited Thomas to visit the area
now called Lucky Tree many years ago. The first night he was here he had saved
Pella Marla from being crushed between two cars. Thomas had not been so lucky.
His legs were crushed. Because of this he had spent months in the hospital, and
many more months learning to walk again.
Thomas did not think what he had done was a big deal. Any man
would have done the same if he had been there. Thomas just happened to be the
one chanced fell upon.
But Doris Marla did not see it this way. Doris and Dena Marla
had been trying for years to have a child. And when her son Pella
Thomas was a sad old man, older than his years because of events
in his life. People saw Thomas as someone troubled with a painful soul. Thomas
was quite and did not make friends easy. Not because he could not make friends
but because he did not care to make friends. Thomas was a loner. And over the
years Thomas had been hurt by so many friends.
Thomas had not wanted to make a friend out of Doris but he had been given
no choice in the matter. Doris Marla had seen the quietness’ in Thomas as a
wounded soul and all the more reason god had sent Thomas to her.
After the accident Thomas could have gone anywhere to
recuperate. Thomas had money. But Doris Marla would not hear of it. She was
damn well going to make sure this man god had sent to her was cared for if it
was the last thing she ever done in life.
So Thomas had given in and moved into the trailer. And he had
allowed Doris to nurse him back to health. Not really her,
but her servants.
The servants loved the ideal because they ended up mostly
setting with Thomas and watching him while he drank.
Thomas was remembering
back to the accident and all the events leading up to his being here in the
trailer at this time. He had purchase the trailer and five acres of land from
the Marla’s almost a year after he had moved in. It was his birthday and also
the same day he started working for Dena Marla at the plaza.
The Marla’s owned the Lucky Tree plaza, and Dena Marla had named
the plaza the Lucky Tree and had used a tree with money as the leafs as a
symbol for the plaza.
And Thomas had done this job for several years, up until a year
ago when he first started feeling sick. Even then he had continued to put in a
few days a week and it had not been until about a month ago that Thomas had
become so sick he could not work.
That was when Thomas had started to drink full time. He was
trying to kill the pain and would not go to the hospital.
When Doris Marla found out how sick Thomas had come to be she
had marched right over to take him to a doctor. He would not go and she become
so mad at him she told him she was never going to forgive him. She then stomped
off madder than a wet hornet because even this statement had not make Thomas go
to the hospital.
Deep down Thomas wondered if maybe he really wanted to die. But
that was not the truth he told his self. The reason he would not go to see a
doctor was because he knew that if he did they would kill him and he wanted to
live so he might one day see Kelly again.
Kelly was all that he needed to stay alive.
But Doris Marla was not beaten. If she could not get Thomas to
go see a doctor then she would get a doctor to come see him.
Doctor Mary Hanson was a much respected doctor over in San Antonio , Texas Doris always talked about.
That had been two weeks ago, and after taking blood and giving
Thomas a good check up Doctor Hanson had told him what she had thought was
wrong with him and had said she would know for sure in a few days and send him
a report as soon as she could.
The report was in the envelope now inside the cooler with the
letter from his daughter both addressed to him care of Doris Marla.
The doctors envelope was marked urgent but he was sure the
letter from his daughter was just as urgent as it always was when she written
him needing money or something. Both would wait till tomorrow because Thomas
had to piss and do some shopping. He had finished the fifth beer and only had
one left. Shopping was a very high priority now on his list of to do items.
Thomas put the money inside his pocket as he stood up from the
table.
“I got to pee Dog.” He said looking at the Shepard and picking
up the sixth and last beer. The Dog stood up also looking back at Thomas and
then turn and walked off the porch.
“I guess I can pee in the yard as good as I can in the house.”
Thomas said watching the dog as he walked down the steps. Thomas followed him.
Thomas’s trailer faced north and was surrounded by trees on both
sides and in the rear. The tree line stood at about twenty five feet distance.
Grass covered the front yard for about forty feet then become
the mouth of the drive way. The drive way itself was lined up with the front
door of the trailer. Brick lined a walking path to the drive. And the grass
area was separated from the drive area with a small white fence.
Thomas walked across the grass to the left side of the yard to
stand beside a large old tree. There he unzipped his pants and started to pee.
Looking down at first to make sure he was not wetting anything that did not
need wetting he then looked around the yard again.
Thomas was looking at the four cars that were parked in his
drive way. They were all his and three of them looked new except they needed
washing. Thomas had already thought he was going to have them repainted any way
so he was not too worried about the dirt.
