Page 19 of Beau
“I’ve seen her in town buying groceries.I don’t know how she feeds them all on what little he makes, but she must do all right.They all seem healthy enough when she brings them in for checkups and such.”One of the receptionists said that she doesn’t buy things that are premade either.“I heard tell they have a garden that is as big as their yard and that the kids all work in it with her while the mister is working.Must be nice to get your kids to do anything that you tell them.I can’t even get my teenage son to make his bed, and it’s a sleeping bag.”
She didn’t know who they were talking about, but she knew that a lot of the staff here had children who were less than helpful around the house.And getting them to pick up after themselves had caused more than one argument, too.She wondered what Beau would think of her making the kids clean up after themselves and thought that he’d be just fine with it.He cleaned up after himself when he was home with her.
As she made her next round of calls, she kept an ear out for anything that sounded dangerous.She’d already heard about one of them carrying a gun to church—just in case.In case what scared her a bit, but since she didn’t go to the same church as she did, she felt marginally safer.
Danielle didn’t join in their gossip but only listened to it.She knew a great deal about the doctor, too, that she was sure he’d be upset about if he knew.They weren’t vicious about their gossip, but they told what they had learned from talking to the people who came in and said to them.
She also knew about the previous mayor, too, and why Weston had taken over the job when he’d been run out of town.He and his wife had been arrested, finally, and were awaiting their trial like a few other people were.They’d had their funds frozen and their homes overseas taken from them in order to get the money back that they’d stolen from the town.That’s what Weston was dealing with right now.Lack of funds to get things done that should have been done ages ago.
“Do you suppose they’ll get away with it?”She must have missed something while on the phone and decided the next call could wait.“I mean, it is mail fraud if nothing else.And once the Feds are involved with it, there’ll be no hiding from them either.”
“Is it mail fraud?I mean, I know that they’re mailing the stuff through the postal service, but is that really what’s involved?Couldn’t they just be getting in trouble for selling the drugs to someone out of state?”A nurse said that it was mail fraud.“Oh well, I didn’t know if they’d get them on that.Ihope they’re caught soon.It bothers me that they’re selling drugs through the mail.It could be going to anyone in town, and we’d never know about it.”
“I was thinking about giving an anonymous tip.But I’m fearful that it’ll come back and bite me in the ass, and they’ll be getting out soon.Just what I need is for them to find out that I had turned them in.”She wanted to ask about what and who, but the phone was ringing again and she had to answer it.
The woman on the phone wanted to be able to come into the office at five-thirty.They closed up shop around here at four, and she couldn’t make her understand that.She said it would only take one nurse and the doctor to see her, and that shouldn’t be such a big deal.Well, it was a big deal to hold the offices open for an hour and a half for one person.
“You just tell him who it is, and I’ll bet he’ll say that it’s no trouble.You ask him and I’ll wait.”She said that he was a very busy man and she wasn’t going to ask him about that.“You’re just being a bitch.When I tell him how I was treated, then you’ll lose your job.Can it be worth losing your job because of one stupid appointment at five-thirty?”
“The problem is, as I’ve stated to you already, that the offices close at four and that appointment you want is an hour and a half later than we’re open.No one is going to want to stay after all that time when they could be at home with their families.I’m not going to put you down for that time because we’re closed.”Then she hung up the phone.The women in the office with her applauded her.
“We’ve been dealing with her for years and years about having a special time for coming in.You not only didn’t take her shit, but you got to hang up on her too.She usually hangs up on us first.”The phone rang again, and they said it was going to be her.“She’s thinking that if she calls back in, she’ll get someone else.But you go ahead and answer it.It’ll piss her off.”
“Dresden Doctors’ offices, how may I help you?”It was her again, and she was going on with the same things that she’d used before.That the doctor would be upset about her not getting to see him when she could.After about twenty seconds of her going on about the doctor, she must have realized that it was Danielle again and started cursing.Danielle just simply hung up the phone and smiled at her coworkers.“I hope I don’t lose my job over this.I like working here.”
They all got a big laugh out of it.So much so that the doctor came to find out what was so funny.After being told who it was, he didn’t even have to hear the reason she’d been hung up on; he knew from past calls.
