That was when he heard someone drive up outside. It was a large gray Yukon, with a camper sh.e.l.l. A really nice vehicle, but he had never seen it before. He slipped on his shoes, and hobbled outside to see who it was. A short man of about 35 got out of the truck. He had a big nose, and jet black hair. He looked Italian. The stranger spoke first.

"Good morning! Is this the Travis Lee residence?"

"Yes it is. I'm Travis."

"I'm Vance, Penelope's boyfriend."

He stepped closer and extended him a handshake. "Pleased to meet you, Vance. What brings you here?"

"Is Penelope here?"

"Yes she is."

"May I see her, please?"

"Wait a minute. How did you know she was here?"

"She called me from a cell phone. My caller I.D. said Travis Lee. I looked in the phone book for your address, and here I am."

"She must have used my wife's phone to call you. It's in my name."

"I had just woke up when she called me. She said she just called to tell me she was leaving, and then she cussed me out. It was a total shock, because I didn't even know she wanted to leave! This was just out of the blue!"

"All I know is that she asked my wife to come get her, and now she is seeking refuge here. From what she has said about you, I don't think she wants to see you."

"But I need to talk to her. At least let her know that I'm here."

"I'll tell her, but if she says no, then you will have to leave."

"Fair enough. Tell her that I have the rest of her things in my truck."

"I'll tell her. Make yourself at home. Come sit on the porch."

"No thank you. I think I'll just stay right here."

"Suite yourself." Travis went into the house to tell Penelope that Vance was there to see her. He found Janice in the bathroom, cleaning up the gla.s.s and blood from the floor.

"She's getting dressed in our bedroom." Janice said. "Let me tell her. I'll send her out to talk to him." As he headed back to the front door, he heard Janice go into the bedroom, and there was a frantic eruption of distress, as Penelope learned that Vance had somehow found her. "Why did you call him? This is so confusing! I need time to think! Tell him to go away!"

Travis went back and yelled through the door, "He said you called him from our phone!"

"Yes, I called him, but I didn't tell him where I was!"

"He's got caller ID. Well, he's here now, and he wants to talk to you out by his truck. He says he has the rest of your things."

"Tell him to drop dead! I don't want to talk to him! I'm afraid of him!"

"He won't touch you on my property, I'll promise you that!"

"At least go talk to him." Janice urged.

"Oh, all right, but I have nothing else to say to him!"

"Give her a few minutes to finish getting dressed, Travis."

He returned to where Vance was still waiting by his truck. He had already unloaded a box of clothes from his truck, as well as a huge family Bible, which he threw on top the clothes. "She'll be here as soon as she gets dressed."

"Travis, can I talk to you frankly about Penelope?"

"I don't see why not."

"After her divorce from Herbert, I literally took her in off the street. She was a mess. She was an alcoholic. She was on drugs. I took her into my home, and encouraged her to get help, and she did for awhile. I got her completely off the booze, and almost off the drugs. It's been a long and difficult ordeal, but I thought she was finally over the hump. I thought she was at a point where she would never go back, but I guess I was wrong. She has a lot of demons in her past, and she can't get away from them. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about."

"You mean her relationship with her father, if you can call it that?"

"Yes, that's her main problem. Do you know her father?"

"Yes, I know Bob. When I was a kid, I worked for him after school on his farm. He retired from the mine where I work now, at least 15 years ago."

"So you know him pretty well?"

"No not really. He has always been a strange kind of man. He never did marry, and he lived with his mother, up until she died. Everybody kind of suspected that he was a little on the 'h.o.m.o' side, just by the strange way he behaved. I was actually shocked to learn that he had daughter! Apparently he knew at least one woman!"

"He's a pervert all right. Do you know who Penelope's mother was?"

"No, I never heard who she was."

"Penelope's mother was also Bob's mother!"

Travis raised his eyebrows to this.

"Hey, I'm telling the truth, at least according to what Penelope told me! Bob had a thing going with his own mother, and he got her pregnant!"

"Come on now! Don't tell me that! That's just too sick!"

"I swear, it's the truth!"

"So Bob's daughter, is also his sister?"

