Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 29
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Yawning, Jerry scratched his bare belly as he poured water into the 
coffee maker. Once the pot was empty, he slipped it onto the heater 
pad and turned on the brewer. Turning away, he wandered over to 
the cabinet where he had his breakfast foods and looked it over 
trying to decide what to cook. He grabbed the pancake mix.

The coffee was finished by the time that he had finished preparing 
the batter. He poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table drinking 
it. Bill wandered out of his bedroom and poured a cup for himself. 
Sitting at the table, he yawned and then said, "Good morning."

"Morning," replied Jerry. 

The pair of them sat enjoying the first cup of coffee of the 
morning. Jerry finished his and said, "Time to get started on the 
pancakes."

Bill yawned before getting up and going over to the cabinet to get 
the plates. A companionable silence settled on the room, as the two 
of them went through the process of preparing breakfast. Jerry 
made the pancakes while Bill set the table. Glancing over at the 
table, Jerry said, "There's three of us now."

"Shit, I forgot," grumbled Bill as he got another table setting.

"Well, it looks like we have someone that can help with the dishes 
from now on," commented Jerry with a smile. Now that there were 
three of them in the house, the work could be distributed a little 
better. 

"Right, when pigs fly," replied Bill. He knew the princess wasn't 
going to do a thing around the house.

"No deadwood allowed in this house," replied Jerry as he stirred 
the batter. 

Looking like a picture out of a fashion magazine, Melissa breezed 
into the kitchen wearing a pair of pink silk pajamas and a matching 
silk robe. She froze on seeing her father and Bill, taking in their 
attire. She shouted, "Gross."

Jerry turned to look at her trying to figure out what had disturbed 
her. It was hard not to notice the outfit she was wearing. It 
probably cost as much as his entire wardrobe. He asked, "What?"

"You guys are in your boxers! That's disgusting," commented the 
girl.

Bill put a hand on the waist of his boxers and replied, "I can take 
them off if that would make you feel better."

"Oh God, you are sick," commented Melissa as she frowned at her 
brother with an expression of disgust on her face.

Jerry and Bill laughed at her reaction. The big man turned back to 
the pancakes that were finished cooking on the frying pan and 
piled them on a plate. He poured more batter on the frying pan and, 
once finished with that, turned to face Melissa. He said, "This is 
my house and it is run according to my rules."

"And if I choose not to live by your rules?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you that you won't like it," commented 
the big man. He didn't know what he would do, but he was sure 
that Sharon could provide lots of ideas.

Melissa said, "You are just going to have to learn how to treat a 
lady."

"Grow up, Mel. There's no one to impress here," replied Bill. 

"There's coffee in the coffee pot," offered Jerry hoping that once 
she got some coffee into her that she would be a little less edgy. A 
stray thought flitted through his mind that she was going to have to 
learn how to act like a lady before she would get treated like a 
lady.

She noticed Bill taking a sip of his coffee and frowned. Putting her 
hand on her hip, she declared, "He's too young to be drinking 
coffee."

"Why? It's got the same amount of caffeine as a soft drink and 
none of the sugar," countered Jerry.

Bill smiled and took another sip of his coffee as he watched his 
sister struggle to come up with something to counter the argument. 
A half dozen expressions crossed her face before she gave up and 
went over to the coffeepot. Taking one of the cups from beside the 
pot, she filled it with coffee. Once her cup was filled, she asked, 
"Where's the cream?"

"Milk is in the fridge," answered Jerry as he added more pancakes 
onto the pile already on the plate. 

"Milk? Are you kidding?" She turned to look at her father, unable 
to believe the kind of conditions under which he expected her to 
live. Her room was the size of the closet she had at her 
grandmother's house. The house was decrepit and unfit for human 
occupation. The neighborhood was dangerous. 

Bill gave his father a look that conveyed exactly what he thought 
of his sister. Looking at her, he waved his arms like the robot in 
Lost in Space as he said, "Warning! Warning! Princess in the 
room."

"Oh, shut up," retorted Melissa. She took a sip of her coffee and 
frowned as she realized it wasn't the gourmet coffee that her 
grandmother served.

"Hey, none of that stuff in this household. You'll act in a respectful 
manner towards each other," interrupted Jerry. He looked at both 
kids to make sure that he had their attention and then went back to 
pouring the last of the batter onto the frying pan.

"So what do you do around here?" asked Melissa.

"Mondays are dad's day off. We have a hot breakfast, work on the 
car in the morning, and then spend the afternoon doing something 
together," answered Bill. He wondered if the program was going to 
change much with Melissa moving into the house. 

In a voice that suggested how lame she thought their day would be, 
she said, "I hope the rest of the week isn't that exciting."

Bill let her sarcasm slide off his back as he replied, "Well, 
Thursdays are kind of busy."

Jerry came over to the table carrying the plate full of pancakes and 
set it down on the table. Stepping back, he said, "Breakfast is 
ready."

He sat at the table and started to load up his plate. Bill followed 
suit, piling three of the pancakes on his plate. The males of the 
household were busy putting margarine and syrup on their 
flapjacks before Melissa had even sat at the table. She stood in 
place staring at the two of them for a full minute. Finally, she 
asked, "Aren't you going to wait for me to sit at the table?"

"Why?" asked Jerry as he cut off a piece of the pancake with the 
edge of his fork.

"Haven't you ever heard of a thing called manners?" asked 
Melissa. Men were supposed to stand around the table until the 
woman seated herself. 

Bill looked up at his sister and shook his head as he recalled how 
things had been when he lived with his mother. He wasn't allowed 
to eat until they both showed up at the table. Usually that meant the 
food was cold by the time his sister seated herself at the table. He 
answered, "Lighten up. This is breakfast and I'm going to eat it 
before it gets cold."

