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  THE LAST STRAW

  By: Yvonne M Remington

  Copyright 2013 Yvonne M Remington

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

  "Hey, Jude" chimes rang from the cell phone on the nightstand. Aileen Priestley looked up from her pillow, the clock next to her bed glared 12:30AM. Aileen’s truck driver boyfriend, Jack, reported in yesterday somewhere between Florida and Kentucky, driving too many hours on a rundown tractor-trailer. She reached for the phone, hoping it wasn't bad news and answered.

  "Hello." a pause and then she heard her son Bobby's distraught voice.

  "Mom, I'm so sorry, this time I've really done it."

  "Bobby, what's wrong?" Fully awake now, sitting on the side of her bed, Aileen's old fear that haunted her over the years reared its ugly head. In the thirty years since Bobby's birth, she knew someday something irreversible would happen and he’d find himself in trouble that would not go away.

  "Mom, Kathy is dead. I killed her." Through the sobbing, he continued. "I'm at the jail now, you were my one call. I don't have much time. We had a fight and I hit her. She picked up a butcher knife and in the struggle to protect myself I pushed her, she fell on the knife and bled out before I could get help."

  "Oh, Bobby, I'm so sorry. Where are the kids?"

  DCF has them; I don't know any more. My time is up I have to go. Would you see what you can do about the kids and come see me as soon as you can. You won't be able to do much of anything else. I really messed things up good this time."

  The line went dead. Aileen sat there, transfixed with the silent phone held to her lap. She turned on the lamp next to her bed; maybe that would make the surreal call make more sense. It didn't help. She sat frozen in place until her roommate and best friend Joyce Ferrera knocked and entered her bedroom.

  "Aileen, what's wrong? Is it Jack?"

  "It's Bobby. He's in jail."

  "What happened?"

  "Kathy is dead." .The words just didn't want to come out.

  Joyce sat down on the bed next to Aileen and put her arms around her. Aileen sunk into her open arms and heaved a heavy sigh. There were no tears. It wasn't real but just a bad dream and she would soon wake up. Aileen heaved another heavy sigh that came from deep within her chest.

  "Aileen, are you alright? Do you want to talk about this?" Joyce had been her best friend since high school, and that was a long time. They now waited tables together at the Happy Horse Eatery outside the city limits of Ocala, Florida.

  "I don't know."Aileen still found it difficult to form words.

  "Many problems have been solved over a soothing cup of tea. I'll make us some." She held Aileen's hand and led her to the kitchen. Aileen sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands until the hot cup of chamomile tea appeared in front of her. She then found the words to repeat the conversation that had just transpired with her son. When she finished Joyce responded.

  "So I guess the next question would be. What's next?"

  "I don't know. I've got so many questions; he only had a few minutes to talk." Aileen, feeling a little better could think about what she heard.

  "It's been slow at the Horsey with the northerners gone, why don't you take the day to sort things out and get your answers. When is Jack expected back?"

  "He's running a load up to Kentucky and I think he said he'd be back on Thursday. I don't even know what day it is."

  "It's Wednesday, so you should have some answers by the time he gets in town. Now do you think you could get some sleep?" Joyce chose not to marry, her choice completely. She had one committed relationship in her early twenties that ended badly. She found her solace in her volunteer work at the children's ward of the county hospital.

  Aileen and Jack had been in a committed relationship for almost a year. The one thing that kept it running smooth was that Jack Haggerty was sometimes gone for weeks at a time. This gave Aileen the space she needed and didn't feel trapped or out of control. She and Bobby's father never married and she never regretted it. She married for the first time when Bobby was twelve. That marriage lasted four years and ended when Bobby was arrested for B&E at fifteen. He and two of his friends broke into a local convenience store. Bobby got off with probation, but the marriage did not survive. Bobby did not adjust to other males in his mother's life.

  The next year when Bobby was seventeen Aileen and Martin Oliver began dating. Martin owned a local bar and Aileen worked for him. The relationship was progressing nicely am reached the stage where they were talking about living together. Before they had the chance to make the move of cohabitating and just before Bobby's eighteenth birthday, he along with one of his friends broke into the bar and stole a case of Jack Daniels and one hundred dollars from the till. Martin would not press charges after the arrest, but it was the end of their relationship and her job.

  When Bobby met Kathy Stone she was four years younger than him, Aileen was hoping that Kathy would settle Bobby down. He always felt that he wasn't good enough for any woman. Even though Aileen knew he had a self-esteem problem and tried to help him overcome it, it just never seemed enough. There came a point where, at the age of eighteen, she simply told him that they had to go their separate ways before he destroyed any more of her life. It was a blessing when Bobby and Kathy started to get serious. She got pregnant very quickly and Bobby was worried. He was not used to responsibilities. As Aileen suspected, Bobby actually became a good father. Only after the second child a girl came along that, she saw they were fighting constantly. Aileen could never figure out why they stayed together. They were opposites in every way and the bickering got worse. The boy Ethan age six acted out at school and the girl Eleanor age 5 whined and cried every time you looked at her. Aileen got to the point that she did not like being around them. When she had the opportunity to talk to her son alone, he avoided the subject by refusing to talk about it. Jack told Aileen that he didn't want them over when he was there. It was either them or him. Aileen understood and abided by Jack's feelings.

  Aileen slept fitfully that night. Memories of Bobby's childhood kept creeping into her dreams. He had always been a headstrong child and wanted things his way. So many times over the years, she had stuck by him when he needed her. So many times, she wished things could have been different, but she always felt they never bonded the way that a mother and son should have and they never would. She always knew he resented her for not giving him the father he always wanted. However, he always knew she would be there for him.

  Joyce got up first and made coffee the next morning. When Aileen heard her, she brushed he long strawberry blond curls and put them back in a ponytail washed her face and joined her in the kitchen.

  "I don't suppose you got much sleep." Joyce said as she poured Aileen's coffee.

  "Off and on; it's like a mother's worse nightmare. I feel that every ounce of stuffing has been ripped from my insides."

  "Why don't you call Charlie at the Horsey and tell him you have an emergency, which is true, and need some time to get your personal business in order. I'd take off to be with you, but Charlie couldn't handle the place by himself.'

  'I
don't see any other way." Aileen had already produced a list of the phone calls in her head that she would have to make and she planned a trip to the jail. Secretly she was glad Jack was out of town. His comments about Bobby's anti-social behavior would not be welcome right now, however true they were.

  Charlie was a peach as usual. He not only understood, but also was sincere in offering any help that he could. Since Aileen and Joyce came onboard, the local crowd grew significantly.

  After a light breakfast with Joyce, Aileen started with a call to Bobby's best friend Arty who lived next door to Bobby and Kathy. According to Arty, Bobby's version of the story was not only accurate it that was all there was to tell at this point. Unfortunately, the children saw the whole thing. Arty and his wife Molly thought it was just another fight and did nothing until they heard the sirens.

  Aileen had no intentions on calling Kathy's parents, at least not yet. They lived in Ohio. She knew from what Kathy said that they were not on good terms with their daughter over her relationship with Bobby. This being the case, they would not want to hear from Bobby's mother.

  Aileen had always told Bobby that if anything happened to either of them, she could not take care of the children. She suffered from fibromyalgia for many years and could not handle stress.