"Yes, I guess you could put it that way. And when Bob's mother died, Penelope was like, 12 or 13 years old. That was when Bob turned to her. He molested and raped Penelope, until he got her pregnant. She gave birth to a boy when she was 16, but he died at birth. He got her pregnant again when she was 17, and she gave birth to Jessica. And now Jessica is 18, and the only reason Bob hasn't got at her already, and raped her, is because Penelope broke away from him and married Herbert. I don't think Herbert believed the family history, at least not at first, though I'm sure Penelope tried to tell him. You see, Bob gave Herbert and Penelope a few acres of land next to his, and even built them a small house to live in. The only reason he did that . . . he says . . . was so he could see his 'precious granddaughter' whenever he wanted. According to Penelope, the only reason he did it was so he could get at Jessica, to rape her too. I'm sure Herbert knows that now, but he ignores it, because Bob has given them so much. But at least Herbert is man enough to keep Bob away from Jessica, at least as far as I know."

Travis was still in shock, so Vance went on.

"I think that's why Penelope wanted to go back to Herbert, because she thinks maybe she can prevent her Dad from eventually raping Jessica."

"Does Jessica know about all this?"

"Yes, Penelope says she told her, which caused friction between her and Herbert. I think it was one reason they got a divorce. Penelope wanted to take her Dad to court, on rape and incest charges, and Herbert wouldn't back her up on it, because of Bob's generosity to them. That's when Penelope got started on prescription drugs, and then on alcohol, trying to drown out the truth of her sick past. A few times she actually tried to commit suicide. Let me tell you, Travis, I have had my hands full for the past year, just trying to keep Penelope from killing herself. Two weeks ago, she ran out on me, but I found her, literally in a gutter in Arlington. I brought her back home and cleaned her up, but she was intent on leaving again, I could tell that. I told her that if she ran out again, it was over! We were going to be through! Well, she left again, so as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to put her out!"

"So you didn't come here to persuade her to come back with you?"

"h.e.l.l no! My patience has run out with her! I just came to bring her the rest of her things, because I don't want her to have a reason to show up at my doorstep again!

"Where do you think she'll end up?"

"I don't know, and I don't care! I put up with her for too long. All I was to her anyway, was a free meal, and a place to stay! She never really cared for me! I was the only one who would take her in. But I have had enough! I need to move on with my life. I feel like I have wasted the past two years already, trying to turn her around. I know now it can't be done, because she doesn't want to change! Don't judge me for calling it quits, because I put up with her a lot longer than anyone else would have. Longer than anyone should have!"

"No one is blaming you. If everything you told me is true, then I can't blame you at all. I don't think that I would have taken her in."

"Thanks for your understanding. I wish her luck, but she was certainly more than I could handle. I never want to go through that emotional roller-coaster again!"

Janice came to the front door, followed by Penelope, who looked much better cleaned up. She stopped at the front steps, when she saw Vance.

"I'm not going back with you, Vance! I'm not! I'm not!"

"Hey, that's fine! No problem! I'm just here to bring you the rest of your stuff! The stuff you didn't have time to gather up this morning when you sneaked out!"

"Come out here and talk to him, Penelope!" Travis said.

"No! This man kept me doped up and senseless for two years! That's why I called Janice to come get me! He wouldn't let me go!"

"I was just trying to protect you! Hey, you could go any time you wanted! And you stayed doped up all the time because that was your choice, not mine!"

Janice heard trickling water, and saw pee trickling down her leg, pooling on the top step. She also saw Penelope's face contorting into an ugly scowl, as she first tried to hold back the anger, and then let it go.

"You! You think you are such a BIG MAN! You're just a funny little man, with a funny little d.i.c.k! The only way you could get s.e.x was to dope me out of my mind so I couldn't leave! Such a BIG MAN you are!"

"Hey, you're not being fair! I had to put up with a h.e.l.l of a lot of your s.h.i.t, to try to help you!"

