#17
Sandy let the diner door slam behind her. Trey looked up from his coloring and squealed "Auntie S, Auntie S, come help me," he offered a broken green crayon.
"OK," Sandy said, sitting down and taking the crayon. "What are we coloring?"
"Hey Sis," Brett hollered from behind the grill, "What can I for you do," his fractured greeting that he had used for years, a stock in trade 'Brett'ism'. Abby came from the store room wiping her hands. "Sandy, good to see you. How about a tea?"
Sandy smiled at her favorite, almost brother and his wife. "Benny asked for a sack of sandwiches. You know, it sounds like it's really bad, out there." she waved her hand toward the big city "I sure hope Clora is safe."
"Yeah, it's kinda spooky not knowing where she might be, but she's smart and the sirens should have sounded. I mean, the earthquake alone should have alerted her to head for higher ground." Brett poured Sandra a tea and filled a water glass for Trey.
"Hey," the youngster protested, "I want a pop."
"No," Brett turned stern. "No treats for you until you mind. You are under probation, remember?"
Sandy looked curiously at Brett for an explanation. "The day of the earthquake , Trey went running into a dog fight. If the State man's oldest boy hadn't soccer kicked a ball into Trey, he would have been mauled. I was coming after him, but wouldn't have made it in time." he said with a touch of exasperation.
Sandy turned to frown at Trey. "Hey, that was a pretty dumb thing to do, dogs won't stop fighting."
Trey hung his head, even more sorry for his actions now that Sandy scolded him too. He had been testing Brett for almost a year, some of the other kids said he didn't have to do anything Brett told him to do, Brett wasn't his dad. The punishment Brett was giving him this time, was clear proof to Trey that he'd better start listening. His bottom was still a little sore from the spanking.
Sandy could see all of Trey's thinking march across the boy's face. She looked at him with an arched eyebrow, trying Grandma's look on the youngster. Trey squirmed. This wasn't fun at all. Even Aunt Sandy had turned against him.
Abby looked on with maternal concern. It had been so difficult to see Trey get spanked. She knew she hadn't been very strict with him, had let her boy get away with anything he wanted. Heaving a big sigh, she walked over to stand close to Brett. The message to Trey was loud and clear, he had no choice but to mind, mom and dad were united.
Brett talked about the newcomers while he built a stack of sandwiches. Sandy learned a lot in a short time. In turn, she haltingly told Brett her problem with Benny, Wayne and herself.
"Sandy, I think of you more like a sister, than Patti." Brett didn't see Abby wince at the mention of the girl that had most likely run away with her ex boyfriend.
"Sandy, I think Wayne likes you. But you've got to understand, he's,....he's still not himself," Brett finished the sentence the kindest way possible. "I honestly think Wayne isn't as old as he says he is, and you maybe older than we think you are; either way," he looked at Sandy with a kind expression, "Neither one of you is old enough to be deeply involved.
"If you can cool it, and keep yourself under control; a couple of years is going to make a huge difference. Understand?" older brother counciled younger sister.
"Have you been talking to Benny," Sandy scowled darkly at Brett, turning her ears off at this point. "You sound just like him."
"Sandy," Brett looked off in the distance, trying to gather his thoughts as to explain so he wouldn't loose his rappor with Sandy.
"Will you let me say; perhaps we know things about Wayne that you don't, and there is a reason we tell you, you need to be older to handle Wayne and his problems. Some things love can't handle, or overcome."
Sandy thought Brett made it sound more reasonable when he put it that way; she didn't like it, Wayne was so wonderful.
"Can you work with us on this?" Brett questioned Sandy. He didn't have high hopes, Sandy looked like a thundercloud.
"Boy, you, Benny and Grandma are all yelling the same thing," a little girl whine and pout spilled from the teen.
"Let me tell you, it's the shit's trying to be an adult," Brett acknowledged sourly. "I couldn't wait to be grown up, and I thought it would be the most carefree time of my life. I'm sitting here to tell you, trying to grow up is way more difficult than you might expect."
Abby walked over to put her arm around Sandra. Whispering in her sister-in-law's ear, both young ladies blushed.
Brett looked alarmed, but held his peace. It was also trouble when the two of them ganged up on him, but he was tough. He had his main man Trey there to back him up.
Brett looked at Trey and winked. That caused the boy to giggle and suddenly Trey felt a lot better.
Brett wrapped the sandwiches in lengths of wax paper, and bagged them for Benny and J. "Here ya go," he handed the sack to Sandy. "Hurry, if I know Benny, he's starving."
"That's what he said," Sandy relented and took the ferocious look off her face. "He sure gets grumpy when he's hungry. I think a grizzly would have a sweeter disposition." she gathered the sack and said, "see ya Trey. Your doing a good job coloring. See ya Abby and Brett."
Not quite stomping in frustration, Sandy kicked at stones on her way back to the sheriff's office. Brett and Benny and Grandma had given her a lot to think about.
*** Help Support TB2K ***
via mail, at TB2K Fund, P.O. Box 24, Coupland, TX, 78615
or
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks