The Second Deoublewide on the Right, part 14

I’m Fixin’ To present part 14 of The Second Doublewide on the Right:

So when Reverend Ricky Lee Jones departed Marthalene’s Beauty Shop and stepped out into the parking lost of the little strip mall in Apt-To-Miss, not only did he have a fresh haircut, he also had a fresh case of lust in his heart. He became inspired and decided he might even make lusting-in-your heart the subject of his sermon on Sunday, tell the truth about it, tell the truth about it like President Jimmy Carter had, and not lie about it like that other president had done.

Down past the beauty shop, at Granny’s Kitchen, Candy Sue Collins was in her element, serving up hot and scrumptious lunches to hungry folks. It seemed she had finally found a little peace and happiness, doing what she liked to do, and making a little money at it.

But it hadn’t always been this way. She had been married once, back when she was a size five, which she knew she wasn’t anymore. She remembered the divorce had been final about five years ago, back when she had turned 30 years old. A short time after the divorce her ex had been transferred all the way to Michigan, by the chain restaurant he worked for, and she had been one happy girl. But now he was back in Georgia, fired and broke, and the no-good son-of-a-gun had started hitting her up for money, and stalking her.

Candy Sue had had second thoughts, but she had gone ahead and loaned him $500, just to get him to go away. But that didn’t happen. He was back at her trailer in Shady Grove the next week wanting more. She had refused to give him another dime and slammed her trailer door in his face. That’s when all the crap had begun to happen.

The next morning her two rear tires were flatter than pancakes, and she had to walk from her trailer to her restaurant. It wasn’t very far, just about five minutes, but it was windy and rainy and by the time she got there she was damp and aggravated.

A few days later she discover her debit card number had been stolen and her bank account cleaned out, and she had to write a bad check to pay for the supplies for her little restaurant.

On top of all that she began to realize the man was following her wherever she went and calling her cell phone every hour or so. When she answered he hung up, and when she let it go to message he called her dirty names.

When he started parking his car in the parking lot at Granny’s Kitchen and watching who went in and out, Candy Sue decided she needed some help. She didn’t have a daddy or any brothers to go to, so she had decided to go to the law.

Her ex was following her the day she had pulled into the parking lot of the Ocmulgee County Sheriff’s Office. “Go ahead and follow me on inside,” she said to herself. But he only slowed down before he continued on down the road after she had offered an obscene gesture in his direction.

Candy Sue glanced around after she had entered the lobby of the sheriff’s office. She noticed the walls were covered with awards, banners and badges from a lot of different law enforcement agencies. There were two rows of molded plastic chairs in the middle of the room that were bolted to the floor. Beyond the chairs she observed two formidable appearing metal doors, one on the right and the other on the rear wall.

She looked further to the left and discovered a window with what looked like a heavy glass covering, but also had a little round grill in the center of it which she supposed was used to speak to someone behind the window.

As she approached it she discovered what she had supposed to be true, because through the glass she could see someone in a uniform and was glad when she got close enough to see the person was a female.

When she got up close to the window a voice from within said, “Can I help you, ma’am?”

Candy Sue hadn’t thought about what she was going to say, but after a moment of groping for words she timidly said, “I was wondering if I could talk to somebody about somebody that’s been following me?”

She realized she wasn’t speaking loud enough to be heard, but evidently the officer behind the glass could read lips because she had told her to have a seat and someone would be with her in shortly.

She took the last seat closest to the front door because she wasn’t sure how long she was going to wait. About 10 minutes later she heard the metallic clicking of the door in the rear of the room open and observed a uniformed officer escorting and a very skinny and pale young man through it. By the extreme look of relief on his face she figured he was just getting out of jail.

She was still watching the ex-prisoner as he jubilantly exited the front door, and hadn’t heard the door on the side and behind her open, but she did begin to feel a presence behind her.

As she turned toward the presence she heard a deep and clear voice say, “Hello, I’m Deputy Sheriff James Earl Murphy. Is there something I can be fixin’ to do for you ma/am?”