"Help me? You call that helping me? You're a tiny little man, with a tiny little d.i.c.k! He used to say to me, 'Here, you s.e.xy wh.o.r.e, suck my big d.i.c.k!' And I didn't have any choice, because he had me strung out on drugs and there was nothing else I could do! I wanted to leave, but he said I was never going to leave him, because he needed me to suck his big d.i.c.k and screw him! Yeah, you are such a BIG MAN! The only way you can get s.e.x is to keep me a prisoner in your bedroom, tied to the bed and naked, stoned out of my skull! Yeah, you are such a BIG MAN! He said if I ever tried to get away, he would kill me, or even worse, turn me back over to my Dad! You are such a LITTLE MAN! And a coward too! What do you have to say to that, you sleazy pile of s.h.i.t!"

Vance seemed to shrink smaller and smaller with every word she spat at him, until he looked as though he wished he could find a rock to crawl under.

Janice was in total shock.

Travis turned to Vance and said, "Okay, your turn."

"All I can say is that I put a roof over her head, and fed her, and yes, when she felt like it, she had s.e.x with me, but it was always with her consent, in fact, it was usually she who initiated it! She never was a captive! She could leave any time she wanted to!"

"You said you'd kill me! But I realize now that was just an idle threat, because you're not man enough to kill anyone! But you kept me doped out of my skull, and believing that you'd kill me!"

"She's lying! I never said that! Why do you want to lie on me like that, Penelope? You know that's not true!"

"Oh yeah, it's the truth! You kept me on drugs, because you knew I was helpless when I was stoned! I had to go back to drinking, to get off the drugs, but I'm off them now! How ironic is that? I had to drown myself in booze before I could see clearly out of that haze you kept me in! That's how bad off I am!"

"She's lying! I don't know what she's talking about! I don't even allow drugs or alcohol in my home!"

"You lying son of a b.i.t.c.h! You've got drugs stacked up to the ceiling in your back bedroom! You didn't think I knew that, did you? You thought I was so s.p.a.ced out that I didn't know what was going on! Well I do! You're always selling to Rico and Manuel, and then they take it and re-sell it out on the street!"

"Okay, your turn." Travis said to Vance.

"You know, I don't have to sit here and be subjugated to this a.s.sault on my character, by a b.i.t.c.h who is so drunk she doesn't even know what day it is! There's your stuff! I'm leaving!"

Travis was relieved that this confrontation finally seemed to be over. This was too much drama for one day. But in fact it was just getting started, because as Vance was firing up the V-8 engine in his Yukon, a burgundy colored Ford truck pulled up into the driveway behind him, blocking him in. It was Bob Deason, Penelope's dad.

7.

Vance was hysterical with fear. "He's going to kill me! He said the next time he saw me, he was going to blow my brains out! I'm trapped! He's going to kill me!"

"n.o.body's killing anybody!" Travis said. "You stay right here. I'll talk to Bob."

"Be careful! He always carries a pistol in his pocket! Look! He's got his hand in his pocket on his gun! Oh G.o.d, he's going to kill us all!"

"Calm down. I'm going to talk to him." Travis said, as he walked toward Bob's truck. Bob stood beside his truck with both hands shoved down in the deep pockets of his blue denim coveralls. He slowly chewed on his tobacco, and wasn't smiling.

"h.e.l.lo Bob!"

"Travis."

"Long time no see!"

"About ten years."

"What brings you here today, of all days?"

"I'll get right to the point." He spit tobacco juice on the driveway, and smeared it into the dust with his worn leather boot. "Herbert called and told me that Penelope tried to come back to his house, but Jessica turned her away. Jessica said that it was your wife what brung her there. So I thought she might still be here."

"Yes, she's here."

"I know she's needing a place to stay, so I've come to take her home."

"She's in the house. I'll send for her."

"Is that her boyfriend there, in that new truck?"

"Yes, that's Vance."

"That boy's no good! You know how he can afford to buy those fancy new vehicles, don't you? He's a dope dealer! He's one of those city slickers that's moved out to the country to keep from getting caught! I know that for a fact, and that he has a crystal meth lab in a shed in his back yard! I'd blow his brains out, if he was on my property! But you can do what you want to do."

"Speaking of guns, Bob, he's scared to death! He thinks you have a pistol in your pocket. Do you have a gun in your pocket, or are you just playing with yourself?"

"I'm playing with myself. Why, is that a crime?"