Chapter 4

"Randy?" Bernice, who was hiding from Tyrone Baker, eyed her cell phone, thinking, 'What the fuck?' Randy hadn't been pleased with her yesterday...

"Look, I need to talk to you -- about Miriam. You busy?"

"No, but..." Bernice thought furiously; Tyrone had been stalking her off and on all day. "I need help. Can you take me home?"

Randy frowned. "What's the problem?"

"Tyrone," Bernice related. "He's ... stalking me."

"I thought you and Tyrone were..."

"It's not like that," Bernice replied. "He's ... trouble. Toby thinks..."

"What?"

"You'll think it's stupid..."

"Not if Toby has an opinion."

"He thinks Tyrone can hypnotize girls. Maybe not all girls -- but I'm ... susceptible."

Randy rolled his eyes. 'Why is THAT a surprise?' he wondered to himself sarcastically. "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you, like, pick me up off the patio? I'm hiding by the caf..."

"Five minutes."

"Look, if I'm not there..."

"What?"

"I need help."

Randy frowned, perplexed. "You're serious?"

"Please!"

"Five minutes." Randy took off at a run for the gym.

"Toby!"

"Randy?"

"Yeah, hey," Randy puffed. "Bernice called -- well, I called her, but ... She says Tyrone Baker is stalking her -- and something about hypnosis..." He panted for a moment, then added, "What the fuck?"

Toby frowned. "It's ... hard to explain, but, yeah, he's doing something to her. She was acting weird the other day and I dragged her off to a friend who does hypnosis -- and Tyrone did something that put her head on backwards. We tried to undo it and made some headway, but she's still kind of fucked up -- and if Tyrone gets her alone, he'll probably fuck her over some more." It was a fine mix of the truth and lies, but the best he could do...

"So..."

"Well, she's not nearly the slut she thinks she is, for one thing," Toby told him. "We think whatever Tyrone did initially happened at the gang bang after your trip to the campsite with Miriam..."

Randy blinked. He felt some responsibility for that incident; Bernice had apparently volunteered for her piece with Marcel, but Toby was saying that the aftermath wasn't a case of Bernice just being loose...

"She asked me to pick her up and take her home so Tyrone couldn't get to her..."

"It would be a favor to me as well as Bernice if you would do that," Toby declared.

"Yeah, okay. I'm on it." Randy found himself trotting back to the parking lot. "Got to get in better shape," he puffed under his breath.

Bernice was around somewhere -- Tyrone could almost smell her. But she was hiding; what was up with that? Tyrone's bitches didn't hide from him -- they couldn't, once they were his! Bernice, though, seemed to be fighting it ... Tyrone rounded the corner of the building housing the cafeteria, his gaze sweeping from left to right.

A white van came rumbling up to the edge of the patio -- and Bernice broke from the cover of the overhang and ran for it! "Bernice!"

"Hi, Tyrone!" Bernice threw open the van door.

"Wait!"

"Bye, Tyrone!" Bernice slammed the door, bumped the driver, and the van pulled off.

"What the fuck?" Tyrone stood there, scratching his head...

Randy flicked a glance at Bernice, "You're serious!"

"Uh huh!" Bernice's eyes were showing whites all around the iris.

"Toby said you were."

"Toby and Amy say he's doing something -- might be drugs ... Some stuff he can put on his hands that you absorb through the skin that makes you easy to hypnotize..." Bernice shuddered. "All I know is that if he comes after me like that and he touches me, I do things -- and I don't know why..."

"Is it just you?"

"No. You know Otis White, right?"

"Yeah." Otis was unholy popular with a couple of known sluts...

"Tyrone is his ... I dunno ... procurer? The other day Tyrone picked me up and took me to Otis -- and Toby and Amy say they both put ... suggestions ... in my head. But I could resist Otis, off and on..." Bernice looked at her hands. "I'm sure you know a couple of Otis' girls -- and what they do. I was supposed to be in the stable -- but I went to Toby and Amy and they ... helped, somehow."

"Okay." Randy had seen plenty of how Toby handled girls -- and women, for that matter. This wasn't that unbelievable. "Where am I going?"

"Patterson," Bernice replied, "It's off Bridge Street."

There was silence between them until they pulled up in front of Bernice's house. "What did you want?" Bernice asked.

"It's about Miriam," Randy said. "Does she understand? I've been told that she's holding out for something -- but that isn't what I got from you. I thought maybe you could call her..."

Bernice grimaced. "I feel like I'm sticking a needle in her..."

"I need to know. I've been told I have to do something or it will just drag on..."

