There Must Be A Mistake Ch 02

Note: All persons used in this novel are fictitious. Although the areas used in this novel are real, the streets, buildings, roadways, recreational areas, and other points of interest used to make this interesting reading for you, are neither at the exact heights, or in the location described. If you are looking for a great deal of explicit sexual activity, this is not the story for you. As I have it notated now, those scenes will be evocative rather than aggressive. They also will be a few and far between. This is going to be a "SHORT STORY, for your reading pleasure," with no more than "FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS." With the exclusion of certain scenes, this story could easily have a fit into the category of "NON-EROTIC" as easily as it will fit into a Novel or Novella. Again, please remember, 'THIS IS A NOVEL.'

Chapter 2

4. The Domino Effect

Saturday morning, Rod was angry, and he was never angry. Rosalynn walked around the house ignoring him. She sent the three oldest boys, 7, 6, and 6 years old, to play at their friends' house next-door, while she tended to the three children at home. She knew why he was angry, but she let him stew in his displeasure, instead of coddling him. If she said that word out loud now, he would explode. She decided to wait until she sat down to her breakfast to light his fuse.

Finally, their youngest boy settled down for his morning nap. Their two girls were romping around the playroom, and Roz was finally able to sit down to have her coffee and Greek yogurt. She purposely kept her chair away from the table so she could duck just in case he threw anything at her. Then, she did it.

"Thisis absolutely

DELICIOUS!"

Rods' mouthful full of coffee flew all over his morning paper. With daggers in his eyes he looked at his wife, who was innocently eating her yogurt, and asked, "What did you just say?"

"My yogurt; it is absolutely

DELICIOUS."

"You are saying that on purpose."

Looking confused, she asked, "Would you like to taste some?"

"You know what I'm talking about Roz. Don't ever say that word again."

"What word Rod,

DELICIOUS?"

"You just said again. You are trying to piss me off."

"Rod, are you telling me that a sixteen-year-old girl has gotten under your skin so badly, that you can't stand the sound of her name?"

"She is no ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. She is the spawn of the devil, and I want you to have no dealings with her."

"Are you trying to tell me who I can associate with, because if you are, you might as well throw those condoms you wore this weekend away, because you will never get laid again."

"Do you see what I mean Rosalynn? She has turned you against me."

"She has done nothing of the kind. That young woman has offered to take our children for one full week so I could have a real vacation for the first time since we got married. I have always been pregnant, or had a child in my arms and been pregnant at the same time, thanks to you. Finally, I have someone who is willing to watch all six of my children at one time, while I'm not pregnant, and you do not want me to associate with her. What kind of husband are you? You were with that girl for less than one full day. You lose $300 to her, and make an idiotic mistake on a tax question. I was with her for five hours, and she was as pleasant as any young woman I have ever been with. We went to a salon and talked while we had our hair done. We went to buy her casual clothing, because all she had been wearing were the dressy clothes 'Even' purchased for her in Maine. All during that time she was a perfect young woman. She comported herself beautifully, and unlike you, she listened to every word I said. She asked me questions about what I talked about, so I knew she was paying attention. She is as smart as anyone I know, including you, and possibly Even."

"Do you see what I mean, Roz; she is playing you against me. She

'is'

as smart as anyone you have ever met in your life."

"Rod, you are just angry that she took money from you, and she beat you on that tax question."

"I will admit that hurt, but there was another one she got me on, that hurt more. When we first saw her, in the funeral home, she was in a see-through blouse that showed her young breasts, and a miniskirt that barely covered anything. I will tell you what went on between Even and Delicious, when you are sitting on the commode, because I don't want you to have an accident in your pants. However, the next morning she was a totally different person. Even took her shopping, before they went to dinner, and she looked stunning. After some comments; she kissed me to thank me for the things I said about her. I told Even when she came of age, I was going to divorce my wife, leave my six children, and marry her. Even gave me a lecture about everything he was going to do to me, but the funny part was what Delicious said. "... leaving my family wouldn't bother her, as long as I truly loved her; but why would she marry someone who is so damn ugly."

