FOGIEVILLE
The word had been spray-painted in fire engine red letters across the northernmost wall of the Bingo Hall, the side that faced Main Street, to ensure any and all who passed by would see it. Judge Theodore Mathers studied the words, though not in person, but on a surveillance tape he had paused. He then pressed play, and once the camera had a good fix on the perp, he paused it again and looked at the defendant. He flicked his bottom lip between his teeth before saying, "It's obviously you. What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," Eddie Greene answered honestly.
"This doesn't bode well for you," Judge Mathers said. He contemplated for all of thirty seconds, then said, "I guess three months ofβ"
"If I may, your honor?"
Not simply because she was the plaintiff, and not because she was in charge of the Elk's Club on Bingo night, but because she was his mother did Judge Mathers allow the interruption. "Go ahead, Mrs. Mathers."
"Your honor, I am willing to chalk this up to tom foolery, the impetuousness of youth. This young man is barely eighteen years of age. He doesn't need something like this on his record when his whole life is ahead of him. May I suggest that you remand him to my custody? We have a lot of repairs that need doing at the Bingo Hall. Allow Mr. Greene to work his debt off where it would matter most."
Judge Mathers looked at Eddie and said, "You should be down on your knees thanking this woman. She has more heart than I would have shown." Then, to the court in general, "Sentence is two months dutiful labor at the Bingo Hall under the supervision of Mrs. Mathers."
The gavel struck, and they left the court room.
"You may come by around three this afternoon and begin pressure washing that graffiti from the wall," Mrs. Mathers told Eddie once they had gotten outside. "And don't be late. I'm helping you out of the kindness of my heart. One slip-up and I'll make sure you go to jail."
"Mean old bitch," Eddie's girlfriend, Kendra, said when Mrs. Mathers was out of earshot.
"Maybe," Eddie said, "but she's right. I have to do this or I'll go to jail." He looked at his watch. "It's two-fifteen. Guess I should go ahead and take you home so I can be there on time."
He arrived with seconds to spare. Mrs. Mathers, who had a scowl on her face, told him where he could find the equipment, and about fifteen minutes later Eddie was cleaning the mess he had made. She walked out periodically to check his progress, and the last time she arrived just as he was washing the final "E" from the wall. "Good. Good, but now you see, we have this patch of wall that looks brand new while the other is rather drab. I suppose you will just have to do the whole wall."
"The whole wall?" Eddie questioned. He looked at his watch. It was already five-fifteen. "Today?"
"Of course not. Come back tomorrow," she said with a smile. "What time should I expect you?" Eddie didn't work. Hell, he didn't have to. His parents were loaded, and Mrs. Mathers knew this. "Eight-thirty sound good?"
"Yes, ma'am," Eddie said. "Do you want me to put all this up, or ...?"
"Just leave it," she told him. "That way you can get right to work first thing."
Eddie was there at eight-thirty. His first inclination was to rush through the job, but he knew that Mrs. Mathers would have something to say about it if it wasn't perfect. Therefore, he took his time and made sure the wall looked as good as it could. "I'm impressed," she said upon inspection, "but now the other walls look drab compared to this one. Take care of those as well."
He was beginning to think that maybe community service or even jail would have been a better alternative, but he sighed deeply and did as he was told.
Eddie spent the entire day pressure washing the Bingo hall. He even did the parking lot and the sidewalk, just in case those were next on the old crabapple's agenda.
"My, my, my. Doesn't this look good?" she said as she walked around the building. "You have done a fine job today, Eddie. Put the equipment away and go home. Be proud of your accomplishments today."
"Eight-thirty tomorrow?" he asked before doing so.
"Make it ten. I have an appointment at the hair dresser early tomorrow."
Eddie arrived at 9:59. He pulled next to Mrs. Mathers' car and made his way to a side door that was partially open. He entered, and when he didn't readily see anyone, he called her name. Nothing. He called again. "Back here," he heard, so he made his way to what was a storage room. "Eddie, good to see you," she greeted when she saw him.
"Your hair looks nice," he said in way of a response. It never hurt to curry a little favor with the boss.
"Oh, thank you," she replied. Then, "Today I want you to clean out this storage room. Move all the boxes out and open them, then call me when you've done that so I can go through the contents and label them."
"Yes, ma'am," Eddie said, and he got to work.
As Mrs. Mathers was about to leave the area, her cell phone chirped to life. She looked at the caller ID, smiled, and said, "Hello, Teddy. What? Oh, he's here right now. Yes, yes. Oh, you noticed? Yes, he did a fantastic job on the building yesterday. No, I have him cleaning out the storage room. Well, there's just so much to do, but he's been a good worker so far. Well, thanks again for letting him work it off here. The place has needed a good overhaul for quite some time now. Oh, okay. Well, thanks for checking in. Okay, I'll see you tonight at supper. Bye." She turned her attention to Eddie and said, "That was Judge Mathers wanting to know how you were working out. He was impressed by the state of the building."
Eddie smiled, nodded, and got back to work.
Thirty minutes went by before Mrs. Mathers returned to check on Eddie's progress. She surveyed the room, then asked, "What's that? Over in the corner?"
Eddie made his way back, then announced, "It's a roll-away bed."
"Bring it out so I can see it," Mrs. Mathers said, and Eddie did. "Open it up," she bid him as she approached.
"It's a bit dusty," Eddie said when he unfolded it, "but the mattress still looks to be in good shape."
"Let me see," Mrs. Mathers said. She hopped onto it, lay back, and said, "What do you think?"
He didn't know how to respond, so he just shrugged his shoulders.
Mrs. Mathers reached up her skirt, pulled her panties off, cocked her legs wide, then said, "
Now
what do you think?"
Eddie stared in disbelief. First, because the last thing he expected today was to have a woman as old as his grandmother throwing her naked pussy at him, and second because of all that God-awful hair between her legs. He was used to shaved pussies, manicured pussies, pussies that looked soft and pretty and sweet, not ones that looked like orangutan pussies. He felt his belly lurch.
"Come over here," Mrs. Mathers called.
"Mrs. Mathers, I don'tβ"