Chapter 16 β The White Witch of Walden β Summary and Conclusion
AN EVENING WITH DEE
"You shouldn't be wasting your night with me, Master. The doctor said you can't make love to me. You should spend the evening with Brenda or Willie!"
I stretched out on my side next to her naked form and trailed a fingertip over the expanse of her distended belly. Pregnancy had really taken a toll on her, but then, I guess it does with most women. Brenda had made it a daily ritual to rub lotion into her stomach and breasts in an effort to keep the stretch marks at a minimum. Even so, a single mark had appeared, starting at her navel and extending almost all the way to her cunt. Her "innie" had become an "outie." But the most dramatic difference was her breasts; those glorious breasts. They were large and swollen now, and they sagged under the added weight. Her areolas were twice as large as they normally were, and they'd turned a deep, chocolate brown. She was pale from the time she'd spent in the hospital, and the incision on her side was very evident. They'd used glue instead of stitches to close the wound; a relatively recent thing in the wonderful world of surgery, I guess. I traced the new scar.
"Does it hurt?"
"It itches like crazy."
I laughed, and then turned thoughtful and sober. I suppose I'd better just come right out with it and get this over with.
"Dee, I need to talk with you about Willie's husband β¦."
Her eyes widened in shock, and she started back. She searched my face for some clue to what I wanted to know, and then suddenly her face dissolved into a mask of utter despair. Tears immediately flooded her eyes and she put her hand to her mouth.
"Hey, don't cry," I urged, "I just want to talk β¦."
"You KNOW!" she wailed. "Willie told you! I β¦ I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill him!" She sobbed. "No, that's not true β¦ I DID mean to do it. I did it, and then I was GLAD I did it! Oh, I'm so EVIL!" She turned her face into the pillow.
"Stop this!" I insisted. Why did I always feel so worthless when a woman cried? "You DID NOT kill him. The tree killed him!"
She looked up at me and went on as if I hadn't spoken. "He was such a β¦ a β¦ terrible man! Did you know he was HIV positive? He'd had it for almost two years, and he was on medication; but he still kept having sex with women! Fortunately, they were almost all prostitutes, and they wouldn't screw him unless he wore a rubber. But he was going to do it to Willie! He planned to, just as soon as he had a million dollars! He hated her! He hated the way she made him feel all the time; the way she made him want her all the time. He was going to do it to her without any protection! He was an AWFUL man!"
I was shocked into a long moment of silence. "How did you know that?"
She looked guilty. "I can β¦ I can go inside a person if I want to. I did that to him after he'd hit you; and threw Brenda down; and kicked Maxine; and he was going to hit ME, too. So I went inside of him, and then I knew what HE knew, and I said 'Bad Rudy! Why are you always so BAD? You're such a bad boy, Rudy!' just like his mother always said; in just the same tone of voice she used all the time. And, boy did that get him! You should have SEEN his eyes, Master. He was terrified! The big bully! And I did it again, too, later in the week. He was going to hit Willie again, but I made him stop! 'Such a BAD BOY, Rudy!'"
I was totally shocked. Dee was losing it; mentally as well as emotionally. I was suddenly very concerned about her, and my expression must have conveyed that.
"Don't look at me that way, Master," she said, the tears coming again. "Please don't think I'm crazy!" She pulled away from me and tried to get up out of the bed, which concerned me even more; so I held her tightly to me and she finally started sobbing into my shoulder. I stroked her hair and thought hard. Maybe if I was more placating about this psychic shit β¦. I finally decided to take that tack.
"Dee, I'm not faulting you for killing Dee's husband," I said gently.
She looked up at me through her tears. "You're not?"
"No, not at all. The guy had it coming. What concerns me is that you did it without consulting ME. I am your Master. You must never, ever use such powers without first consulting me."
"But I WAS," she said earnestly. "Or I was TRYING to. I was telling you all about it that afternoon, but the storm came too quickly to let me finish! Then, when I found out I couldn't make Willie move out from under the tree, there wasn't time! I used HIM to do it β¦ and then I just made him stay there. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time β¦."
I lay there and thought some more. "What would you do if you found out there was someone in the world that I really, really hated?" I asked. "Someone I wouldn't mind seeing dead. If you found out about that, what would you do?"
She didn't hesitate. "I take care of him for you. I can DO that."
"Wrong answer," I scolded seriously. "Care to try again?"
She searched my face for a moment, and then lowered her eyes submissively. "I'd come to you and ask what you want me to do," she said meekly.
"Very good," I told her. "You must never, ever act without coming to me and asking first. From now on, it will be MY decision."