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Smashwords Edition Copyright 2018 Pamela Joan Barlow Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Fifty plus years ago

Thursday August 18th

7:53 a.m.

Farm town of Brier in the US State of Alabama

(10 miles, west, from metro city Huntsville)

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of bright sunshine

Home of Birdie Burns

and her two daughters Bertha and Rosalina

Schoolhouse Road setting

The cowgirl boots were oversized for her feet, except she wore two pairs of hand washed sorta cleaned oversized socks which helped a little. The long dress was oversized too coming down to the top of her cowgirl boots. All the oversized items came from her big and oversized sister Bertha.

However, Rosalina stood with a smile of excitement, fidgeting a pair of two skinny legs back and forth for the first day of first grade at the age of six years old, darting her eyelashes side to side to search for the long yellow colored school bus.

Her older sister Bertha squatted down into the lawn of rocks and weeds at their shared house and reached out for the next small rock, standing upright with a grin, tossing it down into the roadside with a laugh and then repeated the vile maneuver. Her biological mother Birdie remained inside the house while washing the set of breakfast dishes and then performing the rest of the daily chores. Bertha squatted down and hunted for next pebble inside weedy lawn.

Rosalina continued to stand and stare at the roadside for the bus hearing the soft thud of the next rock onto the old paved country road with a smile. "Yee don't do that..."

"Shut it, witch!" Berth stood upright with a sneer and tossed another rock down into the road with a laugh.

"Ain't no witch." Rosalina softly sobbed from the verbal insult without the tears, crossing both arms, looking down at the gray tinted country road pavement.

Berth moved ahead with a smile and danced around the upright body of her baby sister on top of the weedy lawn with a laugh. "Yee be a witch, witch. Mama saids, yee be born six, six, six. Witch. Witch. Witch. Daddy left, left, left. He be afraid of yee, yee, yee. Yee be a witch. Yee be witch..."

"Naw! Naw! Me not!" Rosalina stood in place and reached up, wiping off the tears with both hands and then shook them in the air with a sour frown. She had been birthed on the sixth of June in the year 1960.

Some silly non-educated people believed that the three consecutive numbers of six, six and six represented the devil. Any person with the set of three numbers of six was also a child of the devil.

The educated people believed that she was born in the hottest part of year in June within the US State of Alabama to a set of poor farmers inside the farm town of Brier.

Three days old infant Rosalina Burns

June 8th

6:06 a.m.

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

House of Birdie and Kennet Burns

and newborn baby Rosalina and older sister Bertha

Front porch setting

The day was hot without rain for three weeks. The front door slammed open with a loud boom. The female voice yelled out loud with a sneer inside the interior at the back spine of her husband, "Where yee going?"

The tall adult male with a hair of dark brown hair and a tone of dark skin swiftly moved away his wife and out from the living room setting of an old two room shack house with a sneer, "Out!"

The adult female with a hair of dark brown hair and a tone of dark skin followed behind the male holding a newborn baby of pink with a fuzz of blonde tinted hair in one arm next to her naked teat. A fourteenth month old year old child held the other hand of the female sucking on a bottle of fresh milk. The walking child possessed a head of brown hair and a tone of dark skin too. The female sneered with fury at the back spine of her husband, "Where yee going, Kennet? Got me two babies here. One in dirty diapers. One on my teat feeding. Yard needs mowing. Cow needs milking. Vegeetables needs picking. Need help, now, Kennet!"

He swiftly moved away with a huff from his wife and his children strolling through the tall green colored weeds of grass inside the small lawn, shuffling away from the old shack house, "I leaving, Birdie. I told and told and told over and over again and again..."

"But..." Birdie followed behind the back spine of her legally married husband toward the old rusty car with a set of tears and loud sobs, patting the baby on the fanny. "She be mine. The babe be mine and yours. She gots blonde hair for some dang reason. But she be mine..."

He stopped and reached out, grabbing, pulling on the door handle of the car as it did not bulge open. He hiked up a boot toe and kicked the old bent door with a loud boom. Then the old rusty car door opened. He scooted down into the driver's seat, starting the cold engine.

Birdie rushed ahead and stopped, standing between him and the open car door with a set of running tears and loud sobs, staring down at his nose profile inside the car. "She be born on the sixth of June in the year 1960, too. She ain't' no witch baby, Kennet. A witch baby gots black hair. Her hair be blonde and brown like me and yee. Where yee going, Kennet?"

"Me goes away from you and here!" He reached over and shoved her away from the car frame, leaning over, slamming the car door shut and started the engine with a sneer. The body of Birdie and the child swiftly shifted forward and stood in front of the open window of the powered card car door and as Birdie sobbed with tear and worry. "She ain't a witch babe. She be mine and yours."

Kennet pressed the gas pedal and slowly rolled the car forward and as Birdie jerked her body and the child swiftly stepping backwards and then sideways from the moving car with more tears. The car sped a set of four tires inside the lawn of high grass and high weeds and as Kennet left behind his wife Birdie, his first born daughter Bertha, and his baby daughter Rosalina forever. The car swiftly sped down the end of the road and then was out of eyesight.

Birdie pulled the baby away from her naked tit and as the newborn cried for more warm milk. She spat out her personal mouth saliva on top of the weedy grass with a sneer down at the newborn babe. "Yee fault here. Yee be born with six, six, six. Yee be a witch baby. Yee run me husband off. I hate yee, witch baby." The baby cried out loud and kicked a set of naked arms and legs while wanting more of the warm teat milk for food. Birdie spun with a sneer and entered back into the small shack house with a grunt and as the toddler Bertha hung onto the long dress behind her mother entering the house also.

The front door closed shut with a loud slap.

Fifty plus years ago

Thursday August 18th

7:47 a.m.

Home location of Birdie Burns

Schoolhouse Road location

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of bright sunshine

The yellow tinted school bus turned the street corner and slowly steered down the gray pavement while picking up each child or teenager for the first day of elementary or high school within the rural farm town of Brier.

"Betty, be gone!" Bertha stopped the dance and reached out, shoving her baby sister Rosalina out onto the non-busy street with an evil laugh and a wicked grin.

Rosalina stumbled forward and fell down on both kneecaps on top of the hard pavement in the pair of oversized cowgirl boots, instead of tumbling out into the roadway. She gasped with fear, swiftly crawling backwards and away from the roadway, landing on a stomach on top of the weedy grass.

The school bus squeaked the brakes and then slowed stopping a few feet from the skull of Rosalina. The bus door opened.

The bus driver, Mr. Glenwood was elderly, tall, and angry, standing upright from the driver's seat and turned to face the open door, stomping down the three steps. He squatted down and lifted Rosalina up into the air with a smile, placing her tiny body upright on top of the gravel lawn. He turned and sneered at the older sister of Rosalina, "Bertha, get onto that bus right now, young miss!" He exhaled with a huff of frustration and was not the child's biological father. The child's father had abandoned the mother and both the girls a long time ago. However, he was a religious man and felt that some kids needed a little extra care in certain situations.

And this was one.

Berth swayed a body back and forth with both hands behind a back spine with a wicked grin, "Yee, sir." She moved forward and climbed up the three steps, turning to face the inner aisle of an empty bus. Rosalina and Bertha were one of the couple of children who were picked up first on the school route, since the school bus came from the high school parking lot. Bertha slowly moved down the aisle with a grin and stopped with a sneer, picking on the only occupied bench seat inside the bus with an evil laugh. "Boo! Get up. Me seat." The two occupants of the bench swiftly scooted out and moved away from big and bad girl Berth, since the second grade girl was big and meaner than a poisonous rattlesnake, finding a new bench seat inside the bus. Berth did not sit down but stood next to the bench seat with a grin while waiting for her sister to arrive for some more morning torment before the start of the first day of elementary school. All the teachers at the elementary school knew of Berth's reputation and didn't allow the child to terrorize the other children during class sessions.

When Berth overacted with meanness, she was sent into the principal's office. Then she was sent back to stay that rest of the school day with her biological mother without completing an academic assignment for the day, where the bad habit was a reoccurring event during her first grade session last year.

Within the bright sunshine on the roadside, Glenwood helped brush the dirt away from the dress of Rosalina with a smile. "There now, pretty thing. You look real pretty in your purple dress for your first day of elementary school, Rosalina. Let's get inside the bus. The bus ride will be fun. Ya got to see all the houses on the street too." He stood upright with a smile and shoved Rosalina in front of him chest, lifting her body up by between her two armpits, toting her over the smooth roadway and the three bus steps. He climbed the stairs and stopped, lowering Rosalina down onto the empty aisle with a grin. "There you go, young miss. Go and sit with your sister, Rosalina!"

"Yee, sir!" Rosalina moved ahead with a smile down the empty aisle towards the bench seat and her older sister Bertha. Berth had moved ahead and spun around with a sneer, blocking the empty aisle and the unoccupied bench seat away from her sister again. Rosalina shoved ahead and hit the fat stomach of her mean sister bouncing back from the fleshy gut with a sour frown. "Move, Berth! I wanna go to school..."

Berth laughed out loud and stared down at the light brown curls of Rosalina, "Naw! Yee be too dumb, Mama says so. Yee no ride the bus and go back to home and keep Mama happy..."

She forcefully moved ahead again and shoved the fat stomach on her sister with a shout out of fury. "Naw! I wanna to go school..."

"Naw! Yee be too dumb..."

Glenwood stood inside the aisle and parked both hands on a fit waistline, shaking a brown colored skull with a sour frown. "Bertha, please sit down in that school bus seat right now! I'm moving the school bus right now towards the elementary school."

Bertha gasped with alarm and looked up with a worried brow to see the angry face of Glenwood. The school bus driver would tattle about Bertha's bad behavior to her new second grade elementary teacher. Then the new elementary teacher would tell the same old mean school principle. Then the principal would tell her mother Birdie. Actually, second grader Bertha would be driven back to her home by the assistant principle for this mean act, since Birdie didn't own a vehicle. Finally, second grader Bertha would have to tend the garden of fresh vegetables and the crops of cotton for the rest of the day instead of the school classroom.

Berth had experienced and received that exact punishment last year when she had misbehaved in the first grade in front of the first grade teacher. She came back home to work like a mule cleaning the house, weeding the garden, gathering the vegetables, and picking bugs off the cotton bolls, which were all the duties of her mother Birdie. Instead, Birdie sat inside the cool house, drinking numerous tumblers of sweet cold iced tea, watching the black and white television entertainment programs inside the living room setting.

Berth was not going to do those vile things this year as a second grader. This year, she will let Rosalina misbehave and then be sent back home to work for their mother Birdie. Then Rosalina could clean the house and pick the boll weevils off the cotton bolls instead. Bertha back stepped with a worried brow away from Rosalina, allowing her baby sister to scoot down into the hard seat which held two people.

Rosalina moved ahead with a stern face and sat down scooting over the long plastic bench, slamming a nose and an elbow into the cool glass window with a smile. She was happy about attending elementary school, learning new stuff, and making a set of new friends. Her house was built far away from the other farm land crops and a row of big plantation homes that surrounded the single roadway called Brier Road that resided within the small farm town of Brier.

Yeah, it was not an original street name.

One of the largest slaveholding states, the township of Brier was birthed in the year 1818 as the first incorporated town within the US State of Alabama. The rest of the territory was free land for the taking away from the tribes of Native American Indians with a handshake or a hand gun. The new group of homestead settlers in the year 1818 was not creative but craved a pot of hot food and a mug of cold water after a long and dirty covered wagon ride coming from the eastern part of the America.

The mother of Rosalina, Birdie rented a small plot of land that contained a shack of two bedrooms from Farmer Brown, the landlord of a vast cotton and cow farm. There was a vegetable garden for harvesting food, a flower garden for picking flora, and a small plot of dirt with six cotton boll plants for revenue money to buy a set of staple supplies like a pound of flour and sugar and a gallon of sweet milk.

The school bus jolted forward, slowly driving down a smooth but ugly gray colored pavement and then it slowed, turning onto a gravel road of a parking lot, without a row of parked cars or a line of residential homes. The bus slowed the speed and moved through an empty parking lot, where the popular entertainment place the Swimming Hole stood alone and quiet. Each elementary and high school kid on the bus cheered and clapped with a smile, pointing at the fun entertainment place, where all the kids and teens attended the establishment during the summertime days between school sessions. The facility was closed down during the work and school week, since the elementary and high school session had restarted. The fun place would open on the weekend starting at three pm in the afternoon, when school was dismissed.

The bus stopped and then turned the street corner, steering down Cotton Road which was also another gray colored road that held a row of the homes while stopping and pickup each school child there also.

Inside the school bus, Rosalina continued to sit and smile at all the new and old sights of her hometown. Brier was one of the oldest towns within the US State of Alabama which was founded on November 18, 1818. She remembered that calendar dates, because there were three sets of the number eighteen, wondering if the number eighteen was a lucky number.

The bus slowed and then stopped with a set of squeaky brake pads.

Rosalina stared at the next residential house. The house possessed a set of brick four steps that went up and landed on the front porch leading toward a single entrance door. Her house didn't have a set of brick steps or a front porch or a front porch cover. Her house stood on top of a plot of flat dirt. When Rosalina exited out the front door of her home, she moved ahead directly onto the flat green and yellow colored weedy yard between the gravel rocks and then strolled ahead toward a naked roadway waiting for the bus and attending the new school. When Rosalina opened the back door of her house, the flat lawn showed off a small vegetable garden and a flower garden plus a vast crop field which contained vertical rows of white tinted cotton bolls that was owned by Farmer Brown.

On Cotton Road, the school bus slowed down and then stopped in front the pretty antebellum house. The house possessed a set of four tall and wide columns that kept the three story roof from falling down over a skull of each child and their adult parents. The mother of the two children reached down and kissed the skull of each child, squatting down, releasing the tiny hand as each child ran away from their mother to greet the other kids on the school bus. The mother dashed behind each child and stopped, helping her children onto the bus step, back stepping from the closed door and waved a good bye hand with a smile to her children.

The children moved ahead down the aisle and ran toward an empty plastic bench, sliding inside the seat, dropping down the glass window pane and yelled out loud, waving with both hands back at their mom on the first day of elementary and high school.

Rosalina watched each precious moment with a sigh of longing. Her mom Birdie didn't walk her daughter to the school bus. Her mom didn't hold her hand either. Her mom didn't wave good bye but ordered her daughter down into the weedy garden for picking out the fresh vegetables for supper meal each night.

The school bus slowly moved ahead and then stopped at the next plantation house with a mother and two children on the side of the road.

Rosalina pressed a nose bridge into the glass window, seeing miles of farm crops and miles of small houses with one big antebellum house. She spun around to see the nose profile of her sister Bertha, looking beyond the sneer of Bertha, viewing more rows of cotton and residential houses.

The school bus turned the street corner and slowly drove down Gin Street, where the Brier cotton gin resided as a largest employer of local people and some traveling immigrants. Each immigrant spoke the Spanish language as each one was not an American citizen but worked within the farm industry throughout the US State of Alabama during planting and harvesting crop field time. Each immigrant worked by running a set of cotton bolls through the cotton machine which produced an individual tall cotton bale. Each cotton bale was loaded onto a long semi-tractor trailer and then delivered down to the location of the Montgomery Cotton Co-op which paid each cotton farmer a check of financial monies while growing more field crops for both food and clothes.

The Brier cotton gin was three stories high of dirty white concrete blocks with a set of squared framed windows that arched open coming up from the bottom of the building and met an exterior giant exhaust fan on the rooftop that circulated fresh air and shot out all of the cotton fibers from the ceiling and out the sides of the warehouse.

A long horizontal open structure housed a row of ten feet long mesh wire trailers that came from each farmer which was filled with loose white fuzzy cotton bolls, where a single cotton boll would itch your tender skin, if you played with cotton like a rubber ball. On the other side of the cotton gin, a row of pallets of processed cotton appeared in stacks of square shaped brown tinted bales which was protected from the weather elements of sun and rain for sale.

The ground was covered white gravel with a beige colored squat office building with a silver tinted tin roof and a single red door for entering the lobby.

Down passed the cotton gin, the Brier Fertilizer Plant was the second largest employer within Brier. The warehouse held tubs of fresh and stinky horse, cow, and deer shit turds that was combined with the hay strands fertilizing the vegetable gardens and the flower gardens around the town. The owner allowed all the young teens to find, collect, and bring small boxes of fresh cow patties coming on their farm property for a one dollar to buy a soda, a snack, and a model piece for the car collection at the local Brier General Store.

Inside the Brier Fertilizer Plant, there was storage room that contained bottles of poison which was used as a pesticide poison to kill the cotton boll weevils ( _Anthonomus grandis_ ). A cotton boll weevil was set of little evil pest that appeared no bigger than a thumb finger nail which fed as a tiny baby inside of each cotton bud and flower. Then the boll weevil baby would hatch along with the 199 other brothers and sisters for three weeks during the summertime. The boll weevil baby didn't die until the temperature dropped to down to thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit during the wintertime days in Alabama. Their natural enemy of the cotton boll weevil consisted of fire ants, spiders, and birds but all the smart farmers used the defense of the Banana spider for the best results between each row of the green leaves on the side of each cotton stalk which seemed to help the cotton stalk grow tall and pretty with numerous white soft balls of white like a mini Christmas tree that were two feet high with only white light bulbs among the green leaves.

As the school bus continued to drive down Gin Street, leaving behind the cotton gin and fertilizer plant rows of individual plots of land appeared. Each plot of land was surrounded by a manicured yard of rounded wide bushes, high flowering vines, low flower beds, and tree-shaded streets, where most of the folks in Brier resided. Some of the ancient tall shade trees dated back to the 1800's before the first settlers of Brier.

The next house was larger in square footage space than her two-room shack. Each two-story house displayed a gray colored series of four wooden poles on the front porch that ran the length of porch with a shiny silver tinted tin rooftop. The interior space was floored in chestnut planks of wood. Around each house, there was a charming white picket fence which outlined the legal property line with an absence presentation of a row of sidewalks for strolling. A neighbor would walk on the road or bum a ride from another friend.

Rosalina continued to press both hands and a nose bridge into the window glass, staring at the row of pretty houses.

The school bus continued to stop and collect each happy child from the hand of their mother again. Each child laughed out loud with happiness, entering onto the bus, sitting down inside one of the empty plastic bench seats. The bus turned the street corner veering down Schoolhouse Road again. Right off the roadway, the school bus passed the Brier General Store which had established in the month of January of the year 1819.

Down passed the general store, there stood Brier Church, where everyone attended the church but Rosalina and her family. The exterior wall of the church was made from brick that had been baked and kilted inside a brick stove by the first settlers in the year 1819. The church was two-stories high with a set of four rooms. The ground level auditorium space was filled with ten pews on each side of the podium with a piano inside the wall corner. There were two small rooms for Sunday school classes on each side wing of the church, one for kids and one for teens. There was a second space in the rear of the building that seated up to hundred people to eat a plate of hot food and drink a tumbler of sweet tea which occurred Sunday afternoon lunch and at each wedding celebration.

The most unique feature of the structure, Brier Church was one of the oldest churches within the US State of Alabama. The entrance way held a set of two rounded columns holding the bricks over the white steeple on rooftop and the entrance way faced the graveyard. The weird graveyard extended out toward the rear of the church also and beside two fields of cotton rows. The graveyard was a reminder for each person that you were not to be long on this planet and you should make the best of your days which was a quote coming from the preacher-man.

Preacher-man Sinclair preached that quote every Sunday morning at eleven am during the weekly church service. This quiet place held each grave site coming from the original sixty-two settlers and their dead sons, their dead daughters, and their other dead grand kinfolks and all the other dead people that had lived and thrived here in Brier, a long time ago.

On Schoolhouse Road, the school bus slowed the speed and turned without rolling by the gymnasium and the football field that seated three hundred people for each football and baseball game that stood further down the pavement.

Further down Schoolhouse Road, the Brier Lumber Sawmill was the first sawmill that produced stacks of pine lumber which had been used to build all of the homes here within Brier. The mill employed people to cut staves that were used to haul a pallet of processed and harvested cotton bale inside each semi-tractor trailer that went to Montgomery for selling which was next to the oldest post office building within the US State of Alabama.

An animal hospital stood between the empty parking lot of the post office and more fields of cotton, which always held a corral of sick animals for medical treatment.

Once a vehicle had passed by the Brier Church, the Brier Lumber Sawmill, the Brier Post Office, and some of the smaller businesses, a pair of eyeballs saw only more long rows and rows of crops consisting of white cotton bolls or rows of golden tall corn husks or short rows of brown tinted soybeans or short rows of yellow tinted hay strands. The roadway finally ended at the Brier Tavern and Inn, where the first people hotel, animal stables, and blacksmith shop had resided in the year 1819. The Inn provided a resting spot for a traveler coming from northern parts of the America while driving down south towards Mobile for the hot sandy white tinted beaches.

Thus, the farm town of Brier was the prettiest picturesque scene that appeared much like a Hollywood setting of the pre-Civil War era.

On Schoolhouse road, the school bus slowed down the speed and then turned into the school parking lot, squealing a set of bad brakes and finally stopped on top of the parking lot behind two other school buses. The other buses contained groups of the older kids and the teenagers.

The closed school bus doors folded open.

Brier High School consisted of the elementary school building that housed grades first to fifth and then middle school with grades sixth to eighth, and finally the high school structures with grades ninth to twelfth.

The closed school bus doors folded open.

07:57 am

Brier High School location

Schoolhouse Road setting

The high school campus was divided into two separate red brick colored one-story buildings for a total of twelve academic classes starting with the first grade up toward the twelfth grade. The tallest building contained the older kids from the ages of twelve to eighteen years old and was called Brier High School. The short building held the elementary children and was called Brier Elementary School.

School bus driver Glenwood parked the bus behind another school bus which was beside the entrance of the elementary school and continued to sit down inside the driver's seat while carefully watching all the children within the rear view mirror and out the corner of a right eyeball. Each student stood upright from the seat and slowly moved ahead leaving the school bus interior, turning to face the proper building entrance for the first day of school. He spun around the driver's seat with a confused brow. Two young girls were still sitting inside the plastic seat. Bertha was blocking her sister Rosalina from exiting out from the bench row. He yelled with a huff of frustration. "Bertha, go and get into your classroom with Mrs. Blue!" Bertha leaned over and laughed in the face of her sister Rosalina without standing or moving from the vocal order of Glenwood. He said with a firm tone and a stern face. "Bertha, I'm in charge here on the school bus. Get moving now!"

Bertha sat back from her sister with a deep sigh and slowly slid over the bench, standing inside the aisle with a smile, staring at Glenwood with a sour frown and mouth spat onto the floor with a sneer, "I moving. I going..."

He sneered with authority. "Take your sister to her classroom also!" Bertha back stepped from the seat and stood inside the empty aisle as Rosalina scooted across the seat and stood upright with a smile, rushing toward Glenwood for safety again. Glenwood reached out and patted Rosalina on the collar bone with a smile. "Bertha will lead you to your first grade room. Be a good girl and learn a lot, Rosalina!"

"Yee, sir," Rosalina stood beside Glenwood and looked up with a grin to see his smile. Bertha moved ahead with a sneer and led down the set of bus steps, dashing ahead towards the front of the elementary school.

07:58 am

Brier Elementary School

First Grade location

Classroom setting of Mrs White

Rosalina swiftly ran behind her sister as fast as she could in the pair of oversized scuffed and faded brown and tan dull colored cowgirl boots, catching up with Bertha at the open archway of the elementary school building. The building was made of reddish-brown brick on a one-story structure with a set of very large and wide double doors which were painted in bright red. On each side of the door, there was a row of large glass windows to see inside and outside the building interior. All the children had gathered and blocked the entrance with a series of giggles and laughs.

Bertha plowed a large body with a sneer through the crowd of younger and shorter children, creating a big hole with her fat body, moving ahead inside the building at a high rate of speed towards her second grade classroom, where she had remembered from last year. Each elementary class of student was held inside one room with the same elementary teacher for many years without modification.

Rosalina gasped with fear elbowing a pathway through the crowd of children, catching up with Bertha, making a small opening with her small body and emerged into a less crowded hallway. The single hallway contained a set of two individual bathroom archway for the boys and the girls on opposite wall that was across from the double entrance doors. A dead end wall was located on one side and a massive hallway on the other side which was filled with an assortment of tall adults and small children. Rosalina turned to face the main hallway which was the logical pathway toward each classroom, running and slapping the butthole of Bertha within the crowded hallway.

Bertha stopped with a growl and spun around with a sneer, reaching out, shoving Rosalina back into the side wall near an open archway, "That be yee room, Betty, be gone!"

"Not me name, Bertha!" Rosalina hit the wall of concrete with pain and yelled out loud with fury, hiding the tears of sadness.

The young girl stopped beside the nose profile Bertha and Rosalina, turning with a giggle to see Rosalina. "Betty, be gone, that your name?"

"Yeah," Bertha laughed out loud with a nod at her sister. The young girl scooted around Berth with a laugh and entered into the open archway with a smile, moving ahead with her mother, disappearing into the elementary classroom. Bertha moved ahead with a snarl and reached out, grabbing the old lace collar on the ancient purple tinted dress on Rosalina with a sneer. "Don't pee on me dress! Yee borrow it. Get in yee room, Betty, be gone!" She shoved Rosalina down the side wall towards the open archway of the classroom with an evil laugh.

Rosalina sniffed back up the runny snot and held a set of gathered tears from embarrassment, spinning around, dashing ahead through the open archway and moved around the other elementary students with a smile. She continued to stroll towards the rear wall inside the first grade classroom for her first day of elementary school.

Inside the classroom, in front of the room, a horizontal row of individual metal chairs stood against the black board, where an array of the biological parents occupied each seat. The parents were all females which represented the mother of a first grader.

Rosalina moved ahead of Nadean Garland and stopped, sliding down into the first available school desk, placing the crocheted bag on top of the slanted desk surface with a grin. The bag contained an almost full notepad of clean paper from her older sister Bertha. Her older sister was given the notebook last year during first grade for homework assignments. However, Bertha was disciplined so much within the first grade class that she had to stay home with her mother, instead of doing her first grade assignments. There was a big yellow colored oversized pencil to write down all the new assignments for the first day of elementary school too.

Rosalina exhaled and inhaled, calming a set of jumbled scared nerves, smirking with delight. She would not see Berth for the rest of the day until back home for the evening supper. Then Berth would be busy with gardening and cleaning up the kitchen, after suppertime. And then Berth would go to bed and sleep until the next day.

Rosalina had enjoyed it when Berth was gone and at school last year, since she didn't have to stay outside in the yard or on the other side of the living room with her mother Birdie while keeping away from meanie Berth.

Inside the student desk, Rosalina patted her dirty crocheted bag while watching the other students. Each child moved around and sat down next to a friend coming from their Sunday school class or their farm neighborhood.

Rosalina did not attend church since her mom Birdie preferred to watch every single television program at home instead of listening to the preacher man lecture about doing a set of bad times on Planet Earth.

She turned and studied with a smile at the row of mothers from seven of her fellow classmates. Each mother wore a pretty colored knee-length dress with a set of summer sandals. Some of the mothers had a set of painted toe and fingernails too.

Rosalina looked down at both naked hands, seeing the red tinted soil dirt in the nails from picking out the bucket of garden vegetables this morning for the supper meal tonight. Berth was supposed to have done that last night, but she had forgotten. Rosalina didn't want her sister Berth to get into trouble with their mom, since Birdie would use the old holey leather belt on the butthole of Bertha.

The last time that happened, Bertha cried inside the bedroom of Birdie for the rest of the night, without eating a plate of hot supper.

Rosalina reached down and picked out at the red soil dirt, cleaning some of the fingernails as best as she could and then gave up with the difficult task. She looked up with a smile to see the remaining mothers of her fellow classmates. Each mother was slender and pretty looking, too.

The mom of Rosalina, Birdie was both tall and overweight. She didn't wear a pretty dress but a set of bedroom slippers on a pair of naked feet and an extra large mint green ratty bathroom robe over a semi-naked body. Rosalina didn't know what her mom wore underneath that bathroom robe either, but it smelled sometimes. She mentally continued to view and compare her mom Birdie to the other pretty and nice smelling mothers inside the new first grade classroom.

In front of the classroom, in the middle of the row of chair, the mother of first grader Zeeta, Abby sat inside a metal chair next to her farm neighbor Corene. Abby leaned over with a whisper and a frown into the cheekbone of her friend, staring at the boot heels of the first grader. "Corene, is that Jadean's oldest daughter, walking in front of us and sitting down at the school desk?"

Corene turned to see the boot heels of the first grader with a nod and a smile. "Yeah, she's a little doll. Isn't she?"

"She's different looking."

Corene continued to stare at six-year-old Nadean with a whisper and a smile. "Her appearance is called exotic-looking like a foreigner from that country of Japan over the Atlantic Ocean near the country of England, Abby. You aren't supposed to be envious or jealous sayeth the Lord."

"Just a comment!" Abby smirked with a nod. "The child's features are bizarre at best with her frosted hair of silver that matches her hunting pair of gray eyes coupled against her bronze skin. She could be in a horror movie in Hollywood."

Corene frowned with a whisper, "That is a nasty comment, Abby! Her hair is called platinum blonde. Hollywood movie film stars spend hundreds of dollars to dye their roots that color and hope for the best. The locks of Nadean are truly natural. But I can't figure where it came from on her family tree. She has her daddy's gray eyes plus his bronze complexion. See? There's not much mystery there, Abby."

Abby shook the curls with a confused brow and a whisper at the face of Nadean. "I don't know about that. You know the gossip going around about Jadean? She drunk all the time with that harder stuff whiskey, not wine, during the child's conception and smoked like a sailor with nine cigarettes a day. I didn't smoke that much a day and stopped cold turkey when I found out about Zeeta. Then I started back with one cigarette a day. It helps with the stress of a rising a brilliant and talented child."

Corene parted the lips with a whisper. "Abby, that's just nonsense. Whiskey and cigarettes aren't going to change a child's hair color."

Abby smirked with a whisper. "Well, something changed that child's hair roots. Jadean has dark midnight black hair like her baby girl Dorcee. That's from her great grandmother Sloan. My mama says that elderly woman was meaner than a rattlesnake in her day."

"Your mama calls everyone meaner than a rattlesnake, including you, Abby." Corene smiled.

Abby frowned. "Dorcee is pretty like Jadean with her black hair and her pale skin on a heart shaped face along with her big green doe eyes. She's going to break a lot of cowboy hearts as a teen."

Corene nodded with a smile, "Dorcee's definitely competition among the pretty cowgirls for drooling cowboys. She's one years old. And the twins are cute as bugs with their carrot top fuzz and tone of pink skin like a pair of baby piglets at two years old."

"Every one of these kids looks different from each other. I wonder, if Urall's the real daddy..."

"Abby, stop your gossip!"

"One wonders with a mama like Nadean's Grandmother Garland, who thinks she's the queen of Brier. She researched her family tree and found that she's the thirty-fifth cousin to Queen Catherina Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII. He was king of England a long, long time ago. If really so, she still looks like a coot, wearing that jewelry around her neck, her arms, and her earlobes."

Corene frowned with a whisper. "Another cat claw extended, Abby! I know for a fact that her sons purchased that fine jewelry of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, jade, pearls, and diamonds from all over the world as world war two soldiers, giving those presents to their mama for love."

"She birthed sons like kittens. Urall is number eight of eleven children and the baby."

"Half her children are dead. You should respect her courage and commitment to carry on, without her loving kids, Abby."

"I do, Corene. I'm just commenting on some of our more elaborate citizens of Brier, including Nadean. She favors the Garland's more than the Sloan's. She is so skinny and frail, coming from Jadean's whiskey consumption. And I know that fact. Look at her stumble in her cowgirl boots with those skinny little legs and big feet."

"She's a growing child, Abby. She might be tall like her daddy..."

"Or short like her mama, her aunt, and her grandma. All the females on the Sloan side are short, while the males on the Garland side are blind and tall." Abby chuckled.

Corene frowned, "Another nasty comment, Abby? I hope you go and repent in church on Wednesday night."

Abby pursed the lips. "You're snobby, today, Corene. I state a historical fact that every single male on the Garland family tree wears eyeglasses and stands over six feet tall. Mark my words right here and right now! Those Garland twins will wear a pair of reading glasses and stand taller than a willow tree."

"I hope Olivia is tall. She has seemed to slow down growing."

"Did she cry when you pulled Teague out the door this morning for his first day of school?"

"Mewed like a kitten for her mama. But her grandma is baking chocolate chip cookies and her grandpa is riding her on the stallion until Teague returns this afternoon from his first day of elementary school. I'm so happy they're close as brother and sister. Olivia will start next year right here with Mrs. White, if Teague and the other cowboys didn't run her off the school ground. I see Stratton, Purcell, Eckward, Brock, and Kersey. These little boys drive their mamas loco. I hope Mrs. White can handle them."

Abby smiled with a whisper. "She has been teaching first grade, since we were seniors and graduated from here at Brier High, Corene." Corene nodded with a giggle.

"Class," Mrs. White stood next to the teacher desk with a head of gray tinted hair and a pair of thick eyeglasses, reaching out, slapping the front wall with a hand and a stern face. "I am Mrs. White like the color white on the wall here."

Corene frowned with a whisper to Abby. "Did she do that when we were in the first grade, Abby?"

Abby shook the curls with a confused brow and a whisper, "Naw! I think that's a new behavior."

Mrs. White sneered at the first grade class, "White, the color of the wall," she reached out and slapped the black board next. "This color is black, not white. The chalk board is black. My name is Mrs. White. Please stand up from your seats and move back towards the rear wall," she turned and viewed Abby. "And you, mamas are the new room mothers. Please stay inside your metal chairs against the chalkboard and help me with the roll call. The children will be seated in alphabetic order, starting with the letter A occupying the first seat in the first row until we get to the letter B." All the first graders scooted out a school desk, turning and moved to the rear wall, stopping and standing in a long line against the fresh white paint with a sour frown.

Corene leaned with a puzzled brow and a whisper to Abby. "Is this normal?"

Abby whispered back with a stern face, "Her classroom."

Rosalina slid out from the student desk, dragging the crocheted bag off the desk surface and swung around with a confused brow, moving ahead and spun around again, standing against the rear wall with her classmates and listened.

The rest of her classmates stood upright from a chair and spun around, moving towards the rear wall and then swung around to face the teacher and black colored chalkboard at the front of the classroom.

Mrs. White motioned with a hand and a sour frown in the air. "Renita Anderson." The tall girl stared at the teacher with a puzzled brow. Mrs. White sneered. "Renita, please sit in the first seat by the door. Come on, honey!" Renita smiled and pranced forward and sat down into her new student desk.

Abby smirked with a whisper to Corene. "She is not smart, not pretty, but good limbs for cartwheels. She'll be a cheerleader for shore."

Corene frowned. "Why do you say, not smart? What in the world are you basing your traits on, Abby?"

"Corene, we know every single parent of these children. We all go to church on Sunday morning preaching, then Sunday afternoon lunch, then Sunday evening supper and on Wednesday night singing. We see each other in the only grocery store for buying a tank of gasoline for the car and a loaf of bread for supper and shop at the same local department store for clothes and furnishings. Then we meet each month at the church's fellowship hall for the school's PTA meetings and farm stuff. On top of all that, we went to school with their parents. And their grandparents went to school with their grandparents. So my assessment is based on decades of observance and studying their blood-kinfolks."

Corene nodded with a grin and a whisper. "I accept that explanation. Renita's mama was a cheerleader with us. And the tradition must continue at Brier High School."

"Nettie Ayers," Mrs. White pointed and motioned to the first grader. The girl marched to the second chair with a smile and a giggle.

"Pretty thing," Abby smiled with a whisper.

Corene parted her lips with a sour frown and a whisper, "Pretty thing, the word is both disgusting and degrading for a young Southern girl."

Abby smiled. "Naw, Corene! Pretty thing is a proper method of a pretty description. These young girls do not have much smarts, but are really cute. Future husbands look for them pretty things to boss around and do their pleasuring."

Corene frowned with a whisper into the face of Abby. "Abby Trummer, are you telling me that little cute Nettie will only be a piece of meat and a taste of pleasure for her future hubby. She might decide to go to college and be a rocket scientist."

Abby smiled, "She'll be a 'pretty thing' first. Nettie might but her mama ain't. Daughters do exactly as they are told by their mama. That's the Southern way..."

"Kersey Bibb," Mrs. White motioned with a stern face to the first grader. The boy galloped with a laugh and a grin to the next empty school desk.

Abby smiled. "Kersey Bibb will be the class clown. His family is wealthier than the Lord. But he's a whacky little boy, not mean to the other kids, but whacky like he's crazy." Corene nodded with a smile in silence.

Mrs. White yelled, "Norbert Blakely." The first grader slowly moved ahead from the rear wall and stopped, sliding down inside a new student desk with a smile and a nod.

Abby frowned. "You know that little boy is very odd. He is always staring at..."

"Whacky. Odd. Bizarre. I am impressed. You have learned some new adjectives, Abby. Have you been seeing too many soap operas on the television, instead of spending value time with the family?" Corene smiled with a whisper.

Mrs. White yelled. "Rosalina Burns." The first grader stood along the rear wall with a puzzled brow.

"Rosalina is a pretty thing also. Her mama is an alcoholic. See there? How the poor little thing is too stupid to figure out what to do and just stands at the wall? And she is going to be just like her mama, an alcoholic too." Abby nodded with a sour frown and a whisper to Corene.

Rosalina moved ahead from the rear wall with a confused brow in silence. The other kids were talking and laughing about something. She stopped and examined the new desk, sliding down into the new seat and placed the crocheted bag on top of the desk surface. She opened the flap and slowly removed the notepad of paper and a sharpened pencil, shoving the bag underneath the horizontal slot of the student desk below her butthole for safekeeping.

She opened the notepad, positioning the tip of the pencil over the solid line, drawing at an angle the first line of the capital letter A. She lifted the pencil, dropping the tip at the top point of the letter A, shoving a second angle down to the solid line with a smile. She placed the tip of the pencil on the side, drawing a straight line for the three lines on the letter A with a smile.

Rosalina smiled with a puff of exhaustion. The letter of A was very easy to create a set of two slightly tilted straight lines with the tip of the pencil.

Mrs. White stood between the chalk board and her teacher desk with a sour frown and a croaky voice. "Children and room mothers, please stand up. Every morning at this school along with thousands and thousands and thousands of children across the United States of America, we will recite in unison the Pledge of Allegiance to our American flag." She turned to the side and slapped a right hand over her heart, facing the wall corner, where an upright American flag stood alone and free.

All the students and the room mothers swiftly stood, turning to see the tall pole with the American flag inside the corner of the room, placing a right hand over the heart with a smile also.

Rosalina heard the commotion and placed the pencil inside her notebook, swiftly standing, looking at the mother ro Zeeta with a puzzled brow. The mom of Zeeta had turned to the side and faced a pole with a flag that was red, white, and blue colors with a right hand over heart.

Mrs. White said. "Place your right hand across your chest above the heart. And say with me. I..."

The other students and all the mothers quoted in unison. "...pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all."

Rosalina did not know the words, mumbling something pretty darn close.

Mrs. White turned to face the student and slowly bowed her chin with a stern face. "Please bow your heads for the morning prayer, Our Father..."

The other students and all the mothers turned to face each bowing a chin into the chest, saying in unison with Mrs. White. "...who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever. Amen."

Rosalina looked at each student, turning and bowing her chin with a mumble of some of the spoken words, since she did not know the words of prayer either.

"Amen." Kersey lifted his face with a smile and a clap.

Mrs. White lifted her face with a sour frown and a new order. "Thank you, Kersey. Sit down, child."

Corene turned and moved to the teacher with a worried brow. "Mrs. White, I believe some of the children are having trouble seeing the blackboard. Why don't you place the taller kids in the rear row of seats while the little ones occupy the closer desks?"

Mrs. White turned and viewed each student with a nod and a sour frown. "I agree. We have five perfect rows with five students each, so I'll take the first two rows, shifting the children around. You take rows three and four, Mrs. Haywood."

"Thank you, Mrs. White." Corene turned and moved to the row of desk with her son.

Mrs. White stood and shifted to the first column of desks, stopping next to the first grader. "Kersey, you and Rosalina switch places." Kersey stood. "Grab your notebook, Kersey, and swap desks with her."

Kersey grabbed his notebook and turned, slamming the paper down onto the new student desk with a yell. "I hungry."

Mrs. White ordered. "Lunch is at ten o'clock. Hush, child! Renita move into Norbert's desk."

"I like this desk next to Kersey." Norbert turned and smiled to Kersey.

"Up, Norbert! Please take your notebook too." Mrs. White pointed to the empty desk as Norbert stood and slid into the seat. Then Kersey stood with a burp, facing the kids, scratching his body like a monkey with funny sounds. All the other students laughed. "Hush, Kersey! Or ya get your nose in the corner for punishment," Mrs. White issued her new order as Kersey shifted his hand and picked his nostrils, eating his boogers. The other room mothers moved around the room, switching the children inside a different student desk.

Abby stood upright from the chair and moved ahead, stopping in front of the fourth column of desks, motioning to her daughter with a smile and a nod, "Zeeta, move over here, sweetie! You can hear and see your teacher better, making a set of good grades." Zeeta stood and ran to the first desk in her row, sitting with a smile. Abby leaned over and straightened the pretty bow in the child's hair.

Mrs. White finished the rearrangement of the first column of desks, turning and moving back to the front of the class and held a yard stick over the chalk board at the line of colorful symbolic alphabetic letters glued on top of the wall. "Please sit. And please quiet down. Today, we are going to learn our A, B, C's." She turned to face the side wall and pointed the ruler up towards a line of colorful alphabetic that lived on top of the black board with a sour frown. "This is the letter A for apple. Do you see the red apple beside the letter? Say: A for apple."

"A," all the students said in unison.

Rosalina continued to sit and say out loud the alphabetic letter A while hand printing the letter of B on top of the blank paper. It was difficult to make a curve on the tip of the pencil into a curvy line.

"Say: A is for apple." Mrs. White banged the yard stick against the wall.

"A is for apple," all the students said in unison.

White pointed with the ruler at the top of the colorful chart over the black board with a sour frown. "This is the letter of B. B is for ball. Do you see the blue ball next to the letter? Say: B for ball."

"B for ball."

Rosalina continued to sit and say the letter of B with the class while hand printing the letter C on top of the notepaper which was easy printing a curved line.

A few minutes later, White pointed with the ruler at the top of the colorful chart over the black board with a sour frown. "This is the letter of H. H is for house. Do you see the white house next to the letter? Say, H for house."

"H for house," the students said in unison.

Rosalina continued to sit and say the letter of H with the class while hand printing the letter K on top of the notepaper which was pretty hard with a set of two angled lines.

A few minutes later, White pointed with the ruler at the top of the colorful chart over the black board with a sour frown. "This is the letter of M. M is for mouse. See the gray mouse next to the letter? Say, M for mouse."

"M for mouse," the students said in unison.

Rosalina continued to sit and said the letter M with the rest of her classmates while hand printing the letter P on top of the notepad of paper which was a little more difficult making a half-moon with the tip of the pencil.

A few minutes later, White pointed with the ruler at the top of the colorful chart over the black board with a sour frown. "This is the letter of S. S is for star. Do you see the silver tinted star next to the letter? Say, S for star."

"S for star," the students said in unison.

"S...s..." Kersey stood upright from the student desk and extended both arms in front of a chest with a smile and a nod.

Mrs. White turned and frowned at the first grader. "Kersey, we do not stutter our alphabets."

Kersey nodded with a smile. "Animals stutter the alphabet, Miss White."

Mrs. White shook her curls with a sour frown. "No, Kersey!"

Kersey nodded with a grin, "Yeah, ma'am! I was on the back porch with my little kitten when our big dog came running around the house corner. The kitty arched her back and went hiss, hiss and before she could say s...s...hit, my dog ate her."

The students sounded with a series of laughs and giggles, hearing the nasty word. All the mothers covered a set of parted lips of giggles with a hand, hearing the nasty word, too.

Mrs White frowned and slapped the wall with a hand while staring at Kersey, "It is lunchtime. Everyone stand up. It is time for lunch. Rosalina Burns, you are the first chair of the first line. Please stand up and move ahead towards the closed door, turn to your left and then march down towards the lunchroom for our lunch meal. Can one of the mothers open the door, please?"

One of the mothers stood up from the chair and moved sideways, stopping and stood in front of the door. She reached for the door knob. The classroom door opened. The mother moved ahead, standing inside the hallway, holding the door for the first graders.

Rosalina stopped printing the letter of S and placed the paper inside the notepad, closing the flap of the notebook, standing upright with a puzzled brow moving ahead through the open door with a confused brow, turning to her left, leading the way but not for long. Some of the students broke free from the semi-crooked line and ran down the hallway with a set of shouts and giggles. Rosalina continued to slowly march inside the pair of oversized cowgirl boots, stopping and standing behind Renita.

Mrs. White moved out the room and down the hallway with a yell, "Quiet, every student! Be quiet in here now!" She strolled ahead and slammed the lunchroom door with a hand, holding it open for each student. "Move inside and along the wall. Stand there and wait your turn to receive a plate of food. Be quiet! And don't forget to pray to Brother Jesus for your mid-day meal also!

At 11:01 am during the lunch meal, the first person in line was Kersey, scooting against the wall, making a set of vocal pig squealing sounds with annoyance until he received the first plate of hot food. He stopped the sounds, staring down at the food plate with a grin.

Rosalina stood in the hallway in line and slowly moved inside the new room, standing in a semi-crooked vertical line with the other little boys and girls from her class against the wall, smelling the good food which made her tummy growl. She moved around the wall corner and stopped to see a half-wall that exposed a row of silver tinted food trays that make the hallway smell good too.

The lunchroom worker grabbed and lifted an empty plate. Each empty plate moved across the big silver tinted trays of steaming food. Each lady stood in front of a big tray of food, reaching and scooping up a big spoon of each food entree. At the end of the line of food trays, a tall adult lady with a round skull cap handed down the tray to the next child in line.

Her tongue drooled with the good smells. Rosalina moved and stopped, lifting up both arms, grabbing the heavy tray with two hands and a smile, displaying an entrée of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, two separate vegetables, a roll, and a brownie. She slowly turned to face the open lunchroom of students, teachers, and rows of long eating tables.

Each eating table showed a row of individual metal chairs on both sides of the square wood.

Rosalina slowly moved forward with full tray and a smile of anticipation of the good food, stopping and stood in a second line of little boys and girls.

Each student stood in place and presented, handing a shiny silver tint object to the lady. The lady was perched top of a tall stool with a black metal box of money in front of her breasts, accepting the shiny silver tinted object from each student and placed it inside the metal box.

Rosalina moved and stood beside the lady, staring with a smile down the tray of good smelling food.

The lady turned with a smile and a nod to see the light brown colored hair roots of Rosalina, "Twenty-five cents, please."

Rosalina looked up with a confused brow to the strange lady, "Twenty-five cents?"

"The lunch tray costs twenty-five cents, please." The lady nodded with a smile, holding an empty palm into the face of Rosalina.

She frowned. "What is cents?"

The lady gasped and then smiled. "What's your name, child?"

"Rosalina Burns."

The lady looked down and read the sheet of paper with a nod. "O. You are a freebie."

She frowned, "A freebie?"

The lady reached out and gently patted the hair roots of Rosalina with a nod and a smile. "You eat your lunchroom meal free. You don't have to pay like Teague."

Teague heard the word exchange with curiosity, stopping and spun around with a sour frown and a sneer to see Rosalina and the lunch cashier. "She ain't gotta pay. Don't wanna pay too. Want my quarter back. Get me some candy at the store, today!"

The cashier turned and frowned at the nose profile of Teague. "No, you must pay, Teague. She does not have to pay." The cashier reached and shoved Teague from the cash box with a smile. "Move along, Teague and you, too, Rosalina."

Teague stood in place with a growl at the rear skull of the cashier, "Why I gotta pay?"

The cashier lady looked down with a nod and a grin to Teague. "You are a smart and rich, boy." Teague turned and frowned at Rosalina. "And she be a..."

The mother of Teague, Corene dashed and stopped, standing behind the back spine of Teague with a worried brow and a serious tone, saying to the nose profile of the cashier. She had also heard part of the tart conservation. "Here! Here! What's happening over here? Teague, move to a chair and start eating before it is time for play recess, honey. Rosalina, you have your plate of food, also. Why don't you follow behind Teague and find a seat, too, sweetheart?" She reached and gently touched the collar bone of Rosalina, shoving the young child toward the table, where all the first graders were sitting and eating the lunch meal.

Teague did not move, staring with a sour frown at the face of Rosalina.

Corene reached and touched the collar bone of Teague, spinning and shoved her son toward the same eating table, following behind his back spine with a fake smile.

Teague moved ahead to the same eating table with first graders with a sneer. "Why she don't gotta pay _that_ quarter like me, Mama?"

Corene leaned down over the hair roots of Teague with a whisper into his eardrum. "She does not have money to pay for the food."

He nodded with a laugh. "O. That means she's poor and dumb and ugly. Don't wanna play with poor and dumb and ugly girls! Naw! Not me! No way! Naw, sir! Naw, ma'am!" Teague stopped and scooted out the chair, sitting between his friend and his neighbor Eckward and Corene.

Rosalina moved ahead behind the back spine of Corene and stopped with a gasp, looking down at the big plate of food, smelling good to her nose holes, and looked up to see the table of first graders. There were not enough empty chairs at the eating table, since some of the mothers of the first graders were visiting on the first day of school. Birdie was at home, performing the chores of cleaning the house, wedding the garden, gathering the vegetable, picking the bugs from the cotton balls.

Rosalina exhaled with a puff of embarrassment and a whisper for her eardrums only. "I be poor and dumb and hungry." She turned and moved with a grin and a giggle to another empty table that was located behind the table of first grader, leaning down and placed the heavy plate of food over the table surface, sliding the chair out and sat inside the metal chair. She leaned over and dug into the food with both hands, because her mother was a bad cook.

The second grade class of students entered the lunch room, running and yelling down the side wall, and stood in a food line for the lunch meal, too.

Rosalina slowly spun around with a worried brow, accidentally spotting her older sister Bertha. Bertha was taller with good DNA genes and heavier with a set of inherited fatty cells than the second class and the third class students.

Rosalina swung around with a worried brow, grabbing and stuffing the food faster down a throat. If Bertha saw Rosalina, then her sister would steal and eat all of Rosalina's good food and her own too.

Rosalina chewed the lump of food with a grin as a cupped hand slapped down the collar bone of Rosalina. Rosalina coughed and gagged in shock, spitting out the used food on top of the table, missing the other uneaten food.

Bertha leaned over with a grin and a laugh, seeing the chunk of used food. "Ain't eat that. I gots me a brownie. One and two brownies..."

Rosalina reached out and slapped a hand over the fat hand on Bertha to save her brownie too late, swinging around with a sad face to see Bertha. Bertha lifted up and crammed the brownie from Rosalina into an open mouth, chewing with a set of open lips as the crumbs dropped down and painted the dirty floor. Rosalina turned and gagged to the side wall from the gross eyeball sight.

Bertha mouth spat food particles with a laugh, grabbing and pulling the food tray of Rosalina over the table surface until it hit air waves. Then the food tray slid off the table, dropping down dropped and landed with a crash over the dirty floor.

Bertha back stepped, mouth spitting the food particles of the brownie with a laugh, turning to face a wall of fat from Mrs. White.

Mrs. White looked down a sneer over the hair roots of the troublemaker, pointing down at the fallen tray of spilled food over the floor. "Rosalina Burns, get away from the table and that fallen food tray. Go and stand near the door. We are leaving now and wait for the rest of your classmates. Bertha Burns, pick up that tray, right now! Then you will stand right here and wait for the cleaning lady to clean the floor before there is a food accident. My word, what is wrong with you, child? Mrs. Indigo, please come over here and bring a mop and a broom. Second grader Bertha Burns will assist with the cleaning chores too."

Mrs. White smiled down at the hair roots of the Bertha. "Class, please leave your food tray for the cleanup crew and stand, forming a line behind Rosalina. Hurry. Hurry. Get up and form a line right now." The other first graders stood from the eating table, turning and run to stand behind Rosalina.

Eckward raced Teague and arrived first, standing behind the back spine and slapped the collar bone of Rosalina with a smile and a laugh, "Your sister's mean..."

Rosalina leaned a nose into the glass door that led down the hallway back to the first grade room, "Meaner than a rattler."

He laughed with a nod, "For shore."

Mrs. White back stepped from the butthole of Bertha, spinning around with a smile, strolling ahead and stopped, standing next to the nose profile of Rosalina, patting the collar bone of the child with a sour frown. "Class, march! Hup one, two, three! We go back to the first grade classroom. Hup, one, two, three!" The students marched in place with a set of giggles and claps to the musical voice of Mrs. White.

Mrs. White leaned over and opened the heavy door for the children, shoving Rosalina down the hallway, singing with a sour frown. "Class, march! Pick up your boots. Hup, one, two, three!"

Rosalina marched and then skipped with a grin and giggle with a full stomach, skipping down the empty hallway, leading the other first graders. She stopped and stood in front o f the closed door of the classroom.

One of the other mothers reached out and opened the door with a smile, holding it wide open for the children.

Rosalina led inside the classroom, turning and sat back down into her assigned student desk, lifting the pencil, sticking out her tongue, working on the letter of D.

The rest of the students entered the room with a set of giggles and grins, skipping back to an assigned student desk, sitting with much noise. All the mothers entered the room, sitting back down inside an assigned folding chair, turning with a set of whispers of gossip.

Mrs. White reentered the classroom last and stopped, standing behind the teacher desk with a sour frown, slapping her palm on the solid white colored wall for attention. "Now, it is time for a potty break. This means, that each row of student goes to the bathroom and washes your hands and then comes back here to your chair. After each student has finished in the bathroom, the entire class goes out and plays on the playground equipment. Stand up. I would like for the first row to go out the door first and use the bathroom. Go!"

Rosalina dropped the pencil down over the paper and stood with a smile and turned first, dashing with a wiggle side to side through the archway, down the short hallway, and into the Girl's Bathroom. She moved into the first bathroom stall, slamming the door shut.

The door locked automatically.

She stood in front of the toilet, pulling up the long dress. Rosalina didn't want any pee-pee on the dress, since it belonged to Bertha. Bertha would be checking for pee and shit on her clothes, because she threatened to beat Rosalina with a black eye socket, if the dress stunk like piss.

Rosalina turned and sat down on the toilet, exhaling with a puff of relieve. Her tummy was full of the good food. She needed to pee and shit.

The pee exited her asshole with ease.

She exhaled with a puff of frustration, wanting her own warm toilet seat at her home. This toilet was too slick and clean.

She sat, waiting on the shit turd to drop from her asshole. At home, her bathroom was quiet and heated from a small heater unit in the wall corner. The school bathroom was cold and damp.

And her shit turd didn't wanna leave its warm spot either.

Her eardrums heard the other voices from her class mates move out the stall and stomp out the cold bathroom.

She sat on the cold toilet seat and waited on the shit turd to drop down from her butthole.

Her eardrums heard a set of new voices enter the bathroom. Each toilet flashed with a sound of swish. Each voice giggled. Each foot step marched with a thud from the bathroom.

Rosalina felt the dump of the shit turd and the splash of the cool water on her butthole with a smile and stood, cleaning the dookie from the butthole. She dropped the toilet paper down into the toilet and her dress over a body, moving to the door and reached up and jerked on the handle.

The door did not open.

She yanked on the handle, again. The door did not open.

She used both hands on the single handle, again. The door did not open.

She turned with a distorted face to stare at the long shit turd inside the toilet, holding her nose. The shit turd was stinking up the bathroom stall. Rosalina turned around and yanked on the handle. The door did not open.

She exhaled with a puff of frustration, scanning the bathroom stall. The stall was against two walls and the metal wall. However, the door of the stall was not enclosed with a set of solid steel. Thank goodness. There was a big square hole at the bottom of the closed door.

She dropped down and crawled over the tile on her hands and boot toes, going underneath the hole and stood with a smile, strolling to the wash sink. She stopped and stood at the wash sink, washing and dried both hands from touching the dirty floor, turning and left the bathroom, moving back down the empty hallway, entering her classroom.

Rosalina returned back into classroom with a smile of relief and sat back into the assigned desk chair with a hum of happiness, after dumping her breakfast meal through the bodily functions, swinging around the paper notepad. She picked up the oversized pencil, practicing and writing the letter of B for her first grade class. The letter of B was most difficult with two set of rounded curves on the solid line.

One of the students ran into the class, running into the fat belly of Mrs. White and bounced back with a grunt. She pointed with a confused brow to the wall like it was the bathroom, "Uh, hum! The door is locked."

White looked down with a confused brow to see the hair roots of the first grader. "What door?"

"In bathroom, the door's locked. One of the kids' drowned." Renita frowned with a nod.

"O dear!" Mrs. White turned to face archway and dashed out the room, speeding down the hallway and into the bathroom for the emergency.

Rosalina hummed as the classroom students erupted with a series of shouts and laughter.

Mrs. White returned with a distorted face, marching back the teacher desk, stopping and stood, slapping the chalk board with a hand and a sour frown. "The emergency is solved. One of the doors automatically locked. But it is corrected. We will continue with our lesson for the morning."

Kersey stood from the chair and held both hand to a stomach with a sour frown. "I tired, not hunger."

Mrs. White turned and stared at the clock over the archway. "Yes, it is recess time. The new word recess means to play outside on the playground. Who will be the leader of the line outside to the playground?" All the hands rose for the honorable duty but one. She pointed to the hand. "Nash will be the leader and Cordellia will open the door for all the students. Please, come up front to accept your new roles." Nash stood and ran into the door with a giggle, back stepping as the leader. Cordellia slowly stood, moving ahead towards the closed door.

The classroom door opened. Mrs. White said with a sour frown, "Every student behind Nash. I will lead us towards the playground park. All the room mothers are to stay and clean up the mess that the children have left behind." She turned to face the archway and moved ahead with a sneer, exiting the classroom with a semi-crooked line of children.

Rosalina closed her paper notebook shut, dumping it and the pencil back into her crocheted bag. She stood and slid out from the desk, placing the bag over a body with a smile. The crocheted bag was a gift from her uncle Dickie for her sixth birthday present. He told Rosalina that she could bring it inside the school for holding the paper notebook and the lead pencil. Thus, Rosalina didn't want anything to happen to her crocheted bag of precious few possessions.

At 11:11 am during the recess time, Rosalina followed the other students within a semi-crooked line, moving down a lighted hallway toward the closed door.

The door opened.

She advanced outdoors into the bright sunshine and into a magical playground of individual pieces of tall and shiny equipment. She moved ahead to the swing set with a smile as each swing was occupied with another taller student. She turned and moved to the giant slide as each ladder was holding a set of other bigger students. And then Rosalina turned and moved to a row of see-saw which was also moving with other students.

She turned with a sour frown of disappointment, without playing on any of the equipment, moving ahead to the grove of tall trees. She found a tall over story tree without a student, turning and sitting on top of the bumpy tree roots, criss-crossing the legs. No one student would bother her on top of the ugly and bump tree roots with her privacy.

She pulled off the crocket bag which contained her only two possessions, her notepad and her oversized pencil. She placed the notepad on top of her kneecaps, humming and sticking out a tongue and practiced writing the capital letter B.

The building door opened.

The second grade classmates advanced through the door, scattering in screams, running to each piece of equipment too.

Rosalina looked up with a confused brow and a gasp to see the noise. Bertha was in the second grade and stopped near the open archway, searching for some trouble.

The building door closed.

Bertha was scanning the playground and found her sister Rosalina near the grove of tall trees, running toward the trees and Rosalina with an evil grin and a wicked laugh.

Rosalina gasped with fear, standing and moving around the trees, looking for a safer place as she continued to walk away from the teachers. The teachers sat in a row of chairs near the cool shade out from the sunshine underneath the rooftop, chatting and eating food. Rosalina found a tree with a V-shape inside the trunk, reaching and climbed into the tree, feeling safer. If one of the teachers looked in her direction, Rosalina would be punished for climbing the tree. Or Bertha would be punished for hitting on her sister Rosalina.

Rosalina stood upright inside the V-shape of the tree bark, hugging the tree with both arms, smelling the fresh leaves and the tree bark.

Bertha advanced to the grove of trees, looking up at the tree branches to find Rosalina and the new hiding spot.

At their home, there was too much work chores to perform. So Bertha could not hit on her sister without getting a beating from their mama. But here, at the new school, the teachers were too busy eating and laughing to notice a knuckle hit or two on Rosalina.

And Rosalina would not tattle either.

Bertha ran around the tree and halted with a laugh, slowly moving to the particular tree with a girl between the bark.

Rosalina stood and hugged the tree, kicking a boot toe and a sneer the hair roots of Bertha. "Go away."

Berth moved with a yell and a laugh to Rosalina. "Says, Betty, be gone."

"Naw," Rosalina kicked a boot toe at the air again with a yell, hugging the tree. Both girls could not fit into the indented tree trunk. Thus, Bertha would have to push Rosalina out of the tree before she could occupy it.

Berth stood with both her hands over a fat waist with a nod and a laugh. "Says it, Betty, be gone? Then I goes away..."

"Naw."

"What ya doing in that there tree, stupid girl? Are you really a bird-girl?" Kersey ran from the swing set with a giggle and a grin and stopped, standing beside Bertha with a confused brow to see Rosalina up inside the tree.

Bertha laughed. "Says it, Betty, be gone!"

"Naw," Rosalina kicked a boot toe in the air, missing the face of Bertha, again.

Kersey frowned at Rosalina, "That be your name, bird-girl?"

Bertha reached out and slapped the chest of Kersey with a laugh, "Yee, she be called, Betty, be gone!"

Kersey scratched his dirty hair with a confused brow. "I thought your name was Rosalina."

"She lies. Tells lies for food." Bertha nodded with a laugh at Rosalina.

"Naw!" Rosalina kicked a boot toe at the face of Bertha, missing again.

"Aw!" The sound echoed in the distance as the little girl screamed and fell down over the grass with a black eye.

The other children turned and ran to the commotion that was displayed in front of the doors, including Bertha and Kersey.

Rosalina wiped the sweat from a face with a sour frown, climbing down from the tree, slowly moving to a huddle of elementary children around the troublemakers and saw between the shuffling elbows a girl and a boy.

The boy was Teague Haywood from the first grade. The girl was Nadean Garland from the same class too.

The second grade teacher squatted down over the dirt and reached out, lifting and hugging first grader Nadean. Nadean didn't cry, reaching up and touched a wounded eyeball. The teacher turned and moved with Nadean toward the closed archway of the building.

The building door opened.

Nadean and the teacher moved inside the building alone.

The door closed behind a back spine of the teacher and first grader Nadean Garland.

Mrs. White swung to the other children with a sour frown and a hand wave plus a yell. "Recess is done. We are going back to the classroom. Now, get moving. Now, follow behind me." She turned and led to the door.

The door opened.

Mrs. White led into the building, marching down the hallway and turned, entering back into the classroom.

At 11:33 a.m., each first grade student slowly entered back the classroom and shuffled to the assigned student desk from the morning roll call.

Rosalina sat inside the first chair on the first row with a sad face, seeing Nadean and her black eye socket in front of the classroom.

The tall male with a head of black hair stood in front of the black chalk board, hugging the collar bone of Nadean, saying with a sour frown. "Students, there was an incident on the playground, a few minutes ago. This is your classmate Nadean Garland. The incident included a set of strange words. I would like to sing the strange words. Nadean, can we sing the words with me?"

She nodded in silence, holding a black colored eye socket without crying. He inhaled a big gulp of air and sung in harmony with Nadean. "Frère Jacques, frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong," he stopped the sing with a smile to see each face. "The song is traditionally translated into English. Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John, morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong," he smiled at the children. "Nadean can speak in the French language which seems to sound strange to a set of American eardrums. However, the children's song is entitled Frère Jacques. The song was composed in the country of France. Young mister Teague Haywood, please come up here and join us."

Teague slapped both hands on the empty desk surface with a sour frown at the tall adult male, "Did nothing."

Corene stood over and leaned down with a whisper and a sour frown into the hair roots of her son and then stood upright, scooting away from Teague and his student desk with a sour frown in silence.

Teague slid out the desk with a sour frown at Nadean, standing and marching in silence to the male, who was the principal of the school. He stopped and stood in front of the principal in silence with a worried brow. Teague had heard about the paddle and one of the vicious paddlings coming from Principal Holden from one of the other older brothers within his neighborhood. He did not believe that he would receive one so soon and in front of his mom Corene which meant another paddling from his dad Tyson, tonight, after suppertime as a bad kid at school.

The principal looked down with a sour frown at the angel blonde colored hair roots of Teague. "Young mister Haywood, please apologize to young Miss Garland for that nasty deed of hitting her face and making a black eye! Do you see her bruised face? Can you feel her arching pain?" Teague nodded in silence, looking at the black eye socket of Nadean. The principal exhaled with a huff of annoyance, since he had to show authority over the young son of Tyson Haywood. Or as the principal of the school, he would lose power within the eyeballs of the young impressible kids that would one day take over the numerous positions within the township of Brier. One first grader might actually graduate to become the future mayor of Brier. He said with a serious tone and a stern face. "You will apology to her."

Teague stared and hissed like a snake with a sour puss face at Nadean. "Sorry..."

He nodded with a smile at the hair roots of Teague. "Excellent! The fight is done. Now, you will go and stand inside the wall corner for ten minutes without studying the alphabets or going to the bathroom." The principal pointed the wall corner and shoved Nadean back down the aisle to her student desk. First graders were young and marked with a series of tiny black bruises and red skin cuts all the time. The youth healed overnight. Nadean would be fine in a day or two.

The principal would contact her father Urall and explain the situation. Urall was a mild gentleman. They both would agree that Nadean should stay in school for the rest of day.

The principal would ask Corene to take Nadean home while the two first graders sat inside the rear seat of her luxury sedan together, making a round of peace or war.

Teague stood upright and slumped forward his two collar bones and a chin down towards the floor, slowly turning around and moved ahead to the side wall. He stopped and stood upright inside the wall corner, lifting a cupped hand, twirling the manual hand lever on the wall-mounted pencil sharpener with a whisper. "She likes me." He smiled with a soft giggle.

03:05 p.m.

Hot temperatures with parted clouds of sunrays

Home of Birdie Burns

and daughters seven years old Bertha and six years old Rosalina

Schoolhouse Road location

Brier Elementary and High School sessions ended at three pm in the afternoon. All the students moved and loaded back into school bus until a parent picked up the child which was rear here in Brier. All the parents were working on the farm somewhere. Or the students were sixteen years old or higher and drove to the high school then back home.

The school bus stopped at the first house from the high school down the roadway.

The door opened.

Bertha stood from the plastic seat inside the school bus with a grin and a chuckle without moving, facing the rear skull of Glenwood.

Glenwood exhaled with a huff of annoyance at the young child, seeing the two girls inside the oversized reflection mirror that showed the rear of the bus for any sign of trouble. And it showed him trouble. He yelled from the driver's seat. "Bertha, move outta that seat and let your sister out for home."

Bertha sniggered and slid out into the aisle.

Rosalina turned and dashed down the empty aisle before Bertha could hit her back spine, running down the bus steps and into the house.

At 3:09 pm, the front door of the house opened.

Rosalina ran through the house with a smile and a nod from the first day of school to her mother Birdie, "Mama, lookie here, gots a star on here, lookie here on my paper."

Birdie sat inside the chair with a dark colored beverage, lifting and sipped on the glass with a sour frown. "Don't yell. I gots ears. What that?"

She smiled, "Gots a gold star on my thing! See?"

Birdie turned and stared out the open door, "Yee! Bertha?"

Bertha slowly moved inside the single room with a sour frown. "Here yee..."

"Get the water on the stove hot. Vegetables washed. Dump them in the pot for supper now. Get, now." Birdie frowned and gulped the drink, sitting inside the rocking chair in front of the television. The television played with a fanfare song of a new program.

"Yee ma'am," Bertha dropped the papers on the floor, turning and entering the kitchen without hesitation. She didn't wear a crocheted bag or perform any type of homework assignment. "My homework on the floor..."

Birdie pointed down at the floor with a sneer, "Pick that up, Rosalina! Go and pick out more vegeetables! Bertha, start fixing the cornbread!"

At 06:06 p.m. inside the kitchen setting with warm temperatures with bright sunlight, Bertha scooped up a ladle of hot stew of vegetables, dumping the food onto the plate and tore out a big piece of cooked cornbread, lifting the food plate and turned, moving out the kitchen, into the living room to Birdie and stopped. She handed the food plate to her mom.

Birdie sat inside the rocker in front of the standing tray, watching the television program with a new order and a sneer. "Get yee and her food and sit and eat, too."

Berth turned and entered the kitchen, preparing a food plate for her and Rosalina.

Rosalina moved and stopped, scooting out the chair at the old dining room table.

Birdie chewed the food, spitting out food particles over the plate and her hands, yelling at Rosalina with a sneer, "Naw! Not there at the table! There be stuff on the table. Ya gots eyeballs not?"

Rosalina shoved the chair back underneath the old and scratched dining room table with a soft timber, "Yee, ma'am. But we sit at school..."

"Hush!" Birdie watched the television with a sneer, "Can't hears the TV." She watched the television screen, chewing the food.

Rosalina turned and moved, sitting down over the cold hard wooden floor, blowing on the hot stew, spooning a large chunk of tomato and ate. She didn't like the vegetable stew but it was food. And her stomach was growling for food. However, Rosalina had loved the first day of elementary school, where she could learn new words, new sentences and performed new fun activities, besides gardening inside the dirt.

At 11:11 p.m. during the cool night air with bright stars and moonlight, Rosalina finished picking out more vegetables, placing them inside the basket in the kitchen for breakfast tomorrow. Then she pulled off the dirty clothes and bathed in the cold water, happily feeling the dirt and the bugs wash off a body.

She dressed in a torn and ripped flannel red and blue vertical stripped nightgown, another hand-me-down from Berth. It was too big on the body of petite and tiny Rosalina. However, Rosalina didn't care. The extra fabric kept her tiny body warm and safe during the night from the mosquitoes and the cold air conditioning unit inside the room.

The bedroom really belonged to her older sister Berth inside the two-bedroom shack of a residential house that was owned by Farmer Brown. However, Berth was scared of she-ghosts that lived inside the bedroom. So, Berth slept inside the same bed with her mom, so Rosalina always slept by alone in freedom and comfort.

She crawled into the bed with the ripped and torn blankets, arranging the pillows behind her back spine, grabbing the notepad. She stuck out and twisted her tongue around the lips, humming a new made-up song, printing the same words on the sheet of paper for the new second grade homework assignment for Berth.

I AM A GIRL

I LIKE DOGS

Second day of school

08:10 am

Brier Elementary School

First Grade Classroom with Mrs. White

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

The first grade students rode the correct school bus and returned back to the correct classroom with the assistance of room mothers and some of the older students for a second day of elementary school.

The school bell rang, beginning the school session for the second day.

Rosalina sat inside the assigned desk student with a grin of happiness, listening to the first grade teacher, dangling both legs over the hard seat.

Mrs. White faced the students with a nod and a croaky voice. "Today, you will start to read a set of words which are formed with the letters of the alphabet. Room mothers, I would like for you to grab a first grader reader and pair with two children in the wall corners or anywhere else inside the classroom and then start assisting the children with their very first reading lesson. Please, help the child sound out each letter to form the new word. And then correct the child, when the word is pronounced incorrectly. This is how they learn to read. You may start, now."

The mother of Teague, Corene stood from the chair and grabbed her portable metal chair and two reader books, moving ahead and stopped, standing beside her son Teague, leaning down and helped slide the two student desks of Eckward and Teague together in front of the metal chair. Eckward was a neighbor and the best friend of Teague. She sat down in the chair and placed a reader book in front of each child, leaning down and whispered into each face with a smile of the new word.

The rest of the mothers stood, grabbing a metal chair and two reader books, moving to their biological child and the friend of their biological child, sitting down in front of the two desks and assisted with the reading assignment.

The mother of Zeeta, Abby stood and grabbed her metal folding chair and a reader book from the book shelf, standing and stopping in front the desk surface of Zeeta, without pairing another desk with Zeeta. She sat inside the chair a smile and a nod, placing the reader in front of her daughter. "Okay, honey, this is the first word that you will learn to read. What is the first alphabetic letter?"

"S." Zeeta looked down with a smile to see the alphabetic letter.

Abby nodded with a grin, tapping on the first word inside the first grade reader. "Very good, honey, what does the letter 'S' sound like?"

Zeeta giggled with a grin and sounded like a snake, "Sss...like a snake."

"Very good, Zeeta, what is the second alphabetic letter next to the letter S that sounds like a snake?"

"E," Zeeta smiled.

"What does the letter E sound like?"

"Eeee..."

"Very good, Zeeta, now, please sound the letter S and the letter E together to form the word."

"Ssss...eeee..."

"What is that word, Zeeta?"

"Ssss...eeee..."

Abby exhaled with a puff of frustration. "Well, you are almost perfect. But, we want to be perfect here. The third alphabetic letter is 'E' too. So, what does the word say?"

"Ssss...eeee...eeee..."

Abby exhaled, again. "Well, that is sorta right. Say it again as one word and not the individual letters, Zeeta."

"Ssss...eeee....eeee..."

"Alright, try to say the letters closer together. What is that word?"

"Sss...eee...eee..."

Abby frowned. "Not quite there! Say the new reading word, Zeeta!"

Rosalina sat inside her student desk, writing the letter 'E' on the dotted line of the new piece of paper. The letter was really easy with the three straight lines on the alphabet, when she compared this letter to the other twenty-six.

Mrs. White moved from the teacher desk and strolled around with a sour frown and stopped, standing over the light brown colored hair roots of Rosalina, "Rosalina, put that away. We are not writing the alphabet, yet. You need to read, first. And you need a room mother." She turned and spotted Abby with her daughter Zeeta with a sour frown, reached and patting the collar bone of Rosalina. "Stand up, child." She swung around and moved to both Abby and Zeeta.

Rosalina stood and slid out from the desk, following behind the fat ass of Mrs. White with a giggle and a grin, without the notepad and the pencil.

Mrs. White stood with a sour frown and stopped, standing over the blonde colored hair roots of Abby. "Room mother, you only have one first grader. There are exactly twenty-four children and twelve room mothers which is an equal number of two. In case, you didn't complete your mathematical class here at Brier High. You must assist Rosalina with her reading assignment."

Abby turned with a fake smile to see skinny and dark-skinned Rosalina. "There are plenty other room mothers. I am teaching my daughter the basics, first. Pick another one, Mrs. White?"

Mrs. White sneered over the blonde hair roots of Abby. "Look around the class, room mother. Each room mother has two children. You have only one. Rosalina, stand here," she back stepped and grabbed, pulling a metal chair next to Abby, pointing down with a sour frown to the empty chair. "Sit, Rosalina!"

Rosalina scooted inside the chair with a grin, swinging a pair of oversized boot toes back and forth with boredom of the reading assignment in silence.

Mrs. White spun around, grabbing a reader book from the teacher desk, turning and handed it to Rosalina with a nod and a sour frown. "Now, Rosalina, you listen to the room mother. She will help you sound out each letter of the word while learning to read your very first lesson." She reached and patted the light brown colored hair roots of Rosalina with a smile, turning and moving back to her desk to study the next lesson of the day.

Abby exhaled with a puff of annoyance at the new order from Mrs. White, looking down at the reader book with a fake smile. "We will start from the beginning, since we must educate Rosalina, too, Zeeta. Zeeta will sound out the first word and then say it first. Then Rosalina will repeat exactly what Zeeta says. Do you understand me, Rosalina?"

Rosalina slapped the reader book down into a lap and opened the first page, looking down with a grin at the first word, "Yee, ma'am."

Abby exhaled with another puff of frustration in regard to the illiterate child.

The mother of Rosalina, Birdie was an alcoholic. The father of Rosalina had run away from his family and his house, leaving an abusive and mean Birdie with the two children. And Birdie had done a terrible job of raising her two biological children.

Her eldest daughter Bertha was a terror inside the school classroom, on the playground, and at the church grounds. The child had been sent home more times than in attendance at the local elementary school. Now, the baby daughter of Birdie, Rosalina was exhibiting the same hillbilly traits of an illiterate family unit within the rural farm town of Brier.

Abby turned with a fake smile to see the light brown hair roots of Rosalina. "The word to say is yes ma'am. Can you say that word to me, Rosalina?"

Rosalina looked up with a smile and a nod. "Yes ma'am."

Abby shook her curls with a fake smile and looked down at the reader book with a whisper. "I do declare that I will not make it through the rest of the day with that child," she looked up with a smile to see her daughter. "Zeeta, please sound out the first word for Rosalina, since she cannot read, but you can. Read to us, sweetheart?"

Rosalina stared down at the first word with a smile, enjoying the nice and personal attention from the pretty Abby. Her mom Birdie did not show her any personal attention, except when she needed the garden hoed out with weeds or the ripen vegetables picked for supper. The rest of the time at her home only included work chores.

Zeeta pressed a finger to the word, saying with a hiss and a giggle, "Ssss...eeee.... eeee..."

Abby exhaled with more frustration. "Well, you are almost perfect. But, we want to be perfect here. Well, that is sorta right. Say it again as one word and not the three individual letters, Zeeta! Alright! Try to say the letters closer together. What is that word?"

"See." Rosalina stared down with a grin and a giggle at the reader book.

Abby turned with a gasp and a puzzled brow to see hair roots of Rosalina. "What did you say, child?"

Rosalina looked up with a smile and a nod and then down to move a finger across the page. "The word is see. See Spot. See Dick. See Jane. See..."

Abby gasped with shock. "How did you know to read all those words?"

Rosalina looked up with a smile and a nod to Abby. "I sounded outta the letter to the wordy and practiced goody at my home. I reading, ma'am?"

"Not exactly!" Abby frowned at the pretty face of Rosalina.

"Reading is finished for the day. First grade is a very busy place. Please return each school desk back into the proper order and each student back into the proper desks." Mrs. White stood from the teacher desk with a sour frown.

Each student stood upright from the chair and scooted around the room as the room mothers helped rearrange the school furniture.

