Part 02: Infernos
*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
This is the conclusion to 'Inferno.' If you've not read 'Inferno' please do so before reading this one.
Also, if Father/Daughter incest offends you, do not progress any further.
Chapter 1
Kenneth stared out the window at the inky blackness. The van groaned and creaked and rattled over every single bump in the road and finally pulled up in front of a convenience store.
Nine years. Nine long years for aggravated arson. He was being released because of Ms. Woodstock (as he had christened the aging hippy that worked on the parole board).
Ms Goldman had put her stamp of approval on the application
"Ms. Goldman, you can't be serious!" Mr. Stockton had harrumphed.
"He has served the majority of his sentence; what good is it going to do to keep him here?" Ms. Goldman argued. "Tell me, what purpose is being served?"
"Ms. Goldman, he was investigated three times. Three times. Each time was because of the death of a fellow inmate.
"And each time, there was no evidence it was him; inconclusive pretty much tells me they had no proof. For all we know, it could have been him, OR anyone else," she pointed out.
"You know what, Ms. Goldman, I hope he moves in right next door to you," Mr. Broussard spat as he signed his own name to the application.
"I would be honored to have him as a neighbor," Ms. Goldman lied.
Kenneth Kay and the other newly paroled convicts got off the van into the humid air.
"Where?" the tired assistant warden asked as he approached the counter.
"Where what?" Kenneth asked.
"Where am I buying a bus ticket to?" the man asked, now a little perturbed.
"DeGarde," Kenneth said.
"Dee... that in Louisiana?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Kenneth said.
"Ninety seven fifty," the Asian man declared and frowned as he was handed the purchase order.
The man turned to the other three prisoners and then purchased three tickets for New Orleans. Again the Asian man frowned as the man paid with purchase orders.
"Vouchers no good," he argued. "Wait two, three weeks, waiting for money to come in."
"Be happy to tell the state you don't want to do business with us anymore," the man threatened.
Kenneth looked at the ticket and fought the urge to groan. According to the printout, he would be waiting for nearly thirteen hours for the next bus to come along.
"Five hours?" another man complained. "I'm being here five fucking hours, waiting on that fucking bus?"
Kenneth walked up and down the aisles of the convenience store and finally selected a microwave burrito.
"No voucher," the Asian man demanded.
"Cash," Kenneth said and gave the man a five dollar bill.
"Aw, hey my man," one of the other released convicts smiled at Kenneth.
"Hey my man, you just saw my last five bucks and I got thirteen hours until my bus comes," Kenneth lied.
He took a bite of the stale burrito, chewed it, and then forced a swallow.
"And I got another seven hours until my bus pulls up at my stop. So, this? This has got to last me twenty hours. So, my man, what you were going to say?"
By the time the New Orleans bound Greyhound bus did arrive, Kenneth was almost ready to return to Angola. It seemed that the other three released convicts had money to buy cigarettes and even a couple of scratch off lottery tickets, but none of them had money for coffee, or chips, or any other food items and were constantly trying to wheedle a few bucks from Kenneth.
"What part of 'No' do you not get?" he said. "It was 'no' an hour ago, and the word 'no' hasn't changed in an hour."
"No refill," the new clerk screeched.
Kenneth walked up to the counter, showed the elderly, pinched faced Asian woman the coffee cup. On its side was clearly printed 'free refills.' She glowered at him and almost yelled that he was using too much sugar.
"Aw, hey, man, you could have slipped one of us that cup; we could get us some coffee too," one of the three objected.
"Could have, aw look, here comes your bus; later," Kenneth said.
"No bathroom," the elderly lady barked when Kenneth approached the counter.
"Look, bitch," Kenneth snapped. "You have a bathroom here; just show me where the fucking thing is, all right?"
"No cursing, you no talk to me like that, you go, you leave, I call police," the woman screeched.
"Call them," Kenneth bluffed.
Grumbling, the woman unlocked the tiny closet. The bathroom doubled as a storage closet; there were stacks and stacks of candy bar boxes. She stood with the door wide open and Kenneth waited.
"You no steal nothing," the woman said as she finally closed the door.
Kenneth did not particularly like sweets but was very tempted to steal a few candy bars, just to spite the harsh woman.