Rosalynn laughed so loud her two little girls, came running from the playroom wondering why she was laughing. Rosalynn told them that daddy told a joke, and mommy thought it was very funny.

When the children left, Rod continued his story. "That wasn't the end of it either; she kept taunting me. I nearly had a stroke when she looked at my head and told me I had gray hairs. I bought it. I grabbed my head as if I could feel the difference between my dark black hair, and the gray ones. I realized I had been had, when she began to smile at me. I wanted to kill that child. I summoned up the courage to smile back at her. I said, "Don't worry about a thing little girl. My time will come, and I will get you for that remark."

Rosalynn had a gnawing feeling in her gut. She had to know if she was right, or not. "Rod, tell me the truth. I need to know whose idea it was for you to have the vasectomy."

Rod dropped his head. "Oh God, you are going to kill me."

She was so pissed, steam poured out of her ears. "You prick, that's what I thought. Don't come to bed tonight. Sleep with one of the children; sleep in your office, or sleep in the den. Sleep anywhere but near me. If you do, you may not wake up in the morning." She got up from the table, threw her spoon at him, and left the room.

"Rosalynn; Rosalynn you have to forgive me. I'm going to have it done. Does it matter whose idea it was?"

She yelled down the stairs, "You bet your ass it does."

He scolded himself, "I should never have let 'Even' go to Maine."

He picked up his cell phone and called him. As the phone was ringing, he realized the time, and knew Even would still be asleep. He was about to hang up, when 'SHE' said, "Good morning Rod; how may I help you?"

"Meet me out front, I'm going to take you to the top of Stark Mountain, tie you up, and leave you there for the wolves."

"Oh, poor Rod; are we having a bad day. Did you say something nasty to your wife this morning? Did your children keep you up all night? I thought that was Rosalynn's job. You wouldn't get out of bed, in the middle of the night, to help her with the children. Am I correct, you poor, poor man?"

"That's none of your business, Delicious."

"I believe I just hit a nerve, didn't I? You stayed in bed, while your tired, overworked wife tended to your six progeny. How inconsiderate of you. What else did you and Rosalynn talk about this morning?"

"I didn't call to speak about what my wife and I discussed over breakfast. I called hoping that my client had killed you overnight. I was going to discuss where to get rid of your body."

"It's funny you should want to talk about that Rod. I had a similar conversation with my uncle last night. The only difference is I know where, and how to get rid of his body; and I can never be blamed for killing him. He agreed with my plan and said it was foolproof."

"Delicious, I am not going to send you to the Air Force Academy. I am going to send you to West Point. It is much further away, and they use real guns. "

"How are you going to do that Rod? You are the one that had a vicious argument with your wife this morning. You are the one who desperately wanted to see what was in that double sealed envelope. You are the one that got into a heated argument with Even's niece on the airplane, on the way to Denver. Your three eldest children are suddenly missing from your home. The ten-foot fence around Even's compound is now electrified, and I haven't been told the codes to get into, or out of here yet. It will sound to the authorities that you had gone over the edge, with all your responsibilities to Even Luck. You are responsible for his entire life; from his bank- books, to his underwear. Your six children became too much for you to handle. Your wife turned into a bitch. All she ever does is complain. Your client's sister dies, and 'Even' became responsible for her sixteen-year-old daughter/his niece. She shows up, and begins usurping your authority over him. He is changing before your eyes. He started listening to her, more than he listened to you. He made you put her name on the deed to his property. She was already in his Will, because she was her mothers' heir. Now you are wondering if the next thing Even was going to do was write you completely out of his Will, and leave everything to her. You two have been friends for twenty-eight years. This beautiful teenager shows up, and she thinks she is going to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from you? It's not going to happen, not while you have any breath left in your body. Too much money is at stake for you to sit there and do nothing."

'So, what happened between you and Rosalynn this morning?'"

"She asked me whose idea was it to get a vasectomy. I don't lie to her. I never have, and I never will lie to her. I didn't even have a chance to say it was you, because she had already guessed it. By the way, how did we change subjects so quickly?"

"It is a trick my mother taught me. You tell a long interesting tale, and when the person you are interested in becomes engrossed in it, you ask the real question, which startles your victim. You will get your answer, before he realizes he gave it to you."