Third day of school

08:18 am

First Grade Classroom with of Mrs. White

Light rain and dark clouds with cool temperatures

All the academic students had arrived alive and on time for the third day of school. All the first graders had returned also and scooted out of a school bus or a parent vehicle, entering and parking a tiny fanny inside a student desk for the start of new academic day.

Mrs. White started the morning with the same reading assignment. Each room mother worked with the same two students from yesterday.

Abby sat inside the metal folding chair in front of her daughter Zeeta, pointing out at the next word in the first sentence inside the reader book with a smile. "Please sound out the word, Zeeta. Then say it really loud, so Rosalina can hear it too."

Zeeta looked down with a smile and pressed a finger down to the next word with a puzzled brow. "Dddd..."

"Yes, keep sounding out the next letter of the entire word, Zeeta."

"I...I...I..."

Abby smiled. "That is almost right. Say all the individual letters together again, Zeeta."

Zeeta smiled with a giggle. "Dddd...iiii..."

Rosalina sat inside a second metal chair at the nose profile of Abby, pressing a finger over each word, sounding out each new word inside the reader book with a smile, "See Dick. See Dick run. See Jane. See Jane run. Run, Jane run. See Baby. See Baby run. Run, Baby run. See Spot. See Spot..."

"Rosalina..." Abby turned and sneered down at the light brown colored hair roots of Rosalina.

Rosalina looked up with a smile to see Abby, "Yes ma'am."

Abby exhaled with a puff of annoyance, "Where did you learn to read?"

"I reading, ma'am?" Rosalina smiled with a set of crooked teeth.

She frowned. "No, you are not exactly reading. However, how are you able to sound out so many words and so fast, Rosalina? Your big sister Bertha cannot read and cannot sound out the words like that. And your mama Birdie cannot read or sound out the words like that either."

Rosalina smiled with a nod. "Bertha, she stolen a reader bookie from here and bringeth to my mama..."

Abby gasped and turned to see the teacher with a sour frown. "Mrs. White, come over here, please, right now. I want to report something to you." Rosalina looked down with a smile, moving a finger to each letter with a whisper, sounding out the next word of the new sentence.

Mrs. White looked up with a sour frown to see Abby. Abby was the extreme overprotected and oversensitive mother. However, Abby was not a good student during her years at Brier elementary school, since Mrs. White had taught the woman as an elementary child too. Mrs. White scooted back the chair, standing upright from the desk and moved ahead towards Abby, standing between Rosalina and Abby with a sneer. "What is it, Mrs. Trummer?"

Abby turned and jabbed a finger with a sour frown at the nose profile of Rosalina. "That child stole a reader book from here inside your first grade room, Mrs. White."

"Naw! She's holding her reader book from here, Mrs. Trummer." Mrs. White frowned.

Abby frowned with a puff. "I meant to say that her older Bertha stole a reader book from your first grade classroom, last year. You...you should punish Rosalina, since her older sister is in the second grade and cannot be punished. Rosalina should be released from school this year, today, right now..."

"Yes ma'am." Rosalina looked up with a puzzled brow to see the nose profile of Abby after hearing her name.

Abby slightly grinned, after evaluating each first grade girl. She had found Renita was very smart like her parents. And Rosalina was very smart and very cute unlike her mother Birdie. However, within the world of competition, both smarts and beauty counted towards a good job and a good husband. Abby intended to eliminate all the young girls that were both smarter and prettier than her daughter Zeeta, staring today right now.

Mrs. White turned with a smirk to see the first grader. "Naw! This is a place of learning. Are you learning to read the new words, Zeeta?" Zeeta bounced up and down inside the metal chair with a smile and a giggle.

Her mother Abby turned and smiled at her daughter with a nod. "Of course, read out loud the first word to Mrs. White, your first grade teacher, Zeeta."

Zeeta pressed a finger down to the first word of the first sentence saying with a hiss and a giggle. "Ssss...eeee...eeee..."

"See! The first word is see. See Spot. See Dick. See Jane," Rosalina looked down with a grin, pressing a finger over each word that she read perfectly out loud to all eardrums.

Mrs. White turned and gasped down at the brown hair roots of Rosalina, "Where did you learn to read a book?"

Rosalina looked up with a smile to see Mrs. White, "From that bookie that Bertha bringeth home from here, last year."

Abby looked up with a grin to see the double chin of the first grade teacher Mrs. White, "Exactly!"

"Excellent!" Mrs. White softly clapped with a smile and a nod.

Abby gasped. "Why do you approve of stealing, Mrs. White?"

Mrs. White nodded with a smile at Abby. "I approve of any child expanding their young mind. Rosalina, stand up! You will sit with me while I instruct you with more new reading words with the first grade reader. You are reading each word very clearly and very precise. Well, we might have to start you on the second grader reader at the first of the year." Rosalina stood with a smile and a nod to see Mrs. White, holding the reader.

Abby gasped with a sour frown at the double chin of Mrs. White, "But she is..."

"...very smart. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Abby!" Mrs. White reached down and patted the light brown hair roots of Rosalina with a smile, reaching out and grabbed the folding metal chair, dragging it to the teacher desk. "Sit here, Rosalina! Come and read the rest of the first page. Let us see how far you can go without my instruction."

Rosalina moved ahead and sat down inside the chair, looking down with a smile, reading out loud the next sentence for Mrs. White.

Abby exhaled with a puff of annoyance, swinging around and pressed a fingernail down at the first work inside the reader book for her daughter Zeeta. "Please, say this word, see!"

Zeeta looked down a smile at the reader book and said out loud with a giggle. "Please, say this word, see!" Abby moaned for her eardrums only.
Eight years old Rosalina

8:02 am

Fourth week within the month of September

Monday morning

Warm temperatures with clouds of sunshine

Brier Elementary School

Third Grade Classroom with teacher Mrs. Black

Inside the classroom of a new school day in third grade, Rosalina sat inside the first row of class, reading a book, enjoying the adventure of the horse and the girl. She had passed into the third grade from the second grade with a set of outstanding grades unlike her older sister Bertha. Currently, within the third classroom assignments, each student was being challenged to read a book every week. Rosalina had surpassed the standard quota. She was reading three new books per week, enjoying the new stories.

The third grade teacher Mrs. Black enjoyed pacing back and forth in front of the black chalk board, instead of sitting all day long at her teacher desk. She was a very tall, slender, ugly female with a ton of light brown freckles over a tone of white skin. She stopped and stood in front of the new third grade class with a smile. All the new students were both vivid and livid group of children. "Attention, students." She turned and viewed the clock over the archway. "It is almost time to end school."

The students sounded with a series of claps and cheers.

She turned with a smile and a nod to the students. "Quiet, please. Tomorrow, it is picture day for the annual yearbook of Brier Elementary and High School. Now, everyone will wear their Sunday school best to school, tomorrow. You want to look good for the school photographer, since your picture will be taken and presented inside the annual yearbook at Brier High School."

Zeeta smiled with a nod. "Can I wear my fanciest dress, Miss Black?"

Black nodded with a smile. "Yes. Please, dress in your prettiest clothing for your picture day."

"Can I wear my gun belt, Miss Black?" Kersey yelled with a grin.

"No, Kersey! You will leave the gun belt at home. Or I'll be calling your mama and your daddy."

"Don't call my daddy!" He whined with a sissy tone.

"Then you will not return to school tomorrow with a gun belt."

Renita smiled with a nod. "Can I wear my new shoes, Miss Black?"

"Yes. I would suggest that every student come extra pretty for school, tomorrow..."

"Boys don't come in pretty." Teague growled.

Black turned and smiled to Teague. "Boys will come in handsomeness. How's that, Teague?"

Rosalina dropped the book, turning with a puzzled brow to see her classmates. All the boys wore a pair of blue jean and a white or colored cotton short sleeveless shirt. All the girls wore a colorful dress. She reached down and touched the slightly permanently stained on the mended pink and white paisley dress that really belonged to Bertha first.

Actually, Rosalina had three dresses which all belonged to Bertha that she had been wearing since first grade. She didn't grow much during the summertime days and the dresses were oversized on her tiny body. But her feet were growing long and skinnier. Now, her pair of cowgirl boots only required one pair of socks, instead of two.

Bertha did all the eating and all the growing within the Burn household. She was tall at five feet in the fourth grade and weighed over hundred pounds. Bertha could beat up all the fifth and six grade boys like she had done on yesterday. Today, Berth was at home with her mother Birdie, hoeing the weeds from the food garden to keep the fresh vegetables growing.

The bell rang for the end of school session for the day.

Rosalina reached down and grabbed the dirty crocheted bag that was heavy with more new reading books, the paper notebook, and the stack of number two pencils, standing upright from the chair and turned, moving through the archway with the rest of the elementary school for the appropriate school buses.

She entered the bus with the other students, selecting and sat inside a plastic seat alone. Rosalina was the first student to be picked up for school and the last student to be dropped off for the afternoon.

The bus left the school, moving down the single street from the school and stopped at the first residential house of Birdie burns.

The school bus moved in an eastern direction down Brier Road in the one-way traffic. The mayor of Brier had decided that traffic of buses and cars flowed in one direction before the beginning of school and at the end of school session to avoid a single or multiple car accidents, especially coming from the sixteen years driving high school students.

The school bus stopped. The door opened.

03:07 p.m.

Home of Birdie Burns

Gravel driveway and weedy front lawn setting

Hot temperatures and partly cloudy

Rosalina stood upright from the seat and moved from the plastic bench, waving with a hand in silence to bus driver Mr. Fairfield and slowly stepped off the bus. She skipped over the tall green and brown colored weeds and the gravel driveway toward the front porch of her home.

The door opened.

She entered with a determined face, turning to the side book shelf and stopped, examining the few framed photographs with a confused brow. "Mama, where's a picture of me from my school in the first grade?"

Her mother Birdie rocked inside the chair, watching the television program, drinking the dark beverage with a sneer. "Don't have."

Rosalina reached and touched the two pictures frames which were Christmas gifts from her uncle Dickie, last year. However, the two frames contained the pictures of Berth in the first grade and the second grade. "I see the pictures of Bertha. Where are my pictures?" Uncle Dickie had given Rosalina the money to purchase the school picture package. During the night of peaceful slumber, Bertha had robbed Rosalina of the funding to purchase only one set of school pictures of ugly self.

Birdie continued to rock inside the chair, watching the television program, sipping on the beverage. "Don't have."

Rosalina exhaled, "Why not?"

Birdie continued to rock inside the chair, watching the television program and yelled in fury at Rosalina, "Out in the garden, now. Need to eat supper, now."

"Yes ma'am." Rosalina spun around with a stern face and ran into her private bedroom, changing out of one of three good school dresses, wearing an older and torn long garment and swung around to face the open archway. She moved through the bedroom archway and turned, running out the back door and stopped.

At 03:13 pm, inside the outdoor vegetable garden setting, older sister Bertha was sweaty and slumped over with the hoe, digging out the weeds so the new seedlings would grow big and tall for food. She wore an old hat without a pair of gloves. Her face was red colored from the bright sun and dirty from the red dirt. Her hands were bloody and calloused from digging into the hard dirt.

Rosalina didn't bother greeting her sister. She could tell that Bertha was heated and angry for missing school, working inside the garden weeds and food the entire day.

Rosalina turned and ran to the old plastic bucket, grabbing and lifted, toting it and stood in front of the row of grown vegetables. She squatted and examined each tomato, picking only the red ripen fruit. She dug with a hand into the soil, pulling out a stack of carrots, a few potatoes, and two handfuls of green beans from the vine for supper.

Bertha dropped the hoe and squatted, pulling off the ripen ears of corn.

Rosalina filled the bucket with the dirty vegetables for supper up to the rim, standing and leaned over with a sigh, lifting it with a grunt from the flat ground. She slowly turned around and moved into the house with thanks that the little shack of a house stood on level ground. She could not march up a flight of stairs with the heavy bucket.

She moved over the dirty wooden floor in a pair of dirty cowgirl boots which was okay, since Berth had to clean the floor before bed time and after supper time.

At 04:14 p.m. inside the kitchen setting with outside heated temperatures and bright sunshine, Rosalina bumped the bucket into the table leg and the wall, standing it down on the floor with a huff. She was too short and too young to dump all the raw fresh vegetables into the boiling hot water on the stove top. Her job was to scrub and wash off the dirt and the ants from the vegetables. She kneeled over a new bucket of cold water, picking out the tomato, gently scrubbing the dirt from the outer skin and placed it on top of the counter beside her elbow, working on the next vegetable.

Berth entered the kitchen, smelling like horse shit, since she had to clean out the horse stalls to collect money for the month rental house from Farmer Brown. This was one reason that Berth had missed so much school. She stopped beside Rosalina without causing a knuckle injury, gathering all the washed vegetables, sidestepping to the low side table with a dull knife. She lifted the knife and chopped up the vegetables into extra large chunks based on her girly fourth grade culinary skills with a pair of large and fat hands. Then she gathered all the chopped vegetable into her dirty arms, back stepping and turn, dropping them into the hot water. Actually, she turned and tossed each chunk of vegetable into the water as the water slapped the stove, the floor, and the wall. Rosalina was kneeling safely out of target range, scrubbing the remaining vegetables for suppertime, tomorrow night. Bertha started the meal, tossing in the vegetable chunks, placing a lid over the big pot.

During the cooking of the vegetables for supper, Bertha wiped both hands over the dirty dress and back stepped from the stove oven, turning and moved into to the living room, stopping and stood in front of the dining room with a sneer and a yell to her sister. "In here, yee. Do the chickens."

Rosalina stood with a puff, wiping off the dirty hands, back stepping and turned, dashing from the kitchen and stopped, standing in rear of the another ancient and scratched up mismatched dining room chair. She pulled the chair out, sitting on top of both kneecaps, reaching out and grabbed one of the wet sawed in half corn cobs that was soaking inside a pan of fresh water. She reached out and grabbed a painted single toothpick of blue, stabbing at an angle into the side of the half and wet corn cob, creating a silly arm. But the corn cob was being decorated as a silly turkey. She reached out and grabbed a second painted single toothpick of red, stabbing at an angle on the opposite side of first toothpick of blue. Then she gently placed the on top of a long board for the next step.

Bertha sat inside the chair at the same dining table a few feet from Rosalina, reaching over and grabbed the newly constructed corn cob, lifting it up and down in front her chest, stabbing a single bird feather into the top of the wet corn cob, finishing up the turkey design.

The corn cob was a seed from Indian corn that was decorated in black and yellow kernels all over the body of the cob, making it look funny and weird.

The girls worked on the assembling the corn cobs until the steam was drifting from the kitchen meaning that all cooked vegetables were ready for consumption.

Bertha scooted from the chair and dashed into the kitchen, stopping and stood in front of the hot stove oven, pulling off the boiling pot of cooked vegetables onto the cool side of the stove top with a set of thick washing towels. She lifted the heavy lid, preparing three plates of steaming vegetables with a large piece of cornbread for the evening meal.

Rosalina ate all the vegetables on her plate and burped out loud with a giggle, standing upright from the chair and turned around, moving ahead towards the wash sink inside the kitchen space. Bertha would work washing and cleaning out all the dirty cooking pots and all the dirty dishes, since Rosalina was too young to handle the wet and heavy items.

At 10:10 p.m. during the cold temperatures and moonlight with bright stars, Rosalina back stepped with a smile and a full stomach, swinging around, dashing into her private bedroom for a nighttime bath. She bathed and changed into the oversized and ratty but warm nightgown, yawning from her day at school, the hard work inside the garden and a full tummy.

She ran ahead and stopped, standing in front of the open wardrobe closet with a set of three long dresses. All the oversized dresses came down over the top of her oversized cowgirl boots that once had fit her older sister Bertha.

Each dress was a different color but the same dizzy paisley fabric with one of pink, red, and white, a second one of dark blue and black and white, and a third one of tan, brown, and white.

Rosalina reached out and touched the tan, brown, and white paisley dress which matched her scuffed and old brown and tan cowgirl boots. She nodded with a smile, selecting that dress for the annual classroom picture day the school for tomorrow, back stepping and turned, running and jumped into bed.

She reached over the grabbed the bed covers, cuddling it underneath her chin, twisting to the side and grabbed the notepad of paper with the homework assignment. She multiplied all the numbers, counting them with both hands and inside her mind writing down the math solution for the fourth grade homework assignment of her older sister Bertha.

12 X 32 = 384

Tuesday morning

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

08:08 a.m.

Third Grade Classroom with teacher Mrs. Black

Rosalina moved away from the school bus, rushing through the crowd of elementary students with smile, entering the third grade classroom and stopped, sliding down into her assigned student desk. She sat inside the far row near the glass windows and the sunshine during the day inside the first desk which was sorta at the end of the teacher's desk. She was not the teacher's pet.

She scooted out and stood upright from the seat, moving ahead, stopping and standing in front of the wall of book shelves. There were sixty-three old and new reading books that each third grader could read before graduating from the third grade. She reached out with a smile and picked out a new book cover with a white wolf and a young boy.

The other students were scattered inside the first three rows based on height of foreheads to see the educational information on the blackboard.

Mrs. Black liked to stand and pace back and forth in front of the long and wide black board, waving both hands when she lectured about each academic topic.

Rosalina returned back to the seat with the book and placed the book and the dirty crocheted shoulder handbag underneath the cubby hole of the student desk.

The classroom door was always opened until all the students entered and sat down inside the classroom.

Zeeta strolled through the door and stopped, standing in the middle of the room before the beginning of school session. The rest of the third grade girls entered the room or rose from a student desk, rushing to stand around Zeeta.

Renita stopped and stood next to Zeeta, reaching out and touched the dress with a smile. "Uoo! Your dress is so soft and pretty in dark, dark red."

Prebble stopped and stood at the nose profile of Zeeta with a smile. "Look at Zeeta's dress. It has a white animal fur like a kitty-cat on her dress."

Teague stood from the student desk and rushed ahead with a smile, scooting around, standing behind the back spine of Zeeta with a grin and a giggle, reaching out and patted the fabric of the dress. "O! It feels like a bunny rabbit that my coon dog caught last spring."

Zeeta swayed side to side, touching the edges of her dress with a smile and a nod. "It is vel-teen-teen. And it has real live fur around my neck and the sleeves of my pretty dress."

Eckward stood upright from the chair and rushed ahead, standing beside his buddy Teague and reached out, touching the dress of Zeeta with a confused brow. "What furry animal?

Zeeta looked down with a puzzled brow, touching the bow that was made of white animal fur, "Uh!"

Teague pointed at the white girly bow on the dress with a smile. "That's rabbit fur, I can tell."

Zeeta turned and sneered at the nose profile of Teague, "No, it ain't."

Teague leaned down into her face with a smile. "Bunny rabbits are pretty and soft like you and your dress." He stood upright with a chuckle and a wink to cute Zeeta.

Zeeta swayed side to side, holding the edges of the velveteen dress with a smile, "Yeah, I'm sweet and soft like a bunny rabbit, too."

Eckward frowned at the nose profile of Zeeta, rubbing the belt. "So, what for? I got a leather belt, soft and sweet like a moo cow."

Renita swayed side to side with a smile and a giggle within the loose circle of students. "Look at my dress! It's shaped like a church bell. I call it my ding-dong dress. It is colored in red and white lines, going around my dress. And there is another itchy dress underneath it making it stuff out like...like a bell. This is my ding-dong dress." She swayed side to side as the dress tilted side to side like a bell motion.

Flossie reached up and tugged on the object near the throat with a grin and a giggle. "My dress has real lace from the queen in England. That's where my dress came from the country of England too."

"My dress has lots and lots of soft and pretty bows." Prebble tapped on the dress with a smile and a giggle, swaying side to side like Zeeta.

"My dress has colored ribbons like in my hair, too." Cordellia reached up and touched each ribbon on the dress and in her hair with a smile and a giggle.

Rosalina sat inside the student desk and reached down underneath the desk top, touching the old dress with a whisper for her eardrums only. "My dress has a set of non-matching colored patches." She rubbed the new patch that covered a torn and repaired piece on the dress, staring down at the book with a stern face.

Mrs. Black entered the room and stopped, standing the back spine of Zeeta, shoving the child toward the row of desks with a smile and a nod to the other students. "Everyone, please sit down! We are waiting for our turn to see the photographer and take the annual school day picture. I would like all the students to pull out your assigned book and start reading in silence, please." She spun around and occupied the teacher desk, sitting down, looking up to see each student then writing on the paper in silence.

Thirty minutes later, the classroom door opened.

A high school student appeared inside the open archway with a smile and a nod to the teacher, scanning the room of students. "Mrs. Black, the photographer is ready for your class. Please, follow me." She back stepped from the archway, swinging around and stopped a few inches from the open archway, waiting on the students.

Mrs. Black stood with a smile and a clap to see the students, "Alright! It is our turn for picture day. Please, stand up and form a nice neat line starting with the first row and the first chair which is Renita. You will follow the high school student, who stands inside the hallway. She will lead us to the photographer who is located inside the gymnasiums for an individual school picture..."

"Can I pose with my eyeballs slanted to the side like a movie starlet?" Zeeta batted her eyelashes at the teacher with a smile.

"No." Mrs. Black frowned.

"Can I pose with my eyeballs closed?" Kersey laughed with a clap.

"No." Mrs. Black frowned.

"Can I pose with my dolly, Mrs. Black?" Sondra lifted the toy doll with a smile to the teacher as the girls smiled.

"No." Mrs. Black frowned.

"Can I pose with my gun, Mrs. Black?" Nash lifted the hand gun near a sneer to the teacher as the boys clapped and cheered.

She gasped at the gun. "Is that real, Nash?"

He smiled and aimed the barrel at the black board for fun. "No, it's fake."

Mrs. Black exhaled. "There will be no eyeballs closed or slanted. There will be no objects near your face. Please, sit and march out the classroom and follow the high school student into the gym, now. Stand up, Renita! Get moving, class! I will be behind the last student and watching each one of you."

All the students stood upright from the desks and marched ahead in a semi-crooked line out the classroom, through the hallway, and out from the elementary building with a set of loud boot stomps and a shouts of louder voices. The high school student moved into the side door of the gymnasium, marching ahead, climbing a short staircase and stopped. She turned around, lifting a finger to her lips. "Sh! You must be quiet in here for the photographer." She reached down and tapped Renita on the collar bone with a smile and a nod. "You are the next girl in line for the next photo. The photographer will motion with a hand and then you sit on top of the short stool. Look at the camera and smile. It will take a few seconds or less." The high school student spun around, moving across the stage, leaving the third graders.

Picture day was always held inside the gymnasium on top of the platform stage for each school student. The stage was used for nothing else but holding the rows of high school football players during the pep rally each Friday afternoon. The stage was made of dark wood, coming from the ceiling, down to the floor, and around each wall. In the middle of the stage, the photographer had decorated a white sheet on the rear wall and placed a short tan-colored bar stool over another white linen bed sheet on the floor, covering up the dark wood, so each photograph would like the same within the background, except for the individual child.

Each girl fluffed a set of hair strands with a hand and a hair brush and pinched a pair of cheekbones for the pinky-pink color for a nice school picture day.

Rosalina stood upright top of the gymnasium floor, swaying side to side, watching the action in silence. Her personal comb was located at home along with her personal toothbrush. She didn't want to touch her face with a pair of dirty hands.

The photographer sat on top of a short stool too with a black camera on top of a three-legged tripod, turning with a smile and a hand motion to Renita. "Come on, dear. Sit on the stool and smile at the lenses of the camera for me."

Renita pranced over the stage and tripped over the white sheet on the floor, recovering beautifully with a snigger. The other girls laughed at her back spine, standing on top of the short staircase, waiting a turn for a pose and a snapshot. Renita ignored the girly sniggers and moved ahead, stopping and sat down on the short stool, crossing her legs and her hands with a great big smile.

"Good girl, you are pretty." The photographed looked down to see the camera lenses with the child and hid a face behind a black blanket, snapping the picture, "Done! Please, move away from the stool and go down the opposite stairs on the stage."

Renita nodded with a smile at the nice photographer and stood, turning and skipped across the rest of the long stage, climbing down the stairs and saw Mrs. Black. The teacher pointed to the middle row of the gymnasium bleachers without speaking. Renita turned with a sour frown and climbed the bleachers, stopping and sat, waiting for the rest of the class to finish the picture day session and fidgeted side to side with boredom and impatience.

Each third grade girl copied the cute sitting pose of Renita, sitting and crossing both arms in front of the dress and touched the kneecaps and then crossed the legs, smiling into the camera. The photographer snapped the picture and then the girl stood and left the stage with a smile.

The photographer turned and smiled at the next girl. "Come on, dear. Sit down for your picture."

Zeeta slowly moved over the stage and stopped, lifting both shoes to avoid the wrinkled bed linen sheet on the floor, slowly strolling ahead and sat down on top of the short stool with a big smile.

The school desk of Zeeta stood in front of the teacher's desk, since she was the teacher's pet. Anything that the teacher wanted done, Zeeta would do, such like, delivery a folder to the office of the assistance principal, fetch a beverage for the teacher, bring an apple to the teacher, bring a vase of small wildflowers to the teacher, clean the black board with the used homework assignments, clean the white tinted chalked-coated black colored erasers, fetch a snack for the teacher and any other silly task. Zeeta was a good student but not the brightest within the third grade class.

Sondra was the smartest student of all the third graders like her older sisters.

When the rows of students stood for picture day and turned, Zeeta was standing in front of Rosalina. The rows were not altered during the march coming out from the classroom and down into the gymnasium. So, Rosalina was the last girl in line for the next photo shoot about Zeeta.

Rosalina climbed up and stood on the top staircase step. The vertical row of students behind her back spine was the taller and meaner boys of the third grade.

Eckward sat in the first chair of the second row beside his buddy Teague. Next to Teague, there was his buddy Brock.

The group of boys slapped each other's body parts for fun and annoyance, shifting side to side with the line, hitting each wall or the floor. Sometimes, a body would end face down on top of the floor coming from the rough horseplay like third grader Finnis.

Nash stood in the line and reached out, shoving Finnis yet again. Finnis ran into the back spine of Nash. Nash ran into the back spine of Kersey. Kersey fell forward, landing on top of a pile of Brock, Teague, and Eckward with a series of smiles and chuckles.

Rosalina was hit again on a back spine during the play fighting and moved forward onto the flat stage, standing away from the group of rowdy boys.

"Sit down at the stool, so I can take your picture, dear." The photographer smiled behind the camera lenses.

Zeeta walked around the stool, looking at the hard seat with a sour frown. "Can I have a pillow? The seat is too hard for me."

The photographer frowned at her back spine. "No! Please, sit down on the stool, so I can take your school picture." Zeeta turned and sat down on top of the hard seat, stretching out both arms in front of the dress and over the kneecaps. Both legs were crossed and as she smiled into the camera lenses. The photographer snapped the picture with a smile. "Good! You are very pretty..."

"I closed my eyes." Zeeta batted her eyelashes with a big grin. "Please, retake a new picture of me."

The photographer faked a smile, turning to find the grade teacher, who was not present with the lump of children on the short staircase. "You..."

"Please, I closed my eyes. Please, take around school picture for my mama." Zeeta batted her eyelashes with a smile.

He turned and frowned at Zeeta. "One more picture." He leaned down into the camera lenses to see the girl and then snapped the photograph, looking up with a fake smile. "Good! You can..."

She pouted her lips with a sad face and a sweet twang, "I covered up my new dress. Please, take another picture, sir."

He frowned. "No, please!"

"Please for my mama." Zeeta batted her eyelashes with a smile.

He exhaled. "This is the last picture, little girl."

Zeeta turned and sat down on top of the hard seat, stretching out both arms in front of the dress and over the kneecaps. Both legs were crossed and lifted from the white sheet, and as she smiled into the camera lenses. "I am..." She tilted toward the side, creating an out of balance pose, flying off the small seat, dropping sideways off the hard chair and landed onto the hard wooden floor with a yell. She settled on the side of her body in silence.

The photographer gasped in shock and stood upright from the camera equipment with a worried brow. "Are you okay, little girl?"

"I want my mommie." Zeeta rolled upright, sitting an ass on top of the white sheet and wailed with a set of tears.

The other high school students ran over the stage and stopped, moving the stool from the fallen little girl, standing upright and around Zeeta in shock.

Mrs. Black stomped up the staircase with a sour frown. "Zeeta dear, you are fine. It was a little fall from a short stool." She stopped and squatted, helping the child to stand, patting the pretend dirt off the nice dress with a fake smile. "See here? You and your dress are fine."

"I want my mommie." Zeeta wailed with tears again, wiping off a wet and red colored face.

Eckward clapped with a laugh at Zeeta. "Get off the stage, now, Zeeta! You had your turn on school picture day. I hope the man with the camera caught you falling down on your as...."

"As I was saying, Zeeta, it was a short stool and a short fall over the floor." Mrs. Black stood upright with a sour frown, holding onto the collar bone of Zeeta. Zeeta continued to wail and wipe off the tears of pain.

Teague leaned over and growled into the eardrum of Eckward, "Be nice, boy!" He forcefully shoved at the back spine of Eckward. Eckward sailed forward into the back spine of Rosalina.

Rosalina stumbled forward with a gasp, missing the layout of numerous pieces of camera equipment behind the back spine of the photographer and twisted to the side, slamming into an empty wall of wood with a grunt. She slowly stood upright from the floor with a set of heavy breathing coming from a major accident that might have involved her blood and her nose bridge.

Mrs. Black moved ahead and led Zeeta across the stage platform and down the opposite stairs. The high school students worked to replace the short stool and straightened the white linen sheet for the next picture, standing and turned, dashing across the stage and out of the way of the photographer.

Rosalina back stepped from the solid wall, turning to the side and dashed ahead, running behind the back spine of the photographer and the group of high school students, swiftly marching down the short stairs and stopped. The other high school students had been scattered around the set of sitting bleachers while watching the seated students of girls for each teacher.

Mrs. Black moved ahead toward the lobby space and left the gymnasium, since the third grader class would be overseen by the group of high school students that were assisting the photographer.

The photographer turned and smiled at the next student. "Come on, dear. Sit down for your picture."

Eckward stomped across the stage with a sour frown and a matching tone. "I'm a man."

The photographer frowned at the lump of boys on top of the staircase, "Where? I thought there. Will then? Please, sit on the stool for picture day."

Rosalina ran down the stairs and stopped in front of the open archway that led down into the football field. The sun was shining. The wind was mild. The day was pretty. She exhaled with a puff of annoyance, turning without crying or shouting and slowly strolled to the bleaches. She stopped and turned, sitting down on the bottom row, staying away from the lump of whiny girls.

Each girl was gossiping with a series of laughs and smiles to each other on top of the upper bleachers.

"He called me, pretty."

"He called me, very pretty."

"He called me, cute."

"He called..."
Ten years old Rosalina

Second week within the month of September

Humid and hot temperatures with bright sunshine

01:01 p.m.

Brier Middle School

Fifth Grade Class with teacher Mrs. Hobson

The fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Hobson smiled with a nod to the class. "PE, the letters stand for physical education. So, we are leaving the classroom and wandering down the hallway quietly. Then, we will wander through the front doors of the elementary school quietly. Then we will wander over the pavement and down into the baseball field. Please stand. Renita, you are closest to the door. Please lead the first row of students quietly out the classroom, down the hallway, and toward the exit doors of the school. Norbert, please leave the line and run ahead, holding open the classroom door. Bobcat, please leave the line and run ahead, shoving the large exterior door open for all your classmates. Go, Renita!"

Renita stood and turned with a smile, skipping toward closed door of the classroom.

Norbert scooted around Renita, grabbing and opened the door, holding a body against the wood, slapping a hand into each student with a grin and a snigger.

Rosalina had learned a new word in school today. The two letters were said together as PE, standing for physical education. She stood and scooted out of the student desk, moving toward the door. Norbert slapped a hand on the top of her shoulder. Rosalina ignored the silly slap and the minor pain, turning and marched down the hallway with a blank face.

Norbert reached out and continued to slap a hand over each shoulder of each classmate.

When Bobcat passed Norbert, he reached out and punched a fist with a sneer into the guts of Norbert.

Norbert lifted and held both hands over the stomach with a grunt of shock.

When Teague passed by Norbert, he reached out and punched a fist with a hiss into the guts of Norbert also with grin and a laugh.

Norbert lifted and held both hands over the stomach attack again with a grunt of shock, scooting a body and stood near the edge of the door, holding the exterior knob. He hid behind the big door from the taller male classmates with a sour frown.

Mrs. Hobson moved last from the room, shoving and turned Norbert toward the rear of the semi-crooked line with a smile of amusement.

The line of fifth graders moved down the hallway in loud stomps and vocal shouts, exiting out the building with a set of louder foot stomps and voice shouts, heading toward the baseball field.

Rosalina followed behind the lump of a rowdy group of back spines of each classmate, leaving a clean sterile environment, stomping into a dusty dirty red clay plot on the opposite end of the paved parking lot, where a row of parked cars rested in the hot sun, coming from all the high school driving students.

There was a pretend baseball field that was decorated in red clay dirt with a set of four dirty tiny sofa cushions. The sofa cushions represented first base, second base, third base, and the home base of the pretend baseball game.

At 01:17 p.m. outside the classroom on top of the red clay dirt baseball field in the warm sunny temperatures of sunshine, Hobson shouted from the rear of the students. "Form a straight line right here, please!"

The lump of back spines scattered about and formed a semi-crooked line in front of a high fence that separated the ditch from the main street of Brier Road and the red clay field.

The students stopped and stood, wiggling side to side, clapping on each other's body parts for fun and adventure.

Mrs. Hobson stopped and turned, standing in front of a high fence that separated the roadway from the red clay field, facing with a smile to a line of semi-crooked line of student and pointed at each child. "Tomcat and Bear, you are both the team captains of the two different softball teams for a soft baseball game, not a hard ball, boys. Or the principal will get tan your hinds red like a freshly picked strawberry. Do you understand my teacher order, boys?"

"Yes ma'am," Teague stepped forward and spun around, walking backward, staring at the line of classmates with a nod and a smile.

"Yes ma'am." Bear marched forward with a smile and a nod to the teacher.

She held both hands together in front of her breasts with a smile, showing two twigs that were evenly matched. "Come over here, please! Let's see who pitchers first. Select the twig. The shortest stem looses and pitches to the other one." Tomcat spun around with a snigger and stopped, reaching over and drew a very long tree branch twig with a laugh. Bear turned and frowned at the selection of Teague. She opened a palm, showing the shorter tree branch twig with a smile. "Boys, come and stand on each side of me. Now, as Bear and Tomcat calls you name, you come and stand with your new baseball team. Tomcat, you won the competition and may start out picking the first team mate. Then you will bat the ball first to Bear's team. Begin, please."

Tomcat turned and moved, standing beside Mrs. Hudson, jabbing a finger with a grin at his friend. "I pick Bobcat."

Bear sidestepped and spun around, standing on the other side of the teacher, pointing with a smile at his friend. "I pick Lark."

Tomcat jabbed a finger with a grin at his new friend. "I pick..."

Rosalina stopped and stood at the end of the semi-crooked line, turning and fidgeting on a pair of skinny legs back and forth, waiting to be picked by Tomcat or Bear. She felt the slight breeze of the September day and a bright sunshine.

The line of students slowly diminished and shifted across the dust and stood on the opposite with either Tomcat or Bear. There were two kids left, Rosalina and Waverly.

Tomcat jabbed a finger and a nod to the male, "Waverly, get over here on my team."

"Come on, girl! I got you on my team." Bear motioned with a hand to Rosalina. She slowly moved forward with a stern face toward Bear. He ran forward and slammed into the face of Rosalina, spinning them around over the field, kicking up dust bunnies with a chuckle. He stopped and cuddled Rosalina, jabbing a finger at each team member, assigning a position. "Okay. I'm the pitcher. Lark is first baseman. And Betty, be gone..."

Rosalina sneered. "My name is Rosalina."

"She's a short stop, because she's short," Bear laughed with the others. "We play on the field first..."

Nash huffed with a sour frown. "Since you can't pick your nose or the longest tree branch twig..."

Bear reached over and shoved the chest of Nash with a sneer and a sour frown. "Get out into middle field, Nash, and caught the damn baseball from the homerun hit that Teague will make, in a few seconds, boy. Everyone, go and get into your spot for the first ending." He turned and dragged Rosalina, going passed the pitcher's mound and stopped, standing in the dirt. "You stand right next to me, sugar. Come here and stand outside the grass..."

She looked down with a puzzled brow to see the dirt. "What grass? There's only red dust, red clay, and red dirt..."

"Pretend grass like a pretend baseball game with a pretend win," Bear shuffled backward and stood behind her buttonhole, leaning over her back spine with grunt, grabbing her arms. He posed them in front of her chest. "Now, hold your arms and hands like this, so when the ball comes, you can catch it before it drops down to the dirt."

She stepped forward and moved away from his sour breath with a sour frown and a shout without see his smile. "I understand the game of baseball. I just don't play it like you, Brock..."

"Bear, everyone calls me, Bear." He moved forward and wrapped both biceps around her slender body and soft hair with a grunt, leaning down with a smile and a whisper into her eardrum. "Good! Then, we'll win for shore." He back stepped from the back spine of Rosalina with a grunt and grin, spinning around and ran to the mound as the team pitcher. He tossed the ball over the home plate. The batter hit the ball into the air, tossing the bat, running to first base. "Pop fly! It's a pop fly ball. I got it. I got it." Bear looked up to see the baseball and ran into a standing the short stop.

Rosalina stumbled sideways, losing her balance and fell down over the dirt with a sour frown. He stood in her spot, holding both arms in the air and catch the ball with a smile. "I got it. One baseball out against Tomcat! Yay!" His teammates cheered and bounced up and down over the dirt inside the baseball field but Rosalina. Bear reared back and tossed the baseball back to Eckward with a smile, squatting down and grinned into the sour puss face of Rosalina. "Get up, girl! You're the short stop over here." He reached and grabbed her arm, jerking her upright with his boyish strength with a chuckle and a grin, hugging Rosalina. "Are you okay, Rosalina?"

"Yeah," She moaned with a sour frown, wiping off the dirt from her dress and her face.

"Good, girl," Bear released her and back stepped, turning and stood on top of the pitcher's mound again. He reared back and tossed the next baseball. The ball flew into the air, again. "Pop fly, again. I got it. I got it." He ran sideways and slammed into the side of Rosalina again with a chuckle and a smile. She fell down over the dirt again. He tossed the ball back to Eckward with a smile and a shout, "A second baseball out against Tomcat! Double, yeah!" He squatted down and lifted Rosalina upright again, hugging her body with a smile and a chuckle into her face. "Get up, short stop! You need to stand to catch the ball, remember, Rosalina?" Bear released her and spun around with a grin and a chuckle, dashing back to the pitcher's mound. He reared back and tossed the next baseball. The ball flew into the air. "Pop fly. Pop fly. I got it." He ran sideways and slammed into the side of Rosalina again with a chuckle and a smile.
Twelve years old Rosalina

Last week within the month of August

Warm temperatures with light rain and parted sunshine

09:58 a.m.

Brier Middle School

Sixth Grade Classroom in Alabama History

The school bell rang for the next period of academic class within the Brier Middle School building. The students stood upright from a student desk and moved ahead towards the open archway, scattering out from one academic classroom to the next.

Inside the archway of the sixth grade Alabama History classroom, she shouted out loud with a giggle, "Zit there!" Twelve years old, tall body frame with a head of silver tinted hair, a tone of dark skin, fellow student Nadean Garland stood on the side wall next to the open doorway, grabbing and then shoving each student toward an empty desk with a giggle and a grin. She reached and grabbed the next school mate with a giggle, "Zit there." She was insulting the ugly face that was filled with a series of ugly red and white pussy-filled tiny pimples. The pimples looked like a set of measles that had turned white.

Teague stopped with a smile inside the archway and stood beside the nose profile of Nadean with a chuckle, "What are you doing, Duchess?"

"Zit there," Nadean grabbed and shoved Teague toward an empty desk with a giggle and a grin.

Teague scooted ahead and stood by the desk, sliding inside and slapped both hands over the desk surface with a chuckle, turning with a smile to see Zeeta, "O. Zit there! You shouldn't insult my girl, Duchess. She can't help it that she's going through her growing pains to be a woman for me." He winked at his girlfriend Zeeta.

"Zit there," Nadean grabbed the arm of the next teen and shoved Eckward into an empty student desk with a giggle and a grin.

The adult male appeared inside the archway, turning with a sour frown to see Nadean.

Nadean back stepped with a giggle, turning and strolled to an empty student desk, sliding inside with a giggle, slapping both hands over the empty surface.

The adult male turned and strutted to the front of the classroom, spinning around with a stern face and a serious tone and lifted both arms. "Please settle down. I am band director Mr. Pole. I have a very important announcement. Everyone, please sit down. Please, be quiet. Now, the football game is tomorrow. We have tragically lost our marching band uniforms this summer when the warehouse caught fire. But we managed to retrieve some old uniforms from a school in Huntsville. However, the color of our marching pants must be black. I know this is very short notice. But you must wear a pair of black pants on Friday night. Or you do not march with band in the football game." He moved ahead and turned, exiting the classroom.

All the students sounded with a series of hisses and mumbles.

Nadean turned with a sour frown to see her friend Flossie. "I don't own black pants. I own a black skirt. I wanna march in the band, tomorrow night at the football game. My own family is coming to watch me march in the band and play my flute."

"My family is coming to watch me too. I wanna march too. Why can't we wear our plain old blue jeans? All of us have a pair of plain old blue jeans."

"Yeah, why can't we?"

The teacher sat the desk, clearing a throat. "The announcement has been made. Please, open your book to chapter four, the State of Alabama was founded in the year 1819..."

At 10:57 a.m at the end of Alabama History class, the school bell rang for the ending of the current academic class.

The teacher smiled with a nod. "Your reading assignment is chapter five. Please answer all the provided questions. We will discuss in class tomorrow. Have a wonderful afternoon, students!"

The school bell rang, dismissing the students for the next class.

The students stood and turned, leaving the classroom for the next academic class.

Rosalina scooted from the student desk, holding her books. Her uncle Dickie had given her a new crochet shoulder bag, but it contained a pencil and an ink pen plus a hair brush and a tube of lip balm for fun. She carried the notebook and the academic books, hugging the breasts like the other girls. She turned and moved behind the back spine of each school mates, leaving the classroom and stopped, standing in front of her locker. She opened the door, hearing the familiar voice.

"Tomcat," Nadean scooted from the student desk, chasing after Teague with a smile into the hallway of moving students. "Tomcat..."

Teague moved with his girl friend Zeeta through the archway and stopped, spinning around with a smile with a wink to flirt with Nadean for fun. "Duchess, what's your pleasure?" Zeeta swung around with a sour frown, growling at Nadean for body injury.

Nadean ran into his handsome tallness with a giggle, back stepping and grabbed his bicep, turning and moved to the side wall inside the hallway with a grin. "Can I talk to you over yonder inside the wall corner between the lockers for a few minutes?"

"Shore, darling," Teague swung a sour frown to see Zeeta with a stern warning. "Hold your words, Kitten! I'll be right back."

Zeeta turned and growled with a sour frown at the back spine of Nadean, "Tomcat."

"Need to talk to Duchess. Stay right there, Kitten." Teague moved away from Zeeta with a smile, enjoying the hand hold of Nadean, looking down at her ass inside the blue jeans with a chuckle.

"Tomcat," Zeeta stomped a foot with a sour frown and stopped with a hiss.

Nadean shuffled forward and turned them into the wall corner between the row of lockers and the door of the classroom, staring with a smile at Teague.

Teague leaned into her smile with a wink. "What do you desire, Duchess? I like a little darker place for a kiss, but we..."

"Tomcat, you heard about the black pants requirement from Polecat for marching in the football game on Friday night?"

"Yeah, I was there in the room with you. Yeah, Polecat ain't liked to good, this week."

"My mama can't go into Huntsville to get me some black pants. So, I don't have any black pants. So, I'll miss the football game."

"Naw, you can't miss the game, Duchess. We have too much fun. I'll get you some black pants," he looked down to see her legs and her face," I bet ya can't wear my old ones. You'll too short, but I'll get my mama to run into town for you some new pants. Just tell me your butt size," chuckling.

Nadean said with a stern face. "I get a better idea, Tomcat. But, I need your help."

"I will help you do anything, Duchess." Teague leaned into her smooth face, touching her cheekbone. Her face wasn't tattooed with a thousand red and white zits like his girl Zeeta. He enjoyed the smooth dark tinted skin and sweet peach breath of pretty Nadean.

She frowned. "I think we should wear a pair of plain old jeans in the color of black with our black boots. Everyone's got a pair of black jeans and a pair of black boots."

He looked down with a smile to see his boots and Nadean with a chuckle. "Don't know, Duchess! Polecat would get mad, if we all come in plain of blue jeans, instead of a set of fancy dress pants, but not all the kids can buy black pants. Like my mama told me, Norwood's clothing store gave out the last pairs to the first band students."

She frowned. "I know. But all the boys have a pair of black pants, but girls don't."

"I know."

"Tomcat, think it like this. If all that money for the black pants is saved, then it can be used to buy a set of new football jerseys for the junior high football team."He smiled. "O. That's a good plan."

"I bet all the band parents would be happy to see their son or daughter marching on the field on Friday night. Then, they could donate all their money to the football club instead. You're a seventh grader next year with a new jersey with the number..."

"Eighteen, I'm born on that number."

She smiled, "Me, too."

"Well, we are alike."

"Will you tell your daddy about that new idea?"

He grinned. "You can."

"Naw, my parents don't come to the committees, but yours do. It can be your idea, Tomcat."

He gasped with a smile and a nod. "You would give me your idea, so I can call it mine."

She smiled with a slight nod, "Yeah! For the band musicians like me and you, but please don't tell anyone."

He leaned into her face with a frown and a tongue of mint breath, "Why not?"

She leaned into his smile with a wink and a whisper. "Just run with our new plan! But, I will be your secret partner."

He smiled with a whisper. "I like you being my secret, Duchess."

She smiled with a whisper, "Thanks, Tomcat."

Rosalina did not turn to see the couple, who leaned against the wall and faced each other with a set of smiles and chuckles. However, her excellent peripheral vision could see each nose profile of Nadean and Teague. Each nose was brushing against the soft skin as they were almost touching the lips to each other for a secret kiss. Rosalina simply didn't understand the social relationship of Teague and Nadean, but it was very obvious to her smart brain cells.

Brock Norris strutted out from the classroom, after hearing some new dirty jokes from Nash with a smile and a nod, stopping and stood beside Rosalina. His school locker was next to Rosalina on the bottom tier. He was not supposed to be located down there, since all school lockers were assigned by the order of the basic alphabetic code. However, Brock had switched with Norbert Blakely, so Norbert could annoy Nash Mason for the rest of the school year. Brock leaned over into her soft brown colored hair with a smile and a whisper. "They make a cute couple. He likes her, a lot."

Her right eyeball continued to stare at the cute couple, pondering why Teague hung around with sexy Zeeta. But, the answer was obvious. She smiled down at the books inside the locker. "I can tell."

He reached up and touched her hand, crawling with a pair of dirty fingers up towards her collar bone while staring into her left eyeball with a smile and a nod, enjoying her bad morning time breathe.

Zeeta slammed the door of her personal school locker, back stepping and turned with a gasp, moving toward the ass of Nadean with a sneer, retrieving her marked man that startled all dead graves in Brier and the spying of Rosalina.

Rosalina turned to face the locker, feeling the heat near a cheekbone, swinging a face to the side.

Brock stood and sweet breathed near to the eardrum of Rosalina, staring into the canal with a smile.

Rosalina gasped with shock, swinging around to face Zeeta and Tomcat. They were verbal fighting like usual inside the hallway of school. She lifted up and rubbed a few fingers over the teeth, since Rosalina must have presented a set of dirty food particles between the molars. She exhaled, removing her fingers, not seeing any food particles and turned to face the locker, reaching inside for the textbook. She swung a smile to see the row of lockers. Brock was gone. His body had turned away from Rosalina and was wiggling ahead toward the next class with the girl nicknamed Fawn. Rosalina giggled at the two back spines with a grin. "I don't even know her real name."

Saturday November 19th

Farm town of Brier within US State of Alabama

Druid Day annual event

Blue sky with cool temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

06:18 am

Home of Birdie Burns

and her two daughters Bertha and Rosalina

Private bedroom setting of Rosalina

Inside the bedroom, Rosalina stood in front of the old mirror. It was a full length stand-alone mirror that came from someplace, maybe her grandmother's house. She didn't know her grandmother or her grandfather. Both sets of biological grandparents had died before she was born from some type of medical ailment.

She stared at the outer ream of the mirror where the silver paint had peeled from the edges. The sides were rusty and red colored but she could still see the dress.

The ankle-length ugly black, purple, and white paisley dress and a white collar bid with a set of black front satin ribbons had come from the wardrobe closet of her classmate Nadean Garland. Nadean and Rosalina attended the seventh grade together and enjoyed gossiping about their shared classmates.

The ugly dress was actually from the cousin of Nadean, who was named Cherry Hillary. Cherry attended a different high school from Nadean and Rosalina but always provided an assortment of used and abuse clothing to her cousin Nadean.

This particular ugly ankle-length dress was a little large in length and wide on both Nadean and Rosalina, since Cherry was a fat pre-teenager. So the dress was given to Rosalina during a secret exchange at one of the spend-the-night events inside Nadean's house.

The mom of Nadean, Jadean had chosen for her daughter to wear the black, purple and white paisley dress at the daytime Druid Day event which is held only once per year from sunup to sunrise until the next year. At nighttime, there is a Druid Dance where only a teenager and older adults could attend. However, Nadean had received a used white and ruffled plantation dress from the wardrobe closet of her Aunt Collie and wanted to wear that pretty garment instead. If Jaden couldn't find the ugly paisley dress inside the wardrobe closet of her daughter, then Nadean could wear the hand-me-down dress from her Aunt Collie.

Jadean would not suspect that the dress had disappeared from wardrobe closet of Nadean, since the closet was stuffed with used clothing from all the cousins of Nadean. And her mom would forget about stuff from months ago with four kids and house chores.

So, the ugly dress escaped from the wardrobe closet of Nadean to live inside the wardrobe closet of Rosalina. The mom of Rosalina, Birdie never entered the room of her daughter to see the new ankle-length dress. Neither, Birdie would not say a good or bad comment about the new dress, since she was busy packing up all the four hundred turkey statues inside the numerous boxes for transportation to the fairgrounds in Brier within the upcoming Druid Day event.

This was the time of the year that Birdie earned a nice stack of cash from the visitors, who purchased a silly turkey doll based on the true story of the native Brierians.

In front of the mirror, Rosalina tied the front ribbons into a loose girly bowtie, feeling the black colored silk ribbons of the A-line dress that hugged a thin boyish figure, dropping and pressing both hands down the soft cotton with a smile. Rosalina was a Brier maiden today, staring at the reflection inside the mirror inside her private bedroom.

Today was Druid Day, a special day and nightly event for all the people that were actually born and reared inside the tiny farm town of Brier.

Inside the living room, "Yee come! Yee come!" Birdie reached down and lifted up a set of heavy boxes, slowly spinning around with a smile, carefully moving ahead toward the open archway of her small shack, "The wagon be here. Yee come now! Don't miss the wagon, girls." She strolled ahead through the archway, leaving the door unlocked, dashing ahead with the stack of boxes to the parked wagon on the roadway. Within the nice and honest town of Brier, there was not any type of thief robbery or house burglary, since all the men-folks and some of the women-folks took care of that annoying problem on personal basis with their personal hand gun or handy shotgun.

The mayor of Brier had created a special day with a festival parade of Brier natives, who each rode inside an individual open wagon carriage that was pulled by a team of draft or quarter horses while riding over the roadway pavement toward the fair grounds at the end of Brier Road and across from the cotton gin.

Rosalina nodded with a smile at her selfie image inside the ancient mirror, turning with a giggle to face the closed bedroom door, moving ahead and touched the door knob. The door opened. She stood inside the archway with a smile.

Birdie continued to stroll outdoors over the dead grass and stopped at the edge of the roadway, staring at the partially filled wagon carriage that transported some of the local natives also. She lifted up and stored the stack of heavy boxes on the rear end of the wagon. Bertha stood on the same wooden side of the wagon beside her mom, holding a tall set of heavy boxes also that contained more hand decorated individual turkey statues, wearing an old and patched ugly green, red, and black paisley dress that came from the wardrobe closet of her dead grandmother for the Druid Day event.

There was not much room for big and tall Birdie inside the open carriage of the wagon. The wagon was used to haul big bales of hay for the cows and the horses also and the interior carriage was filled with various children and teens coming from the other residential houses. Birdie reached over and scooted the boxes inside the side corner intersection, stacking the boxes on top of each other. She lifted up the old and torn tan colored ankle-length dress hem and exposed a fat and pale skinned naked leg, climbing up into the front seat of the cab with the wagon driver and his wife.

Rosalina lifted up the dress hem with a giggle and dashed ahead toward the parked wagon, stopping and stood next to her sister Bertha. Both of them climbed up and sat down top of a stack of metal containers that held an array of food trays, drink beverages, and other items coming from the local businesses. Each one shaded a pair of eyeballs from the rising sunshine on Schoolhouse Road.

The driver of the wagon slammed down a set of reins on top of the team of horses. The horses slowly pulled the overcrowded wagon over the smooth pavement toward the fairgrounds of part grass and part clay dirt as the sun rose up from the ground and then blinded each pair of eyeballs of the native Brier.

The line of wagons slowly rolled down Schoolhouse Road toward the high school grounds. Numerous lines of horse riders split in half and then slowly trotted around each roaming wagon. Some of the braver kids galloped a horse over the grass soil leading the parade of wagons.

Sometimes, the nicer kids on top of the horse would toss an individual piece of candy or a clipped individual flower down into the open wagon at the other natives. Some of the natives would catch the candy piece and sucked on the sweetness with a giggle.

Most of the time, the rider and horse trotted with a particular wagon while talking with a friend or a family member during the parade in the bright sunrise.

The parade slowly turned the street corner and steered behind the Swimming Hole entertainment center that was open but didn't have a group of swimmers. All the natives were attending the Druid Day event. However, the Swimming Hole was open for business in case a family of visits wanted to dash around the roller skate ring or swim in the pool.

The parade slowed and turned down Cotton Row while waving to the lines of people and young child in Brier. Some of the older citizens did not attend the event at the fairgrounds but enjoyed watching the morning parade of wagons and horses. Some of the middle-aged citizens would stand on the side of the road and play a musical instrument within a country homemade band. Then each band would slowly march behind the last wagon while playing fiddling music during the parade and moved along with the wagons toward the fair grounds.

The parade slowly steered down Cotton Row and turned the street corner, passing the cotton gin and the fertilizer plant, where the smell of cow shit was fresh. All of the natives yelled out loud with a laugher of the stinky odor. The two facilities were shut down for the holiday event. The wagons steered by two rows of residential houses, where the parade collected a large crowd of walking natives moved behind the individual bands as all slowly strolled down toward the fair grounds.

At 06:23 a.m. at the fair ground with a sunrise of peeks of purples, yellows, and reds in the cold temperatures with clear skyline, the lead horse that held the mayor of Brier led the parade of wagons into a stop where the wagons formed a semi-straight row that cuddled one side of the bare soil with an opening gap for the set of new visitors to enter and enjoy the Druid Day events also. The fairgrounds site was a plot of massive soil with a set of trampled down dead grass and massive amount of hard clay dirt. In front of the line of the wagons, there were numerous horizontal rows of naked wooden tables that contained various items. The first three rows presented all the homemade merchandise that a visitor could purchase with cash money during the Druid Day event, such like, an art painting on a piece of tree bark, an art painting on a barn plank, an art painting on individual rock, and other types of art work. There were sets of crocheted pot holders, table placement mats, hats, gloves, scarves, and other items too. There were sets of wooden homemade objects, such like, eagles, flags, horses, cows, bulls, goats, lambs, trees, houses, and other objects.

The next four rows contained all the baked goods coming from the wonderful cooks of Brier. Last night, a set of the baking judges had taste and awarded a set of colorful ribbons on each baked food entree, such like, the best cake, the best pie, the best cookie, the best barbeque, the best pork tenderloin, the best hamburger, the best chili, the best moonshine, and other bests of the cooking and baked entrees.

Between the last rows of baked goods, there were always the nicely decorated wooden tables that contained all the delicious desserts. Then there was a plot of empty soil of red clay and then a line of tall pine trees that marked the edge of the farm crop of Farmer Green, where the fun horse race occurred later in the afternoon for more fun adventure.

One end of the fairgrounds site was empty with a line of tall oak trees, marking the farm crops of Farmer Grayson. On the other end, the structure held the Brier fire station that stood three stories tall with two outside balconies, where the volunteer fire department members practiced rescuing people from a fire, which had never happened here in Brier.

At 06:30 a.m. inside one of the numerous festival booth with mother Birdie Burns and her two daughters Bertha and Rosalina within the cold temperatures, the bright sunrise leaped up and over the red soil of Brier shining down over the wet grass and white tinted gravel landscape inside the massive lot of hard dirt. The weather was nice and sunny without a rain storm in the month of November and particularly on this the new day.

On each row, each table was a social picnic table that came from various sources, such like, the back lawn of an individual family or the back yard of individual business. All Brierians came together to setup and celebrate the Druid Day event. All the tables were naked and emptied at six am in the morning.

By six-thirty in the morning, all the tables were nicely decorated with an array of colorful tablecloths on the bottom of an assortment of freshly prepared food items. There was the cake table, the pie table, the cookie table, the brownie table, and other dessert tables. There was an array of the pig tables that consisted of an individual family unit or an individual business that provided large tubs of smoked pork barbeque for the visitor consumption during Druid Day. There was the cow table, including hamburgers and tenderloin sandwiches. There was the chicken table of friend and barbeque chicken entrees. There were the other food tables which provided a set of trays, including baked beans, cabbage slaw, French fries, and an assortment of freshly cooked vegetables and assorted pans of fresh baked breads.

At 08:01 a.m. at the fair ground site, numerous rows of vehicles parked behind line of empty wagons admitting hundreds and hundreds of curious visitors to the Druid Day event.

The wagons also were opened and contained numerous boxes and tubs of selling merchandise, coming from all the local stores, such like, cowboy hats, cowboy belts, and unloaded hand guns. There were containers of horse supplies, such like, saddles, reins, and sweet feed food. There were barrels of fresh fruit, vegetables, and snack food and soda bottles for purchasing, too.

The Druid Day event was always a money-making day for all of the Brierians. Every native family dragged inside the fairground site a picnic table or more and nicely decorated each table with a set of individual goodies to sell to the city slickers. And the city slickers purchased it all by the end of the day.

The mayor of Brier stood tall on the top level of the three story local fire house, waving a hand, holding a black colored microphone with a smile and a shout to all the visitors and the natives. "Welcome to Druid Day! Come inside and enjoy the festival with food and races and a petting zoo and other activities for both children and elderly, too. The petting zoo is located at the other end of the grounds for safety of the children. On the side of the grounds, there are numerous rows of table with goodies and homemade crafts and merchandise. We got sets of new horse saddles and old horse saddles and tons of cowboy and cowgirls stuffs like hats, and belts. There is a musical dance in front of the fire station later after sunset. And there is a featured Druid Day race where anyone with a horse, of course, could enter. You can sign up at the race table with your name and your horse, of course. The winner of the short half-a-mile race wins five hundred dollars in cash and a colored picture inside the Brier Newspaper that will be published on Sunday morning. Yeehaw!" He continued to talk and wave an arm to all the visitors, welcoming them into the fairgrounds site.

The visitor crowds shuffled and scattered around the row of tables, surveying the food and merchandise.

On the first row of merchandise tables at the end near the petting zoo, this particular family booth was really a naked wooden picnic table coming from the back lawn of the Brier Church for an ugly presentation of an assortment of uglier merchandise of standing upright, sorta, rows of colorful turkey statues. The turkey statues represented the exchanged for the land plus firing of a hand gun, but the mayor of Brier didn't like to mention that bloody gory part of the story on Druid Day event here at Brier to all the new visitors.

Behind the naked picnic table without a nice cloth, Birdie had crafted a display booth of the individual ugly turkey statues, when the Indian corn had grown tall in the month of May and then harvested by a set of four tiny naked hands of her daughters Bertha and Rosalina.

Now, the naked picnic table proudly displayed in a semi-crooked row an individual turkey statue. The statue was made from a halved piece of red and black corn cob with a set of two blue or red toothpastes that represented a pair of flying turkey wings. And finally, there was colorful blue jay or red bird feather on top of the flattened corn cob. All the numerous pieces created and produced a turkey statue for purchasing for twenty-five cents.

Birdie wore one of her old and ancient ankle-length paisley brown and red colored dresses and sat behind the booth inside a rocking chair that came from the basement of the church, slowly rocking back and forth with a grin of missing teeth and held a glass of sweet tea without the alcohol. Today was a good day to be sober and alert, collecting cash money for a new inventory of alcohol and Indian corn seeds.

Rosalina sat slightly behind her mom inside a broken legged dining room chair. But, the sharp point of the broken chair was buried deep down into the soil with her weight making the chair stable, eating a piece of delicious muffin for her morning breakfast. There were plenty of food booths. She had moseyed down each individual table and greeted her old neighbors with a sweet smile while some of the nice lady gave Rosalina a sample of their home cooking.

At the entrance gate, the gang of wandering curious visitors slowly scattered up and down each row of booths.

On the first row, as always, big sister Bertha stood in front of the Burns merchandise table, eating a piece of cold fried chicken in each hand that she had stolen from the food table, since every Brier family was here to make a little bit of profit monies for the sunny day.

The food table was really for all the paid visitors that came from the county and over the county line to enjoy the festival event within Brier.

The visitors slowly shuffled down the row looking at all the piece of hand curved wooden object, the homemade crocheted dollies, and finally stood in front of Bertha.

Bertha chewed and spit out used set of chicken particles from a pair of open lips. "Yee be here!" She swallowed and chewed some of the food while spitting out more used chicken particles from a pair of open lips. "Yee hears first..."

The line of visitors produced a distorted face and spun around with a huff, moving away from ugly Bertha, shuffling far away from the disgusting oversized teen, looking for another booth of souvenir merchandise.

Birdie stood with a gasp and reached over with a sneer, grabbing the hair roots of Bertha with a sour frown, "What yee doing, child? They be good visitors here with many coins. Need monies..." A group of new visitors slowly moseyed down the line, looking at each table, heading toward Birdie.

Rosalina gasped with fright that her mom would hurt Bertha in front of the natives of Brier and the visitors that came from other cities. Then Birdie could not ever attend another Druid Day booth for a set of needed cash monies while selling the entire table of silly individual turkey statues. She stood upright from the chair and placed the plate of food inside her seat, quickly moving ahead and stood at the side of the naked picnic table with a smile and a nod at the new group of visitors. She reached out and grabbed one of the silly turkey statues, posing near a sweet smile. "Within the wilds of the Alabama Territory, the first incorporated town of sixty people in the year 1818 established the tiny farm town of Brier. The first white settlers came without slaves, with ancient farming gear, and old home furnishings, occupying the lands, where Chickasaw Indians currently reigned and before the creation of the State of Alabama within the USA in 1819. The nice folks of Brier that hard winter with snow and ice shared their turkey dinner with the native Indians, so the little tiny Indian children did not starve and die. In exchange for the nice treatment, the turkey became the symbol of honor and prosperity to the natives of Brier. Today, this is called Druid Day, where each native of Brier continues to remember and honor all Americans of the United States of America. Thus, our native Brier family has reproduced the hero, the turkey."

Of course, Birdie had makeup that last part of the story to sell the silly turkey statues.

And it worked perfectly each year at Druid Day event.

The visitors smiled and applauded, purchasing some of the silly turkey statues.

Bertha stood back behind the wooden table, chewing with a sour frown the two chicken legs and turned to see the chair, where a plate breakfast food stood. She moved ahead and reached down, grabbing the plate of food with a snigger and sat down inside the chair. She swallowed the chicken particles and started eating the breakfast entrees with both hands.

Some of the visitors reached out and grabbed a turkey statue, mumbling some nice words into the smile of Rosalina while purchasing the merchandise item. Rosalina accepted the coinage of fifty cents and made change when necessary to the paying customers.

Then the gang of visitors turned and moved back down the row to peruse other merchandise or strolled over to the food tables.

Rosalina clapped with the bills of money in happiness for assisting her mother with the sale.

Birdie yelled out loud behind the rear skull of Rosalina, "Gimme that monies, now, girl. Don't be stealing all of my monies."

Rosalina swung around with a smile and a gasp, seeing her older sister. Bertha was consuming the plate of delicious breakfast entrees that Rosalina had collected from all the nice cooks of Brier during her stroll about the food tables inside the fairgrounds. She extended a hand and handed the folded bills of money.

Birdie reached out and snatched the money, pulling into a chest and stored it inside her left breast within the bra for safekeeping, rocking a body back and forth inside the rocking chair. But the pair of curved legs of the chair was stuck down into the hard dirt and didn't move or rock. Birdie smile and a hum with happiness with the money, patting a left breast.

Another group of visitors wandered closer to the Burns booth, Birdie turned with a grin and flung out an arm into the air with a sneer, "Says the story, girl. Needs more monies."

Rosalina exhaled with a puff of frustration and swung around with a fake smile, staring the same story for the visitors.

The group of visitors stopped and stared at Rosalina with a smile, hearing the story. Some of the visitors purchased a turkey statue. All of the visitors clapped and complimented the pretty young girl with the story. Then, the group of visitors spun around and moved back to other rows of tables. Rosalina continued to tell the story with a fake smile for the rest of the morning while selling each.

At 04:04 p.m. in the cool temperatures and parted clouds, a sunset of greens, oranges, and yellows was slowly sinking down below the mountain range. Druid Day was ending, except for the one last event of the cooler afternoon.

Rosalina leaned over one of the food tables on the and reached out for the one of the cold fried chicken leg, grabbing it and placed the food item on top of plate with a smile hearing the voice of Jadean, who was the mother of Nadean.

Jadean stood next to her mother, who was called Grandmother Sloan by all including her grandchildren. Jadean shifted side to side with the nervous habit while talking with both hands in the air and then accidental hit a pointy elbow into the pointed elbow of Rosalina. Rosalina and Jadean were about the same height. Jadean turned a gasp and a sour frown to see Rosalina, swiftly reaching down and violently tugged on the ugly paisley dress that Rosalina wore. Rosalina looked up with a puzzled brow and then swiftly back stepped with a stern face and the plate of food. Jadean sneered at Rosalina. "That dress? That dress be Na..."

Grandma Sloan reached out and grabbed the dull colored lace on collar bone of Jadean pulling purposefully or accidental her daughter away from teen Rosalina with a fake smile in silence. Rosalina swiftly back stepped further from the evil glare of Jaden and then gently swung around strolling back to her family booth with her mother Birdie and her sister Bertha. Grandmother Sloan reached down and patted the arm of Jadean with a smile. "You're still working on the costumes. I like that orange flora for Dorcee, since she's only seven years old. Nadean should wear the hoop skirt with the set of fake whale bone strips around the bottom and knee area. I remember when that hoop skirt contained real whale bone that I had used as a little girl. Did you know that, Jadean? You used it about at the age of six like Dorcee and then the circle of bone broke loose. We replaced with the curved ribs with a tan tinted bamboo, not the same, but as long as the dress is silk or light cotton that skirt still hoopla hoops," giggling.

Jadean continued to stare with a sour frown at the back spine of Rosalina. "Mama, that dress on that girl, I swear to the Lord that it be so much like the one of Nadean's."

Grandmother Sloan nodded with a smile at the nose profile of Jadean shuffling her baby blue two-tiered lace gown of ruffles with a white velvet thick belt side to side with a giggle. "Dorcee will look adorable in that orange flora for the dance and dinner. Is Dorcee going to stay up pass ten o'clock like her older and wiser sister Nadean?"

She continued to stare at the back spine of Rosalina with a sour frown. "Mama, that dress on that girl, why it be on that girl? That dress be Nadean's."

Grandmother Sloan smiled. "Dorcee whines about staying up and waltzing with the bigger girls at the Druid dance..."

"Dread dance." Jadean turned with a sour frown to see her mother. "The girls be not up at midnight with bigger girls. Dorcee be falling down into the punch bowl, not keeping her little black eyelashes open that long."

"Will Nadean wear the bright yellow with white flowered organza or use Cherry's candy pink with the many, many layers of ruffled on the circular skirt for Druid dance? I like the pink flock with rows and rows of ruffles coming from the waist down to the floor since it matches her silver locks so well."

"Mama!"

"Nadean should wear the crinoline underneath the candy pink organza rather than the drooping hoop skirt. The crinoline has three tiers of tulle fabric making the pink ruffles shimmer like glitter underneath the ceiling lamps while she glides across the floor like a Southern belle. I hope this year Nadean finds herself a beau to dance with. What do you think, Jadean? Do you feel like sharing your gentleman with Nadean at the ball tonight?"

She frowns. "We be not going to the Dread Ball tonight."

"Druid Ball, young lady. Jadean, the Druid Ball is our most honored and cherished annual event here in Brier. We celebrate when a Virginia..."

".... man be ran away from his home town with a young virgin and then be married her and fought with all them Indians for this land, won, and took it all. The end."

The small farm town Brier was three miles long and four miles wide composing limited structures shared by the folks who owned or operated the farmers around the county. The main road was used by tractors, truckers, and tourists that led east to the city of Athens or northwest to the city of Decatur or south to city of Huntsville.

Grandmother Sloan exhaled and stared into the worried facial expression of her daughter. "I didn't want to speculate, but I thought something was wrong. What is wrong, Jadean?"

She exhaled. "I be promising Urall not to mention it to ya'll. We be having money problems. Going to this ball ain't helping my pocketbook."

"It does seem each year that some of the folks get a little carried away with buying the most outrageous ball gala outfits. We are celebrating the history of town of Brier, not creating a new trend. It's the new generation, they don't value old traditions where they want to ditch them and create new ones on their own. I have discussed this same topic with some of my old friends. A good example is my own granddaughter Cherry. Her mama paid to sew a gorgeous gown to wear for the dance one time."

"Cherry be wear that hot pink and black fringed thing again on next year, Mama. It be a Old West saloon girl costume more than a southern belle gown with the hot pink bodice clinging to the big breasts of Cherry as the black fringe be shakes in places that the moon's not suppose to see."

Sloan nodded. "Her skirt is rather plain and simple made from flat pink satin with three rows of black stringy fringe. I don't really think it fits the Southern theme. Her round hat looks more like a witch's Halloween hat made in bright hot pink which is called fuchsia. I don't see how Cherry can see an object with all that black fringe hanging in her eyes but that's typical Madean's thinking processes. Cherry will not wear that gown for a second time being so fat..."

Jadean gasped. "Mama, be not let my sister Madean heard that nasty word: fat. She be faint and then awoke and then attack ya be calling her baby girl fat."

Sloan frowned, "Fat. Fat. Fat. Her only teenage child eats too much and plays too little. She's not involved in any type of extracurricular activities like Nadean. You have the children participating in baton twirling, playing band instruments and..."

"...farm chores, Mama," Jadean laughed out loud. "Fat and lazy teen Cherry be a spoiled brat. Madean be finding a good man for her daughter. Cherry and Nadean ain't cut from same fabric cloth, Mama. Both girls are a pair of pretty things, thou."

Sloan sneered. "I do not like to use or say or hear that ugly word, Jadean."

She frowned. "Why for, Mama? It be said by a caveman for the first pretty thing in animal fur. A girl likes the pretty word. Some girls be dumb and need a husband to make a decision and care for them. They give a child as a male knows that a pretty thing is a good mama. I be hope and pray for Nadean, not be an old maid spinster. She be shy around peoples."

Grandmother Sloan frowned. "Nadean is a spirited child, full of life and very smart."

She frowned. "Why ya waste a tongue spit on Nadean?"

Sloan frowned. "I am teaching your daughter a second foreign language."

Jadean frowned. "No use it here in Brier, Mama."

She turned and scanned the activities at the Druid Day. "One day, this world is changing, Jadean."

She laughed with a nod. "Be not here in old Brier, never here in old Brier. Old Brier be the same hundred years when I be dead and buried and down in the cold ground at the church. And for Peter's sake, stop with them Spain words! Remember? Those kids be giving Nadean a black eye in the first grade for spouting some of them Spain words. The kids thought she be a witch or something."

"No! The fist smash came from wild Teague Haywood. He boxed the eye socket of Nadean when she sang a song in French words. I called up Corene on my telephone and get his butthole whipped for hitting a girl. Teague turned into a sweet boy now after that."

"A butthole whipping works on every misbehaving male and female. My sweet twins never be whipped..."

We are discussing Nadean here," Sloan exhaled. "I will not justify my actions as a teacher and I continue to instruct Nadean as long as Nadean agrees to be tutored. She is very good in both Spanish and French languages. She can use these language skills in some type of work for a career. The world is changing, Jadean. Women are demanding to be treated equally with a man. Nadean will be in that type of world and equal to a man."

Jadean laughed out loud and shook her curls. "Naw, Mama! Nadean be marrying one of the local farmers like that nice looking Lance Morris. He comes from a good family, a farm family too. Urall scouts around and talks to the other men-folk. No takers yet!"

Sloan gasped in shock. "Why would you auction off your daughter Nadean to the highest bidder, Jadean?"

"Nadean be married to the lowest butthole in the county. I be tossing a plot land and some extra bales of cotton in the marriage deal too," Jadean chuckled.

She frowned. "This is very serious to me, Jadean."

Jadean laughed. "No diff to me, Mama! Urall and I be in deep talk. Nadean be no wife material. I be not getting that child to cook without smoking up or catching our house on fire. She be not sewing or hemming without pricking a finger. She be not reading but stumbling all her words. And her southern accent be long and drawn out. But Nadean be pretty and be getting a husband to defend her honor."

Sloan exhaled. "I am afraid I don't follow your logic, Jadean. I remembered that Nadean had a set of swollen tonsils in the first grade but she had them removed at the hospital. Once both the infection and inflammation from her throat and her ears were reduced, she could hear."

Jadean sneered. "Nadean be done missed six months of schooling out of nine with those clogged up ears. Her class be done learned to recite and be saying letters and vowels sounds..."

Sloan nodded with a smile to her daughter. "Yes, it is very important to read books and learn about history, literature and other subjects."

"Nadean be missed all that. She be back with a healthy body but be an empty brain. She never get up to speed with the class, Mama."

Sloan nodded. "I remembered that we all talked about holding Nadean back in the first grade. She is one of the oldest girls within her class."

"Holding her behind would embarrass her..."

"Holding Nadean back would embarrass you, Jadean."

Jadean laughed with a smirk. "Me and you and her family gots a dumb kid, Mama. Mrs White be called her retarded every day in Nadean's face. Bad comment but the truth. Nadean be a little slow at things. She bestest to find a husband and get married and produce a child then she be happy."

Sloan exhaled. "Unbelievable! Your first born daughter is only thirteen years old in the seventh grade. And you have given up on her welfare and her opportunities in life. This is a big world, Jadean. There are other places within the US than the small farm town of Brier, Alabama."

Jadean smiled with some missing teeth coming from a set of bad eating habits over the years of her long life, "Naw! It be not for Nadean, maybe it be for another kid to get away from the farm town of Brier. Cherry be a good example. She talks all the time about moving to the big city of Huntsville to be a physician and treat little kids."

Sloan exhaled. "So Cherry can fulfill her dreams, but Nadean can't."

"Madean be Cherry's dreams with her own secret desires, since she married out of high school like me, Mama. Madean be a secretary on the military base and makes good monies, so Cherry goes to private school. That school be expensive on Dorman's salary. The extra money be pays for all the nice things for Cherry and her future schooling. My sister Madean says Cherry be going to Bama University in Birmingham. That be far, far away from here and live at college in six years."

"And the future life of Nadean will be what?"

"Nadean gots a rash of bad luck. That's all. Not her fault. So, she be married soon. That's it! We be done. She be happy. We be happy. The end!"

"I admit Nadean does have her moments of defeat including the unfortunate bout of tonsillitis which caused her temporary deafness in the early parts of her first grade and missing out how to pronounce her alphabet and vowels. But she had attended a reading clinic in the fourth grade. The teacher told you that she was at the proper reading level and her math was outstanding."

"All kids add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers, Mama. Her math be average like the other kids. Her words be below average."

"She can write and hear the Spanish language but does have some difficult with the formal pronunciations that are unique to the foreign language. When I talk with Nadean in Spanish or French sentence, she completely understands my word structure."

"She be serve up a couple of foiled baked potatoes and garden greens, her husband won't notice the raw T-bone steak. She be incomplete, Mama. You be teaching Dorcee some Spain words. She be the pride of my litter."

"Dorcee is the baby of your family, Nadean. The baby tends to be on the lazy side when the mother does all the work for the last born of the family. If you do not cut off the set of apron strings, Dorcee will never fly out the nest and stay to root."

Jadean smiled with a nod. "Dorcee, my baby, be a beauty queen with her pale snow white skin and big doe green eyes and long black hair like my hero Scarlett O'Hara. She be breaking a lot of male hearts for a beau. We be sending Dorcee to college with Cherry. She be a lawyer, defends poor people in court like on television."

Sloan nodded with a sour frown. "That is a noble cause for Dorcee, but I'd suggest getting her out of elementary school first."

Jadean smiled. "My twin boys be done shown smart for eight years old boys. They be like their daddy going to be tall with eyeglasses too. One day, each one be a fine catch for a Southern lady. My twin boys goes to college on free monies like a smart brain. I be proud of my clan."

"Dorcee is the beauty. The twins are the smarts. And Nadean is..."

"...first born."

Sloan exhaled with a sour frown. "You are my first born, Nadean. So tell me about your money adjustments! Where did you get that word?"

"The banker be here this morning. It's cotton seedling time. We be paying all our bills right now."

Grandmother Sloan frowned. "Do you have enough money for groceries food?" Jadean looked down to see the grass and then her mother. Sloan exhaled. "That explains the new work invasion of field hands at the cotton gin. Do you have money for the rest of the workers?"

Jadean exhaled. "The crop harvest be due soon and need the pair of work hands."

She nodded. "Tell that stubborn husband of yours do not mention it. We are family. We help each other. That's our job as your parents."

"I feels awful."

"Madean whines for help too where there is no difference for which other daughter. We help her out when she truly needs it too."