The newest was a Silver 2007 Chrysler 300. Thomas had fallen in
love with the car, and purchased it from his friend Dick Spray when Dick had
purchased a new 2009 Chrysler 300.
The Black 1969 Ford Mach 1 Mustang and Candy Apple Red 1956 Ford
Fairlane were both rebuilt from the ground up. The forth car, a Rust colored Studebaker
Lark was now in the middle of being restored to original condition.
Finished peeing Thomas replaced his family jewels and then
opened the sixth beer. He took the cap and bent it in half between his right
hand thumb and pointing finger. Not wanting to throw it on the ground he then
placed the cap into his pocket.
When he turned the beer down he was still not feeling a rush or
in the lease bit high. Six beers had no effect on him and he almost wanted to
curse because he hated drinking that much and getting nothing out of it. He
felt ten pounds heaver now than when he first walked out of the trailer.
Thomas remembered that he had something in the Studebaker. He
had been working on the car a few weeks ago and left a bottle of Johnny walker
black in the passenger’s seat.
Thomas started walking toward that part of the yard that was the
parking area.
The parking area was twice the size of the grass part of the
yard. And the three working cars were parked facing west on the west side of
the yard.
The driveway was lined up with the front door of the trailer so
it split the yard in half. On the east side set the Studebaker and beside it
was a there was also a Chevrolet Box Van. The van was Thomas’s work area for
restoring the old cars. The old van did not look like much but the engine was
very clean.
When Thomas opened the passenger door of the car he saw the Johnny
Walker bottle setting there on the seat with only one good swig left in it.
Thomas laid the beer bottle down beside it and picked up the Johnny Walker. He
killed what was in the bottle then placed bottle back beside the beer bottle.
The drive way of the trailer was about sixty yards from where
the cars were now parked to the old road that it ran off of. The drive way was
covered by trees on both sides. The trailer could not be seen from the road
because of the trees and also the way the drive way stooped down in the middle.
If not for a well kept drainage system there would have been a small lake here.
It was possible to drive pass the drive way and not even know it
was there unless you were looking for it.
The small dirt road the drive way ran off of was just barely
able to be called a road. It was really just a service road going to the local power
relay station. There was only three thing located on this service road; the
power station, Thomas’s drive way, and another drive way across from Thomas
where a very long time friend of Thomas’s live. Thomas had known Tee Tee Brown
before he had moved here and she was in fact the reason he had come to the
Lucky Tree area to start with.
The Lucky Tree area was a triangle of three roads. The base of
the triangle was Lamar Allen Road New Hope
The Lucky Tree Plaza New Hope
Old South Road Lucky Tree Plaza Dallas
About a mile north of the Lucky Tree Plaza Old South Road join a
fork with Trinchera Road Lamar Allen Road Lucky Tree Plaza
That was the Lucky Tree area. The old city of Brownsville
Thomas’s trailer was right behind the Lucky Tree Plaza Lamar Allen Road
And like on the north side of the trailer, the south side was
also invisible to the sight of anyone out side the fence which surrounded the
entire five acres of Thomas’s land.
There was a path that trailed off from the right rear of the
trailer and led to a gate in the fence right behind the plaza.
Thomas used this path to get to the plaza and Dick Spray’s
liquor store. He was ready to use it now.
“Time to go get some supplies.” Thomas told his dog. The dog
barked in understanding.
“I don’t think so” Thomas said, “I am just going to make a beer
and liquor run tonight. Your bowl is full and you have food. So you are going
to have to wait till tomorrow if you want anything else.”
Again the dog barked as if he understood.
Thomas then started to walk off across the grass and around the
trailer to the back yard and the path.
“Keep an eye on things till I return Sooner.” Thomas told the
old she dog still setting on the porch. She didn’t move. The cat was still
setting on the table.
Thomas walked through the path less than a minute before coming
to the gate which was hidden on the other side by a big trash dumpster.
Thomas thought how spooky this place was.
All this was once part of the town of Brownsville
No one was ever charged with the killings. How could they be?
Who could kill a hundred people over a hundred year period?
Now talk was that the ghost of the killer was still killing
young kids but no one had gone missing in years.
Thomas reached into his right rear pocket and took out a key
that fit the lock on the gate; one of several key like locks that were on all
four of the gates alone the fence; one gate, one lock, one key for each side of
the trailer.
Thomas unlocked and opened the gate, turning to Dog he said
“Keep watch here till I return boy.”
Dog barked again.
Thomas stepped through the gate closing it behind him.
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