"Your mother taught you that?"

"Yes, she did. She taught me everything good I know. She also taught me how to protect myself from boys, who wanted nothing more than to treat me like my father treated her."

"When I saw you in the funeral home, I thought the exact opposite."

"So did everyone I met at school. However, it's the attitude that goes along with it that made almost every boy back away. It's Rosalynn's attitude towards you today that is going to keep her from getting pregnant tonight, not the way she is dressed."

"You are correct; she will not be getting pregnant tonight."

"How would you two be doing, if three of your children were missing?"

"You wouldn't do that to us."

"If I did it, you two would be as thick as thieves."

"Delicious, you have an evil mind."

I stood by the kitchen door listening to her portion of the conversation before I asked her, "Are you twisting my attorney's head around this early in the morning?"

Delicious turned and smiled at me. "Good morning, Uncle Even; I didn't have to twist his head, Rosalynn got to it before I did."

"Why, what did he do?"

"Roz asked him whose idea the vasectomy was, and he told her the truth."

"He lies to me all day long, and he tells his wife the truth. He needs to get his head examined."

"That's what I was doing, Uncle Even."

"Niece Delicious when you get finished with his mind it's going to be like oatmeal; lumps and all. Hand me the phone please."

"You can call me anytime, Rod; I was having so much fun. My uncle would like to talk with you now."

"Even; what is he doing up at this hour of the morning? What did you do to him? If you are trying to kill my only source of income..."

I held the phone far from my ear, because Rod continued yelling at my niece. When his tirade was done, I said to him, "Are you feeling better Rod, because she didn't hear a word you said. I had the phone, and I thought our vocabularies were more extensive than that."

"Don't you start with me 'Even'; I'm in no mood for you either."

"Okay." I hung up the phone, sat down at the table, and waited.

Seconds later it rang. "You bastard, you hung up on me."

"Rod, you said you were in no mood for me, so I hung up. Do you have a problem this morning?"

"Yes, why is she still alive?"

"She told me in no uncertain terms, that I was I hiring her as my assistant at $40 per hour. She types 103 words per minute, so I told her I would give her a chance."

"Even, you don't work well with women, remember?"

"She is not a woman, remember Rod.

She's a child

. She is my ward, my niece, my godchild, and according to my very expensive attorney, I am her

legal guardian

. I have to keep a close watch on her all the time, because she is

under age

, don't I Rod

. I have no choice in this matter;

do I Rod? You ordered me to go to Maine to get her,

against my will

, didn't you Rod.

You laughed at me

all the way there,

because she was just a little girl

, didn't you Rod? Suddenly,

you have a problem

with her being here.

She is causing you a great deal of pain.

Perhaps I should laugh at you now, my friend. Better yet,

maybe you should have listened to me

in the first place."

"You are never going to forgive me for this are you?"

"How old are we now; 33. I think by the time we are 70, I may forgive you."

"Are you saying she's never going to leave?"

"Why would she want to leave? As long as she is here she does not have to put her hand into her pocket to take out a penny. She will be fed, clothe, educated, entertained, transported, or be given a method of transportation, go to parties, or have parties here. All the terrible things in life a growing young woman dreams of will be placed at her feet. Tell me again why Delicious Mark would want to leave? As my attorney, Rod, your first duty is to put her name, as co-owner, on the deed to this property."

"Even, please don't do this to me

"Do I have to hire a new attorney, Rod?"

"No, you don't have to do that. I'll take care of it second thing Monday morning."

"What are you doing first thing Monday morning?"

"I am talking to my doctor about a vasectomy."

"Uncle Even, would you ask Rod for the name of Rosalynn's gynecologist. I have to set up an appointment to get my birth control pills renewed."

"Niece Delicious, I think I'll let you talk to Rosalynn about the gynecologist. Rod would probably send you to a veterinarian."

Rod yelled, "I would not; I would send her to a mortician. Ask her who she is going to screw, after she is finished with me?"

"Rod, be nice to my Godchild, and put Rosalynn on the phone, please."

"I'm not sure if she's talking to me."