Jadean smiled. "Thanks, Mama."

Urall appeared in front of the line of empty food tables and limped ahead towards the back spine of Jadean with a smile. Sloan scooted sideways with a gasp. Urall stopped and stood between his wife and his mother-in-law with a smile. Sloan looked down with a worried brow at the blood on the blue jeans. "Urall, what has happened to your leg?"

"The stallion stomped it good." He frowned with a nod.

Jadean looked down with a sour frown at the leg of Urall. "Where be that damn horse?"

Urall stood in place with a pain and pointed to the line of horses. "The horse is over yonder."

Jadean looked over with a gasp at the line-up of horses on the other side of the dirt, "Urall!"

He nodded with a smile and watched his daughter. "Nadean is going to run the Druid horse race for me. She looks pretty on top of that black horse."

Sloan spun around with a smile to see the horse line. "And Nadean is an excellent horse rider. She will win the horse race too."

Jadean gasped, "Naw! She be done ruined that dang dress. That dang dress is white silk and that dang black horse hair be done stuck all over that fancy dress. Nadean can't wear in the beauty pageant, next year."

Sloan giggled with a smile. "I don't think that Nadean minds that at all, Jadean."

On top of the balcony of the fire house station, the mayor smiled into the hand-held microphone, staring down at the rowdy crowd of visitors and natives. "Tonight is the final event at the Druid Day activities. The Druid horse race is next. The race occurs on top of a flat and straight stretch of open terrain which starts down at the eastern end of the fair grounds and ends right here on the western end of the fair grounds. The single winner of five hundred dollars is determined by crossing a line of thick red colored satin ribbon. The ribbon was donated by Miss Panleeola's Fabrics. Give Miss Panleeola a hand!" The audience sounded with a set of loud cheers and numerous hand claps. The mayor raised a hand into the air as the crowd slowly quieted down. "The length of the horse race course is one quarter mile or one fourth of a mile or 144 yards or 1,320 feet. The width of the race course is 100 feet across. There are presently 100 riders that stand three feet apart. You are to gallop as fast as your horse will run towards the red satin ribbon. The first wet muzzle of the running horse to touch the ribbon wins the race. There are three judges on each side of the ribbon that will determine the winner of the horse race if it is too close. There are side judges to see if a rider is annoying another rider for silly fun. We don't like that. And you will be discarded out of the race and disqualified from the money reward. The riders consist of mature and seasoned riders meaning old fart like me down to a set of younger riders at the age of ten years old. Each rider is controlling the beast. And each beast is shuffling side to side itching to start the race."

In front of the last row of tables, Urall slowly limped ahead and occupied one of the broken chairs as Jadean and Grandmother Sloan followed behind, sitting down also. He continued to sit and smile at the line of horses and riders while waiting on the start of the race. "Our Brier race course is equal to a drag race track which is also a quarter mile or 1,320 feet. A drag race competition in motorsports, where a pair of car or a pair of motorcycles ran out for the shortest time from a standing start to the end of a straight paved piece of road for a quarter mile. The best drag race time is 5.91 seconds at 245 miles per hour."

Sloan frowned at the line of horses. "A horse can't run at 245 miles per hour, Urall."

Urall nodded with a smile and continued to stare at the line of horses. "A Quarter horse can gallop full speed at 55 miles per hour. On a quarter mile track or piece of flat dirt, a Quarter horse has been known to run the short sprint in 20 seconds flat coming from a standing start to a running finish. That's 66 feet per second. Do you see the individual rows of white ribbons across the dirt at certain intervals? Each individual marker is set every 66 feet to gage the race."

Jadean exhaled. "There be lots of our neighbors on that line with their favorite horse. I sees Webster, the daddy of Zeeta. He be too old to ride a horse. He be done fall off and died right there in the clay dirt during the Dread horse race. Poor Abby be a widower spider then," laughing.

Sloan smiled. "If I squint my old eyelashes, then I can see the infamous teen quartet of Bear, Lark, Bobcat, and Tomcat. Those four boys are not never ever apart. I bet each one will marry their high school sweetheart on the same Saturday afternoon and live the rest of their days and nights right beside each other. Each one of them boy will have a long happy life here in Brier."

Urall smiled at the line of horses. "I sees a fine line of beautiful quarter horses almost coming from each surrounding neighbor, Jadean. A Quarter horse is a cross between an English thoroughbred from the country of England and a Chickasaw horse that came from them Conquistadors, those Spanish soldiers that invaded the American soil a long time ago."

Jadean puffed. "I sees all that dark red clay dirt on that white silk dress. That dang dress be ruined. Nadean be not wearing it again."

Sloan smiled. "I wonder why one of these nice smart boys never took notice of Nadean. My granddaughter enjoys riding and rumbling like a boy. I can't see that same activities for my two grandsons. Vassar and Vester enjoy reading books, instead of wrestling."

Urall continued to stare and smile at the line of horses. "A Quarter horse is a small, hardy, and quick mammal that's used as a work horse during the week and a race horse on the weekend like today."

Jadean huffed. "I sees Owen, the daddy of Bear and all his little clan of bear cubs on that horse line. Owen be too old to ride a horse. He be done fall down right beside Webster and get stomped on by each horse hoof during the Dread horse race," laughing.

Sloan smiled. "Well, Nadean is right there in the mist of fun and furious action like always. Maybe, one of these nice boys will notice her today during the horse race. She does not have a boyfriend but friends of boys," giggling.

Urall grinned with a nod at the line of horses. "In the 19th century, when the pioneers moved towards the west, they used a set of Quarter or draft horses, if it didn't die from the heat and the dust. After settling there in the western plains, the mares mated with the feral mustang breed producing a western Quarter horse that possessed an innate 'cow sense' for working with cattle. I use my herd of Quarter horses to corral all of the cows too like an old western cowboy."

Jadean huffed, "I sees Axson, the father of Bobcat. Old man will die today with his old childhood friends Webster and Owen," laughing.

The hand gun fired into the air with a single bullet and as the mayor stood upright on top of the second balcony of the Brier fire station with a smile. He lowered an arm and tucked the gun back down into the leg hostler. In the far distance, a line of nervous horses of various colors from black to tan to white leaped up from the ground coming off a pair of hind legs, pawing a set of front legs into the air after hearing the loud gunshot sound.

In front of the first food tables, each table displayed the left over dishes and pans of unsold plates of food that was welcome to any native for free, since the cook didn't want to mess with the food items. Most of the natives were absent from the booth while standing in a semi-crooked line along the race course, watching the horses. Rosalina had scooted down the row of naked tables and collected a pile of cold food with a smile. She was hunger and tired from narrating the same story which sold each individual turkey statue that had raised pockets of monies for her mother Birdie. Birdie continued to sit inside the rocking chair and consume a plate of free food with an open mouth of happiness. Bertha moved ahead and roamed about the desserts, eating from each plate with an open mouth in silence.

Rosalina looked up after the loud gunshot and stared at the line of horses with a smile. Her friend Nadean was a rider in the horse race, wearing a white long dress that made her appear like a picture of a medieval princess coming from the world history book at high school. Nadean was a smart and pretty girl, who would go far in life. Rosalina deeply believed that Nadean would one day be a senator of congress or maybe, the first female president of the USA. Nadean would definitely succeed in life, where Rosalina was worried about her future and her family.

On the ground, the line of horses swiftly broke apart as some of the stunned horses reared a pair of hoofs into the air like rider Brock and his steed. The seasoned riders slapped the belly of the steed with a pair of cowboy heels and swiftly galloped towards the red ribbon for the win. The set of younger riders, who exhibited a lighter load on the back spine of the horse, raced ahead faster leading the pack of older riders.

Teague, Eckward, Nadean formed the front line. Lark and the two brothers of Brock ran on a second line. The rest of the pack ran alone or in a huddled formation.

In front of the food tables, Grandmother Sloan smiled at the horse race and whispered the word. "One second, two seconds..."

Urall tossed both arms into the air and wiggled side to side in the chair. "The first row has reached the first marker of 66 feet. The second row is running close behind. Tomcat is barely leading. Go, Nadean! Run that steed, honey!"

Jadean frowned. "That white silk dress be ruined."

Sloan smiled with a whisper. "Three seconds, four seconds..."

Urall continued to wave and smile at the race. "The first row has sliced through the white ribbon which is 132 feet. Bobcat is barely leading with the nose of his stallion. Run, Nadean! Run your stallion hard, girl!"

The first row of horses worked every single toned muscle and as a set of four hoofs lifted up into the air coming from the ground all at the same time, racing with each other towards the red colored ribbon too. Nadean, Teague, and Eckward ran nose to nose without stopping, leaving the other horses behind.

Nadean had extended the long white dress over the rump of the black stallion while keeping her legs free from the wadded fabric. Her breasts bounced back and forth into the hard saddle horn with great pain. Her neck rubbed down into the black hair mane that smelled of salt and sweat but she didn't stop the galloping horse and gritted the teeth with mouth drool. She was going to win the race for her daddy Urall, because he asked her too.

Sloan smiled with a whisper. "Eleven seconds..."

Urall continue to sit and shout out loud with a laugh at the race. "There are at half-way mark of 660 feet. Another 660 feet to go! Lookie there! Lookie there! Nadean is leading by a nose. Go, Nadean!"

Nadean slammed the both boot heels into the side belly of the stallion with a shout out. "Yaw! Yaw!" The stallion didn't rear but pounded the hard dirt with more energy creating a trail of dust tornados. She whispered with determination. "Eat my dust bunnies, now, Tomcat!"

Teague galloped a few inches beside the skull of her stallion, kicking his horse without words. Eckward continued to kick and scream at his stallion into running faster for the finish line and the five-hundred-dollar cash money bill that his dad said that Eckward could keep and spend on a set of new items.

In front of the row of dessert food tables, Grandmother Sloan smiled with a whisper at the horse race. "Eighteen seconds..."

Urall rocked side to side inside the chair and waved both arms in the air with a smile. "Go, Nadean! You lead the pack! Run, Nadean, run! You're almost home another 200 feet to go before the finish line."

Jadean exhaled with a puff of annoyance. "She can't ride a horse. She be lost this race for Urall and lost all that monies for us."

The front line of horses with Eckward, Teague and Nadean crossed the finish line.

Sloan slowly stood upright from the broken chair with a smile and a clap, "Nadean won! She won the horse race."

Urall started to stand but sat back down with his injured feet with a smile and a clap. "Nadean won! Go and help Nadean with the horse, Jadean!"

Jadean crossed both arms with a sour frown and shook her head. "She didn't win. It was a tie with Tomcat."

On top of the fire station balcony, the mayor lifted both arms into the air with a smile. "The girl in white won the Druid Day horse race. Congratulations, Nadean Garland! Come over here to the winner's circle for your cash money and a small trophy from me, the mayor of Brier," he back stepped and spun around, slowly moving down the steep staircase towards the ground soil.

Nadean slowed the horse and trotted towards the plot of dirt that sprayed painted in the color of yellow for the winner. Teague slowed his horse and followed behind Nadean with a smile. She stopped the horse inside the painted circle without getting off. Teague halted his horse and slipped off, dashing ahead towards Nadean with a grin. He stopped and stood beside the belly of stallion holding up both arms into the air with a smile. "Fall down into my arms, Duchess! I'll catch your butthole."

Nadean felt too happy at the moment and accepted the assist from Teague after winning the druid Day horse race and the money for her father Urall. She slipped off and landed down on top of his boot toes with a silly giggle and a happy smile, hugging into Teague while waiting on the mayor to appear with the prize.

Eckward slowly the horse and swiftly spun around trotting towards his two other buddies Bear and Lark with a sour frown of defeat. He was close to winning the five hundred dollars in money, if only tough girl Nadean had been disqualified from the race as a stupid female. She was one of three females that had entered the manly race and then she had won on top of the fast stallion within the farm town of Brier. Her father Urall had become injured when the stallion stomped down on his foot and then he asked his oldest child to take his place.

Brock had missed his chance at the money when his horse reared upright from the loud hand gun sound. He didn't bother to run the race as he slowly trotted behind the running pack of horse last without sweating his stallion. He spun around to see the sweet noise with a gasp and raced ahead of the danger.

In front of the first row of tables, Rosalina continued to stare at Teague and Nadean inside the painted circle with a silly laugh and a soft whisper. "They're truly a cute couple. Tomcat seems to like her a lot," she reached over and touched the dish that contained the last blueberry muffin. The mother of Teague, Corene was a very good cook. Rosalina could not resist eating the last muffin, even though it was very bad luck to take the last piece of food on the plate. She wondered who eat the last piece of food, if that were the silly superstitious case. She snatched up the muffin with a giggle and slowly placed it on top of the pile of food when the object hit her leg. Rosalina spun around with a gasp to see the air waves.

The herd of tiny baby goats had escaped out from the crowded pen within the tiny petting zoo at the end of the first row of tables when one of the adults had lifted up the gate. The entire herd galloped ahead on a set of short legs directly towards the warm upright body of Rosalina. She gasped in shock and dropped the food plate onto the ground, reaching down, gathering the long dress and ran backwards in fear. Each baby goat continued to dash ahead and ram a pair of tiny hard horns into each one of her unprotected legs and as she screamed in fear. The pain wasn't too bad. But she needed to escape from the herd.

A pair of strong hands reached down and grabbed the collar bone on Rosalina. She swiftly lifted off the ground into the air and away from the herd of goats, settling the long dress and a pair of exposed legs on top of the worn soft horse saddle in front of the chest of Brock. Brock chuckled in delight and lust into her soft cheekbone. Rosalina was posed spread eagle with her legs between the upright saddle horn, unlike a true southern lady.

Rosalina gasped in shock with a scream. "Get me down, Bear!"

Between the petting zoo and the end of the first food table, "Gets off her! Lets her go! Gets off her!" Birdie swiftly stood upright from the rocking chair with a shout out, dashing towards the herd of stallions. Brock continued to cuddle Rosalina between his arms on top of the horse with a wicked smile without letting her go.

From the side, Eckward trotted up and halted, standing his horse beside Brock with a worried brow. "Don't scare the horses into rearing, Miss Birdie! Rosalina's safe and okay from the herd of runaway goats."

Brock reached down and hugged both of the arms of Rosalina as she could not move away from the Brock or off the horse. He smiled. "Rosalina's safe here on my horse. Ain't that right, girl?" Rosalina struggled side to side trying to slip off the horse but the horse was tall and Brock was strong for a sixth grader. He continued to cuddle her into his chest with a smile.

Birdie reached back and thrust a hand forward toward the horse as the father of Brock, Owen captured the flying hand with a worried brow. "Don't scare the stallion, Birdie! They didn't like pain. Get away from the animal! Move back towards the table for your safety, Birdie!"

Birdie swiftly moved backwards with a sour frown and jabbed a finger at Brock, "He gots my girl."

Owen spun around and looked up with a smile to see Brock cuddling pretty Rosalina like a sweetheart, "It's okay, Birdie! Bear saved her from the pen of runaway goats. Are you okay, Rosalina?"

Rosalina exhaled with a red face of embarrassment from the capture and the goats. "Yes sir!"

"Good, girl! Come on down here, Rosalina!" Owen shifted closer to the horse and held both arms into the air with a smile.

Brock continued to cuddle Rosalina with a smile. "I got her tucked with me good, Daddy. Me and my stallion can trot her back home from the fair grounds. Do you like that plan, Rosalina?" Rosalina continued to wiggle side to side in silence embarrassment.

He laughed, "Naw, boy! Release her, Bear! Come on down, Rosalina! I'll catch you before you fall onto the ground, sweetheart," Owen wiggled both hands in the air with a smile.

Brock leaned down and sweet breathed into her cheekbone. "Okay. I'm going to slip you to the side of the horse. My daddy will catch up. Is that okay, Rosalina?" He unfolded both of his arms.

Rosalina slid sideways and slipped down with the arm strength of Brock and landed in front of the Owen. He back stepped with a smile. She slowly moved ahead and away from the laughing group of male teens with a sour frown.

Owen reached out and patted the stallion with a smile to Brock and Eckward, "Alright! The day's done here on Druid Day. Get back home, boys! Get dressed for the dance this evening! The sun's falling down quickly." Eckward slowly spun around and trotted towards his house. Owen spun around and moved towards his horse with a smile.

Brock continued to sit on top of his horse and stared with a smile at the back spine of Rosalina shouting out loud. "I'll getting ready for the dance now. I'll save you a dance also. See you there, Rosalina!"

Rosalina slowly moved ahead with a growling stomach towards the last wagon that would take her back home to her small house on Schoolhouse Road. She didn't have a new or nice long gown to wear the Druid dance, since she had never been to the dance, because Birdie had never attended the dinner and the dance, only the daylight Druid Day event. She climbed up into the wagon with the other adults, children, and kids that didn't have a horse with a slight smile, sitting down on the edge of the tail gate. She could smell the pine smelled soap and dry sweat that clung onto both of her arms coming from cute Brock. She really liked that he hugged her body so tight and close while the action made her girly hormones sing with joy. The wagon jolted with a jerk and then slowed steered ahead back towards the gray pavement of Schoolhouse Road. She continued to sit and see each rump of a walking horse that slowly moved back to their master's home including the back spine of Brock with a deep sigh of happiness for one day.

Sunday November 20th

Dull sunshine and cold temperatures

Home of Birdie Burns

and two daughters Bertha and Rosalina

Outdoor lawn and gravel driveway

05:00 p.m.

Her uncle Dickie drove from his house and stopped his personal sedan over the gravel driveway of his sister Birdie with a sour frown. The yard was more gravel and dirt than grass. But the dirt was better than the high weeds that had occupied the front lawn before he started providing money to his sister Birdie for a lawn company to cut and manicure the overgrown yard.

He killed the engine on the car and opened the door, standing upright in front of seat.

The front door of the shack opened. Berth ran out the front door with a smile, waving the small sliver of paper and stopped in front of her blood-relative, "Gots good grade, Dickie."

Dickie continued to stand and stare at his uneducated niece with a sour frown. "You will address me as Uncle Dickie, Bertha."

She continued to wave the piece of paper with a smile, "Gots good grade, Uncle Dickie. Sees here!"

Dickie reached out a hand and accepted the report card with a fake smile, seeing the letter grade of D, which was a vast improvement over the letter grade of F for his niece. "Yes, you have achieved a very good grade..."

She reached out and opened the palm with a nod and a smile, "Wants monies too."

He exhaled. "Yes, you do deserve a reward," he reached down and withdrew the pocket wallet, pulling out a single dollar bill with a smile. "One dollar...

"Naw, me wants fives dollars, not ones dollar."

He exhaled. "No, you will receive a five-dollar bill when your letter grade becomes the alphabetic symbol of C for the word, cat."

She screamed out loud with a sour frown, "Naw, wants a fives dollar, now!"

He exhaled. "No, you will receive a one-dollar bill."

She stomped both feet and balled both fists with a sour frown, "Naw. Me, gots good grades than her."

Dickie exhaled. "I am sorry. I do not understand. What are you trying to say to me, Bertha?"

Bertha laughed. "Me, gots good grades better than her, now," she thumbed back over a collar bone towards the front door. "Wants more money. I's smarter than her, now."

Rosalina rushed out the front door of the tiny shack with a worried brow and stopped, standing beside her sister Bertha. "I will share some of my money with you, Bertha," she handed her report card to Dickie without smiling. Her grades displayed a set of average scores, not her usual outstanding grades.

Dickie accepted the report card with a fake smile. "I will award Rosalina with a five-dollar bill for her series of average grades," he pulled out and handed the bill to Rosalina as Bertha reached out and snatched the bill, cuddling into her chest, spinning around with a laugh and ran back into the shack. Dickie exhaled with a fake smile. "I came here to take you to dinner, Rosalina. Should we go?"

Rosalina exhaled with a nod in silence. She didn't want to waste his time or his money. Dickie started coming in the late afternoon on Sunday to talk about her grades and her studies in school. Rosalina scooted around the car and slid into the passenger seat with a fake smile.

Cole's Catfish Restaurant

(Two miles, south, from Rosalina's home)

Sunset of pinks, blues, and yellows and cold air temperatures

05:05 p.m.

He parked the car and killed the engine with a smile. "I'm craving a plate of fried catfish tonight. Is that okay with you, Rosalina?" He reached over and cracked the door with a nod.

"Yes sir!" She climbed out the car and moved ahead with Dickie, entering inside the nice restaurant. They sat down at the table.

At the food booth, Dickie ordered quickly two plates of fished catfish and two tumblers of sweet tea. The waitress returned with two beverages with a smile and then left them alone.

Rosalina reached up and tapped on the sweaty glass with a stern face in silence.

Dickie reached out and sipped the cold beverage, gently placing the tumbler onto the surface with a stern face. "I was wondering..."

She stared at him with a stern face and a nod. "You were wondering about my grades. I don't know what happened or is happening to me, Uncle Dickie. I study and study and study all the textbooks, every day and every night. Then when I take the test, I make. I am making a set of average grades. I always thought that I was smart. I guess that I am average."

"I was wondering about the incident at the Druid Day event."

She exhaled. "What incident?"

"I heard about the horse, of course, and the goats."

She frowned. "Who told you that?"

He smiled. "Your mother, of course, she was worried. When she worries, she does talk to me, sometimes."

She nodded with a smile. Her uncle Dickie will visit with his sister Birdie to delivery grocery bags of food and pay the lawn service money to rack the grass and rocks while the children were in school. She giggled with her girly emotions of hugging into the chest of cute Brock. "O that! It was a funny situation."

He frowned. "Where you injured when trying to escape from the galloping herd of goats?"

She giggled again. "No, I was fine." Since Rosalina had been saved like a princess by cute Brock on top of his horse like a knight in shiny cowboy boots.

"Did Brock hurt you, Rosalina?"

She gasped. "How do you know about Brock and his horse?"

He flipped a hand towards the window with a nod. "I lived here also. I attended school with all the parents in your school class."

She smiled. "Of course, I forgot that. No. I am fine."

He smiled. "I was concerned. I know of Brock's father and the other fathers here at Brier."

She grinned. "I was fine. The Druid Day was a fun event, this year."

"I am glad to hear that you had fun."

The waitress returned with two platters of food and placed in front of each customer with a smile. They both consumed the meal in silence.

Dickie chewed the food and then wiped the mouth with the napkin, staring stared down at the light brown colored hair roots of Rosalina. "I wanted to talk about your father."

She chewed the food and looked up with a puzzled brow to see her uncle. "What about my father?" She gasped with a smile. "Did you locate my father?"

He exhaled. "Your father has passed away into heaven, Rosalina."

She lifted up and rubbed both eyelashes staring to sob and cry with painful sorrow. "How do you know that?"

He exhaled. "Your father called me from his hospital bed..."

"You didn't call me. I wanted to see my father."

"Your father was living in the beach city of Mobile. Mobile is very far away from here, a four or five-hour drive by an automobile."

"I wanted to see my father."

He exhaled with a nod. "I am sorry, Rosalina. Your father wanted me to tell you that he was sorry. He left you and Bertha to make a better life for his person. He didn't want to leave you but he couldn't stand being around Birdie. He said that he loved you. He remembered you as a tiny infant. He had not ever returned back to Brier. He left out from the house and worked as a construction worker on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico waters for many years. Then he became injured, very seriously. He was living his final days at the hospital. But he found out that I was a physician here in Huntsville and had his doctor find and contact me. Our hospital telephone conversation was very short. He loved you, Rosalina. I told him everything about you. He was really proud of your accomplishments and wanted you to continue to success. He had suffered a heart attack while on the telephone and then he was gone."

She continued to sob and nod in silence. "I wished that I could have met him one time."

He reached out and patted her arm with a nod and a stern face. "I wished that, too. He was a good man, Rosalina. My sister Birdie is a hard woman to love. Your father did his best here on the planet. We just have to pray that he is happy now."

Yes sir!" She continued to sob and cry with a sad face.

Dickie exhaled with a heavy heart. "I have some more bad news, Rosalina."

She exhaled with a set of deep emotions and wiped off the sad tears with the napkin. "Nothing can be that bad after hearing that my father has passed into heaven. I...I will never meet him here."

He exhaled with a nod. "I do understand, since I lost my father at a young age also. And I really hate to say this. But you should not mention about the passing of your father to your mother."

"I will not," she nodded in silence and did not want a fight with her mother.

He frowned. "And I really hate to mention this also."

She motioned with a hand. "What is it, Uncle Dickie?"

"I can explain why your academic grades are so poor."

She gasped. "Why? I am sick or ill or something."

"You need a pair of corrective eyeglasses. This is why your grades have decreased down to average scores. Your eyeballs are not seeing all the information for your tests."

She gasped and covered and uncovered her eyeballs with a gasp. "No. I can see everything."

He shook the skull with a stern face. "You need a pair of correction eyeballs for your homework assignments."

She gasped. "I must wear a pair of eyeglasses."

He smiled with a nod. "And you need a pair of ugly steel covered braces for your set of crooked teeth."

"No!" She shook her curls and held both hands inside her face. "No!"

He exhaled with a grin. "I am so sorry to tell you these awful things, Rosalina. Now, your mother will not be suspicious about the presentation of your red and swollen face and running nose of snot that came from hearing the tragedy news of your father."
Thirteen years old Rosalina

03:03 p.m.

Home of Birdie and her two daughters

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

The school bus rolled away from the tiny house over the smooth gray pavement to the next house which was located down the road. The two girls ran from the school bus and the roadway, moving to the door.

The front door of the house opened.

Bertha entered and stopped, standing and blocked the entrance into the house with her extra large body of fat and muscle that was underneath a heap of bronze colored skin from working outside inside the garden, tossing both arms into the air. She never brought home a school book for academic studying. Her nostrils smelled the fresh odor of suppertime, and as she yelled and tossed both arms with a sour frown. "Cornbread and grits again, Ma. I wants meat."

Her mother Birdie always prepared the supper meal for her two children after Rosalina almost burned down the house at the age of eleven years old. She always cooked cornbread and grits for her girls.

Now, she continued to rock back and forth inside the rocking chair with a set of closed eyeballs. The television was broken at the moment. Her hand held a large brown colored tumbler of liquid. She said with a stern face. "Yee shalt not kill. Saint Peter laid his ass on the dirt sees God. God saids rise and ate except animals around yee. Animals dirty, don't eat. Child, yee do not eat meats of animal..." She continued to rock back and forth inside the rocking chair, sipping on the tumbler.

A car pulled up and stopped inside the driveway, echoing the sound of the powerful engine over the short ugly lawn and through the open door of the house.

Bertha turned with a gasp, running ahead, knocking Rosalina from the archway and dashed to the car.

At 03:17 p.m. inside the outside weedy lawn setting, the car stopped. Then the door opened.

Bertha back stepped from car door like she had been ordered by her uncle when he arrived to visit the homestead. She stood inside the short weeds and pretty wildflowers that made up the yard with a grin and a nod.

The brother of Birdie, Uncle Dickie left the car door and turned with a smile and a nod to see Bertha. "Good afternoon, Bertha!"

Bertha crossed both arms with a distorted face, stomping both unpolished cowboy boots, wearing the oversized cotton dress toward the edge of wintertime in Alabama with a yell. "I wants meats. Mama gots cornbread pones, but I wants meats too."

He nodded with a fake smile, wanting to roll his eyeballs and yell at the teenager. However, a yelling or a spanking would not change the attitude or aptitude of the elderly daughter of Birdie. Bertha was the size of high school football defensive end football player at the age of thirteen years old. She was very tall with both fat and muscle around the upper and lower body extremes from eating her full plate of food and three more plates of food during each meal time.

He smiled. "I will run to the grocery store and purchase a bucket of fried chicken to accompany the cornbread. Is that acceptable, Bertha."

Bertha danced side to side, clapping with a smile, drooling with a tongue. "Yeah, yeah, yee do that, Uncle Dickie."

Rosalina dashed ahead with a smile to her uncle Dickie, stopping and stood away from Bertha with a puff of worry. Dickie nodded with a smile to Bertha. "That is an excellent suggestion for supper tonight, Bertha. Should we go to the grocery store for the evening meal, Rosalina?

"Yes sir." Rosalina back stepped and entered the car for the ride to the grocery store.

At 04:04 pm inside the Brier Grocery Store on one of the merchandise aisles, Rosalina slowly pushed the shopping kart down each aisle. Her uncle reached over and selected each food item with care for the growing family of two teenage females, studying the ingredients on the single can.

A loud soprano female voice yelled in the distance coming from behind the back spine of Dickie. "Betty, be gone! Betty, be gone!"

Rosalina cringed and closed her eyelashes, recognizing the soprano voice of Zeeta, hearing the giggle of Zeeta too behind a back spine. Zeeta advanced ahead from the back spine of Rosalina and Dickie and stopped, standing next to the nose profile of Rosalina with a laugh. "Betty, be gone!"

Dickie turned with a fake smile to see Zeeta. "Good afternoon! I am her uncle. Have we ever met before, young lady?"

Abby pulled up behind and reached out, caressing the back spine of Dickie with a smile. "Dickie, how are you doing? I am fine. Thank you for asking! It has been a long, long time. Where do you live now? O. This is my daughter Zeeta. Did you invite Rosalina to your birthday party, Zeeta, tonight?"

"O. You are invited to my party, tonight, Rosalina," she turned and winked at Rosalina "Don't worry about bringing a..."

Abby exhaled with a puff of annoyance. "Presents are not requested. Do not embarrass me, child! No gifts are expected. This is a fun time for the teenagers at my house which will be chaperoned. I promise. Let's go, Zeeta! We have items to buy for the party. See you later, Dickie!" Abby moved ahead and disappeared around the aisle corner with a giggle.

Zeeta moved ahead with a shout out and a laugh. "See ya'll there, Betty, darling!"

Dickie leaned down with a confused brow over the light brown hair roots of Rosalina, seeing the back spine of Abby and Zeeta. "Why does she call you by the wrong name?"

Rosalina turned with a giggle and grin, reaching out for another can of food. "Zeeta has more breasts than brains." She turned and frowned to her uncle. "You don't have to take me to the party."

He reached out and grabbed two cans of food with a smile and a nod. "You deserve some fun, Rosalina. Life is very short and very precious. I do not mind driving you to a fun teen party with our peers. I believe that a new social function would raise your spirits and get you away from that depressing house for one evening. And you should provide a lovely birthday girl for the young teen. It will raise her spirits too."

Rosalina turned and placed the can of food inside the shopping kart with a worried brow and a sigh of obedience of an adult, "Yes sir.

07:07 p.m.

Home setting of Abby

and her husband and daughter Zeeta

Cool temperatures and bright moonlight with bright stars

Three-story structured boasted a set of five large tall columns, covering the front porch. The manor was designed within the Greek revival style that was similar to all the larger manor house around the farm town of Brier.

The tiny farm town of Brier was one of the first cotton towns within Alabama, attracting males with a big ego and a better dream. The males and their biological families did very well in cotton farming business. All of the descendants of Brier came from the original settlers of the year 1818.

The car pulled ahead from the roadway and stopped over the nicely paved driveway of black. The passenger side door opened. Rosalina scooted out the seat and stood upright with a blank face and a deep sigh, surrounding the landscape of the house and the driveway. She did not see any more cars over the driveway.

Dickie opened the door and stood upright on top of the driveway while scanning the house and driveway with a confused brow. "Where are the other vehicles? Corene mentioned that this was a supervised social event which means other adults."

She did not want to embarrass her uncle, clearing a throat with a fake smile. "There is more parking around the back of the manor, Uncle Dickie. I suspect that the staying parents, who were supervising, did not want to block the driveway for the other guest."

He turned and nodded with a smile to Rosalina. "That was an excellent idea. Let's move toward the front porch. Now, I shall come and collect you at..."

She cleared a throat with nervousness, since she really wanted to leave. But she could ask the mother of Zeeta to take her home after staying for thirty...naw...fifteen minutes which was enough time for her uncle to leave the property line.

They moved ahead and stomped up the brick covered stairs, stopping and stood in front of the double doors of white hue with a set of well lighted outside lamps.

She smiled at the nicely painted stark white front door. "I can bump a ride home from Zeeta's mom. You can go back home to Huntsville for the evening. I appreciate you accepting the birthday invitation from Zeeta and bringing me here, tonight, Uncle Dickie."

"Well..."

She faked a smile. "It'll be okay. I attend school with all these students. They know me. I know them. You live in Huntsville and it is later at night."

"Well..."

She turned and smiled at his nose profile. "Thanks for being the daddy that I don't have, Uncle Dickie."

"You are welcome, Rosalina." He reached out and knocked on the door with a smile.

The front door opened.

Abby stood inside the archway and greeted with a smile and a wink at Dickie as she continued the tradition of southern flirty slut of Brier like her biological daughter Zeeta. Abby was married but couldn't stop eyeballing the other males. Dickie was a successful physician, who lived in the big city of Huntsville and he was a single bachelor and not married. Abby always was curious about a male that was not married, wondering if he needed a real woman like her. Her marriage was solid but lately there were a series of cat fights about their teenage daughter Zeeta.

She smiled. "Hi there! Welcome, Dickie! Ya'll come on in to my home. Do you want a drink, Dickie? The teenagers are both loud and obnoxious this time of night. The teens are outside on the patio, Rosalina. Go through the patio doors!" She turned and shoved on the back spine of Rosalina toward the closed patio door.

Rosalina moved ahead from the car and stopped, standing in front of the glass door of the rear patio. The back yard didn't have show a set of bright flood lights, coming from the edge of the rooftop like the other large plantation homes. She frowned with confusion.

Abby smiled. "The other teens are out on the patio deck. Go on, girl! I wanna sit and talk with Dickie for a little while."

Dickie back stepped with a smile from the married woman and spun around, tossing a hand into the air. "Rosalina, enjoy the birthday party! I will come back within three hours to collect you, dear. Have a nice evening, Abby!" He swiftly moved ahead and exited the house towards his car with a chuckle of amusement. His old classmate Abby always had been the class whore during high school.

"Yes ma'am!" Rosalina exhaled with a puff of worry and reached out, touching the door handle of the patio door with a fake smile. The patio door slid open. She could see a blazing fire inside a pit and a set of folded bodies, stepping down the brick steps and stopped, standing in front of the food table, reaching out for the cold beverage with a smile.

"Betty, be gone!" The female voice yelled with a laugh and as the body of the short female advanced and stood in front of Rosalina.

Rosalina jerked the hand from the table of food and spun around with a sour frown. "My name is Rosalina, Fawn."

Fawn was the girlfriend of Brock who had been named Bear by his buddy Teague. Fawn grinned with a giggle. "What are you doing here, Betty, be gone?"

Rosalina turned to see a row of long tables in front of exterior brick wall, seeing each item with a stern face and a worried heart. "It is a birthday party for Zeeta. She invited me this afternoon. I saw her and her mama at the grocery store while shopping. Please excuse me! I need to say hello to the birthday girl." She moved away from Fawn with a puff of annoyance and halted with a frown.

One of the tenth grade males appeared and stood beside the nose profile of Rosalina, reaching out and grabbing and jerked the arm of Rosalina toward his chest with a smile. "Hey! I see you face all the time at school. Why are here at Zeeta's house? I didn't think you were that kind of girl." Rosalina pulled back from the male, who smelled of alcohol and cigarette smoke with a gasp of worry.

A second hand reached out and grabbed the bicep of the tenth grade male and as the person moved and sneered with a nasty tone into the eardrum of the tenth grader. "Yeah, right, bubba! She ain't that kind of girl. Go back to your old whore, tenth grader!"

The tenth grader continued to gripe the arm of Rosalina, turning and sneered into the nose bridge of the other male, "Ya going to make me, eighth grader?"

"I'll going to beat the makeup outta your ugly nostrils." Taller and meaner Brock reached over and shoved the tenth grader away from Rosalina, reaching down and grabbed her arm, cuddling her into his chest for protection with a worried brow into her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited to the birthday party of Zeeta."

He exhaled. "Rosalina, this party is not really a birthday one. There is frosted cake and vanilla ice cream but smoking cigarettes and some homemade nasty alcohol from Teague's illegal moonshine still. He and his daddy make it illegal and such but for fun. No money exchange, I promise. It tastes like cow shit on a good day. I don't know about this quick batch for today's special event, thou."

She turned and narrowed the eyelashes with a gasp into the dull night. "Cigarettes and moonshine, my uncle would never approve. If he hears about the items at a party, I...I will be in trouble. And my uncle has left..."

He reached up and rubbed the arching neck with a sad brow with worry for Rosalina in silence.

Zeeta moved ahead from the dark wall corner of the house, stomping ahead and stopped, standing in front of the Bear and Rosalina, wearing a pair of smeared lipstick of red from her lips over to her cheekbone and to the earlobe from kissing on her man Teague. "Betty, be gone, you make it. I can't believe it. And I'm so excited."

Rosalina reached out and extended the small gift that her uncle insisted upon purchasing. Then, he insisted upon her presenting to her classmate Zeeta. "A little token..."

Zeeta laughed with a nod. "You do break the rules. My mama said no gifts. So, I'll pair you with..."

"Me!" Brock exhaled with a nod.

Zeeta turned with a gasp to see Brock. "Bear, you came with..."

"Me!" Rosalina gasped in worry.

Brock reached out and grabbed the arm of Rosalina, scooting her into his chest for protection from the older male teens while whispering down into her eardrum. "Me and you need to leave right now. This is a naughty party, not a nice party."

She gasped. "I can't...

He moved ahead and cuddled her with a smile. "I'll drive you back on the rear of my motorcycle. I got an extra helmet. I'll take you away from here, Rosalina. You should not be here ever, Rosalina. You should go back home right now, Rosalina," Brock swiftly escorted her safely around the dark side of the house and quickly moved towards his parked motorcycle, taking Rosalina back home while getting her away from the older teen males and the naughty teen females.
Fourteen years old Rosalina

First week within the month of April

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

01:11 p.m.

Brier Middle School

Ninth Grade Classroom Social Studies

The teacher stood in front of the black board with a smile and a nod to each student. "Good morning, class. Today, we will hike inside the warm springtime weather for our next class assignment in Alabama history. After our outdoor adventure, you are required to write a one-page essay of the chosen topic. You may write more than one page also. I plan to present the best written essay in the local Social Studies Fair which is next week. If you place with a colored ribbon of blue tinted first, red hue of second, or yellow colored honorable mention, then you will receive a saving bond for fifty dollars and a trophy. If you are chosen to enter the Social Studies Fair, you will be exempted from the final test at the end of the semester. So, for our little jolt we are going to the local church grave yard."

"No."

"Naw."

"Yeehaw."

"Boo."

"What?"

"Why?"

"Mrs. Turner?"

Mrs. Turner continued to smile and nod at each student. "Your essay will comprise an explanation of why a grave yard exists."

Kersey laughed with a nod. "To bury the fool, so the dead body don't stink up the creek waters!"

The teacher nodded with a smile to Kersey. "That is a good start for you, Kersey. But I do except a full page of handwritten essay for class at the end of the week. Get up and out of your chair! We hike it today. Please lead us, Waverly, out the school, across the street, and towards the church yard."

Rosalina continued to sit inside the student desk with a confused brow, waiting for the small class of twenty students to exit the classroom. She reached down and grabbed the notebook, turning with a puzzled brow to see the open archway and numerous back spine of each classmate with a whisper. "I am being graded on an essay of a graveyard. This school is really weird." The rest of the students exited out from the classroom with the academic teacher sounding with a set of laughs and giggles. She stood upright from the student desk with a smile and spun around to face the open archway, following behind the other students.

Outside the sidewalk, all the students left the school building and moved across the road.

The school bus traveled down the county road which was named Schoolhouse Road and turned away from Brier Church. The brick on the ancient church had been made in a brick kilt stove that had been oven baked by the first settlers in the year 1818. The church stood two-stories high with a set of four rooms. The ground auditorium contained ten pews on each side of the speaker podium and a piano in the wall corner. There were two ground level rooms for a Sunday school class that provided instruct for the kids and one for teens. The fellowship hall could seat hundred people to eat a plate of pork barbeque and drink a cold tumbler of sweet tea during the afternoon lunch or an evening wedding reception.

The unique feature of the oldest church within the US State of Alabama, the entrance way stood between a set of two columns that held all the bricks over the white steeple on top of the roof and the brick entrance way that faced the graveyard.

The gravesite was located in the rear, the sides, and the front yard of the church while reminding a person that you were to be long on the planet Earth and should make the best of your time. Brother Sinclair also preached the same words every Sunday morning at ten o'clock during the local church service.

This quiet place held the original sixty-two settlers and their dead sons, daughters, grand children, and great-grandchildren, who all had lived and died here in the farm town of Brier.

At 01:33 p.m. inside the church graveyard setting, Rosalina slowly strolled far enough behind the gang of Tomcat, Bobcat, Bear, and Lark who each possessed a silly nicknamed with their silly nicknamed girlfriend without catching any verbal or physical insult. These particular males and females ruled the ninth grade classroom. On any day of the school week, Tomcat could be a real ugly asshole to your person for some sucky reason, except he was not every sucky or nasty to Nadean Garland for some odd reason.

Rosalina stopped in front of the ancient tombstone and looked down with a smile while writing out the some of the names coming from the ancient grave. She did not know all the death stories, but Rosalina thought that her mom did.

Birdie seemed to exist within the living dead when intoxicated with the numerous plastic tall glasses of whiskey that was combined with sweet tea. She might be able to provide Rosalina with a set of scary ghost stories for the nine grade academic assignment. Then Rosalina could win a blue ribbon within the Social Studies Fair.

Inside the graveyard, Tomcat stopped in front of another tombstone and cuddled his girlfriend Zeeta over the dirt and the patch of green fallen leaves, pointing down at the broken tombstone with a laugh and a smile, "This spot is Lark's secret hangout," he chuckled with his friend.

Brock or silly nicknamed Bear stopped and stood over the tombstone with a smile and a chuckle. "It's our secret make-out place. Me and Fawn come here every Saturday night, bro." He pointed down with a smile at the tombstone that resembled a hard and flat bed mattress. "Do you see that there long silver granite grave status! It's old man Woody's personal tombstone. It looks like a sorta curved out and cozy sofa, but it feels like a hard ass sofa on my naked ass. Me and Fawn, we come here and do the wild thing there at night when it's all lonely and dark and quiet. No folks to bother us for hours and hours and hours. All the he-ghosts and she-ghosts like our loud moaning. Ain't that right, Fawn?" He laughed with his friends.

"What about all the other dead ghosts? Ain't you are afraid of a spooky ghost, Lark?"

"The ghosts like our sweet moaning," Bear hugged and kissed her forehead of Fawn, pulling back with a wink and a smile. "Ain't that right, honey?"

Fawn giggled. "I like our sweet sweat, too."

Rosalina slowly moved ahead with a giggle to the next tombstone while writing down all the information for the class assignment in silence.

Lark turned and frowned at each tombstone. "What's the purpose of a grave yard anyways? They're all dead. They can't see or smell it or hear it."

Rosalina stood in place with a smile and cleared a throat. "A grave yard exists to contain the walking spirits of the dead from traveling down the paved highway into your personal bedroom."

"Bull shit, girl." Eckward spun around with a sour frown to see Rosalina.

Rosalina nodded with a smile and pointed down at the tombstone. "I can prove my theory. This is the head stone of old man Woolley Wilson. He chopped up his young calf for his supper and then chopped up his young wife for his jealousy. Old man Woolley found out about the passionate love affair with his young neighbor and his young wife. Now days, the ghost of old man Woolley walks around each grave stone with the bloody axe that is tossed over a right shoulder. He was a right-handed farmer, searching for his young wife. He calls out when the wind carries her name over the manicured grass. He says 'Winnee! Winnee! Winnee, come here to the barn.' Old man Woolley lived out his long life without going to jail for the vicious murder, since it was only rumored that his pretty wife and that young handsome farmer had eloped on cold winter's night away from our small farm town of Brier."

Brock spun around and nodded with a smile to Rosalina. "That's right! She's right."

Rosalina spun around and pointed down to a different tombstone with a smile. "There is a pretty girl down there. She and her new groom marched down the staircase steps, when she up and tripped on her mama's borrowed wedding dress. Back then, a girl just wore her mama's wedding dress to save money. Well, her face hit first, landed second, and busted last down on the flat concrete floor. Then, poor Veraminta died right there on the bloody concrete of the walkway in board daylight under the noon-time sun. On a misty foggy night, the church bell will ting with a dull low baritone bong. That's her! The she-ghost doesn't come out a lot as she is depressed and sad. They say that the she-ghost sits up in that tall bell tower while watching over the new brides and their new grooms all day and night. They say that the she-ghost only appears during the misty foggy night when the moonlight doesn't bother to show her busted nose and she two blackened eye sockets."

Brock nodded with a smile at Rosalina. "That's right. Rosalina is right."

Rosalina shook her curls and turned to stare at the twin tombstones with sadness. "Poor kids! He and she were sister and brother here within small farm town Brier. They played together around the old mill pond, without the presence of their loving mama or daddy. Their parents worked the crop fields during harvest time and plowing and gathering of bags of cotton bolls. One day, a storm blew overhead, a mean red storm of a tornado. That tornado hit the ground clearing cows, cotton, and two kids all up from the red clay soil. The children tumbled down into the pond water and then drowned from all high winds and all rough waves on the small deep pond. They never found their human bones. It was four years later, when it was a dry hot drought. The pond water had receded down low below the dirt. Then all their human bones were found and recovered. At night underneath the moonlight, the children-ghosts will play hide and seek around their twin tombstones right here inside the graveyard," she nodded to each student.

"Get going, Betty, Be gone!" Zeeta spun around from the rows of tombstones with a sour frown and moved ahead, stopping and stood with a sneer in front of the nose bridge of Rosalina.

Rosalina back stepped with a smirk from the sour breath of Zeeta, turning and moved to the next gravestone with a soft giggle. "I'm going."

Fawn wiped the tears of worry, hugging into the arms of Brock. "I'm going to be followed home by a set of she-ghosts, since I'm been doing the naught thing here. All the she-ghost saw me, since only a she-ghost sees a female like me. I don't wanna come here ever again, Bear. I hate the grave yard."

Zeeta turned a distorted face and sneered at the back spine of Rosalina, reaching over and patted the arm of Fawn with a soft timber. "Now, it's all a lie and a fib. Betty, Be gone is dumb and stupid. This is only a graveyard of graves. There's nothing here but trees and grass and lots of old crumbling tombstones."

Rosalina moved further down the marked tombstones and stopped, turning to scan the graveyard in the distance, looking at the object with a smile. The old tower was tall and dull yellow tinted from numerous years of neglect. Then, the tower bell slowly sounded with a deep bong.

Zeeta swung around with a gasp to face the old bell tower with a worried brow. "What is that sound?"

Waverly moved from the rear of the group and stood beside the nose profile of Zeeta, facing the old tower bell and scanned the graves with a stern face and a serious tone. "The he-ghosts like to sound the old broken bell during the early afternoon, right after lunchtime. I don't understand why we are all here inside the church graveyard. I'm very glad that it is bright sunlight."

Bobcat pulled up and stood upright beside Waverly, facing the old tower with a confused brow as the broken bell contained to smoothly sound with a set of musical bongs. "Why are you glad that we are here inside the grave yard in the bright sunlight?"

Waverly narrowed the eyelids and turned, scanning each tombstone with a smile. "The sunlight hides all the walking dead of each raised spirit coming from each grave plot. I thought that each redneck knew that death face. Geez! My grandpop warned me when I was a little tick not to ever come into the graveyard, unless there was a preacher-man present to ward..."

Teague swung around from the grave tombstone and moved ahead, reaching out and grabbed onto the arm of Zeeta, jerking her into a chest and dashed back toward the set of open rusty gates with a stern face and a serious tone. "It's time to leave from here, ya'll. I got enough information about graves and grave stones and grave spirits and stuff to finish my social studies paper." All the friends of Tomcat spun around to face the back spine of Teague and followed behind the ass of Teague, dashing ahead towards the set of rusty gates with a set of mumbles and gasps, leaving out from the graveyard.

Rosalina continued to stand and stare at the old tower with a slight smirk, hearing the low bongs from the broken bell. Waverly moved ahead and stood beside her nose profile with a smile. She stared at the tower and bumped into his elbow with a giggle. "Thanks!"

Waverly looked back over a collar bone with a smile at to see the set of wiggling buttholes of Teague and all his cocky redneck friends. "What a bunch of scary-cat rednecks and their stupid redneck belles?"

She turned and smiled at the wiggling buttholes of Teague and all his friends too. "Intelligence is mighty than the hot and heated bull shit patty."

He smiled with a nod. "Everyone knows that Farmer Black on the other side of the graveyard rings that annoying bell after lunchtime to call home all the wandering cows for milking."

"Not everyone!" Rosalina laughed with Waverly.
Sixteen years old Rosalina

Second week of April

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

8:18 a.m.

Brier High School

Eleventh Grade

English Literature location

Classroom setting of Mrs. Hocutt

Fat and overweight with a tone of pale tinted skinned, Mrs. Hocutt sat inside the teacher desk of English literature class for the junior class, sipping a cup of steaming coffee, eating a breakfast muffin. She mumbled between the crumbs of sweet bread at the first period high school students. "Good morning. Today is reserved for your science project." The students sound with a series of moans, slapping both hands over the naked desk surface with a set of loud thuds.

"O no, ho...cutt," Kersey shouted out loud coming from the next to last row with a chuckle and a clap of delight of annoyance at the teacher. All the teen males sat in the rear of the room, since they were taller and louder than the other students within the classroom. The other students sounded with a series of chuckles and giggles, hearing the tart statement from the lips of Kersey.

Hocutt frowned with a set of closed lips, chewing and swallowing with a sour frown and a matching tone. "I heard that, Kersey. Be quiet! Or meet the principal's paddle. Now, this is your regular class to construct grammar sentences and recite famous literature from around the world."

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. Like me ride you to junior prom, Renita." Nash turned with a smile and thrust out both arms with a chuckle and a wink to the girlfriend.

Kersey clapped with a laugh at the rear skull of Nash. "Don't rhyme, Nash."

Renita turned with a giggle and a wiggle of a hand of fingers to her boyfriend, "For shore, Nash!"

Nash leaned over and slapped the collar bone of Waverly with a nod and a wink. "Got my prom date, ya'll."

"Touché, sir." Waverly nodded with a smile.

Hocutt lifted up and sipped the warm coffee, removing the cup, holding up in the air with a sour frown to each student. "Here at Brier High, we don't have a science teacher, a science class, or a science fair as we are a small cotton farm town. However, the folks down in our state capital..." She cleared a throat with a smile. "What is the state capital of Alabama for a swift pop quiz of fifty points to your total letter grade?" She ate the breakfast treat.

"Montgomery." Waverly shouted with a nod and a smile.

"Don't know, ho...cutt," Kersey yelled out loud with a laugh.

Hocutt chewed and swallowed the food with a smile, "Very good and very swift, Waverly! Very bad and very swift, Kersey! I look forward to hearing or seeing your science project, today, Waverly." Some of the students sounded with a series of hisses and boos. Some of the students sounded with a series of claps and cheers. Hocutt shouted out loud, "Quiet down, class! The folks down in our state capital require one hour of science teaching..."

"I do believe it is a requirement of one semester of science teaching, Mrs. Hocutt." Waverly frowned.

"Don't know, ho...cutt," Kersey yelled out loud with a laugh.

"There ain't enough neurons in this class to make up one semester of science teaching." Teague shouted out loud with a clap and a laugh. Some of the students sounded with a series of hisses and boos. Some of the students sounded with a series of claps and cheers.

Hocutt said, "Quiet down in here! Alright! Your science project is to be a few minutes long..."

"How long to be precise, Mrs. Hocutt?" Waverly frowned.

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled with a laugh.

Hocutt chewed and swallowed. "This is an hour long class. Sixty minutes divided by twenty-four schoolers is..."

"Two minutes and five second per science presentation, Mrs. Hocutt." Waverly nodded with a grin.

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled with a laugh.

Waverly looked down to see his wrist watch and Hocutt. "However, five minutes has expired for the hour. So, it would be two minutes and nine seconds, now."

Hocutt chewed and swallowed with a smile, "Very good and very swift, Waverly! Very bad and very swift, Kersey! Now, each student will present below two minutes, so we can finish this thing today and move back to literature..."

Kersey laughed with a yell. "Twinkle, twinkle little star, I often wonder where you are at in the great big night sky." Some of the students sounded with a series of hisses and boos. Some of the students sounded with a series of claps and cheers.

Hocutt shouted. "Quiet down in here. We will start the science projects in alphabetic order like always. Remember that, kids? Everyone occurs in alphabetic order like A to Z. Food to stomach. Beverage to burp. Birth to death. So, we start with the letter A. Renita Anderson."

Renita gasped with shock, standing upright the desk, covering a hand over her lips. "I left my science exhibition inside my locker. May I go and get it, Miss Hocutt?"

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled out loud with a laugh.

Hocutt nodded with a grin. "Shore! Nettie Ayers, you are next. Please start your science project for the class while Renita is getting prepared." Renita turned and ran to the closed door. The door opened.

Eckward turned with a confused brow to see the boot heels inside the hallway. "Her spectacular science project of a volcano is right here on the floor. Where did she go?"

"To the bathroom for a piss," Nash yelled with a laugh.

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled with a laugh.

"To the fountain for some water." Lark laughed.

"To get a set of fire matches to flame the burning lava, ya'll." Zondra laughed.

Renita appeared inside the open archway of the door, holding a box of matches with a smile. "I can present my science project now, Mrs. Hocutt."

"No, dear." Mrs. Hocutt turned with a sour frown to the archway with a new order.

"Uh, ho." Teague sat inside the rear row of male with a laughed.

"O no." Bobcat laughed.

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled with a laugh.

Nettie giggled with a smile. "I am not ready, Mrs. Hocutt."

"Renita, you take that box of matches and put them back into your car, right now. You could burn the school down with me in it. And close the door too."

"Alright," Renita spun around with a sad face, shaking the box of matcher for her awesome science project, leaving the room. The door closed.

"Kersey Bibb," Hocutt turned and frowned to the senior class.

"Don't know, ho...cutt." Kersey yelled with a laugh.

"Kersey, get your boot heels up from that chair and go meet the principal's paddle now." She jabbed a finger at the open archway with a sour frown and a matching tone.

Kersey slapped his hand over the table surface with a sour frown and sissy whine. "Man..." He stood and turned, moving to the closed door.

The door opened.

Hocutt chewed and swallowed the food. "Norbert Blakely, are you ready? And someone close that door." Someone reached over and the touched the door. The door closed.

"I am not ready, yet, Miss Hocutt." Norbert smiled with a nod.

"Rosalina Burns."

Rosalina bounced the boot toes up and down with a set of nerves, saying with a nod and a worried brow to Hocutt. "Yes ma'am! I'm ready."

Hocutt chewed and swallowed the food with a grin. "Come on up here, child!"

She rattled the single sheet of paper with nerves, exhaling with a puff of sour breath, standing upright from the desk, moving ahead towards the front of the classroom. She stopped and stood behind a thin wooden podium. Her cowgirl boots and her kneecaps shook with nervousness for her first ever vocal presentation within an academic environment.

Brier High School was located in a cow and cotton country town, where every single student lived and breathed on a farm with farm animals, including Rosalina. And every single student would graduate here with a colorful paper diploma like their set of biological parents and live here like their parents too.

Rosalina exhaled with a sour puff of nerves, looking down at her paper, not at her classmates with a nervous soprano. "Hi! I am Rosalina Burns. I plan to go to college, studying the science of physics and become an atomic physicist..."

"Be gone, Betty!" Zeeta sat inside a chair on the first row between Zondra and Waverly. The row represented all the smart kids in the ninth grade. Zeeta flung a manicured red colored polished hand in the air with a laugh and a grin. "You're too dumb to become a smart rocket scientist. Now, I'm smart and am going to be a..." Some of the students sounded with a series of hisses and boos. Some of the students sounded with a series of claps and cheers.

Hocutt chewed and swallowed the food with a frown, "Quite down in here! Your science project is next, Zeeta. Please prepare properly. Please continue, Rosalina!"

Rosalina turned and nodded without a smile to Hocutt, looking back to read the paper in a hurry. "Yes ma'am. When All-state quarterback Teague tosses a football across the field, he is using physics. He immediately makes adjustments for distance, wind, and the weight of the football." The rear row of football players loudly grunted without a set of vocal words, reaching over and slapped the collar bone on Teague as the class sounded with a series of giggles and chuckles.

Rosalina looked up with a smile and continued to read out loud the prepared science project to the class. "The farther away All-state running back Lark is from All-state quarterback Teague, the harder Teague has to toss the football or the steeper the angle of his touchdown football throw. This adjustment is done inside his brain which is called physics." The rear row of football players loudly grunted without a set of vocal words, reaching over and slapped the collar bone on both Lark and Teague as the class sounded with a series of giggles and chuckles.

Rosalina chuckled with a smile. "The motions and movement of All-state quarterback Teague are done naturally inside Tomcat's smart neurons." The rear row of football players loudly grunted without a set of vocal words, reaching over and slapping the collar bone on Teague again as the class sounded with a series of giggles and chuckles.

Rosalina smiled. "Physics is the science that deals with the physical world. The principle physics of a football is called the Newtonian Physics. Football is the mechanics, the study of motion, and its causes. When All-state quarterback Teague hands the ball to All-state running back Lark..."

The rear row of football players grunted without a set of vocal words, reaching over and slapping the collar bone on Lark as the class sounded with a series of giggles and chuckles.

Rosalina smiled. "All-state running back Lark starts at rest and then accelerates to full speed at possibility twenty-two miles per hour towards the goal post while maintaining a constant speed. He is applying force to the grass field until he enters the touchdown zone for the score of six points. This is an example of Isaac Newton's third law of motion. For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. A runner's center of mass is located slightly above the navel. In a girl, the center of mass of located below the naval which is closer to her pair of hips," she wiggled a pair of hips with a wink and a giggle at the row of sitting football players. The row of teen males grunted with a laugh, standing upright from a chair, wiggling a pair of hips too as the other students sounded with a series of giggles and chuckles.

Rosalina smiled. "If a force is applied on either side of the center of mass, the object will rotate. This rotational force is called torque. All-state lineman Bobcat will tackle a runner low and far down from the center of mass which takes less force while bringing that redneck down to the ground, eating dirt." The standing teen males reached and slapped Bobcat on the collar bone with a laugh and a grunt.

Rosalina smiled. "All-state Bobcat's knowledge is instinctive, but his talents are awesome," she winked at him. The standing teen males reached and slapped Bobcat on the collar bone with a hoot and grunt again.

Rosalina giggled. "A football game has both men and kickers. After each touchdown of six points, the sweet swing of All-state Kicker Bear completes the cycle. So, the finale translation, the Brier mechanics of physics brings into play a football which assures and ensures a winning game each week. Thus, Brier High will win the state championship game, this year." The students sounded with a series of claps and cheers for Rosalina. Rosalina smiled. "Please note, farmers can play football for championships, farm cotton bolls for income, square dance in cowboy boots for fun, shoot guns at deer for food, and protect their Southern belles with their very life for love." She raised her arms in the air with a smile and wiggled her hips for fun and drama. The class sounded with a series of claps and cheers. Rosalina back stepped and moved to her seat with a giggle and a grin.

Hocutt smiled with food between the teeth. "Rosalina receives an A-plus for her vocal science presentation. The teen male can-can line in the rear of the room gets a maybe..." She wiggles a hand side to side with a laugh. Then, the room exploded in a series of laughs, hoots, claps and boot stomps with fun.
Seventeen years old Rosalina

Saturday June 9th

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

1:40 p.m.

Home of Urall and Jadean Garland

Back yard patio setting of Nadean and Rosalina

Rosalina twirled and tossed the baton in the air, catching it with one hand and a giggle like her friend Nadean had demonstrated. "I caught it."

Nadean nodded with a smile at the twirling abilities of Rosalina. "You got it, girl friend."

The window curtain inside the living room opened, revealing a set of two pink-tinted faces for a few seconds and then closed. Nadean twirled the baton with both hands. "Do this!"

She copied the hand twirls with a smile. "Like this?"

Nadean continued to twirl with a smile at Rosalina. "You got it, girl friend."

"Yay," She smiled.

The window curtain inside the dining room opened, revealing a set of two pink-tinted faces for a few seconds and then closed. Nadean tossed both hand with the baton and a smile. "You got it, Rosalina."

She smiled. "The teacher is wise."

Nadean laughed. "The student is smarter. It took Zita two weeks to learn the twirling routine."

The window curtain inside the living room opened again, revealing a set of two pink-tinted faces for a few seconds and then closed. Rosalina frowned. "She is the head majorette."

She laughed. "Her boobs are the head and co-head majorette."

Rosalina laughed. "O. I see."

She chuckled with a nod. "O. They all see. Let's go inside. I'm hot and tired from the heat."

They turned and rushed up the brick steps toward the closed door.

The door opened.

Rosalina and Nadean rushed through the living room of the house and climbed the stairs and advanced into the bedroom of Nadean.

The bedroom door slammed closed.

2:02 p.m.

Private bedroom setting

seventeen years old Nadean Garland

The bedroom door sounded with a knock.

"Open." Nadean sat on the bed mattress with a smile and stared at Rosalina while they gossiped about boys, of course.

Vassar and Vester entered the room with a smile and stopped a few feet from the door and in front of the bed mattress. Vester smiled at both Nadean and Rosalina. "Some traits are controlled by genes that pass from parent to child. Others are acquired through learning."

Vassar nodded with a smile to the girls. "We are mapping our family history with genetic traits. We are studying and observing, such like, traits, the shape of face, which could be an oval shape dominate or a square recessive gene. A cleft in the chin like Nadean or no cleft-dominate like me and Vassar. We are also experimenting with hair curling and other hair designs on other people."

Rosalina nodded with a smile to the tall and smart twins. "That's interesting."

Vester smiled. "A person can change their hair color and their eye color applying makeup tool. You can change your eye balls with a set of colored lenses. However, we want to learn if it is possible to change the hair color by a more natural means."

Nadean frowned. "Like what?"

Vassar smiled. "Many blond, light brown or red haired infants experience this. This is caused by genes being turned off and on during early childhood and puberty. Changes in hair strand color typically occur naturally as people age in year which eventually turns the hair gray and then white. This is called achromotrichia."

Vester smiled. "A head of naturally red colored hair can range from dark auburn into light strawberry blonde depending on pigment concentration. Of all shades of hair color, a head of naturally red hair changes the least for a set of natural reasons even though a baby with a head of red hair might get a bit darker."

Vassar smiled. "We are experiencing to change the Mother Nature of hair. I do believe that Rosalina is a good science experimental project as a new subject for our purpose."

"Me?" Rosalina slapped a chest in shock.

Vester smiled. "What do you think about our science experimental project as our new subject, Rosalina?"

Rosalina gasped. "Uh! Will it hurt?"

Vassar smiled with a nod. "It will help."

Vester nodded with a smile. "We do believe that we will change you in a blond haired girl."

"Blonde?"

"You could be a sexy blonde. I promise." Vester nodded with a wink.

"I'm in." Nadean jumped from the bed with a laugh and a wink.

Vester frowned. "Nadean, you are not blonde or sexy. You are both silver and skinny."

Nadean tossed both arms into the air with a giggle. "I am bland forever."

Vassar nodded with a smile. "Foreverly, I am afraid so, Sis. Now, Rosalina, are you interested with our scientific exploration?"

Rosalina giggled. "It sounds so misty and magical."

"I can assure that it is completely scientific in nature."

Rosalina nodded with a smile to the twins, "Alright! What do I need to do?"

Vassar lifted and snapped the object with an evil grin. "The first step, we cut off all your long hair off from the bone skull..."

Rosalina gasped. "What? You are holding a pair of scissors."

Nadean frowned at her brothers. "He is holding the pair of our mama's sewing scissors. Geez! If our mama sees with you with her swing scissors, both of ya'll will be doing chores through midnight too. Why do you want to do that?"

"The hair strands on top of the bone skull contains the newest sprouts like a budding rosebud within a rose planet. The older hair rests on the bottom dried and dead, sometimes."

Rosalina reached down and rubbed the long, long hair down to a waist with as tern face. She has allowed her hair to grow long, since she didn't have the means or the money to trim the hair strands. It was easier to let it be. However, it was intriguing that the brothers of Nadean wanted to experiment on her and hair simple light brown hair color. She probably would never get another chance. She had inquired with her uncle Dickie to attend a hair salon, but he liked the long hair on a young innocent teenager. So, he would never pay for a haircut.

This year, Rosalina had also enjoyed a new adventure with Nadean, who was fun and happy all the time. Her brothers were really smart and accomplished as both musical musicians and football players. Maybe, the hair style change would be fun. After all, hair grew back each month.

She nodded with a smile. "Okay. I can be your laboratory rat."

Nadean gasped. "Rosalina, I love my brothers dearly. But they are not professional physicians or hair dressers. They could ruin your hair."

Rosalina flipped up a hand into the air with a smile at Vester and Vassar. "Hair grows back. I am not worried. You can cut it all off."

Vester nodded with a smile. "Actually, in order to completely execute the experiment, the subject will have very short hair which is called a pixie style."

Nadean gasped. "See? I'm right. You will be bald and bland by both my brothers."

"I like that words pixie and style. You can start whenever." Rosalina nodded with a smile.

Vester back stepped and spun around with a smile, moving ahead through the archway and turned to face the bathroom, stopping and posing at the open door with a smile. "Let's move into the bathroom."

Inside the bathroom, a single tall stool was standing in the middle of the floor. The chair was parked on top of a clean piece of bed linen.

Nadean slid off the bed with a puzzled brow and followed behind the back spine of Rosalina, stopping and stood in the middle of the archway with a gasp and a sour frown. "Mama is going to have kittens. You are using her good bed linens."

"...that will be cleaned and laundered in time for bed." Vassar stood inside the hallway and moved ahead, standing beside his sister Nadean with a smile. "Our mom still can't work the washing machine properly without flooding the floor. The task of laundry cleaning has fallen upon us, since Nadean can't operate a washing machine, either."

Nadean back stepped from the archway with a sneer into the nose profile of Vassar, "I have other talents like..."

Vassar laughed. "Beauty contesting..."

Vester pointed inside the bathroom with a stern face of the experiment. "Rosalina, please sit inside the chair. I promise this will go easy and smooth."

Rosalina moved ahead and stopped, turning to sit inside the chair with a laugh and a grin. "Alright, I am not worried."

Nadean stood inside the archway with a worried brow. "I am not worried."

Vassar gently shoved the body of Nadean from the archway with a smile. "This is a private scientific experiment, Sis. You can wait inside the hallway like an expectant daddy," laughing.

Nadean back stepped with a gasp and a sour frown. "What? I..."

The bathroom door closed with a soft thud.

At 02:02 p.m. inside the bathroom interior, Rosalina sat on top of the tall stool with a smile in silence. Vester and Vassar stood on each side of her earlobe, snapping a pair of scissors. Vester said. "We each possess a set of scissors to make the process faster."

She smiled, "Alright!" Each brother lifted up and snapped off the long strands, very quickly. Then, each bother lifted and snapped off the shorten strands which showed a tiny covering of hair over the bone skull. She turned with a gasp in shock, rubbing both exposed and naked earlobes without a blood cut from the equipment with a smile. "Well, I am not bad but very, very close. What is the next step?" Vester lifted the devise with a stern face. "What is that?"

Vassar smiled. "It is a hair blowing machine."

"But, my hair is all gone and not long, now," she giggled with a grin.

"But, we have modified and added an element of a suntan ray. The ray will turn the freshly squeezed lemon juice droplets and chemically react with your hair."

"I am intrigued. Will it sting my hair roots?"

"Hmm, I think not. But your scream will indicate otherwise."

For a couple of twelve years old boys that were the height of baby giraffes, Rosalina softly chuckled at the professional nature of the pre-teen brothers of Nadean. "Hmm! Maybe, I should scream once to entertain Nadean outside the door."

Vassar laughed. "I like that idea, Rosalina."

"I do not." Vester frowned. He lifted and held a cut open piece of lemon, squeezing the real raw lemon fruit over her bone skull as a set of tiny droplets wetted her skull. She held the cloth into a face with a cough, smelling the stinky fruit juice. "Continue to cover your face with the cloth, Rosalina. I am applying the fresh juice of numerous hand-squeezed lemons. The true lemon juice acts as an accelerant, where the hair strands are exposed to the bright sunlight. Then, the sunrays will naturally lighten the hair strands. Thus, we are experimenting by transforming your natural light brown hair strand color into another shade of color. The new color tint will last for a few months. Then, the blowing heat of the blowing machine opens the hair cuticles and the lemon juice lifts the color which allows the sun to bleach any the new strands. The lightened blondish tinted hair strands will fade with time and as the hair grows out from the roots. But you can keep the old locks looking fresh by conditioning it like a head of colored hair. I am going to apply the heat from the hair blowing machine." The hair drier sounded with a zoom while blowing a set of cold air and then warmer air over the wet bone skull of Rosalina.

Rosalina continued to sit quietly with a wide smile. It was so much fun. She didn't have a sweet sibling or a brother sibling. Bertha had become an alcoholic like her mother, drinking all day and sleeping all night. Rosalina enjoyed her time away from her family unit without tattling to anyone.

Nadean had encouraged Rosalina to become a majorette for the band, teaching all the baton twirling routines. During the tryouts for majorette squad, Rosalina was nervous but performed flawlessly. And she was accepted as a majorette on the twirling squad.

Zeeta showed her true colors as the head majorette. She objected to Rosalina on the baton twirling squad, since Rosalina had never twirled before or performed in a band half-time show.

Polecat sneered with a fake smile at Zeeta, telling that every student was encouraged to participant in any and all school functions underneath his tutorial and his band rules. So the case was closed.

Rosalina was spending-the-night at the house of Nadean to learn each the baton twirling routine.

Nadean invited Rosalina to help her study for the college examination test. Each college required an examination test, where Nadean had done very poorly and had been rejected by Birmingham University.

Nadean was determined to move away from her home town of Brier and her bossy mom without marrying Lance Morris as a farmer wife, foreverly.

Rosalina was a very academic student and had done exceptionally well on the college examination tests with a set of scholarships to Birmingham University and other post-education institutions. She was happy to provide a set of shortcuts in addressing the test questions, assisting Nadean to prepare for the next college examination test in August, before the high school class sessions stared back in the late summer time days.

Inside the bathroom, on top of the stool, her skull bone felt dry and soft. Vester smiled down at the new creation. "Now, you can remove the cloth. Look at yourself in the mirror, Rosalina." He and Vassar stepped backwards from Rosalina and turned to stare in the mirror.

She dropped the cloth and looked up with a gasp and then a giggle, "Uoo! I am so impressed, Vester and Vassar. Both of you did a very good job with my new locks of blonde."

"The experiment was a success." Vester lifted a hand and slapped it with a high five to his brother.

Rosalina smiled. "I look so..."

"Sexy!" Vassar nodded with a smile into the mirror.

The sound echoed inside the bathroom as a second loud knock pounded on the door. Vester reached over and opened the door with a smile. Nadean stood inside the archway with a gasp at Rosalina. "Wow! Look at you! You look so..."

"Sexy!" Vester nodded with a smile at Rosalina.

Vassar nodded with a smile down at eh new blonde pixie on the girl. "Rosalina is a very sexy girl. Now, she needs to some clothing to compliment her sexy look."

On top of the stool, Rosalina dropped a chin down into the neckline with embarrassment, reaching up, touching her new hair style with a sigh. She could afford any closet of new clothes, but she was happy with the new hairstyle that was thoughtful of the twins and free of any money. She looked up with a fake smile to see her reflection in the mirror. "I am very pleased with my beauty, Vassar and Vester. I really don't need any more artificial accessories to deflect my natural self."

Vester smiled in the mirror at Rosalina. "You need to present with a sexy cowgirl, where Nadean cannot."

Nadean back stepped from the bathroom archway with a huff and spun around from the bathroom with sour frown. "What? Geez! Today is not my day. I have been insulted twice by my loving brothers," she moved ahead with a giggle towards her bedroom.

Vester turned to face the archway and moved ahead out from the bathroom, following behind Nadean with a sour frown into the bedroom archway. "Brothers did not compliment a sister, sexy or not. That is incest, Sis."

Nadean led the group and tossed both arms in the air with sour frown, "Well, okay! Fine!" She entered into her bedroom, sitting on top of the bed mattress, messing up the bedcovers with a smile.

Vassar moved ahead out from the bathroom and followed behind the back spine of his brother Vester with a smile. "Now, we will compliment and dress Rosalina."

"How so?" Rosalina slid off the stool and moved away from the bathroom with a confused brow, following behind the back spine of Vassar.

"We will go and invade the wardrobe closet of clothes that Nadean has accumulated, since her birth. We have numerous tall and fat and short and slender cousins in various shapes of body frames. However, Nadean is the lucky girl to get the all the used and freshly laundered clothing first," Vester entered through the bedroom archway and moved ahead, stopping and stood in front of the first closet with a smile.

Rosalina entered into the bedroom with a puzzled brow. "Vester and Vassar, I have enjoyed being your laboratory rat in your scientific experiment and all. But you do not have to sew and repair the clothing for me."

Vassar nodded with a smile at the rack of clothing and the boxes of more clothes on the floor. "Yes, we do. It is part of our continued scientific experiment. We must see the complete product through to the end. I promise you will be a sexy cowgirl." Then, Vester and Vassar both kneecapped down on top of the wooden floor, reaching over into each box of used and abused clothes, pulling out an array of different items with a stern face, studying each one with a stern face. "We are searching for the perfect cowgirl motif and we need to polish up the set of cowgirl boots for Rosalina to match her new cowgirl outfits. Nadean, do you have a pair of cowgirl boots for Rosalina?"

"Shore do!" Nadean slid off the bed mattress with a grin and moved ahead towards a second wardrobe closet, stopping, opening the door. She reached down and pulled another set of cowgirl boots, holding them in the air with a smile. "These pair of almost new cowgirl boots is truly ugly compliments from fat Cherry Hill..."

Vester frowned down at the next clothing item. "Her name is properly pronounced Cherry Hilliard, Sis."

"Yeah, I guess." Nadean reached down with a giggle and dropped the boots next to Vester.

Her private bedroom was an extra size in square footage on the second floor of the home structure, since the old house had been a true cotton plantation for some rich native born Brierian, who had been shot dead within the Civil War of 1965. Then, the dead man's family members moved away from the farmland of Brier to live with the mother's family home.

The Garland family was natives of Brier too. When great granddaddy Garland was at fighting in the war, great grandmother Garland was a bitch and swiftly moved all her extensive family unit of thirteen children into the old elegant antebellum mansion and stayed while land grabbing all the fertile cotton fields plus all other structure buildings on the land property with vile mouth spat and a shotgun of gunpowder. During the Civil War of 1965, there wasn't much official law enforcement like within the modern times A family unit had to defend their property rights against the Yankees and the other natives, who were homeless or downright evil or die trying.

Vassar lifted up the long blue jean shirt with a smile. "I propose that we adjust this long denim skirt and create a mini-skirt set of blue jeans for the new sexy country girl image of Rosalina."

Vester reached out and grabbed the blue jean denim shirt, cutting off the long length from about the kneecaps, turning with a smile and handed the clothing item to Rosalina with a nod. "Rosalina, this will be the basic item of your new wardrobe attire, a mini-skirt of blue jeans. We have noticed that no other female within the high school wears one. Nadean is famous for her tight blue jeans that are tucked down into her pair of unpolished cowgirl boots. Nadean, cowgirl boots need love too."

"You love them." Nadean laughed with a grin.

Vester frowned. "So, we will create a new image for Rosalina. She is very tall and has a pair of long legs. The mini-skirt will show off your long legs. Rosalina, if you could please try on the re-adjust blue jean skirt? We want to measure at the right length above the kneecaps without showing too much."

"Certainly! I don't wanna show too much either." Rosalina slipped off the bed mattress and grabbed the shirt, spinning around to face the archway and moved into the private bathroom that resided inside the single bedroom of Nadean. The door closed. A few minutes later, the door opened, revealing Rosalina with a smile and bare feet.

Vassar spun around to face Rosalina and dropped down on both palms and kneecaps, slowly crawling over the floor, holding a set of safety pins inside between his lips and stopped, measuring the correct distance from the length of the blue jean hems and below her kneecaps for the proper length of mini-skirt. He hummed and clipped the safety pins over the fabric in the front of the skirt, "All done! Be careful removing the skirt with all the safety pins, please!"

"Alright," she back stepped very carefully into the bathroom and closed the door. A few minutes later, the door opened, she emerged inside the archway, wearing the walking short, holding up the damaged blue jean shirt. Vassar stood upright from the bed mattress and reached over, grabbing the skirt with a smile and a hum and spun around, moving back to the wardrobe closet and sat back down on the floor, fiddling with the safety pins.

Rosalina turned with a giggle and a grin and moved back to Nadean, slipping back onto the bed, watching with intrigue. Nadean leaned over and bumped Rosalina on the bicep with a giggle at her loving but weird twin brothers.

Vester continued to sit in front of the wardrobe closet with open boxes of clothing and pulled out each item one at a time, examining the color and the style and then discarded it. He had a certain image inside his mind for Rosalina while sorting through all the hand-me-down clothing coming from all the female cousins. He held up the white dress with a nod and a smile. "I like the blouse on the dress, not the skirt. We should shave off the blouse-part and taper the bottom hem, making a beautiful blouse that can be paired with the dark colored blue jean skirt. Do you mind wearing a few bows are your clothing, Rosalina?" He turned and smiled at Rosalina.

Rosalina smiled with a nod. "No! It sounds so cute."

"It will be cute and sexy at the same time on your tall and skinny body. Every male in the high school grades will adore you, Rosalina." Vester nodded with a smile. "We had created an image for Rosalina. She does mind wearing a few tiny girly bows on your blouse, where Nadean has dominated the plain tomboy T-shirt look for decades and decades, since birth."

"I heard that." Nadean softly growled and then laughed while elbowing Rosalina for fun.

"Yes. Nadean likes to present that tomboy look wherever she visits even during church functions. And we wonder why Nadean does not have steady boyfriend or a date for Friday night, either." Vassar placed the blue skirt to the side and leaned over, grabbing another piece of clothing, examining it for usage with a stern face.

"Hey! I am sitting right here inside my bedroom on my bed, brothers. I am hearing ever single word, coming out from your pink tint moving lips." Nadean frowned at the back spine of Vester and then Vassar. "Okay. You can remake me any image too."

