Chapter 5: The Trip from Hell

I finally fell asleep last night and the alarm jarred me awake early this morning. I forgot to turn it off last night. I may have had too much on my mind to remember I was not going to work for a while. I'm not sure how much of the 12 weeks I would take. I first called Bob's number at work and left a message that I would be gone for three weeks minimum, but I could be reached by cell phone if necessary. Then I got up, showered again, got dressed, then knocked on the girl's doors before I started on breakfast for us. By the time breakfast was ready, the girls were out at the table dressed in shorts, fancy shirts, and sneakers. They could hardly contain their excitement and were talking non-stop about all the things they wanted to see. After eating, I had the girls get their suitcases as I grabbed my bag, and brought them all by the front door, where we waited on pins and needles until I heard the limo horn honk. I looked around and made sure everything was off. I had already set the thermostat to hold at 80 degrees and locked all the windows and outside doors. I put the bags on the porch and the limo driver took them and put them in the trunk. I locked the front door from inside, turned the dead bolt, went out to the laundry room to set the house alarm, and went out the garage door. I shut the door from the remote keypad and ran down to the limo at the curb. As I climbed in, I saw Sam and Sandy already in their seats. I sat back and said, "Well, here we go on an adventure, the first of many, I hope."

"Right on, Jeff, I hope there are more adventures for us. We need to be more a family of five than two separate families. We were so close once; I would like to see that happen again, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, Sam, I think I would like that a lot. What do you say girls, shall we be just one big family?"

All three girls hurriedly said yes. The girls saw each other in school all the time; in fact, I think Cathy and Sandy had several classes together. Sam said, "Buddy, we need to talk about a future for you and your girls. Now is not the time, but once we can unwind, we need to have some long talks. I think it will be to your advantage, but no more serious talk it's time for some fun in the sun."

We lived about an hour from DFW, in the town of Seagoville, southeast of Dallas, so the ride was pleasant. We arrived, checked in, and went through the inevitable body scan pat down by the Transportation Security Administration, commonly known as the TSA. Sam and I requested that the girls be body scanned to save them the embarrassment of a pat down, and we received the standard pat down. I secretly videoed the pat downs of Sam, and he of mine. I also videoed the body scan of the girls. Some TSA bitch came around the computer screen when Brie went through the machine and had her backed up against the wall and patted her down rather briskly and slapped Brie in the lower abdomen causing some pain on her face. Brie suddenly screamed, and I saw blood seeping into her shorts. It seems she had a hot spot in her abdomen on the screen and it was an accumulation of blood as her period had just started due to the hard slap to her lower region. Brie screamed and I rushed to her aid when I was physically restrained by two burly cops. I tried to find out what was wrong and everyone could see Brie was bleeding. I tried to comfort her, but was restrained. Suddenly there were several cops and a Texas Ranger on the scene. I tried to explain that I think my daughter had just started her first period and she needed help.

The Texas Ranger, Ranger C. Norris stepped in and calmed everyone down. "First, I need you" pointing to the TSA bitch. "To take this young lady to a rest room and get her cleaned up. Second, Sir," pointing to me, "What is your name and the name of your daughter."

"I am Jeff Grove, and that is Brianna Grove, and she is 13, this is her first period, and I'm not sure I want that woman touching my little girl. But what do you need me to do, Sir"

"Mr. Grove, I need you to go over to that store down there and purchase some new clothes for your daughter and some feminine products for her trip. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, Sir." And I quickly walked over to the store and searched for a couple sets of shorts and some panties. They had no feminine products, but the clerk told me that a store down the concourse did have some. I hurried to the new store and purchased some tampons as that was all they had. I rushed back with the items in two bags and found the Ranger and a DFW officer standing by the women's restroom door. He knocked, and when it was answered, he gave my purchases to the bitch that had caused this entire ruckus. I then asked the Ranger if he thought if I had grounds for a suit for reckless child endangerment, physical abuse, and assault and battery, as well as false accusation and mental anguish. He asked what proof we had and I let him know everything was recorded on both Sam's and my cell phones. He said to e-mail all evidence to his e-mail address and it wouldn't hurt to e-mail it to ourselves as well. Sam and I did this and another Ranger came up to us with a large plastic bag that I recognized as an evidence bag. Yeah, I watch cop shows too. This Ranger was a woman and she went into the rest room and then came back out and asked for both my cell phone and Sam's as well. She returned a little while later and handed our phones back and had my daughter's bloody shorts and panties in the evidence bag. She wrote the time, date, and names of the persons involved on it. She then left and Ranger Norris said to please sent the pictures that Ranger Sheldon took to his and our e-mail accounts.