"With my luck," he thought to himself. "Bitch's probably watching me through a peephole."
It felt good to be able to relieve himself in peace and quiet.
He came out and found the elderly woman not quite so loud and shrill; two teenaged kids were holding pistols and demanding her money.
"You help, please!" she screeched at Kenneth.
"Fuck you too!" he snapped. "Spend all your time yelling at me; now want me to help you? Fuck that; these mother fuckers can have whatever the fuck they want!"
He turned to face the taller of the two kids.
"Hey, it okay I grab myself some juice? Fucking dying of thirst here," he asked.
"Help yourself," the kid giggled.
"No, no, you pay for that," the woman yelled.
"Just open the fucking safe, slant eyed bitch," the tall kid demanded.
Kenneth found the juice bottles and smiled tightly. They were ridiculously overpriced and he was sure the woman would make him pay for them after everything was all over.
He tested the two heavy glass bottles in his hand and looked over to the thugs.
It had been years since he was on the pitcher's mound but he was only twelve feet away from the two kids.
Both kids crumpled to the ground when the juice bottles struck them in the back of the head.
"Call the police," Kenneth demanded and kicked their guns away from their hands.
The police were quick to respond and both kids were complaining of sore heads as they were stuffed into the police car.
"Here," the old woman said, handing Kenneth a microwave hamburger and a beer, the closest thing Kenneth got to an apology and thanks from the woman.
His bus pulled up and the driver eyed him suspiciously as he took the now quite rumpled ticket from Kenneth. Kenneth found an unoccupied seat and sat, close to the window.
----
Jennifer looked with mild interest as Grace fawned all over a very short woman. The short woman was pushing a baby stroller with a chunky boy in it, and her belly was grossly distended in her last month of pregnancy. The woman wore oversized glasses and had long brown hair that hung down, almost touching the floor.
"Where's Georgette?" Grace asked.
"St. Richard's," Mary smiled. "Today's her first day of kindergarten."
"Aw!" Grace said.
"Who's that?" Jennifer asked Mindy.
"That's Mary; isn't she beautiful?" Mindy practically gushed like a love-struck teenager.
Jennifer looked at the pregnant woman again and shrugged.
"Go talk to her; you'll see what I mean," Mindy encouraged.
"Hi, I'm Jennifer; can I help you find anything?" Jennifer asked the small woman and was rewarded with a blinding smile.
"Mary, this is Jennifer Kay; she's our newest employee," Grace introduced the two women.
"So nice to meet you," Mary smiled and actually patted Jennifer's hand warmly. "But no, thanks; I just stopped by to say 'Hi' to Grace and Mindy. We all went to school together."
Jennifer couldn't explain it, but she felt drawn to the petite woman, drawn to her warmth and her happiness.
"You got the check, right? I sent it..." Grace asked eager to please the woman.
"Yes, thank you, came just like clockwork," Mary agreed, then looked at a small one-piece outfit. "Oh, isn't that cute?"
"Is Tommy still in a twenty four month?" Grace quickly asked.
"Yeah, for now!" Mary laughed happily. "He's going to be just as big as his daddy, I swear!"
"I'll get it," Mindy quickly yelled out and actually ran to the stockroom.
"She's the owner of the store," Mindy confided to Jennifer when Mary left the store. "Grace read about some store that had caught on fire and all the clothing was ruined when the sprinkler system put out the fire. All that needed to be done was the clothes needed to be washed, but of course, they couldn't be sold as new. Grace figured out, she could get the clothes at pennies on the dollar, but she needed someone with money. Being a convict, no bank's going to touch her. Then, she runs into Mary at church and Mary doesn't even blink, just writes Grace a check for a hundred thousand dollars and hands it to her."
"I asked her how she could just do that," Grace cut in. "And she says 'I have faith in Jesus and I have faith that Jesus is with you.' I got down on my knees, right there in the parking lot and begged Jesus to forgive me."
"Then, she comes in here, and I'm all like trying to act all cool and stuff," Mindy said. "And I asked her, 'God, you pulling one, pushing another and ready to pop out another one?' See, she had Georgette with her and she was just starting to show and Mary just looks at me with that beautiful smile and says 'I'm just a steward of His and will gladly have as many children as He will allow me to have.'"