"We are both sorry. We only allow one image per pretty girl." Vassar lifted another piece of clothing with a laugh and a grin.

Nadean frowned. "Hey..."

"Hay is for horses, Sis." Vester examined with a stern face the next dress. "Do you mind wearing the color of pink hue on your body, Rosalina?"

"No, I like the color of pink, too." Rosalina smiled with a nod. She never received any new clothing that made her look sexy. Her uncle Dickie would drive Rosalina to the local clothing store down Brier Road for a new dress on the first day of school with her sister Bertha. It was also an old fashion type dress with a pair of long sleeves and a long skirt of dark colors that could be worn over a pair of warm long johns during the wintertime. Her mom Bertha didn't seem to care or comment on the new clothing. Honestly, Birdie probably thought it was another old dress from her mother or her grandmother that her daughters found hidden inside a closet.

Rosalina wiggled side to side with excitement, not knowing if the fashion design would like good or appropriate for school, since she didn't attend church.

Her mom Birdie would not allow any other adult to come and collect her daughters, unless it was her brother Dickie. Birdie didn't have a high school or college education, but she watched television all the time. She learned that the police would come and take the children away if the parent hit the child or yelled at the children. Birdie was guilty of both and was scared that the police would come and take away her children. Thus, she learned not to hit Bertha anymore. Since, Bertha was taller and meanie than her mother.

"Excellent, I like the color of pink, too. The pink tint will compliment your new pixie style blonde colored hair and your dark skin, Rosalina." Vester lifted a new piece of clothing with a smile and a nod. "This one is pretty, too. I like the yellow ribbons and the short sleeves. We can trim off the extra fabric on the bottom, creating a new blouse, too."

Vassar nodded with a smile, "Alright! We have four dresses to work on. Please excuse us! We have much work to do." He stood with an armful of clothing and turned to face the door, rushing through the archway with a smile.

Vester gathered the clothing items and stood with a stern face, turning to follow behind the back spine of Vassar, rushing out the bedroom of Nadean, too.

Rosalina and Nadean sat on the bed with a giggle and a grin. Rosalina leaned over with a whisper. "Your brothers are really strange."

Nadean stared out the open archway with a giggle and a grin, without seeing her brothers. "I know, but I love them so much. Who knows? Their homemade sewing project might turn out to look pretty good. And then, you will have a new wardrobe for the school, this fall in August, Rosalina."

"Maybe so!" She smiled with the nice thought of hard work. Even if the clothes looked terrible, she was flattered that the two brothers were determined to improve her body image. Maybe then, she would catch the eyeball of cute and hunky Brock Norris. He seemed to stalk her butthole between each class session all last year. Then, he might ask her out for a nice date and a sweet glass of soda, maybe so.

First day of school

Second week of August

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

7:49 am

Brier High School

Twelfth Grade

Homeroom classroom setting

The school bus folded door slid open.

She waited and watched inside her usual plastic seat on the school bus with a grin. All the other children and teenagers stood and left the same school bus. She had ridden this yellow colored school bus every morning and afternoon, since the first grade. She had been a very good student too, attending and not missing a day of school ever, either.

This was the last time of her first day of high school as a senior classmate in the twelfth grade at Brier High School. She would not have another first day of high school ever again.

Next year, she will be in college, studying and learning to be a physician like her uncle. Her uncle was going to send her to college, since her mama could not.

The bus was empty.

She stood with a giggle and a grin, slowly moving down an empty aisle, touching the top of each plastic seat, feeling the cool metal with her hand, saying good bye to her school bus which displayed the number 66.

She stopped and turned with a smile to the driver. "Have a good day, Mr. Glenwood!"

Glenwood was older with a head of gray head and a face of wrinkled skin, turning with a nod and a smile to see her, "You, too, Rosalina."

She swung and stepped down from bus with a smile, standing on top of the hard black colored asphalt parking lot, surveying the side entrance door of the wall at her high school building. The building was made of brownish red brick. Brick is made from the red dirt of Alabama. The school building was about hundred years old, the first school in the cow town of Brier.

Her eyeball caught the nosily movement on the side of the school, where the parking lot stood. The parking lot was located on the east side of the school building which was made of hard pavement with a few potholes. All the teens with a car and some of teens without driving licenses parked there. The teens near the front of the building entered the school, using the open doors in front of the building. All the other teens and children moved to the rear door entrance way.

Rosalina had always ventured into her school by way of the rear doors.

Today was different.

Today was her first day as a senior and her last day to make a grand entrance into her old high school as a senior too.

The twelfth grade class of seniors ruled the school and classroom, this year.

She turned with a grin and giggle, moving down the vanilla colored and rain stained sidewalk to the front of the school.

The building was very tall too. Each room held a cathedral ceiling with a croaking ceiling fan for the summertime days. On the bottom, a floor furnace was located in the middle of each room for keeping the bodies warm during the wintertime days.

Rosalina turned with a smile to see the line-up of dead taillights on each muscle car that had not fallen down into a two feet dirty ditch in the first row and the first five parking spaces, consisting of Bear's neon orange Dodge; Bobcat's black Mustang; Lark's puke green Nova; Teague's bright red TransAm, and Nadean chick yellow Camaro. Nadean was a fun and cute girl but acted like one of the tough and rough teen males.

Her uncle Dickie had offered to purchase an old model compact car for driving back and forth to school, but Rosalina refused. She was concerned that her sister might steal and wreck the vehicle, becoming injured. She worried about her sister and her mama too. Her sister did not want to find and work a job or attend and study in college. Her uncle had offered to send Bertha to the local community college, but Bertha refused.

Bertha had left high school last year at the age of eighteen, making Rosalina the only 'Burn' girl left to attend Brier high school.

She turned the corner of the building and stopped, staring at the rich green lawn of the school. She had never ventured this way, feeling both sad and happy for her first day as a senior.

The lawn held a set of twin trees, where the tree tops were taller than the rooftop of old school building. The trees guarded a long walkway from the entrance doors down to the roadside.

She moved down the perpendicular walkway, seeing the rows of pretty flowers and a batch of low short green shrubs in front of the building, smiling at the beauty.

This was her school for twelve long and hard years. She felt like one of the low bushes against the cool brown brick without form or format.

Her classmates Nadean and Zeeta were the pretty flowers with color and personality.

However, Nadean had been a wonderful friend and almost a sister, assisting Rosalina to blossom and grow into an adult.

Rosalina stopped again, admiring the staircase of tall and wide vanilla colored concrete steps up to the front façade of the old building. The front porch of the building was thirty feet across with a set of low windows. Each window showcased a low planter which was full of fresh live flowers also. She marched up the staircase of concrete steps, hearing her cowgirl boots tap against the concrete with joy for her first day as a senior at Brier High School and reached the top step and stopped.

Teague blocked the open archway with half a body and an upright leg like usual, harassing each male for meanness, complimenting each female for fun.

Rosalina nervously touched the pixie hair cut exhaling a sweet breath of mint, moving to the perched leg of Teague.

Teague turned with a gasp and a smile, dropping the leg for the cute girl as Rosalina swiftly strolled through the open archway with a smirk. He shouted and followed behind her butthole with a laugh and a grin, "There's a new girl at Brier High today!"

"Fresh meat!" Lark stood from a silly and ratty long sofa in front of the long window, where the principal sat and signed student excuses from missing class the day before.

Bobcat turned to see Rosalina without standing from the sofa with a confused brow, "Naw."

Bear stood, turning and blocking the new girl with a smile. "Howdy, I'm Bear!"

Rosalina halted with a gasp in front of good looking and good smelling Bear, winking with giggle. "Hi there, I'm Rosalina..."

Lark moved beside Bear with a puzzled brow, shaking his skull, "Naw. Who are you? Are you new in Brier too? Where's your farm?"

She giggled with silliness of her new girly image. "Rosalina Burns, I have attended first grade with both of us for twelve years."

Lark shook his skull with a chuckle. "Naw, she got a head of long, long brown hair and eyeglasses and braces and pale and skinny and tall..."

Rosalina giggled. "Well, I did and do. I was allowed to ditch the eyeglasses and removed the braces. I am still skinny and I got a suntan of brown skin this summertime, too," she winked at Bear. "An overall tan!"

"Who are you, girl?" Bear chuckled with a wink.

Nadean strolled down the hallway coming from the homeroom class with a smile, turning the wall corner with a giggle to see Rosalina. The four dumb shits but super teen studs of the senior class were all super stunned by her new girly appearance.

Vester, the twin brother of Nadean had taken a pair of good and sharp sewing scissors and cut off the light brown hair of Rosalina inside the bathroom at their house on the last day of school in May.

During the summertime days, Rosalina had continued to cut and trim her short locks and squeezed a ton of fresh lemon juice droplets over the light brown short locks, turning her into a sexy blonde. Then, Nadean cut off some of her old blue jeans and made Rosalina a new wardrobe to show out her long and tanned legs for the first day of school as a senior.

Of the four super teen studs of the senior class, the longest and pinkest tongue drool was coming from Bear, who continued to stare a Rosalina.

Nadean moved ahead with a grin and reached out, grabbing Rosalina by the arm with a laugh. "Come on, sexy girl! We need to get our rental locker for the year, Rosalina."

Bear gasped. "Rosalina, what... what happened to your face?"

"She grew up." Lark nodded with a wink and a smile.

"Told ya! It's Betty, be gone," Bobcat laughed.

Teague turned and shoved Bobcat into the wall with a sneer. "Don't insult my Duchess or Rosalina! I warn only once, Eckward."

The school bell rang for the homeroom session.

Bobcat shoved Teague back from a face with a growl, "Time for homeroom, Teague."

Each teen turned and moved down the crowded hallway with the lower classmen to the homeroom class for roll call.

Nadean continued to hold the arm of Rosalina, swinging them around to face the hallway with a laugh and a smile, strolling toward the homeroom class. "Okay, we gotta go to homeroom first. Then we can get our school lockers next. I want you to be above me this year."

Rosalina smiled. "I do not believe that the school assigns lockers based on preference of the senior's taste. It is based on the alphabet. Let's see you start with the letter of G. So, you locker buddy must be the letter of H."

"Haywood."

Rosalina gasped with shock. "Teague is your locker buddy. And what's wrong with that physical parking space, Nadean?"

"Duchess," Teague dashed with a shout and a worried brow behind to the buttholes of Nadean and Rosalina. "Don't be mad at me, honey. Come back, sweetheart. Bobcat is stupid."

"That." Nadean rolled her eyeballs, looking at the archway of each class with a sour frown.

Rosalina laughed. "But, Teague is pre-engaged to Zeeta."

"Tell him that Zita is his girl friend!"

"You should not use that nasty nickname."

Nadean frowned with annoyance. "Why? Teague calls me Duchess all the time since fourth grade for some weird reason. So, I call his girlfriend Zita for the sixth grade zits. And the twelve grade zits scars. Ugh! Even that sounds zitty," laughing

At 08:05 a.m. inside the senior homeroom class, Rosalina entered through the archway, turning and pacing down the familiar row to her usual student desk within the second row and the third chair.

Brier High School setting was a country school that was made up of country families. Each family sent their children here and there were no outsiders either.

This particular room was used for all English classes at the school.

Rosalina had been coming to this classroom since the seventh grade, since a student was at school from eight am to three pm, seven hours per day plus an hour for lunch. As a senior, this room of English courses served as the twelfth grade homeroom roll call, since the beginning of time.

Rosalina slowed a walking pace with a confused brow at the new teacher, scooting into the second row in the second chair.

The first row consisted of all the smartest kids in the twelfth grade, Waverly, Zeeta, Sondra, and Winston.

Zeeta was not really one of the smartest students but she made good grades in school and liked to rub elbows with Sondra and Winston, who were the future valedictorian and salutatorian of the senior class.

The last two rows always consisted mostly of the football players, who were the tallest, the loudest, and the bigger teens within the classroom.

Nadean sat in the first row that leaned against the decorate wall for some reason with her majorette friend Flossie.

Rosalina sat in the second row, made of mostly the cheerleaders. She wasn't a cheerleader ever. The row was empty at the time in the seventh grade, when Rosalina had chosen her spot here. Then the cheerleaders selected the same row, keeping it occupied over these years.

The first row held only four desks of really petite students.

Rosalina sat in a desk in front of nobody but the air molecule as a tall girl with a worried brow, staring at the new teacher.

The rest of the students moved and sat in their assigned desks in silence.

"May I present myself? I am Lowell Sink. I am your new guidance counsel here at Brier High School today and for the rest of the time." He was a short male with a head of balding hair and a pair of thick eyeglasses on a clean shaven face. "I am very pleased to join your little school and I have never seen so many pretty girls in one room."

The teen males loudly grunted in the rear wall with the slick insult to the young female.

Sink looked up with a grin and a chuckle to see the rear wall. "And a fine set of muscles too. This year, you might bring that football trophy home, huh?" He chuckled and cleared a throat with a grin. "As the new guidance counsel, my duty is to assess your potential during the academic year. So without further delay, I have a quick examination for the seniors today. I promise it will take about five seconds or less of your precious time." He turned and moved to the first column of desks, handing a pile of paper to Rosalina first. "Please take one sheet of piece and a pencil or an ink pen and answer all the questions at your own pace."

Rosalina accepted the pile of papers, reading the words with a confused brow, sliding the pile over her collar bone to Nadean. She studied the first question, looking up with a sour frown and low growl to see Mr. Sink.

Nadean selected one and passed the pile over her collar bone to Renita, reading the first question, pondering her answer. She smiled and jolted down her response in a blue colored ink pen, reading the second question.

All the pieces of paper were disturbed to each student as each student studied the questions in silence.

Sink scooted down the end of the row, standing in the corner like a spider, watching each student. He saw that each student was not answering the questions but looking back at him with a stern face, except for one female.

Nadean finished answering all the three simple questions with a smile, looking up to see each student. Everyone had finished, before her. No matter. She addressed them all with her honest answers.

Sink saw that the lonely female had finished the test, clapping both hands with a nod and a smile. "Excellent, high schooler, I will grade each paper, now. Who would like to go first?"

The faces of the students stared with a sour frown at Sink.

Nadean turned and scanned the room with a worried brow without seeing a volunteer, lifting a hand with the paper with a smile. "I will. You can grade my paper, sir. I'm finished, Mr. Sink." Sink turned with a grin and moved ahead to Nadean, stopping and stood in place, snatching the paper in the air and read the answers in silence, very swiftly. He looked up with a smirk to see her smile. "You are the prettiest dumb belle that I have ever met."

Her smile turned into a sad frown, whipping a chin down into the shirt, holding back the tears of embarrassment. Nadean stood upright from the student desk and spun around, running toward the closed door. The door opened. She ran through the archway, echoing her boot heels in the quiet hallway, moving out the school. The rest of the senior classmates grunted and growled at Sink inside a student desk. Teague stood upright from the student desk with a growl and spun around to see the open archway, following behind Nadean.

Rosalina stood upright from the student chair, turning and running out the door before the rest of the class left the room.

Mr. Sink back stepped from the podium and leaned against the black board on the wall with a grin and a laugh. "I will dismiss all you from my day, seniors! I will see everyone tomorrow, same time, same classroom, same guidance counselor," laughing.

Inside the empty hallway, Rosalina turned the wall corner, slamming into the back spine of Teague. She and Teague danced in a circle and stopped, standing inside each other's arms. She wore a worried brow with a meek voice, saying into his worried face. "Where's Nadean? Where did she go to?"

Teague turned and looked down the hallway, where Nadean had fled with a set of crying eyeballs. He turned and exhaled to see Rosalina. "Look, she needs some time alone, while I beat the shit out of Sink with my set of fine muscles which will be covered in his fine blood soon." He swung in the opposite direction and stomped a boot toe over the wooden plank.

Rosalina reached out and grabbed his arm, looking with a sour frown at the doorway. "Wait, Tomcat. Sink is a college educated man. You are a dumb hick country boy in high school. We must play the game on his level to achieve success..."

"Naw! I play the game by my rules and always success with blood, too."

"And your rules will get you exposed from Brier High and missed from the important high school football game, tomorrow night. And Nadean will never be revenged."

The senior classmates moved out from the homeroom class and gathered around Rosalina and Teague, hearing the conservation with loud grunts and soft mumblings.

Rosalina turned and smiled with a nod to Teague and some of the faces of her classmates. "I know what we can do. Follow me!" She swung to the side and moved down an empty hallway with the entire class of senior high schoolers. They were following her back spine and entered inside the outer office of the school's principal, stopping and stood around the secretary's desk with grunts and mumbles. Rosalina stopped and stood in place with a smile and a nod to the elderly lady. "Good morning, Mrs. Fink. I have a complaint to file with Principle Holden. My name is Rosalina Burns and I am the representative for the seniors..."

The seniors behind Rosalina crowded the archway and the walls of the outer office and then cheered with a set of raised fists and head nods.

Mrs. Fink was an elderly woman of gray hair and a long dress stood with a sour frown and a matching tone. "Here, here! This is a learneth school. We will have quiet in here right now."

Rosalina smiled. "Could you please inform Principle Holden that I am here and waiting?"

The office door opened.

He stood inside the open archway, wearing a plaid shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of polished cowboy boots, staring at each student.

Nash turned to see Holden and yelled with a laugh. "That was quick."

Holden frowned at each student. "What is going on here? Why are all of you, kids out of class?"

Rosalina advanced with a hand and a smile to him as she was taught by her uncle, shaking and released his hand. "I am Rosalina Burns. Principal Holden, you have mentioned on numerous occasions that your office door is open to a new idea or to tattle about a mean kid or two..."

He looked with a stern face at Rosalina. "Yes, my office door is always open to those events. Please bring a selected possess into my office, since my office cannot hold all you, kids." He turned and moved to his office desk, sitting in the chair, cupping his hands on top of the papers with a smile and a nod. "What is your new idea, Rosalina? I must say that I am so proud to see you out of your shell as a senior this year."

The seniors lined the walls, the open archway, standing behind Rosalina. She stood in front of the office desk with a stern face and a serious tone of authority, "We do not like Mr. Sink, sir."

Bear growled with a stern face. "Rosalina is too nice of southern belle. We hate Sink."

Holden frowned. "Mr. Sink is the new and only guidance counselor at our school. This is only his first day. Each one of you, seniors must have an open mind here. The times are changing..."

On top of the school's front porch, Nadean ran down the staircase of concrete steps, over the walkway, through the manicured grass, stopping at the tall tree and tucked both hands underneath the armpits without knowing what to do with her fingers, since her eye sockets were doing all the hard working, producing a set of hot wet tears. Snot flooded her upper lip, dropping down to her chin and over both biceps.

He ran down the hallway, leaving his classmates and exited the school building, moving down the concrete steps with a yell and a worried brow. "Duchess _..."_ Teague dashed with a shout to her back spine and stopped, sliding in front of her, curving a set of taunt biceps around her naked arms and man-pulled her me into his chest with a worried brow, "Duchess." He whispered into her eardrum. "I'm so sorry. That test from Sink was a trick."

Inside the interior business office of the principal, Rosalina said with a stern face and a serious tone to the principal. "Mr Sink, he administered to each one of us a psychopathological test. To test our mental psyche like our feelings, emotions, and mushy stuff inside our hearts..."

Nash whispered into the eardrum of Bear. "What did she say? Psycho-pathological, what is that?"

Bear frowned. "A test..."

Outside and underneath the tree, Teague whispered into her eardrum. "How did you answer the first question? If there is a white colored child, a black colored child, and a pink colored child hurt and bleeding on the roadside, which one do you help first?"

Inside the principal's office, Rosalina said with a nod and a stern face to Marshall. "Nadean answered to help all the children, which is the correct answer, sir. However, the rest of the seniors could see the snake eyes in Mr. Sink. And the rest of the students refused to participate in the written query."

Outside near the tree, Teague whispered into the eardrum of Nadean. "The next question, if there is a Methodist grandmother, a Jewish grandmother, and a Catholic grandmother, who all need to go to the hospital, who do you help first?"

Inside the principal's office, Rosalina nodded with a stern face. "All of them. Nadean answered the silly and stupid question with her caring heart, not her sharp active mind."

Holden frowned. "I don't understand any of this, Rosalina."

Brock moved ahead and stood beside Rosalina, cuddling her into his chest with a stern face and a serious tone to the principal. "I understand, Mr. Holden. Me, Bobcat, Lark, Tomcat, well, our mamas get wind of that silly test and stupid of Mr. Sink's. My mama told me not to answer all those silly questions. So, my mama told and passed the word around Brier. But, I guess the word didn't reach the mama of Nadean fast enough."

Rosalina nodded with a stern face. "It was trick to see who does not like whom inside our classroom. It was mean trick, sir. Based on that test, Nadean wrote down all her honest and sweet answers like Brother Jesus likes. Then, Mr. Sink got mad at us. The rest of the students, who refused to write down a word of that stupid test, because we left our test papers all blank just like when he passed out that test page to each one of us."

Brock nodded with a smile. "And not one kid even drew a sweet smiley face or a nasty middle finger on the paper like my mama ordered."

"I do see clearly now." Holden nodded with a sour frown.

Underneath the grove of shade trees, "So, don't cry! Okay?" Teague exhaled with a huff of unhappiness. "I don't like to see you cry, Duchess. You're a sweet belle, so happy and smiling all the time. It makes me feel good. You make me feel happy." He leaned over and hugged Nadean, stroking her back spine with a sad face.

Inside the principal's office, Nash jabbed a finger down to the floor, since it was rude to point at an elder. "We don't like it, not one bit. And we want you to fix it right and right now."

Rosalina smiled. "Sir, I propose a suggestion which will be the senior class legacy, too. The school administration which is you, Principal Holden could create and implement a 'Student of the Month Award' for the 'bestest' senior classmate that would show how the school feels about each student here at Brier High School. Since, each and every student is important to the staff and the principal."

Holden stood from the chair with a smile and a nod. "Yes, I could do that for the senior class. And Nadean will be the first recipient. That's an excellent suggestion, Rosalina. I want to thank all the seniors for bringing this student matter to my attention. I am very concerned about this. I will be talking to the parent and teacher committee, also. After school today, when you get home, please inform your moms of my new decision."

Bobcat growled, "Naw, we want it fixed better than beating the snot out of Sink."

"And I hope that's a funny joke, young Mr. Lowman." Holden held a chuckle at the brave foolish young teen.

Brock turned with a sneer to see Bobcat. "Yes sir. Bobcat is the funny man in our senior class. We wanna give Nadean the Student of the Month Award, tomorrow."

Second day of high school

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

7:50 am

Student parking lot setting

Nadean parked her car inside the parking lot in the same usual spot, sitting inside the driver's seat, exhaling with a puff of embarrassment. She did not want to see the new school guidance counsel Sink this morning for a second time.

All her family members exited from the car, moving into the particular classroom for school without a care and a concern of the event from yesterday. Since Nadean did not tattle to her family or her friends.

Yesterday, all her fellow classmates had slapped her back spine with pain, offering a set of sympathy like she had a body death within the family, except for Zeeta. Zeeta walked around the school campus with a grin and a giggle, following behind the butthole of Nadean, calling her stupid.

The car door opened.

Nadean fell to the side as Teague caught her arm, ripping her out of the car with a grin and a chuckle, "Hey, Duchess! I caught you by surprise. Sorry, there! Time for class. We don't wanna be late. Okay?" He pulled her into his chest with a smile, moving over the sideway to the front of the building.

Teague had been consoling Nadean during the encounter with Principal Holden. While, Rosalina had done an excellent job defending Nadean and destroying Sink. And Teague had been told the secret plan to present the first student of the month award to Nadean also, assisting with the plan his way.

He and Nadean marched up the stairs, rushing down the hallway into the homeroom class.

The school bell rang.

The door closed.

Senior homeroom class setting

8:04 am

Teague moved ahead and then stopping, sitting Nadean next to his chair inside an empty student desk, watching Mr. Sink for any trouble.

The guidance counsel stood behind the wooden podium with a smile and a nod, facing the students again the new morning. "I am Lowell Sink..."

The room of students sounded with a series of boos and hisses.

The classroom door opened.

Principal Holden stood in the archway with a stern face. "Shush, seniors! Please, allow Mr. Sink to finish his speech. Well, he is all done, now. Thanks, Mr. Sink," he turned with a chuckle, moving to the front of the class and spun around, facing the students with a smile and a nod. "Now, I have a new award to present for one classmate of the senior class." He turned with a smile and a nod to see each student. "I am here today to present for the very first time at Brier high school the Student of the Month award. This is a new program which has been blessed by me and approved by the entire committee of the school PTA, last night. The student was selected by the members of the teaching facility here at Brier High too. The 'Student of the Month' criteria, which is a fancy word for rules are as follows. The student of the month displays an excellent character, shows outstanding proper beau and belle behavior, has a positive attitude toward his or her classmates, is a good all round citizen in the small town of Brier, demonstrates home responsibility, is respectful to his or her teachers, and follows school rules. The Student of the Month demonstrates leadership within his or her peers, and impacts lives of the people. So the newly selected and awarded Student of the Month for the month of August enjoys hunting, fishing, barrel racing, baton twirling, flute playing, and beauty contesting. She is Nadean Orion Garland."

"NOG!" Zeeta laughed with a grin, since it was an old monogram the shirt of Nadean in the seventh grade by her grandmother.

"NOG!" Bobcat laughed with a clap too.

Teague reached over and slammed a fist into Bobcat with fury. "Shut it, Bobcat!"

"Me!" Nadean whispered and stared at Sink with fright. This was a ploy to embarrass her for a second time. She turned with a worried brow to see Teague. He smiled and clapped, nodding for her to stand and then he stood, grabbing and dragging her up to stand and shoved her to the Sink. Nadean slowly moved as her classmates sounded with a series of claps, whistles, stomp boots, and rebel yells. Principal Holden held a small square wooden five inches by five inches plaque, motioning to Nadean, extending his handshake. Nadean stopped and shook his hand, turning and standing beside Principal Holden. He handed her plaque with a smile and a nod.

The school bell rang.

Principle Holden smiled with a nod to each face. "The student of the month ceremony has ended. Please go to your first period classes." He watched the homeroom class of student empty into the hallway. Holden spun around with a sour frown and a matching tone to see Sink. "Mr. Sink, you might be new here at Brier High School. But we are all friends, all neighbors, and some of us are blood related kinfolks. I am the principle of the school and I am responsible for each student's education and welfare here also. And I take my position very seriously. And I also listen to my students. So now, I will be listening to you as your supervisor. And then, you and I will be talking to the board of education about your guidance counselor test and testing methods right now, sir. Please lead us back to my office!"

Sink moved ahead away from the black board with a sour frown in silence towards the open doorway in silence with Holden following behind the butthole of Sink.

The classroom door closed shut.

At 08:02 a.m. during the first period hour, inside the open archway of history class, Zeeta stood with Bobcat as they scanned the full classroom. She leaned with a whisper and a sneer to Bobcat. "Nadean only got that fancy award for belly aching over her bad grades. She tattled to her mama, who called Holden and then he called..."

"Naw, it's only because she's a pretty thing and can't count to two..."

"Grrr," Teague rushed and shoved a body into the butthole of Bobcat, grabbing and dragging the two of them from the archway and into the hallway, standing in front of the nosy pair of students.

Zeeta reached out and touched Teague on the chest with a smile and a wink, "Tomcat."

He crossed both arms with a sneer to each face. "Kitten and Bobcat, you wanna say something about Duchess' new student of the month trophy, because I sure as shit wanna hear your personal words."

"Naw," Bobcat sneered, turning to enter the archway for the next class.

"Naw," Kitten smiled at her man. The school bell rang. She reached out and touched his arm with a giggle and a wink, turning and moving to the archway without her man. "There's the bell for our first period class time. Come along, Tomcat!"

Teague turned with a sneer to see both their asses.

Second week of September

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

7:51 a.m.

Brier High School

Senior homeroom class setting

Homecoming week

Nadean entered the room, sliding into her usual student desk, wiggling a pile of ink pens inside one hand with nervousness.

The homeroom class was slowly filling with her classmates into the other student desks.

This was the second month of school. The students selected a school desk on the first day of class and sat there throughout the year.

Nadean looked around the room with a smile, seeing all her targets, scooting from her desk and moved to the first student, giving out an ink pen in the color of blue. "Waverly, today, we elect our homecoming queen inside our homeroom class before the school bell for first period. I want you to vote Rosalina for homecoming queen today."

Waverly accepted the ink pen with a smile and a nod. "Most certainly, I will. You are very cordial to root and campaign for our brilliant and pretty classmate. And you are clever in providing a blue colored ink pen to identify the correct selection for my vote. And I agree with you, Rosalina would be an excellent homecoming queen for Brier High..."

She smiled. "Thanks, Waverly. You're a great cowboy." Nadean turned and rolled her eyeballs with annoyance, since Waverly could kill a hurricane wind storm in the Atlantic Ocean with his longer winded wordy speech. But his father was a lawyer with a windy tongue, too.

There were twenty four students within the twelfth grade. The highest votes of any senior female would win the honor and title of Brier homecoming queen for the year and would be crowned the winning queen royalty at the football game on Friday night in the half-time show in front of the entire town of Brier, a prestigious honor.

The homecoming committee was made up of only the senior class of girls, because years ago, each classroom selected a representative to win the title of homecoming queen at the football game. Then, one particular high school year, the loser of the homecoming competition kidnapped and beat the shit out of the newly crowned homecoming queen. Of course, the loser girl was arrested and imprisoned for the crime. The loser high school criminal should be paroled out of prison within another five to seven years.

Anyways, the principal and all the teachers at the high school decided that only the senior girls would represent the homecoming party. And each senior girl was a homecoming princess, so each girl received an armful of flowers, a picture in the local newspaper, and a tiny tiara of rhinestones for the homecoming princess honor. Then, the entire member of the senior class would vote for the girl to be homecoming queen the week of the homecoming football game.

Then, if another violent face bleeding incident occurred, the senior class would take care of their own matters, sometimes with a set of guns and a pair of fists.

Nadean had figured out that every girl would vote for herself as the homecoming queen, since girls were really a litter of bitches that were all vain like her biological mom Jadean.

However, Nadean would vote for Rosalina. But, her friend Rosalina would never vote for herself as a sweet belle and would probably select Nadean, her good friend. Thus, the end of the tally on the female side, there would be one vote for each senior girl, a twelve-way tie.

However, Nadean was going to secretly manipulate the vote to break the tie and sway the other free willed voters to her side.

All the senior males would vote for a particular sweetie within the senior class.

Kersey would vote for his girl Renita. So, Renita would receive two votes for homecoming queen.

Winston would vote for his future wife Sondra. So, Sondra would receive two votes for homecoming queen.

Teague would vote for Zeeta for homecoming queen. So, Zeeta would receive two votes for homecoming queen.

Nash was dating and would vote for his girl Joelle. So, Joelle would receive two votes for homecoming queen.

Shelby enjoyed eating with his fat girlfriend Cordellia, so he would vote for her. Thus, Cordellia will receive two votes.

Brock or silly nicknamed Bear was dating and would vote for his pretty thing Danielle. So, Danielle would receive two votes for homecoming queen.

Thus, it was a six-way tie for homecoming queen within the group of senior girls.

However, there was a host of free voters that did not have a girlfriend within the senior class but inside one of the other academic grades, which would tip the balance for the homecoming queen selection process.

Stratton or silly nicknamed Bobcat was dating and would eventually mate with Olivia, who was the little sister of Teague, so he was free voter within the senior class.

Purcell or silly nicknamed Lark was dating another girl within the junior class, so he was another free voter within the senior class.

Waverly was a free man among the senior boys, since he did not date a girl from Brier High School, only a girl from another local school like Nadean's cousin Cherry Hilliard.

Senior classmates Norbert and Finnis were both inseparable as a couple of good friends.

Nadean believed that those boys only liked other boys, since they didn't hang with any of the other females from any other grades. That preference decision didn't bother her. She was interested in one goal today. She moved and slid into the empty chair in front of Norbert, swinging around with a smile to see his smile. "Today is..."

"We know." Norbert smiled with a nod at Nadean.

She nodded with a smile to Norbert. "I would like..."

Finnis nodded with a smile to Nadean. "We know."

She exhaled. "You know what I am going to say?"

Norbert nodded with a grin at Nadean. "Yes, you want us to sway our vote for homecoming queen. But we have a proposal for you, Nadean."

She slapped a chest, shaking her curls with a sour frown. "Not me, I don't want the title."

Norbert nodded with a smile. "You are most honest and sincere, as always, Nadean. And we both believe you. However, we want our chosen representative on the homecoming court, too."

She gasped with a nod. "Okay, I can do that. Who is your representative?"

"Finnis. You, I and, Finnis will write down and vote for him for the new homecoming guy. Then the principal and the school teachers must allow him to stand on the football field during the half-time band activity show."

She nodded with a smile. "Okay, I can do that. But how does that help me sway the vote for my representative?"

Norbert leaned over and whispered with a smile into her nose bridge. "You have pursued and pursued two of your own voters. That's mean a three-way tie for your homecoming queen candidate."

Nadean frowned. "A three-way tie, how is that a three-way tie?"

He smiled with a nod. "Yes, after the student voting, Finnis will receive three votes. Zeeta will receive three votes from Tomcat, Bobcat, and her selfish self. And your candidate with your charming influence of the free voters would receive three votes, too. Of course, Finnis cannot be homecoming queen, because there will be a three-way tie. So there must be a run-off of the two ties of females, of course. Then Finnis and I would vote of your candidate over selfish Zeeta, Nadean, of course."

I winked with a grin at Norbert. "You are slick and smart. I agree with your proposed proposal. Here's a couple of blue ink pens to make the voting more mystery and more puzzling for Ho-hocutt," giggling.

Finnis grabbed and accepted the two ink pens with a nod and a grin. "You are also smart and slick, too. Keep up that streak and you will go very far in life, Nadean."

"Thanks," Nadean stood with a nod, moving ahead to secure two more votes for Rosalina to form a three-way tie, since she had to give up her vote for Finnis. Nadean giggles, squatting down next to Lark. "Hey, Lark," she used the silly nickname which had been created by Teague. Or Lark would not answer a question from a teacher or listen to a comment from a student.

Lark turned and smiled down at the hair roots of Nadean, "Hey, Duchess." He enjoyed using the silly nicknames from his best buddy Teague. "Why are you pissing over the floor? Is the girl's bathroom flooded, again?"

Nadean smiled. "It's filled with smoke from Zeeta's cigarettes."

He laughed. "O, I don't approve of smoking or smoky rooms either. Are you going to be pissing there long?"

"Not long," Nadean laughed at the silly conversation. "So, as I am pissing here on the floor, today is voting for homecoming queen. I wanna you to vote for Rosalina as the senior girl for homecoming queen at the football game on Friday night." She was very detailed with her personal request, since some of the dummier high school males needed a full explanation before making a decision.

Lark looked up and stared at the rear skull of the new blondish-brown hair style on Rosalina with a smile and a nod and then to see Nadean. "Rosalina looks so different from last year. She grew tall and pretty, this year. Yeah, she would be a great homecoming queen for our football team and Brier High. Thanks for the suggestion, Duchess."

She lifted and handed Lark the blue ink with a smile, hoping that he remembered the suggestion and marked down an X symbol by her name on the sheet of paper from Hocutt. "Here's blue ink..."

He looked down with a puzzled brow at to see the ink pen, "What for?"

She giggled, "For some farting fun with the befuddled mind of Ho-hocutt..."

"Yeah," He reached and grabbed the ink pen with a smile and a laugh, twirling it between his empty fingers. "Yeah, the blue color will confuse her ugly face. Thanks, Duchess."

She leaned over and whispered into his face with a smile. "Thank you, Lark, for voting for Rosalina." Nadean stood from the floor and back stepped from Lark, without pissing over the floor, turning with a fake smile to see Eckward. She didn't really want to encounter Eckward inside the classroom or outside the school building.

Eckward or the silly nicknamed Bobcat that came from his best friend Teague was a very large and handsome teenager. He played as a defensive end on the high school football team, crashing and smashing nose bridges all night long, without getting hurt or injured. And he was also a smart guy within all the academic classes, planning to attend college on a football and an academic scholarship to Birmingham University, next year. He was dating and going to marry his first love, the little sister of Teague. Thus, Teague and Eckward were best buddies and best neighbors and eventually would be best brother-in-laws.

Nadean squatted over the floor and crawled down, standing between the two school desks, leaning over to the kneecap of Eckward.

Eckward looked down with a laugh and a grin to see the hair roots of Nadean. "What are you doing, Duchess, shitting over the wooden floor?"

Nadean rolled her eyeballs and looked back at his face with a laugh. "Naw, I'm pissing over the floor, because the girls' bathroom is flooded with cigarette smoke. It irritates my butthole."

Eckward laughed. "Then go and use the clean smelling pine scented boy's bathroom, not my boot toe."

"What are you doing down there, squatting over the floor, Duchess? Or you sick or something, Duchess? Do you need my help to stand and to puke, Duchess? I can help you with that, too," Teague leaned over the student desk and sweet breathed down into her hair roots with a worried brow.

Eckward looked up with a smile to see the hair roots of Teague. "Duchess is shitting over the floor and talking to me, Tomcat." He looked down with a stern face at her. "What do you want, Duchess?"

Nadean lifted and held the blue ink pen in the air with a smile to Eckward. "I want you to vote for Rosalina as senior class homecoming queen."

He frowned at the ink pen and Nadean. "Why would I do that, Nadean?"

"Because, I asked nicely," Nadean nodded with a smile.

Teague looked up and turned with a stern face and a sneer to see Eckward, "Yeah, because she asked nicely."

Eckward turned with a stern face and a growl to see Teague and Nadean. "This is America, Teague. I can choose and vote for anyone one that I want, not who you want me to vote for, Nadean," growling.

Nadean exhaled. "You are free voter within the senior class, since your girlfriend is a junior classmate. You can vote for whomever you want, Bobcat." She used that silly nickname, trying to calm his angry which was not working very well.

Eckward sneered at Nadean. "Why are doing this?"

"Don't sneer at Duchess! I don't like your attitude, Bobcat." Teague sneered at the nose profile of Eckward.

She leaned over with a whisper into the kneecap of Eckward. "Look, it is called campaigning. I am campaigning..."

"Complaining," Eckward laughed. "Yeah, you are complaining that Rosalina will not even get one vote within the senior class for homecoming queen, except you. Are you voting for her, too, Nadean?"

Nadean gasped with a lie. "I...yeah, she will receive my vote. Then, she will receive another vote and then she will win..."

"Could win?" Eckward sneered. "I'm voting for Zeeta. She's my best buddy's girl within the senior class, since my girlfriend is a junior classmate and is not eligible for homecoming queen." He looked up and scanned the rear skulls of each student, pondering the final tabulation for homecoming queen. He knew about the political game that Nadean was playing. There were only twenty-two students within the entire senior class at Brier High School.

All the senior girls would vote for a pretty ass like a selfish bitch. Half of the boys dated half of the girls within the senior vote, voting for their girlfriend out of love or a yelling fight for the rest of the day. So, that left five males who could be free voters as Nadean worded it. Thus, the five free votes would decide the next Brier High homecoming queen.

So, Nadean was slithering around the room like a snake, hunting a free vote for her friend Rosalina which was an excellent ploy to influence the final voting for homecoming queen.

Eckward now wondered who would be the next homecoming queen for Brier High.

Based on the current student population within the senior class, five of the girls would receive one vote, voting for a selfish ass. Six of the eleven girls would receive at least two votes coming from a jealous boyfriend plus a selfish ass.

The five free voters of senior males were Finnis, Norbert, Eckward, Lark, and Waverly that could influence which girl who would become the Brier homecoming queen for this year.

Finnis and Norbert were a set of really weird teen boys that socialized only with each other.

Eckward thought that they would secretly vote for each other just to be audacious and funny, since Finnis and Norbert acted funny and silly all the time, enjoying and upsetting the perfect balance within the senior class among the even numbered male and female students.

Eckward realized that Finnis and Norbert would not be voting for a girl within the senior class, so that left only three free voters of males to cast the final vote for the homecoming queen, including Eckward, Lark and Waverly.

Zeeta would have received four votes, coming from Eckward, Tomcat, Lark, and Zeeta. Thus, she would have won the majority vote within the senior class.

However, Nadean had been nosy, moving around the classroom, influencing the vote of each student with her cute smile and her pair of pretty silver tinted eyeballs.

Eckward looked down and stared at the blue ink pen inside the cupped hand of Nadean, turning to see a similar blue ink pen inside the cupped hand of Lark. Lark was drawing funny symbols on top of his empty notebook of paper out of boredom, since he was not a very good academic student but an outstanding runner back for the Brier High School.

So, Nadean had already influenced the free vote of Lark with the blue ink pen and the promise of voting for Rosalina. That meant Rosalina would receive two student votes for homecoming queen, coming from Nadean and Lark. Rosalina would never vote for herself, being a selfless person and would probably vote for her friend Nadean.

Eckward didn't think much of Rosalina. Her broken biological family unit lived inside a rented tiny two-room shack on the cotton farm property lot of Farmer Brown, without the biological father of Rosalina. The father of Rosalina up and left the family unit one heated morning after the birth of baby Rosalina, without leaving behind a pot of money or a verbal explanation.

And her older sister Bertha was a beast from the age of six on the first day of elementary school when she had beaten up the older brother Eckward out on the playground on the second day of first grade. Thus, Eckward hated the entire Burns family unit, including the innocent sister Rosalina.

No other Brier family socialized with the family unit of Burns, except for nosy Nadean. Nadean was not really nosy as much as concerned for another human being, coming from a happy heart and a happy soul.

His eyelids darted around the classroom, stopping and spotted a second blue colored ink pen inside the twirling finger of Waverly.

Waverly was another independent spirit like Nadean. No other teacher or student could influence him. He was destined to become a successful lawyer like his father, probably eventually leaving and moving away from the small farm town of Brier, settling inside a bigger city. However, Waverly had been touched by the soft hand and the generous heart of Nadean, holding a blue ink and a promise to vote for Rosalina.

So, Nadean had already accumulated three student votes for her puppet Rosalina.

That meant Zeeta would receive three student votes, too. That meant a tie was not acceptable for the voting of the homecoming queen within the senior class. Thus, there would be a run-off election for the homecoming queen title between Rosalina and Zeeta. However, the rest of senior class, especially the other females, did not like Zeeta. Zeeta was pretty, smart, and the girlfriend of popular Teague, making the other girls jealous.

Thus, the final outcome would be that Rosalina would be voted as Brier High School homecoming queen.

Eckward could not let that happen but he couldn't seem to slow or stop the process that Nadean had caused, this morning. So, he would still vote for Zeeta as a free voter in America.

Teague turned and frowned at the nose profile of Eckward. "You can vote for Rosalina, instead of Zeeta. Zeeta is my girl. I gotta vote..."

Eckward sneered with a nod. "I gotta vote for her, too, Teague. She is my friend. I don't know Rosalina. I see her ass in class. Then, I see her ass wiggling into another classroom..."

Nadean exhaled with a sneer. "You don't have to be rude and mean and an uncouth redneck, Eckward."

Teague reached over and popped the bicep of Eckward with a sneer. "Do not be rude and mean to Duchess, redneck. And keep your fucking opinions to yourself about everything, Eckward."

Eckward looked down with a sneer and a sour frown to Nadean. "You can take your ink pen and your ass back to your fucking desk. I am not voting for your puppet Betty be, gone! I am voting for Zeeta. She will win my vote. And she will win the title of homecoming queen. You had wasted your time and your vote, Nadean." She stood upright with a sigh of defeat in silence.

Teague reached over and stole the ink pen with a smile and a nod from the hand of Nadean. "Hey, Duchess! Can I use the blue tinted ink pen to cast my vote for homecoming queen?" Nadean turned and gasped down at the hair roots of Teague in silence.

Eckward turned and sneered at the nose profile of Teague. "Who are voting for homecoming queen, Teague?"

"Thanks, Duchess!" Teague flipped open the notebook, scribbling down a set of circles over the paper with a smile. "This is America. I am an American. I can vote for anyone that I wanna, just like you, Bobcat."

Nadean nodded with a confused brow and a fake smile. "Yeah, shore, keep the pen, Teague!" She back stepped from the school desk of Eckward and Teague and swung around with a worried brow. Eckward was not going to vote for Rosalina. That meant she would only receive two votes for homecoming queen while Zeeta received three votes, coming from Teague, Zeeta and Eckward. She had tried to influence the outcome of the homecoming vote but had failed unless Nadean could convince Rosalina to vote for herself. Then, Rosalina would receive three votes and could be tied with Zeeta for the title of homecoming queen.

Thus, if there was a senior class run-off for the tie between Rosalina and Zeeta, Rosalina would win the title of homecoming queen, since the rest of the class hated Zeeta, especially the other senior girls.

Nadean dashed down the row to the desk of Rosalina with a smile and a new purpose.

The school bell rang.

"Get into a seat. School has started. Get into a seat now, before I send you to the principal's paddle." Hocutt yelled.

Nadean stopped and turned around, scooting between the two of school desks, reaching her assigned seat on the side wall during the homeroom session, sitting down with a heavy heart and a disappointing mind. She had tried so hard to get Rosalina elected as homecoming queen, staring down at the blue ink pen.

Mrs. Hocutt was the English teacher for all the grades from seventh to twelfth and as the senior homeroom classroom space was her regular meeting classroom. She sat at the teacher desk, like always, chewing on the breakfast entrees, as usual, without standing and yelled with a set of food particles, like always. "Here now, look up at me for a few minutes. This is homecoming week. We love homecoming week. Everyone dresses in a set of goofy clothes and eats from all the booths of good smelling food, which is provided by the good southern cooks of Brier. However, the highlight of the homecoming week is the crowning of the homecoming queen. Each girl in here is automatically a homecoming princess. Now, today is Monday. The school week finishes on Friday with the football game and the crowning of the homecoming queen. You know like me, the homecoming queen is always a senior girl. She gets the biggest armful of roses, the biggest tiara, and the biggest send off on the largest homecoming float that goes around the football field during the half-time festivals..."

"The biggest, wettest, and bestest kiss from me." Teague sat inside the rear row of senior males, clapping with a smile. Zeeta swung around, slapping a hand over her red colored lipstick and tossed an invisible kiss at her beau Teague. He caught it and slapped the shirt near the heart with a smile.

Nadean scanned each student and twirled the blue colored ink pen with nervousness, hoping her secret ballot of the selected students kept their promise of checking the name of Rosalina. Nadean didn't tattle to Rosalina what she had planned, since Rosalina would highly object. Then Rosalina would had been absent on this particular day, too.

The other homecoming queen rule, the winning girl had to be present at school on the voting day of the homecoming week. A long time ago, a senior girl was named as homecoming queen, but had been home sick in bed with the flu virus. The other senior girls marched into the office of the principal complaining and bitching that an absent girl was an absent queen, also.

The principal agreed. Thus, the girl was not given the title of new homecoming queen. And the new rule had been established for all senior girls which was a fair assessment for each senior girl.

Inside the senior homeroom, Hocutt lifted up a stack of loose papers, spitting out food particles over the plate and her desk. "Waverly, come up here and pass out a piece of paper to each student, please. I always pick a boy to handle the papers and the voting tabulation, since a girl might cheat me." The females sounded with a set of boos. The male sounded with a set of claps. Hocutt laughed and spat out more food particles from a pair of parted lips of red color.

Waverly stood upright from the desk with a smile, moving ahead and stopped, grabbing the stack of loose papers, spinning around and distributed a paper one at a time to each student at the desk. He finished the task, returning to his student desk, sliding inside and stared down at the single sheet of paper.

The paper held a column of eleven names of senior females in alphabetic order. The first name was Renita Anderson. The late name was Sondra Winston. Beside each name, there was a short straight line for a check mark symbol, an X mark symbol, or a wiggling symbol to indicator the selection of the senior girl for homecoming queen of Brier High School.

However, each short straight line was printed zigzagged across and down the entire page from the next short straight line for a specific purpose.

A long time ago, a senior boy had marked the wrong name of the senior girl. Thus, the wrong girl had been voted as homecoming queen. The queen didn't lose the title, but the senior boy lost a girlfriend and needed a pair of eyeglasses to the morning newspaper at the age of seventeen years old.

Inside the senior homeroom, Waverly lifted the provided blue colored ink, marking an X-symbol onto the short straight line for Rosalina Burns as the promised vote to Nadean with a smile and a nod in silence. He really wanted to mark down Nadean as the homecoming queen, but she had proven again her unselfishness attitude as a good soul within the city of Brier and the entire USA, campaigning for her new friend Rosalina.

Rosalina had grown up fast from a skinny kid into a beautiful teenager with a set of blondish-brown hair style and a set of long legs. She was both smart and shy. If Rosalina had been a little more assertive during her high school years, she would have been in the running for valedictorian of Brier High School, instead of Sondra Winston.

Waverly never dated a female student from his high school since knowing the girl and her family unit. He preferred meeting a set of new girls, who didn't know his family and his family as he didn't know her or her family also. However, maybe after high school graduation and if Rosalina had chosen to attend the same college with Waverly, he might ask her out for a single date, but it would be doubtful, somewhat.

Waverly turned and stared with a puzzled brow at Brock/Bear. He had noticed that Bear could not stop staring at the back spine of Rosalina, since Bear never stared directly into her pretty face. He seemed intrigued by the newly created image of the new Rosalina, especially today.

Hocutt chewed the food, watching each skull bob up and down, checking off a name for homecoming queen, swallowed with a sour frown. "Alright, every student is done or almost done. Finish up. Now, turn the paper over, showing the solid white side. Waverly, please run around and collect the loose paper from each student and bring to me. I will be the only one to see the check mark and say out loud each name to the class. Waverly, you will stand in front of the black colored chalk board with a piece of white chalk and write out the first name and the number of times that I speak it inside the classroom. We are all friends and some of us are family kin inside this room, so we don't have to read the last name of each senior girl. Get moving, Waverly."

Nadean flipped the paper over to the white solid side, so the two student neighbors would not see that she actually had written a new name of Finnis Farris on the bottom of the paper in blue colored ink. She had agreed to the proposed proposal with Norbert, so Rosalina would win the run-off race against selfish Zeeta to come the senior homecoming queen. She exhaled with nervousness, wondering how politicians could stand the suspense and anticipation of any election year within the USA.

Waverly stood upright from the student desk with a smile and a chuckle, noting the rude behavior of school teacher Hocutt, moving around the classroom, collecting a paper and a bribe from a few girls or a threat from a few boys as he ignored each one, spinning around and moved back to the desk of Hocutt. He stopped and straightened the loose papers into a nice stack, extending both hands, handing them to her.

Hocutt accepted the piles, flipping the stack over, placing on top of the book, seeing the first name for senior homecoming queen and yelled it out for eardrums. "Flossie gets one vote. You should be ashamed voting for yourself, girl. Didn't you learn that vanity is a heavenly sin in your Sunday school class, girl?" She turned and frowned at Flossie.

Flossie dropped open a mouth, turning to scan the entire class in silence. The rest of her classmates had swing a smile to stare at Flossie, softly sounding with a set of giggles and laughs. She gasped and leaned over to her best friend Nadean with a whisper and a sour frown. "Did you vote for yourself as homecoming queen, Nadean?"

Nadean stared at the nose profile of Rosalina, since the desk of Nadean was posed against the side wall. Rosalina sat inside the first row and three seats behind the first student desk, looking ahead at the black colored chalk board with a blank face of intrigue. She whispered back into the cheekbone of Flossie with a smile. "I...yeah, I voted for myself, too, Flossie. You know that all the girls voted for themselves for homecoming queen, like always. Don't sweat ants! Ho-ho cutt is a cunt anyways."

Flossie whispered with a grin. "Naw, she ain't a cunt. A cunt is a fucking whore, without a boyfriend or a husband. She's an old bitching maiden that has never been fucked before. I can't wait to leave Brier High and get married."

Waverly turned and hand printed the name on the chalk board, placing one straight line that represented the Roman number one next to Flossie's name with a smile and a nod in silence. He turned around to face the classroom.

Hocutt read out loud the next name. "Nadean got one vote." The class sounded with claps and whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Waverly turned and hand printed the name on the chalk board, placing one straight line that represented the Roman number one next to Nadean's name with a smile and a nod in silence. He turned around to face the classroom.

Flossie elbowed Nadean with a giggle. "Yeah, you voted for your selfish self, too, like me and the rest of the girls. Why didn't Ho-hocutt announce your heavenly sins, too?"

"Don't know." Nadean gasped at the mention of her name, turning to see Rosalina. Rosalina turned and nodded in silence to Nadean. Nadean nodded in silence back to Rosalina, realizing that Waverly had purposefully shifted around the loose papers in a different order. Otherwise, each student could figure out who had voted for whom, since Waverly started collecting the papers on opposite side of the room. And the entire senor class was only a count of twenty-two students.

All the girls voted for their vane person. So, the group of boys would really decide the next homecoming queen, showing favor to one girl over the other eleven ones.

Rosalina had voted for Nadean as the homecoming queen. Flossie had voted for herself.

Waverly turned and nodded to Nadean in silence, letting her know that no other student would figure out that she had purposed rigged the student voting for Rosalina to win as the football homecoming queen which he had approved and participated. Based on the student voting, Zeeta would automatically win without being challenged, since Zeeta, Teague, and Eckward would produce the most votes for her as homecoming queen. Waverly didn't particular like or enjoy the company of Zeeta. Waverly didn't understand how Teague accepted the short and ill-mannered Zeeta as a girlfriend, when Teague would secretly whisper into the eardrum of Nadean between the class periods all the time.

Nadean sat back with a nod in silence to Waverly, turning and scanned the room, stopping on the angry face of Norbert.

Norbert thought that Nadean had reneged on the proposed proposal, since the next single sheet of paper would have belonged to Nadean. Nadean sat next to Flossie. And the name of Flossie had been called out first, so it was logical to assume that the name paper belonged to Nadean. And then the name of Nadean was called out second by Hocutt.

Nadean exhaled with a puff of annoyance, slowing nodding with a silly grin to Norbert. He gasped and turned to see the hair roots of Hocutt, looking back with a stern face to see Nadean. She slowly nodded with a silly grin to Norbert.

Norbert nodded back in silence, reaching over and slapped the bicep of his buddy Finnis with a smile and a nod in silence.

Hocutt flipped the paper and read out loud. "Renita got one vote." The class sounded with loud claps and louder whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Waverly turned and hand printed the name on the chalk board, placing one straight line that represented the Roman number one next to Renita's name with a smile and a nod in silence. He turned around to face the classroom.

Hocutt flipped the paper and read out loud. "Renita got another vote. That is two votes for Renita as the homecoming queen for Brier High School." The class students sounded with claps and whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

"Not yet!" Nash clapped with a smile. The class students sounded with loud claps and louder whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Hocutt continued to flip the papers and read out loud each senior girl name as Waverly hand printed the name and the number of votes onto the black board with the chalk in silence. She said. "Prebble got one vote. Nettie got one vote. Sondra got one. Sondra got a second vote. That is two votes for Sondra as homecoming queen." The class students sounded with claps and whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Wilson clapped and yelled for all eardrums, "She is my queen, too."

Hocutt flipped to the next paper with a smile. "Zeeta got one vote. Joelle got one vote. Zeeta got another vote. That is two votes for Zeeta." The class students sounded with claps and whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Zeeta spun around inside her student desk with a hand and a wink to see Teague. He wiggled the blue ink back at Zeeta with a smile.

Nadean wrung both hands in nervousness, watching the action inside the classroom, praying for a miracle that included Zeeta not becoming the next homecoming queen of Brier High School.

Hocutt flipped to the next handwritten paper with a gasp. "I do not believe this. Finnis has received a single vote as the next homecoming queen for Brier High School." Nadean slapped a hand over her giggles.

"Go, Finnis!" Norbert clapped with a smile. The rest of the class students turned and stared at each other in silence.

Hocutt looked up with a sour frown to see Norbert. "This has never happened that a male has been voted as the homecoming queen within the senior class. It will be disregarded from the voting pile, Finnis Farris and Norbert."

Norbert frowned at Hocutt with a nod. "This is America. You must count all the student votes, Mrs. Hocutt during an election..."

She sneered at Norbert. "This is my classroom. I count all the votes that qualify as homecoming queen at Brier High School, young sir." She looked down with a stern face and flipped to the next paper with a smile. "Joelle gets another vote. That is two votes for Joelle. Rosalina gets on vote. Cordellia gets one vote. Rosalina gets one vote. Cordellia gets another vote. That is two votes for Cordellia as homecoming queen also..."

"Rosalina has received two votes, Mrs. Hocutt." Waverly tapped the chalk onto the black board, staring with a smile and a nod to Rosalina.

Rosalina turned and gasped to see Nadean.

Nadean nodded with a smile, making Rosalina smile back. Lark and Waverly had filled a promise and voted for Rosalina. If only Nadean could have voted for Rosalina, then it would become three votes for Rosalina as homecoming queen

"What?" Hocutt turned and frowned at Waverly.

Waverly pointed to the chalk board with a smile and a nod. "Rosalina has received two votes as homecoming queen, also, Mrs. Hocutt."

Hocutt turned and frowned at Rosalina. "Yeah," she flipped to the next handwritten paper with a gasp. "I do not believe this. Finnis has received another vote as the next homecoming queen for Brier High School."

Nadean slapped a hand over her giggles with a nod.

"Yeah, Finnis, you got two votes within the senior class." Norbert clapped with a smile. The class sounded with claps and whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Hocutt looked up with a sour frown to see Finnis and Norbert. "Both votes will be disregarded from the voting pile, Finnis Farris and Norbert."

Waverly frowned at the nose profile of Hocutt. "You cannot disregard the two votes for Finnis, Mrs. Hocutt."

"What?" She turned and frowned at Waverly.

Waverly tapped on the black board with the chalk, looking a stern face and a serious tone to see Hocutt. "Finnis has received more than one single vote from the senior class. His name is within the category of two votes as the next homecoming queen guy at Brier High School. This is a democratic process within America and an American school, Mrs. Hocutt. This is the American way of life here in the USA." He turned and nodded with a smile to Finnis and Norbert.

"Yeah, Finnis," Norbert yelled with a clap, reaching and slapped a hand onto the bicep of Finnis. Finnis smiled in silence. The class sounded with loud claps and loud whistles for fun and annoyance at Hocutt.

Hocutt turned and exhaled with a puff of frustration at Finnis. "Well, the tabulation is still counting up all the votes. Your name can stay upon the black board for now until all the votes of the senior call have been counted."

"Let him stay, Mrs. Hocutt! We, boys want representation on the homecoming team, too." Nash sat within the next to last row in the rear of the room with a laugh and a clap for fun.

Brock leaned over the desk surface and slapped the back spine of Nash with a sneer. "Shut the fuck up, Nash. Sit your ass back down before I beat it!" Nash sat back, crossing both arms with a sour frown, watching the silly action inside the homeroom.

Hocutt looked down with a stern face and flipped to the next paper, reading out loud. "Rosalina got one vote. Danielle got one vote. Danielle gets another vote as homecoming queen for Brier High."

Rosalina turned and smiled at Nadean. Nadean nodded with a smile to see Rosalina.

"What?" Zeeta spun around inside the student desk, staring with a sour frown and a sneer at Bobcat, who did not vote for her but Rosalina. Thus, Rosalina has more votes of three compared to her votes of two. Therefore, Zeeta will not be the next homecoming queen.

Nadean turned and gasped at Bobcat in silence, shifting her eyelashes to Teague. Teague nervously twirled the ink pen between his hands. Nadean realized that Teague had voted for Rosalina, not Zeeta. Bobcat voted for Zeeta like he had stated.

Thus, Zeeta only received two votes for homecoming queen.

Rosalina had received three votes for homecoming queen, coming from Lark, Waverly and Teague.

Nadean sat inside the student desk and tossed both arms with a smile and a yell, "Rosalina!"

"No," She flipped to the next hand written paper with a confused brow. "What is this?" Hocutt looked up with a sour frown to see Finnis. "Finis received another vote within the senior class."

Nadean slapped a hand over her giggles, turning to see Norbert. He turned and nodded in silence to Nadean.

Waverly turned with a chuckle and marked another Roman number on the names of Finnis and Rosalina with a smile. "That is three votes for Finnis. Three votes for Rosalina as the homecoming queen. So far, it is a tie. Or so fair, is it a tie?" He spun around with a smile and faced the students with a laugh.

The teacher chewed and swallowed the food with a sigh. "It is not a tie. The senior class cannot have two homecoming queens. And one must be a female, not a male." Hocutt turned with a sour frown to see the black board, reading the names. "I want to count the votes so far and see the final results are with my own eyes."

Kersey stood from the chair and pointed at the black board with a smile and a nod. "The names and the numbers are on the black board in white chalk, Ms. Ho-hocutt. I see that both Finnis and Rosalina are the class elected homecoming queer guy and queen. Congratulations, Finnis! I didn't vote for you, man, but I'm glad that you won. Congratulations, Rosalina! I didn't vote for you, either, honey, but I'm glad that you won, too. There it is all done. Can I go to the bathroom, now?"

Hocutt frowned at the black board of names and numbers. "Go sit down, Waverly! Go on to the bathroom, Kersey!"

"Yes ma'am." Waverly moved and shuffled across the room, turning and winked at Nadean.

"We must recount all the votes for homecoming queen." Renita frowned at the black board, feeling disappointment at not being homecoming queen.

"No, we must re-vote the senior girl for homecoming queen." Zeeta turned and sneered at Bobcat. "I promise that I will win the majority of the votes this time." She quickly tabulated that there were only five males among the senior class students that would influence the vote for the next homecoming queen, which were Eckward, Lark, Waverly, Finnis, and Norbert.

However, Finnis and Norbert loved to play a set of sick and mentally retarded mind games with the teachers and the students at Brier High School. So, they had teemed together and voted for Finnis as homecoming queen for the football game on Friday night.

Then, there would only be three free voters of males among the senior class that could have influenced the final vote for the next homecoming queen, coming from Eckward, Lark, and Waverly.

However, Finnis had received three votes, coming from Finnis, Norbert, and Waverly. Since, Waverly enjoyed performing his own set of sick and mentally intellectual mind games with the teachers and the students, too. So he had casted his vote for Finnis, making three student votes as homecoming queen at Brier High School.

Zeeta slammed both fists over the naked student desk with a sneer. She had received only two votes, coming from her elegant handwriting and her boyfriend Teague.

Thus, Bobcat had voted for Rosalina, since Rosalina received three votes that showed on the black board in white chalk.

Nettie sat beside Zeeta, turning and sneered at the nose profile of Zeeta. "You didn't win this time and won't win next time, Zeeta. Nobody likes you within the entire school, but Tomcat for some dumb ass reason..."

"She's good inside the wood shed." Kersey touched the door knob with a laugh. The classroom door opened. He exited with a laugh and a grin into the empty hallway, moving to the bathroom.

The class room door closed.

Teague turned and sneered at the closed door. "Shut it, Kersey!"

Sondra stood upright from the student desk with a sour frown, tossing both hands into the air. "Remember? The rest of the senior girls are the court of homecoming princesses. We all receive a crown, an armful of flowers..."

Zeeta turned and sneered at the class president. "Sit down, Zondra! I wanna be homecoming queen with a bigger crown and more pretty roses, not a princess..."

"Quiet here inside the classroom!" Hocutt stared and shouted with a sour frown at the black board. "Everyone be quiet! Or you will get and see the paddle of principal Holden." The room silenced. "Okay! The following senior girls voted for themselves and received one vote each. This name includes Nadean, Flossie, Prebble, Nettie. Please, each girl stand and move into the rear of the room for homecoming queen elimination, while I determine the true homecoming queen for Brier High School."

Each female stood and moved to the rear of the classroom, standing against the wall, making funny sounds, flirting with the senior boys for fun.

"It is Rosalina, the true homecoming queen of Brier High." Nadean stood from the chair, since she received a single vote from her friend Rosalina with a sour frown. "She got three votes, the highest from the senior class." She turned and leaned against the wall of girls with a sour frown, staring at the black board, crossing both arms.

"Quiet." Hocutt studied the black board of names and numbers. "The following senior girls had received two votes with a vote from themselves and a vote from a boyfriend within the senior class. Renita, Sondra, Joelle, Cordellia, Danielle, Zeeta, all of you please stand and move to the rear of the wall." Each female stood and moved to the rear of the classroom, standing against the wall, making funny sounds, flirting with the senior boys for fun. Hocutt gasped with a nod at the black board. "I do not believe this. There are three white chalk marks for Finnis as the homecoming queen."

"Yay, Finnis," Norbert sat inside the chair and yelled with a smile and a clap.

Hocutt frowned. "I don't know what to do here. This has never happened before."

Waverly sat inside the desk with a smile and a nod. "Finnis is a senior class representative, now, Mrs. Hocutt. He has more than any other senior females on the chalk board and he is equally tied with the female representative Rosalina. Therefore, we have two representatives of homecoming queen with a male and a female. Our class will be the first one to do so here at Brier High."

"No." Zeeta frowned.

"Yes." Nash clapped and yelled with a smile.

Hocutt frowned at the black board and turned to see only one senior girl who sat inside the classroom desk. "I see and say that Rosalina has received three white chalk marks upon the black board. She is our homecoming queen for the senior class." She smiled at Rosalina. "It is official now. Congratulations, Rosalina!"

"What about me as the new homecoming queen? I have three votes, too." Finnis frowned at the black board.

The classroom door opened.

Kersey entered with a smile, feeling relieve from pissing, moving ahead to his student desk with a laugh.

Nadean clapped with a smile, standing against the wall. "Speech, Rosalina!"

"Speak, sit up, and beg, Rosalina." Kersey said with a smile, sitting inside the desk, missing the event.

Rosalina nodded with a smile to Hocutt and slowly stood, turning with a smile to see the class that stood against the wall. She could see the angry glares from some of the jealous girls. Nadean was clapping and smiling. Rosalina cleared a throat. "I would like to say thank you to my classmates. But I cannot accept the homecoming queen title until the other representative, who is equal to me, not in genre, is allowed to stand within the semi-circle of the homecoming court with the other princesses."

Zeeta jabbed a finger and a sneer at Rosalina. "See? She doesn't want the title. I won the title of homecoming queen. I got two votes...."

"You got two votes like me, bitch Zeeta." Renita sneered.

Zeeta jabbed a finger at the ceiling with a nod and a smile, staring at Hocutt. "We re-vote for a new homecoming queen, right now."

Rosalina lifted both palms into the air with a smile, scanning the wall of girls and rows of boys. "I think that the entire class should vote if Finnis should stand with the other homecoming princesses. Could I please see all the hands rise into the air?"

The rows of males stood upright from the chair and lifted both arms into the air with a smile, clapping and wiggling the hips. Half of the girls lifted up both arms into the air and clapped also.

The other girls frowned and crossed both arms over a set of breasts with a sour frown in silence.

Rosalina smiled with a clap. "There! It is decided in a democratic process by the senior class. Finnis will stand tall with all the other homecoming princesses at the crowning during the half-time show of the football game. And I accept the honor and title as the next Brier Homecoming Queen," she swung around with a smile and a nod to see Mrs. Hocutt.

"Sit down, class! Come back and sit down." Hocutt frowned. Each student moved and sat back down with a smile or a sour frown. Hocutt said. "Alright, this has been a really weird day, so far. Now, all the homecoming activities..."

The school bell rang.

Zeeta stood from the chair with a sour frown, turning with a snarl to stare down at the blondish-brown hair roots of Rosalina, strolling down to the rear of the room and stopped, hugging Teague with a smile. "Thanks for voting for me." She turned with a sneer to see Bobcat. "And who may I ask did you vote for, Bobcat?"

Bobcat turned with a sour frown to see Teague and then Zeeta. "Voting is a privilege as an American citizen of the USA, Zeeta. Be lucky that you get one vote that didn't include voting for your selfish ass."

Zeeta gasped and then smiled. "I am lucky sine that other vote came from my man..."

"Yeah, your man!" Bobcat spun around with a laugh and a grin, leaving out from the classroom.

Zeeta turned and stared with a confused brow at the back spine of Bobcat. "What does that mean, Tomcat?"

Teague stood in place and cuddled Zeeta with a fake smile, staring at the back spine of Eckward, holding his secret homecoming vote for Rosalina. "I don't know, homecoming princess, sweetheart. We should go and congratulate the new homecoming queen Rosalina."

"Never!" Zeeta moved ahead with a sneer, leaving Teague behind inside the classroom.

Friday May 18th

Last day of high school classes

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

8:08 a.m.

Brier High School

Graduation Day

Gradation walk practice

Gymnasium floor location

A short, plump, and elderly history instructor, Mrs. Rundle of Brier High School stood between the double wide twin archways of the gymnasium, holding a wooden ruler in a hand, as usual. The other hand jabbed a finger at each senior face as she said with a shout and a stern face. "You are the graduating seniors, today. I am happy to report that all seniors passed your academic classes and can graduate tonight..."

The students sounded with loud claps and louder cheers plus some ear whistles.

She cleared her throat. "Now, a high school graduation is a somber ceremony for marking the end of your completion of long twelve years of study, before the party celebration. As a somber ceremony, you will enter from the lobby across the marked aisle and into your assigned seats two by two like the creatures upon the Ark of Noah. Therefore, you will be dressed in your gown, your cap..."

One of the seniors yelled. "Can I wear my church dress underneath my graduation gown, Mrs. Rundle? I wanna look pretty for my only high school graduation."

"Can I wear my sneakers underneath my graduation gown, Mrs. Rundle? My feet hurt when I stand for hours."

"Can I go first and get my diploma? So I can go and start my partying while the rest of the seniors get their diplomas."

"Can I go last for fun?"

"Can I go home? My sister graduated last year. I know what to do."

"Can I go pee, please?" Kersey held both hands down over the blue jeans, skipping side to side into Nash.

"Can I wear my bikini underneath my graduation gown, Mrs. Rundle? It's hot in the gym with all the parents and students and teachers here?"

"Can I go naked underneath my gown, Mrs. Rundle? I got hot and heated inside the gym with all the parents and students and teachers here?" Nash nodded with a grin and a laugh as the male classmates reached out and slapped a shoulder with a nod, too.

The students sounded with a series of chuckles and giggles.

"Shush, Nash." Rundle frowned. "You may enter the gymnasium floor. Please stand on top of the solid black line. Go now. Go and stand on the line. I will follow behind."

The students scattered and split into numerous small groups with a set of giggles and whispers, scooting around Rundle. Each student entered the room, moving to stand on the solid black line on the floor.

Rundle turned with a stern face, marching her fat legs through the lobby into the floor and stopped with a gasp. "Kersey, listen and follow my instructions. Go and stand on the solid black line."

Kersey was standing on a vertical solid line in front of closed bleachers with a grin and a snigger, pointing down at his boot toes. "I am. I am standing on the solid black line. It is the first solid black line in your eyesight when you enter the gym. The rest of the dumbo seniors passed it and stand in the middle of the gym. Why would they do that, Mrs. Rundle?" He smiled with a chuckled.

Rundle rolled her eyeballs with a sour frown, looking with an angry brow at Kersey. "Go and follow your classmates now, Kersey."

"Okay." He turned and ran to the end of the line.

Rundle moved and scooted around to stand in front of the students with a stern face and the ruler in her hand. "Please split into two lines! Girls on your right. Boys on your left." The students turned and moved into two lines. "Now, please rearrange your physical bodies in a neat row of shortest to tallest." The students mumbled and shifted around into a different spot.

"I'm taller," the teen male shouted out loud.

Teague yelled and tossed both arms into the air with a grin and a laugh at Brock. "I am taller than you, Bear."

Brock or silly nicknamed Bear laughed out loud. "If you wear your pair of pretty and polished cowboy boot heels on the floor, yeah. But you ain't wearing those pair of unpolished things for our high school graduation."

Teague looked down with a confused brow to see the boot toes of his polished cowboy boots. "I wear my boots every dang day and to graduation too. I am taller than you, Bear. Move over!"

"Here! Here!" Rundle turned with a sour frown to see Teague and slammed the ruler into an open palm with a sneer of pain. "What is the issue over there, senior males?"

Bear stood upright and tall in his boot toes with a smile. "I'm taller than Tomcat."

Teague stood upright and taller in his boot toes with a smile also. "I'm taller than Bear. That's why I'm quarterback, so I could see over everyone's hair roots, boy."

Rundle moved ahead and stopped with a smile, standing in front Bear, Tomcat, Bobcat, and Lark, "Well, you, boys are less than a millimeter in total height."

Lark looked down at the hair roots of Rundle with a worried brow. "Is that a question on our graduation test, tonight?"

Rundle looked up with a laugh to see Lark. "There is not an examination test, tonight. All the seniors graduated this year from Brier High School, which is a miracle. The question: who wants to go last in the graduation parade line?"

Bear laughed out loud, "The question: who is the last girl in line, pretty or ugly? Then, Teague can have her." The females sounded with a series of moans and giggles.

Rundle cleared a throat. "Yes! You are very observant, Bear. The graduation parade will be executed with a single girl and boy pairings, only. Let me examine the girl line first. Then you boys can decide which girl you wanna pair with..."

Renita stomped forward from the female line with a sour frown to the teacher. "Mrs. Rundle, that is a double standard. We, girls don't wanna pair with the boys. We wanna walk with a girl and a girl pairing. Right, girls?"

Flossie turned with a giggle and a grin, waving a hand and wiggling her hips to the entire boy line. "Naw! Not me! You can go and pair with another girl, Renita. I'll walk with Kersey." Kersey turned with a hand wave and a smile back to Flossie.

"Forget it, Flossie-girl. That's my man." Renita leaned over and slapped Flossie on the arm with a sneer.

Zeeta moved forward from the girl line, jabbing a finger down at the floor with a sneer. "Forget that, too! Tomcat is my man."

Rundle back stepped with a shout and a sneer, standing between the two lines of students, "Quiet, seniors! You will be paired as girl and boy. You will walk paired as boy and girl. Let me see the female line." She turned and moved, standing in the middle of the line of senior girls with a smile, staring at each teen.

Nash bounced in and out of his spot inside the line with a shout and a snigger. "We should walk alphabetically. We do everything alphabetically like say present and receive grades and park our cars..."

"Then, I would walk with Haywood. No more alphabet or alphabetical! I'm done with the alphabetically alphabet." Nadean leaned over with a whisper and a sour frown into the cheekbone of Rosalina.

Rosalina turned to see the boys with a giggle and a grin. "I don't think the alphabetical rule will apply today at the graduation practice. But I do believe that Teague and Bear are the tallest of the boys in our class." She leaned forward over the line, studying the nose profile of each girl, standing upright with a smile. "And you and I are the tallest of the girls within the senior class, Nadean."

"Naw! No way!" Nadean turned and stomped backward from the line to see the back spine of each boy with a puff of annoyance. "Geez! I can't get rid of Teague to save my as..."

"As I was saying," Rundle moved down the line of girls, reaching and touched the arm of Nadean with a grin. "I have physically shuffled around each senior girl by height to pair with a senior boy by equal or greater height. And the last senior girl in graduation line is..."

"Duchess, you and I are the tallest of our species within the senior class. Come over here and stand next to my rib cage, sweetheart." Teague moved backward from the line and motioned with a hand and a smile to Nadean, patting the rib cage with a wink.

"Tomcat," Zeeta stomped forward with a worried brow from the line of the girls, turning to see the line of male seniors.

Rundle turned and frowned at Zeeta. "Where are you moving off to, Zeeta?"

Zeeta pointed in the direction of the line of boys with a smile. "That is my man..."

Rundle exhaled. "This is a graduation, not a tea party, senior Zeeta. Get back in line now! You will be with your man after the graduation ceremony and beyond, if the rumors are true."

"What rumors?" Zeeta sneered.

Nash laughed. "The rumor that Zeeta is having a preg...nancy."

Rundle gasped and turned to see Zeeta. The senior moved back into the line, crossing both arms with a growl, shaking her curls at the teacher.

"Nash, say your prayers, now, boy." Teague stomped forward with a sneer and a sour frown to see the nose profile of Nash.

Rundle cleared a throat with a grin to each senior. "Silence in here, soon-to-be graduates! Zeeta is not having a child. Tomcat, get back into line. And Nadean and Rosalina stand tall and together. Who is the tallest?"

"The prettiest?" Bear shouted with a grin

"The cutest? Nash shouted with a smile.

"The winner is Rosalina." Rundle stood in place with a nod and a smile. "You are about one-fourth of a millimeter taller than Nadean. You will walk last within the graduation parade with the tallest senior boy. Congratulations! You're the tallest senior girl. Switch places with Nadean. Nadean is the next tallest of all the senior girls. There, the senior girl line is all done." She side stepped to see the line of senior males with a smile. "Alright, teen senior males stand straight and tall. Who is the tallest of you all?"

"Bear is the tallest." Teague slumped down a collar bone a few milli-inches, so he could not be the tallest and walk the graduation parade with Nadean.

Rundle side stepped and stood in front of Teague and Brock, narrowing her eyeballs. "Tomcat and Brock look almost even-steven, except Bear is one-fourth of a milli-incher higher than the hair roots of Tomcat. Bear is the tallest group of senior males. There, he will walk with the tallest senior girl Rosalina." She clapped the ruler inside a palm with a smile. "The pairing is completed. Every senior turn around and move back into the lobby of the gymnasium. There are conveniently two separate lobby doors inside the gymnasium based on fire regulations. Thus, there will a separate line, coming out from each door, one for the boys. One for the girls."

Teague back stepped from the line of the boys and turned, dashing forward and ran into the butthole of Nadean with a chuckle and smile. He back stepped and pulled up next to her, reaching around and cuddled her into his chest with a smile, "Duchess, me and you. And you and me, together again."

Nadean exhaled with a sour frown, "Teague."

He leaned over and smiled into her cheekbone, "Tomcat! I'm damn honored that I'll be walking down the aisle with you, tonight."

Nadean broke free from Teague with a sour frown and moved ahead into the dark lobby with some of the girls. Teague turned with a smile and dashed ahead, entering the other side. The rest of the seniors disappeared into the darkness of the lobby space with a sound of laughter, whistles, yells, and screams.

