Chapter 5

The wedding went off with only a few glitches. The first one happened when the maid of honor came in carrying Ruth’s Gown. It was longer on the hanger than the maid was tall. I made an image or two of her struggling with the dress. Five minutes later the 2nd maid of honor came in struggling with bridal gown number two. I made a shot of her struggling up the stairs with the 2nd dress as well. It was images like those which made some brides spring for the extra images. Even if it was an extra hundred bucks, to get them all ready for uploading to the internet.

Ruth and Marion came together, which meant I need not worry with the superstitions. At least not the one of the bride and groom seeing each other before the wedding. I even made a shot of them climbing stair together then looking back in their street clothes. They weren’t dressed casual, but they both had fancy hairstyles which were obviously not their everyday hairdos. The image was a good one. I shot the pose twice then moved on. I followed them upstairs and into the changing room. I got a shot of them dressing for the wedding. I asked them first. but they agreed to a couple of shots in their bra and panties. Marion had a better body, while Ruth was flatter all over. The both wore white satin garter belts, so I shot that as well.

I went outside to look the place over while they completed dressing. Since I wanted stairs behind them and stairs in front of them, I chose the best angle of them while descending the staircase.

After that shot, it was pretty much the same as any other wedding. Fortunately nobody showed up carrying any protest signs. The wedding and the reception were over within my four hour window. Their friends all stayed close and the photographs of the wedding party and families went extremely quickly.

During the group shots my phone vibrated in my pocket, but I ignored it. The two women bought my time and I delivered it without interruption.

The two of them cut the cake and stayed to visit a while. I took that opportunity to take shots of the guest at their tables. I just never knew what might sell.

Old flint used to say, “I’m here and the film is paid for, so why not shoot it all. Paying the lab to process unexposed film is the only thing that bothers me.”

At the time I was shooting the wedding, it cost almost nothing to shoot images. I shot plenty of them. I just didn’t spend much time with post production work. When the two brides threw their bouquets, I was officially finished since they weren’t leaving in a limo. They were staying the night in the bridal suite. I was pretty sure it included breakfast in bed, but they didn’t get a shot of that.

When I checked my messages, I was in the parking lot under a flood light. I had two voice and one text message. I took the voice messages first. Lynne wanted more shots of Cathy. She said she had decided to keep her. She also wanted to see how my new background looked. The image was a ‘view from the loft’ mural. It should look amazing. Hell I wanted to see how it would look as a portrait background myself.

“Daddy don’t pay any attention to mom’s message, she is just freaked out. I’ll explain when I see you next.”

The voice belonged to Jodie my fifteen year old daughter. Her mother was not the most stable woman. However if her mother left a message for me, the man she refused to talk to on the phone, then it was serious.

The text read. ‘Get your ass down here and talk to your daughter. She might be out of jail before you get here or maybe I’ll leave her there.’

I send Emily a text. ‘I’ll be there tomorrow morning. I’m finishing up a wedding at the moment, or I would leave now.’ I did not look forward to the unscheduled visit.

Within minutes I got another text. Since I was driving, I ignored it.

At home I opened it. ‘Very well first thing in the morning. Don’t you so much as make coffee before you get on the road’. The text demanded.

I almost made the coffee just to spite her, but instead I drove the Hyundai to the gas mart. I filled it up for the trip to Chrystal Springs Mississippi where my ex-wife Emily lived. It was over a two hour hour drive, after that I was in for an all day tempers flaring event.

It was a little after 10AM when I arrived. Emily answer the door quickly. She obviously relished the chance to give me hell about something new. She opened the door then stepped back.

“It’s about time,” she said as a greeting.

“You know that I’m a careful driver. Thirty years of seeing what happens to careless drivers does that to a man,” I suggested. “Where is Jodie?”

“I told her to wait in her room until I explained everything to you,” she said.

“Well let’s get to it,” I suggested.

“Okay, yesterday afternoon around three, I got a call from the county Sheriff’s office. They picked up our fifteen year old daughter in a drug sting,” Emily said bursting into tears.

“Who was in charge of the bust,” I said.

“Deputy Miles Thompson,” Emily said. “He said to call him and he would meet with you.”

“I want to talk with Jodie first,” I said. “Was she holding?”

“A little pot, but she was in a dealers home where hard drugs were present,” Emily informed me.

“Okay, let me talk to her, then I’ll talk to Thompson,” I said. Emily went to get Jodie. When she came out I was a little shocked by her looks. She had that cartoon red hair that goth girls were into. Fortunately, if she had any piercings they were out of my sight. How could a girl change so drastically in six months?

“Okay Jody, let’s hear your side of it, and if your version doesn’t match the deputies version, you are in trouble big time,” I explained.

“I got nothing to say,” she said. “It is what it is.”

“Pack a bag you are going with me. It’s a long way from Jackson to Grenada. If you spend enough time locked in a boarding school, you might figure out that it’s better to go along and play the system, than to have the system play you,” I threatened.

“You wouldn’t do that,” she said.

“If you don’t convince me that I shouldn’t, I damn sure will do it. I will not have you a junkie whore for a daughter. At least not without trying everything to prevent it,” I said.

“Lester, you can’t do that,” Emily said.

“You have no idea what I am willing to do to give her the best chance possible at a normal life,” I said.

“Now start talking,” I said. “When did you start using illegal drugs?”

“It was just weed,” she said.

“Well it was enough to get you busted,” her mother replied.

“Let’s have it how long and why,” I said.

“Why are you doing this. You don’t give a damn, or you wouldn’t have left us,” she demanded.

