Chapter 4

“Ay, yo lady.”

Janet had found herself lost in thought though about what she wasn’t quite sure. Then the voice from behind her jarred her out of her daydream and Janet didn’t need to turn around to know to whom it belonged for it was obviously the black boy. Black people just had a different way of speaking; not only was it more disrespectful, but there was also something about it. There was something about their voices that made it so Janet could always tell when a black person was speaking. Her eyes now looked in the rearview mirror and there she saw the boy named Chuck staring back at her.

“We hungry,” said Chuck.

“They ain’t never fed us at the camp this afternoon so stop and get us some snacks.”

This last thing that the black boy said came out sounding so much like an order that, before Janet realized what she was doing, the pretty Mormon mom was pulling up in front of the same small convenience store that she had been in before. Only then did Janet’s shock start to wear off as Janet simply sat in the driver’s seat seething. What was it about her? First her boss and now this impudent black boy; they treated her like she was a door mat, like she didn’t even matter and it was the combination of helplessness, anger and confusion that now set Janet’s blood to boil. Chuck and the other two boys had already exited the car and were headed up the stairs into the store. Behind them, Dr. Moore, Kristen and her own daughter were also getting out of the vehicle. In an instant, Janet was leaping out of her seat intent on catching up to Chuck.Then she would give him an earful. Both men and boys needed to be taught to respect her and Janet would start with Chuck. Determinedly, Janet now yanked the door open and, as her eyes took in her surroundings, she realized that they weren’t the only ones there. Instead, along with the clerk, there was a man standing by the counter. He wore a filthy pair of overalls and his skin was black as coal and, if Janet hadn’t known it was impossible, she would have sworn she could see a resemblance. Yes, Janet had long ago admitted to herself that all blacks looked alike to her but the resemblance was uncanny. For the black man by the counter bore a striking resemblance to Chuck. So stunned was Janet by this resemblance that she didn’t even notice that the man was drinking from an open bottle of whiskey. He then started to stumble towards her only for Janet to realize that she could smell the booze on his breath so strongly that it seemed to ooze out of his pores.

“Glad you realized you needed to come inside,” said Chuck without looking at her.

“Ain’t none of us got no money to pay for none of this stuff so go on and get out your credit card; I mean you look like you can’t afford it but it’s just gonna be chips and soda. Although, if you think about that for eight people it’s surprising how much it can be.”

“Actually, don’t worry about the money,” spoke Dr. Moore from behind her. Janet then turned to look as the front door of the store finished closing behind the statuesque blond woman and she stepped closer to Janet. Trailing behind her then, like a little dog, also came Kristen. The light streaming in through the door gave the teen prodigy an unusual backlight and it was only now that Janet realized just how gorgeous Kristen was. Janet then noticed her own daughter Jenny who Janet thought was a beauty in her own right. Maybe her daughter wasn’t quite as beautiful as Kristen but Jenny also had perfectly proportioned facial features and her hair was long and dark where Kristen’s was a lighter brown. Yet Janet had no time to feel insecure that she might have come across another teen girl who was even prettier than her daughter for now the man in the overalls was standing right in front of her.

“Why, hello pretty lady” the man said while grinning and Janet was horrified to see that he had a mouthful of rotten teeth.

“Mah names Jude. You sure is a good lookin’ woman.”

For a moment, Janet was unsure just how to respond but what the pretty Mormon mom did know was that she wanted to get away from this repulsive wretch of a creature as quickly as she could and yet he was blocking her path. For the stench coming off him was awful as Janet instinctively tried to back up only Beverly was now directly behind her and she too was blocking Janet’s path. Still, Janet tried to move as far away from the bumpkin as she could as she turned her face to the side. Still, this didn’t save her from the disgusting man’s breath as tried to think of a reply.

“Ooh god,” Janet now muttered in disgust as she turned her head to the side.

“Gee, thanks. Now if you don’t mind could you please let us get by.”

Jude now ignored her request and went on as if she had said nothing at all.

“I’se about to invite all you pretty ladies up to the house. You and them young boys you came in with. Figure there’s only one reason a full-grown lady like yourself goes paradin’ around in a short skirt and see-through top in front of young boys.”

“And just what that might be?”

Janet’s heart sank as she heard Beverly’s voice come from behind her as the words were filled with indignation. Confrontation would only make things worse and she didn’t need a PhD to clearly see that.

“Ah well hell there Ms. SmartyPants,” came Jude’s immediate reply, “it’s so all these barely teenage boys know that your smokin’ hot friend here is achin’ for a good hard dickin’ and she’s ready for them to pull her panties down and play with her poosie.”

Janet didn’t know what she had been expecting Jude to say but, then again, perhaps she had been expecting nothing. Instead, her mind had been completely focused on getting away from this disgusting man to the point where she hadn’t thought about how this sudden confrontation would go. Now, as Janet had feared, it had only gotten worse; much worse in fact and this disgusting man had suggested she was interested in something so repulsive that she couldn’t just let it go unanswered. Even worse was that Chuck, Jesse, James, and Timmy were now walking up to her and just in time for Beverly’s tirade.

“How dare you!” the learned professor now practically screamed in outrage.

“A lady ... in this day and age...” Professor Moore then began to sputter so great was her fury.

“Any woman can wear whatever she wants and ... for you to assume the vilest, most horrible and disgusting of intentions for her ... I ... well ... you ... you.”

The formerly articulate doctor now seemed at a loss for words so great was her rage. Jude however acted as though he didn’t even notice it.

“Ah well hell,” he slurred in his southern drunken drawl. “If the way a woman dresses don’t have nothing to do with whether or not she wants a bunch a little boys ta fuck her then I guess we can just say that the rest of you ladies are out here because you want those boys to fuck you too. Even if you ain’t dressin’ in such a way that you openly advertisin’ it.”

“That’s not what it means!” Beverly now screamed and Janet was surprised, despite the horrific circumstances, at just how much self-control the good doctor had lost. Still, all the women seemed either frozen in fear or in outrage for, even though they couldn’t move forward due to Jude blocking their path; neither did they turn on their collective heels and walk back out the way that they had come.

“Hey, it’s a compliment,” slurred Jude in response. “I mean all you ladies; even right down to that little girl you got hidin’ behind you. The whole fuckin’ lot of you ... I mean ... if you ain’t all just amazing tits, big, heart-shaped asses, long and silky hair and just perfectly proportioned facial features. It ain’t no fair. I bet all you ladies are a bunch of bleedin’ heart liberals too. Always talkin’ about ‘takin’ what other people got and givin’ it to the whaddayacallit ... less fortunate. Well, how ‘bout you ladies start practicin’ what you preach ‘n’ start spreading some of that super fine pussy wealth around. Lord knows me and my brother Clem-”

Jude waved his right arm towards a man behind him. Janet could see the family resemblance in this other man and not just because the other man was also wearing nothing but a seemingly identical pair of overalls to the ones that Jude was wearing.