Rundle stood in the middle of the room with a sour frown. "Be quiet, seniors. Everyone get in the height line that I just assigned. I wanna see Zeeta as the first girl senior inside the archway. And I wanna see Waverly as the first male senior inside the archway. Good. Go and start walking." Zeeta and Waverly moved forward from the archway and turned, advancing to each other in silence. Rundle said. "You will enter from the lobby door and turn toward the middle of the floor and meet in the middle and then pair up. The pair will turn and face the section of folding chairs and walk forward. The aisle between the bleachers with hold two more separate sections of folding chairs and it will be filled with other school students, your parents and the entire grove of Brier. Zeeta and Waverly has meet in the middle and turned to face me and the chairs. Go forward, Zeeta and Waverly and then sit down in the front row. I wanna see the next girl and boy couple."

Prebble moved forward from the archway and turned to see Norbert and Finnis. The boys were walking together toward Prebble with a smile. She stopped walking with a sour frown.

Rundle raised the ruler and the other palm with a sour frown. "Whoa, there! Norbert, you are to walk with Prebble. Finnis..."

Norbert and Finnis both turned and faced Rundle with a smile. "I want to walk the graduation parade with my friend Finnis..."

Rundle exhaled with a puff of annoyance. Mrs. Hocutt had tattled to the staff about the two boys somehow rigging the homecoming court system during homecoming week, where Finnis had been crowned a homecoming princess at Brier High School. Now, the same two males wanted to change the rule of the senior graduation walk.

"Let him walk with his friend Finnis," Nash stood inside the archway of the lobby with the other teen boys, clapping with a laugh and a smile with some of the other senor males.

"Yeah, let Norbert walk with Finnis." Kersey stood in the crowded line of boys inside the archway, clapping with a smile.

"Alright, alright," Rundle dropped both hands, slapping the ruler over a leg with a tern face. "Okay. Norbert get over there and stand behind Zeeta. Zeeta and Waverly, go back to your respective lobby side. We will walk from the beginning with the new senior walking arrangement."

Zeeta stood from the chair, and turned, moving ahead with a puzzled brow to see the back spine of Rundle. "What? What are doing, Mrs. Rundle?"

Waverly stood from the chair and turned, dashing ahead to the lobby space in silence and a smile.

"Preventing a riot," Rundle whispered for her eardrums only. "Look, we have a slight change in the walking order. And we have uneven lines now. Fawn, move over and stand in front of the senior males!" The males clapped and hooted with head nods at the girl movement. Rundle sneered. "Quiet in here!"

Fawn frowned at the teacher. "Mrs. Rundle, I am girl, not a boy." The males hooted and clapped with head nods, again.

Quite, senior males!" Rundle frowned. "You will be walking from the lobby space with Zeeta."

"No." Zeeta yelled. "I wanna walk with Waverly. He's assigned to walk..."

"Now, Waverly will walk with..."

"No."

"Listen to me, I am the teacher. You are the shortest female in the senior class, Zeeta. Fawn is the second shortest girl. The two short people will walk and..."

"Do it, tighter and together!" Nash clapped with a grunt as the rest of the males clapped and hooted with head nods, again.

"Quiet in here," rundle buzzed her lips with frustration. "Get in line..."

"No." Zeeta frowned.

"Please, get back in line and start the senor walk for the morning."

Zeeta swung around with a sour frown, marching to the front of the girl's line. "I'm telling my mama."

"You do that. For now, you march from the lobby and sat inside the first row of the far chairs. March! Come on, Zeeta and Fawn."

Zeeta and Fawn moved forward from the lobby archway and turned to face each other, advancing ahead and stopped in the middle of the room. They both turned and faced, moving with a set of sour frown to rundle.

"Do not touch me." Zeeta moved a few inches from the other girl's side with a sneer.

Fawn growled and slide move to the side and away from Zeeta. "Ditto, bitch!"

Rundle motioned with a hand. "Good job, first couple!"

Zeeta turned and moved to the far end of the row with a sneer and a shout. "We are not a couple. We are a pair of girls." She turned and sat down the chair, twisting around to see each couple with a growl.

"Second couple, come forward." Rundle motioned with a hand and the ruler with a smile.

Norbert and Finnis moved ahead and turned, skipping to each other into the middle of the room and then curtsied to each other with a giggle. The line of males laughed. Then, Norbert and Finnish stood upright and turned to face Rundle slowly advancing down the aisle, waving a hand back and forth with a silly grin.

"Good job, second couple! Third couple, come on out and beat that happy school spirit of the second senior pairing." Rundle laughed.

The other couples moved ahead from the lobby archway with a laugh and a smart comment and turned to face the other paired sex, advancing into the middle and turned again to face Rundle. Each coupled moved again and separated, sitting down in the correct folding chair.

"Come on Tomcat and Nadean!" Rundle motioned with a hand and the rule with a smile.

Teague and Nadean moved ahead and turned to face each other. Nadean stopped in the middle of the floor. Teague ran into her face with a chuckle, pouting his lips for face kiss. She back stepped with a sour frown, "Teague!"

"Tomcat," Zeeta stood upright from the chair with a sneer, turning to see Teague and Nadean, waving both hands at the collision and for attention.

Teague back stepped from her face with a chuckle and reached over, grabbing her arm, cuddling Nadean into a chest and leaned over a whisper of secret words into her cheekbone. They slowly turned and more slowly advanced to Rundle and the section of folding chairs.

"Tomcat, get into your chair, now! Don't spread Nadean cooties on your clothes." Zeeta frowned at the couple.

Teague ignored the words of his girlfriend Zeeta and slowly moved down the aisle as Nadean giggled from his funny stories.

Rundle smiled at Teague and Nadean, turning to see the last couple. "Finally, the last couple of the senior walking parade. Come on out, Bear and Rosalina."

Brock cuddled her into a chest with a smile, staring at the back spines of Nadean and Teague. "They make a cute couple."

Rosalina stared with grin and a giggle at the two back spines of Nadean and Teague, who were strolling so close that they could be mating and producing a baby, "Yeah, they do. I don't understand..."

"Me, either!" Brock leaned into her cheekbone with a grin and a whisper. "You did a good job twirling your baton this year."

Rosalina looked down with a pink flush at the floor, feeling his rough facial whiskers on a cheekbone, holding onto his forearm with a smile. "O. Thank you, Bear."

"I saw you twirl through the fan inside the locker room."

She turned with a gasp to see his smile and touched his nose bridge. "How is that possible? You and the rest of the football team are resting inside the locker room during the half-time show."

"Yeah, the rest of the senior, who played during the game, I'm a kicker. I only kick the ball off the tee after a touchdown and for an extra point. I don't see much playtime, only pressure time. So, during the half-time show of the band performance, I and some of the other guys ran up the steps and pose in front of the big fan. The air is cool. Between the sides of slots, there is long vertical and wide panel of exposed wall. You can see for miles over the football field. So, I could you see twirl. You were on the left side near the building and near me."

She smiled. "Yeah, I was."

"Yeah, I was, too. Tonight, there's a bonfire at Tomcat's house, well, at his horse barn, right after our graduation ceremony with trays of hot dogs and tubs of cold beer cans. O. You don't drink beer, do you?"

Rosalina turned and smiled down at the floor. "I eat hotdogs, thou."

Brock leaned into her cheekbone with a smile. "Yeah, I eat hotdogs, too. Maybe, you can come by the party for a little bit, tonight."

She looked up with a smile to see his grin. "Yeah, maybe I can, too."

Rundle stood in front of the square shaped section with rows of folding chairs for each senior butthole. "Boom! Bam, ma'am! The last couple of the graduation has arrived finally from the lobby entrance way and moved down the wide aisle of parent chairs. Now, split you, two! Rosalina sits on the first chair on the last row on your left. Bear sits on the right inside the last row, first chair. Thus, it is the end of the senior walking parade." She clapped the ruler into a palm with a smile. "Good, so far. Okay, get up, seniors! We do it again without the whining and laughing noises. Today, you do not whine but walk. So, let's practice for the real thing, now."

All the seniors stood with a whining sound, again.

05:05 p.m.

House of Birdie Burns

Private bedroom setting of Rosalina

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine without clouds

She slowly moved around the private bedroom, where had she spent the last seventeen years and eleven months of a very short life, touching each piece of worn wooden furniture. Rosalina would be eighteen years on the sixth of June.

However, tonight was the high school graduation ceremony at Brier High School, where she had attended for the last twelve years. Tomorrow, she was moving away from her home town of Brier and would live inside the metro city of Birmingham.

Rosalina had been accepted into Birmingham Junior College as a freshman college student with the help of her Uncle Dickie. She would live away from her private bedroom, her mom, and her sister in Brier, feeling a range of mixed emotions with the deepest feeling of pride.

Pride was a sin in the Bible.

She whispered a prayer of forgiveness, because pride was always punished by Almighty God for the sinner.

Rosalina had overcome lots of adversities to graduate from Brier High School with a set of excellent grades and a loving and caring uncle, who also believed in her future accomplishments.

She touched the old vanity desk which held a hair brush and a comb. Her hair was chopped out around the ears and the neck, a pixie style. She didn't need a hair brush or a comb, running ten fingers through the wet silky locks of blondish-brown.

Her good friend Nadean Garland and her twin brothers had come up with the idea of chopping off Rosalina's hair, making her body look sexy, too.

Her cute male classmate Bear had flirted with Rosalina during the graduation practice this morning and invited her to Teague's evening barbeque and dance in front of the empty barn too.

All the Brier teens would be there to party and eat and drink beer and non-alcoholic beverages all night long until midnight. Then, they would go home.

Nadean had offered for Rosalina to spend the night at midnight at her house that was in front of Teague's farm.

Rosalina had not decided about spending the night with Nadean, but she had decided to attend the fun barbeque party with her school mates for the last time.

She touched the ancient and scratched up chest of drawers which was empty with the tiny amount of wardrobe clothing.

Tomorrow, she would be a high school graduate and leave her home for good.

Her uncle Dickie had moved his personal possessions of furniture and clothing from the city of Huntsville into the metro city of Birmingham, purchasing a new house for him and Rosalina. He wanted to assist Rosalina in a good education to become an independent woman and not a dependent woman like his sister Birdie on the sin of alcohol.

The mom of Rosalina, Birdie was an alcoholic, depending on the whiskey every night to function as a normal woman.

It took many years of education and lots of patience from her uncle Dickie, but Rosalina finally could see the sickness and the shame within her mother, but she couldn't help her mother.

Her brother Dickie was a physician, but he couldn't help his sister, either.

Therefore, Rosalina and Dickie allowed Birdie to consume and resume a simple sad life for the rest of her days and nights.

Rosalina stopped beside the single lopsided nightstand which had three perfect legs and one shorten with a giggle and a grin, gently touching a few specks of her glittery silver paper crown from her senior prom night.

The senior class had decided to not to elect by an arm vote a prom queen and king this year but use the event to raise money for renting a hotel dance room for prom night. Both the male and the female of the senior class with the largest sack of money at the end of a ten-hour day would win the earned titles of the prom queen and the prom king. And Rosalina had a pair of dish pan hands for two days to prove it.

She and Nadean raised their portion of the prom money by washing every dirty redneck truck in Brier, that day.

And then, Rosalina had been announced prom queen by Principal Holden, two weeks later, before the decorated dance hall space that suddenly become flooded with water from the sprinkle ceiling.

Rosalina didn't know how to repay Nadean for her kindness and support into becoming a young woman of independence, too. Nadean was a free spirit, without question. And Rosalina needed the confidence booster that Nadean provided.

It was nice getting compliments from a loving relative like her uncle Dickie, but sometimes a person needed the truth. An outside could provide that truth like Nadean.

Rosalina moved ahead towards the lumpy bed mattress, gliding a hand over the rough worn and torn thick quilt that was her bedcover, since birth, and stopped, lifting up the sparkling tiara into a face with a smile. She won the tiara as the homecoming queen at Brier High with the help of Nadean, again.

Nadean was a good friend to her during their shared high school years.

Rosalina had not decided if the tiara would be packed and toted with her small bag of clothes to Birmingham. She wasn't burning her bridges of Brier. She was building new bridges and the tiara represented an old past life with deep memories of both pain and suffering.

Rosalina dropped the tiara down to the soft bedding with a decision tomorrow before she left her home for Birmingham to live with her uncle Dickie and her new school adventures.

She lifted and twirled the baton with a giggle and a grin, hitting the candle on top of the night stand with a gasp. The candle inside the holder fell down over the floor, spilling the wax over the old non-polished wooden floor. Rosalina laughed at the candle. "O well!"

Sometimes, the electricity flicked and turned off when Farmer Brown forgot to pay the utility invoice to the power and light company for the Burns family of the small shack. So, Rosalina would read or do homework by candle light. The candle light gave her room a weird kinda warm but creepy feeling between the four dark walls at night, without a set of outside flood lamps.

She dropped the baton on the bed cover with a nod and a smile, bringing her tool to Birmingham.

The majorette twirling baton had changed her life at Brier High School.

Nadean had suggested that Rosalina tryout and twirl with her on the majorette squad last football season.

Rosalina made the majorette squad and had fun with all the band members and Nadean, too.

Now, she was going to twirl her baton for the marching band at the junior college football games for two years. Then, she would transfer to the larger university in Birmingham.

Rosalina didn't feel comfortable at a large college school environment, yet. She had lived her entire childhood years in the shadow of her older sister and her classmates.

Brier, Alabama was a farm town. Both the elementary and high school building held and taught less than two hundred kids, including her graduating class of twenty-two senior students.

The junior college environment would allow Rosalina to adjust to a world of different types of people. However, her own mother and sister were almost kin to the devil, himself.

Rosalina had overcome the verbal abuse of harsh unloving words from a mentally disturbed mother and the physical abuse of knuckle fists from a mentally disturbed sister.

Her uncle Dickie had seen a tiny light of good inside Rosalina, protecting her as best as he could. He would not ever take Rosalina from her mother, but he really wanted that to occur for Rosalina's protection.

However, Rosalina had survived intact with her humor and her intelligence and she would have suffered more from a heart ache of missing her abusive mother than a bone ache of feeling the pain from her mean sister.

Yes, her uncle Dickie had made the right decision. Rosalina would have learned to hate him for abandoning his sister and raising her as an infant as his own child.

She turned to see the reflection inside the old and cracked mirror, wearing the green gown and the green cap for her high school graduation ceremony with a smile and a wink, feeling excited about numerous things, the graduation, the teen party, and the future.

Rosalina turned and moved to the closed door.

The door opened.

At 05:15 pm, Rosalina moved ahead into the living room which was really the other room inside the tiny shack of a house that held all the living room furniture, including the new television devise. The television was playing loudly as always.

Her mom Birdie was missing, not like always.

Rosalina sniffed the cooking stew of food on top of the stove, feeling a ting of sadness for her mom and her sister. They had chosen a life of alcoholism, where they drunk a bottle of whiskey during the day and fell into a coma of sub-consciousness during the night. And then, it was repeated the next day.

Rosalina had not decided that fate.

She turned and moved ahead towards the closed bedroom door, stopping and then lightly knocked with a soft timber, calling with a worried brow. "Mama, I...I am going now," she didn't bother to mention that it was her high school graduation event.

Birdie had never attended one single teacher-parent meeting for the good grades of Rosalina, one single football game for the baton twirls of Rosalina or one musical show for her triangle dings for Rosalina. So, her mother would miss the graduation of Rosalina too.

Bertha didn't graduate from high school either. She attended school when required, but she never received a diploma, facing a life of alcoholism too.

Her mother and her sister will survive by picking individual cotton bolls for money like always. Then, the money will be turned back into row of individual whiskey bottles.

Rosalina exhaled with a heavy heart of sadness, touching and cracking open the door and viewed the bed scene. Birdie and Bertha both snorted and passed out over the ratty bedcover with a face of mouth drool. They were really in a deep slumber and should not ever be disturbed.

She closed the door, back stepping form the door with a moan of disappointment, hearing the car horn. Rosalina turned with a smile and raced ahead towards the closed door.

The front door slid open.

At 05:18 p.m. outside on the weedy lawn setting, her uncle Dickie had parked his car over the gravel and the short weeds of the tacky lawn. The car door opened. He stood upright from the driver's seat with a smile, extending both arms for a hug from his niece. Rosalina ran through the archway with a smile and a nod of excitement of her high school graduation.

The explosion was very loud and close.

Dickie leaped into the air and hugged Rosalina with both arms while cuddling and protecting the teen from the blaring fire into his chest, watching the horror picture show.

The small house burned within the middle of the living room as the roof swiftly caved inside. Then, the large fire spread over each wall and completely encompassed the house in a hue of red heat and colored blue light.

Rosalina spun around with a gasp of fear inside the arms of her uncle. He was hugging and holding her tight form running toward the fire. She sobbed with her tears, seeing the fire. "I...I knocked the candle over inside my bedroom. It...it started the fire. I...I did this. I...I killed my mama and my sister..."

He hugged his niece, moving them away from the rearing fire and deadly flames, scooting around the car for body protection. "No, Rosalina! That's a chemical fire with the high flames and the sparkling plumes."

She sobbed with her tears, watching the blazing fire. The fire consumed the small shack of a house with one living room and two small bedrooms. "The stove, I started to cook supper. I left the cornbread in the oven. I forget to pull out the greasy pan. This is a grease fire."

He hugged her, moving away from the fire and to the safety of the roadway. The flames were trying to reach the clouds. "No, Rosalina! I came early. Thank goodness! You and I were going to the last supper together. Remember? Then we were going to attend your graduation ceremony for the evening."

"Mama? Bertha?" She sobbed with her tears.

"I am so sorry, Rosalina." He continued to hug her and move backward from the heat and flames, shifting through the deep ditch along the roadside.

The road was empty of moving vehicles. The bright sky was burning with puffs of black smoke and heaps of gray ashes from numerous burnt and dissolved wooden planks.

Silence lingered in the air.

Inside the farm town of Brier, all the other citizens were sitting inside the bleachers and attending the high school graduation of twenty-one other happy schoolers. The tiny fire station possessed one single fire engine truck which required ten strong persons to operate the water hose, who were all sitting inside the bleachers of the high school, attending the loud celebration of the graduating seniors. The tiny shack continued to burn into gray ashes and to smoke the bright sky.

Inside the farm town of Brier, a fire had been viewed and then contained by all the neighbors that resided near the farmland.

Here, the tiny shack barely marred the bright sky line and the happy day of high school graduation at Brier High School.

Dickie hugged Rosalina with his own tears of sadness. The fire had consumed the tiny shack and his sister and his other niece without mercy and within minutes.

A set of loud emergency sirens sounded from the south direction as the city of Huntsville fire trucks and police cars responded to the drifting and lingering burning smoke of one tiny shack.

And the twenty-one happy schoolers attended their high school graduation at this moment.
Eighteen years old Rosalina

First week of June

First day of college

Hot temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

7:55 a.m.

Alabama State Junior College

City of Birmingham within the US State of Alabama

(64 south of Brier)

Algebra class setting

Rosalina cuddled the book and the notebook into a chest for the first academic class of the day, moving through the archway with the other college students, selecting a middle seat inside the front row. She didn't want to miss hearing the valuable information for her new class. She had already read and worked the first five chapters of algebra problems too.

The time-consuming homework assignment helped and occupied her active mind of the two sudden deaths.

Two weeks ago, after a row of fire trucks from Huntsville had arrived, the fire captain stood next to Dickie, shaking his fire hat without a word.

The four walls of the tiny shack had fallen over all the furniture and the two sleepy bodies, burning everything into ashes. Farmer Brown had called the fire trucks when the Brier fire station didn't answer the telephone.

Outside on top of the dry weeds, Dickie had held Rosalina, explaining with his tears and his nods the situation while the police officer wrote down the words and the names with a stern face.

Farmer Brown had driven his pickup truck towards the fire to see the damage of the shack on his property without a word too. Any person in the small town of Brier knew of Birdie and her medical condition. Thus, there was not a word to say or spend. Farmer Brown shook a good bye handshake and a nod to Dickie without a word also.

Her uncle Dickie had turned and cuddled Rosalina, moving into his car with a worried brow. He was deeply grateful for saving his niece, who had become his world and his responsibility for the rest of his living days. And he had been overjoyed to provide her comfort and her opportunity for a normal life too, finally. He had loved his sister but she wasn't a good mother to her two children. And he had been a good physician but he couldn't save his sister either.

The car door opened. He had shoved Rosalina into the front passenger seat with a sigh of sadness. The door closed. He turned and dashed around the rear bumper of the car to the driver's seat, sliding inside without a word. The car turned and drove from the smoking shack in the direction of Huntsville.

Dickie and Rosalina had decided to leave the next day after her non-fun night of not graduating.

No matter.

The new house in Birmingham had been prepped with both food and furniture. Dickie would wait a couple of days and go shopping for a set of new clothes with Rosalina. Then, Rosalina would start her college days, the start of a new future.

Dickie had returned a couple of days later to talk with Principle Holden and collected her high school diploma.

Currently, inside the firsts college classroom, Rosalina sat in her first academic class of college, feeling excitement and anticipation of her new life as a college freshmen and dropped a chin down into the first chapter, reviewing the problems. She had finished each problem for the first three chapters, two days ago. She really was excited about leaving my old life in the tiny farm town of Brier behind.

The rest of the college students slowly moved through the open archway, locating an empty seat. Some of the new students like Rosalina gathered and grouped between two rows, whispering with a set of soft giggles. Some of the male college students lined the back of the classroom like in high school too.

College was a different atmosphere where the student determined the progress of his or her successful academic career without a parental guidance or the threat of punishment.

Rosalina had decided to become a physician like her uncle. She was required to study numerous math and science courses during her first year of college. Her days and nights were occupied with science classes and the associated laboratories of biology and chemistry.

Uncle Dickie had suggested that Rosalina attend an art class, learning about the different cultures of the world, since the farm town of Brier was sheltered from the larger society.

Rosalina also took a sociology course, analyzing her own social skills within a college atmosphere.

She tapped the number two pencil over the open book, scanning the room from side to side. It was improper for a lady to look over a collar bone and saw at the new faces until an emergency. She could hear the soft mumblings and laugher of the new students like her.

The college professor was late for the first class of the first day of college. However, that was not a problem. The rule was stated inside the student handbook. If the college professor was ten minutes late for the targeted academic curse, the entire class was dismissed for the day. If the college instruction was not a doctoral professor, then the entire class was dismissed after fifteen minutes. Rosalina didn't want to start off her day without some type of academic guidance. This was a math class where the answer was correct or wrong.

More of the new freshmen students shifted through the doorway, moving into the back of the room, making obnoxious noises also.

Rosalina exhaled with a puff of annoyance, scanning the room.

The room was a square shaped. The forward wall held a black colored board for writing in chalk. One side of the room was a set of windows, where a college student could be distracted during the boring math class. The opposite side was a solid wall with a single door in the middle of the space as more students moved through the archway.

All the overhead lights went black. Some of the females screamed from alert. Rosalina frowned with annoyance, since someone forget to pay the electricity bill.

The lights came back on. Then, a loud baritone voice yelled from the rear row of the classroom. "Be gone, Betty!" Rosalina slid out from the student desk and stood upright on the floor, spinning around with a sour frown to see Bear. He sat inside a school desk in the rear of the room, jabbing a finger and a chuckle at her face. Rosalina exhaled with a puff of embarrassment, turning and slid back down into her selected desk, looking down and flipped to the page, reading the word problem.

The college instruction entered the room with a stern face and moved ahead to the teacher desk. "Quiet, students! Please come in and sit down! Please turn to page one! We will discuss the properties of real numbers."

"Be gone, Betty!" The loud baritone voice yelled from the rear of the classroom with a loud chuckle.

The female instruction looked up with a grin and a nod to see each face. "O. Thank you. That reminds me that I need to take roll call for the first day of the first class of college."

"Be gone, Betty, she is here!" Bear yelled out loud with a laugh in the rear of the classroom.

"I beg your pardon." The female college instruction looked up with a confused brow to see the yelling student while Rosalina continued to work on the new math problem with a red face.
Twenty years old Rosalina

Last semester of junior college

Last week of the month of May

Warm temperatures with bright sunshine

9:09 a.m.

Alabama Junior College campus

Football building location

Conference room setting

The head football coach was tall and upset, pacing side to side in front of the scratched up oval shaped conference table and jabbed a finger down at the single sheet of paper with a worried brow at the face of the football player. "Bear, you got a letter grade of F on your English Literature class from one year ago."

"I passed," he smiled with a nod.

"You failed. You failed big time, Bear. Your grade point average is very important in transferring to Birmingham University and playing on the football team there. This is the big time league for college. Son, this is a chance of a lifetime. You will get free college and a free education and have fun playing football, all at the same time."

"Yes sir!" Bear smiled with a nod.

The Coach exhaled with a nod and a stern face to Brock. "Now, you must re-take your English Literature class over and make the letter grade of D. The letter grade of D is passing, son. The letter grade of F is failing, boy. Birmingham University will accept the letter grade of D from you, Bear."

"I will do that, Coach. What do I do, Coach?"

"I talked with one of the snobby professors in the English Literature department. She is sending over a tutor. The tutor will tutor you in English Literature for a week. Then, you will take a new test. You have one chance, son. You have this one chance to continue to play football and to continue the dream of free college education," he leaned down with a smile. "You can do this, Bear!"

"Yes sir!"

The Coach smiled with a nod. "Good! Get up and go over to the English Department on the other side of the campus. The snobby professor is there and will explain what you need to do. You will meet the new tutor. Now, you be nice to the snobby English Literature tutor. The tutor will save your ass, boy."

Bear stood upright from the hard chair with a smile and a nod. "Yes sir! I'll be nice to the tutor. I'll pass the re-take test in English Literature. And then I'll transfer and football at Burn U."

The Coach exhaled with a nod and a stern face. "That's all I hope and pray for you, son!"

At 09:10 a.m. inside the college apartment setting with Rosalina Burns, the past two years had flown like a wind storm through her college days.

Rosalina rushed around the rental college apartment, packing all her clothes down into each suitcase while deciding which items to keep. The rest of her clothing would be donated to a local charity which made Rosalina feel happy that she was helping another girl.

Since the two sudden deaths of her mother and her sister, Rosalina had used her free time to volunteer at the animal shelter and the local hospital, since she had desired to become a physician. She discovered there were other children least fortunate than her and her upbringing. Sometimes, she didn't have enough food but Uncle Dickie would stop by with numerous bags of groceries once per week. Sometimes, Rosalina didn't have a piece of nice clothing, but her Uncle Dickie would purchase a new outfit for his niece Rosalina. Her best high school friend Nadean would donate her used clothing to Rosalina for a girly cause too. Thus, Rosalina had clothing.

She also had her health which was always taken for grant, using all her limbs, her organs, and her mind to improve her young adult life. When she visited some of the children inside the hospital, these particular children did not possess excellent health. Some of the children were dying of a terminal disease, making Rosalina very sad.

The telephone rang.

She spun around and dashed to the telephone with a smile. Her uncle was calling about the new plans after she graduated from junior college. She reached out and lifted up the receiver of the landline telephone into a face. "Hello!"

She paused and listened to the voice on the other end of the telephone landline.

"Hello, Mrs. Gleason. How are you?"

Pause.

"This is my final semester and then I will..."

Pause.

"What? Could I assist one of the students with the final test in the English Literature class? Well, yes, of course, I would be happy to assist one of the students in English literature."

Pause.

"What? O. The student is a little stubborn and stupid in the subject of English literature to graduate Junior College. O. I understand, ma'am. I have handled the stubborn and stupid freshmen students before."

Pause.

"Thanks for the confidence, ma'am!"

Pause.

She frowned on the phone. "Yes ma'am. I will come over right way to visit your office at the college. I will be there in ten minutes," she gently placed the receiver back down on top of the landline telephone, shaking her curls with a puzzled brow. She left her apartment and drove to the English department of the college.

At 09:21 a.m. inside the English Department reception lobby, the entrance door slid open.

Rosalina slowly strolled into the reception room with a smile and a nod, stopping at the short office desk to see the receptionist of the department. "Hello! I am Rosalina Burns. I have an appointment...

The receptionist reached down and grabbed, lifting the envelope with a smile to Rosalina. "This is your payment check for the tutoring assignment today."

Rosalina gasped in alarm at the envelope and then the receptionist. "I usually receive the check money after the tutoring session has ended."

She laughed with a grin. "You will be tutoring a dumb one in here today. He has one week to study with you and then re-take an English Literature test. You are being paid in advance, if you desire to leave this one alone, after meeting him for the last time," she winked with a laugh again.

Rosalina gasped in alarm at the rude behavior of the professional employee at the college, which was an institution of learning. She reached out and snatched up the check, where Rosalina didn't need the money, since her uncle paid for everything. But she enjoyed the recognition for her brains, not her previous poor poverty life before in the farm town of Brier. She back stepped from the rude receptionist with a nod in silence and spun around with a smile, turning to face the long hallway, slowly strolling towards the familiar small conference room, where Rosalina usually tutored each new student instruct a stupid and stubborn freshmen student.

At 09:25 a.m. inside the conference room setting, the entrance door opened.

Rosalina entered inside with a smile and halted with a gasp of alarm, staring at the familiar blonde locks of the young adult, since he was not a teenager but a redneck from the farm town of Brier also.

The female English Literature professor looked up from the open page of the textbook and nodded with a smile at Rosalina. "Come in! Welcome to the tutor room! But you are very familiar with the place." Brock continued to sit at the table and study the textbook with a stern face in silence. She smiled. "Thank you for coming so swiftly, Miss Burns! Please have a seat! Shall we get started here? Do you happen to know Mr. Norris?" Brock looked up from the textbook and turned with a gasp to see Rosalina, softly growling at her presence inside the same room much less the same college of the same US State.

Rosalina continued to stand and softly sneer at the smile of Brock Norris, "No."

He hissed, "Yeah."

"No." She frowned.

"Yip," He nodded with a smile.

"No." She exhaled.

"Yes." He grinned with a laugh.

The professor looked at Brock and then at Rosalina. "I simply don't understand either one of your responses."

He laughed with a wicked grin. "I do not know her."

Rosalina laughed with a wicked grin also. "I do not know him either."

The professor exhaled with a smile. "This is Miss Burns. She has a perfect average in all her academic classes. She is on the honor list and is ready to graduate Alabama Junior College. This is Mr. Norris. He is not any of the above mentioned topics."

Brock turned and growled at the professor, "Hey!"

"Hay is for horses," Rosalina moved ahead with a laugh toward the table with Brock and the professor, sliding down into an empty seat.

The professor exhaled with a sour frown. "He needs a tutor to re-take and pass another English Literature test at the end of the week."

Rosalina turned and growled at Brock. "That seems unfair to the other students, who has passed the course."

The professor frowned. "Not if you receive the letter grade of F in the original college course, then you are allowed to re-take the course, of course," the professor laughed. "You and you are permanently paired and will work together until Friday afternoon, when the test will be re-administrated. Good luck with this one, Miss Burns!" She stood upright form the chair with a giggle and left the conference room, closing the door with a grin.

Rosalina stared with a sour frown at the far solid wall of beige paint. "I believe that you should ask for a new tutor. I cannot possibility teach you anything by Friday afternoon, since your mind is empty of any original thoughts."

He frowned. "You got paid to teach me. I brought over the check from the football coach. You must teach me."

She lifted up and waved the envelope with the check with a smile. "Yes, I did get paid. But I also have the option of not teaching you."

He exhaled with a huff of fury. "Then leave the room, the book, and me, Betty, be gone! You got your damn money. I will contact the coach and get another check of funds for my personal tutoring. There must be another smarter tutor than you anyways."

Rosalina scooted the chair backwards from the table and stood upright with a sour frown at Brock. "Now, that is an original idea from an empty mind of minor thoughts but sports, snacks, and sex," she spun around with a sour frown and moved ahead reaching out and slammed open the door, leaving the conference room.

Brock exhaled with a huff of frustration, staring at the open door with a whisper of worry. "She is the best tutor for me. I'm so stupid for getting her mad at me. Now, I've to explain to the coach what I just did. But the coach will understand as he hates tutors also."

11:11 a.m.

Last day of final examinations

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

Alabama Junior College

Friday afternoon

English department location

Conference room setting

Rosalina continued to sit at the conference table with a smile and a nod at the nervous freshman student. Today was the last day of college final examinations. Then the student would pass or fail. For the graduating students, the student would transfer to the bigger university, start a new job, or re-take the college course to receive a two-year Associate's degree.

The nervous student scooted back the chair with a slight smile and spun around, leaving the conference rom.

Rosalina had finished all her academic tests and passed with outstanding grades. Tomorrow, she was going to start Burn U and march with the marching band as a majorette. She was very excited and nervous about the new adventure in her college life, but her friend Nadean Garland attended the same college and would be an excellent mentor of the new school.

She scooted back the chair and stood upright with a smile, surveying the conference room, where she had helped a number of freshmen students. At least, Rosalina thought so. She moved ahead towards the partially opened door, where the rushing student left it half-open. Rosalina stopped before the parted door and looked down at her arm and around the room, double-checking for all her personal possessions. She was leaving the English department for the last time and returning back to her rented apartment to finish packing up for her new trip to the apartment which was very close to Birmingham University.

The female voice sounded with an evil laugh inside the empty hallway and as the tall body blocked the opening of the partially opened doorway. "I feel revenged now."

The male voice gasped in shock and as the tall body of the male stood beside the female while blocking the opening of the doorway also. "What did you do today?"

She laughed. "That kid has failed his English final examination. Thus, that kid will not be leaving out from Alabama Junior College next week."

He exhaled. "Why did he fail the English final examination?"

She laughed again. "He failed by five points which was shy of the letter grade of D."

He gasped. "I do know that the letter grade is acceptable and is a passing grade for any student."

She sneered. "Well, that kid got special treatment in which I did not approve or authorize. I only tested his limited knowledge of English Literature, because the Dean twisted my forearm, figuratively, of course."

He gasped. "You failed him on purpose."

She hissed. "No, I selectively failed him on purpose. There is a big difference."

"What kind of English examination did you administer to that kid?"

"A one-page essay."

He gasped. "But, each English essay is the opinion of the learneth student. It is rare to fail an academic student based on a personal English essay, which houses their personal views on any subject matter. You could receive a reprimand in which your annual bonus would affect your paycheck," laughing.

She snarled. "Yes, it has and it does. The dean had quickly received a telephone call from the head football coach..."

Rosalina gasped in alarm and then slapped a hand over the parted lips.

"...of that kid, who was nicknamed as Bear," the female professor sneered.

He said. "Bear is an outstanding football kicker on the football team. He's going to play at Burn U. He received a sports scholarship for the next two years of his academic school years."

She laughed. "Only if he passes out my English course, then he is doomed to repeat my English Literature calls this fall in the month of August. I do not teach during the summertime months."

He gasped. "Then, Bear would miss each and every summertime workout session at Burn U. He must be a student of Burn U to play football there."

She chuckled. "And he must pass my English final examination today, before he can to and play football at Burn U."

He sneered. "That is really mean and unprofessional, professor! Bear has a great opportunity to help Burn U win the national championship for next year."

She snarled, "Pookie dookie! Burn U wins the national championship every year. One more arrogant and big and dumb football is not going to matter for that upcoming new trophy. What matters here is my pride. I don't like being told who to teach and when to teach."

He gasped. "Did the Dean tell you to pass that kid for him to continue to play sports?"

She huffed. "No. I would never do that. That is unethical and illegal. Bear quietly sat through my English class for two weeks and picked up most of the information. However, the head football coach was not pleased that one of his star football players was not graduating. Thus, I am to give Bear another final examination..."

He exhaled. "How are you going to do that? That is not normal policy here for a graduating student. What is your next final, final examination going to be?"

"I have asked for him to provide an oral interpretation of any selected play or poem or short story or whatever from the freshman textbook at three o'clock this afternoon. Then, I will review and grade his oral test. But, it doesn't matter really. He will..."

He gasped. "I am correct. You have failed Bear on purpose."

She snarled. "I am the professor here. You are not. I assessed his English paper and it was short of the letter D."

He scowled, "Geez, professor! Give Bear the five extra points for the letter D! His career might be a football star, not an English teacher in high school."

She gasped. "Are you insulting me?"

He laughed. "I am insulting the correct person that came from a high school environment, since that person couldn't get a great teaching job at a major university like Burn U," he scooted around her and moved ahead with a stern face.

She exhaled with a puff of annoyance and then sounded with an evil laugh out loud. "No matter! Bear is not passing out of my English Literature class," she moved ahead with a smirk.

Rosalina gasped in horror at the private conversation behind the parted doorway, after hearing the nasty professor, who was determined to fail her old high school classmate Brock Norris. Yes, Rosalina refused to aid Brock, but she was a student too. She had that option in which another tutor was paid and quickly assigned to assist Brock with the college work.

Rosalina found out the truth from the nasty professor. Brock really did pass the English Literature test with the letter grade of D, but the professor was seeking revenge on poor Brock without justification. Brock was a very good football player and a nice guy, when he didn't hiss at Rosalina for meanness. But, he and Rosalina had bad ties from back at high school.

Well, Rosalina was smarter and seeking justice and rightness, not revenge on Brock.

She reached out and opened the partially closed door, swiftly dashing away from the conference room while hunting for the nasty English professor without finding the face of the unprofessional female. She raced out the building and to the car, sliding inside and drove directly to the building, where all the football players lived on campus.

11:31 a.m.

Football Quarter Building

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

Rosalina slammed the brakes and parked the car inside an empty spot, killing the engine, opening the door and slide out with a puff of worry. She had time to teach Brock, but she was very concerned about his absorption time, before his oral examination at two o'clock deadline.

She dashed ahead with a worried brow and stopped with a gasp, standing in front of the locked door of the Football Quartet building, where all the football players lived and studied. There was a campus guard sitting inside a tiny hut while reading a book without looking up to see Rosalina.

She stomped a foot in angry. "I need to see Brock Norris right now."

He continued to read the book with a confused face, "Who?"

She exhaled with a puff of fury. "I need to see Bear right now!"

He looked up with a wink and a smile. "Well, now, Bear don't need to do it, right now."

She balled both fists with an angry face and tone. "I am not here to..."

"So, what are you here to do? You don't seem familiar to my memory cells. I haven't seen your pretty face here before."

"I am here for the first time in my life to tutor Bear for his English test, this afternoon."

"Well, I gotta..."

"Call Bear right now on that telephone line! I must speak with him right now. This is about his future as a football player at Burn U."

"How do you know about that? Are you threatening one of our star football players? Because I am a police officer too and I can arrest your ass, little girl!"

She exhaled. "I am threatening you, if he fails his academic test, this afternoon, sir."

The guard reached out with a huff for the beige colored telephone device, grabbing the receiver, dialing the number and said out loud for all eardrums. "Bear, I got a pretty girl here to see fuck you, this morning."

He paused and listened to the words of Brock on the other end in silence.

The guard smiled. "Yeah, I told her that you can't fuck right now. But she said that it is related to our future as a football player at Burn U."

Pause.

He nodded with a smile. "Okay. I'll see you in a bit," he reached down and hung up the telephone with a smile. "Bear is coming here to fuck you. So, I guess he has about ten extra minutes from his study time."

She gasped. "Does it only take ten minutes of time?"

He winked with a smile. "Does what take only ten minutes of time?"

She growled. "Never mind from you!"

The front door swiftly open and revealed a tall and muscular young man with a gasp. "Hey! What the fu..."

"I am here," Rosalina entered through the parted door and scooted around Brock, moving ahead a few feet and spun around with a smile.

He spun around with a sneer to see Rosalina. "You can here to gloat."

She nodded with a smile. "I can here to help. Your English professor is requiring an oral presentation."

He smiled with a nod. "I have something."

She grinned with a giggle. "I have something bestest. You will get a better grade and pass. Then you will go and play football at Burn U."

He sneered. "I don't want your help."

She exhaled. "I wanna help you."

He snarled. "You didn't before.

She tossed both arms into the air with a stern face. "Look! I was wrong. Okay! I wanna help here."

"I got it covered, babe. No thanks to you from me! Go away from me, Be gone, Betty!" He moved ahead with an angry face and scooted around her with a sneer.

She exhaled with a smile. "Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote. The droghte of March hath perced to the roote. And bathed every veyne in swich licour, of which vertu engendred is the flour..." Brock stopped with a gasp and spun around with a puzzled brow to see Rosalina in silence. She smiled with a nod. "It is the first four of 17,000 lines written by Geoffrey Chaucer which comes from the twenty-four stories within the _Book of the Tales of Canterbury._ When a freshman recites this passage to the English instructor, the student will receive a set of extra points to assist a poor grade or a perfect grade. However, in your case, you will receive the letter grade of A."

He smiled. "I like the sound of the letter grade of A and the cool sounding poem."

She shook her curls. "It is not a poem. It is a story book. It is the first four lines of the Book of the Tales of Canterbury. I can teach you how to pronounce the funny words with the funny language. Your English professor will be very impressed and will reward you the letter grade of A. It is remarkable, when a student can read Middle English correctly for an old English professor."

He gasped. "Do you promise?"

She smiled. "I promise."

He nodded with a stern face, "All right! We're friends for a couple of hours. My test is scheduled at two o'clock this afternoon."

She nodded with a smile. "Yes, we're friends. Show me the conference room or somewhere to sit down and teach until one o'clock! Please go and get your textbook also. It is easier to learn and read in Old English, when you see each word of Old English which is located inside the textbook."

Brock smiled, "'Yeah! All right!" He dashed ahead with a smile towards the staircase and returned back up to his private bedroom for the textbook to study and then to pass the English Literature class.

Rosalina spun around to follow his back spine with her eyeballs and a smile in silence for helping him.
Seven years later

November 1st Tuesday

City of Miami within the US State of Florida

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

07:07 a.m.

FDI Office on Brickell Avenue

North Brickell Tower building location

51st floor conference room setting

The sun rose at 06:28 am in the morning. The meeting started at seven am in the morning.

The room was painted in dull beige with a round table and a set of six empty chairs in the middle of a small conference room of the local branch office for the Federal Department of Investigation (FDI) in the metro city of Miami within the US State of Florida.

The conference room door opened in silence, staying propped with a set of good hinges.

A tall slender male with a tone of dark tinted skin and a notebook portfolio that was stamped in the big letters of FDI entered the room, marching to the closest conference chair, pulling it out and stood with a smile and a nod in front of the light tinted wooden table to see the other standing occupants in silence.

A second body frame with a tall male and a tone of blonde tinted hair, a face of blonde facial hair and a pair of blue eyes entered the room with a smile and a nod, stopping in front of the third male. He extended a hand, providing a hug instead and pulled back with a grin to see a familiar face. "Bear, it's been years, boy! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Tomcat!" Twenty-seven years old high school friend Bear or Brock Norris smiled, back slapping with a chuckle.

The fourth male entered the room with a smile and a nod and stopped, standing in front of the two men, extending a hand, grabbing and jerked Bear from Tomcat into a hug. Twenty-seven years old high school friend Eckward pulled back with a grin and a nod. "Bear, how are you doing? Do we live here in Miami also? Do you work here in Miami too? It's nice here. I don't see snow or ice or winter coast like back home in Bama."

Bear shook his skull with a smile. "Naw, Bobcat! I work outta Tampa for now."

Twenty seven years old high school friend Teague Haywood back stepped from the friendly huddle of Eckward and Brock, spinning around and moved ahead, stopping and stood in front of a wall of windows staring at green tinted ocean water, the pale blue sky, and row of white tinted clouds. He reached up and tapped on the glass with a smile. "Where are we, near the ocean, but not near the ocean? I see ocean water. But, the green water is on the wrong side of the peninsula. The Atlantic Ocean is on the east coast of Florida. The water is on the west side the building. Is this a river of water?"

The tall slender man at the conference table with the FDI portfolio said with a smile and a nod to the back spine of Teague and the window. "That is the Miami River. You are located inside the section of Miami that is known as Brickell. It is a tiny city of 27,776 people on the north and south roadway which covers only 1.084 square miles."

Teague laughed. "That's a group of 37,622 people per one single square mile which is one hell of a block party."

"Brickell is one of the densest neighborhoods within the US. It is an urban neighborhood of downtown Miami and the major financial district of South Florida. Brickell was settled in the mid-1800s by early pioneers, growing to become the "Millionaire's row" of Miami in the early 1900s from the lavish construction mansions along the avenue by Mary Brickell, hence, the name Brickell Avenue. By the 1970s, office towers, hotels, and apartments replaced the lavish mansions. Today, it is the business district to the north, where we are located inside the forty-three floor of the North Brickell Tower building. Our ritzy neighbor is a single row of sky high luxury condominium towers to the south, where you drove your compact car rental from the airport, driving by to reach this building. Over 190,000 office employees work here within the greater downtown Miami area, five days per week, including us."

He pointed at the window with a smile. "West of Brickell is Little Havana, extending from southwest Eighth Street and moving westward. East of Brickell, which you can see for the walls, is the bay which is called Biscayne Bay for fishing and swimming and skiing. More eastward is the Rickenbacker Causeway or a great big high bridge that leads to the Virginia Keys and Key Biscayne, a set of islands right off of downtown Miami. The island keys have residential houses, public beaches, nature preserves, walking parks, and other stuff that you don't have time to see." He tapped his leather on the carpet with a nod. "This is the Brickell North Tower building which is located directly on the south side of the Miami River. There are three skyscrapers that connect all the towers at the base. Each building is 570 feet tall with 60 floors. We are located in suite 51. But you figured that out when we entered the suite."

A short dark haired female entered the room, stopping and stood in front of a chair at the table in silence while hearing the lecture.

A fifth short body frame and dark haired male entered the conference room, stopping and stood in front of another empty chair at the table with a smile in silence and listened to the lecture, too.

"The tour of Miami has completed. Gentlemen and lady, we are ready to begin. Please, sit down." The first male pointed down to the conference table with a stern face. Brock, Teague, and Eckward advanced forward and stopped, selecting an empty chair at the same table. The male sat down and looked up with a smile to see each face with a serious tone. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I really appreciate your timely arrival at seven fucking am this morning when the sun barely rose over the ocean horizon. I realized that you arrived late, last night." He opened the portfolio, grabbing and lifted, passing out a sheet of paper to each occupant, looking to see each sober face. "Before we begin our assignment, I would like to announce for everyone's eardrums. The north walls hold a table of free food and drinks for our breakfast meeting. The south walls hold a bathroom after eating your free breakfast and gallons of coffee at the meeting. And the east shows the Atlantic Ocean. And I hope you have time to enjoy some sun and fun here in Miami after your assignment has completed with success. And I am the local branch director of the FDI office Olwen Hobbes..."

The female looked a smile and a nod to each face. "I'm Nantes Tellier."

The male turned with a stern face to each person. "Hufton Louvois."

Teague nodded to each face. "I'm Teague Haywood from Birmingham, Alabama and the FDA office there, but all my friends and my enemies call me, Tomcat," chuckling.

He nodded to each face. "Eckward Lowman with Teague, I really prefer Bobcat."

Hufton turned and laughed into the nose profile of Eckward, "Really, Eckward."

Eckward turned and sneered with a grunt to Hufton, "Really, Bobcat."

Brock turned and nodded to each face. "I'm Brock from Tampa. I work for the FDI office there. But my friends here called me, Bear."

Olwen frowned, "What do you mean your friends here? Do you gentlemen know each other?"

"Born and raised like a three little piglets in the county farm town of Brier within the great state of Alabama." Teague nodded with a smile.

"I guess we just proved the theory of a small world." Olwen nodded. "You are all invited here today to assist in an operation by the FDI of Miami. This is a classic sting operation. We are going after one called Latola Lorenzo Lopez. They call him, 'Triple L' as a nickname."

Teague laughed, "Latoilet is the man that we are to capture. I think you got the wrong men here for the job, as they say."

Eckward frowned at the supervisor. "I do not understand your reason either. Tomcat and I are FDA agents, not FDI agents. Why are we here in Miami?"

Hufton laughed with a wink to Eckward. "Are you missing your woman as they say?"

Eckward frowned. "I am missing an explanation, here, sir."

"Coke. Cocaine. Other hard and new pharmaceuticals picked fresh from the drug farms of Columbia within South America. The FDA wants to be a part of our future and upcoming drug busts for some damn reason. And the FDA sent you two to Miami and us."

Teague laughed with a nod at each face. "We are not licensed to kill folks, unless they shoot at us first. Then, we can blow their brains out the side of their foreheads. I'm an excellent marksman. I never miss, but I usually don't shoot drug pushers."

Brock sat at the conference table with a smile at the true statement coming from his childhood friend Teague Haywood, since Eckward was the true chicken shit.

Back home in the home town of Brier, Teague was the real leader of the rebel gang during the shared high school days as he seemed to still lead right now. Teague had proved his leadership. When he raced with his dad and Nadean's dad coming from small town of Brier and down to city of Montgomery in the middle of the early morning before sunrise with the semi-tractor trailer full of cotton bolls.

Teague also had followed the path of his mind as a successfully FDA agent and his heart as a happily married man, who had married his high school sweetheart after college graduation.

Brock deeply wished that old cupid boy would fire an arrow into his butthole or a maybe, the butthole of a nice woman. He had left the same farm town of Brier with Teague looking for a plot of greener pastures but found a site of high piles of horse shit. The college scene had floundered and flirted with nothing but rows of nasty whores.

He had started fucking his devoted high school girlfriend Fawn at the age of twelve inside the old barn on his dad's property that held bags of good smelling sweet feed and the saddles for the horses. It was fun at first then it became a motion of sexy fucking action next. There wasn't any feeling of eternal true love, only lust with the same high school girl, who had started out as a virgin.

The real name of Fawn was called Prebble Peebles, but she always liked to reference her person with that silly nickname that came from her high school classmate Teague Haywood. If that silly girly action was not silly enough within Brock's eardrums, then Fawn started calling her person Mrs. Fawn Norris in front of Brock's eyeballs. Since she had stolen the last name of his biological family, without a wedding band, a wedding ceremony, and a wedding groom.

Brock rolled a pair of eyeballs and the accompanying two separate eyebrows when she said that to another breathing person within Brier, their shared hometown. Then, his brain cells kicked his ass into another motion.

Fawn was seeking a permanent husband to live, stay, and play with her inside the farm town of Brier. Her family made an average living as a set of farmers, who didn't own the landscape but farmed all the crops with a hard working pretty good income for a family of four. She only saw the massive acreage of physical farmland space that Brock's father owned and plowed, in which, the farmland was deeded over to the first born son. She didn't understand that Brock received nothing after the high school graduation.

The father of Brock had personally sat down and told his son, strongly advising him to go to college for a good paying job. His father could pay for college including the books, the tuition, and a campus apartment but could not guarantee a piece of farmland to make a decent living.

Brock had understood completely, utilizing the junior and senior years of high school, making good grades and playing football. The hard work paid off and landed him a full scholarship into a junior college, not a big four-year school. His football position had been a kicker. Universities had numerous teens that wanted to be a kicker. So, Brock settled for a junior college which was paid by a two-year scholarship, including all the food meals and all the academic books. He didn't dream of entering the Professional Football League, instead he dreamed of a good job and a nice wife.

The next day, after high school graduation, Brock had filled up his old car with stacks of his clothes and his dreams, driving away from his family home for the last time.

The parents of Brock had built a tiny two-bedroom house for themselves after all the children had graduated from high school. Then his parents had moved from the family house into the smaller home, giving the main homestead to the first born son.

Brock had driven away with tears of sadness, adventure, worry and happiness about his new life.

His college days had been filled with fun activities and long study hours. After the two years at the junior college, Brock had received another fully paid scholarship to Burn U as a football kicker again. He continued to study and work hard on the football team and inside the academic classroom.

When he had returned back home to Brier during the holidays, the family house was not the same. The first year back home, he slept on top of the new living room sofa, without a bedroom mattress in his regular clothes. His younger brother occupied the other second bedroom.

In the second year of college, his younger brother had married and left the house of his parents. Brock enjoyed a bed mattress but didn't enjoy seeing his older brother during the long holiday break from college.

Within two short years, his older brother had morphed from a carefree teenager into an adult with life responsibilities of a married guy, a family man, and a working stiff. His older brother had gained weight, grew a facial beard, and drank a lot of alcohol to numb the constant pain of a married wife and the working life.

In the third year, the family holiday celebration produced two grandchildren from the two other brothers of Brock. Brock returned back to college with smiles and new jokes, enjoying the single carefree life of an academic student.

The fourth year, Brock graduated and returned back home to Brier for a special college graduation celebration. He stayed long enough to eat a piece of cake, kiss the cheekbone of his mom, and hug all his nieces and nephews. Then, he drove the old car back to college, staring law school to become a lawyer.

He had graduated from the Birmingham State University School of Law coming back home to the farm town of Brier, without a job and a career. The business times were hard for any farmer and any unemployed fool. So, Brock found out the truth with a worried heart and a sad face. He attended numerous job interviews but couldn't find anything near home. So, he accepted his first real paying professional job away from Alabama within the US State of Florida.

Back inside the FDI conference room at the meeting in Miami, Florida, Olwen nodded with a stern face, "He is a drug lord and one of the biggest on the eastern side of the Mississippi River. He is our mark. Hufton is currently his right hand man."

"Then, get Hufton to blow the right side of his brains outta of his fucking head, standing, sleeping or pissing. That's the way to handle a drug lord in the good old US of A." Eckward nodded with a chuckle.

"I wished it were so, Bobcat." Hufton shook his skull with a sour frown.

"Politics is always bad medicine in the good old US of A. Now, Latola has recently married about three weeks ago. He has been inactive during his honeymoon until now. And our employee Hufton is about to be eliminated also." Olwen nodded with a sour frown.

Teague frowned. "So, you bring us in at the end of it all. I always thought a sting operation was a delicate matter and it ended when the bad guy was caught and jailed or killed."

"It is. It does. Latola likes to kill in cold blooded murder his right hand man, before he starts a new operation. Hufton is still alive. And a new operation is about to begin." Olwen nodded with a stern face.

Eckward nodded with a chuckle to Hufton, "My condolences, Hufton!"

"Let's hope not." Hufton frowned.

"What does that mean? I thought it was a joke. I really don't understand here." Eckward frowned.

Brock sat inside one of the nicely padded leather chair at the conference table and exhaled with a huff of frustration, seeing both his old buddies from the small town of Brier within the US State of Alabama. The presence of his old classmates brought back all the old and good memories of living on the farm with his biological family.

Back home within the farm town of Brier, the mom of Brock had birthed three sons with her husband and their father. The first born son was two years older than his brother Brock, inheriting the six hundred acres of farm land and crops, making a good livelihood with a wife, who had also attended and graduated from Brier High School. The baby son was one year younger than Brock, inheriting a pair of worn cowboy boots that original belonged to his older brother. He had married the girl named Flossie Furman, who graduated with Brock.

Her biological family didn't own but ran the Brier Inn for the owner which was located at the end of Brier Road, right before the state highway. Other the decades, the new interstate exit had created and built a set of numerous new businesses along the old highway, making the Brier Inn a popular place to stay when visiting within the triangle cities of Decatur, Athens, or Huntsville.

The young brother of Brock was a very busy family man, cleaning out the stuck shit turds from each stopped up toilet inside each hotel room or fixing a set of the leaking pipes inside a bathroom sink of each hotel room.

Yeah, the ancient Brier Inn was about as old as the township which had been birthed in the year 1818.

The original family owners of the Brier Inn had carefully pampered the old building until their individual death, leaving it as an inheritance property inside the family business. Then, the newest owners, who were the sons and daughters of the original family clan didn't give a shit about the old building or the leaking pipes or clogged up toilets, only the large amount of money inside a bank account to cover the fun adventures while vacationing away from the farm town of Brier.

The tiny farm town of Brier had not changed, too much. Some of the farmers had sold plots of land to US Federal government for building part of the Federal roadway interstate. Some of the elderly farmers had sold plots of land to another farm family within Brier, when their children did not want to become a farmer. So pretty much, the tiny farm town of Brier still existed as a tiny farm town.

The old Brier elementary and high school had closed down, shuffling all the children and the teenagers a few county roads over and into a great big nice modern day school for a better education and the number one football team within the state of Alabama. Some of the local businesses had expanded or closed down also. Thus, a Brierian could not stop progress but make more progress.

Brock was the middle child of the three brothers, inheriting a pair of shiny new cowboy boots from his parents and a used sports car on the day of his high school graduation coming from his older brother. Then, he left out for college.

Brock had lived his short life of twenty-seven years of age inside an academic school environment, starting with Brier elementary school at the age of seven years old and ended at Birmingham State law school at the age of twenty-six years old. He had been employed by the FDI for nine months of this year.

The Federal Department of Investigation investigated and arrested numerous bad people, including males and females that committed a crime and broke the law with a piece of physical possessions, including bank robbery of money, drug smuggling of cocaine, and art thievery of fine art or jewelry. To the average citizen, the FDI was an invisible federal government agency, making the USA a better place to life for every American citizen.

For the newly installed FDI lawyer named Brock, it was a new paying job on top of a six-foot office desk with a rolling chair, without a set of arm rests. Brock was too young and too inexperienced to be a FDI field agent that required three years of FDI hand gun and civil training with a set of team members. So, he worked as a paper pusher lawyer inside an air conditioned office with a fifteen-minute break, every morning and afternoon and an hour for lunchtime.

All the captured and convicted criminals were transferred out from a FDI prison cell into another law enforcement agency and moved all over the USA, so someone had to do prepare all the vanilla colored folder of paperwork that included the arrest records, eyewitness forms, testimonial forms, hard evidence forms, conviction forms, transfer forms, and other forms which all fall into the two hands of Brock.

Brock had graduated with a specialty in criminal law from Birmingham State University. He learned very swiftly that he also needed some leg movement and some eyeball experience inside a really live and working court room to be a great criminal lawyer, which Brock didn't have or couldn't have. He came from the tiny farm town of Brier knowing everything about tall bales of cotton bolls, a farming row of plants, and individual tractor parts which didn't help in bagging and tagging a criminal into the federal prison system.

Brock has spent from day one of employment processing a form. Then, a new FDI assignment presented itself, without an assigned FDI agent. The FDI agency needed a fresh face and a new character, an unknown volunteer coming from the department within the beach city of Tampa. There were not many FDI agents that qualified for the new assignment.

Brock had been approached by his FDI supervisor and offered the new assignment that had been described without any real body damage or danger. He was a lawyer, providing an edge of intelligence that the assignment required and an unknown name that had not been exposed within a previous undercover FDI mission.

Inside the FDI meeting in Miami, Brock sat around the table with a set of other experienced FDI agents and two of his best friends, who were experienced FDA agents for a new assignment. He exhaled with a puff of nervousness and turned with a stern face to see the nose profile of Eckward and then Teague. "Bobcat, Tomcat, this sting operation has lasted for two long and hard years without a single pop of evidence against Latoilet. Latola is either the luckiest man alive or the dumbest bastard on Earth. He killed our last FDI agent about four months ago when he got engaged to a girl and then engaged a new second right hand who is presently named Hufton. We were all taken by surprise. We actually inherited the case from another FDI team when Latola killed all the members with his silly right hand man rule. It took the FDI months to figure out what Latola was doing, since he is one slick motherfucker. Now, Hufton is going to meet Latola within two hours. Latola likes to conduct business in the early morning hours as the rest of the world dresses for work. And Hufton is prepared to dead, figuratively. Stand up, Hufton!"

Hufton stood from the chair with a smile and opened up the dark shirt, revealing a scattered set of numerous tiny plastic bags of red color.

Eckward nodded with a smile at the naked body of Hufton. "Okay. You will fake your own death. That's common and coming soonest."

Brock frowned, "Un-common! Hufton is introducing me as his right hand man for the new request from Latoilet. Latola is shipping a new breed of cocaine from across the Atlantic..."

"Wait!" Teague turned and frowned at Brock. "The coke bean is only grown within the regional mountains of Columbia or around South America, because of the moist air and the cool climate."

Olwen nodded to Teague. "Now, you understand the FDA's role here in Miami."

"Yes sir." Teague turned and nodded to Olwen. "Now, I understand our role. What about the European or Asia countries?"

"They don't know." Eckward nodded with a stern face. "So, we get to grab the cocaine and then track back it source, our role."

Brock nodded with a stern face. "We do know that it is being shipped to the island country of Jamaica and then into the USA. But Latola needs a smart and slick attorney to fool the US customs agents here inside Miami. The US customs agents don't know me. I don't know them, either. However, Hufton knows everyone. Everyone knows Hufton."

Teague nodded with a stern face. "And Hufton can't surface, if he is going to be dead within two hours. We understand. What do we do on the sting mission?"

"At our first encounter, Latola will issue his kill order for me to shoot Hufton or get shot myself. We discovered this slick method too late. If the new right hand man doesn't do the kill job, then the new left hand man does."

Eckward frowned. "I am totally confused. Who's the left hand man here?"

"Not one of the good guys." Olwen nodded. "Apparently, Latola recruits a right hand man and a left hand man, all at the same time. If the right hand man doesn't do his paid job, then the left hand man does it for the right hand man. Then the left hand man becomes dead too form the left handed gun of Latola."

Teague laughed. "Okay. Alright! That has to be the most left handed explanation in the world. But I follow it. Can I be the left handed man?"

"Sorry, Tomcat! Latola has picked his left handed man. And to add the story, if the right handed man does his kill job to the old right handed man, then the left hand man is the next kill job."

"Okay. I don't wanna be the left handed man anymore." Teague laughed.

"Bear will not be wearing a camera or a microphone, since the kill site is located on the beach without clothing for some strange reason. Anyways, we can't follow either Bear or Hufton."

"Wait! His jacket contains the blood splatter packs. How can he survive it he is really shot by Bear, who doesn't miss any target since ten years old?"

Bear laughed out loud, "Thanks, Tomcat!"

"All true, Bear," Teague nodded.

Olwen smiled. "Stand up, Hufton! Show them your other disguise. Hufton is a Latino with very dark skin. He also received a new suntan recently." Hufton stood upright from the chair and removed his jacket and his shirt, revealing a set of sculptured muscles.

"Whoa!" Eckward nodded with a smile to the FDI agent. "Hufton, you must work-out six times a day to keep those set of stomach abs as a solid form of six-pack."

"They are faked and funny feeling." Olwen laughed with a smile. "His entire chest is sculptured with fake skin. Inside the fake skin, there are various sized blood splatter packages. And on the left side of the tit, there is a pinkie soft bag for a heart."

Teague smiled. "Whose real blood gets spilled out for the kill presentation today?"

Olwen nodded. "You're very smart, Tomcat. Cow's blood. The pinkie soft bag is a pig's heart which is very similar in color and texture to a human heart. We didn't have to use the entire organ, only a portion, since Bear has been practicing his sharp shooting. Bear will fill Hufton full of fake holes. Hufton has been rehearsing his award winning Oscar performance. Every blank shot will pretend to hit the chest of Hufton as Hufton dances and flings his hand onto his muscles. The fake skin will break, spilling out the blood over his back. The last blank will rupture the heart as Hufton slams his fist into the fake skin, popping out the organ too. It will be a great kill show. Latola will see the pink organ, thinking it the heart and will depart without firing a shot. Our people will be saved and safe for the time being. And I'll be watching from a speed boat in the Atlantic with a pair of binoculars with Bobcat and Tomcat. Now, that is the first scene of the play. The second scene, Bear will take over the right hand man job."

"We got your back, buddy." Eckward slapped the collar bone of Brock with a nod and a smile.

"Exactly, Bobcat!" Olwen nodded. "Hufton is out. Bear is in. We've purchased the estate house next door to Latola and his new bride. Bobcat, Tomcat, and Hufton will be splitting up and monitoring the house and Latola and any other legal or illegal activity. Nantes is our computer expert. She will handle our computer and communication on this mission. And her bag is filled with some nasty devises. Do not touch. Do not ask."

"I want." Teague laughed.

"Never more," Eckward laughed.

Olwen gathered the papers into the portfolio and slapped it shut, standing with a nod and a smile. "Our helicopter is waiting for our department. Hufton is driving a sports car and Bear to the house of Latola, where the sports car will stay and they will leave for the beach scene. Latola is traveling to one of many isolated sandy beaches in lower Miami which is miles from his house and the local police. His past exhibition kills left the dead bodies inside the shallow water, where the high tide and the seagulls picked at the body. Then the high tide carried and drowned the body for fun. As we all have learned, a dead body will drown and then resurface. However, the original dead body was carried down for miles from the original death site. It took us months to figure out where our FDI agents had been killed. And then we kinda guessed. The sand doesn't leave much enough of blood after four months and either does the ocean. Since the ocean is filled with man-eating monsters too. We will follow behind the limousine of Latola inside a copter over the water mostly and then jump down from the copter into the water, swimming to the boat. The local swimmers, divers, and some stupid teens do this all the time over the Atlantic Ocean. Latola will think nothing of a bunch of rich silly sky divers, coming down into the ocean. Do ya'll like to get wet?"

"Not really." Eckward frowned.

"He will." Teague laughed.

Olwen turned with a chuckle. "Follow me!"

10:10 a.m.

City of Coral Gables

(8 miles, south, from FBI office building)

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunrays

Private house setting of Toye Latola

The sports car raced through the traffic, zipping in and out three busy lanes of morning traffic.

Bear held his stomach with a sour frown in the front passenger seat of the sports car. "I'm only here for a short period of time. Don't put me in the hospital, dude."

Hufton drove with a smirk around another car, jerking back into the middle lane. "All the Miami hospitals are very nice and all the Miami physicians are very smart. They will save your life, my new friend."

"Well, my new friend, I'll definitely let you test your working ass-theory on your biological body, first. Slow the fuck down. I don't wanna vomit over the new expensively imported leathers of Latola," grunting with sickness.

Hufton drove the car with a frown, "The leathers? What is a leather?"

"Shoes, the more expensive men shoes are made of soft leathers like imported cow or gator which are nicknamed as leathers."

"O." Hufton ran the yellow light as it turned red in the middle of the road intersection with a chuckle. He drove down the roadway, giving out the directions. "We are on Maynard Street. This street leads to the intersection of Alfonso Avenue."

Brock ignored the sickness, learning the new city street surroundings. "This is a residential street with two playground grassy parks and a row of very, very mansions."

"Coral Gables is the nicest part of Miami. This road is only composed of houses and parks. No businesses. The businesses line the street of Sunset Drive. Remember that?"

Bear laughed. "I'm new here. Why should I remember that?"

"Because you're supposed to be a faster learner, since I have selected you as my replacement."

Bear chuckled. "O. I gotta remember that too."

"This road doesn't have any more traffic lights. At the end of the long city street, there is another traffic light for Sunset Drive. So, you have traveled too far and missed the targeted house, if you end up turning to the right or the left on sunset Drive. All the streets look the same with the over story trees and manicured yards, unless you live around here."

Bear narrowed his eyelids with a confused brow. "Is that a crossing bridge ahead of us?"

"Yes. It is a bridge with water underneath. Turn to the left here the water bridge. The water bridge will lead over to the last traffic light on Sunset Drive. The mansion of Latola is the third one on you right."

Bear frowned. "Why is there a crossing bridge in the middle of the landscape? Is there water underneath the bridge? I thought Coral Gable was lock landed like Tampa. It is land locked and it is not located near the ocean water. Miami Beach is the peninsula near the ocean water. Parts of Cutler Ridge are exposed to some sand and ocean waters."

"Yes, Coral Gables is land locked. Yes, you have studied well." Hufton slowed the sports car, turning onto a yellow colored brick paved driveway, driving underneath the veranda and stopped.

Bear gasped. "Wow. This is not a house. This is a mansion with three stories high into heaven and a seven-foot security gate made of concrete and steel in puke green..."

Hufton turned with a huff to Brock. "Look and listen to me. Do not insult Latoilet with your redneck Bama ways. I have lived here all my life. True breed Miamians are fickle pickle about outsiders, especially other damn Americans. Americans are all rude and arrogant. Latinos are rude and deadly with a gun. So, let me do the proper and nice introductions. You act like a good boy and only speak when spoken too. Okay?"

"Okay. You're the dead boss until I can take over and then insult Latoilet, before I kill him."

"Good." Hufton turned and cracked the door open. "The keys are in the ignition. This is a very nice and safe neighbor. No one will steal this expensive sports car ever."

Bear turned and cracked open the car door, standing and admiring the puke green colored mansion with a smile, holding his nose with the strange odor.

Hufton moved around, pulling up beside Brock. "You use the set of big and heavy double entrance door always. You knock like a normal person. There is no secret door knocks or handshakes. Act like an arrogant lawyer with smarts and nothing more."

They stood in front of the door.

Brock whispered, "Got it! Are you wearing some type of strong cologne, Hufton?"

Hufton reached up and knocked on the door with a whisper and a stern face. "Be quiet and attentive."

One side of the heavy door opened.

The small petite Spanish lady nodded with a smile, back stepping from the door, spinning around to lead them into the small entrance hall of the gigantic manor.

Brock entered through the archway with a gasp, wiping off his nose with a sour frown.

The room was tiny and decorated with colorful tiny tiles in white, blue, red, green, yellow, pink, and orange. The tiles represented a design of multiply geometric squares. The floor was made of tile which was larger pieces and colored in wiggling lines of pink, green, purple, gold and silver.

Hufton slowly shuffled behind the back spine of the maid with a smile. "This is the entrance hall for greeting your guest, except he does not greet any welcomed or unwelcomed guests ever. And you have noticed the room. This is the first mansion that was built in Miami in the year 1925 that shows more of the South American culture more than a North American one. Each room is no bigger than ten feet deep by eight feet long. You are over six feet tall, my new friend. You will be able to touch each wall ceiling with your hair roots standing inside the middle of the room. Each room is made of different wall materials too. The kitchen is solid white painted cinder blocks of ugly. The library is made of beautiful seashells coral from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The living room is made of smooth grayish white limestone walls from the depths of the caverns in Florida City. All the windows are stained glass too."

The woman moved through an open archway of a new room and veered to the side, where a staircase stood. She slowly climbed each step in silence.

Brock turned with a smile and moved up each step beside Hufton, following behind the back spine of the woman in silence, too. The staircase advanced up only to a single floor on the third tier without a piece of sitting furniture, displaying a set of naked walls. Each wall was filled with an array of clean and shiny undivided windows. Brock turned with a gasp to see a set of three neighbor houses on one side, showing off the manicured green lawn and up toward the white colored roof tiles and then beyond, going up toward the baby blue skyline. He swung a smile to see the other wall, showing the same thing with a puzzled brow. "What is this space? Is this a Florida attic?"

Hufton laughed without spying on the next store neighbors, since he had seen the view before. "No attic. This is an old Jesuit church mission that was built by the Spanish citizens when Juan Ponce de Leon invaded the Florida coastline. Then the damn greedy British came along and stole everything from Spanish, who were my people. This is one of the oldest homes within Coral Gables at the age of ninety years old or so."

"Glad! That I'm an American." Brock turned with a smile and moved across the tile floor.

Brock and Hufton continued to follow the back spine of the petite woman and stepped down the staircase, landing inside a new narrowly built hallway and turned to the side, scooting through a second narrow hallway of old and smelly colorful wallpaper.

Hufton moved ahead and smiled with a shout at Brock. "You are being a good boy, Bear. There is not a straight hallway here inside this house, either. The rooms were purposefully built sideways to confuse the many enemies of the Spanish. Looking back into the world history books, in the year 1780, after the 1776 Revolutionary War, the state of Florida belonged and was maintained by the Vice royalty of Spain. The Spanish built a fort here first to expedite trade with the foreign countries of Brazil and the island of the Caribbean for sugar, tobacco, rice, cows, and gold. The damn British and Frenchmen stole the land and damaged the fort, but they didn't burn it down. There is rumored to be a room of gold hidden inside here somewhere, too."

Brock turned with a smile to stare into each open door. The room had a wall of blue and yellow flowery wallpaper. But both his nose holes smelled something else beside the stinky old wallpaper.

The maid stopped in front of a new archway and spun around with a smile, pointing into the tiny room in silence.

Hufton nodded in silence the maid and entered the room, stopping and stood inside the middle of an empty room.

Bear followed behind the back spine of Hufton, squatting down a head and a collar bone through the short door archway, slumping forward and stopped, pulled up beside him with a gasp and a smile. "There is a tiny and small one table with three chairs. Okay? We are expected. Is that right here, today?"

"This is the shell room for sitting or mediating or eating a fish sandwich all alone. All four walls hold an array of solid conch shells in various colors of pink, yellow, beige, white, orange."

Brock continued to lean a bone skull and a set of shoulders down toward the floor without hitting the low ceiling with his hair roots inside the tiny room and moved ahead to the wall. He reached up and touched the smooth yellow and beige semi-formed rounded shells, looking through the stained glass window with a worried brow. "I can't see anything on the other side of the window. Is there a lawn and some trees out there?"

Hufton moved ahead and stopped, standing near the eardrum of Brock with a smile and a whisper. "Part of the disguise, deception, difference, the..."

"Good!" The man with a thick Spanish accent yelled out loud into the tiny room with a smile and stood inside the archway, staring at the back spine of Brock and then Hufton. "My new friend has brought me another new friend."

Brock spun around with a smile and a nod to see unfamiliar male inside the archway. "Hello! I'm Bear."

The man was slender and tall with a head of black rich cropped hair and a tone of dark skin, advancing inside and stopped, standing in place, pointing with a laugh and a nod to Brock. "I asked for a normal man and you brought me a big bear. Can you bear with me for a moment? While I conduct a little bit of business for the day, Bear," chuckling.

Brock laughed with a nod. "I guess."

"Good." He leaned over with a smile and a cupped hand to Brock, "My gift to you, Bear."

Brock extended a hand and accepted the gift, pulling it up into a confused face. "What is it? It looked like a fossilized gray insect that was kin to the beetle."

"A single ear bug for our trip, everyone gets one. This is how we communicate. The noise is too loud for a normal mouth to ear conversation. Just whisper and then the ear bug will pick up your words and transmit them to into the other ear bugs." He leaned over and provided a second ear bug to Hufton, standing upright again, reaching up and placed a third ear bug inside his ear with a smile and a nod to the Brock and Hufton. The male spun around with a smile and exited the room, turning to the side, scooting down through the narrow hallway of more colorful and stinky wallpaper.

Hufton exhaled with a huff of annoyance, moving ahead first with nervousness, exiting the tiny room. He turned to the side and followed the back spine of Latola with a fake smile. "Mr. Latola, I wanted to explain his credentials."

Latola tossed both arms in annoyance and continued to scoot through the curvy and narrow hallway with a sour frown. "Whisper into the air and then ear bug will pick it up your sentences, don't shout into my eardrum, my little right hand man. He was dismissed from the US Customs Department for a misunderstanding, making Mr. Bear currently unemployed and unemployable. And he is also an attorney with a tainted reputation of more misunderstandings. Therefore, you have selected an appropriate employee for my misunderstood organization, my little right hand man Hufton."

Hufton followed behind the back spine of Latola with a sour frown in silence, listening to the fake story of Brock Norris, who was truly a FBI agent for the USA.

Brock exited the room and turned to the side, running into the back spine of Hufton with a worried brow and a whisper into the ear bug with nervousness of the new situation. "Where are going, sir?"

Latola scooted around the curvy and narrow enclosed hallway with a smile and a whisper. "I wanna show off my little island in the Gulf of Mexico."

Brock frowned with a whisper. "Sir, the Gulf of Mexico is on the western side of Florida. Should I have packed a small bag or something for our sea trip?"

"There is no need. We are meeting another one of my employees for a brief introduction. I like for all my employees to remember each other." Latola continues to zig zag through the hallway with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug.

Brock exhaled with a huff of worry, following last in the line, banging both pointy elbows into the flower-patterned wallpaper hallway. His eyeballs darted into each open archway. Each room was tiny and decorated in one primary color with a set of stained glass windows. He whispered for his eardrums only in the rear of the line. "I hope someone dropped the bread crumbs. This hallway's whacky."

Latola turned into a new room, moving ahead to the closed archway, reaching out for the door knob with a grin.

The rear door slid open.

At 08:23 a.m. in the heated day with bright sunlight, Latola led through the rear door into the bright sunshine, moving over the wooden patio floor, stepping onto the first stone tile with a grin at the edge of the manicured lawn in silence.

Hufton followed behind the back spine of Latola in silence. He was familiar with the winding hallways inside the manor and the weird-looking designed back yard which was off the rear patio.

Brock turned into the new room and followed behind the back spine of Hufton, admiring a new room. The room was made of grey limestone with a set of solid four walls without a window view and a solid floor with a large television and a single lounge chair. He stumbled through the open door with a smile and stopped on top of the wooden patio floor with a gasp. He stood in place and closed the eyelids, sniffing the air with a set of inflamed nostrils and a smile. "It smells so nice out here." He opened his eyelids and squatted down on one kneecap on top of the back patio, reaching out and barely touched the flower with a smile. "Golly, this is a nice wooden patio without grass and grass and grass. There is not a single blade of grass out here on the lawn. Wow, your entire back yard is a flower garden, a yard of lily bulbs."

Latola scooted over the winding stone tiles between the garden of lilies with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug that transmitted to Brock and Hufton. "The lily bulb is a flower with a sweet and pleasant fragrant odor to the nose holes. The lilies range in colors of whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples which I have implanted through the yard in place of grass. The plants bloom in late spring or summer for flowering. However, the state of Florida stays summertime like weather all year long, so the lilies forever bloom inside my back yard.

"The flowers bear and spread out six separate tepals that flex into a funnel shape which are free from each other and bear nectar smells at the base of each flower. In the country of China, the bulbs are eaten as a vegetable and inside a soup. The lily flower is also said to be efficacious in pulmonary affections and to have tonic properties. The lily pad is a big circular leaf plant that grows at the bottom of the pond and grows up to the surface of the water. The golden center of the petal will shine from early morning to late evening, filling my flower garden with a heavy, delicious perfume."

Brock whispered for his eardrums only with a confused brow, "Perfume?" He stood upright and dashed over the winding pathway of embedded stones like a footpath through the forest of lilies with a smile, smelling the sweet odor with a chuckle. "I always thought that all Florida homes possessed a swimming pool in the back yard."

Hufton continued to scoot along the pathway of individual flat stone tile, following behind the back spine of Latola with a sour frown. "All the other million dollar homes do."

Latola scooted around the semi-crooked pathway of flat stone tiles, moving around a garden of flowers without stopping. It looked like he was going to walk off the edge of the yard in silence.