“Get this straight once and for all. Your mom and I got a divorce. We didn’t divorce you. I know I don’t see you often enough, but that is how life goes. If I had died, your life would still have gone on. You need to get past that shit, and do it now. So what is the real reason you tried drugs?” I asked.

“All the kids were smoking weed, so I tried to,” she said.

“Trying it and becoming a regular user is different. I am going to check with the deputy to find out if you were a regular at the dealer’s place. They have got to put a lot of time in filming a drug dealer’s operation before they bust it. So am I going to see you often at his place, if I check those films?”

“I guess so,” she said.

“If I beat the crap out of the dealer is he going to tell me he sold you other drugs?” I asked.

“Some X, Ecstasy,” she explained. “It’s no big deal.”

“Where did you get the money?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

“They are going to charge you with dealing after they interview that dealer. Aren’t they?” I asked. “He is going to sell your ass down the river for a shorter sentence.”

She burst into tears. After she cried for a few minutes, she just broke down and spilled it all.

Get her into a car first thing Monday morning and have her at the sheriff’s office talking her ass off. She needs to get out in front of this, or she is going to the Juvenile Detention Center.”

“I know it’s tempting to call in favors, but don’t you do it. Let her roll over on the bad guys, and climb out of this shit herself. After she does it, she is going to need to get out of town. That’s when you drive her to Grenada. You can move there or not, but get her the fuck out of town,” I demanded.

I just hoped she hadn’t been selling her ass for the lightweight drugs. If she had been doing that, then she had no respect left for anyone.

I took Emily and Jodie to dinner at a nice restaurant in Jackson. I promised Emily that she could come visit any day she wanted. I would be glad to have her come visit as much as she liked going forward. Just as long as Emily did what I said. I explained that if she let Jodie talk her into something less intrusive, she better have a damn good reason for it, or we would be in front of a judge.

“You are a county clerk you see the results of this do nothing parenting all the time,” I said.

I was back in Grenada by 7PM. I had a crap load of work to do, so I dived into it. I worked on the all girl wedding, as I came to think of it, all evening. I had it on line before I turned in for the night. I didn’t even check my email, I just fell into bed.

I awoke a little earlier than usual, so I boiled the coffee while I brushed my teeth, then I poured it through the strainer before pouring it into a leak proof thermos cup. I took my shower with it sitting in the pedestal sink. While I dried off, I stopped to take sips. It was all I could do not to move into the room where I kept my computers. I felt like just settling in naked and starting my research.

Something about a naked 50+ year old man researching a girl’s boarding school just seemed far too wrong. Once I had on my cutoff jeans and light weight sweat shirt with the cutoff sleeves, I moved to do my research.

I found a boarding school that had been in service to the community over a hundred years, according to them. It had all the bells and whistles to make it a first class school. In other words, it would scare the hell out of Jodie.

I just needed her to fake it for 3 years, after that it was her life to ruin. I would always love her, just not support abborrent behavior. I wrote her an email with a link to the Immaculate Heart of Mary school for troubled girls.

It was ironic that I had an email from Cathy apologizing for being such a pain in the ass. She wanted me to forgive her and make her photographs for the web page. I knew that her only reason for apologizing was to get Lynne off her ass. Lynne wanted all the pictures to be high quality without the expense of flying a professional photographer in from Atlanta or New Orleans.

I walked into what should have been my living room. It was instead the home of the ‘view from the loft’ wallpaper mural. It was a city scape with lots a decay and modern glass contrasts. The image itself had lots of built in depth. I had Juan find me an old patio door and mount it beside a couple of large widow frames. Giving a view of the city scape through an antique penthouse opening. I planned on changing the view every once in a while.

I did not have anything happening during that week so when Lynn called on Tuesday evening and wanted Cathy’s picture ready for the graphic artist on Friday, I told her to bring Cathy over on Wednesday after lunch.

“We will be there by 1PM for sure,” she said and hung up without a goodbye. It has her signature ending to a conversation.

I spent the morning on the phone with Emily. She had taken Jodie to the deputies Monday morning. They questioned her then sent her home with no results. On Tuesday they confirmed the information. They agreed to give her confidential informant status. If she testified, she would get immunity and a clean record. She agreed to testify. I had a feeling she did it for the breathing room it gave her. It was her last chance to con her mother and me.

It wasn’t going to work period, I told myself. It was my plan to get her ass to Grenada, and to keep her locked up tight. She would be wearing an ankle monitor, so that I could track her. That was my plan.

“Hello in the house,” Cathy said standing on my deck.

“Sure come on in. Is Lynne with you?” I asked.

“Yes she at the car. She is bring in some more clothes for me to model.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

As soon as Lynne arrived she began ordering Cathy around. I followed her lead without Lynne having to explain. However she backed off when I demanded Cathy do something she didn’t agree with. The two of them spent the whole afternoon modeling and changing clothes.

About 5PM it switch to some soft core porn. I had her work on her facial expressions while she masturbated. Well while she faked masturbation. I had well over a hundred different images to work on when they left. The plan Lynne and I agreed on was for me to edit the images down to twenty or thirty then deliver them.

“So I figure I’m going to work at least ten hours total on these images. I quoted you $75 an hour, which is my discount rate for repeat customers.,” I said.

“Five hundred Bucks and you can use them in displays. But you can’t sell them,” Lynne said.

I printed out a release file for them to sign. It was even more restrictive than the one they demanded. Lynne signed and handed me five one hundred dollar bills.

I had made my extra money for the week in that one session. That was nice since I most likely would spent the rest of the week dealing with family. Jodie and Emily could be a pain. Emily was my first wife and Jodie was my only child. Since we had Jodie together, I couldn’t get away for Emily for at last three more years.