Chapter 10

Lester Martin ... the wedding photographer
Deacon Burke ... the retired cop
Janice the waitress at the downtown diner
Juan handy man
Lynne Simmons madam
Cathy Lynne’s employee
George Wells dead highway patrolman.
Roger Heart internal affairs lieutenant
Leslie Wells
Ruth Simpson and Marion Davidson brides
Janice Allen mgr of magnolia manor guest house
Jodie the fifteen year old daughter
Emily the ex-wife.
Deputy Miles Thompson the officer in charge of the drug bust
Simone one of Lynne’s girls
Mike the dead ex-cop
Trudy Deacon’s client.
Eddie Samantha’s ex husband.
Samantha the assistant district attorney

I had driven all the way from Grenada to Crystal Springs in time to have lunch with Jodie. We were sitting in some upscale Deli. I ordered a Ruben sandwich. It was a pretty good sandwich, except the pickle was awful.

“So Jodie have you decided what your next move is going to be?” I asked.

“Actually, I have decided what I’m going to do while I’m pregnant yes,” she admitted.

“So?” I asked.

“I’m going to go to the vocational high school to get my GED. Then work on my EMT certification at the same time. Mom and I have already worked out the details. I can get the GED before I deliver the baby. Then I can go back and get the EMT certificate,”

“Good, get the GED for sure. Then all the vocational education courses are available to you. Even the community college,” I said.

I was happy that she appeared to be taking it seriously. She seemed to have a plan, whether it worked out or not was another story. I left there with much less concern about her future. I also gave her a hundred dollar bill in exchange for a promise that should would take her mom to dinner with at least part of the money.

I made the long drive home in a little under two more hours. My hip ached, but it had been a successful trip. I felt as though I could relax and live my life. Hopefully things would be moving forward.

I left Samantha a text message, ‘Honey, I’m home. All went well. Talk to you later.’

The wedding business was not drying up, but it was slowing down. There were however a lot more show and tell opportunities. There were holiday craft shows all over the place. That reminded me I needed to shoot some more cards. At least some should be made with holiday images and messages. I could have one version made up as a sample. People could see it in my digital frame and on line.

Since it was November the tenth, I had time to get them back before the Christmas season. I had shows booked right up until the week before Christmas. I didn’t book any for the days I had weddings, even so there were plenty of ‘show and tell’ events.

I tried to hit shows with good sized crowds, but they were impossible to predict with any degree of confidence. Sometimes a show even with its big turnout would fizzle. Sometimes a smaller show would have a small but steady crowd. At those shows I could do really well. I judged a show’s value by the number of people I spoke with, and the interest they showed. I couldn’t go by contracts, because it only took one to make a show worth while. The only time I could put a monetary value on was my time was on the wedding day.

During my first visit in November, I found that Jodie’s looks had altered a little, but not drastically. She had always been skinny so the three month pregnant size seemed to be an improvement to me. She was still wearing some of her pre pregnant clothes, but they were a little tight on her. Especially the tee shirts, she seemed to have gotten a much larger chest size. I didn’t mention it, but she joked about it.

“It’s a shame I had to be pregnant to get the boobs I always wanted,” she said.

“Maybe they will let you keep them,” I laughed.

“Who, the boob gods,” she suggested.

“Sure who else?” I asked trying to keep it light.

As I left Jodie walked out with me. “Daddy you do know I love you,” she said.

“Sometimes I admit that I don’t like you much honey, but I always love you,” I said.

“I know and I feel the same,” she said. “When I need it, I can always count on you to say bullshit.” She kiss me on the cheek quickly.

I kept that memory fresh during the drive home in the holiday traffic. I even felt it over the pain of my aching hip.

The first thing I did when I got home was to fill up on Tylenol Aleve and Tramadol. At least there generic equivalents. I added a Benadryl just to make me drowsy, then I fell into bed.

I canceled everything the next day so that I could sit home on an ice pack. I took the full load of pills to try to get mobile.

Two days after the full day of driving, I awoke to a much less pain in the ass, or there about. Since a sudden pain could cause me to lose my balance, I moved about even more carefully than usual.

The orthopedist told my last visit a couple of month before, that a new hip replacement was called for. After that I didn’t make any appointments with her again. When I refused the even more invasive hip replacement, she offered me a stronger pain medication. I also refused that. I explained to her that I got really screwed up easily. I knew better than to take opioids.

“So far the Tramadol works pretty well when I took it with a couple of Tylenol,” I explained. “At least it’s not a pure opioid,”

“Don’t do that too often. If you do, you are going to wreck you liver,” she said.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I agreed as I walked out of the treatment room door.

The way I felt after the day of almost non stop driving, I was rethinking the heavy duty pain killers. I opted for a long hot shower and taking it easy for another day.

I tweaked a couple of images, but after fifteen minutes I began to move around to stop the ache in my hip. When my phone rang at 6:20PM, I had been napping off and on all day.

“Hello honey is everything alright?” I asked Jodie.

“Sure dad, I just wonder how you would like for me to come visit for a few days,” she asked.

“I’d love it. Do you want me to dive down and pick you up?” I asked. I had to offer even though it was more than I could handle at that moment. Another one of those all day drives might drive me over the edge.

“Actually there is a bus that does a sweep of the small Mississippi towns. I can buy a ticket,” Jodie informed me. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”

“Can you wait until tomorrow. I need some rest. My hip is giving me a fit,” I suggested.

“I really need to get away for a while,” Jodie said.

“Okay, if I leave now I can be there by 9:30 is that soon enough?” I asked. When your only child says something like that, you just do what you have to do.