At 08:44 a.m. in the heated day with bright sunlight, Latola scooted around on top of each stone tile with easy and moved toward a single squat building that was painted in a pink tint of color. The building displayed a single long and wide undivided window on each wall, allowing the bright sunshine to bombard the interior room. He stopped and stood in place, reaching for the door knob with a smile. "This is my boat hut. Or you can call it a boat station. The boat hut is one room that contains a set of numerous boat supplies and gear for any type of boating expedition with my little friend and my new little friend."

The entrance door on the front of the building opened.

He entered and marched a few feet inside and stopped, standing in front of horizontal black granite counter of equipment, reaching out and grabbed a pair of red colored leather gloves. He slapped the gloves over both hands and reached out, grabbing a red colored motorcycle enclosed helmet and tucked it underneath an armpit with a smile.

The building held a single room with four walls. Each wall displayed a window, showing off the beautiful green forest of tall trees within Coral Gables, the colorful pastel colored neighbor houses between the trees, the flying birds, the skyline of the blue and the yellow sun. Between and underneath the windows, there were numerous types of boating gear.

On the other side of the room, there were two separate horizontal black granite colored counters that held an array of helmets, spear gears, and other boating objects.

Hufton entered the room and stopped, standing behind the back spine of Latola, reaching over to the counter and grabbed a black colored helmet with a stern face in silence for the sea trip. He side stepped and allowed Brock to move to the counter in silence.

Brock entered the room and followed behind the back spine of Latola with a smile and stopped, standing beside the same counter of boating gear and scanned the room with a whisper into the ear bug. "Geez! This room is so nice. Your boat hut has a boat dock and a boat parked outside in the air, not on top of the water, which is literally at your fingertips without landing or unloading on the back of a trailer hitch."

He stared ahead at the glass door with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Everyone, grab a racing helmet. It will protect your eyeballs from the bright sunshine and your brain cells from the rough ride inside the boat." Latola moved ahead with a grin.

Brock turned to stare at a row of black tinted motorcycle helmets with a confused brow. "Why do we need a motorcycle helmet? We have the ear bug for vocal communication. The race boat has a rooftop to protect my hair roots from the spraying salt water and the blistering hot sunshine. This helmet is covered in black tint. I am going to be blinded by the non-light," laughing.

Latola stopped and stood in front of the closed glass door with a grin. "When traveling at one hundred miles per hour, you don't want for your face hitting anything at one hundred miles per hour."

The exit door on the opposite side of the boat hut slid open.

"O right," Brock reached out with a chuckle and grabbed the helmet with a grin, tucking it underneath an armpit, following behind the back spine of Latola and stepped through the open archway, stopping a few inches with a concerned brow. "Is this boat secure on the elevated platform? I have never entered a boat hatchway from the air."

Latola moved ahead to the boat with a grin and a laugh. "It is very secure and very expensive. If I am harmed, my building contractor will not see the light of day, this afternoon."

Brock moved a few inches from the open archway, feeling the heat of Hufton behind a back spine and stopped, standing in front of the boat with a chuckle and a worried brow. "Okay, that's good to hear. Since, I wanna see the light of sunrise this afternoon, too," he stood on top of the boat hut platform, scanning the blue sky, the tall green palm trees, the flying birds, the balconies of the neighbor houses, and then water that was below the platform with a smile. "Wow! I feel like a stationary seagull bird. We are about twenty feet high into the air and away from the water. Is that real water down there? It looks really dark green and murky. Are there snakes?"

Latola stopped and stood in place on top of the wide platform, leaning over and gently placed the helmet over the curved metal of the boat with a stern face. "This is a passage of water without the sand and the beach."

Brock turned and smiled at the long and narrow boat that was painted in the colors of vertical lines of red and silver. "What is that in front of my face?"

Latola reached over and patted the boat with a gloved hand with a smile. "One of the fastest boats in the world, it travels at the greatest speed of hundred miles per hour in calm open ocean waters. The boat is a small sea vessel for high-speed racing on top of the open ocean which suits our mission for today. The race boat is built of fiberglass and is sixty feet long and eight feet wide with a long narrow deck platform. It has three powerful engines that roar over the ocean waters. It is a favored boat for all drug smugglers whom I do not know. Do you know any drug smugglers, my right and man?"

Hufton moved ahead and stopped, standing on top of the platform behind the back spine of Brock with a laugh and a smirk, "Not I."

"We will fly with the wings of seagulls by the ocean waves by boat, my new little friend. Enter, gentlemen!" Latola leaped up and landed onto the high deck that was narrow and curved upright in black fiberglass, literally crawling over the heated hard material with a pair of gloved hands and a set of two kneecaps, disappearing into a circular hole of darkness on the side of race boat in silence.

Brock moved ahead as the second person, stopping and stood in place in front of the racing boat with a stern face and a worried heart. This was part of pretend play murder. He reached up and lifted his body onto the heated hard material with a grin, quickly crawling into the small opening also. The opening was a rounded shape that would fit a medium to small sized male, not an overweight individual. The head of Brock emerged into a semi-dark cabin that made of dull black, including the ceiling, the floor, and the rear wall. The front of the boat held the wind shield which was low and wide, showing the water and the sides of the light gray colored cliff coral rock. The hands of Brock stomped on top of a mini-staircase that was especially designed for two hands.

The interior of the race boat was decorated in smooth tan colors that smelled of fresh leather and polished teak wood. The exterior was bright red and silver tones of fiberglass.

He stomped down the mini-staircase to the fourth step until both his kneecaps stood in top of the first step. He continued to march down the mini-staircase on both hands and landed down onto a thick pile of carpet that made up the floor. His kneecaps and ass caught up with the rest of his body on the floor, sitting in a doggie style pose. Then he stood with a smile and scanned the interior of the cabin. "Wow, this is magnification."

"Move outta the way, Bear," the black covered helmet with the hidden face of Hufton emerged through the rounded hole with a sneer into the ear bug, slowly marching down on both palms and kneecaps over the sloped mini-staircase.

Brock moved ahead and away from the mini-staircase of steps, admiring the small cabin of the boat.

Latola stood upright and moved ahead to the steering wheel with a grin. "Everyone, get inside and get strapped down behind me inside one of the tall stools in the rear of the cabin. This cabin was designed for racing, not socializing. I installed a four-seater elevated bar table in the rear in front of the three racing engines. You can grab a seat and web your body into the leather for our little ride."

Brock turned to the side and moved ahead toward the rear of the cabin, seeing a solid wall of dull black that hid a set of three engines, feeling the ramble of power underneath a pair of pair of flip flops with a smile. He felt excitement and nervousness of the pretend murder scene and the capture of a drug lord murderer.

Hufton stumbled down the rest of the mini-staircase on both hands and swiftly stood upright with a grunt, sounding inside the black motorcycle helmet with the ear bug.

Latola moved ahead and scooted around leaning against a body stand to steer the race boat, reaching over and ignited the engines, hearing the roar of the power underneath a pair of flip flops and inside the ear bug of an eardrum within the helmet. He looked ahead to see the water and the sides of the dark sandstone tinted cliff, preparing for the boat launch down into the water. He reached over to the other side and flipped a lever.

Brock tilted side to side over the red colored carpet when the boat jolted into movement. He continued to dash toward the rear of the boat. On the rear solid wall of red paint, there was a tall eating table with a set of four separate tall stools each side. He turned and slid down into one of the stools and belted into the body webbing with a chuckle and a grin of excitement. He had never flown over the water inside a race boat.

The race boat slowly descended down from the anchored platform onto the calm greenish tinted water on a steady crank.

Brock turned and smiled at the descent through the side windows, seeing a twenty foot cliff of gray coral limestone on both sides of the window, whispering for his eardrums only. "This is really strange."

Hufton tumbled and stumbled over the rocking boat, dashing toward the rear wall and the eating table with a bottle of cold water, turning and sat down, webbing into the stool next to Brock in silence while hearing the conversation through the ear bug inside the helmet with a worried brow. The race boat splashed down into the water, rocking the vessel side to side.

Latola softly chuckled into the ear bug. "You are located inside the Coral Gable waterways." He stood against the body stand with a laugh and a nod, watching the sides of the boat. "A forty feet fancy man-made canal of fresh water which is filtered from the water of the Everglades that runs between the city streets of Coral Gables, extending toward the bay of water that is called Biscayne Bay. Each side of the canal shows off waterfront homes with sea walls and boat decks for boating..."

Brock tapped a pair of flip flops over the bar of the tall stool with excitement, feeling the rumble of the engines with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Wow! The helmet helps buffer out the loud ear-piercing noise but it stills sounds like my granddaddy's old station wagon from the 1970s, before he got the muffler fixed."

Latola whispered into the ear bug with a sour frown. "The only issue is the annoying one-man canoe boats that like to slam a paddle or a hand into my new shiny race boat."

Brock turned with a confused brow and stared out the window, seeing the gray coral rock. "Is there a story behind the canal inside the city limits of a city? I have never heard of a canal between city streets. That is really weird."

"This is really South Florida." Latola smiled into the ear bug. "A land developer named George Merrick purchased lots of land and advertised building home lots on forty miles of waterfront, thus the creation of the fancy canal. However, the land boom happened and Merrick sold the plots very quickly, becoming a millionaire and retired. So the canal is eight miles of water which is halved into two parts. It starts in the northeast corner of the city near the famous Biltmore golf course, traveling literally between rows of residential houses. The city street which is named Alfonso Avenue, a real driving street for cars and a boat path of the Mahi Waterway on the south side of the fancy forty miles of canal waters which vary in depths from twenty to forty feet. This stretch of water dumps directly into Biscayne Bay. Then the boat will turn toward the south direction and dumps you into the Atlantic Ocean."

During the boat trip over the low canal, Brock turned to see the small window and read the posted sign out loud with a whisper into the ear bug and a smile. "The sign says: Don't wake!"

"A wake is the day before the funeral." Latola steered with a grin and a whisper into the ear bug, sailing down the water canal. "This is not a wake, but a wave of fun."

Brock witnessed the illegal fun also. This guy Latola did not follow the rules but broke them for his fun. Brock slowly turned the helmet to see the old right hand man Hufton.

Hufton sat upright and stiff inside the tall stool behind the tall eating tablet which held four individuals. He was scared and nervous, not talking, but sweating. His helmet turned and scanned each side of the window like it was the last time that he was seeing his home town of Miami.

The two-story family home on the waterway occupied over one-half of an acre on the canal with one-hundred-foot concrete dock that contained a boat that was about seventy-five in length. He saw two manatees rubbing against the docked boat and a flock of sea birds on top of the boat deck that might be pooping or hunting for bugs.

He turned to face the other side window, seeing a horizontal seawall of gray coral rock with a wooden boat dock, missing the boat while smiling at the outdoor swimming pool with a three bathing beauties, tanning a semi-naked body. Brock returned back a stern face to see the rear helmet of Latola.

Latola was standing inside a curved metal stand that was painted in red color which matched the carpet instead of a standard captain's chair. He was pressing a set of levers, pushing a wall of buttons. The floor provided a source of better stability rather than an uncomfortable sitting chair.

The chair was bolted down to the floor as the body of Brock shifted side to side and then tightened around the soft leather coming from the wobble of the boat. The comfortable chair bounced side to side, back and forth like the rear view helmet on Latola.

Latola steered the boat and whispered into the ear bug. "This is the Intercoastal waterway, which is the ending of the man-made canal. The canal dumps out and into the real salty ocean waters of Miami."

"Whoa!" Brock turned and viewed the windshield, absorbing the sight. The water was light blue in tint color on top of the water. There was different type of activities, such like, sailing craft of sailboats, catamarans, and small speed boat.

On the side of the ocean, there was a row of houses with a manicured yards and a boat dock. He turned to the other side to see rows of other mansions with an individual green manicured yard and a boat dock also.

Brock whispered with a smile into the ear bug. "Park your fancy speed boat in the back yard which is minutes from the ocean. This is the life in South Florida."

The landscape continued to display numerous medium to large mansion homes many with boathouses on the canal. He could see the gray and bloated manatee and a few green and ugly iguanas on the side of manicured grass that were eating the bugs. There were a few barking dogs that either welcomed or warned the boaters from the back yards.

Brock whispered with a smile. "Sic 'em, Spot!"

The race boat slowly sped up, sailing by the rows of scattered body swimmers and standing people on top of the swimming pools. The people waved with a hand friendly or yelled in angry at the race boat which make a set of large wakes as the tiny waves hit and drowned down into the private swimming pools or whacked the side of the docked fancy boats. The roar of the engine prevented the vocal shouts of the people through the air vents and into the ear bug of Brock.

Latola didn't care about the speed of the boat or the safety of the swimmers.

The weather was perfect, showing off lots of standing birds, swimming manatees, bubbling fish, nice rows of mansions, and two sides of beautiful coral gray colored limestone rock.

The boat slowly turned from the waterway and headed due south over the calm ocean waters. Latola smiled with a whisper into the ear bug. "We are sailing down to my little island, now."

Brock whispered for his eardrums only. "I am impressed that you have an island."

"Yeah, my little island," he grinned. The boat slowly sailed by the other sailing craft inside the bay of water until it hit the bigger deep blue waves of the ocean. He increased the speed rapidly as the boat accelerated toward one hundred miles per hour. "Hold on!"

Too late, the tall bar chair titled backward from the swift launch. Brock gasped without grabbing the edges of the seat like a novice sea sailor, turning to see the side window. The side window showed shadows of blurry blue greenish colors of the ocean.

At 09:09 a.m. in the heated day with bright sunshine in the middle of the blue colored ocean waters with calm seas, Latola steered the race boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "I'm performing at maximum speed of one hundred miles per hour, since I'm in a hurry today. I will be your tour guide, Bear. On your right, it is the shoreline of Florida. On your left, it is the rest of blue Atlantic Ocean that goes all the way east to the Bahamas islands and then further east to the country of Italy in Europe. But we are not sailing that far, today. We will travel 103 nautical miles from the Coral Gables shoreline down to southern shore of the Key West islands and some miles beyond. Based on my math calculations of one hundred miles per hour, we will reach our final destination in one hour and three seconds. However, there is on speed limit on the ocean water. Thus i will push the three engines and arrive at Key West before the hour."

Brock turned to the see the window and viewed a continuous visual scene of blurry green colors, wobbling side to side on top of the tall stool.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "We have sailed 11.5 miles in seven minutes and five seconds, passing by Stiltsvlle. Stiltsvlle is below Key Biscayne and across from Cutler Ridge. There are seven houses standing up in the middle of muddy water on top of wooden or concrete pole. It is an ocean city like the mythological Atlantis city which lives here in Miami. People used to live inside each house. Then, in the year 1992, Hurricane Andrew came from the ocean and wiped out the other twenty or so stilt houses." The race boat bounced up and down over the calm waters.

He continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Yeah, at ninety two miles per hour, everything is a blur. Everything looks green and tan colors. The green are represented by the tall ancient palm trees. Miami has existed here for two billion years. The tan is part of the rocky shoreline. The sand is golden color. As we move due south, sailing through the Intercoastal waterways, the sand turns into a grayish tan hue. Now, we have traveled 13.1 miles in eight minutes and five seconds going passed the hour of nine o'clock and sailing towards the community of Cutler Ridge.

"Cutler Ridge is a small residential community within the large metro city of Miami. The millionaire homes are built on top of the tan colored rocky beach and are hidden by groves of lush forestland of green colored trees. Miami is a sub-tropic place, where everything grows big and tall. Nothing dies here really. We are passing swiftly by Cutler Ridge at ninety two per hour which is a blur of more tan and green hues." The boat bounced up and down through the calm waters at one hundred miles per hour. Brock continued to stare ahead through the forward wind shield.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Now, we have traveled 31.2 miles for twenty minutes passed the hour of nine o'clock to Turkey Point, the nuclear power plant that lights up your world," laughing. "A little tidbit of data, the county of Miami-Dade has 424 marked city streets starting north of downtown Miami, going all the way down towards the county line of Monroe County, where the road leads down into the upper and lower islands of Key West. However, we will be passing all of that at a great speed." The boat continued to bounce up and down through the calm waters at ninety-two miles-per-hour. Brock turned to face the right side of the boat. The landmass was a blur of tan and green colors. However, the landmass was situated lower near the water that indicated a set of islands.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "The landmass of Miami has existed for two billion years with a wonderful world of sea creatures, the first ancestors of man. The earth cooled down coming from the underwater volcanic upheaval, creating a land bridge between South and North America landmasses. The new bridge created a water exchange between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, where the group of Asian hunter-gatherers had migrated with a set of domestic animals towards the North American continent. Scientists have found a set of genetic evidence that each true North American family relationship is related to the Siberian people. Then, the flood waters came and parted the one-land, destroying the land bridge. Thus, the tip of southern Florida was formed. Florida is made of ancient coral reef that is colored in gray, making up 882 charted islands staring with northern Miami Beach that were created by the dead little marine sea life.

"To access each island, there are two land roads with numerous water bridges that link the various Key isles. One of the famous islands is Key Deer Island, where the key deer live and thrive. There is no hunting allowed on that island. Now, we have traveled fifty miles within thirty-six minutes and nine seconds going towards Key Largo. It reminds me of sailing around the islands of the Caribbean. Key Largo and the city of Marathon consist of numerous seafood restaurants, Tiki bars, quirky merchandise shops, rain barrel artist colony, swim with a dolphin parks, state parks with coral reefs. You must stop for conch chowder and key lime pie one day, Bear. Yummy!"

The boat bumped up and down over the smooth ocean waves. Brock felt the motion, not experiencing seasickness. He turned with a stern face to face out the window, seeing only blue blurs of water.

Latola continued to steer the boat and whispered into the ear bug. "Now, we are sailing by Seven Mile Bridge. There are two bridges, the old and the new one. The roadway is the only bridge going down to the Key West islands. You can see some of the green blurs that represent the mangrove trees on the shoreline. The tan color is the rock. There were numerous smaller boats for fishing, diving and pleasure sailing. "Now, we are swiftly turning due west, passing around the western edge of the Florida, passing by Big Key Island. You can see it is more tan colored rock. The Keys is nothing but coral reefs that are submerged, after the great flood and then re-appeared. Or some shit like that. Key West stays hot and humid all the time. You can taste the salt in the air, the drinking water, and the bathroom shower stall. I hate it." Brock laughed into the ear bug. Latola continued to steer the boat with a whisper into the ear bug. "We are moving on toward the Key West and passing by Duck Key. This is the exact point where we are eighty-one on nautical miles north of Cuba. How about we take a tour for the day, Bear?"

Brock smiled with a whisper into the ear bug, enjoying the sea trip over a pretty day at sea. "Yes sir!" He turned with a grin to see Hufton.

Hufton wobbled side to side inside the webbed seat with the black colored helmet, tapping on the warm bottle of water. He hadn't drunk a drop from nervousness and fear of the pretend murder ploy.

The boat bumped up and down over the smooth ocean waves. Brock felt the motion, not experiencing seasickness. He turned with a stern face to face out the window, seeing only white blurs of buildings and the tan colored of streets on the island of Key West with a smile in silence. He had never been to the southern tip of the USA. This trip was beautiful and deadly.

The boat sailed over the calm waters, bouncing up and down from the high speed of hundred miles per hour, passing the main island of Key West.

Brock couldn't scoot out from the stool to view the upper portion of the skyline, hoping to see the helicopter that contained both Teague and Eckward as his personal working protectors. However, he was a little confused and concerned about leaving the landmass of Florida.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "The boat is continuing on a course of due west, heading out into the water. We are moving further away from main island of Key West. There is nothing out here."

Brock continued to scan the last blur of tan and white colors which represented the last building on the island of Key West and then viewed a flat ocean of deep blue within the bright yellow sunlight in silence.

Hufton turned and looked at Brock, slightly nodding a helmet with the upcoming danger.

Brock turned with a gasp to see the forward wind shield, viewing miles and miles of deep blue ocean waters without an island or a boat pier or a life jacket. The boat dipped over the high wave. His heart stopped and then restarted from fright. He turned to see the side window. There were miles and miles of flat calm waters of deep blue.

Latola steered the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "We are lucky, today. The weather is co-operating with you, Bear. No storm or hurricanes, today," chuckling.

"Yes sir! You seem to be in a rush, today," Brock mumbled into the ear bug with a flip flopping stomach of the upcoming pretend murder plot.

The boat speed ahead as his chair tilted side to side from the rough ride of the waves.

"Time is money. Money is time. And in thirty-six more minutes..."

Silence invaded the air waves of the ear bug.

Brock cleared a dry throat. "What happens in thirty-six more minutes, sir?"

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "We have cleared the main island of Key West. Sixty or so nautical miles are ahead of us, where there will be a battle fort of brown concrete and stone. Look at the whale pod on your left, Bear!"

Brock turned to see the side window. There was a set of independent sprays of ocean water, shooting up and into the air. Then he saw several long and dull gray bodies of the whales, smiling at the beauty of Almighty God's work. He continued to stare at the pod of mammals with a smile. The boat continued to speed over the calm waters toward another structure. The pod of whales disappeared from the side window. He felt alone and isolated inside the boat with two other people.

Latola steered the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Now, we are here. On your right side of the boat, there is the group of islands which is known as the Dry Tortugas which is located sixty nautical miles west from Key West with an air temperature measurement of 101 degrees. Is that hot enough for you, Bear?"

"Yes sir." Brock mumbled into the ear bug.

"The Spanish soldiers were the first Europeans to find the Dry Tortugas islands. The word Tortugas means 'turtle' within the Spanish language. The expedition was led by Juan Ponce de Leon in the year 1513. The biggest island is named as Loggerhead Key with an elevation of ten feet up from the ocean water. You can camp out over the white colored sand as long as you bring all your slumber gear like a sleeping pallet and a bottle of drinking water. Why would someone want to sleep in the sand with the sand fleas, Bear?"

"Don't know, sir." Brock smiled into the ear bug and turned to see Hufton.

Hufton was tapping on the warm bottle of water with nervousness. He had not commented one word during the hour long sea trip.

Latola steered the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "Bush Key was named Hog Island, because of the hogs that were raised there to provide fresh meat for the prisoners there at Fort Jefferson. It is the home of sooty tern rookery and the brown noddys. Whatever those names mean? It does sound like a floating fish or a floating ghost or a silly flower. I wonder what a brown noddy tastes like. One day, I might find out. Hospital Key, it was named from a real hospital for the inmates of the fort that was built there in the 1870s. I like the idea of housing crazy and wild prisoners away from the rest of civilized peoples. Don't you agree, Bear?"

"Yes sir!" Brock turned with a grin to stare out the side window near Hufton. Hufton continued to stare down at the warm bottle of water. The fort was tall and square shaped, passing in dark tan colors within the eyeballs of Brock below a light blue sky. His stomach flip flopped with nerves like his new friend Hufton.

This was the part, where drug lord Latola was steering the boat and his passengers towards a private island that was located somewhere within the Gulf of Mexico waters, so Brock could kill the old right hand man.

The movement caught his eyeballs.

Brock swung a stern face to see his side of the window. A pod of gray colored dolphins were leaping out from the water and gracefully flying into the air, racing with the boat. He smiled at the beautiful sight. Some of the dolphins run along the side the boat without leaping high into the air, continuing the race for fun. The boat continued to sail due west. Each chair continued to bounce side to side from the speed of one hundred miles per hour.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "I found the Key islands to be very low and very irregular. Some of the Key isles have thin groves of mangrove trees and some type of natural green, yellow, and orange vegetation for all the wild birds to nest and to feed. Some of the Key islands display only small patches of grass which are devoid of plant life. Generally, these inhabited islands are really unstable and rise abruptly, coming out from the depths of the ocean waters."

Brock whispered for his eardrums only. "The island rises abruptly from the depths of the ocean water. This is not a sea novel. This is real life." He turned with a worried brow and stared at the rear helmet on Hufton.

Hufton had turned to view the miles and miles of ocean without seeing an island or a piece of landmass.

Latola steered the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "All of the Key islands continually change in both size and shape. The Tortugas Atoll is made up of eleven islets during the past two centuries. Some of the smaller islands have disappeared and then reappeared numerous times as result of sea and wind impacts making the tiny islets nothing more than a sandbar that is just above the water mark. The white colored sand within the sandbar changes over time as the ocean winds and the ocean waves reshaped them."

Brock whispered for his eardrums only. "The sandbar changes shape and size from the ocean winds and waves. This is not a sea novel. This is real life." He turned with a worried brow and stared at the rear helmet on Hufton.

Hufton continued to stare out the window that only showed miles and miles of ocean without seeing an island or a piece of landmass.

"Now, we are passing the Tortugas Bank. Of course, you can see it. I can see it on my little radar screen. It is a submerged island going down at thirty six feet underneath the ocean water. Now, we are eleven nautical miles west of Loggerhead Island, if you are interested in measuring miles of water for fun."

Brock whispered for his eardrums only and counted on the fingers with nervousness. "The landlocked city of Coral Gables towards the beach sands of Key West is 103 nautical miles. Now, add into the equation, the additional sixty nautical miles towards the Dry Tortugas coming from the beach sands of Key West and the Tortugas Bank of eleven miles. I am seventy-one nautical miles west from Key West main island, without a boat and a sea crew and with a crazy drug lord and a right hand man that will pretend to die in a few more minutes."

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "There it is."

Brock turned with a worried brow to see out the other window. The image was massive green colors on top of an ocean island. His neurons went numb and his heart jumped started while seeing a tiny rocky foundation of landmass. However, the race boat continued to sail at the top speed of hundred miles per hour passing the lonely ocean island.

Latola continued to steer the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "We are passing the beautiful and green colored Marquesas Keys, the last point of civilization of people or land of mass. Marquesas Key is an island of mangrove trees in the shape of a doughnut shape. It was formed when a meteorite impacted and then created the two-mile wide lagoon that surrounded the single landmass. The island houses an array of eagle rays and green sea turtles and some occasional hammerhead sharks."

Brock wobbled and whispered for his eardrums only, "Sharks!"

Hufton was strapped down into the elevated stool chair behind the eating table, bouncing side to side inside the safety webbing at one hundred miles per hour.

The boat bumped up and down over the smooth ocean waves. Brock felt the motion, not experiencing seasickness. He turned with a stern face to face out the window, seeing only blue blurs of water.

Latola steered the boat with a smile and a whisper into the ear bug. "We are close. Do not leave the chairs, yet."

Brock turned with a worried brow to see his side window, searching for a palm tree, an island of white sands, or a shoreline of tan rock, only seeing miles of deep blue ocean waters.

The boat had slowed down to twenty miles per hour and paced through the tiny ocean waves while riding rough over the open waters. Meaning, Latola was very close to the final destination point. Meaning, Brock was going to kill a human for pretend, without blood and bullets. The bow of the boat slid into a firm landmass with a hard jolt and a soft thud.

Brock jerked forward coming from the sudden impact, slamming back both shoulder blades back into the soft back rest with a worried brow and an excited heart. The front part of the boat hung balanced over the landmass and inside the shallow ocean water. He could hear a set of soft scraping noise from the fiberglass against the ocean waves and the island. Bear gasped with fear inside the webbed seat. "Sir, are we are grounded over the sands of the island? How do we get out? Do I need to get out and push? I can do that, sir."

Latola smiled into the ear bug and pressed a set of levers to secure the boat over the water and the island. "Gentlemen, you can remove your helmet and the chair webbing from your body, now. We are not grounded. We are floating third-fourths inside the ocean and one-fourth over the piece of shallow landmass."

Brock turned with a worried brow and a gasp to see the windows. "What landmass? I don't see any landmass. I don't see nothing here but individual rays of the bright yellow sun and miles of blue colored ocean water." He reached down and unlatched the red colored webbing that had secured a body into the tall stool, standing upright from the chair with a worried brow and a worried heart, "Do we take a dinghy raft from the boat, sir? I can help secure it. Where is it?"

Latola unlatched the webbing from a body and stood upright with a grin into the ear bug. "No dinghy." He pressed another lever on the control panel of the boat. The circular hatch hole slowly opened from inside, keeping the water out of the interior cab of the race boat. The interior chamber immediately absorbed with a series of salt molecules and heated air. He side stepped from the steering compartment, turning ahead and moved toward the staircase and the archway with a grin. "I would request that you wear your shoes and your shirt, too. This is not a vacation trip."

Brock gasped with shock and fear and turned to see Hufton.

Hufton unlatched the webbing and slowly slipped off the tall stool with a stern face and a worried heart. This was the play murder. He hoped that Brock had a steady hand and a strong stomach. He removed the helmet and dropped it down over the thick red colored carpet with a worried brow.

Latola stooped down and climbed the steps, bending down with a fit waist, climbing on both naked hands and naked feet through the circular portal and disappeared from eyesight.

Hufton turned and nodded in silence to Brock.

Brock swung around and placed his helmet over the chair for usage later and spun around with a stern face, moving forward toward the set of mini-steps and the open archway on the boat, stooping forward over the second step and bent down with a fit waist, leading through the opening without wearing a life jacket.

10:10 a.m.

Gulf of Mexico location

Sandbar of white sand setting

Sizzling temperatures with blinding sunshine

with white clouds and seven miles-per-hour winds

Brock exited the boat opening and climbed over the cool fiberglass, standing upright on top of the deck of the race boat with a smile and a pair of flip flops. The fiberglass of the boat was cool at the moment but the sizzling heat would change that in a few more seconds. He reached up and shaded the eyeballs with a hand from the bright sun and sizzling heat, wearing the sunglasses and jumped down from the deck, landing a pair of flip flops down into the cool sands of ankle deep ocean water. He could feel the wicked eddy lines of the wave currents, bouncing around his naked toes.

Latola continued to slowly move ahead of Brock in a pair of bare feet and a pair of sunglasses, scanning the edges of the small sandbar with a grin and a shout. His voiced echoed throughout the air waves to every eardrum. "There are no coral reefs here or swimming or nesting sea wildlife either. This is classified as a sandbar, not an island or an atoll. The sandbar offers us ocean wave protection for a little while, but not much."

Hufton exited the opening and jumped down into the ankle-deep water with a sour frown and a whisper for his eardrums only. "A person could see nothing but water here." He slowly moved ahead and strolled over the wet but hard white colored sandbar with a stern face without a word of worry and fright. He didn't wear the sunglasses or the ear bug. He was truly alone, not seeing a helicopter from the FDI office that should have been buzzing around within the clear sky. The last time that he ventured with Latola inside the race boat was as the new right hand man.

Latola continued to march across the white sandbar with a grin and faced miles of open ocean waves. "There are not any sea turtles or a nest of sea turtles here. Too bad! It would have been nice to have turtle soup for dinner tonight. There is not any type of sea birds or bird nests either.

Brock continued to follow behind the back spine of Latola and turned with a worried brow, scanning the ocean water, the tiny sandbar island, and the blue open skyline. He didn't see the FDI helicopter with Eckward and Teague, either, feeling worried and alone. "I can see that. It is a tear shaped sandbar of white sand in the middle of the ocean water." He felt the heated tropical breezes blowing across the naked sands and hear the rhythmic sound of the ocean waves, playing in the background of the sandbar.

The winds blew at four miles per hour, coming south by southwest. The bright sun was heated and hot, tanning a set of freckles on top of his nose bridge. Brock reached up and wiped the wet sweat from a forehead, not from the blistering heat. He was alone with a drug lord and a stranger on top of a tear-shaped sandbar in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico which was eleven nautical miles west from the Marquesa Keys, the only other piece of land inside the Gulf of Mexico.

This sandbar was the play murder scene of the fake program that the FDI agency had developed.

He followed with a stern face behind the back spine of Latola.

Latola marched over the wet but firm sand with a smile, wearing a pair of naked feet. He had left the flip flops inside the cabin of the race boat. His shirt clung into a chest and a back spine from the heat of the day and stopped, standing in place, facing the miles of slightly rolling and calm deep blue waters without a pod of sharks or whales.

Brock continued to follow behind the back spine of Latola and stopped, standing in place, leaning down over a semi-circular hole of water inside the middle of the sandbar with a worried brow and a sissy whine. "Are there a pod of sharks down there?"

Latola stopped and stood in place near the edge of the sandbar without dropping down into the depths of ocean with a grin and a shout into the winds, facing due west and away from Brock and Hufton. "No, a pod of sharks will swim around a reef or the shoreline, looking for their afternoon food meal. We are too far out from the shoreline of fishes."

Brock exhaled with a huff of nervousness and scooted around the big hole inside the middle of an unstable sandbar that could change from ocean waves and ocean winds, moving ahead toward the back spine of Latola and stopped a few feet from the drug lord with a stern face.

Latola faced the miles of dark blue ocean water with a grin inside the pair of sunglasses. "Pull out your hand gun and kill Hufton now!"

"Yes sir." Brock mumbled with the real murder plan and spun around in the sand, reaching over and grabbed the hand gun inside the shoulder hostler that held a set of loud and empty blank bullets inside the single clip, quickly spreading both feet like a real killing and held a breath. He lifted and aimed the cold barrel at a helpless Hufton on the other side of the donut-hole shaped sea water pond.

Hufton was looking down inside the water inside the donut shaped hole with a stern face and as, his guts quivered. His eyeballs looked up with a worried brow to see Brock and the gun. He raised both hands near the chest with a shout out, where the packs of cow blood continued to itch his naked skin.

Brock fired out an array of the blank bullets at Hufton without a warning, since he was pretending to be an evil person with an evil heart, proving to be a cold blooded killer and then hopefully accepted into the nasty snake nest of Toye Latola.

Hufton stumbled backward and slapped one of the packs of blood with a shaky hand and a deaf eardrum from the loud blank of fire. The cow's blood burst through the light colored shirt, bleeding a set of pretty red stains over the fabric and the various naked body parts of Hufton.

Brock continued to fire the blank bullets without emotion as each shell casing ejected one at a time into the air, falling over the pretty white colored sand on the isolated sandbar in metal pain.

Hufton continued to wave both hands in the air at different intervals and slapped down onto a new pack of cow's blood at different times like he was really dying from the flying array of blank bullets. He stumbled backward and then tumbled forward for drama with a set of loud grunts and soft moans.

Brock emptied the blank clip of fake bullets and continued to stand in the firing stance in silence, breathing heavy with the fake murder and hope. His new boss Latola didn't move and closely examine the pretend dead body of Hufton. However, Brock had a real loaded weapon to kill Latola if Toye tried to murder Hufton in real life.

However, Brock could not murder Latola on top of an isolated sandbar in the middle of the gawd down Gulf of Mexico which would have been a better solution to the gigantic drug smuggling problem within the USA. Latola was not carrying a weapon, not even a dull silver tinted butter knife. Thus, Brock would have killed a man in cold blood without justification and selfless defense.

Latola continued to face due west without looking at the firing sequence on his right hand man Hufton with a grin. He detested seeing real blood stains on another dead person.

Hufton grunted one last time and tumbled forward, falling down into the donut hole of water. His face landed inside the water and as he held his breath to fake the death and save his life. His chest cavity with the cow blood had soaked and soiled the pretty white grains of sand on top of the sandbar with both fakeness and ugliness.

Latola reached over and slapped the collar bone of Brock with a smile, staring into the vast of ocean. "You did well, my new right hand man. We should leave my little sandbar. The giant waves and the numerous sharks will bury my old right man, later in the afternoon." He spun around in the opposite direction and moved ahead, without turn to view the dead body.

Hufton continued to rest over the sands and waters, blooding out the packs of cow blood with an occasion gulp of a short breath from the air as his body slip side to side from the waves of salt water naturally, of course.

Brock stood upright with a stern face, holding the hand gun in the air and marched behind the back spine of Latola. He turned with as stern face to watch Hufton, in case Latola double-crossed either FDI agent for some weird reason.

Latola moved ahead swiftly over the wet and firm sand with a stern face and stopped, standing in place, reaching out with the pair of gloves and climbed up and over the side of the boat. He stood upright with a sigh of relieve with the good actions of the new right hand man, bending down and crawled through the opening into the interior of the race boat and disappeared within eye sight.

Brock dashed ahead over the wet and firm sands with a stern face and stopped and holstered the gun back into the jacket pocket, quickly climbing up and over the heated fiberglass and entered the circular opening of the race boat. He stumbled down the set of mini-steps onto the floor flat on both hands and kneecaps, slowly stood upright with a confused brow.

At 10:25 am, Latola stood upright and moved away from the mini-steps and turned to face the rear of the cabin with a smile while hearing the loud grunts of Brock inside the cabin. He stopped and stood in front of the side wall, reaching out and opened one of the embedded cabinets, pulling out a dry towel, cleaning off the sandy feet with a smile. "Do you mind steering the boat, Bear?"

Brock stood upright in place with a smile and stared at the empty steering compartment, saying into the ear bug with a worried brow. "Ugh! I don't mind, but I have only steered small speed boats over a few several miles on the placid fresh lake water, not an ocean of whales and sharks."

He continued to clean the sandy feet with a smile. "It is the same concept. I would recommend driving at forty or fifty miles per hours until you are comfortable with the boat."

Brock moved ahead and slid down into the single pilot chair, reaching over and pressed the start button. He could pilot small water craft. This one was bigger and more powerful. He slowed drove away from the tiny island atoll while leaving behind the live body of Hufton both well and safe. The patrolling helicopter that carried Teague, Eckward, and Olwen would land and retrieve Hufton from the fake death.

The race boat smoothly glided over the placid ocean waters. The steering column was tight between his two hands. Brock piloted the race boat at fifty miles per hour, since he wasn't a drug lord or a millionaire that owned a nice power boat with experience over the rough ocean waves. Sometimes, the boat would slide to the side like it had hit an oil slick or an icy road. Back home in Brier, during the wintertime, the roads would ice over with frozen water. Driving over ice was hazardous and dangerous which made the truck glide towards a ditch, instead of the road. The boat sometimes glided on its own as Brock compensated by steering slower.

Latola stayed occupied in the rear of the cabin with something. Brock couldn't see the action of Latola due to the enclosed helmet and the lack of communication via the ear bug. Latola only softly hummed and continued his secret work in private.

At 12:12 p.m., Latola finished the task and back stepped with a smile, spinning around and wobbled side to side over the tilted floor of the moving race boat and stopped, standing behind the rear helmet of Brock with a smile, saying into the ear bug. "We are getting close. Veer to the east!"

Brock continued to steer the race boat over the smooth waters with a puzzled brow, saying via the ear bug. "The eastern direction contains more ocean water that leads further into the Atlantic Ocean. Are we going to visit the islands of the Bahamas? The Florida coastline is located on the west side of the ocean waters."

He smiled via the ear bug. "Yes, the land is on the western side. We are going to a new city within the ocean waters. Veer more towards the east! You will see the very tall structures above the green colored ocean waters," he continued to stand behind the rear helmet of Brock and looked out the wind shield with a smile.

Brock gasped with a grin at the top and colorful structures on top of the ocean waters, saying via the ear bug. "That...that..."

He said via the ear bug. "That is a city above the water, it is called Stiltsvlle. A set of individual home-like structures have been built upon a set of concrete poles that go down deep into the ocean waters.

Brock slowed the speed and coasted through the smooth water with a worried brow, saying via the ear bug. "The ocean water is weird looking."

He laughed via the ear bug. "You are very observant. The water is composed of wet mud coming from some geological occurrence that had happened centuries ago during the dinosaurs. Park and kill the engine underneath the weather blue tinted wooden A-frame house between the poles, this is a nice parking spot out from the bright sunshine. Press the green button to release the anchor, so that we don't drift and hit one of the concrete poles. Or you will be swimming away from the faster sharks," laughing.

Brock stopped the boat with a worried brow and killed the engine, parking the gears into park, saying via the ear bug, "Sharks?"

He spun around with a chuckle and moved ahead towards the rear of the interior of the boat cabin. "This is part of Biscayne Bay which is near the shoreline. There are over hundred different types of sharks here. But we will stay and enjoy our lunchtime and our victory."

City of Stiltsvlle

Hot temperatures with four miles-per-hour winds

with blue sky and bright sunshine

Interior boat setting

01:01 pm

Currently, a tiny city of seven wooden houses that were built ten feet high on top of numerous concrete pilings within the submerged lands of muddy and sandy water flats that is one mile south of the free standing island of Key Biscayne at the edge of the Intercoastal waterway of Biscayne Bay. The first building on top of numerous wooden stilts was built in the year 1937 and labeled as a fishing and gambling establishment until one of the hurricanes of 1950 flew the wooden planks away. During the heyday years of 1950 to 1960, twenty-seven individual A-frame houses featured a wrap-around exterior porch on the outside of the window panes as each rooftop was used to house the visiting aquatic flying birds to sun and to feed.

At 01:10 pm, inside the boat's cabin, Brock said via the ear bug, "Yes sir!" He nodded with a fake smile and a wish that he could blast the drug lord into billions of bone fragments with the hidden personal hand gun. Then, the dangerous FDI assignment would be finished and Brock would go back to his simple legal lawyer job in Tampa, where he would continue to process each captured criminal with paper for the court system.

Latola stopped in front of the metal table and removed the helmet for a civilized conversation, wiping a sweat face with the clean towel, placing the helmet on top of the bench seat for the ride back to his house in Coral Gables. The race boat was a fast and dangerous piece of water craft. If there was a water accident, the helmet would protect the bond skull from injury, if the driver and the passages survived the sharks and the impact.

Latola had been opening each hidden compartment while creating a nice and cozy dining room area inside the rear of the race boat. The engine of the boat occupied the rest of the rear of the water craft. There was a series of horizontal and vertical compartments that held different items. Latola had opened each compartment and lowered down a metal table that held four people with a set of twin separate short bench seats that held two individual people. There were numerous smaller hidden compartments which were built into the side wall of teak wood that housed, such items, eating dishes, eating utensils, a tiny refrigerator, a dry food pantry cabinet, and other storage items, like numerous pieces of rescue equipment, of course. He leaned over the table with a soft hum and grabbed up a bottle of opened wine with a smile, pouting the liquid into the set of two empty wine glasses, replacing the bottle back down into the bucket of ice cubes, sliding down into the short bench seat on the opposite side of the table. He reached over and straightened the plates, the tumbles, the food trays with a smile and a hum while waiting for his new guest Brock.

Brock slid off the single pilot chair and stood upright from the steering console with a smile, spinning around with a gasp, removing the helmet and slowly moved ahead with a puzzled brow. There was a short metal eating table on the side of the wall which had been lowered down from a set of hidden compartment on the side wall of dark wood. The metal table was nicely decorated with a fancy white tablecloth, a set of china yellow tinted plates, a set of silver tinted utensils, and four glasses of sparkling crystal. Brock thought it was nice to have that kind of extra money and purchased a race boat and fill it with fine items. He slid down into the short bench on the opposite side and stared at Latola. Hufton didn't mention the business meeting during lunch, but lots of business transactions were conducted during the mealtime.

So, Latola was about to provide the date and the time of the upcoming drug shipment while Brock enjoyed the free meal. Maybe, Norris could get used to this kind of undercover assignment work for the FDI. The meal plates were filled with numerous types of cold seafood on top of the china plate. A bottle of open white wine stood inside a bucket of ice. Each wine glass was filled.

Brock stopped beside the short metal table and slid down into the tiny short beach with a loud grunt of annoyance, placing the helmet beside his leg. The bench was too short for his pair of long legs and his big bulky athletic body, but the metal table fit the slender body frame of sissy Latola. Brock reached up and placed both elbows on top of the table with a loud huff while acting like a country redneck. He wanted Latola to fear and to understand that he was a badass like his favorite character in the Quartet, who was Franklin Mangrove, the third.

One of the members of the Quartet, Frank Mangrove was calm, controlled, and carried a set of medical tap needles that would put an elephant asleep for an entire day.

Latola reached out and gently grabbed the wine glass, sipping and swallowed the liquid, pointing out the small oval interior window with a smile. "This is the city of Stiltsvlle. I enjoy coming here to think." The boat was anchored into the mud, without drifting side to side. Brock couldn't see the side of the boat and hoped that the water craft was not stuck in the mud without rescue aid from either the FDA or the FDI agents like Teague and Eckward.

"Uh huh!" Brock looked down and stabbed the food, chewing and swallowed. He wasn't going to waste time when he possessed a china plate full of oysters, lobster, and crab legs, which was fresh and juicy. Latola continued mumble with soft talk with a smile and slowly sipped, swallowing the wine. Brock didn't really want to consume the wine, electing to grab the water goblet, drinking the cool liquid, wiping the mouth with the provided cloth napkin. He wasn't a true hillbilly, only talked like one. Brock continued to eat the good food.

Latola continued to mumble and slowly sipped, swallowing the expensive wine while eating occasionally. He leaned back with a smile into the short sofa which was separated from the short metal table. "You have both guts and honor, Bear. It takes guts to kill a man in cold blood"

Brock stabbed the food item with the small fork with a grunt. "Yes sir!"

He smiled down at the blonde colored hair roots of Brock. "Is that why you are called Bear?"

Brock swallowed the food and then laughed with a smile. "No sir! My father enjoyed hunting. We hunted together and killed a bear during a hunting trip. I adopted that name with my childhood friends when they adopted a similar animal name."

He frowned, "Too bad!"

Brock finished eating his plate of seafood and consumed the other pieces of fresh seafood on the food tray without a complaint from Latola.

Latola continued to ramble with nonsense information and did not tattle about the upcoming boat shipment of imported cocaine coming out from South American.

Brock was planted to find out the date and the time while the FDA confirmed the illegal drug shipment and then the FDI arrested Latola. Brock chewed the last shrimp piece and reached out, sipping, swallowing the water with a smile.

Latola reached over and tapped a new hidden secret panel on the side wall between the edges of the small metal table. The hidden panel of dark teak wood slowly lowered down and leveled off, revealing a single bottle of Scottish whiskey. He lifted the bottle from the compartment with a smile and landed it on top of the metal table while rattling the metal table with a grin. He screwed off the lid and lifted the bottle, pouring the liquid into one of the two tumbles. "I like scot coming from the country of Scotland, not a foreign country like American." He lifted the bottle and slid the tumbler of scot to Brock with a nod.

Brock accepted the alcoholic beverage with a smile. He did not particular like scot but he was playing a role to catch this asshole with murder.

He lifted the small little tumbler. "Cheer to you, sir, my new right hand man!"

"Cheers, sir!" Brock lifted up the tumbler with a smile and a nod to Latola.

He sipped and swallowed the scot with a grin. "I like your manners. Isn't that the correct word?"

"Yes sir! The word is usually said as southern manner. My mama taught me well."

He smiled. "Who taught you to shoot?"

Brock smiled. "That would be my daddy. All southerns both girls and boys can shoot any type of weapon including bow and arrows and hunting knife on any ass that pleases or messes," laughing "I learned at a young age with the approval of my parents, of course."

He smiled. "I killed my little friend at the age of eleven. But, this current conversation is about you, not me." Brock swallowed the smooth scot with a bitter taste at that statement in silence and stared at the slender and sissy madman. Latola grinned. "This is about you, Bear. I like you. You're big, strong and handsome."

"Thanks!" Bear exhaled with a huff of embarrassment coming from another male, who looked like a pretty guy with shoulder length black hair and a face of black tinted whiskers in a tailor-made set of jacket and a pair of matching trousers.

"I liked Hufton. He served his purpose but you serve my purpose better."

"Yes sir!" Bear nodded with a grin. Latola was getting ready to tattle about the date and the time of the drug shipment that was going to arrive in Miami within a couple of days.

"Ah!" He gasped with a smile. "I am so glad that you agree with me. You are my right hand man now. I am your boss man. You will always be with me at my side wherever or whenever or whoever."

Brock nodded with a smile. "Yes sir!"

He grinned with a nod, "Excellent response!"

Brock smiled, "When do you order the first boat load shipment of cocaine to come...?"

"Non!" He shook the shoulder length hair with a sour frown. "Do not use that term cocaine ever, never around me."

Brock said with a stern face. "Yes sir! I am sorry."

"Excellent response! You are a fast learner. I like that. I like you. Hufton wasn't like that. That is why he is gone now."

"Thanks, sir!" Brock sipped and swallowed the scot with a smile.

"I have asked you here for a favor."

"Yes sir!"

"You are eager to please."

"Yes sir! I am your right hand man."

Latola smiled, "Excellent response! I am gay."

Brock gagged and coughed out the mouth of the alcoholic beverage. "Sir!"

"Are you surprised?"

Brock thought that his person and his assignment were fucked. Or he was going to perform a man-fucking on the slender and sissy pretty male. He meekly said. "Uh! Yes, sir!"

He grinned. "Don't be shocked. I am not flattered. I need a favor from you."

Brock gasped. "Sir, I can handle a gun, a woman, and a dangerous situation. But..."

He slapped both palms down onto the metal table with a loud laugh. "Non! Non! I don't want you to fuck me."

Brock exhaled with a smile. "Sir, I do not wanna fuck with you, literally or figuratively."

He laughed with a nod. "I am gay and I have a boyfriend."

Brock nodded with a grin. "Yes sir!"

He smiled. "Yes, I am married in appearance only for two months. My momma, I love my momma. My momma wants a child."

Brock frowned. "Sir?"

"I love my momma. I want you to fuck my wife and give my momma a child."

Brock gasped. "Sir!"

He smiled. "I will pay you two million dollars in cash."

"Sir!"

"I will pay you three million dollars in cash."

"Sir!"

Latola exhaled with a stern face, "All right! You have twisted my arm, since only my boyfriend can twist my dick," chuckling. "I will pay you five million dollars in cash to fuck my wife and get her pregnant with a child. I will place the money inside an overseas account. I do not want you in trouble with the American law."

Brock laughed with a nod. "You want to set up a bank account for me with five million dollars in cash to fuck your wife for you."

He nodded with a stern face. "Yes, five million dollars is my final offer. Do you take it or leave it?"

Brock gasped with alarm. His FDI training session had never covered money payment for fucking a spouse, which would make Brock a gigolo or man-whore or something. He honestly didn't know how to handle the situation and honestly couldn't blow his drug cover, because his new boss was a gay prick that loved another man, not his martial wife. Brock quickly thought of an answer, without appearing stupid and silly.

Latola exhaled. "The child, a baby, can you produce healthy man-sperm?"

Brock laughed. "Yeah, I can. Yeah, I accept the five million dollars. Yeah, I'll fuck your wife. When does the fucking event occur?"

He reached over and pulled out the mobile telephone, looking down with a smile. "Excellent response! I was hoping for a miracle today. And I received two miracles in one afternoon. Hufton was a good right hand man, but I need a stud-man to give my momma a baby with man-sperm to produce a healthy fetus inside my wife. Is your full name is Brock Norris?"

Brock nodded with a grin. "Yes sir!" He was not allowed to keep the five million dollars, of course. When the FDI assignment had finished, Brock would report the active bank account to the FDI accounting department. Maybe, the drug money could be used for something useful like helping a needy church or another charity institution.

The mobile telephone sounded with a soft beep. Latola looked up with a smile. "It is done! You are rich, my new right hand man. I am going to be a papa."

"Yes sir!" Brock laughed with a nod for a second time at the ridicule undercover arrangement, where he was going to fuck another man's wife, get paid a sum of five million dollars, and have a night of great sex. Latola had not fucked his wife, so the wife might be a virgin, but probably not.

Latola smiled with a nod. "My wife will like you. You are big and strong and handsome."

Brock exhaled with worry. "Or your wife might not like me. She will not voluntarily fuck me. If she is a good wife, then she will not fuck me."

He smiled with a wink at Brock, "Excellent response! I have a good plan for that too. My little wife is named Rosy. Rosy is a good wife too. She doesn't know about me and my boyfriend. Once the baby comes, she will not care about me, only her child." His mobile telephone sounded with a Latin musical song. He looked down with a smile to see the tiny screen with the colorful digital picture, quickly typing out a text to her on the tiny keyboard, finishing and looked up with a grin to see Brock. "It is my little wife. She worries about little me. So, we go back home and introduce you to my little Rosy. She has two pink cheekbones too. She is pretty and such a good little wifey. I want you to be nice to my little Rosy."

"Yes sir!" Brock nodded with a stern face and continued to sit inside the bench seat.

"We go back home for the evening. My little Rosy likes to eat dinner at the same time, every night. You will have the dinner meal with me and my little Rosy. Then you will stay the night to fuck her and create a baby. Rosy doesn't interfere in my business transactions. She works during the day for fun. Once the baby comes, she will stay home and take care of her child. She does something at night while I visit my boyfriend. But tonight, you will keep her company and busy."

"Yes sir." Bear nodded with a smile.

Latola slid out from the bench seat and stood upright with a smile, dashing back towards the boat cockpit with a grin, sliding down into the single pilot seat. "We fly like a seagull back home to Coral Gables. Strap down inside one of the back chairs for the swift ride!" He fiddled with the set of driving gears with a smile. The race boat flew over the rough waves of the Atlantic Ocean, slowing down as it neared the beach shoreline and as he smiled with a soft giggle.

04:45 p.m.

Coral Gable waterway entrance

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

And three miles-per-hour westerly winds

Latola slowed the race boat, creating a set of vicious ocean waves, drowning some of the swimmers within the Intercoastal Waterway off the shoreline of Coco Plum. And he didn't give a damn. The pesky ocean swimmers should float in a back yard pool or swim off the golden color sandy beaches of Key Biscayne instead at the mouth of an ocean entrance way. He turned and steered the boat back down the twenty-foot waterway in the middle of the narrow passageway, creating more wakes and waves. Each wave hit and slammed over the grass lawn or another docked boat.

Brock continued to set inside the webbed chair from the wild ass boat driving of asshole Latola, exhaling in deep breathes. He didn't grow up near a river or an ocean beach. He had grown up riding horses over a flat surface of land. However, he didn't become seasick on the waves of the water which was good, since Latola didn't really care about the health of Brock, either.

During the swift ten-minute boat ride back to the house of Latola inside the Gables from the creepy Stiltsvlle City of upright standing poles, Brock pondered the new FBI assignment. The dangerous part had passed when Brock pretended to shoot an array of fake bullets at the pretend chest of Hufton. So now, Brock was in the company and the service employment of the drug lord Latola.

The easy part was about to state right now. Brock was to uncover the next import shipment from whatever country and notify his new supervisor Olwen. His high school friend Teague and Eckward were involved in the FBI assignment to verify all captured illegal substances. Then, the show would end the new assignment.

Then, Brock would drive back home to the city of Tampa, resuming all the legal work at his lonely desk in the wall corner with the sad art painting of a grove of naked trees during wintertime.

Brock realized that natives of Tampa didn't experience snow and ice like the northern cities of New York and Huntsville, so someone one inside the office had purchased a pretend scene of winter which was really depressing and boring.

Brock thought if he took on the new FBI assignment, then he would feel the renewed excited about working for the FBI agency like within the first few months of devoted service. However, it was nice to see Teague and Eckward from his old hometown and depressing to feel their happiness of jobs, wives, and lift.

Brock didn't feel happiness, since he was alone. He wasn't allowed to date a fellow FBI agency without giving up his job or transferring to another US Federal government agency. He didn't find the FBI women suitable for his particular tastes.

During the visitation of holiday break in December, his older brother had ribbed Brock about his particular taste in women, citing the break-up of the ancient girlfriend Fawn.

Brock didn't want to discuss his sex-less life with his brother or his old high school buddies, either.

After this FBI assignment was complete, Brock would take a vacation within the sunny state of Florida at a resort or lounge on the beach. The beach always attracted pretty girls in bikini for fun and maybe, a wife.

Inside the man-made canal, the race boat slowed and then halted while bumping side to side within the short waves of fresh water canal. Latola reached down and pulled on the levers, killing the engine. The hooks and cables surrounded the boat, slowly lifting the object from the water with a loud slurp, toting the boat into the air with a set of soft hisses as the mechanics pulled the boat into the airborne berth.

Brock continued to sit inside the webbed chair, feeling thankful for the steady chair and the webbing around a chest and a waist. Latola was mounted on top of short stool still wearing the webbing around a body, unwrapping out the webbing and swiftly exited the race boat with Brock behind.

They moved outside from the boat hut space and across the nicely manicured lawn without a patch of short grass, only a set of pods of fresh colorful lilies inside an individual concrete pond in silence.

05:33 p.m.

City of Coral Gables

Home of Latola

Dining room location

Dinner meal setting

The heavy door echoed throughout the foyer entranceway and the tower room, announcing the visitors.

Latola and Brock turned and moved together through the open court yard that was surrounded by a set of squared shaped see-through gate panels to see the bright sunset, ending a new pretty day in Miami. The garden of lilies sparkled in colors of whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples.

Brock swung a face to see the garden and line of tall royal palm trees that outlined the property space of the Coral Gables mansion. The day was so pretty. He felt joy and satisfaction.

Latola took the lead, moving to the closed door, reaching for the knob.

The door opened.

He entered through the archway and the Florida room, marching down the narrow and darken hallway of the ancient 1925 mansion and stopped, standing inside the archway of the dining room.

The dining room was a tiny space of four enclosed walls without a window and an assortment of cabinets of delicate china plates and short buffet tables for food trays. There was a small dining room table in the middle of the room that held a set of four chairs and a center piece of flowers. The flowers consisted of roses, tulips, carnations, and other smelly flora as the drifting scent made the room smell like lavender.

Latola exhaled a deep breath with a smile and moved ahead, stopping and stood at the front of the head table with a chair that contained two arm rests for the king of the house. The table was elegantly set with a tablecloth and a set of three empty eating plates plus the proper eating utensils. There were two goblets, one with iced water and one filled with red wine.

His wife didn't cook, since she worked during the day. Actually, she insisted upon working at the physician office of her uncle even thou Latola could pay for everything, including his ten-million dollar residential home.

Brock followed behind the back spine of Latola, stopping and stood with a grin at the placement on the side of the table, the right side of the king of the house. He exhaled with a huff of nervousness and a promise to fuck a married woman for his FDI job. Part of his FDI job usually didn't include sex. He could wait to tattle to Teague and Eckward, tomorrow morning in private, of course. He didn't think that Olwen would approve and encourage. So, it was a good thing that all FDI field agents acted alone.

The dishes rattled in the distance, coming around the corner from the dark hallway.

"Toye, welcome home," the adult female turned the wall corner with a smile, moving inside the dining room toward the table.

Latola pointed with a smile and a nod to Brock. "My little Rosy, please meet my new little friend. He is my new right hand man."

Brock spun around with a gasp to see the wife of Latola.

Rosy held a small tray between both hands with a single red colored rose and halted, dropping the tray lid toward the floor. The single rose dropped down and fell onto the floor. She sneered with a gasp, "Hell..."

"Hello." Brock advanced forward, scooping down at a fit waist and grabbed the single rose from the floor, standing upright and stopped with a wink and a grin in front of the wife of Latola.

The kitchen staff followed behind Rosy, entering the room, stopping at each empty plate, doling out the evening meal as the table occupants continued to stand and stare at each other.

Latola back stepped from the kitchen staff with a smile and a nod to see Rosy. "This is Brock Norris, my little Rosy. He is my new right hand man to assist within my business."

Rosy stared at Brock. Brock stared and offered the single rose to Rosalina Burns, the wife of drug lord Latola and his former classmate at Brier High School.

The kitchen staff finished the task of decorating each plate with the food entrees, shoving a food cart into the far wall. The cart contained steamy trays with lids as the steam escaped from the edges. Then the staff turned and moved out the dining room in silence, leaving the hours for the evening. They would return tomorrow morning to clean up the mess of the king and the queen for the night.

Rosalina released the tray with one hand, reaching up and snatched the rose from the two-fisted grip of Brock. Brock held the rose with his manly force, making the single stem break in half from her ugly snatch, smiling with a chuckle.

Rosalina scooted around Brock with a huff, advancing to her husband, stopping and stood over the hair roots of Latola, reaching out and rested the broken rose over the tablecloth. "Toye, darling, you brought home a pes..."

"Personnel," Brock spun around with a chuckle, moving to the side table, scooting out the chair and sat down. Latola had started eating without a pray to God or a kiss to his wife. Brock grabbed the napkin and rested it into a lap like a good southern boy which was taught by his mama in Alabama. He grubbed the fork and the knife, stabbing and cutting into the meat with a smile, glancing at the long suntan legs of Rosalina. She continued to stand over the hair roots of her husband and Brock with a sour frown and a growl. Brock smiled. "My name is Brock Norris, but you can call me Bear, honey. I am the new right hand man for Mr. Latola."

Latola chewed and swallowed the food, saying to the plate. "Please, welcome my new little friend, my little Rosy. The food is very good."

He chewed and swallowed the food. "Very good," Brock said with a nod, stabbing the meat with the fork and the knife, lifting and eating the food with a set of closed lips with a smirk at the floral arrangement.

Rosalina back stepped with a huff and a sneer without words, turning away from Latola and moved around the other end of the table, strolling on the opposite side of the table and stopped. She turned and stood in front of the chair with a huff of annoyance, without seeing Brock through the extra-large floral arrangement and pulled out the chair.

Brock chewed and swallowed the food, gasping at the sight. Rosalina was pulling out her own chair. Back home in Brier, the dad of Brock always pulled out the chair for his wife at the table for suppertime or anytime. Or one of the sons pulled out the chair for their mom. But it was not the situation here. Brock turned with a sneer to see black colored hair roots of his new boss. Latola continued to cut and eat the food in silence and rudeness.

Rosalina sat down, pulling the chair close into the edge of the table, staring down at the food, not feeling hungry, but mad. She could believe that her former classmate from Brier High School Brock Norris was sitting at her dining room table and inside her house in Miami, Florida. She couldn't fathom how he and her husband had greeted and meeted for a business connection.

Latola chewed and swallowed the food, saying down to the plate. "You need to eat your good food, my little Rosy. It is very delicious with vitamins and minerals, to boot. You did a good job with the meal, tonight."

"Thanks," she softly said and reached down for the fork, lifting and stabbed the fruit with a grunt of annoyance.

Brock stood from the chair and leaned over, grabbing the flower arrangement, sliding it to the side to see Rosalina with a smile. "Sorry, I have allergies..."

Latola looked up with a gasp and a puzzled brow to see the nose profile of Brock. "Allergies, I thought you told me that you were in perfect health."

Brock turned and winked at Latola. "I lied. I am only allergic to pretty girls."

Latola laughed with a wink to Brock. "I am happy to hear that, Brock. I have a pretty girl, so you stay away from my little Rosy. Or you will not be my new little friend."

Brock chewed and swallowed the food, turning with a nod and wink to see Latola. "Yes sir."

She stabbed the next fruit, lifting and eating with an open mouth with a set of rude southern belle manners. She could not believe that Brock Norris was laughing with her husband at her dining room table inside her house.

The fork of Brock picked down at the plate of good smelling food. The face of Brock grinned with lust. The eyeballs of Brock stared at her hands, selecting the different types of fruit.

She stabbed and ate the kiwi then the mango and then the pineapple. Each piece of fruit was lighted covered with a powdery sleeping potion that was similar to the story of Sleeping Beauty. Anyways, the sleeping potion would make Rosalina light-headed and drowsy, drifting into a semi-conscious state for the personal sexual mating with Bear inside the master bedroom within the hour.

Brock stabbed the meat and lifted the fork, chewing with a smile, glancing at her hand. He could not believe that Rosalina Burns was the wife of drug lord Latola here in Miami. He didn't know the story, hell, couldn't guess a story of meeting, dating, and marrying a drug lord. But Bear suspected that Rosalina didn't know about her drug lord husband, since he knew her personality very well from their shared high school and college days.

Rosalina was a virgin first and a nice girl second.

Brock gasped and coughed with his vile mental thoughts, since he had promised at the meeting inside the race boat to fulfill the first order by his new boss Latola which included the wife, who was familiar person. During the interview inside the boat, Brock didn't mind performing the pleasurable task. Now, he chewed and swallowed the food, feeling weird that he was going to perform an ancient and secret ritual on Rosalina Burns.

Rosalina stood upright from the chair, wobbling side to side, leaning over to catch her breath and her balance with a slight moan.

Brock gasped with panic, wanted to stand but continued to sit, turning to see his new boss.

Latola sat and ate, staring down at the plate.

Rosalina softly said. "I..."

Latola cut the meat with a stern face. "Are you alright, my little Rosy?" He stared down at his foot plate and chewed the meat.

"Yes." She whispered and reached up, touching a temple with a slight grin, "Fine," she exhaled. "I'm very tired. It was a long time at work..."

Brock stared with a smile at her. "Where do you work, Rosy?" She exhaled with a puff of annoyance at Brock without speaking.

Latola chewed and swallowed the food, saying with a nod and a smile. "Little Rosy, go on to beddy bye time. Leave the dirty dishes! Me and my little man will clean up the dining table and the kitchen. Or better yet, the maids will come tomorrow and clean up for all of us."

"Yes." She whispered and touched a temple with a slight frown, "Fine." She exhaled. "Alright, I feel very tired and sleepy." She turned and slowly moved across the tile toward the bedroom, feeling slightly dizzy and weak with confusion from the good food. The restaurant must have provided a tray of bad fruit pieces. She would contact the restaurant tomorrow and compliant about the lousy service.

Brock and Latola stopped eating, turning to stare at the back spine of Rosalina.

She slowly moved from the dining room and entered the dark hallway, disappearing from all eyeballs. Then bedroom door slammed shut.

Brock laughed with a grin, "She still got some fire left."

Latola stood from the chair, wiping off the mouth, tossing the cloth napkin down into the dirty plate with a smile. "My new little man, she is your reward and your pleasure, today. Don't mess this up, my new little friend! Will you be able to produce a set of manly sperm during the live action sequence? You are under the gun as they say now."

Brock scooted back the chair and stood upright, staring at the dark hallway with a smile and a chuckle of lust. "I do not mess things up." He turned and frowned at the nose profile of Latola. "Are you leaving your mansion? I don't insist but I didn't want any additional company. Three's a crowd as they say, too."

"Yes." Latola back stepped from the dining room and turned with a smile, moving toward the archway. "I am leaving my mansion to see my lover. He lives down the street, not far. However, I will not be returning to my mansion until tomorrow night when we are both having a second dinner with my little Rosy. I always bring my little man with me. I must continue the fake façade and the mysterious masquerade until she delivers a baby. Once the baby comes, my little mama and my little Rosy will be very, very happy. And I will be very, very busy with my personal lover. The end!" He turned and moved down the other side of the dark hallway, strolling toward the garage.

In the distance, a door closed with a loud boom.

Brock continued to stare into the dark hallway for a few minutes with a stern face, ensuring asshole Latola did not return to interrupt the love fest or eye witness a sexual act with Rosalina. Brock wished that he had stolen a house key from the bastard, but it was too late. Latola was a gay man and wanted to spend his dick and his time with his lover down the street. Brock felt quiet certain that he would see Latola or the dick of Latola for the rest of the night.

At 07:07 p.m. during the heated day with bright sunshine, Brock moved ahead with a smile and started the strip tease show inside the dining room, removing the first piece of clothing item one at a time, exiting the dining room and turned to face a dark hallway. He moved down the dark hallway while continuing to undress, until he hit a set of stairs and stopped with a smile, reaching down, touching a wrinkled dick. The cold air conditioning was making his penis smaller, not bigger for a good fucking action with virgin Rosalina Burns, an old classmate at Brier High School.

He looked up to see the stairs and then each side rooms with a nod and a chuckle of fun time lust.

The master bedroom must be located upstairs.

He strolled up the steps, rubbing his dick with a smile, stomping onto the top step towards a partial closed door with a chuckle and a smile. He was going to fuck Rosalina, who was still a virgin, since high school. He had admired her during the shared high school and college days.

Rosalina had attended and graduated from Birmingham Junior College at the same time with Brock. She was a majorette in the marching band. He was a football player on the playing field.

They also had shared one academic class on the first day of the first class as incoming freshmen.

Then she had taken a set of different academic classes for the rest of the two years.

Thus, their pathways never crossed, again.

Inside the empty hallway, Brock run forward with excitement on a pair of naked feet and stopped in front of the cracked door, assuming the master bedroom. He reached down and touched the door knob, feeling the cold metal on his fingers, slowing pulling the door open.

He stood inside the dark archway of the grand bedroom. The master bedroom was almost as large as his single studio apartment in the city of Tampa, the true residential home.

Three of the walls, each held a long viewing window that could show off the green lush and tropic landscape of Miami if not for the closed dark tinted curtain drapes. The fourth wall was enclosed, displaying the entrance door, a vanity bureau, and another open door.

Brock strutted inside the dark room with a grin, moving and stopped, standing at the far wall. He reached up and slid the side of the thick drapes, exposing a bright burning ray of a flood light over a part of floor, slamming the drape shut again.

Wow! It was a very bright night with moonlight at seven pm in the evening in Miami, but it was wintertime here with warm weather and a warm sun.

Brock could not believe that he had been sitting around a conference table at seven am, this morning.

Now, almost ten hours later, he was standing inside the bedroom of Rosalina Burns, a married woman and the wife of drug lord Latola.

He back stepped from the drapes with a sour frown, turning and stared at the bed frame. It was a double-king sized bed mattress that was very low to the floor. He laughed and slapped a hand over the chuckles.

Latola was average height for a male and the same height as Rosalina, who was five feet and nine inches. So, he must have needed the shorter bed to match his shorter dick as they say.

In the southern region of Alabama, the size of your truck always equaled the size of your dick.

Brock guessed inside the state of Florida, a male owned a large or small bed mattress that equaled his large or small dick.

Brock back stepped and shifted sideways, standing in the middle of the new wall that was parallel to the bed frame.

The bed frame was surrounded by a long fluttering sheer curtain that sorta hid the sleeping body of Rosalina. It made the atmosphere look inviting for a secret hot sizzling sexual encounter. The wide and long bed frame actually covered up the window. But, the window held a set of thick dark colored drapes, blocking out the sunlight and moonlight, also.

All the windows were covered in dark colored drapes and occupied almost two-thirds of the wall. Below each window was a clothing drawer or a clothing cabinet or a side table with drawers. Inside each the wall corner, there was a table with a different flora arrangement of live flowers, such as, roses, carnation, and other colorful flowers, delivering a soft aroma inside the large room.

He advanced with a smile and stopped, turning with a grin and stared at the side mirror on top of the clothing drawer, admiring a fit body with a gasp and turned back to see Rosalina. Brock didn't want Rosalina to remember his face during the upcoming sexual encounter. She might accidently turn to see the mirror beside the bed frame. His body type didn't really matter, since a dick was a dick was a dick.

He was worried that her sub-conscious memory would trigger her long term memory that stored his face from all the shared days of high school and some college days.

Brock turned and entered a side door, finding the bathroom and gathered up an armful of large bath towels and spun around, moving back into the bathroom. He turned and lifted both his arms, dropping and spreading the towels over the mirror for hidden identification of his face. He back stepped with a grin, wiping the pretend dirt form both hands and spun around to see the curtain and the body of Rosalina. He advanced to the curtain and stopped, standing in front of the sheer fabric with a smile. And his dick was smiling and oozing discharge, too.

He reached out and softly grabbed the delicate curtain, feeling the silky fabric. He had never fucked inside a web of silk before. This would be an interesting experience for both of them. Most of his first time fuckings were on a dry floor of yellow hay inside the barn. Then he moved up to and into his personal bed mattress in college. College proved to be nothing but whores with bigger holes in the head and the vagina. Brock had no trouble fucking a used vagina that carried a stretched out pussy hole, when his dick would fall out before ejaculating which was not fun.

However, today, this was going to be fun for the both of them.

Brock slid a kneecap over the bed mattress as the satin sheets cooled his skin with a smile and soft chuckle. Rosalina rested in the middle of the bed mattress on her side without the loose sundress, wearing her bra, curling both legs into a chest.

He fell down on both hands and kneecaps with a grunt and a grin, crawling over the king-sized bed mattress to her back spine and stopped, leaning down with a whisper into her eardrum, smelling her flora perfume. Her soft hair tickled his nostrils. "Rosalina..." he refused to call her that silly name of Rosy.

She exhaled with a soft puff of air. "Hmm!"

He grinned with excitement. She was really heavily sedated without speech, hopefully not a drool. Brock back crawled from her skull, stopping at her twisted feet, staring at her semi-naked body. She wore the bra and the girly panties. So it was time to make her naked for his fucking pleasure. He softly chuckled with a grunt of his evil thoughts.

Brock had never fucked an intoxicated girl in his life. Yeah, the college chick would become drunk and say crazy thoughts, but he refused to fuck a girl like that. He was more concerned about vomit on his body or on his bed sheets. The smell of puke was disgusting odor that lingered for hours inside an enclosed apartment.

He sat back on both kneecaps, admiring her through the peeks of dull moonlight that snuck in through the edges of the drapes.

Rosalina had kept the pixie-type hair style, cropping the hair off around the two earlobes, the neck, and the forehead. She continued to squeeze the real lemon juice from a sack of real lemon fruit over her light brown hair. The heated Florida sunshine turned her light brown hair and the lemon juice into a bright blonde head girl. The sun also darkened her skin tone which came from her Native American Indian grandmother, making her skin very dark.

Brock at first was shocked to see the female that was married to Latola, not recognizing Rosalina at first but hearing a southern twang from her lips.

Rosalina didn't wear makeup on a face like the rest of the females on the planet. She only showed a pout of red color lipstick lips that Brock noticed during dinnertime. She was not happy to see Brock but he understood the reason.

He leaned over her curled body, pursing his lips for the first kiss on her cheekbone and halted with a gasp. "The lipstick..."

The makeup red tinted lipstick would be smeared all over the pillow case, the bed sheets, and his body. He could wash off the lipstick with easy but not from the satin fabric.

He exhaled with a huff of frustration, stopping the start of the love fest, sitting back on both kneecaps and observed her pose. She was curled up and rested on one side, drooling over the pillow case as her red lipstick smeared the pillow case.

When Rosalina awoke the next morning, she would see the red tinted lipstick over the set of tan colored bed linen sheets which was not good. The makeup lipstick would ruin the expensive satin. She would have questions Latoliet and then Latoliet would not have an answer for her, since he was gay man. A gay man fucked differently.

Brock didn't know how a gay man fucked and didn't really care, but he was concerned if Rosalina questioned her husband with the red lipstick.

Normally, when a couple fucked, the makeup came off. Brock insisted each whore remove the makeup on a pretty face which sometime became an ugly face on the girl. In the semi-darkness, all girls are beautiful when Brock was getting hot passionate sex. He didn't fuck her face, only her pussy. The makeup would stain the pillow cases and the bed sheets. He learned to clean and wash his own laundry items, finding that the girly makeup as the worse stain in the entire world, especially lipstick.

He crawled backward from her and sideways over the mattress, sliding off the bed and stood, moving into the open archway. It was the master bedroom of black and aqua ugly big tiles with a set of black and aqua body towels with a window. He gently closed the door shut inside the bathroom, flipping on the light switch, blocking out the lamp lights into the eye view of Rosalina. She was only heavily sedated, not unconscious. So she would remember sounds and actions from this evening, thinking it was her husband.

He leaned over and opened each cabinet drawer, looking for the object. His mom used a small jar of facial cream to remove her makeup. Brock remembered standing inside the archway when he was a little boy, watching her remove the makeup. It was a special time with his mom, since she had three sons. Brock had three brothers that wanted to use and abuse his mom's limited time, too. So, Brock would assist his mom with the kitchen cleanup work after mealtime, just to be close and talk with her. He also learned some valuable simple homemade cooked meals that helped during his college day and his current bachelorhood times.

The next bathroom cabinet drawer opened, exposing the jar of facial cream.

Brock recognized the makeup item, pulling it out from the drawer and gently rested it over the tile bathroom counter, reaching over and grabbed a black colored wash cloth from the exposed towel rack on the wall. He opened the lip and dipped the wash cloth down into the cream which would be used to remove the red lipstick from the lips of Rosalina. Then the bed linens would not be stained with red tinted makeup.

He chuckled with a grunt of lust, lifting and held the wash cloth near a smile and as, his eyeballs darted down to the long narrow shelf of items below the mirror. His nostrils identified the items as a line of men's body smelling items. Brock leaned down and allowed his nose to hunt down the odor and halted at a bottle of men's cologne.

"Yeah..." He chuckled with a grunt of lust. Brock would not look like Latola but would smell like her husband without Rosalina's knowledge. That immediate smell would make Rosalina think that he had fucked her, this night. Brock reached down and grabbed the bottle of cologne, lifting and gently sprinkled a light sense onto his bicep. He didn't to touch perfume on his lips. He didn't want Rosalina to become sick with vomit from the sedative drug inside her body. Then the night of passion would become the night of puke.

He chuckled and replaced the bottle, back stepping from the mirror with a smile. He turned and flipped out the lamp light, gently opening the door, standing in the darkness as his eyeballs adjusted to the new moonlight.

The bed frame glowed through the moonlight with a curled up body in the middle.

Brock moved ahead and slid through the curtains, crawling over the mattress and stopped behind her skull, leaning down over her face with a smile and halted. The cream would stain the pillow case, now. He exhaled with a huff of frustration, sitting back on both kneecaps.

The fucking night of hot passion was becoming a fucking royal cold pain into his naked ass.

His dick had gone cold and wrinkled up into a small worm without seeing any fucking activity, so far. Usually, the college whore handled and removed her own makeup, not Brock. This process was annoying step before the real fucking process.

He side stepped and scooted around the bed, slightly shaking the mattress as Rosalina continued to sleep in peace from the heavy sedation. He stood at her twisted feet with a stern face, reaching down with a free hand to shove her body over onto the back spine and halted with a gasp. "The bra..."

Rosalina wore the bra around her teats and the girly panties around her vagina which Brock needed to access both body items for his fucking enjoyment and pleasure. Or he could ditch the entire idea of fucking a married woman and pleasure his own dick for the rest of the night.

If he shoved her body over onto the back spine, Brock could not access the hooks of the bra to remove it from her breasts. He was concerned that his wiggling finger action would make her remember that she had gone to bed not naked, wearing her undergarments. Then Rosalina would question why she had gone to bed not naked to her husband. Then her husband could not answer, since Latola was away from his wife and his house fucking his lover down the street.

Brock exhaled with a huff of annoyance. He would unhook the bra which was clearly showing the silver tinted hooks on her back spine while she rested on the side over the bed mattress. Then he would shove her onto the back spine, cleaning off her red tinted lipstick and remove her bra.

"Yeah..." he chuckled with a grunt of lust, side stepping and scooting back and stood behind her back spine. He reached down with a free hand and wiggled two fingers through her bra as she moaned from the warm touch of his hand. He found the hooks and twisted to the side, unlatching the bra as she moaned again from his warm hand.