'Shit. I owe him.' "All right."

"Miriam?"

"Bernice?" 'Again?' Miriam stared at her phone. 'I don't need this... '

"I'm sorry, but about that talk we had..."

"What about it?" Pain made Miriam waspish.

"Did you guys break up? I was just trying to help..."

Miriam sighed. "And you did, I'm sure -- but I don't have to like it. No, we're not done, although someone else came to me today to tell me basically what you did."

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"All I can do is wait," Miriam related. "Bernice, I know you don't understand this, but I made a commitment to Randy -- and I can't break it. All I can do is wait and see if he does."

"What if he just ... avoids you?" Bernice asked, eyeing Randy. The phone was on speaker, so he was silent.

"Then I have to continue to pretend..." Miriam muttered. "You're sure aren't you?"

"Yeah. I know he feels like he owes you and he isn't happy about it, but I'm pretty sure he's made up his mind." Bernice, sympathetic, watched Randy rub his face.

"It's been brewing," Miriam sighed, "and things happened Friday night that leave me ... unsurprised. But I put myself in his hands in a way that I can't just take back -- it's an honor thing. I have to wait for him to tell me to go away..."

"Why don't you just, you know, tell him it's over? He doesn't own you!"

"Yes, he does, Bernice," Miriam replied. "I gave myself to him -- willingly. But because I did, I can't take me back. I'm property -- his property -- until he gives me away."

"But you're NOT property!" Bernice retorted. "You know that!"

"Bernice, if I walk away, then I lied. Everything that happened between us was a lie. I told him I was his, but I held a piece out for me. As bad as things are, I couldn't live with myself if I turned what we had into a lie!" Miriam explained tiredly. "If I do that, I ruin it ALL -- and I'll have nothing to remember but shame!"

"Well," Bernice flicked a glance at Randy, "He lied..."

"No, he got in over his head," Miriam sucked in a breath and let it out. "He was trying something out -- and I did everything he could ever want. But it didn't work for him -- and it does for me -- and that's not his fault." She paused. "Did you think about what I said to you?"

"About ... inheriting him?" Bernice eyed Randy. Was this going to help or hurt?

"Yes."

"He doesn't want me."

"Do you want him?"

'This is AWFUL!' "Maybe." Bernice couldn't look at Randy.

"Make him an offer, once we're done. He needs someone who understands that he's the man -- and he's a helluva man; I know you know that..."

"Yeah."

"Look, I gotta go..." Miriam's throat was closing.

"Sure. Bye!" Bernice hung up. There was NO WAY she could look at Randy. "Does it make sense -- what she says? About you having to..."

"Yeah." Randy's croak cut her off. "Thanks."

"Sure." Bernice grabbed the door handle. "Thanks for rescuing me." She got out.

"No problem." Randy pulled away as soon as the door was closed. "This just SUCKS!" he muttered to himself.

Meal planning had become complicated at the Flanders home. "Mom, what are we doing for dinner?" Rick asked Jean via telephone.

"I'm making dinner at Martin's," Jean replied. She'd been trying to stabilize things that way -- a couple of dinners a week and some quality time over the weekend ... She and Martin had spent Saturday together from tennis and swimming in the early afternoon through dinner and on into Sunday morning; she'd left his place to go to the second gathering over moving the clubhouse.

"Can I do dinner at Teela's?"

"Who's cooking?"

"Mrs. Ho. It's her day off from the restaurant -- which means she's in with Poppa Frank..." Rick related.

"Oh, okay." Jiang Yi would cook something decent. "Go ahead, then. I think I'll call Martin and see who will be at the table..." Jean suddenly realized that Hank might have found an alternate site to consume dinner, too...

"Martin?"

"Hello, Jean. Is there a problem?"

"No, but Rick is going to Teela's, so I thought I'd better check on Hank," Jean replied.

"He's upstairs -- with Maddie," Martin related. "One moment." He went up the stairs and down the hall to Hank's room and knocked on the door. "Hank?"

There was a quiet feminine shriek, followed by a careful, "Yes, Dad?"

"Jean wants to know if you'll be present for supper."

There was a murmured conference, then: "Can Maddie stay?"

Martin relayed this; Jean replied, "I don't see why not, since we'll have the meal planned for Rick..."

So Rick had dinner with Teela and Sonya -- and, by extension, Jiang Yi and Poppa Frank. Jean cooked for Martin and Hank -- and Maddie. And they all had salmon, prepared one way or another -- even though they were unaware of the coincidence. Afterward, Hank reluctantly delivered Maddie home to the Reyes residence and Rick went home to an empty house -- because Jean and Jiang Yi both stayed the night with their men.