"She doesn't have to talk to you Rod; all she has to do is pick up the telephone."

Rod walked to the stairwell and yelled, "Roz!"

The reply came back instantaneously. "

Go Fuck Yourself!"

"Even would like to speak to you, Roz."

"Its 10:30, Even doesn't get up until 2. Who are you trying to kid?"

"I didn't lie to you about the vasectomy. Why would I lie to you about this?"

"If it's not him I'm cutting the whole package off, without benefit of anesthesia."

Rosalynn asked, "What are you doing up at this hour of the morning, Even?"

"Rosalynn, do you want the short answer, or the long answer?"

"I've taken the whole day off. That lying bastard is taking care of the children, until I decide to leave this room. Start with the short answer, and I'll decide if I want to hear the long one."

"Delicious."

"That is the short answer?"

"Roz, I can't make it any shorter than that."

"Let me talk to her Even. It will be funnier coming from her."

"Good morning Rosalynn, I am an innocent maiden, looking for birth control pills. I did nothing wrong."

Rosalynn laughed. "Delicious, according to my husband you should be sprouting horns. Should we start from the airplane ride yesterday, and go forward or this morning's conversation and work backwards."

"Rosalynn, I asked him a very simple question yesterday. Don't you think you should give your wife some time off between babies? He said you would not use any birth control method because you are Catholic. I said to him why not get yourself snipped. He grabbed his crotch and said, "Who Me?" After a short conversation, he realized it was the best thing for both of you. He honestly was thinking about you; so give him a break."

"Are you taking his side?"

"If you tell him I said that I'll have to kill you."

Roz laughed. "You are the devil herself."

"My mother raised a wonderful, liberated woman–child."

"What else happened on the trip home?"

"I wanted to buy a gun for several reasons, all of them involving men. Your husband said he would use it on me first. After thinking about it, he decided a gun would be too merciful and quick for me. He was going to take me up to the top of a mountain, tie me up, spread blood around, and leave me for the animals to eat. I think he may have been angry with me."

"Delicious, no one can get my husband angry. They can't get him angry in court. They can't get him angry at community meetings. The children don't get him angry. He is the essence of calm. He doesn't have that gene in him. He is with you for less than one day, and this morning he can't control his temper. What did you do to that man?"

"I think it's because I have am having an effect on his client. He's not used to seeing my uncle happy. It is throwing Rods' balance off. We went to a department store in Maine to buy shoes. When we finished, we told him we had to go back into the store to buy sleepwear. Rod nearly fainted, because my uncle was happy about it. Uncle Even was spending money on me like it was water. Rod had never seen him like that ever before."

"Rod is not tight with money. He spends money freely on us all the time. Why is it so different with Even, who has more money than God?"

"Rosalynn for that answer you are going to have to ask your husband."

"Why is Even up at this hour of the morning?"

"I asked him if he wanted a sixteen-year-old girl roaming around his house and his laboratory,

ALONE

, from 8 o'clock in the morning until 2 o'clock in the afternoon, by herself, every day. I reminded him of the untold damage that could be done to his computer, during those endless hours, unless we came to an agreement on his sleeping habits. He will now go to sleep by 11 PM, and get up by 10 AM, and start eating properly."

Rosalynn asked, "Why is he willing to do it?"

"Because he looks at me, and he sees my mother. He absolutely adored her."

A glass shattered, and she turned to see what happened.

I was looking at my niece with such fear in my heart I almost could not contain it. If she had used the word 'loved' instead of 'adored' Rod's wish for her premature death would have come to pass. She promised not to repeat what I told her last night. She swore it would stay between us forever and I thought she was going to let it slip out this morning. Thankfully it didn't, and now I had a mess to clean up.

"Delicious, what was that noise?"

"That was my half-awake uncle trying to pour orange juice into a glass. The glass didn't make it."

"Do you have any plans for the day?"

"Give me a moment Rosalynn and I'll find out."

"Uncle Even, can I try a new experiment on your computer by myself today. If not, can I have some money to go shopping with Rosalynn?"

"I'll give you anything you need, just get out of the house and don't go near my laboratory, unless I am with you."