Brock sidestepped and scooted back, standing in front of her curled up body at the feet, leaning down with a free hand and touched her shoulder, gently shoving Rosalina to the side. He guided her body, landing on top of the bed mattress flat on her back spine. Her legs were still curled and twisted between her long legs.

He smiled with a grunt of pleasure, leaning down and gently placed the spot with the cream over her lips, gently wiping off the red colored lipstick from her lips. So there would not be too much wrong evidence inside her master bedroom.

Brock was a trained lawyer of criminals. He had studied at Birmingham State University to become a criminal lawyer, since there was a lot of crime in the world. He selected that particular field of study at law school while thinking that there were plenty of jobs in criminal law and finding out it was not so.

Most criminal lawyers opened a private law practice soliciting a new set of clients to defend a guilty ass while hopefully winning the legal law case which paid the monthly financial bills of a house, a car, and a food refrigerator.

Brock was interested in defending guilty or innocent people but didn't have the needed cash to immediately open a private practice. And his hometown of Brier didn't have much crime in terms of murderers or rapists or robberies. Brock was grateful for that miracle but it did complicate finding a career in legal law.

Rosalina attended Birmingham State University School of Law at the same time with Brock, specializing in tax law. However, she was a very intelligence girl. Tomorrow morning, she would know if something was not right and then question her husband.

On top of the bed mattress, Brock lifted the dirty wash cloth from her clean face in the air and reached over, placing it on top of the nightstand. Then he reached down and lifted her neck up in the air, dragging the stained pillow case from the bed mattress, tossing it onto the floor. He scooted a new pillow underneath her neck with a smile, lowering her skull with a smile. At the end of his fucking fun with Rosalina, Brock would take all the dirty items down into the laundry room. He bet the maid service was an expert at cleaning lipstick from fabrics.

He sat back on kneecaps with a grunt of lust, wiping the pretend dust from both hands. Finally, she was ready to be fucked by her real man. Brock reached down and gently grabbed, pulling off the bra from her set of breasts and gasped in shock, holding the bra in the air. He blinked his eyelids open and shut, seeing the breasts, leaning over and grabbed the edge of the drape. He lifted the drape into the air, exposing the moonlight over the hair roots of Rosalina.

The dull white colored moonlight beamed down on a pair of dark skinned huge and massive breasts. Her breasts jiggled and wiggled side to side over her rib cage in massive beauty.

Brock continued to stare and drool at a pair of very large breasts in shock, pleasure, and surprise.

During the shared days in high school and college, Rosalina possessed a set of A-cup breasts.

Boys knew about breasts, the size, the weight, the mouthful of flesh.

He lowered the drapes and tossed the bra, softly snapping his fingers with a smile, staring at her breasts. Her uncle was a plastic surgeon with a private practice here in the city of Miami and in the city of Birmingham, during their shared college days. So, her blood related uncle had preformed a medical operation and enhanced her natural tiny A-cup breasts into huge D-cup breasts.

"Wow!" He grunted with a lust and as his dick elongated with more lust at the vile mental thought. Her uncle had seen his blood related niece naked and then touched the individual breasts of his niece to perform the medical operation which was like a clinical incest of a family member.

Then, the dick of Brock elongated with the dirty mental thought again.

Brock licked his lips with anticipation of sucking on each new enhanced breast first, since her gay husband didn't want to touch girly flesh. He leaned down and halted with a gasp of heavy thoughts.

He was about to violate a married woman which was against the Bible rules of adultery. However, her husband had given his permission to Brock to fuck his wife which was like breaking a colt into pleasure riding. Someone had to jump on top of the back spine of the young horse and endure the rough ride to make the horse productive on the farm.

Rosalina was a virgin and had never been touched. So, Brock was not violating her, since her husband didn't touch her and would not touch her.

Anyways, Brock didn't really care either way. But, lots of the snobby Bible people believed that a homosexual man was breaking a Bible law, anyways. So, Brock was actually honoring the marriage vow of consummation, since Latoliet could not, would not, and did not desire, too.

So there, Brock was giving happy pleasure to the married wife, since the real husband was an asshole. Anyways, this was one night of hot, sizzling pleasure for both of them. He chuckled with a grunt of lust with his vile thoughts.

He leaned down and gently lowered a set of lips over her breast with a grunt. She moaned with a hum of his warm lips. He sucked on her breast like sipping liquid through a straw with a groan. She moaned with a hum, feeling his warm lips. He gently bit into her breast with the front teeth, and as his dick continued to grow and elongate, dripping his mucus over her stomach, his folded legs, and the bed sheets.

Brock lifted a smile and slid to the other breast, sucking on the nipple, licking her flesh over and over again like a dog tongue and drooled over her flesh. His free hand rubbed the other breast, wet and warm. His dick continued to expand and grow with elongation, slamming into her stomach and bounced back into his abdomen and as, he groaned with lust and pleasure. His mouth became sore from sucking over the large flesh and lifted from her breast. He leaned down and pouted his lips, kissing the top of her hair roots.

She moaned in soft humming, feeling his warm lips on her cold body parts.

He slid down and performed a set of soft kisses to her forehead, her nose bridge, her cheekbone, the other cheekbone, and her lips.

She moaned in soft humming, feeling his warm hips on her cold body parts.

He gently kissed her closed lips, slipping at tongue tip over his lips, breaking the soft flesh as he groaned.

She moaned in soft humming, feeling his warm lips on her cold body parts, parting her lips.

He dropped down his tongue, covering her lips with his mouth, attacking her tongue and played sword fighting for fun with a grunt of lust.

She moaned in soft humming, feeling his warm hips over her mouth, attacking his tongue with her fun play, too.

He lifted up and moved his lips from her face with a smile of lust, feeling happiness and exited for the new sexual step. She hummed with a puff of mint breath, closing her lips, resting in peaceful slumber like a good dream. Brock liked to warm-up the girl, especially a virgin before the final touchdown.

He leaned down and kissed her lips with pleasure, slowing lifting his lips, moving down to kiss each body part as he implanted a final memory inside his conscious neurons. He kissed her chin, her neck, each breast, moving down her body.

She moaned in soft humming, feeling his warm lips on her cold body parts, parting her lips.

He kissed the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth rib cage below each breast for fun and excitement, marking his territory like a dog, moving down to her belly button. He kissed and licked her belly button.

She giggled with a hum from the warm sensation.

He moved down and kissed her flat abdomen, tickling the skin with the tip of the tongue and his mouth drool.

She giggled with a hum from the warm sensations again.

He slid the lips to the side, kissing her pelvic bone and moved to the other side, kissing and licking the other pelvic bone. He slid down and touched the soft fabric, lifting a face with a gasp, sitting back on both kneecaps to see Rosalina. His dick was fully elongated, bouncing side to side and ready for some fucking action.

She continued to wear a pair of girly panties that clung to her vagina. Rosalina had been enjoying the warm touches from his hands and his lips. The moisture leaked from her wet vagina, pouring over the girly panties, protectively clinging into her virgin vagina. Thus, Rosalina was ready to be penetrated and fucked on a hot, sizzling night in Miami by the dick of Brock.

This was the moment of truth.

Up to his point, Brock had enjoyed the foreplay with a tongue and his imagination. Now, it was here.

He gasped with the wild thought. His hot sizzling sperm could produce a viable fetus within the vagina of Rosalina. Then, he would be a real father with a real baby that would come from Rosalina Burns.

However, what were the mathematical odds of making a baby in one night of hot, sizzling passion? It was astro-fuckingly impossible.

He softly chuckled with a grunt of lust, leaning down and straightened out both her legs, gently stripping of the wet girly panties and flung them onto the floor. He would gather up the dirty items and place them inside the laundry room for cleaning tomorrow.

Some guys liked to sniff on a pair of girly used panties for some damn reason. Brock did not. The used girly panties contained a set of nasty odors of dried shit or pee stains inside the fabric lining. However, he would steal a pair of her freshly laundered girly panties before leaving the house tonight as a sweet token of his fucking memory. Since Rosalina will not remember but feel pleasure and soreness tomorrow morning as she happily thought it was her gay married husband.

Yeah, the fucking memory will last a life time for Rosalina as Latola served a life time in jail for cocaine possession of an entire boat load of a highly illegal drug substance inside the USA shoreline that could kill many Americans and non-American, including all school aged children. This was the reason that cocaine was illegal.

Brock stared down and smiled with a grunt of lust at naked Rosalina. He had fantasized about fucking her when they attended Brier high school as seniors. All the other senior girls were engaged to be married to a boyfriend or a devoted whore with a boyfriend lover that didn't want to marry the teen girl.

His girlfriend Fawn had become a boring fuck and whined about getting married during their shared senior year at high school. Brock had other plans for his body and his dick beside marriage. He had to plan for a livelihood and a career which didn't include a wedding ceremony immediately or a baby after that.

In high school, there were only two girls within the senior class that still remained a virgin, Nadean and Rosalina. And both girls were very pretty in beauty and well-mannered in southern charm.

During each male gossip session inside the boys' locker room, all the teen males would talk about virgin-girl Nadean. Teague would growl and always physically hit on the teen that dirty-mouth talked about Nadean for some strange reason. Thus, Nadean was never a discussion item among the teen males inside the locker room or outside the school.

Rosalina was open for discussion making all the teen males want to fuck her as she was the last virgin in the senior class. However, she was off-limits. Her biological family lived in a one-room shack between the school football and the grounds of the cotton gin. Her mother Birdie was an alcoholic. The entire town knew that fact. Her sister Bertha was a beast and an alcoholic, too.

Thus, Rosalina was tainted as an upcoming maiden like her sister Bertha. She would have never married and lived to become an alcoholic, too.

However, she had a brain and a loving uncle that cared and supported Rosalina, especially after the fire and the deaths of her mom and her sister.

Now, Rosalina was naked inside her bedroom and married to a gay man.

Brock grunted with lust, performing a single pleasure for Rosalina. Her short life of twenty-seven years was about to change for the worse, again, when Latola would be arrested or maybe kissed during the cocaine raid by the FBI team in a few more days.

Geez! Teague was involved from the FDA side with his personal hand gun that never remained cold. Thus, Latola would not live to see the blinding lights of court of law, after Teague killed the son of bitch in cold blooded murder on the golden shoreline of Miami. Eckward would sat back and watch. Brock would stand off to the side of the sands and watch the killing action, also.

He leaned down and firmly grabbed her hips bones with both hands, gently touching a tongue into her virgin vagina, feeling the silky warmth of her discharge onto his lips with a grunt of lust. He licked and sucked down her warm discharge with a grunt.

She wiggled side to side with the new sensation of pleasure with a soft hum.

He cleaned the sweet tasting discharge from her vagina, slipping a tongue tip over the lips of her vagina, moaning with pleasure with her. He sawed the tongue tip in and out of her vagina, tongue fucking her pussy with a grunt of lust.

She wiggled side to side with the new sensation of pleasure with a soft hum. Then she exploded into her first orgasm of the night, groaning with a hum with pleasure, breathing with heavy signs of lust.

Brock removed a tongue and sat back on both kneecaps, licking his lips with a smile, leaning down to hear her moans and feel her sweet breathes on a face.

She exhaled with the final breath, feeling the orgasm leave her body, leaning deeply into the pillow with a slight grin of semi-consciousness.

Brock chuckled with lust and amusement at her sex performance, wanting more to please her than him, leaning down and shared his licks with her sweet vagina discharge too. He kissed her face, marking his territory like a dog over her naked body, pulling back with a smile.

The final sex step was coming.

His dick was about to pop open with his loaded and leaking sperm. He didn't want to waste it on the bed sheets. Brock leaned down and touched her vagina with a set of two fingers, gently massaging inside the interior pussy for his beginning of the penis tip for a virgin, making her vagina really moister. The discharge would expand her vagina a little more for his big penis to enter.

The first penetrate was going to hurt both of them. She was very tight as a virgin. He was very large as an experienced lover.

He sat back with a grin on both kneecaps, reaching out and posed her body for a first time fucking. He bent one of her legs at the kneecap for the first pose, reaching out and grabbed one pillow, lifting up the other leg and scooted the pillow underneath her ass. The pillow would heighten her vagina in the air, making his penetration easier, since Rosalina was sleeping within a semi-conscious state of mind. But she would remember this night forever.

Usually, Brock softly whispered each instruction to the girl. However, a really female whore stripped off all the clothing and jumped up and over the mattress, titling a pelvis into the air with a set of closed eyeballs. There was not the need for a fun foreplay or a tongue kissing of her discharge. Most whores craved an immediately single orgasm and then a food plate. Thus, the fucking night ended within fifteen minutes flat.

Brock leaned over with a smile and covered her naked body with a face, a chest, and an abdomen, anchoring one arm on top of the bed mattress for balance, since he was both the lover and the participant in the final sex act. The freehand held his dick, guiding the penis tip toward her vagina. He held a breath slowing tapping the tip of the penis into the open and wet lips of her vagina. He smiled with a grunt and felt her warm discharge melt over the penis tip, exhaling a breath of anticipation.

She slightly wiggled side to side with the new sensation and the new object near her vagina, sleeping peacefully within a semi-consciousness state over the bed mattress.

Brock was going to complete his fantasy dream of final fucking the famous virgin of Brier High School Rosalina Burns.

He held a sweet breathe again, slowly penetrating the penis tip deeply into her wet and tight vagina. She moaned with a grunt of the new sensation and the new object inside her virgin vagina.

He halted with a smile and studied her peaceful face, exhaling with a sweet breath of anticipation and held a sweet breath again. He slowly pulled off the penis tip from its warm cubby hole with a grunt of lust. She moaned with a hum of the new pleasure.

Brock had to create a bigger hole for his full shaped dick. Else, he would ejaculate over the pillow case, her stomach, and his hand, wasting the precious sperm. Since, he had been asked to impregnate the wife of Latola, so Brock was going to do the best that he could, not really believing that one night of hot, sizzling passion would complete the pleasurable task.

He firmly penetrated his dick into her vagina, pumping it back and forth, creating a bigger opening with a grunt of lust. She moaned with a grunt of the new pleasure, wiggling side to side with the new object inside her vagina.

He chuckled with a grin of lust and slowly sawed his dick back and forth inside her vagina, creating a hole and a new set of sensations of pleasure, lust, and nasty. She continued to wiggle slightly side to side with a grunt and a moan as the sedation drug would not allow her a voice scream or a hand motion. Thus, Brock was moving very slowly, trying not to hurt Rosalina. Else, his invasion of her virgin vagina could be declared as an illegal body rape.

He continued to slowly thrust in and out his dick in a slow but firm rhythm, panting with the task.

Usually, he would quickly thrust his dick in and out of the whore, working up a pleasurable orgasm before the whore came first. Usually, the whore screamed and tossed Brock off her body before he finished the fucking action, leaking sperm and mucus over the bed sheets, his body and her body.

He grunted in lust and sweated in pleasure, slowly sawed his dick back and forth inside her vagina, creating a bigger and deeper hole and a new set of sensations of pleasure, lust, and nasty. She continued to wiggle side to side with a soft grunt and a steady hum of pleasure. Then, the tip of the penis hit the rear of her vagina. Brock moaned with pain and pleasure.

Rosalina loudly mewed with the new sensation and the new object inside her vagina.

He halted and leaned over with a sweaty face and a smile, seeing a slight grin over her peaceful face with her closed eyelashes. His dick was completely inside her vagina, building a warm home for Brock and Rosalina.

He exhaled with a whisper and a smile of love. "I am a perfect fit, Rosalina." He leaned down and kissed her lips with a love, pulling back with a grin and a whisper of hot lust. "We are a perfect fit, Rosalina." His dick wiggled side to side and exploded into a set of hot, sizzling sperm from the violet eruption of the penis tip and the warmth of her homey vagina. Brock slowly thrust his dick back and forth, emptying the hot sperm into her vagina, feeling the relief of the lustful explosion. His left eye blinded into darkness and both ears went deaf, the perfect ending of a great fuck. He closed his eyelids with love and slowly sawed his dick back and forth inside her vagina, not hearing her mews or grunts from his awesome fucking orgasm. His dick collapsed and emptied from the loaded sperm, slowly crinkling back down into an ugly worm-state. Brock slowly pulled out the dick with a moan of pain from her wet and leaking vagina that always accompanied a great sex act with a smile of love and leaned down, kissing his lips.

Rosalina slept peaceful with a slight grin without a sweet mew sound or a wiggle of a body.

Brock reached down and jerked the pillow from underneath her ass, flinging it to the floor. The pillow hit the floor and stilled. He leaned down and cuddled both biceps around her still body with a smile and a whisper into her face. "We are one, Rosalina." He yawned from the great sex act, closing his eyelids into a light slumber, also. Brock was not worried about asshole Latola returning within the night back to the house, since the gay bastard was sleeping with his lover, too.

At midnight, before a new day, Brock awoke with a startle and remembered the early evening, looking down with a smile. Rosalina was still cuddled inside his biceps. He didn't want to leave her but he had too, leaning down and kissed her forehead, her nose bridge and her lips for the last time. He separated from her warm sexy body, feeling the cool air conditioning wind tickle his dick and his chest. Her nipples wiggled side to side from the cool air, also. Brock rolled backward and off the bed, standing in nakedness, admiring Rosalina with a smile. He leaned over and reached down, grabbing and lifted all the bed linens over her and stopped in the air with a gasp.

Rosalina might wonder why she was naked inside the bed without dressing in a nightgown after sex with her pretend husband Brock.

He dropped down the bed linens from the air and over the bed mattress with a stern face, back stepping from the bed and turned, moving to the chest of drawers on the solid wall and stopped, standing in front of the mirror. He reached up and pulled down each towel, folding it properly back into a nice stack, reaching down and opened the first drawer, searching for the items. He found her night gown and a new set of girly panties inside the two separate drawers, pulling it out each item and spun around with a smile, marching back to the bed mattress. He leaned inside the sheer curtain, struggling with the item, re-dressing Rosalina.

He back stepped with a smile to see her. Rosalina was still asleep and wore a sexy night gown and a new pair of girly panties, after a night of fantastic sex with her pretend husband Brock. He exhaled with a set of mixed emotions, leaning over and grabbed the bed linens, pulling them over her body with a smile and back stepped from the bed mattress and Rosalina with a sad face of his guilty act.

Brock spun around and moved back to the chest of drawers, grabbing the nice stack of towels and returned them back into the bathroom. Then he spun around and moved ahead, collecting all the dirty items from the floor into his arms with a sigh of pleasurable and guilty accomplishment, strolling toward the open archway of the master bedroom.

He stood inside the archway in his nakedness and spun around with a smile to see the sheer curtain and a hidden curled up body inside the middle of the bedroom, exhaling with a set of mixed emotions. He moved forward and gently shut the door, leaving a crack of light from the hallway, strolling through the empty corridor, down the staircase, and over the hallway, locating the laundry room. He left the pile of dirty items inside an empty laundry basket for the maid service tomorrow.

Brock back stepped and turned, leaving the laundry room, running his naked ass down an empty dark hallway, collecting all his clothing and stopped, standing and dressed inside the Florida room within the mansion. He could not been seen by the neighbors or the spying FBI team members as a naked man but a dressed man, leaving the house. He finished dressed and left the mansion, driving the borrowed sports car to the hotel.
Tuesday November 2nd

Warm temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

09:09 a.m.

Downtown Miami

Miami Hotel

Hotel suite setting of Brock Norris

The hotel room door opened wide, admitting a gang of uninvited guests. All the curtains were closed shut. The door closed with a loud thud.

Brock did not snort and peacefully slumbered underneath the bed linen within the darkness.

Teague, Eckward, and Hufton entered the dark room with a set of sniggers and smiles, dashing to the bed and surrounded the bed mattress with an unconscious Brock.

Teague stood at the foot of the bed in front of the feet of Brock, lifting and held up a finger with a smile. "I got the toes."

Eckward stood on one side of the bed frame, lifting and held up a two fingers with a smile. "I got the exposed armpit."

Hufton stood on the other side of the bed frame, leaning over with a set of wiggling fingers. "And I get the nostrils."

Teague laughed. "Three..."

Each male reached down and tickled a body part on Norris. Brock roared with shock first and wiggled a body second, sitting upright on an ass, blinking his eyelids into focus as the three attacking hands withdrew. A set of laughter invaded the room.

Eckward back stepped with a laugh and a grin into the wall and the window, stopping and reached over and opened all closed curtains as the exposed hot and heated Miami sunshine illuminated the dark room.

Brock sat inside the bed and slapped both hands over a face with a grunt from the powerful bright light of the sun inside the hotel room. "Ugh! Ya'll are worse than my brothers."

"I'm insulted. I know your brothers and they really are meaner than a nest of live rattlers." Teague laughed.

"Get up, my little friend!" Hufton nodded with a smile, crossing both arms, staring at Norris.

Brock growled. "Do not call me that before a cup of coffee, man!" He rubbed a face, cleaning off the sleepy crumbs and the mouth mucus with both hands.

Eckward crossed both arms with a stern face of business and stared at the nose profile of his friend Bear with worry. "What happened to you, Bear? You didn't call or communicate with us, last night. We were expecting a visit from you, last night around midnight or before."

Bear continued to sit inside the bed and dropped both hands, turning with a smile to see Hufton. "You look too sunburned for a dead man, Hufton."

Hufton slapped a chest with a nod and a chuckle. "I feel too sunburned for a dead man. The fucking FDI little boys and little girls took three hours to find me on that sinking sandbar in the middle of the fucking Gulf of Mexico. I actually thought that I was a true dead man."

Teague laughed with a nod. "We lost track of race boat after Latoilet flew due west of main Key West island and steered into the open blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We were scared to death that the copter would be seen from miles up inside a blue sky by Latoilet. We didn't want to take the chance of blowing the secret FDI covers of Bear and Hufton. However, I don't know how big the ocean, but I do know. Man, I never wanna be on a boat in a storm or a sunny day on the ocean. I am a land lover for life," laughing.

Hufton lifted and held three fingers near a sneer. "Three fucking hours, I roasted from the sun wind, the sun burn, and the sun shine. The sandbar was slowly being eaten away by the calm waves and a pod of calmer sharks."

"Thank goodness! It was a calm day on the ocean, man. If there had been a squad line of thunderstorms, we would have never found your bones." Eckward laughed.

"Now, we know why the FDI never found the bones from the four previous agents. Latoilet killed the man in cold blood and then left the dead body on top of a fucking sinking bar of sand. By sunset, the sandbar had sink back down into the ocean, dragging the dead corpse with it. I bet the fishes and the sharks enjoyed each every single FDI agent." Teague exhaled with a sad frown then a growl. "I'm killing that nasty bastard when he is charged with whatever."

Eckward frowned at Brock. "Where were you, Bear? We had spies, spying on the mansion inside the Gables, but we didn't see your ass at all. Where were you sleeping inside the bathroom? Your car was there all night long, too."

Brock turned and smiled at Teague. "Yeah, yeah, I was there. You are not going to be believe my tail, Tomcat. I fu..."

Eckward nodded with a smile. "You found what, the secret location of the all the cocaine stash? That's great, Bear. Where is it? Then, we can all go back home to Birmingham. Otter misses me."

Brock turned and frowned at Hufton. "I forget her name."

Teague frowned. "Who's name?"

Brock stared with a stern face at Hufton, wondering if Latola had been offered the same fucking proposal with his wife Rosalina. "Her name, the name of his wife is...?"

"Rosy." Hufton said.

"Do you know Rosy, also, Hufton?" Brock growled with jealousy, feeling overprotective with Rosalina and didn't want the man near her, again.

Hufton frowned. "Not really, I was invited to dinner and ate with Latola and his wife, every night. She didn't cook. Another rich bitch that ordered all the dinners from one of the gourmet restaurants around the street corner."

"Where is the cocaine stash here in Miami? When is the next shipment coming to the port to Miami? We can grab the shipment and frame Latoilet for numerous counts of cold blooded murder and drug smuggling." Teague nodded with a growl, reaching down and rubbed the edge of his hand pistol.

Brock turned and gasped at Teague. He didn't know the answer to these pose questions which was part of his new FDI assignment. He and Latola talked about fucking his wife on the boat during the evening, not the actually the date of the arriving cocaine drug shipment. "I...."

Hufton turned and frowned at the nose profile of Teague. "Bear will not know that specific information on the first night of the killing off the old right hand man. Give the man a hand for getting into the house of Latola! That is a major accomplishment within the world of drug smuggling without getting a permanent marker six feet underneath the sandy shore of Miami."

Eckward turned and frowned at Hufton. "That's why we are here to prevent Bear from becoming six feet underneath the sandy soil of Miami. Which will not happen on my watch, right, Tomcat?"

"Right, Bobcat!" Teague frowned at Brock. "When we will find out? I'm married and don't wanna be gone for weeks or months on this FDI assignment. I am FDA..."

"I know that." Hufton frowned. "Bear will be doled out bits and pieces of information that is related to the business of cocaine smuggling over another two weeks or so. Give Latola time to get comfortable..."

"Shit!" Bear whipped off the bed sheet with a sneer and scooted off the mattress, standing naked. "What time is it?"

Hufton turned and gasped at Brock. "You're naked."

"Do you sleep in the nude all the time, Bear?" Teague turned and laughed at Brock, too.

Eckward lifted a hand over his eyeballs with a frown. "Gawd, cover up your penis, man."

"Cover your eyeballs, children." Brock moved forward into the bathroom with a stern face. "And get the fuck out of my hotel room." He entered the bathroom without closing the door, leaning down and splashed the handful of cold water and some soap over a sweaty face without shaving off the nightly red colored whiskers. He reached over and grabbed the items, brushing the teeth and rinsed the toothpaste from a clean mouth, dropping the items back onto the counter and turned to see Teague, Eckward, and Hufton with a growl.

They had not left the hotel room.

Brock turned and stomped out from the bathroom, stopping and stood in front of the dressing bureau. The personal clothing bag opened. He extracted a pair of trousers of beige and a knit shirt of baby blue as he blended into the Florida scene of Miami.

Teague laughed. "You look like a dork or a geek or a nerd, Bear."

Brock frowned into the mirror. "Florida is causal code of clothing, not blue jeans, either. It's too hot and sticky. The cotton pants absorb the air and sweat without clinging to my dick. The knit shirt doesn't cling to my tits. Are you entertained, Teague? Good, get the fuck out of my room all of you, dorks. I'm going to work for the day. What the fuck are you, two going to do?"

Hufton smiled with a nod. "Bear looks fine like he does live in Florida. Get going. It's close to ten. Latola will be looking for you,"

Eckward frowned. "You need to report back to us, later tonight, Bear, even if it is close to midnight. We need to know what the fuck is going on with Latola. We can't keep spying on that house, every night. Someone will recognize our faces or the vehicles or our southern accents or our upright bodies and then they will call the real police," laughing.

Brock moved to the closed archway, tossing an arm into the air with a sour frown. "Yeah, yeah, I will report in, after I report in with Latoilet, first. Keep your shirt dry, Bobcat!"

The hotel room door opened.

Brock left the room for the borrowed sports car.

The door closed.

Inside the hotel room of Brock Norris, "We don't know what is happening in there with Bear." Eckward turned and frowned at the closed door. "We can't protect him in there with Latola, if we don't know what is happening. I wished that he could wear a wire or something. I'm worried."

Hufton studied the door with a smile. "I am not. Latola is not going to tattle about his business to the new right hand man, yet. Give Bear some more time."

Teague turned and frowned at the closed door. "I agree with Bobcat. When is all of this going down with the cocaine shipment?"

Hufton nodded with a smile. "Very soon, this will be over within a couple of days, gentlemen. I promise. This is the reason for my sunburn, compliments of Mr. Latoilet. Then, you can go back home to your little wives. Now, how about some breakfast on the FDI, gentlemen?" He moved ahead and exited the room. Teague and Eckward followed with a smile and a nod behind the back spine of Hufton.

The door closed shut.

10:10 a.m.

City of Coral Gables

(10 miles, south, from Brock's hotel)

Home of Toye and Rosalina Latola location

Living room setting

Warm temperatures with bright sunlight

Brock raced the new sports car from the hotel parking lot and around the numerous main roadways of Miami, traveling and arrived, parking behind the nothing but air molecules with a huff, slamming the steering wheel, "I'm late with my first work day with Latoilet." The door opened. He slid out and slammed the car door with a smile, turning and moved to the front door.

A set of thick and heavy arched wooden doors were built inside a curved archway, marking the entrance into the house. He reached and slammed open the door, feeling the smooth wood on the fingers, entering an empty foyer room of wasted space, turning and marched through the courtyard of more wasted space. He turned to see the pretty garden of lilies that shined within the dull sunset of Miami.

Brock slammed the next door with a hand, since the doors were unlocked. He entered the first available room and stopped, standing a few inches inside the door, seeing a living room setting of bright red and yellow flowers on a tan colored background without a person. He exhaled with a huff of disappointment.

The dishes rattled in the distance, coming around the corner.

He turned and smiled with a whisper at see the darken hallway. "Rosalina is here. Well, the day is not wasted, yet." He would entertain her during the morning hours and stay to eat lunch. Then maybe, Latola would show up for mealtime and whisper the information about the shipment. Thus, the FDI Assignment would be ended. Brock could go back to Tampa and work on more of the boring extraction papers for all the fugitives within the USA. However, he would be leaving Rosalina here in Miami, maybe a widower if the FDI plan didn't turn out well for her drug lord husband.

It didn't matter to Brock. Her uncle lived here that was why Rosalina had lived in Miami since graduating law school three years ago.

The footfalls were heavy, coming around the wall corner.

She stood inside the archway and gasped in shock.

Brock gasped with a fake smile at the women, "Sorry, I thought you were the lady of the house."

The short black hair female spoke for the other three women, holding a bucket with a mop and a sour frown, "Who you?"

Brock exhaled. "I am employed by Mr. Latola."

The female frowned, "She not here. He not here..."

"I can see that." He turned and scanned the Florida room, seeing the patio doors that lead out into the garden of pretty colors of the lilies.

The entrance doors opened and closed, echoing throughout the empty rooms of the large house.

Latola appeared and stopped inside the archway with a smile at the back spine of Brock. "Bear, I am glad that you have returned." He turned with a sour frown and a hand wave to see the housekeepers. "Leave us!" The house workers lowered a chin in respect and back stepped from Latola, turning and moved back down the narrow hallway to work inside another room for the moment.

Brock was sorta impressed and annoyed with the treatment of hired people from Latola. He was also concerned about discussing the business information inside the house as the hired people spied. Brock was glad that Rosalina was not here to hear the shared business information.

Latola moved and stood in front of Brock with a nod and a smile, "Bear, you can take the rest of the day off.

Brock gasped with a smile. "Sir, I am very eager to begin within your business."

He shook a skull. "Not today, you arrived here in Miami, yesterday. Where are you staying?"

Brock exhaled with concern about the shared information, since his buddies Teague and Eckward were staying inside the same place while waiting on the secret date of the illegal cocaine shipment. He softly said, "The hotel..."

"You will need a better place of residence. Take the day and find a proper home. I will see you this evening at five o'clock before sunrise. We will eat dinner and then we will talk about business."

Brock nodded. "Yes sir, I can do that. Thank you for the day off. I will do that find a proper home to live in Miami." He back stepped and spun around with a fake smile to face the door, moving ahead, slamming it open with a grunt and a sour frown. The day so far had wasted his time and his energy, before he could leave Miami and return back home to Tampa. He left the house of Latola and entered the borrowed sports car, driving through the familiar streets toward the FDI office.

10:31 a.m.

FDI Building

(11 miles, north, from Latola's house)

Federal Department of Investigation office

51st floor conference room setting

Hot temperatures with parted clouds of sunshine

The door opened.

The receptionist had tattled the meeting location into the smile of Brock, where Teague and Eckward stayed and worked with the FDI team on surveillance and spying maneuvers and data collection during the assignment.

Brock entered the conference room with a smile and a nod to see each face, stopping and stood in place.

Teague stood with a smile and pointed with a laugh at Brock, "Ah, naw! The bastard got fired on the first day of work. Well, that makes me the next new right hand man. Everyone stay back and away from the flying blood coming from both fists. I'm going to beat the shit outta Latoilet and find out all the past, present, and future cocaine boat shipment dates. Then, we will be finished here and I can go home to my wife."

Eckward sat at the table with a smile and a laugh. "Bear, we were counting on you, buddy. You failed."

Brock moved ahead and scooted into an empty chair with a smile and a nod to see Teague and Hufton. "Naw, I didn't get fired or failed. He gave me the day off. Did he do that to you, too, Hufton?"

Hufton reached and slapped the collar bone of Bear with a smile and a nod. "No, I was local, not implanted like Bear. What are going to do on your day off, Bear?"

Brock laughed. "I'm supposed to be finding an apartment to live here in Miami? Do you really think my employed position will last for the next six months? I don't really feel like looking for an apartment, either."

Hufton nodded. "So, what happened last night after you left me on the sandbar?"

Brock smiled, "Nothing. We ate dinner with his wife. Did you eat dinner with his wife, too?"

"Yeah, every night, that's a ritual command with Latola. He likes to show off his authority. His little wifey does not take commands like me and you, dude."

Brock laughed. "I noticed that, too. She was ready to toss my tail out the door before the huff and puff of a lady growl at my handsome face."

"She performed the same snarling fashion show with me. I don't know if she really understands that her married husband is a drug lord." Hufton nodded with a stern face.

Teague frowned. "Is his wife a native?"

Hufton nodded with a sour frown. "Yeah, she has lived here for many years and acts like it too, the elite of the Gables."

Brock turned and smiled at Teague and Eckward with the secret inside the Latola house. He was not going to mention that the wife of Latola was Rosalina Burns. Eckward never liked Rosalina during their shared high school days for some reason. Teague was tolerant of every boy and liked every girl, especially Nadean Garland for some reason.

Teague frowned. "Did Latoilet talk about the shipment or the business?"

Brock said, "Naw."

"Isn't that strange that he hasn't told the new right hand man about the new shipment?" Eckward frowned.

Hufton shook a skull with a stern face. "No, not really! Latola likes to provide information in stages. Stage one was completed, the elimination of the old right hand man. Stage two is completed, the installment of the new right hand man. Stage three, it will come later this week..."

"This week? I can't stay here all week and through the weekend, man." Teague frowned. "I have a wife who does not understand why I am missing from home."

"I agree with Tomcat. My wife is an understanding woman, but she is getting lonely without me. And my wife is his sister."

Hufton laughed. "In-bred rednecks, I have heard all about ya'll."

Teague stood with a growl. "Do not talk bad about my kin, sir."

Olwen stood with a stern face and a serious tone then sat back down to see Brock. "Everyone, settle down! Bear, did Latola hint at a date for shipment?"

Brock frowned. "No sir."

Hufton frowned. "After we finally picked up a sunburned and partly drowning dead man Hufton, we saw the speed boat between the set of poles in Stiltsvlle. Why were you there at Stiltsvlle?"

Brock frowned. "What is Stiltsvlle?"

"A few wooden shaped houses like on land but built on top of several poles in the middle of an ocean, which is the most 'craziest' thing that I have ever seen in my life." Eckward laughed.

Olwen said. "Stiltsvlle was built in the 1950s and then 1965 hurricane blow. Some of the houses blew with it. In the year 1992, there were about fourteen wooden stilt houses located one mile south of Cape Florida near the light house on a top of a sandy swampy like bank of the Safety Value on the edge of Biscayne Bay. Then, the 1992 hurricane blew again, leaving only seven houses. Each wooden structure stands upright on top of a pile of wood or a reinforced concrete piling which is about ten feet above the shallow water. The ocean water varies from one to three feet deep at low tide. Currently, the National Park State owns and cares for the historical site. So, no person is allowed inside each house but boaters can steer through the Biscayne Channel to see the beauty of Stiltsvlle."

Hufton smiled. "It is called a mud flat which is divided by several main navigational channels and is used by all boaters. One of the channels is Biscayne Channel, frequently used channel south of Government Cut where most of the houses are along the Biscayne Channel..."

Eckward frowned. "Forget about muddy and swampy Stiltsvlle! What did you...?"

Brock gasped and then smiled. "How did you know?"

Eckward pointed with a laugh and a smile at Hufton. "After rescuing Hufton from a pod of man-eating sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, we fly on copter back toward Miami, spotting a red and silver race boat between the houses. You cannot miss an expensive red and silver tinted racing boat that lounges and parks between bunches of wooden poles, reflecting off the sunlight. What did ya'll do in there?"

Brock smiled, "Talked. Did Latola take you for a date to Stiltsvlle too?"

"No." Hufton said.

"That's strange." Teague frowned.

Hufton said. "Not really, I'm native here in Miami. I know all about the ocean city of Stiltsvlle. Bear is not from Miami but Tampa. Latola is an overfriendly guy when he wants to be with a gun," laughing.

Eckward frowned. "What did you talk about with Latola, Bear?"

Brock gasped in panic, not wanting to reveal the true conversation about Rosalina and his new secret task. "Me." He laughed with a grin and slapped a chest with a nod.

Hufton frowned. "You, what did Latola ask?"

Brock leaned back into the chair with a smile. "He asked about my misunderstanding with the US Customs Department. What I did? When I did it? Who I screwed it to? Who else, I screwed it to, too?" He laughed.

"That's strange." Teague frowned. "I thought the FDI leaked all that information through the internet and the air waves for Latola to pickup and verify as well."

Olwen frowned. "We did. Now, I am concerned about..."

Brock gasped. "I am not concerned. I did well, again."

Hufton nodded with a smile. "Bear is not from Miami. Over the past two years, all the nominated and accepted and killed right hand men had all been from Miami, including me. Thank you Almighty God that Bear can shoot straight with a pistol filled with blanks. I am not concerned, Olwen. Latola is very good at not missing a tiny small detail, since he is in the wrong business. He heard the same story from the lips of Bear. All is well," laughing.

Olwen exhaled. "I hope so."

Bear nodded with a smile. "I am not concerned."

"When will you meet with Latola to discuss your first real working day of work, again?  
Hufton laughed. "Bear does not know."

"Bear does not know." Brock laughed for fun.

"I don't understand, Bear." Olwen frowned. "You have passed and been accepted as the new right hand man. Why didn't you ask about the shipment date on the boat or last night during dinner? We don't have all year to wait for the engraved invitation."

Hufton turned and frowned at his supervisor Olwen. "It doesn't work like that, boss. Latola determines when Bear will learn about the shipment. Just like he determined that I know too much and it was time to eliminate my ass. This is best that Bear is hanging out and enjoying the beach and the sand for the day. Latola will tell Bear the day before, since Bear needs to be there the morning, before the boat shipment. Everyone, stay cool on a hot, sizzling Miami day! Everything is going as planned."

Brock leaned over the table, rapping a fist with a smile on the table surface. "So let's go fishing on Biscayne Bay. I am not to report back to Latola until dinnertime at five thirty or so for more instructors and pieces of shared business information."

Teague stood with a smile, "Right."

Eckward stood with a grin, "Okay with me, does our new boss agree?"

Hufton stood with a smile. "I can show you some hot spots teaming with fishies. And we can't do anything here until the boat arrives."

Olwen sat and exhaled with a frown, waving a hand. "Go and enjoy the day!"

The men back stepped from the conference table, turning and gathered in huddle, leaving the room and the building for the beach of fishing.

05:31 p.m.

House of Toye and Rosalina Latola

Sunset with pink, red, and yellow horizon

Driveway entrance

Brock obeyed his new boss and raced the new sports car around the main roadways of Miami, arriving at the house of Latola, parking behind the limousine of Latola with a huff, slamming the steering wheel with a sour frown, "Rich and wealthy, to boot! Yeah, not after, I identify your cocaine stash, Latoilet." The door opened. He slid out and slammed the car door with a smile, turning and moved to the front door.

A set of thick and heavy arched wooden doors were built inside a curved archway, marking the entrance into the house. He reached and slammed open the door, feeling the smooth wood on the fingers, entering an empty foyer room of wasted space, turning and marched through the courtyard of more wasted space. He turned to see the pretty garden of lilies that shined within the bright blinding sunset of Miami.

Brock slammed the next door with a hand, since the doors were unlocked. He marched through the Florida room, scooting around the narrow hallway and stopped inside the dining room.

The table was set with plates for another grand meal at the Latola home. Bear moved and stopped, standing in front of the same chair from last night with a smile and a nod. "Good evening, Latola."

The dining room was a tiny space of four enclosed walls without a window and an assortment of cabinets of delicate china plates and short buffet tables for food trays. There was a small dining room table in the middle of the room that held a set of four chairs and a center piece of flowers. The flowers consisted of roses, carnations, and other smelly flora as the drifting scent made the room smell like vanilla, tonight.

The table was elegantly set with a tablecloth and a set of three empty eating plates plus the proper eating utensils. There were two goblets, one with iced water and one filled with white wine.

The dishes rattled in the distance, coming around the corner from the dark hallway.

"Toye, welcome home," Rosalina turned the wall corner with a smile, moving inside the dining room toward the table, holding a tray with a single red rose.

Latola turned and stared at his wife with a smile. "My little Rosy, I am glad to be home."

She stopped and stood at nose profile of Latola, reaching over with a smile and tapped a nose against his nose bridge, pulling back with a giggle. She reached down and grabbed the single rose, resting it on the side of the utensils and back stepping, turning and moving around the opposite end of the long dining table.

His eyeballs followed her and as his neurons pondered the silly movement. Brock stared ahead at the flower arrangement that was bigger than last night as it blocked the eyesight of Rosalina.

Latola pulled out the chair and sat, diving into the food plate in silence.

Brock scooted out the chair with a smile and sat down, grabbing the napkin and rested it into a lap like a good southern boy which was taught by his mama in Alabama. He grabbed the fork and the knife, stabbing and cutting into the meat with a smile of a delightful evening.

The flower arrangement blocked any type of face to face conversation with Rosalina.

Latola chewed and swallowed the food in silence.

Brock chewed and swallowed the food. "Very good meal, lady of the house," he stabbed the meat with the fork and the knife, lifting and eating the food with a set of closed lips with a smirk at the floral arrangement.

"Thank you." Rosalina cut the food with a smile, eating and chewing, not seeing the face of Brock on purpose which was blocked by the extra-large flower arrangement.

Latola chewed and swallowed the food in silence.

Brock chewed and swallowed the food with a grin. "How was your evening, last night, lady of the house?"

"Fine." She cut the meat, stabbing it and lifting the fork to her lips, eating and chewed the food.

"I meant to ask. You were feeling faint and all, last night. Did you sleep well, last night, lady of the house?"

She dropped the fork and reached over with a smile, patting the hand of her husband, "I slept fine, a very enjoyable and restful night. Thank you, darling!"

Brock chuckled and choked on the food, coughing and re-chewed the food with a slight grin.

Latola withdrew a hand and swallowed the food, leaning over and tapped a nose to her nose bridge, pulling back with a smile. "My little Rosy, some bad news, I must leave the country for a trip into another country."

Rosalina and Bear stood at the same, turning with a puzzled brow to see Latola.

Latola stood from the chair and reached over into the jacket, touching and pulled a tiny box with a smile, resting the box next to the single red rose. He stared at Rosalina and tapped on the box with a smile. "Yes, the timing is terrible for all of us. But, Bear is here to hear, see, taste, and help you, my little Rosy while I am away making money for us. And I have left you a gift to remind me for each day. This box contains a set of pretty fragrances, such like, lavender, vanilla, strawberry, orange, lemon..."

"Lemon," Bear chuckled and sat back down in the chair, lifting the utensils, stabbing the food.

"And other sweet smelling perfumes, use one each night and then you will dream of me." Latola back stepped with a smile from the table, turning to face the open archway, moving closer to Brock and slapped the collar bone of Bear with a giggle and a grin. "I will be gone a month or so. I love you, my little Rosy. Bear, my little friend, be nice to my Rosy." He turned and disappeared into the darken hallway.

A few seconds later, the heavy door closed, announcing the departing person from the house.

Bear exhaled with a huff of frustration and annoyance, since the FDI and the FDA team members will not be happy about the news. He continued to eat and chew the food, staring at the flower arrangement that covered a standing Rosalina, also. He swallowed the food. "Is that a ritual with the tray and the flower?" He ate and chewed.

She exhaled with a smile, thinking of her wonderful night with her husband and sat down, picking up the fork. "Well, sorta, when his mom was in the hospital, her brought a flower every day for her on a tray. I thought it was beautiful."

"That's nice," he chewed and swallowed the food.

She giggled. "Then one day, he turned and gave the flower to me. That was the day that I fall in love."

Brock snorted. "That's romantic." He ate and chewed the food.

She frowned behind the flower arrangement. "You don't have to stay here with me, Brock."

He swallowed with a grin. "I obey my new boss-man for my new job. I gotta eat, too."

"I am the boss-woman, tonight. You don't have to stay."

"I ain't got nothing else to do tonight. What are you going to do, tonight, Rosalina?" He ate and chewed the food with a smile, realizing that the tiny box of perfume fragrances might be a simple sedative for Rosalina, also.

She exhaled with a puff of frustration, hoping for another night of passion with her husband. She had remembered a feeling of warmth and love. Actually, Rosalina felt hot and sexy. But, she wanted to talk with her husband about last night, since she might have dreamed it the wonderful body sequence, because she did feel tired and weak, last night.

She continued to pick at the plate of food.

Brock chewed and swallowed the food, killing the time, "When did you get married, Rosalina?

She stood from the chair with a growl into the extra-large flower arrangement, not seeing his face. "You can leave now, Brock." She reached over and grabbed the tiny box of perfumes from her husband, cuddling it into a chest.

"If I don't call you, little Rosy, can I stay a little longer?" He stood from the table with a nod and a smile to see her sour face and back stepped from the chair.

"No." she back stepped from the chair and turned, moving around the dining room, leaving the dirty dishes for the maid service in the morning. She turned and strolled into the dark hallway with a sour frown, moving down the corridor and entered another tiny room.

Brock spun around with a smile and dashed behind the back spine of Rosalina, moving into the dark hallway too. "We can have a mini-class reunion just the two of us. Please, Rosalina!"

She exhaled. "No."

"We can catch up with all the old and new gossip from Brier. Please, Rosalina!"

She exhaled. "No."

"I got some fresh hot gossip."

She turned and entered the music room, strolling and sat down inside the long sofa on the far wall with a sour frown at the empty archway with a swift wish that Brock would leave her home. "No." Rosalina placed the tiny box inside a lap with a sour tone.

The room held a grand piano with a bench and a vase of yellow roses on top of the flattened down lid. There were no windows but the walls were decorated in porous grayish-white tinted rock on all four walls. The ceiling was red cedar beams. The furniture included a set of living room sitting pieces of three long sofas on three walls with an assortment of individual sitting chairs between the walls. The room setup was centered on the piano instrument that stood in front of one the side walls for the listening pleasure of the guests.

He rushed down the hallway and turned, standing inside the archway with a smile at Rosalina. "I saw Tomcat..."

She gasped. "Who, Teague Haywood and his wife Zeeta, are here in Miami? Do they live here? I didn't know that. But Miami is a huge metro city. I thought that they lived in Brier."

Brock gasped with alarm. He was talking too much, feeling excitement at seeing someone from Brier and exited about finally fucking Rosalina. "He...he is vacationing here." He entered with a smile and sat back on the opposite end of the same long sofa that could not reach out and touch her arm with a nod.

She turned and frowned at Brock. "He and Zeeta are very far from Brier in Alabama. That's so strange."

He gasped with the mistake and smiled. "I meant that Tomcat and Kitten were visiting me at my home. Then, I got this new job, so we all flew down to Miami."

"You flew down to Miami from Brier? Don't you own a car? How are you getting around Miami and to my house?"

"I...I got the car here. It...it is too expensive to drive all the way from Tampa. You drive down from Brier to Miami, too. Do you remember?"

She frowned. "I thought you lived in Brier. I remembered you telling me that you were going back to Brier after graduating law school at Bam U."

He smiled. "I did."

"I am still confused," she frowned. "You lived in Brier after law school. Now, you came from Tampa. Now, you live here in Miami."

He exhaled. "Yes, I did graduate from law school and returned back home to Brier. I was a little homesick after leaving away for a total of seven years, two years at Birmingham Junior College, two years at Burn U, and three years at Bam U. I wanted to go back home."

"What happened?"

He frowned. "No job, no prospect of a job for a newbie lawyer within the small farm town of Brier. I haven't even taken the law bar in Bama, yet. The old farmers trust on a handshake or a mouth spit of tobacco, not by a piece of white paper with a font size of nine. Rodale Pinner is still there alive and breathing, taking care of all the legal stuff for every old farmer in Brier. I heard the younger farmers from generation use some of the lawyers near Huntsville. But I would guess that Rodale is about one hundred and four years old or older, now."

"Then, you should have asked him for a free internship, back then or present now. He can't live to be one hundred and five years old," she laughed.

He laughed with her. Rosalina was really a smart girl. Brock should have visited with Rodale and asked for an internship job with the old lawyer, nine months ago. Rodale has three grown daughters that were not a lawyers but married to another lawyer there in Huntsville. If Brock had done that, then he would not be here now entertaining a married woman, feeling a lusty emotion of adultery, again. He turned with a smile to see the tiny spray bottle on top of the dining room table that Latola had left for his wife. He bounced up and down on the soft sofa with a smile and a chuckle. "Thanks for letting me stay! Your husband told me to stay and wait for him to return."

She turned and stared at the window with a puzzled brow. "Where did Toye go?"

"He wanted to check on a contact."

"So, what do you do within Toye's business?"

"Lawyer."

She frowned. "Ah, that means nothing."

He smiled. "Toye purchases stuff for other people here in Miami. He has contacts all over Miami and the world to purchase a specific product for a specific person. He left to meet a contact and discuss the contract. That's where I come in. My new office desk has a stack of paper even with my elbow. I read through all the legal nonsense inside each contract and advice Toye, if it is a good investment or not."

She frowned. "Even with your elbow, that's seems like an exaggeration."

He smiled with a chuckle. The exaggeration was the truth. On top of his real desk at his real FDI job, there were a stack of unread legal papers that were all related to a set of captured prisoners, compliments of other federal agents that met the jurisdiction of the FDI. He exhaled with a huff of frustration. After leaving pretty Miami and prettier Rosalina, Brock would be returning back to the lonely desk inside the corner wall with a tall glass of juice and a long night of work for weeks.

Brock smiled. "It is all true. I promise and cross my heart. So, what do you do at your working job? You're a lawyer, too." He didn't want to reveal too much. Latola had told that Rosalina worked with her uncle.

She smiled with a nod. "I am more a watchdog than a lawyer. The physician practice has three working plastic surgeons. I watch over the staff, the clients, the physicians, the invoices, the bank accounts, and everything else, mostly for trouble or any type of illegal activity. I don't want my uncle going to jail. Then I would be using my lawyering skill. But, I don't really practice the legal stuff. My uncle wanted me to become a physician which would have greatly benefited the medical practice. But, I don't really like the actually blood and guts on a body, only on paper," giggling.

He nodded with a smile. "I can understand."

"Why did you become a lawyer?"

"I needed a job that paid money."

She frowned. "Do you need eye glasses, Brock? What are you staring at with your lowered eyelids?"

He smiled and stared at her breasts, pointing at her body. "What are these two big watermelons above your belly button and below your chin? I don't remember you with a set of big breasts, Rosalina."

She reached up and touched her breasts as Brock grunted from her sexual touch, since he had touched, rubbed and licked her breasts last night during the secret fucking sex acts. Rosalina smiled. "These old things?"

He grinned. "Those old things are nice. You're a tall girl. The breasts make you look really sexy."

She smiled with a nod. "Thanks, Brock." She refused to call him by that silly nickname from Teague Haywood and could not believe, this moment. Rosalina had daydreamed about dating Brock since her hormones kicked into play and she was tossed the mouth braces. Now, inside her house, Rosalina was flirting with a single cute man from her past as a happily married wife in the present. She cleared a throat. "I can't believe that you noticed..."

"Yeah, I noticed them."

She frowned. "I can't believe that you noticed me in high school, Brock. Yes, I possessed a set of smaller breasts. Those were compliments of a plastic surgery intern under the direction of an experienced plastic surgery. I was his first patient. He did a good job."

He gasped. "I can't believe that. You actually allowed a new physician to practice on your real body. Are you crazy, Rosalina?"

She smiled, "Yeah! Naw! Maybe, I was new here in Miami. My uncle is a plastic surgeon, too, setting up a private practice here. It was inside his private practice under the guidance of a very experienced physician. And it was all free. New breasts cost a pretty penny that the insurance company doesn't pay for."

"Well, they are very nice."

"So, it that the old gossip."

"What?"

"You promised gossip, if I allowed you to stay."

He smiled. "Well, I sorta lied because I really wanted to stay and talk with you, Rosalina. It has been three long years..."

"More like three hundred years."

"I am sorry about your mom and your sister."

She turned and stared at the piano without seeing the sunset fall down into the horizon. She knew that it was dark, making the house cold and quiet. "You already said that to me."

"You left Brier that night. No one really know what happened until the smoke cleared. Graduation night was very hectic and happy for everyone else."

"You already said that to me, also."

He exhaled with a huff of annoyance at the rear of her skull. "What happened to us, Rosalina?"

She turned and frowned at Brock. "The naked girl inside your bed inside your apartment..."

He frowned. "Yeah, I didn't get to explain that."

She frowned. "You didn't have to explain that."

"Yeah, I do. She was an old flame."

She frowned. "Yeah, I like to read the Quartet e-novels by Ela, too."

"She was standing outside my apartment."

She exhaled. "I was standing outside your apartment, too."

He exhaled. "I am sorry..."

She looked down with a sour frown and opened the box, staring down with a smile at the tiny bottles of perfume. Her nostrils could sniff the tiny puffs of drifting up fragrance. "See, my husband knows how to treat his girl. He gave me an entire box of perfumes." She lifted up the first one with a grin and a giggle, reading the label. "Mango..."

He laughed. "Does mango juice smell good on a sweaty sexy body? I had eaten the orange colored fruit, this morning with the bacon and eggs."

She shifted the box over the empty space between Brock and her body with a smile, flicking open the tiny lid, lifting the bottle lip up into her nose holes.

He stood with a gasp of urgency from the sofa and cupped a hand over both nostrils, moving ahead to the open archway and away from Rosalina and the tiny bottle of perfume. If Brock was correct, the tiny bottle was really some type of sedative. He didn't want to pass out over the hard floor and bust a nose bridge. Then, his new evening of passion would be spoiled. He yelled with a smile and a chuckle. "Bye, Rosalina! I gotta go and do something for the evening."

"Yeah," she stood with a smile, inhaling the smell odor of mango with a giggle, wobbling side to side over the floor.

He turned the corner and stopped, back stepping and leaned against the wall, peeking around the corner like a spy and watched her inside the room.

Rosalina continued to stand and giggled with a silly laughter and a sillier smile, inhaling the drifting smelly scent, "Hmm! So, sweet!" She wobbled side to side, dropping the bottle over the floor.

He side stepped into the archway and spun around to rush into the room, extending both hands and caught her in both arms, before Rosalina hit the hard tile. He smiled and cuddled her into a chest, turning and grabbed the flowering plant from the wall. He turned the flower and the soil underside, drowning the broken pieces of the bottle and the tiny wet droplets into the soil. The poor flowering plant would absorb the drifting odors, without affecting the rest of air molecules inside the music room or throughout the house.

He lifted her into his arm and turned, moving into the dark hallway with a chuckle and a grin, steering toward the master bedroom for a passionate night of lust and love with Rosalina.
Four weeks later

November 30th Monday

Warm temperatures with heavy rain and thunderstorms

05:33 p.m.

City of Coral Gables

Home of Rosalina and Latola

Driveway entrance setting

The limousine stopped in front of the set of entrance doors into the house. The limousine door opened. Latola dashed from the vehicle through the door and into the foyer room, not waiting for Bear, moving into the house.

Bear stopped the car in the rain, waiting on the limousine to move and park ahead of the entranceway doors. The limousine moved ahead and parked, waiting for Latola to finish the nightly dinner rush and run away to his lover for the night.

Bear parked and killed the engine of the car, sitting inside the car.

For the past thirty days, he had been working undercover as a FDI agent in disguise as the right hand man of Toye Latola, the drug lord of Miami. Thirty days ago, Latola left the USA for some unknown destination and purpose. Now, thirty days later, Latola had returned, announcing the greeting with a telephone to the mobile telephone of Brock at 4:59 in the afternoon.

Brock didn't have time to contact the FDI office with the surprise information but to quickly dress for the casual dinner and drive from the hotel to the house, without a doubt of suspicion.

He slid out of the car, getting wet from the rain and dashed toward the closed door. The entranceway door was never locked but open. He slammed into the door, entering the foyer, shaking off the rain drops with a happy smile and a contented soul. The FDI assignment was wrapping up right now. He would be present at the boat arrival tomorrow and then Latola would be arrested or killed. Brock didn't care which one.

The heavy door shut and echoed throughout the foyer entranceway and the tower room, announcing the single visitor.

Brock turned and moved through the open court yard on a rainy day of an ugly evening in Miami. It had rained all day long. Brock had been stick inside the enclosed hotel room, feeling entrapment and depressed during the day, waiting for the mobile telephone call from Latola to reveal the information for the drop-off of the shipment. The garden of lilies looked dull and sad inside the rain storm of dull tans and grays.

Brock slammed a hand into the front door of the house, sliding inside the Florida room without a person to greet and meet for the ugly evening and scooted into the narrow hallway, following the multiple colors tile toward the dining room.

At 05:37 p.m., the dining room was a tiny space of four enclosed walls without a window and an assortment of cabinets of delicate china plates and short buffet tables for food trays. There was a small dining room table in the middle of the room that held a set of four chairs and without a center piece of flowers, today.

Brock turned and entered the room with a smile and stopped, standing in front of the chair at the side of table like the first time with Latola. "Good evening, Mr. Latola! It is nice to see you again. How was your trip?"

"Very nice to see you, again, Bear," Latola stood in front of the end chair with a smile and a nod to Bear.

The table was elegantly set with a tablecloth and a set of three empty eating plates plus the proper eating utensils. There were two goblets, one with iced water and one filled with red wine.

The dishes rattled in the distance, coming around the corner from the dark hallway.

"Toye, Toye," Rosalina dashed around the wall corner with a smile, moving inside the dining room toward the table and stopped, standing beside the nose profile of Latola and held a small tray. On top of the tray, there was slender vertical object of brown colored.

Latola turned and frowned down at the object. "What is this? Why are you holding a tray with a cigar, my little Rosy?"

She chuckled. "Don't you know what the symbol of cigar represents?"

"No." Latola continued to stare down with a puzzled brow at the cigar on the tray.

Brock turned and frowned down at the cigar in silence.

She smiled down at the hair roots of Latola. "The cigar means congratulations. It is a baby."

"Baby?" Brock looked up with a gasp and a smile to see the nose profile of Rosalina.

Latola back stepped from the table with a smile, spinning around to face Rosalina and stopped in front of the tray, leaning over, tapping a nose to her nose bridge with a giggle. He pulled back with a smile in silence.

She smiled. "I'm pregnant."

"What?" Bear gasped.

She nodded with a smile and held the tray with the cigar. "Toye, we are going to have a baby."

Latola smiled with a nod and tossed both arms in the air. "I am so happy. I am so thrilled. I am going."

She frowned with a tart tone, "Now?"

He dropped both arms and slapped the legs, side stepping from the table and moved from the chair and Rosalina, strolling forward towards the archway with a smile. "Yes, I must visit a contact for business. Now, since we are having a baby, we need more money. Babies are expensive. My little baby will have everything. My little Rosy will have everything, too. Are you happy, my little Rosy?"

"Yes! I..."

"Good!" Latola smiled. "I am happy, too. And I am so happy for you, my little Rosy. I will return later." He scooted around her, dashing toward the archway with a grin and a yell. "I will be gone a month or so. I love you, my little Rosy. Bear, my little friend, be nice to my Rosy." He turned and disappeared into the darken hallway. A few seconds later, the heavy door closed.

Rosalina gasped with a sad face, looking down at the cigar, holding back the tears and felt happy about the baby.

Bear turned and stared at the darken hallway that led towards the entrance door with a sour frown. "Does he do this often?"

She exhaled with a puff of disappointment down at the cigar. "Yes."

Bear turned with a gasp and a worried brow to see her sad face. "No. I am to stay here and entertain you for the entire month." She back stepped from the table with a sad face and slowly spun around to face the archway, leaving the dining room and moved ahead down the hallway in silence. He followed behind her with worry and concern.

At 06:15 pm, Rosalina turned to face the new archway and entered the small den, sitting on top of the sofa, looking down at her hands. "I am so excited about my baby, but I am sad that Toye can't be here." Brock entered the den and sat down beside her with a smile. She looked up with a smile to see Bear. "I'm glad that you're here. I mean I am so excited that I wanted to talk about the baby. I have been reading all day long. The fetus looks like a little tadpole like a baby frog. It is so cute. I am so excited with happiness."

"Me, too." He nodded with a smile.

She smiled. "We are going to have a baby."

He nodded with a smile. "Yup! We are."

"There is not much to do, except for a monthly checkup with my physician."

"Do you have a physician?"

"Yes! I told my uncle. He...

"...is happy."

"No. He did not seem happy."

"Why would he not be happy about the baby, Rosalina?"

"He does not really care for Toye."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it a paternal thing with my uncle, who is closest to a father figure. He didn't take to Toye, at first. Now, my uncle doesn't come over for dinner or lunch to see me. I do see him at the office."

"I am so sorry to hear that."

"Well, that will all change. The baby is coming. My uncle was happy for me."

"That's good."

"During the prenatal checkup, I will receive updated medical information over maternal physiological changes in my pregnancy, biological changes, and prenatal nutrition including the prenatal vitamins. The vitamins look like a horse pill, since I know what horse pills look like," she laughed.

"Me, too!"

"It is hard to swallow and not yummy tasting similar to my bottle of soft vitamins. The prenatal care is important in reducing maternal death rates and miscarriages as well as birth defects, low bright weight, neonatal infections, and other preventive health problems."

"Wow! You have studied really well, Rosalina." He smiled.

"Since this morning, I went to the physician. He confirmed my pregnancy. I am so excited. We are going to have a baby."

"Yes, we are."

"I start out with monthly visits during the first two trimesters from week one to week twenty-eight. But I am at week four and one day."

"Wow, four weeks ago, something special happened."

"Yeah, we produced a baby."

He smiled. "Yes, we did."

"Then, after the twenty-eight week to the thirty-six week, I attend monthly visits with my physician."

He smiled. "We do."

"Then the weekly visits start after the thirty-six week until the delivery of weeks thirty-eight to forty-two."

He frowned. "Forty-two weeks, when we will have the baby, Rosalina?"

"It will be July first."

He smiled, "Wow, that's my birth month, too. Our baby will be so blessed."

She smiled. "I guess so. Then, each month, the physician will collect my medical history and check my blood pressure which is normal. I'm a healthy girl."

"Yes, we know."

"The physician will measure my weight each month. I am supposed to gain twenty-five pounds.

"Naw, that's not enough. Our baby will be skinny."

"Our baby will healthy. The weigh measure is for me. The baby gains weigh in the last two months."

"Then the physician will check and listen for the first heart beat of the baby. This is so exciting."

"Yes, we are excited."

"For each month, it is checking the heart beat of the baby. Then at twenty weeks, I can see the baby..."

"How is that possible to see our baby, Rosalina? The baby is inside your tummy."

She giggled. "I can see our baby with an ultrasound. It is like a television screen through my tummy to see the baby."

"Wow, I can't wait.

"Me, either," She smiled. "The ultrasound will show and confirm the pregnancy..."

"Why is that important?"

"Sometime, the pregnancy symptoms are all false or fake. There might not be a baby, just a ball of fat and tissues that could be a tumor."

"O, that's so sad."

"The ultrasound will see if there are multiple fetuses."

He gasped. "Multiple means many. Many fetuses mean many babies. There could be two babies."

"Yes!"

"Naw!"

"No, I am quite certain that we are having only one fetus, only child."

"Good! I was worried then. Do you want a boy or a girl as our child?"

"The ultrasound will show the heart, brain, liver, stomach, skull and other bones."

"Wow, really, the television screen shows all that..."

She smiled. "Yes, our baby!"

He smiled with a nod, "Yeah, our baby!"

"And the ultrasound will determine the actual due date."

"I am excited about our baby."

"Me, too!"

Rosalina leaned over and touched his naked foreman with a smile. "Thanks for being here and listening to me, Bear!"

Brock smiled. "We want to share the announcement with others. Who else will you call?"

She exhaled with a sad face. "No one..."

"No one! Don't you have friends to share the news of the baby? Don't you wanna share with his mama?"

She stood upright from the sofa with a sad face, sniffing the new fragrance from the tiny bottle of the perfume that had been left by her husband with a deep sigh. "No." Rosalina moved ahead and exited the den room, moving back into her private bedroom in silence.

Brock stood upright with a deep sigh and spun around, leaving for the evening, returning back to his hotel.
Four weeks later and one day...

Tuesday December 1st

Warm temperatures with bright sunshine

07:07 a.m.

FDI Office Building on Brickell Avenue

51st floor conference room setting

The conference room door opened.

Brock moved inside the conference room at a slow pace, after spending the entire night with Rosalina, leaving early this morning around two am. He returned to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. Then, the mobile telephone rang once for the FDI and then twice from Latola.

Today was going to be a very active day.

Brock rubbed the sleepy crumbs from both eye sockets, turning to see the beverage bar, searching for a cup of hot coffee.

Hufton sat at the table inside a chair, turning with a laugh to see Brock. "You look ratty and unkempt and smell terrible, Bear. What are you doing with your person, now? Latola is out of the country."

Brock halted and turned with a blank face to see Hufton. He had forgotten to mention that Latola had returned last night, surprising both him and Rosalina at dinnertime. However, the good news from Rosalina was the more important surprise.

Latola left the house to see his lover as usual. And he didn't return to his house, as usual.

Brock had spent hours talking with her about the baby. Then, he spent additional hours, enjoying the one-sided sex with her inside the bedroom.

Yeah, last night was very busy.

Brock cleared a throat with a sissy whine. "I am interviewing his wife. She is both knowledge and entertaining. I think that she might hold some information that we could use..."

Hufton laughed. "You said that yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the week before yesterday. You are repeating your statements."

Olwen turned and frowned at the nose profile of Brock. "Bad news, we are killing the FDI assignment."

Brock turned and gasped at Olwen. "What?"

"Latola has sprung loose and fancy free. He is not coming back to Miami. He got spooked by something or someone. It has been four weeks..."

"I can try..." Brock frowned.

"No more try, it only dead." Olwen frowned.

Hufton turned and smiled at Olwen. "Since Latola is out of town, we should raid his house. See, if we can something. He's been gone for days."

Brock turned and frowned at Hufton. "I think his wife who resides inside the house would highly object."

Hufton smiled. "We get a search warrant and raid the house, right now. This is our chance before Latola sells the house to friends or moves all the furniture."

Brock frowned. "It would take hours to get a search warrant from a Miami judge."

Hufton smiled. "There must be something there, a stack of money, a pack of cocaine.

It would take hours to search every wall corner inside that house."

Hufton smiled. "Even a little tiny packet of cocaine is illegal in here in America. That would hold his ass for a couple of days in jail. Then, we could water board or drown his ass with a confession about the new cocaine shipment."

Brock frowned. "It would days before you could break a man into a confession."

"The operation has been canned. Call all the agents back from the field surveillance! We need to re-group and find a new angle on Latola, maybe we can get him for dodging his federal income taxes."

The mobile telephone rang. All eyeball turned to stare at Brock. Brock reached over and whipped out the mobile telephone, looking down with a grin without answering the phone. "It's Latola. He's calling me for breakfast this morning at eight am. I gotta run. He must have the dates confirmed. I will grab the dates and come back here. Bye, ya'll!" He spun around to face the door and answered the mobile telephone with a soft voice.

The door closed.

House of Toye and Rosalina Latola

(11 miles, south, from the FDI office)

08:08 a.m.

Hot temperatures with bright sunshine

The limousine was parked inside the driveway of the house without Latola.

Bear stopped and parked the car in the bright morning sunshine in front of entranceway doors, killing the engine, sliding out and slammed the door. The entranceway doors were never locked but open. He scooted around the car and moved ahead, slamming into the door with a hand, entering the foyer with a happy smile and a contented soul of a new day. The FDI assignment was wrapping up right now. He would not be present at the boat arrival tomorrow, since he was going to relay all the new boat shipment information to Olwen and return back home to his work in Tampa with Rosalina. Brock didn't care about the assignment only more, only his child and his girl.

The heavy door shut and echoed throughout the foyer entranceway and the tower room, announcing the single visitor.

Brock turned and moved through the open court yard on a pretty morning in Miami, swinging a face to see the garden. The lilies sparkled in colors of whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples. The line of tall royal palm trees guarded the outline the property space of the Coral Gables mansion. The day had finally arrived to complete the FDI assignment which had been on-going for four weeks plus a day. Latola had called Brock on the mobile telephone to come to finally revealing the date of the cocaine shipment at a breakfast meeting.

Brock slammed a hand into the front door of the house, sliding inside the Florida room without a person to greet and meet for the ugly evening and scooted into the narrow hallway, following the multiple colors tile toward the dining room.

At 08:10 a.m., Rosalina turned the wall corner inside the dining room with a puzzled brow, holding an object in each hand with a puzzled brow. The objects were a set of baby booties, one in the color of blue for a boy. The other was in the color of pink for a little girl baby. "What are talking about cocaine? Cocaine is illegal inside the USA. What is going on in here, Bear?"

Latola turned and frowned at Rosalina. "Why are calling him, Bear? You never called him, Bear. You never know or identify any of the names of my right hand men, Rosy."

He stared with a sour frown and a sneer at Brock. "I know him. Why did you use the word, cocaine? Cocaine is an illegal..."

"Do you know him, Rosy?" Latola turned and frowned at the back spine of Bear, whipping out the mobile telephone and typed a text message to his resources.

Brock smiled at Rosalina. "I know her. I can explain all of this to you, Rosalina. Let's go into another room, okay? I promise to tell you the entire tale or tail or story," chuckling.

She lowered the booties down to the legs with a sour frown, "No, explain it to me, now. You can explain to me about saying the word, cocaine. That word is coming on a boat to shoreline of America. Cocaine is illegal here. I'm pregnancy. There is a federal law that if a pregnancy is found with cocaine, she will lose her baby. I am not losing my baby. What is going on here, Bear? Why are you here in Miami to make trouble for me?"

"No, I would never do that." Brock thumbed over a collar bone with a sneer. "He, Latoilet is a..." he gasped with the real truth that her husband was a drug lord. Brock couldn't reveal right here that he was an undercover FDI agent then Latola would kill him and Rosalina. Latola had been in another foreign country for four weeks, gathering a boat load of cocaine that was coming to the shoreline of Miami. So, Rosalina needed to get away from Latola before he harmed her and the unborn baby. Brock dropped the hand from a face and then extended it with a nod for her safety. "He is a gay. Your husband is a gay man..."

She back stepped with a puzzled brow, shaking her hands with the baby booties and her curls. "What are you talking about, Bear? What is Bear talking about, Toye?"

"He fibs, Rosy." Latola moved ahead and stood beside Bear, staring with an angry face at his wife. "You know him, too. How do you, two know each other, Rosy?"

She exhaled with a puff of annoyance, slapping the booties over her legs with a sour frown, staring at Brock. "Bear and I are old neighbors from a small town in Alabama. We are former classmates from the same high school. I moved here to Miami from Alabama. But, Bear had moved to back home to Brier. Why are you here in Miami, Bear?"

Latola turned and gasped at the nose profile of Brock. "I trusted you. You tricked me. Leave, Rosy! Get away from him! Get out of the house, my little wife. I will take care of him."

Brock laughed at the ridicule sentence, coming from the pouted lips of sissy Latola. Latola did not possess a hand gun to harm Brock, but he could attack and harm Rosalina. Brock slowly advanced toward her and shook a palm with a worried brow. "Come with me, Rosalina.

She gasped. "If you can't answer all my questions then you can leave my house, right now, Bear."

Brock gasped and reached over with an arm, blocking Latola, so Latola would not harm her, "No, I fucked you that night inside your bedroom. It was a deal that Latola made with me on the first day, four weeks and a day ago. He's gay. He has a gay lover, every night. That's why he leaves you, every night. Your husband has never touched you. I touched you," smiling.

"What?" She held onto and tossed the booties up and down in the air with a confused brow. "What is Bear talking about?"

Latola continued to look down and type on his mobile telephone with a sour frown, "Leave, Bear! My little wife Rosy has ordered it."

She exhaled with a puff of worry. "No, first, I want to hear the real truth here, right now."

Brock smiled with a nod and slapped a chest with pride. "I fucked you inside your bedroom, four weeks ago.

"No." she gasped.

Brock smiled with a nod. "Yes, that was me. Do you remember us that night, Rosalina inside your bedroom with the drapes closed and the moonlight?"

She gasped. "No, not you, I do remember the night of passionate love with my husband. I smelled my husband."

"Yeah, the pretend husband, that was me and you..."

She gasped. "Why are you lying to me, Bear? Why are you tormenting me, Bear?"

Brock laughed. "Latola is a gay man. He can't produce a child with you or another woman. Tell her, Latoilet?"

Latola continued to type with a grin on the mobile telephone. "No. That's a lie, Rosy. Run! Run away from Bear, now!"

She shook her hands with the bootie baby shoes and her curls with a sad face. "I don't believe you, Bear. I thought all these years that you were an honest man. I was so wrong."

Brock exhaled with a smile and a nod. "Latoilet is a gay man. And he wanted a child for his mama."

She gasped. "His mama is dead."

"What?" Brock turned and gasped at the hair roots of Latola.

"All lies. I tell the truth only, here." Latola laughed down at the mobile telephone, "He lies all the time, my little Rosy."

She softly said. "His mama, she passed away during the plastic surgery operation inside my uncle's physician private. It was not my uncle, but another physician. She died on the operating table from excessive bleeding."

"Ya fucking son of a bitch." Brock sneered down at the hair root of Latola.

Rosalina gritted her teeth at the hair roots of Brock. "Get out, Bear! Please, leave our house and our lives in peace, before I am forced to call the police to arrest for something. I'm a lawyer. I will think of something really bad."

Brock turned and gasped at Rosalina. "I am telling you the complete truth, Rosalina. I fucked you that night inside your bedroom. He is a gay man. You are carrying my child. I demand..."

".... nothing inside my house. I am sorry. But I do not believe you or your story. Please get out, Bear," she pointed a baby bootie shoe at the closed door.

Brock exhaled with a huff of worry and slowed spun around with a worried brow to face the door, turning with a sneer to see the black colored hair roots of Latola, who was calmly typing on the mobile telephone. Latola was probably cancelling the boat load of the cocaine shipment from the unknown foreign country to the shoreline of Miami. Brock didn't care and was not worried about his person, since he carried a loaded hand gun, a sharp hunting knife, and a right hook from a fist. His eyeballs looked over the hair roots of Latola to see the new flower arrangement.

Brock stopped strolling and spun around and moved ahead toward the flower arrangement, clapping with a smile. "I can prove it, Rosalina. I can prove that I am telling the truth. I am the e one that fucked you that night. And I am the father of your child."

"How?" Rosalina turned and followed the back spine of Brock with a puzzled brow.

"How?" Latola looked up with a confused brow to see Brock.

Brock advanced ahead with a grin and stopped in front of the dining room table with a chuckle. The dining room table was presented in the same manner every night, since Brock started working the new FDI assignment and ate the dinner meal with Latola and Rosalina. This morning, the dining room table was decorated with a set of empty yellow tinted dishes and utensils for the breakfast meal, the most important meal of the day with a fresh bouquet of flowers in the middle of the long dining room table. Brock spun around with a smile and stood beside the large flower arrangement that was in the middle of the table like always. "You left a tiny decorative box of smelly perfume fragrances for your wife Rosy during your absent when you traveled from the USA into another country for almost a month, Latoilet."

Latola turned to follow the back spine of Brock and spun around to face him with a sour frown, not looking down at the mobile telephone. "Really? You do not have to keep insulting my intelligence and my name. My name is..."

"Latoilet, let's hear how it goes!" Brock smiled. "O. I know. Thirty days have September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one except for..."

"...your stupid little rhyme," Rosalina pointed at the door with a sour frown. "Please leave, Bear! I am going to call the police and then..."

"Then, Latola left on November second, giving his little wife Rosy a gift, a tiny bottle from one the full box of thirty tiny little boxes. You missed Turkey Day within the USA with us. But your wife and I have fun cooking a dead turkey. It was my first one, but not my last one, buddy. We ate here at the dining room table, every night, when you were gone. And the those tiny little bottles surrounded the big flower arrangement, so Rosy would not forget your absence, thinking of you each and every time she opened a bottle."

Latola nodded with a sour frown to Brock. "Yes, I always think of my little Rosy. I left her the box of tiny perfume bottle for that purpose."

Brock tossed a head backwards with a laugh and a chin forward with a sneer at Latola, "Excellent! I heard a true confession of the crime here today. Since, today is December first which is technical the thirty day of the month, since you have been gone forever..."

He frowned. "No! November has thirty days within the calendar year, Bear." Rosalina frowned with confusion.

"Yes, November has thirty days. But my employment started on November first, after I killed off his right hand man on some sandbar in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Then Latola and I came back to his mansion to see his wife and have his dinner. That night on November first, the dinner was prepared by a devoted staff member who is your lover, right, Latoilet? Who else would know how to sprinkle a white colored powder over each slice up fruit in a pretty decorative salad?"

Rosalina gasped. "What is Bear talking about, Toye? I ate a salad on the night of November first when you brought him to our home Brock Norris, my old high school classmate. And..."

"...you felt really tired and dizzy form the sedative drug that was sprinkled over the each sliced up fruit. Am I right, Rosalina?"

"Yes, I did feel tired and dizzy."

"Well, that night, after you fainted into my arms, I fucked you inside the master bedroom on the third level. A very nice big real with tan colored satin sheets..."

She gasped. "How do you know that, Bear?"

Latola frowned. "Call the police, my little Rosy! Bear is a liar and a thief. I am missing some very important valuable from my house, so I have uncovered the robbery."

Brock laughed with a nod. "Right, buddy! You will be missing a very important valuable, her. Rosalina is coming with me after I wrap up my legal case here."

