The Two Girls
STORY OF MYSTERY
By Rich Puckett
Born 1954, M, from St Louis Mo,
United States
Author Profile
“Just a spoon full of sugar helps
the medicine go down, the medicine go down…” Kay turned over eyes not wanting
to open as she heard the sound of the Mary Poppins’s DVD playing. She didn’t
want to get up out of bed, why did she have two girls in the first place? Pat
was five and Kim was only three, cute as could be both with blond hair and blue
eyes. Kay knew who the daddy for Pat was, he had been the only real love of her
life, trouble was he didn’t love Kay, when he found out she was going to have a
baby he hit the door running leaving a 16 year old girl behind.
Joe had been so handsome and sure
he was older, 36, but what is age when you’re in love. He had done all the
right things, he would bring little presents to each date, even her Poppa had
like him, he had a good job and knew how to talk about the kinds of stuff Poppa
liked to talk about. A lot of folks were against her loving him, said he was
too old and he should have gone to jail. Kay didn’t care, his blond hair, deep,
deep dark blue eyes, and a smile that was a bit crooked. He had met her at the
Burger King where she worked. Momma had died when Kay was only 8 and so now she
didn’t mind working because if she didn’t work late, then Poppa would come in
her room and stand in the door watching her get ready for bed, even with her
working late he would often crawl into bed with her naked. Kay guessed he
didn’t do nothing all that bad, but he would always be naked, and spoon up
against her, his thingy would be hard and sometimes he would rub up and down on
her till that white mess was all over her butt and then she would have to get
up and change panties. He never did more, and Kay guessed that if he had of she
would have given in, she loved her Poppa even if she didn’t like that part of
it, and felt sorry for him.
When Joe came in one night and
flirted with her by telling her she was the prettiest girl in the whole county,
she guessed it was how he said it, but she believed him. He would come in stand
at the counter drink a coke and talk to her like she was 20 or something. Then
one night when she went to walk home he offered her a ride. After that he was
there every night and after a month she had her first real sex, well she
thought it was making love. Six months later she learned why she should have
been on birth control or made him use one of those rubber things. Poppa didn’t
seem to mind that she was going to have his first grand baby, and she guessed
she could have gone on living at home as long as she wanted, so long as she let
poppa rub his thing on her butt. Kay didn’t want to live like that, so with a
baby coming she was able to get a small check and kept working at Burger King,
she had enough money to get a small grimy trailer.
She was promoted at 18 to
assistant manager, and thought life was getting good. Once or twice a week she
would get together with some of her co-workers and go for a drink or two, well
ok who was counting at the R & R Bar out on the highway. The old lady who
lived across from her would watch Pat. Some nights she would bring some cute
guy home; after all she was a woman and had needs. She would ride the ole boy
like Indian on a wild mustang then sends him on his way. That life had seemed
good until at 19 she was PG again. The pill didn’t work or the rubber thing,
she had been so drunk she didn’t even know his name.
So here Kay was at the age of 21
waking up to two little girls driving her nuts with Mary Poppins’s. Just as she
thought she might roll over and go back to sleep she felt Kim jump up on the
bed, “wake up Momma I’m hungry, Momma get up.” Rolling out of bed the thought
hit her, looking down at her three year old, I have screwed my life up, what if
I didn’t have these two demanding kids. Just last week Larry, the guy who
worked at the hardware store, had asked her on a date, after all she was still
good looking, with a decent body, but when she said sure if she could find a
baby sitter. Larry said, “oh hold on now, I didn’t know you had a kid” she
said, “no two, kids”, Larry said, “Forget I asked.” She went back to check on his
burger and when no one was looking she spit on it. Not that he would ever know,
but sure made her feel better.
Kay realized as she prepared
bowls of cold cereal for the girls that she had thought more and more lately
about what life would be if it were just her.
She could go dancing, have guys
again, maybe even find one that would fall in love with her. She would not have
to spend all her money on kid’s clothes and doctors, and then be woke up early
by some stupid movie. Then she felt guilty and hugged the girls and said, if you’re
really good we can go walk to the park and maybe stop in at Patties, the ice
cream shop and get an ice cream cone.