“You’re right in saying that I don’t want to wait around for her to come in.I have enough going on with my regular hours.And the one time that I did give in and give her the appointment, she didn’t show up, telling me that she had other things come up and couldn’t make it.”He shook his head.“Never again.To anyone else, for that matter, will I stay over for a patient unless it’s an emergency.And it had better be one too, or they’ll be without a doctor.”
The rest of the afternoon went well.They never mentioned the mail fraud case again, and she was all right with that.They would, and she’d be prepared for it.After today, she’d be more of a participant when it came to their gossip and find out as much as she could about anyone who needed their help.She was going to look into the Singer family, too, just to make sure that things were all right for the family.
When the office closed up at four, she was out the door by ten after.Everyone was going to meet at the local pizza shop and enjoy a beer after work.She’d been invited too and was going to go enjoy some time with them.Besides, Beau had to work late, and she knew that he’d not be home until well after seven o’clock.She knew that she’d be home in plenty of time before he was.
“You’re married to one of the Sheppard men, aren’t you?”Nurse Sacaton, Deb, was asked to call her asked what it was like to be married to someone that wealthy.“I mean, I was wondering why you’re even working, being married to one of them.”
“I don’t want to be a stay-at-home housewife.I would go crazy with nothing to do all day.”She said she’d love to be able to stay at home all day.She’d make a good time of it.“I tried it for a while, but it’s really not for me.I would imagine that it would be great for some people, but not for me.I need to get out and be around people.”
“I guess I can see that.But I’d be hard-pressed not to want to stay at home all the time.I don’t know about when children would come along.”They all had their opinion about what they’d do if they were a stay-at-home mom.“My husband wants me to get pregnant soon, and I’m not so sure.If he had a steady job, then maybe, but right now I’m the breadwinner in the family and the one who cooks the bread when we’re hungry.I don’t see it working out with us having a kid.Even though he said he’d stay at home with it, I don’t see that happening either.He’d be complaining about that too.”
She felt sorry for Deb when the other women teased her about having a deadbeat husband.Then they asked her if she’d been beaten anymore, and she felt more sorry for her than before.It would be terrible to be beaten by someone who was supposed to love you for all time.Then the other women talked about how they’d been knocked around by their husbands, too.She didn’t know what to say to them about that.
“Couldn’t you just leave him?”And go where they asked.“I don’t know, but staying with a man who knocks you around doesn’t seem all that safe either.How do you put up with that?”
“My mom was an abused wife, I think my grannie was as well.It’s what most men to do women who work outside the home when they can’t hold down a job.”She asked why they couldn’t hold down something as simple as a job.“For many reasons, I guess.They blame it on us, too, for us being ashamed of them.I’m ashamed of myself for not being able to get away from him.And it’s not like we want to be millionaires like your family is, but it would be nice if they were to have a job that paid well.Anything at this point.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that I could stand a man beating on me all the time because he can’t hold down a job.”One of the others said it was something that you get used to.“I don’t think so.It would be harder to leave, I’m sure, if there are children involved, but none of you have children, so I don’t understand how you could stay with him.”
“I don’t know either, but as I said, you get used to it.”Danielle didn’t even want to work with the women anymore if they were going to allow someone to beat on them when they had a good job making enough money to support themselves in anything that they wanted to do.“He can be all right when he’s not drinking.I look forward to those days more than ever.Someday, he’ll hit me too hard, and that will be the end of him.That’s all I can say about it.”
After heading home after leaving the bar, she decided that she wasn’t going to continue to stress the importance of leaving an abusive relationship like the ones that they were in.Also, she’d try her best to get information from them about the mail fraud.These women were good people, just in trouble with their spouses.
She was surprised to find Beau home when she got there.He told her that his meeting had been canceled, but he was glad that she’d been out with friends.She told him what she’d found out during her shift, and he was concerned about the mail fraud like she was.He asked her some questions, and since she didn’t know, he said that he’d ask Sunny to look into it.She had a way about her that could get to the bottom of things faster than anyone he knew.
“Because she’s magical?”Beau told her that it was, and her mother was as well.“Well, I hope she can take care of this.Whoever it is has been selling things to people for some time now, and it could be kids around here.”
~*~
It had taken Sunny’s mom to help with finding out who was selling the drugs.Lucky for them, he lived right here in town and was caught with the goods not a week later.Tomorrow, the judge was in town, so there was going to be a hearing for both him and his little crew, plus Allison Dale, otherwise known as Marsha Watson.