Latola frowned. "What legal case?"

Brock winked with a grin to Latola. "I am a lawyer also. I guess you forget that. Anyways, you left on November second, giving Rosalina that the tiny box of smelly perfume bottles. And she is a devoted wife. After eating dinner together, she opened the bottle and sniffed up the smelly contents into both nostrils. I had to run to the archway, so I would not become intoxicated with the smell and faint over the floor like Rosalina. She stood upright and wobbled side to side from the strong smelly sedative and fainted right down in my arms as I ran from the door to catch her before falling over the floor. Yeah, your tiny bottles of smelly vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, peach, banana, lemon. I really hated the lemon smell. It really stunk on her soft cheekbone."

Latola gasped. "You did. You really did fuck my wife, every night."

Brock winked at Rosalina. "I fucked Rosalina, every night. I have some good time fun, after she was slightly intoxicated with the sedative drug from each perfume bottle."

Latola pointed a finger with a sour frown at Brock. "He fibs, Rosy. Call the police!"

"But I did open each individual tiny colored bottle. I did smell the individual fragrance." She reached up and touched a template with the pink booties in her hand with a confused brow. "I do not remember going to bed but I remember waking up inside my bed. And I was really sore. The bed sheets were really nasty looking and smelly from..."

"My sperm, baby! Yeah, it was me all those lovely nights of great sex with you." Brock laughed.

She gasped. "You raped me, Bear!"

"O contrail, I got the permission from your husband Latoilet. He and I made a deal on the first day of my employment to impregnate his wife, since he is a gay man. And she wanted a baby to occupy her free time. I don't know that you were married to the asshole, Rosalina. But I always wanted to fuck you, virgin babe. This was my chance. And I took it, darling." Brock nodded with a smile.

"You raped me." She gasped with shock.

"Call the police, my little Rosy!" Latola sneered. "He will be sent to prison for a life time. You will be revenged."

Brock laughed with a smile. "However, Latoilet came back home on the twenty-ninth day of his month long international travels. The little box held thirty bottles of perfume. Today is the thirty day with one tiny bottle left from the tiny box."

"Impossible!" Latola gasped and scanned the table and the shelving of the furniture. "You are wrong, Bear."

Brock reached over and grabbed the tiny bottle that was located out of sight in front of the chair where Rosalina usually sat. Latola didn't bother to examine the beautiful flower arrangement like always as he had ignored the two beauties, the flowers and his wife Rosalina, inside his house, like always.

Brock lifted up the tiny bottle near a grin and a wink at Latola. "I present exhibit P for perfume, the last and thirtieth bottle coming from the tiny box of smelly perfume fragrances."

"It is a little tiny bottle of perfume." Latola sneered at Bock. "Call the police, Rosalina! I will do it. I have my cell phone here inside my hands," he looked down with a growl at the screen of the mobile phone.

Brock laughed. "I would not touch that dial as they used to say when I was a kid on the television screen, Latoilet. I can prove that this bottle contains a sedative drug that affected Rosalina, every night after meal time. Real perfume is a fine gaseous piece of a flower petal or petals, recreating the smell of flora perfume in a fine mist. So, if I spray the mist into the flower arrangement, then the spray would coat and adhere to all the petal of flowers, making the flowers smell good to my nostrils. However, if this little tiny bottle contains a very mild sedate drug which is comprised of an acid base molecule, the flower will wither and die, since it is a piece of nature, not a piece of human flesh with a pair of nostrils for sniffing up good and bad odors."

"Impossible!" Latola looked up with a puzzled brow and a gasp at the tiny bottle of perfume.

"Do you want to see my demonstration, Rosalina? Since, I am the one that is being accused as a liar and a thief which I am not."

Rosalina nodded with a stern face. "Yes, I want to see your test on the flowers inside the table arrangement."

"No!" Latola gasped.

Brock back stepped from the flower arrangement, extending an arm with the perfume bottle, closing both nostrils with a free hand and laughed with a funny timber, "You betta step back from the fine spray mist, buddy. Or you'll faint on the floor and bust your nose holes, since I am not catching you ass, Latoilet." Latola gasped and back stepped from Brock, the dining room, the flower arrangement, and the bottle of perform. Brock twisted a wrist and flipped open the lid, tossing a few wet drops over the flower arrangement, back stepping further from the flowers, still holding both nostrils and slid against the wall, and watched the bright petals.

Each attacked petal wiggled side to side from a wet drop of the perfume, slowing tilting downward from the heavy liquid on a delicate petal and turned from red into pink and finally into gray colored in death.

Rosalina gasped with a sneer and smashed the blue colored baby booties over her open nostrils, not wanting to faint down over the floor from the light sedative fumes within the air molecules, back stepping into the dark hallway.

Latola held both nostrils from the drifting sedative fumes that he knew were inside the bottle and hit the wall with a back spine.

Brock side stepped against the wall, sliding over Latola and spun around to face Rosalina, holding both nostrils from the drifting fumes of the sedation also, saying with a funny timber. "My evidence is complete."

She sounded funny with the baby booties blocking her nostrils. "No, I don't believe. No, I do believe." Rosalina back stepped into the hallway with a gasp and turned, dashing through the narrowed and darken hallway, running toward the Florida room.

"Rosalina!" Brock turned with a worried brow and chased after her through the narrow hallway. "Please, stop. There is more to tell. Please, wait for me, honey. Stop, Rosalina! I must tell you more."

Latola side stepped against the wall and held both nostrils with a free hand with a sneer, back steeping from the dining room and turned, running after the back spine of Brock with a yell. "Wait! I can explain, my little Rosy."

At 08:32 a.m. inside the Florida room, Rosalina entered the room and swung around, stopping a few feet in the middle of the room and stood in place with a set of tears and sobs of sadness and angry, tossing both hands with the pair of baby booties in the air with confusion, fright, and heartache. Her entire life had been one great big heart ache, since she was smart enough to understand people, property, and possessions.

The world lived on money and status.

Rosalina had overcome so many difficult obstacles, finding a place for her person with the love and guidance of her precious blood related uncle. But her uncle Dickie was not there all the time like a set of biological parents.

Her biological father left the family unit on June eighth, two days after she was birthed, getting away from his legally married wife Birdie. His married wife bitched and drank glasses of whiskey alcohol, slowing becoming an alcoholic like her biological mother and her biological father.

The brother of Birdie, Dickie overcame that terrible family problem, becoming a physician with the guidance of his paternal grandfather, who used every single dime and penny to help Dickie become something other than a drunker.

Alcoholism was a clinical disease that affected the body and the mind. The smart medical scientists could not explain the reason why some people bowed down to a bottle of whiskey and some people were not affected.

Dickie was not affected by a pinch of whiskey, so he vowed to become a better person than his biological parents. He also saw the same traits of his person within his niece Rosalina, vowing to aid her as much as he could without notifying the local authorities of the child abuse of his sister Birdie.

If the local authorities had been informed, then the court system of the State of Alabama would have removed both Bertha and Rosalina from their biological abusive mother Birdie. Birdie would have been okay, living out her days as an intoxicated alcoholic unaware of the next glass of whiskey. But, both his nieces Bertha and Rosalina would have lost within the foster child system.

Uncle Dickie would have never found his niece Rosalina within the foster child system even with a bank account of millions of dollars, since those children became lost and separated from the blood kin families.

This was one reason why Dickie didn't seek any free monies from the US Federal government to aid his sister Birdie. The US federal government would have been invited to investigate the family unit and would have concluded that Birdie was an unfit mother.

Rosalina didn't understand the family situation as a young child or as a teenager. When she became a young adult, Dickie carefully explained his reason. However, Rosalina still felt abandoned and betrayed, without having a loving family unit like the rest of the nice families within her home town of Brier.

Rosalina had left her home town and attended college, graduating with numerous college degrees for a good job, moving from the city of Birmingham with her uncle Dickie for a better life, which was really to forget a terrible life within the tiny rural farm town of Brier. Then she had accidentally found love and happiness which had barely lasted one calendar month or four weekends.

Now, her new life here in the new city of Miami was terrible, also. It seemed that tragedy followed behind her butthole for some reason. And the reason was that she had been birthed with the repeating sequence numbers of six, six, six which was the sign of bad luck. Everyone thought that the sequence numbers of six, six, six was a terrible sign of the devil. No. It was just plain old bad rotten luck. And plain old bad rotten luck had been dragging its ass behind her butthole, since her birth on the six month of the sixth day in the year 1960.

Inside the mansion, Brock entered the next room and stopped, standing inside the archway, slowing advancing with a both upright palms, a fake smile, and a worried brow, "Rosalina, please, let me explain, please!"

She swung around to see the annoyant that was following her butthole with a sour frown and a sneer. "Stop, Brock! No more explanations. I am tired of too late explanations. My entire life has been too late explanations."

Latola entered the room and stood in the archway with a sneer. "I can explain, my little Rosy."

"No!" She pointed the pair of pink baby booties with a sneer at Latola. "You betrayed me." She pointed the pair of blue baby booties with a growl to Brock. "You raped me." She tossed and waved both hands with the baby booties in the air with a sneer at both men. "No! I'm done here. No! I'm finished with the both of you. Yes! I'm divorcing you, Latoilet. Yes! I'll raise the baby alone. No! I don't care if you are the real father Brock Norris. I...I hate you with all my heart and my soul," she reared back and tossed each set of baby booties at each male with a lady growl, swinging around with a set of tears and sobs of unhappiness and dashed through the closed door.

The door opened.

Brock instinctively lifted both folded arms to blind a delicate face from the flying objects. "Rosalina, no! Please listen to me! Your life..." The soft blue colored baby booties hit both arms with in softness and silence. He caught and chuckled at the cute soft weapon, dropping both arms and gasped with worry.

The door was closed. Rosalina was missing. Then, the set of heavy double doors slammed shut with a loud boom that echoed throughout the foyer room, the tower room and into the Florida room.

The pink colored baby booties hit his legs from the poor aim of Rosalina, falling down over the tile floor in silence pain. Latola continued to stand inside the archway and looked down with a smile and typed on his mobile telephone.

"Rosalina!" Brock whispered for his eardrums only and dashed ahead with a worried brow to the closed door, slamming it open with a hand and a yell, "Rosalina." He ran through the court yard and into the foyer room, slamming the door open with a hand and a yell. "Rosalina!"

At 08:38 a.m. outside on the city street walkway in the heated day with bright sunshine, Rosalina ran forward in angry and turned to the side, dashing around the parked sports car and turned to the side again, running down the vanilla-colored walkway, sobbing with a set of blurry eyeballs of sadness and a worried heart. She didn't know what to do or who to believe, but her uncle. Uncle Dickie would know what to do. She continued to slowly pace over the heated pavement toward the neighbor's house. She didn't possess her mobile telephone to call her uncle.

Dickie was not in surgery at his private practice today. He could come and collect her at the neighbor's house. Then, he would help Rosalina with the divorce proceedings while she stayed with her uncle at his house. A marriage divorce proceeded really fast within the city of Miami.

Rosalina would be freed of Latola within six weeks, since he was not the father of her child, if she believed Brock Norris. Then, she would tattle about the baby to her uncle.

She continued to slowly move down the heated pavement, wiping the tears of sadness and unhappiness, pondering a new life without a husband and a father for her child. She would never marry Brock Norris even with a shotgun wedding or live back there in Brier, Alabama. Her home was here in Miami. She had a job here and her uncle was here. Now, her body contained a new life form which was growing. She could perform an abortion on the fetus but Rosalina wanted the baby.

Yes. Rosalina wanted to start a new life with her child without Latola and Brock. Yes. Her uncle would know what to do and how to accomplish that.

Brock swiftly out the open door and quickly dashed around his borrowed sports car halting at the edge of the private driveway, turning to see each side of the walkway and spotted the back spine of Rosalina on the sidewalk. He exhaled with a huff of relieve, turning to the side and dashed down the same walkway to catch up with her.

The silence engine of the limousine rolled down the city street a high speed, coming up from behind the back spine of Brock. The vehicle jumped the driver's side tire from the city street and drove onto the curd, aiming at Brock.

Brock heard the roaring engine, instinctively sliding to the side, feeling the heated engine of a motor too close to his ass. He jumped away from the curd and landed a body sideways inside a row of lush thick bushes of flowering plants. The limousine moved forward and rolled back down from the curd, driving over the city street, slamming the brakes with sound of squeals.

The rear door opened.

A pair of arms reached out and snatched Rosalina from the sidewalk, shuffling her back into the rear cabin of the limousine.

The door closed.

The limousine sped away, turning with a set of squealing tires around the street corner, heading away from Brock and the house of Latola.

Brock stood upright with a gasp and ran down the pavement with all his strength and halted at the intersection. The limousine turned at another street corner, squealing the tires again, driving onto the main highway and away from Brock.

He spun around with a loud curse and ran down the pavement, scooting into the driveway and slammed a body into the borrowed sports car with another curse.

At 0 8:41 a.m. inside the Florida room setting, he twirled around the sports car with a sneer and a yell of fury, "Latoilet." Brock slammed open both heavy doors with both hands and a yell inside the foyer room with a roar of fury, since the noise echoed throughout the house and into the eardrums of asshole Latola. "Latoilet, give Rosalina back to me, before I rip off both arms from the sockets and your precious dick from your pelvis." He turned and ran through the court yard, the tower room, and slammed the door open, entering the Florida room, "Latoilet..."

Pain!

The brain did not register the unseen and accurate punch of the weapon until Brock slid sideways from Latola and hit into a row of sitting chairs against the far wall. Then, his body ached with pain, twisting and danced around the set of chairs, losing his balance. Brock dropped down and landed on a back spine over the floor with a huff of pain and as, his eyelids closed into the darkness and silence of unconsciousness.

At 09:19 a.m. inside the Florida room setting within the warm temperatures with bright sunshine, the set of heavy doors slammed shut.

Brock stirred awake from an aching headache, lifting a hand, feeling a tender bruise and slice cut on the left cheekbone with a moan. He could hear the loud voices of other people inside the room. His eyeballs slowly focused and recognized the interior ceiling of the ugly Florida room of the house of Toye Latola.

Hufton turned from the FDI team and dashed, sliding over the tile, kneecapping down at the sofa cushions, where Brock was resting. He said with a worried brow and a soft timber, "Are you conscious, Bear? Can you hear my voice? Are you feeling dizzy? Do you need a physician? There is an ambulance standing by to take you to the hospital. Olwen, he didn't want to move you until you could explain what happened in here."

Brock sat upright on both elbows and turned to the side, gently placing both shoes on top of the floor with a worried brow and a soft timber. "Where's Rosalina?"

Hufton thumbed back over a collar bone with a serious tone and a stern face. "You found you on the floor, slightly bleeding, unconscious and alone. Your wound does look serious. Are you feeling dizzy? Do you have a head concession? Do you feel like you are going to vomit up your breakfast muffin? There was a tray of food inside the dining room. It is a very nice spread for breakfast. Latoilet did it right here in Miami." He reached down and patted a stomach with a laugh. "You seemed to hit the row of chairs and finally the landed over the floor, unconscious, not dead. You're a lucky ducky, dude," chuckling.

Brock slowly stood with a wobble and with a worried heart, slowly scanning the room. "Where is Rosalina?"

The entire FDI team was present throughout the house. Some of FDI members were huddled within a group, talking in whispers among themselves. Some of the FDI members were separated and ripping apart the furniture inside the Florida room, looking for the cocaine packages and other vital information about the cocaine shipment.

Brock could hear more faint voices and sounds of loud crashes, coming from the other rooms inside the house of tiny rooms and three stories of ancient beauty of the 1925 Coral Gables home.

Brock continued to stand in front of the sofa and exhaled with a huff of a worried heart and an active mind, rubbing both hands over a sore but healthy body. He said with a serious tone and a stern face, viewing the action inside the Florida room. "Why are you here with the FDI at the house of Toye, Hufton?"

"We raided the house about thirty minutes ago."

Brock turned and frowned at Hufton. "Why would you do that? I don't know the date of the cocaine shipment. The FDI doesn't know the date of the cocaine shipment either..."

Hufton nodded with a smile. "We are here now. We are looking everywhere around the house. We should find something like a day planner or a notebook or a diary with the boat information."

Brock frowned. "Did Latola tell you that he wrote down each shipment arrival date inside a day planner?"

Hufton laughed. "No! He never told me nothing but to sit down at the dinner table and eat the good meal."

"Exactly, so I really doubt that the information is here inside the house. Anyways, Latola came home today, a few minutes..."

Hufton nodded. "It has been two hours, since you were hit in the cheek and spilled out in an unconscious sate over the floor. You were informed this morning before you stormed outta of the meeting that we were going to raid the house and get Latola. He returned this morning."

Brock frowned. "You captured Latola?"

"No, we can't find him inside the house or around the city streets."

"Wait, you raided the house. He wasn't here. Then, she..."

"No! We didn't find him. We found you on the floor."

Brock exhaled with a huff of worry. "His wife was here. Did you find his wife Rosy?"

"No! There was no one here but you. You were unconscious on the floor."

"Did you find his limousine with his wife inside?"

"No, we did not find his limousine, his wife, or his person here. We found only you. You are the only person inside the house."

Brock turned and scanned the room. "Where is Rosalina? Her life is in danger from her husband. She knows that her husband is a drug lord. Latola has or will take her to protect his secret identify."

Hufton frowned, "So what? The FDI doesn't care. We only care about the arrival date of the new cocaine shipment that will hit the USA shoreline in a few more days. But, we can't find Latola."

Olwen slapped the bicep of the FDI team member with a stern face and moved ahead, stopping and stood in front Brock with a smile. "How are you feeling, Bear? You don't look too wounded. Do you need physician?"

Brock lifted a hand and rubbed the healing cut with a sour frown. "Naw, I'm fine. But I want to find the wife..."

Hufton frowned. "We didn't find anyone here but you. I told you that."

"We didn't find Latola inside the house we were raided the place. We are ripping the palace apart looking for his personal stack of cocaine and any more useful important information." Olwen frowned. "What happened in here, Bear?"

Brock turned and scanned the room. The FDI team was literally destroying each piece of furniture that belonged to Rosalina, also. The team members were using tools to smash the cabinets and drawers away from the furniture piece, looking between the slants for one single tiny packet of cocaine. The FDI team needed the hard evidence in a court of law to arrest and convict Latola of a USA federal crime, since Latola never revealed the secret date of the boat arrival with the shipment of cocaine to Brock or Hufton, the only alive and breathing right hand men. Brock gasped and turned to see Olwen. "I hope that you have..."

"What happened in here, Bear?" Olwen sneered. "You stormed outta my meeting without further instructions from me. Then we find out that Latola did come back home from his secret trip, today, this morning, when he rang your FDI issued mobile telephone. Why didn't you tell us that information? Did he mention the date of the shipment drop along the USA shoreline before he slammed your face into the wall?"

"No sir." Brock frowned with the lack of information about the cocaine drop, since the subject of the boat arrival was not discussed this morning inside the dining room. Both his heart and his mind were worried only about his friend and the mother of his child Rosalina. He saw the limousine stop and snatch Rosalina, slipping her inside the rear bench, driving off into the horizon without Brock.

Latola might have fled the USA but he would not have taken Rosalina. She was a USA citizen. Once, Brock had explained the entire situation to the FDI team. Then the FDI team would be looking for Rosalina instead. "But his wife, she knows that he is a drug lord. She might..."

"We don't give a shit about the woman, Bear." Olwen exhaled. "She probably does know his job and his reputation. However, we need to find some type of calendar date and geographical location of the upcoming cocaine shipment, not his wife. What happened to you in here?"

Brock pursed the lips with a grunt of angry. So, the FDI team only wanted the cocaine shipment to arrest Latola. The life of Rosalina meant nothing to supervisor Olwen. The lost and unknown calendar date of the cocaine shipment meant nothing to Brock. Thus, he would use the FDI team to assist him in locating Rosalina.

Teague and Eckward would have helped immediately with the search for Rosalina inside Miami shorelines as a set of old friends from Brier with a set of excellent hunting skills. However, they had had left for home over a month ago when Latola departed the USA for the connection inside another foreign country. Teague and Eckward planned to return on the arrival date of the boat load of the cocaine shipment and present for the arrest of Latola.

Now, all this was not looking good at the moment.

Brock nodded with a fake smile and a worried heart. "Yeah, I received a telephone call on my cell. And I left the FDI office. I drove here and walked inside right here in this room. The husband and the wife were arguing about something inside this room. The wife, she was mad and waving something in the air above her hair roots." He turned and winked at Hufton. "My left hand man got it right."

Hufton gasped. "What did I get right, Bear?"

Brock laughed at the made-up story, so the FDI team would help to find Rosalina. Brock was not a FDI field agent but a FDI lawyer with a desk job. He didn't know the first thing about finding a missing person. He turned and smiled to Olwen. "The day planner, the wife was holding and shaking an elegantly crafted blue colored day planner in the air. She was mad about something that was printed inside the day planner."

"The date of the cocaine shipment to America," Hufton gasped.

Brock nodded with a smile. "Yes, the date of the cocaine shipment on the shoreline of America." He looked up with a stern face to see the ceiling, thinking about the rest of his make-up story, looking down with a smile to see Olwen. "The wife bitched and cursed at Latola. Latola turned around and run into me, scooting around me, huffing and puffing with angry. I turned and ran after the ass of Latola, following him out the house. He left the house and stood on the walkway of the street. His limousine drove up and picked him up without saying a word to me."

Olwen gasped and turned, looking over the damaged room. "The day planner, all the information is inside the day planner. We need to find the day planner inside the house."

Brock smiled. "Yeah, I came back into the room, looking for the bitching wife, who is probably on her monthly cycle and was whacked in the face."

Hufton laughed. "O, the bitchy wife on her monthly cycle hit you with the fireplace poker, a female. You're a sissy FDI agent, Bear."

Brock turned and hissed at Hufton. "Yeah, I am." Now, he had implanted inside the non-imaginative mind of Olwen that there was a day planner with all the secret information inside the house. Rosalina was missing from the house. So, the FDI would issue an all points bulletin on her pretty ass, forcing all the federal agents to locate and find Rosalina for Brock. With all the government agencies deployed within Miami, Rosalina would be found within a few hours, since she was really inside the getaway limousine over the public roadways. Brock didn't give a shit about the location of Latola or the fucking cocaine shipment. He was worried about Rosalina and his unborn child inside her stomach, since she was four weeks pregnant.

Olwen whipped out the mobile telephone, looking down with a nod and a grin, typing on the tiny screen. "I'm contacting all the government agencies within the area of Miami to find that roaming limousine that has been registered to Latola. His wife is not present here, but she might have with her husband inside the limo. They might be going to the airport on a private jet airplane or to the marina on a private speed boat, heading to the Caribbean for the rest of their lives. And I am typing a new text to all the FDI agents to find a day planner inside the house. Then we will have Latola arrested. If we miss him, then we will arrest his wife."

"Yeah," Brock nodded with a smile, fooling the FDI supervisor. Since there was not a day planner of boat information and Rosalina was not involved in the drug smuggling activities of Latola. So, it would be a matter of minutes before the limousine was spotted and contained. Then, Brock would take Rosalina with him back home to Tampa. They would marry and raise their child together, making the happy ending for her and him.

Olwen spun around and moved ahead through the archway, strolling through the narrow hallway with a grin. "Good job, Bear! We have been searching for something with the shipment dates. Now, we know exactly what to look for. We didn't find any piles of burnt ashes. So the day planner is still intact and hidden somewhere in here."

Hufton turned and followed behind the back spine of Olwen with a worried brow. "They could have carried the day planner with them inside the limo, traveling to the jet plane."

Olwen stopped and turned to see the room with the FDI team members. "No, that is evidence which shows all the previous cocaine shipments that had landed onto the shores of USA. We found the empty boats but not the cocaine packages. That secret information could be used against Latola and land his ass in jail for the rest of his life. No, the day planner is here. They are gone and trying to escape but not for long. We work nicely with the other government agencies and local police units around Miami. They will find that limo within minutes. Then, this case will finally be closed, my little friends," he moved ahead with a laugh and a smile to the next room and stopped, turning to see inside the space.

Hufton followed behind the back spine of Olwen with a nod and a laugh, stopping and turned to see the next room with a smile.

Brock slowly moved and followed behind the back spine of Hufton, slowly scooting around the narrow hallway and stopped, standing in place to see the dining room.

The FDI team members had destroyed all the beautiful dining room furniture, separating all the pieces into a pile of bend nails, an assortment of scattered broken staves, and an array of empty shelves. They had broken all the china dishes and the crystal glasses within the cabinets. The center piece of beautiful flowers had been busted as the flowers were stomped and scattered over the tile floor.

Brock exhaled with a huff of annoyance, balling both hands into two white colored fists. The china plates and the crystal goblets clearly did not hide a tiny package of cocaine. There was not a need to destroy something so beautiful in which to find something so insignificance. He was glad that Rosalina was missing inside her home, since she would have been upset that all her personal possessions had been raped and destroyed by a group of savages.

Back home, within the southern culture, a biological family unit would pass down tons of personal property, including the homestead house and the surrounding landscape, the business, the furniture pieces, the stack of dishes, the gun rack, and other ancient heirloom pieces that could be hundreds of years old.

Brock understood that the biological family of Rosalina Burns did not possess or had passed down an array of heirloom pieces, coming out from the burnt shack on the night of Brock's high school graduation.

The night of his graduation had been a fun and entertaining event with a bonfire party at the empty horse of barn of Teague. No one had learned about the two deaths of Birdie Burns and her eldest daughter Bertha until the next day, after the moonshine buzz wore off. Then, Rosalina Burns was gone and was never to be seen again inside the tiny farm town of Brier, except both Nadean and Teague ran into Rosalina during their shared college days at Birmingham State University between academic classes, occasionally.

However, Brock has seen Rosalina every day during college, when he had driven by her apartment, and stopped in the parking lot, spying on her through a pair of binoculars inside the open window. He had screwed up a social relationship with Rosalina on the first day at Birmingham Junior College, shouting out in the rear of the classroom that nasty nicknamed that had been created by her dead sister Bertha: Be gone, Betty!

Then, Brock had permanently screwed a love relationship with Rosalina at Birmingham University when one of his former flames was stalking his butthole for annoyance around the school grounds. He should have informed the football coach who would have solved the issue. Instead, Brock had invited the old girlfriend into his room to embarrass her, finding Rosalina outside the doorway with his embarrassment, instead.

Now, Rosalina was back in Brock's life and he was not losing her, again. He would use the FDI, the US federal government, his family, and her uncle Dickie to find and located Rosalina. He loved her and wanted to take care of Rosalina and their unborn baby for the rest of their days.

Brock turned and moved ahead, stopping and standing beside the entrance way of the library.

The room contained an array of ceiling to floor built-in book shelves that held thousands and thousands of reading and entertainment books. The FDI team members were snatching and ripping the book apart from the exterior cover, tearing out chunks of delicate pages, searching for a single hard evidence of a tiny packet of white tinted cocaine.

Brock exhaled with a huff of annoyance and angry, moving ahead and stopped, standing inside the narrow hallway in front of the black and white decorated kitchen space.

The sounds of crack and boom echoed from the kitchen. The FDI team members reached out and grabbed an item, searching it with a set of eyeballs quickly and then dropped it down over the tile floor. Each kitchen item broke into one or more pieces, including the dishes, the pots, the pans, glass serving containers, and the individual black and white tiles over the floor.

Brock exhaled with a huff of angry at the destructive search within the house of Rosalina.

Olwen moved ahead and stopped, talking with a huddle of FDI team members and turned, stomping back and stopped in front of Brock. "Bad news, they ran down the driver of the limousine that belongs to Latola. No one is inside."

Brock gasped. "Yes, Rosalina is inside there."

Hufton nodded with a stern face. "Then the driver dropped Latola and his wife off at the airport. We missed them."

Olwen frowned, "No, the driver said that he picked up the wife on the street corner and brought her back here to the house under the orders of Latola. Then, Latola left the house, stealing the sports car that belonged to his personal right hand man named Bear."

"Shit." Hufton turned and sneered at Brock. "You owe me a car, dude. I was going to buy that sports car, after the assignment was complete."

Brock looked down with a worried brow and a worried heart, whispering for his eardrums only. "Where is Rosalina? She is not here inside the house. She is not inside the limousine. He ordered her brought back here. I was here too but unconscious, so Rosalina saw me, again."

Olwen frowned. "That means that Latola is gone with the Florida breeze too."

"This is South Florida. Latoilet is gone with the water." Hufton laughed.

The patio door opened, coming from the back yard.

The male entered through the Florida room and toted an object, turning and stopped behind the back spine of Brock with a smile. "Hey, look here, Olwen. All these pretty lilies on top of that pond of water are fake, not real. They are all plastic and fragranced for fun."

A huddle of other FDI team member gather around the dropped lily over the floor as each one whipped out a mobile telephone, reading about a lily.

The first FDI team member read out loud from his mobile telephone with a stern face. "The lily bulb is a flower with a powerful fragrant, ranging in colors of whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples."

The second FDI team member read out loud from his mobile telephone with a stern face. "The golden center of the petal will shine from early morning to late evening, filling the garden with a delicious perfume."

Brock turned and stared with a puzzled brow out the viewing window, seeing the pond of lilies. "Perfume..."

The third FDI team member read out loud from her mobile telephone with a stern face. "The lily pad is a big circular leaf plant that grows from the bottom of the pond or lake and up to the surface of the water."

The fourth FDI team member read out loud from his mobile telephone with a stern face. "Lilies live in low-lying areas around moisture. Lily pad is a pond flower."

Brock stared at the garden of lilies with a puzzled brow and a whisper, "Pond..."

The fifth FDI agent read out loud from his mobile telephone with a stern face, "Lilies are difficult to preserve, because of their high moisture content."

Hufton smiled. "In the country of China, the bulbs are eaten as vegetables and soups."

The original FDI team member dropped the plastic lily on the floor and smashed it with a shoe sole with a laugh. "And all of them are indestructible, too. I guess Latola wanted to adorn beauty twenty-four hours-per-day."

Brock gasped at the lilies, "Two beauties, the garden of lilies, and the wife of Latola."

The sixth FDI member read out loud from her mobile telephone. "The words 'golden lilies' in the Chinese vocabulary are translated and define as the bound feet of women."

Brock gasped. "Bound woman, I know where Rosalina is." He spun around with a sneer and shoved both hands, parting the huddle of FDI team members.

Hufton turned and dashed behind the back spine of Brock. "Hey, Bear, where are you going? What are you doing?"

Brock ran down the hallway and turned, moving ahead through the Florid room and slammed the door open with a hand, dashing over the short patio and stomped down on top of each lily. His nostrils could smell the perfume odors, coming from the real lily. That was how Latola was able to bottle thirty separate fragrances, coming from a garden of individual lily petals that were used to help sedate Rosalina during the fantastic sex acts of Brock for the past thirty days. He stopped and stood at the edge of the pool, looking down with a puzzled brow to see each colored lily.

One of the FDI team members squatted and reached out, touching the nearest lily with a smile. "Yup! It is fake. This entire pool is filled with a set of fake lilies. But why?"

A second FDI team member squatted and reached down, dipping a hand down into the water, slapping the tile over the wall with a stern face. "The pool is completely faked too. This is nothing but an extra large swimming pool."

A third FDI team member squatted and reached out, dipping a hand down into the water with a stern f ace. "This is actually the size of an Olympic swimming pool that has been cut in half. There are not any racing strips over the wall. I can't see the bottom of the pool."

A fourth FDI team member squatted and reached out, wiggling all the fingers inside the water with a sour frown, "The water is really deeply blue colored."

A fifth FDI team member stood and examined the blue water without getting a body part wet with a stern face. "The water has been dyed with a blue color to compliment the different colors of the oranges, pinks, reds, and yellows of the fake lilies. It makes for a pretty back yard."

A six FDI team member stood near the edge of the pool and scanned the rest of the landscape. "The entire pool takes up the back yard."

A seventh FDI team member squatted and reached out, shoving each lily with a smile. "Man, there are hundreds and hundreds of lilies over the artificial pond."

An eighth FDI team member stood and scanned the rest of the landscape. "I feel sorry for the next family that buys this house, after Latola is forced to sale while living in South American. They will have a grand expense, burying this old pool for a descent back yard to barbeque and play with the kids."

A ninth FDI team member squatted and reached out, shoving each lily around the water with a smile. "Yeah, we can't touch his ass there."

A tenth FDI team member squatted and reached out, dipping both hands down into the water with a puzzled brow. "I see something down at the bottom of the pool."

An eleventh FDI team member stood near the edge of the pool with a laugh. "It is called water that lives down at the bottom of a pool."

The tenth FDI team member frowned. "No, there is a big object down on the bottom of the pool. I can barely make out the formation. It looks like a square box. Or it looks like the length of a coffin..."

"Rosalina," Brock stood upright and dived down into the deep pool water, swimming down six feet toward the bottom. The blue color in the water burned his retinas, but his eyeballs could see the object. He swam and slammed into a metal box, pounding the metal with a fist. He stood upright, kicking the lower part of the metal box with a boot toe. The box sounded with a hiss and released from the locking latches that were built down into the pool concrete.

The box slowly drifted from the bottom, floating up toward the surface water of the pool.

Brock couldn't hold his breath any longer, swimming up to the water surface and broke through the water, huffing for air into a set of tight lungs. He watched the box slowly drift up toward the surface with a worried brow and a worried heart. The box looked water tight but it might not contain air for a living person. He croaked with a whisper, "Rosalina..."

Some of the other FDI agents jumped down into the pool, swimming in place, watching for the box to surface. The box erupted up through the water with a big splash. The other FDI agents on top of the landscape clapped with a set of cheers. The FDI agents in the water dog paddled to the box, climbing on top with grunts and cheers. Brock slowly dog paddled toward the box, feeling worried and tired from the dunk down to the bottom. The box lid was popped open.

"What's inside?" One of the FDI agents shouted with a smile.

"Is there a body?" A second FDI agent yelled with a smile.

"Is there a case of beer?" A third FDI agent clapped with a laugh.

"Is there Latola?" A fourth FDI agent cheered with a clap.

One of the FDI agents on top of the box reached down inside and lifted up with both hands an object. "No body. It is money." The FDI agents clapped with cheers. He smiled. "There are thousands of individual wrapped cash wads here inside the metal box."

Olwen moved from the house and stood behind the back spine of Hufton with a stern face to see the box. "Is there a body inside the metal box?"

The FDI agent looked down with a smile to see the money, dropping the cash and fiddling with more stacks. "No sir. I don't see any blood either. And I don't see how a body could fit inside this box. The money wads are stack up to the ream. If there is a body inside, it has been there for days or weeks or months or years..."

Olwen waved a hand with a sour frown at the FDI agent. "Alright, get off the box. Get outta of the pool and get dried. We will call in the forensics team to handle the box and the money, first. Then they can find the body inside the box."

Some of the other FDI agents sounded with a series of boos.

Brock floated inside the water with a stunned face and a whisper, staring at the floating box and the FDI agents, "Where is Rosalina." He turned and dog paddled with a worried heart for her safety and slapped a hand on the top of the concrete edge of the pool.

Hufton leaned down and grabbed the arm of Brock, pulling the man upright from the pool water with a smile. "Good job, Brock! You find the personal stack of Latola. We can get him for money laundering."

Brock stood with a stern face, slapping off the water droplets from a wet face. "I don't think it is against the law to hide all your personal cash inside a swimming pool. But, I can't find Rosalina, anywhere around the pool or inside the house. Is the go-fast gone, too? I'm really worried about her."

"Yeah, we looked for that first. I guess Latola had another right hand man in the wing and gave the go-to boat to him, since he drove off with your borrowed sports car." Hufton frowned. "Well, join my club! I can't find Latola, anywhere. He has left the room, the house, the city, the state, and the USA by now.

Olwen moved and stood beside the nose profile of Brock. "Who is this girl named Rosalina?"

Brock turned and scanned the landscape with a worried brow, "The wife of Latola."

Hufton frowned. "Her name is Rosy."

Brock reached up and wiped the water from his hair roots with a stern face. "No, her real name is Rosalina Burns."

Hufton frowned. "You sound as if you know the wife of Latola."

Brock wiped off the water from the shirt. "I do. We both attended high school together in Alabama. She is from my home town of Brier."

Olwen frowned. "You're from Tampa."

Brock wiped out the water droplets from both arms. "I work in Tampa for my FDI job as a lawyer. I was reared in the tiny farm town of Brier."

Hufton frowned. "Rosalina lives here in Miami. Why is that?"

Brock slapped the wet trousers and wring off the water droplets with a stern face. "Her uncle moved here from Brier. He is a plastic surgeon with a private physician practice here also."

Olwen gasped. "And you are just now informing me with all this vital information, Brock."

Brock turned and gasped at Olwen. "I..."

Olwen gasped. "You knew the wife of Latola. The wife of Latola told him that you were a plant, a spy. For a month, Latola left the USA, setting up the cocaine shipment on the shoreline of the USA. Now, the wife and the husband are missing from the house and the city. They have fled from Miami and the USA with the boat information. Thus, there never was a day planner. They orchestrated a show boat for your eyeballs and your eardrums. I can't believe that you such an idiot, FDI agent Brock Norris. You have been taken to the dry cleaners. But, I bet that cocaine shipment is still scheduled to drop on our shoreline in the middle of the night, somewhere and some place." He jabbed a finger at the nose bridge of Brock with a sneer. "You compromised your identity on this assignment." Olwen fumed with angry. "You compromised the case, Brock. You are fired!"

"Hey," Brock leaned over and sneered into the nose profile of Olwen. "You can't fuckingly fire me right now, because I fucking-ass quit the FDI agency and this stupid-ass FDI assignment." He shifted side to side with folded fists, readying to punch Owl in the mouth.

Olwen lifted and hold open a palm with a sour frown. "Turn in your gun and your badge and your mobile telephone and the keys to the car and the hotel room."

Brock reached out and whipped out the mobile telephone and the other items that didn't belong to his person. The electronic circuits were drowned with wet water when he jumped into the pool, fully clothed. He handed the items with a laugh and a grin. "Here, you go! Latoilet stole the car."

Olwen accepted and stored all the items inside pockets over the vest and the trousers with a sneer. "Then, that stolen sports car is coming out of your first and numerous unemployment checks, staring tomorrow. Since, you will never find another job within the US Federal Government. I will follow that through to the end, personally. So, ya betta move back home with your mama in Brier, boy," he spun around with a sneer and moved back into the house, wrapping up the failed FDI assignment.

Hufton turned and frowned at Brock in silence, shaking a skull, and turned, following behind the butthole of Olwen.

Brock slowly stood with a worried heart and a worried brow, not caring about the job or the personal income. He didn't have a personal mobile telephone, either. The other one was a standard issue model from the FDI. But, he could contact Dickie Burns and tell him about Rosalina. Dickie and Brock would search Miami high and low for Rosalina until...

The male shoved an elbow into the shoulder blade of Brock.

Brock slowly moved forward from the FDI activity around the pool and the box of money with a set of heavy thoughts of Rosalina, moving through the lily garden, sniffing the pretty fragrances and stopped at the edge of the property line that overlooked the canal of Coral Gables. The go-fast boat was gone. The water below gently waved back and forth from the lack of boaters or paddlers.

Brock exhaled with a set of heavy worry, continuing to wipe off the accumulated water droplets that cling to the wet clothes, making him cold. He could hear the voices and commotions of the FDI team members inside the pool, turning to see the box. It was scratching over the smooth concrete of the pool, making a mess inside the beautiful flower garden that Latola had created to hide his money.

However, Brock didn't approve of destruction of other property that become to criminals or not. He could believe how the FDI team members treated other assets. But that didn't matter now, only figuring out where Rosalina was located.

Brock was clueless, except for one idea. Latola scared her away from the house, without a gun, but with his words. Rosalina was upset about everything and she had come back to the house and had seen an unconscious Brock. And Latola didn't kill Brock, either. Since Latola wanted a crazy wife out of the picture, so he was working out a swift escape from the USA. Drug smuggling was wrong but murdering a spouse would create an international investigation.

That had to be it, the only logical conclusion of Rosalina's disappearance.

Rosalina had dashed away from her house and entered into a house of a nice neighbor and the nice neighbor had called her uncle Dickie, without involving the local police. Brock could track down Dickie Burns after the FDI team left the house. He didn't have a mobile telephone and was wearing a set of wet clothes. Brock was afraid that the one of the nice neighbors might call the local police on a homeless wet man at the street corner and get his ass arrested.

Olwen of the FDI would not help with the money bail on Brock, either.

Yeah, it was for the best that Brock stuck around the boat hut until the FDI team retreated from the scene. Then he would walk to the closet store and find a pay telephone and contact the office of Dickie Burns. Dickie would assist him in finding Rosalina. She had to be somewhere around Miami.

Latola was a gay but smart man. He would not drag her ass across the ocean into a foreign country.

Brock back stepped for the edge of the cliff and turned to see the exterior of the pink tinted concrete boat hut. All the exterior windows had been shattered without a set of finger sized holes throughout the glass. He shook a skull at the vicious sight which probably had been done by the wild ass FDI agents, moving ahead to the closed door.

The door opened.

Brock stood inside the archway. The single room was a square shaped and empty, now. Last time, the room was filled with a set of boating gear, a row of racing helmets, a tub of life saving gear, and a rack of fishing poles. The walls were bare with a series of ugly and visually small and large scratches and plastic holes where equipment had been ripped off the paint. He moved ahead and stopped in front of the open archway. The sliding door had been left open by the last asshole that entered and stolen the go-fast boat.

The boat was usually anchored against the sandstone of the dirt along the cliff face with a set of hooks and cranks. Now, the go-fast boat was gone, too.

Brock reached over and grabbed the handle, gently shoving the door closed. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, falling out the elevated boat hut and down twenty feet into the canal of water below. A person might not be injured but a twenty-foot high drop was sting the body.

The door softly moaned without clicking in place.

Brock frowned down at the door. There was not a locking mechanism to secure the latch. He shoved the sliding door over to the side as it softly moaned, again. He stared down at the sliding door with a puzzled brow, wondering about the moaning sound from a metal door. Then, a moan echoed throughout the room. Brock released the handle and spun around to see the closed entrance door with a puzzled brow. Then a new moan echoed throughout the room. He turned and stared at the half counter which was empty, moving ahead and stopped in front of the counter, reaching out and touched the rough concrete with both hands. Then, another moan echoed throughout the room. He leaned over the long counter with a gasp and stood upright, back stepping and scooted around the counter, dropping on both kneecaps with a smile. "Rosalina, are you in here?" He reached out and touched her skull. Rosalina lifted a face with a black eye socket and a pair of bloody lips, where the man had punched her face. Brock leaned over and hugged her body with a smile of relieve and happiness, "You're live. I'm so relieved. I'm so happy. I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me. I am so that you're alive. I was looking for you..."

"Ugh, "Rosalina wiggled side to side inside the arm of Brock, wearing a cloth around bloody lips and a set of ropes around her wrists. Her wrists were tied around a back spine.

He sat back with a smile, reaching up and unfolded the cloth with a mod. "You're a little banged up. But that's okay. I am going to take care of you and the baby..."

"No, untie me, now." she growled with mouth spat of blood. "Where is my future ex-husband?"

He reached down and pulled out the switchblade, pressing the button. The sharp blade lifted into the air with a click. He stood on both kneecaps and leaned over her hair roots, cutting the ropes from her waist with a stern face. "Toye has left the country. He was a drug lord, Rosalina."

She gasped. "No."

He sat back with a stern face and a nod. "Yes, he was a drug lord. I was working for the FDI office as an undercover agent. I was going after Toye. I was trying to find out the date of the new cocaine shipment. I'm sorry. I don't want to blow my cover but did anyways. I don't want get your harm or hurt."

She rubbed both waists from the rope burns with a gasp at Brock. "You blew you cover for the FDI office for me."

He reached down and pulled out the shirt tail, ripping off the cotton strip and lifted the fabric, dubbing the wet blood from her lips with a chuckle and a smile. "Actually, I was fired from the FDI office over you."

She gasped. "Ouch! Why? What?"

He sat back and handed her the dry torn piece from the shirt tail with a stern face. "I didn't know that you were his wife until that first night, four weeks ago. I live and work in Tampa as a FDI lawyer, not a FDI field agent. I shore blow that one. Anyways, I was so shocked to see you. I didn't know that you have moved to Miami with your uncle Dickie. I mean I thought that you were living in Birmingham."

She wiped more blood from a face with pain. "He moved to Miami, right after my last day of law school. It was an overnight trip. I have been here for three years."

"Yeah! And then, you met Latoliet. I am so sorry to tell you this, but he used you twice."

She frowned, "Twice?"

"He was a drug lord, shipping independent boat loads of cocaine into the USA. And he was a gay man. That was why he didn't touch you on your wedding night or afterwards."

"I don't know that, either. I thought it was because of his mom. She died inside the operating room of the hospital. I was there only because he was an overprotective son. One of the other surgeons thought that my presence would calm his worry which turned into fury over the death of his mother. We kinda dated for a couple of weeks and then got married in a rush. I was single and never married. He was single and never married, also."

He frowned. "Well, I'm sorry about his mama. But he continued to be a very bad boy, still bringing in packages of cocaine that went to some of local high schools. The FDI agency had been watching him for two years but couldn't find the stash of cocaine. I guess you didn't see it any packages of white powder that wasn't face makeup."

"No. I worked at my uncles' business. My uncle Dickie would not let me quit. I mean I wanted to be a good housewife, but Uncle Dickie explained that he could not replace me so swiftly. He asked that I assume my regular role until he could hire another lawyer. '

"I don't believe your uncle was hiring another lawyer. I believe that you uncle feel that Toye was not what he seemed to be."

She exhaled. "I guess. I know, now. My uncle would keep me very late hours, so late at work that I had to set up a caterer company to order all the meals. I was gone from home from seven in the morning to six at night."

He nodded with a smile. "Your uncle is smart."

She gasped, "My uncle? We need to go and tell me all this before he sees on the television screen?"

Brock stood upright and leaned down, assisting and cuddled her into a chest with a smile. "I hope..." His eyeballs saw the second body over the floor in a puddle of blood and as he shoved Rosalina toward the door with a worried brow. "Get outta here, now, Rosalina! There's another body on the floor behind the second counter. I gotta survey it. It might be Latola. One of his men may a lord grab for leadership. That happens all the time to the reigning drug lord."

She slowed moved ahead and stopped, standing in place to see the door with a gasp. "I...I should identify the body, Bear."

He back stepped and turned with a stern face, scooting around the counter. "No, I can do that, too. The FDI team members are outside in your yard, killing the lilies."

She turned and moved to face the window, stopping and standing in front of the shattered glass, reaching up and touched the damaged glass with a sour frown and a gasp, "They are making a mess."

"A big mess, you should see the..." He stopped and stood over the body. The body was dead in a pool of blood. Brock had seen the face numerous times at the football games at the small town farm of Brier when her uncle Dickie drove Rosalina to the football game to see her twirl the baton. The elderly man was about fifty years old with a shade of graying head of light brown like his niece. Brock knelt and closed the eyelids for respect and whispered a silent prayer even thou Dickie had been dead for hours.

One of the men of Latola must have killed Dickie first, right before the FDI agents invaded the house. Then, the man stole the go-fast boat for a successful escape.

Brock was very sad but very relieved that it was not Rosalina. Now, he turned with a sad face to see her.

Rosalina watched the FDI agents run around the garden of lilies through the shattered window with a sour frown. "Do they...?"

"Not Latola, Rosalina! This dead man is..."

"No," she spun around and dashed into his arm.

Brock cuddled and shoved with his man strength, moving both of them toward the door, hearing her sobs, feeling the tears on his shirt. He whispered into her eardrum, "No, you don't want to see him like this. Please, try to remember the way he was. It is very hard. But, this is very bad..."

"My uncle...."

"I am so sorry, Rosalina."

"Everyone that I love dies," she sobs with tears.

He cuddled her with a smile and leaned down, kissing the top of her blonde hair roots, pulling back with a grin. "I am alive, not death, yet. I got an idea. Let's leave Miami and return back home to Brier. I don't have a job anymore in Tampa. You can sale or give away the physician practice to the other surgeons. Then, you and I can go home." He knelt down on one knee over the floor and held both her hands, looking up with a smile into her red colored face of sadness. "I know this is not the proper place and time. I love you, Rosalina. Please marry me? I would be the happiest man in the world, right now."

She sobbed with tears and knelt, leaning into his face. "This is so complex."

He laughed with a nod. "Naw, this is so easy. We both love each other, since high school. I should have told you back them. I dropped that girl named Fawn when I had to make a living. My daddy didn't leave me the farm or a livelihood. I had to go and make a living for myself. I did really pretty good within the FDI office. I was a lawyer, shoving paperwork for eight hours a day. I didn't love it. But, I don't like the field assignment when your loved ones could be harmed. And I don't like murdering other people or chasing after bad guys. Tomcat loves to do that within the FDA office, but he is different from me. What do you say, Rosalina? I can get a job as a lawyer somewhere in one of the cities near Brier. Then, you can stay home and be a housewife and a mother."

She smiled with tears of joy and sadness. "I can work, too. I am a lawyer..."

He smiled. "Naw, I do all the working..."

She nodded with a grin. "Think it! I am a lawyer, too. I can work, too. We could bring in two incomes and then we would have everything that we need or want."

"Naw, Rosalina, I would like for you to be a full time mother and stay home and raise our child..."

She smiled. "But, now days, all mothers work, too."

"Naw, Rosalina, I would like for you to be a full time mother and a housewife and stay home. I will bring home the bacon as they say." He smiled.

"But, we could make tons of money and buy a big house with a big back yard for our child."

"I don't care about a big house. I want us to have a little house."

"But, the money would get us a bigger house, and a bigger car, and a bigger back yard, Bear."

"I don't care about the money, getting us stuff. I only care about you and our baby being safe and happy within our little house and our little back yard and our used and safe car."

"Do you really want that for yourself, Bear? A big city has lots of offer two licensed lawyers with smarts."

"Yes! I really want you."

She smiled. "Yes! I really want you, too."

"Good! It is settled. We leave here and drive back to Brier. My old car is here at the hotel. My mother would be overjoyed to have you as a daughter-in-law and another grandchild. All her grandchildren are teenagers, now."

She frowned. "Really, your family would accept me?"

He smiled. "Only if..."

She frowned, "Only if, what?"

He laughed, "Only if, you're my wife and the mother of my child."

She laughed. "This is so easy. I want to marry you, too, Bear. I wanna go back home to Brier, also. I don't know if I would ever return back home to Brier, but I want a much more simply lifestyle."

He exhaled. "You will get one. I promise you that. I can't afford nothing right now. I have a small bank account that we can use and rent a one-bedroom apartment and then get a little residential house, later. I will get and take any job, at first. Then, I will get promoted quickly in the company. But, I will never afford a three story mansion like this or a fast boat over the water or a limousine..."

"I can..."

"Beg pardon?"

"My uncle Dickie is a very rich man. And I am his only heir. I actually own the physician practice, too. I will sell it away. Then, we can buy one of the farms there in Brier. I know there must be older families who have grown children that don't want to be farmers. But, I wanna be the wife of a farmer. And our child can go to Brier High..."

He frowned. "Uh! Brier High School closed down. But, there is a bigger and better high school. They win the football championship title, every year."

She nodded with a smile. "Then, our son will be another infamous kicker on the football team like his father."

He grinned. "Then, our daughter will be another pretty majorette in the marching band like her mother." Brock hugged her with a smile and a whisper, "My same dreams..."

She whispered with a smile into his eardrum. "My same wishes...."

He pulled back with a smile and leaned down, kissing her lips, pulling back with a wink and a smile. "Now, we go and tell the FDI agents where to stick their dicks." She pulled back with a frown in silence. He laughed. "Just follow me lead, sweetheart."

"My uncle?"

He stood upright and toted her inside both arms, leaning over, kissing her lips. "We will take care of the body after you come back from the hospital. We need to get passed the FDI team that is outside, messing up the garden of lilies. Okay, just mumble on queue."

She laughed, "Okay."

At 09:21 a.m. inside the back yard with a garden of lilies, Brock moved forward and stopped, standing in place and lifted a kneecap, kicking open the closed door of the boat hut, moving out into sunshine, cuddling Rosalina into his arms. Her face hid inside his chest with her new tears of sadness. Tragedy had stuck her biological family, again.

Her uncle Dickie had been murdered by her husband Toye Latola with a hand gun at close range into the chest cavity.

Brock was taking her car and driving Rosalina to the emergency room for her treatment of minor wounds.

Olwen swung a face with a sneer to see Brock, turning with a growl and moved ahead, stopping and block Norris with a snarl. "Why is your person still standing here at the house, Mr. Norris?

Rosalina mumbled inside his arms. Brock leaned an eardrum down into her black eye without hitting her face with a chuckle and looked up with a smile to see Olwen. "Actually, I am an invited guest here at the estate of Toye Latola."

He pointed at the female in the arms of Brock. "Who is that inside your arms?"

Rosalina mumbled inside his arms again. Brock leaned an eardrum down into her black eye without hitting her face with a chuckle and looked up with a smile to see Olwen. "Actually, I am holding the wife of Toye Latola, Rosalina Burns."

He motioned with a hand for some of the FDI agents with a sneer. 'Then, she is under arrest for conspiring with a drug lord on the soil of the USA."

Rosalina mumbled inside his arms again. Brock leaned an eardrum down into her black eye without hitting her face with a chuckle and looked up with a smile to see Olwen. "Actually, I want to see your court-ordered search warrant for the US federal legal search."

Olwen sneered. "We don't need a search warrant. She is the wife of a drug lord. She's under arrest."

Brock cuddled Rosalina with a smile to Olwen. "Actually, I am her lover. She is carrying our child. Thus, we will send the DNA test to your office, next week."

Olwen gasped. "What are you saying here, Bear?"

Brock smiled. "I am saying that I was her guest and her lover, not a spy for the FDI on my classmate from my old high school who is named Rosalina."

Hufton jabbed a finger and a sneer at the nose bridge of Brock. "You were the right hand man of Toye Latola. You killed me on top of a sandbar."

Brock smiled. "Thus, you breathe and talk, now. It was all fake and phony bologna, sir. The FDI agency tried to capture and contain Toye Latola."

Olwen growled. "It was a play fake felony that was performed on FDI agent Hufton. And I will have your ass arrested for obstruction of justice here, since Mr. Latola has completed disappeared and escaped from Miami, Brock Norris."

"Actually, I will have your job and the FDI agent paid for every piece of broke and busted item inside the house of my lover, Rosalina Burns until you can produce a court order search warrant. If not, it is a violation of the US constitution fourth amendment which prohibits an act of unlawful entrance into any home of a USA citizen. However, you cannot produce one. Because you do not possess a legal and federal ordered search warrant, you have entered into a private and personal residence without just cause."

Olwen gasped in alarm. "What!"

Bear sneered. "You should consult a lawyer before speaking any more untruths, FDI agent Olwen. Actually, please excuse us! We are leaving out from her home. I hope you got a good maid service to clean up this mess, before we return back here from the hospital. My future wife is pregnant," he cuddled Rosalina with a smile and moved ahead towards the interior of the house with a laugh while looking for the garage and a vehicle.
Present day and place

Friday January 14th

02:02 p.m.

City of Brier within US State of Alabama

(870 miles, north, from Miami, Florida)

Cold temperatures with bright sunshine and light breeze

Home of Brock and Rosalina Norris

Private office room setting of Rosalina

The door of the office door inside her home opened with a crash against the side wall of peach paint.

She continued to type on the desk computer at the office desk, updating the files and yelled with a smile. "I told you not to smash the door against the wall, dear. Mama doesn't like to punish her only child, but she is capability of doing it." She whispered for her eardrums only, "Never." She loved her son more than her life.

Her son was visiting the farm and his parents for the week, seeing the championship football game with his parents inside the living room, taking a short vacation from the work office. He and his father were hunting quail for suppertime tonight and enjoying some bit of father-son bonding time.

Twenty-seven years ago, she left behind the city of Miami, her law career, and the dead body of her Uncle Dickie, who had been cremated and then buried at the deep foot of an older palm tree at his former home in the city of Coral Gables within the US State of Florida.

Brock had driven Rosalina to the emergency room at the local Miami hospital for her minor injuries coming from her former husband Latola while ensuring the growing baby fetus was healthy. After two days inside a hospital room for observance and a discharge of good health, Rosalina came back to her personal home, burying her loving uncle, selling his physician practice to the other partners and both the two residential houses. After leaving Miami, she and Brock came back home to the little farm town of Brier within the US State of Alabama.

Brock and Rosalina had married as a newlywed couple a week later in a small private church ceremony at the Brier Church with all his blood relatives present, only.

Rosalina didn't have any additional blood relatives for the wedding ceremony.

Rosalina found her home town of Brier timeless and almost the same when she had left ten years earlier. There were some local retail businesses that had moved and closed down and some newer businesses that thrived. She had received a very large inheritance from her Uncle Dickie and additional monies from the two houses and the profitable physician practice, using her wealthy to purchase massive amounts of local farm land around Brier and beyond. Rosalina had never possessed vast qualities of money as a child until she had moved away from Brier. She wanted to give back to her small town. With buying the farm land from some of the older farmers that wanted to retire and enjoy the remaining days of their lives, Rosalina built an empire of cotton farms within Brier.

Rosalina had purchased some of the older and ruined buildings, developing a restaurant and a pharmacy store, and a grocery store. Each one of Brock nephews and cousins owned and operated the store, producing goods and services to the small town of Brier.

The Brierians had never been nasty or rude to Rosalina. It was her mom and her sister that abused their blood relative Rosalina. The Brierians welcomed Rosalina with open arms and sweet hugs as a returning native of Brier.

Every once in a while, some gossip would go back and forth about the mom of Rosalina. She ignored it. But, when the gossip started about the twin brothers of Nadean, Rosalina stopped it immediately. The brothers of Nadean had helped change the life of Rosalina, building her confidence, creating a wonderful marriage with her husband Brock. Rosalina was not going to listen to gossip about anyone, especially about the twin brothers of Nadean Garland.

Rosalina never ran into the twin brothers after graduating from high school. They were on the same campus with her, but she was busy with all her academic classes and studying her eyeballs out with tests and research papers.

However, she enjoyed being a mother first, giving birth eight months later to a son for her and her husband Brock.

Brock handled all the farms and the employees for the crop fields, working with the local famers and the local businesses, enjoying a wonderful life with his wife Rosalina and his son within small town Brier, too.

For the next busy twenty-seven years, Rosalina had raised her son and numerous crops of cotton with her husband Brock.

Her son Brock Norris, Junior didn't inherit a nickname like his biological father. He was called Brock by everyone, since all the other older natives of Brier continued to call his father by the nickname of Bear, which came from the elementary school setting by his school mate Teague Haywood.

Brock Norris, Junior attended Brier High School and played on the football team as a kicker also. Then he attended and graduated from both Birmingham University and Birmingham State University becoming a licensed lawyer like both his parents also. He started a solo private law office within the metro city of Huntsville after graduating and accepting his set of biological parents as his first legal law client. Brock, Junior had built his personal law practice into one secretary and two other licensed lawyers, slowly accumulating a set of new clients.

Currently, he had taken a week of vacation to see his parents and visit his blood relatives during the national championship game like the rest of the great State of Alabama.

The tall and bulky blonde haired, pale skinned male, Brock, Junior stood inside the archway of the office with a sad face of rolling tears, staring down at the long hair of light blonde, light brown, and partial gray hair roots of his mother Rosalina. "OT Sims is dead."

Rosalina lifted up both hands from the keyboard of the computer and stood upright from the chair, back stepping from the office desk and spun around with a concerned brow to see her son Brock, Junior. "I know that, honey. We all saw the football game and heard the terrible news on the television..."

"No!" He exhaled. "You don't understand, Mom. He was kinda like my new client."

She gasped. "How is that possible, Brock? OT Sims was only a college student in college, playing football for a college team."

Brock, Junior looked down with a sad face at his mobile telephone and up to see her worried brow. "OT Sims is the nephew of my biggest client at my law firm. The client is Orion and Orion Industries."

She gasped with a nod. "O my goodness! I have heard of Orion and Orion Industries. The anonymous and mysterious owners are two billionaires. I didn't know that they were a client of ours. Why didn't you tell me, honey?"

He frowned. "Client and lawyer privilege, Mom."

She nodded with a stern face. "Yes, yes, of course, I am so sorry. That information is very privileged. Please forgive me!"

He exhaled with a nod. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore. I guess I can tell you the whole story. OT Sims was going to graduate in the month of May with a doctoral degree in business from Burn U. Then he was going to be drafted, probably, as the number one draft pick into the Professional Football League as a linebacker. I was going to handle his short-termed professional football career, also. He was only going to stay with the Professional Football League for a couple of years and then planned to go into law school like his mother. OT had been accepted into Bam U, also."

She smiled. "OT Sims was a very smart kid."

He nodded with a smile "Yes, OT Sims was a very nice and well-mannered and highly intelligent man like his two uncles. I met OT a few times with his uncles, who own Orion and Orion Industries."

She frowned. "I am so sorry, Brock. That was a great opportunity for your business and your private law practice. Will the uncles of Orion and Orion Industries pull out all their legal business from your firm?"

He exhaled. "No. They have been with me for almost three years, now."

She gasped. "How have the two billionaires of Orion and Orion Industries been with your private law firm for three years, now? You started your law firm three years ago. You dad and I, we were your first legal client..."

"Thanks for that too, Mom! You helped get me up and started as a real lawyer." He smiled with a nod. "Orion and Orion Industries was my second client."

She gasped with a nod and a smile. "How did you acquire their legal business?"

"They actually saw my name on my new office door in Huntsville and came through the door with a set of smiles and handshakes. They explained that they were looking for a new lawyer."

She gasped. "How much legal business do you provide for Orion and Orion Industries?"

He frowned, "Mom!"

She flipped a hand with a smile and a nod. "I am so sorry, honey. I am so impression, Brock. You have Orion and Orion Industries as a legal law client. They are very picky from what I have heard and read on the mysterious owners. What do they look like? What do they act like?"

He nodded with a stern face. "Yes, they are very private. Yes, they cherish their privacy and isolation from the rest of the world. No, I will not gossip about my client, Mom."

She exhaled with a grin. "I am so sorry, again, honey. It is just amazing that I know someone that knows the mystery owners of Orion and Orion Industries. I respect all your clients and your business privacy. I can't magic the workload with a client like that. Do you need some free help? I don't mean that I wanna meet your client. I meant that I'm old lawyer and I can assist you here. I worry now that you are responsible for some much work with such a large client. They are an international company."

He looked down with a puzzled brow at the mobile telephone and up to see Rosalina. "Yes, Orion and Orion Industries is an international company. They have hundreds of lawyers for different specialties. I'm just one fish in the great big pond of legal law for them. And I admit that I get some of the easier legal stuff that I can handle with my limited experience as a novice lawyer. It is almost like my client is assisting me also to learn and grow within my field of law while helping my law firm grew, too. Anyways, my law office is open today. My staff came back from vacation to check up on all my clients. I'm boss, so I got another day off. However, I have learned that Orion and Orion Industries have called and asked me to execute the estate of a native of Brier..."

"What!" She frowned. "Wait! Are you asking me for help? Or are you asking me for information?"

He smiled, "Actually, both! I would like your assistance here, since the deceased is a native of Brier."

She frowned. "Yes, honey, I can help you with that. Who is the person? I have been away from my home town of Brier for about ten years when I had lived in Miami. So, the person could be an elderly individual that I might not know. Anyways, you and I can go and visit the family today or maybe tomorrow."

Brock Norris/Bear appeared and stood beside his son with a red colored sad face and a set of tears, saying with a soft timber. "Lina..."

Rosalina Norris had truncated part of her first name down to 'Lina.' She didn't want to be reminded of all her personal loss here in Brier and there in Miami. After returning back home to Brier, she felt like a mature and different woman rather than the shy and timid Rosalina Burns. So, she shortened her name to 'Lina.' And the 'Rosa' part reminded her of the nickname Rosy from her drug lord husband Latola. She had filed and received an annulment from the justice court and the church preacher, after she had learned of the real reputation and the occupation of Latola Lorenzo Lopez as an illegal drug lord.

The current husband and drug lord Mr. Latola had fled the beach city of Miami that day and returned back to his native country of South America. However, the US Federal government and all the US Federal agencies were watching along the shotgun of Brock and her Brock's eyeballs for Latola to reappear within the USA.

Rosalina turned and smiled at her husband. "Yes, Bear!"

Brock softly said with a set of new tears. "Tomcat is dead."

She gasped. "What! What does that mean? Our old high school classmate Teague Haywood is dead. How? Why? Who? When?" She turned and gasped at her son, "Brock, is that estate property of the deceased for someone named Teague Haywood, who was a native of Brier? Is that your new client?"

He shook a skull. "No, the estate is for a deceased woman named Nadean Garland."

She gasped with a set of tears. "What! Nadean has died."

Bear gently moved ahead and huddled Rosalina with a whisper and a sad face. "Yes, both Tomcat and Duchess are dead."

She wiped the tears with a sad heart and a sad face, cuddling with her husband. "What happened? I don't understand. I have not seen or heard from Nadean in years. I...I don't know where she was living."

Brock, Junior moved ahead and stood in front of his parents with a puzzled brow. "Nadean Orion Garland is the biological mother OT Sims. She was murdered by a man named Duff Loyce. She died peacefully inside the Birmingham Hospital on January the twelfth."

She gasped. "What! Why was she murdered?"

Bear exhaled and wiped off the tears of sadness, too. "I...I just saw Bobcat. He and his wife Otter are here in Brier, now. He told me the whole story which no one else knows about. And no one else will ever know about but us and Bobcat."

"What are you talking about? What whole story, Bear?" She wiped off the tears with a gasp and a puzzled brow to see Brock and Bear. "Wait! Nadean is the biological mother of OT Sims. And OT Sims is the nephew of the owners of Orion and Orion Industries. That means that her twin brothers Vester and Vassar are the owners of Orion and Orion Industries. I can't believe this."

Brock, Junior gasped. "Do you know them, Mom?"

She wiped the tears with a nod. "Yes, yes, we all went to high school here in Brier. Vester and Vassar are natives of Brier and a few years younger than us. This is so horrible and terrible and tragic. What happened to Nadean and Tomcat? How did they die?"

Bear slowly spun around and faced the archway with a soft timber and a face of tears. "We have to go..."

She wiped the tears and cuddled her husband with love. "Where are we going? The funeral, yes, we are going to the funeral. I need to dress first. I'm only wearing my jeans and a sweater."

Bear cuddled her and slowly moved ahead to the archway with a soft timber and a face of tears. "You don't need to change outta of your jeans, Lina. There is a helicopter on our lawn, waiting for us."

She wiped the tears with a gasp. "A helicopter has landed here on our lawn."

Brock Norris, Junior spun around from his mom and moved through the archway with a smile and a nod, heading through the house towards the front lawn, where a helicopter could land on top of the frozen ground. "Mom, you are going to be awed. Your high school friends, who are the real owners of Orion and Orion Industries, live on top of a mountain peak that lies at the foot of Appalachian Mountain range right below the outskirts of metro city Birmingham. I have been up there in the clouds and near the sun on a few business meetings. I met OT with his uncles there. It is very beautiful. So, the funeral is there. Wow, this is surreal." He looked down with a stern face to see the mobile telephone. "And I also have been invited to come with ya'll to visit Vester and Vassar on top of their mountain peak, today."

02:33 p.m.

Kisla Mountain peak

(111 miles, south, from Brier)

Picnic table setting

Cold temperatures of wintertime

White snow with bright sunshine and endless blue sky

The winds soared from the southwest at three miles per hour on top of the mountain peak home of the twin brother Vassar and Vester during the beautiful sunny winter day. Last night, the gray tinted clouds had released a new shower of snowflakes, sparkling like diamonds and covered the hard red clay soil and dead brown grass. The helicopter transported Rosalina, her husband Brock, and their only child Brock, Junior from their house in Brier to the mountain peak.

The helicopter door slid open by another member of the copter crew. Rosalina and Brock appeared inside the archway and slowly climbed down from the lip of the copter and stood upright on top of the melted white snowflakes and dead brown grass, where the helicopter had arrived before.

Vassar and Vester stood in front of a wooden picnic table near an ancient tree, wearing a pair of gloves, a fur hat, a fur coat, and a pair of sunglasses from the blinding bright daylight in the middle of January wintertime hosting the permanent memorial of the two deceased person while feeling pain, love, sadness, happiness, and selfishness. In front of the ancient tree, there stood a new fully bloomed rose bush in pink tint in the winter weather.

Vassar moved ahead with a hand wave to Rosalina and Brock coming from the picnic bench and stopped, wearing half a bandaged face to see the older married couple, "Rosalina and Bear, thank you so much for coming."

Rosalina had been provided with a brown tinted fur assemble that included a fur coat, a fur hat, a pair of fur gloves, and a pair of sunglasses from the bright sunshine while keeping her body warm from the swift winter winds on top of a mountain peak near the metro city of Birmingham. She continued to whip off the frozen tears from a red colored sad face and spoke with a meek voice to Vassar. "Thank you for inviting us! I..."

"I understand." Vassar exhaled with a puff of white breath from the winter weather. "It is hard to voice your mixed emotional feelings at a time like this. I invite you to pay your respects to Nadean and Teague today. And I wanted to tell you, Rosalina, that Nadean always talked about you like a sister, who shared some many adventures together. The two bodies were cremated together with the permission of his biological daughter and his two biological parents, of course. Now, the two piles of burnt gray tint ash bits of Nadean and Teague are covered with the roots of the new rose bush within the hard red clay soil and over the white snow. Each night, the colored rose bush would die by midnight from the twenty-three degreed cold weather here on top of a mountain peak. But, that is okay. Vester and I will continue to replace the rose bush every day until the appearance of springtime weather again. Then, the next implanted rose bush will thrive and survive until wintertime again. This is our permanent memorial for our loved ones."

Brock smiled at the tree and the rose bush. "It is both a beautiful and long-lasting memorial. Tomcat is pleased." Rosalina nodded with more sad tears in silence, reaching out and gently patting the furry arm of Vassar with a fake smile and a set of sobs. He released her arm and nudged her towards the tree first. "Go on and say something to Duchess!" She nodded in silence and slowly strolled toward the ancient tree with a sad face.

Brock moved ahead with Vassar over the shallow white snow towards the edge of the mountain peak and stopped, staring with a smile into the awesome work of Almighty God.

Vassar stopped beside Brock and admired the rental landscape that was God's property. Brock gasped. "Wow! This mountain peak and this landscape is...is too beautiful for words to describe. I am so sorry to head the terrible news about your nephew OT also."

He exhaled with a huff of sadness, staring ahead into the bright sun, wearing the pair of sunglasses to cover up the red eyeballs also. "Thank you, Bear! OT has been buried near his father, who lives in Palmton, Florida."

Brock exhaled with a huff of frustration and stared at the landscape and the blue sky. "I was watching the national championship game at home on the television inside my living room. I hear the gunshot ring out from the loud wild standing audience. I recognized that sound immediately. I couldn't believe the terrible outcome that produced two deaths on a football field," he exhaled. "I can't believe that Tomcat is really dead. He...he was so full of life and hope and happiness."

He smiled at the landscape of trees. "I believe within my heart that Nadean, Teague, and OT are all happy together now. We must learn to continue our lives without them for a while."

Brock nodded with a sad face, "Yeah," he back stepped away from the cliff, extending a gloved hand to Vassar. Vassar turned and accepted the handshake, releasing it in silence. Brock exhaled with a fake smile and a generous heart, "Thanks for allowing us to visit Tom and Duchess, Vassar. Please tell your twin brother Vester that from the both of us too."

He smiled. "I will."

Brock exhaled with a stern face. "I wanted to ask you something."

He nodded. "Go ahead!"

Brock nodded with a stern face. "This is both a personal observation and a personal question."

"Yes, please ask."

Brock exhaled. "Why does your mama Jadean talk really funny? I don't mean to be rude but she..."

"She is partially deaf in both of her eardrums, since a young child. She has a problem with her diction and her proper pronunciation with each vowels and specifically her chosen words that are terribly vocalized."

Brock nodded with a stern face. "All right! I am sorry for asking. I feel embarrassed now."

He exhaled. "Don't feel embarrassed, Brock! I had to be informed with the shared knowledge by my smarter twin brother also."

Brock slightly smiled. "Well, I'm going to say my good bye to Tomcat and Duchess now and console my wife Lina. She was a little in shock about the terrible news from her close friend."

He frowned. "I completely understand."

Brock moved ahead and stopped, standing a few feet from the back spine on Rosalina with a stern face of sadness and prayer for their souls in heaven.

At 02:44 p.m. in front of the tall oak tree, Rosalina slowly strolled over the sparkling snowflakes with a sad face and wiped off the frozen tears from the set of red and chapped cheekbones, stopping and stood in front of the ancient oak tree, reaching out with a smile and touched the carving of the childish design into the brown bark of the ancient tree directly underneath a frozen pink tinted rose bush from the cold wintertime air temperatures.

Tomcat loves Duchess

One of her brothers had lovingly curved the individual letter with a hunting knife and then surrounded the proper sentence structure with an outline of a loving heart with a single arrow tip running down through the middle for the new pair of love angels.

She exhaled with a huff of sadness and looked down a smile at the pretty pink frozen colored rosebud, kneeling in the snow, reaching out with the glove and gently touched the frozen pink petals. It was the month of January with cold temperatures and rays of bright sunshine on top of the mountain peak. However, the air was freezing all the delicate rosebuds into a beautiful fossilized plant. She looked down at the soil with a sad face, learning that the set of burnt ashes of Nadean and Teague were resting down there together. She frowned with a whisper while talking to the frozen rose bush. "Nadean, I'm so mad at you. I heard the terrible story about the evil banker that kidnapped you for money to win from the fixed football game. Then he cut your ankle and wrist ankles that killed you. And you had lived and survived inside a cold garage space built for a car, not a person to pay for the college education of your son. Why didn't you call me? I offered to help you so many times, before we left law school. I know what it was like to be poor and hungry and lonely.

"I remembered at law school when you were working these odd jobs for pennies to eat and pay for heat. We would meet at the picnic table for a lunch meal and gossip. You talked about Teague all the time. And then we would see him with Zeeta...okay...Zita." She laughed. "Or we saw Tomcat with Bear around the college campus. I would slip money into your purse as it sat next to my leg. You never said anything. I never say anything either. It was a secret hint that I could help you, Nadean. I wanted to help you. My uncle had given me a chance to become more than an alcoholic person like my terrible pitiful mother and my more terrible and more pitiful sister also."

She wiped the frozen crust of tears from a red colored and frozen face. "I can't believe this. My tears are all frozen from the cold arctic wind up here, Nadean. I'm so happy as an adult. You are to blame, Nadean. I blame you for my happiness. I blame me for your death. I feel so sad, Nadean. You are a kind, funny, and thoughtful person. You are supposed to succeed in life with your smarts, your heart, and your ambition. Well, you did. You birthed a son, who was famous for a few years and brought a lot of good into the world also. But, I know that you are in heaven now. I am so sorry about the death of your son too. I watched OT Sims play football for years and years on the television screen. But, I always thought that the other woman was his true mother, who sat beside his biological father Winfred Sims. OT always stood with his father and that woman. Well, you were always secretive and sneaky one, Nadean. Yes, I know you. Yes, I know your heart. Yes, I know that you had always loved Teague, also. And Teague had always loved you," she wiped off the tears with a deep sigh and a smile.

"Finally, you and Teague are together, now. You and Teague deserve each other, even in heaven. I love you, Nadean. You were the sister that I never have but enjoyed during the fun and sad parts of my longer life. Say hello for me to my uncle Dickie, my sister Berta, and my mom Birdie for me! I wish you eternal peace, girlfriend. Goodbye, Nadean!" Rosalina slowly stood upright from the snow and back stepped away from the oak tree and the frozen pink tinted rose bush, wiping off the frozen tears of sadness from a red colored face into the open arms of her husband Brock.

He cuddled her with a set of tears and a whisper of sadness for his childhood friend also, "Bye, Tomcat and Duchess! I wish both of you much happiness together in heaven."

Rosalina exhaled with a face of tears and a sad whisper. "I'm so sad and confused and dizzy and cold and..."

He whispered down into her wet face. "I feel those same emotions too. We'll come and visit whenever you want."

Rosalina exhaled with a huff of confused emotions and a loud whisper of fury. "No! Nadean is up there in heaven with my mother, my sister, and my uncle. I can talk to her at anything, since she is an angel now. I wanna leave from here now. I don't wanna come back ever."

His eyeballs stared at the frozen rose bush and as he sighed. "I feel the same way. I love you, Lina."

She whispered with more mixed feeling of happiness with her family and sadness for her childhood friend. "I love you, too, Bear."

They slowly spun around and cuddled together in the cold weather with a frozen face of sad tears, slowly strolling back towards Vassar while appreciating their life together as a happily married couple until it was their time to leave Planet Earth.

Vassar thumbed back over a collar bone with a smile and a bandaged face at the powered helicopter on top of the dead grass. "The pilot is ready, if you don't wanna stay for a plate of hot food. The helicopter will take both of you back home to Brier. If you want to visit Nadean and Teague, I will send a helicopter any time of day, night, evening, dusk, or dawn. There is always someone here on top of our mountain paradise. And you are always invited and welcomed to stay for as long as you would like also. There are many extra bedrooms here on our mountain home."

Rosalina shook a furry hat that covered her short blonde colored curls but not a wounded sad heart coming from the death of her closest friend, who now permanently lived on top of a cold mountain peak. She continued to slowly move ahead with her husband Brock and a face of running snot toward an open door and the set of rotating blades on the gray colored helicopter in silence. They stepped up and loaded back down onto the rear leather seat in the flying machine, exhibiting a set of soft sobs and numerous tears of sadness.

Their biological son Brock, Junior had decided to stay on top of the mountain peak and conduct a set of legal business transaction with Vassar regarding the estate of his client deceased and dead Teague Haywood. Then, the same helicopter would come back to the mountain and return Brock, Junior back home to the city of Huntsville, like always, where he had first met with the Orion twins.

The helicopter door slid shut with a loud boom. Then the helicopter lifted up into the air from the dead grass on top of the mountain peak and fly away towards the small town of Brier into the bright sunshine.

THE END