As the next few weeks went by Kay
found her self-thinking more and more about Larry and his breaking the ideal of
a date. She saw the other girls getting in the cars of boyfriends and she
wanted that too. Even fat Patty as everyone called her behind her back had a
man and was going to get married. She could give the girls up for adoption, but
no then no one would want her, calling her the bad mom.
Then the night came watching
Nancy Grace talking about the little girl whose mom had killed her. She
understood that mom, least she thought she did and the more she listened she
heard the mistakes that were made to get away with it. Kay found herself that
night not being able to sleep thinking about how she would do it different and
get away with it. No way would she of been so stupid, but then she rolled over
knowing she wouldn’t do anything to hurt her girls.
A month went by, each night now
as she would lie in bed Kay came up with different ideas on how to get rid of
the girls. How to get her life back, how to get a man, too live happy, because
one thing Kay knew she was anything but happy.
It was a nice Sunday afternoon
and the girls were driving her nuts, the phone kept ringing with people wanting
to collect money she didn’t have. She decided to get away; she loaded the girls
into her old rusted Ford and drove out to one of the States Forests areas. Kay
and the girls started out walking together up a path through the woods, then
the girls ran ahead of her. It hit her, the girls were nowhere in sight, now
was the time to do it, if she was going to ever do it.
She turned around and ran toward
the car. She was so happy and light she smiled, no one could blame her for
falling asleep on the grass and the girls disappearing. She would drive to the
nearest phone, because she couldn’t afford a cell phone, so a pay phone would
be miles away. She would call the cops, time they got there and she took them
to the wrong place to start the search, it was going to get below freezing too
night and not a chance in a million they would find the girls. When they did it
would be all over, she would be the grieving mother, people would donate money
to her, maybe enough to move away and start all over, and she could go back to
dating and parties, oh yes life was coming back her way.
Kay climbed in her car, started
the engine, looking back through the windshield down the path, no the girls
were nowhere to be seen. She was all but ready to put the car in gear when she
noticed something tucked under her wiper blade. She opened the door, pulling it
out from under the wiper glancing down it was a tract. You know one of those
with a picture of Jesus on the front. Under that it said, Stop, think about
what you’re doing, he loved you and died for you, are you willing to throw that
away. Kay wadded the paper up and tossed it on the floorboard, there it landed
on Pat’s little pink purse, next to the purse was Kim’s doll, Zipper.
Tears filled Kay’s eyes, she
jumped out of the car forgetting to turn off the engine, who cared? She ran
with all she had in her screaming the girls names, as she ran she said a pray
for the first time in her life, Oh God I’m so sorry, please let me find them ok
and I promise to do whatever you want of me. She said it over and over in her
head, she fell down, cut her hands and knees, got up and ran more, her hair was
matted to her head, tears streamed down her face, she came around a bend and
sitting right in the middle of the path, were the girls. Momma you sure are
slow, are you getting old?
By the time they got back to the
car, there was barely enough gas to get them home. Kay had changed, she
laughed, she talked to the girls, and that was something she had not really
done in forever. Over the next week she found that the girls liked her reading
to them, liked lying in bed with her, tickling and telling bed time stories.
Kay found out something else, she could enjoy the life she had while enjoying
her girls too. The next week they went to the little Pentecost church down the
road. People were so nice to them and it felt good.
It took a month but Kay made her
way to the altar, she prayed, she felt God fill her heart up with something,
she couldn’t explain but it was very good. Donald, her Sunday school teacher
was single and he asked her out. Donald loved playing with the girls and never
tried to do more then hold and kiss her.
Five years later: Kay and Donald
had gotten married after a year, Kay didn’t work at Burger Kind anymore but
stayed home and took care of the house and her family. Money was still tight,
but Kay knew money wasn’t what you need that made happy now. She didn’t even
want to go out and get drunk, she didn’t mind that Donald was sometimes too
tired to meet her woman’s need, because he always found a way to hold her and
kiss her, so she knew she was loved. Pat is now ten, smart as a whip, Kim is
eight and to big for dolls, and Kay is writing a book to try and help other
moms not make the mistake she almost made. Sunday comes and the first row in
the church has Donald, Kay, Pat and Kim and Grandpa, who comes every Sunday and
is flirting a lot with fat Patties Momma.
~Fin
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