Louise spent the day making calls -- to Candace, to arrange for the playroom, to Rico and Luis, to arrange for the other players in her grand scene, and to Toby, finally, to ensure that when her big revenge scene went down it was videoed from all angles. Toby promised that it would be handled and contacted Randy for transport -- and other subjects came up. "So, about Bernice..."

"I took her home," Randy related. "She's scared shitless of Tyrone, apparently."

"Was he there?"

"Yeah."

Toby flicked a glance at Amy, who was home with him, and clasped hands, <Tyrone is getting to be a problem.> Amy's agreement filtered back across the link. "This isn't good," he said for Randy's benefit.

"She told me some crazy shit about possible drugs and hypnosis and Tyrone and Otis White messing with her head..."

Toby flicked a glance at Amy and replied, "We're not sure how it was done, but Bernice came to me acting weird and Amy noticed. Her mom used to be a hypnotherapist or something and she recognized the signs." They would have to fix all this next time they saw Randy by expunging the lies and just leaving the belief... "Anyway, Bernice's head was definitely screwed with. We undid some things -- but now she's leery of Tyrone -- and since he knows it, we have a problem."

"What are you gonna do?" Randy asked.

"We can't accuse him of much because the evidence is all subjective -- he would just cover himself. But we need to protect Bernice." Toby paused. "I don't suppose..."

"Why is everybody shoving Bernice at me?" Randy growled.

"What?" Toby blinked.

"I dunno. I fucked up Friday night and did Bernice in front of Miriam. Of course, there's more to it -- I was trying to keep Miriam busy so I could avoid her..."

Toby grunted. "That's over, then?"

Randy sighed. "It will be, when I grow the balls to tell her. Miriam has this honor thing that won't let her walk, even though she knows already."

"Yeah, I get that," Toby nodded. He read Miriam like a book -- just as he did ALMOST every other female in sight...

"I didn't, but I do now," Randy sighed. "Miriam's been telling Bernice that when it happens, she ought to move in. Now..."

"I get it," Toby replied. "Well, it's not a conspiracy -- or it's not the same one, anyway. If you don't like her..."

"It's not that," Randy sighed. "I'm probably just being a big baby. You know I don't like being pushed."

"Okay, well, I'm not pushing," Toby replied. "It just seemed convenient -- but I'll see if I can find someone else..."

"Nah, fuck it. We're all tied up, anyway. What should I do?"

"Keep an eye on her. Help her hide from Tyrone. If you're going to break it off with Miriam, maybe you can cover her and hold Tyrone off by pretending you're her boyfriend -- it doesn't have to be real, and if it looks that way, everybody will probably get off your back. You can shut it off when we figure out how to stop Tyrone."

"Okay. The girlfriend scam is an idea but it might backfire."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Toby chuckled.

Randy chuckled back. "It's not as if she isn't a good fuck ... What happens if Tyrone gets to her?"

"Call me. Better yet, call Amy. We'll try to hook up a rescue. Got Amy's number?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Man. See you tomorrow."

"Okay."

Amy rolled her eyes. <You guys and sex!>

<Hey... > Toby shrugged.

Tuesday came a lot earlier than anticipated for some people -- around three a.m., in fact. Jean got up to pee, sliding out from under Martin's burly arm. They'd made love -- gentler love than was their wont, actually, as both of them tended to attack the sex act with some urgency -- and fallen asleep entwined. The decision to abandon the relationship with Toby hadn't come easy -- these things never did with her because her intellect was a thinner layer over her emotions than she liked to think it was -- but the decision was made and she was living comfortably with it -- which was more than she could say for her suddenly upset stomach ... She sat for a moment on the toilet while the cramp went away, then gathered paper to wipe -- and gasped at the result! "Martin! Help! I'm bleeding!"

The flurry of early calls started with 911 and moved on to Rick, then to Toby. It was all over but the crying when Toby arrived at the hospital. "Jean has miscarried," Martin related.

"How?" Toby asked.

"We don't know yet. She didn't fall or anything."

"This sucks!" Rick erupted. Everyone present was in full agreement. Granted, in a couple of days, everyone would realize that it was all actually for the best, but this morning, the big issue was Jean's misery. She'd been committed to that child...

Word spread like wildfire in the group; Beth and Louise visited Jean while on shift after Martin and the boys were forced to leave for school. "I'm sorry, Baby," Louise consoled.

"Thanks," Jean sniffled.