Melissa flounced into her chair and pouted at their treatment of 
her. This was intolerable. She said, "Pass the pancakes."

"They're right in front of you," observed Bill as he pushed the 
margarine in her direction. He watched his father push the maple 
syrup in her direction as well.

"Oh! All right!" she exclaimed as she pulled the plate closer. She 
raised an eyebrow on seeing the margarine and the fake syrup, but 
didn't bother to comment. It followed that if they didn't have cream 
for coffee, they wouldn't use real butter and maple syrup.

Jerry got up and fetched the coffeepot. Returning to the table, he 
refilled his cup, topped off Bill's cup in response to a nod from the 
boy, and gestured to Melissa to see if she wanted more. She 
ignored him as she would a servant. He returned the pot to the 
brewer and then went back to the table. Sitting down, he took a sip 
of his coffee before turning his attention to the pancakes.

When Jerry finished his stack of pancakes, he sat back and 
watched the kids eating. Bill was attacking his food with his 
normal healthy appetite. Melissa was picking at the pancakes as 
though she expected to find bugs in them. After taking a sip of his 
coffee, he asked, "What would you guys like to do this afternoon?"

"How about a movie?" asked Bill.

"Shopping," answered Melissa.

Bill looked over at his sister and replied, "Wednesday we do the 
grocery shopping."

"I wasn't talking about groceries," replied Melissa.

Jerry said, "That reminds me. Now that you're living here, I guess 
I'm responsible for setting your allowance. How does twenty a 
week sound?"

Melissa stared at Jerry as if he had grown horns. She was in 
absolute shock at the paltry amount of money he had suggested. In 
a very serious voice, she said, "Add a zero to that and you'll be 
close to the allowance I've been getting since I was twelve."

Shocked at her attempt to fool his father into giving her a larger 
allowance, Bill looked at Melissa and said, "Mom was only giving 
us five dollars a week."

"That was your allowance. My allowance was a hundred and fifty."

"That's not fair," charged Bill as his eyes turned wet. Even though 
he knew that his mother had treated him horribly, it still shocked 
him to learn just how inequitable his treatment had been.

"You're a boy and if you needed more, then you should have gone 
out and earned it. I'm girl and different rules apply," retorted 
Melissa.

Jerry had listened to the exchange speechless. He believed her 
when she said what her allowance had been. There was no way 
that he was going to give her more money than he took for the 
week. He said, "This is an equal opportunity household. Everyone 
gets the same pay for the same work. Right now, the going rate is 
twenty a week."

Bill smiled as Melissa stared at her father in shock. She asked, 
"Are you serious?"

"Very," replied Jerry, as he looked her in the eye to let her know 
just how serious he was about the matter. There was no way she 
was getting an allowance bigger than that.

She stood up to face Jerry; her arms hung down by her sides with 
her hands clenched into fists. Her face was livid with raw hatred 
for Jerry. Picking up her breakfast plate, she threw it at him and 
stormed out of the room. The plate caromed off Jerry's face, hitting 
him edge on, to land on the floor where it shattered into three large 
pieces and several smaller ones. Jerry stood up in surprise and 
winced when he heard her bedroom door slam. 

Bill stood and asked, "Are you okay, dad?"

Rubbing his cheekbone to ease the throbbing, Jerry answered, "I'm 
fine. The plate hit my cheekbone."

"Dad, she's dangerous," said Bill remembering how she had treated 
him in the past. The fact was that she terrified him and he didn't 
want to be left in the house alone with her. 

Jerry looked down at the floor taking in the broken plate. When 
Bill went to pick it up, he said, "Leave it there. She won't eat until 
she cleans up the mess she made."

"You're asking for trouble," said Bill with a worried look on his 
face.

"I won't be held hostage by a woman ever again," stated Jerry with 
grim determination. His face softened as he looked over at Bill and 
added, "I'll talk to Henry about taking you in for a few days while 
Melissa and I come to an understanding. I don't think you should 
be left alone with her."

"I agree one hundred percent on not being alone with her. Can't 
you put her in a home or something?" asked Bill staring in the 
direction of her bedroom door.

"Nope, I can't do that," replied Jerry. He didn't know what the law 
was about situations in which children assaulted their parents, but 
he doubted that it worked in the favor of the parents. 

After lunch, the pair left the house after trying to get Melissa to 
clean up the mess she had made in the kitchen. She had refused 
even after Jerry threatened to leave her in house while they went to 
the movies. The discussion had been difficult as she wouldn't open 
her bedroom door and Jerry respected her privacy by not charging 
into her room. The frequent sounds of things hitting the door made 
Jerry glad that it was closed.

Jerry returned from spending the afternoon at the movies with Bill 
and his friends. When Woody learned that Melissa had moved in 
with them, he offered to let Bill spend the night at his house for a 
couple of nights. Woody's parents didn't have a problem with that, 
so Jerry had left Bill with Woody. He was confident that the boy 
was in good hands and far safer than he would have been at home. 

Jerry stepped into the house and looked in the kitchen. The broken 
plate and the remains of her pancakes were still on the floor. 
Melissa appeared to be in her room, but he wasn't going to open 
the door to find out for sure. He didn't have to knock, the door flew 
open as she threw herself at him waving a kitchen knife. It was 
dumb luck that the knife struck his cast. It was a terrifying minute 
before he was able to grab the weapon and wrestle it away from 
her. She continued to attack him. Throwing her across the room, he 
shouted, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

She stood up and took a deep breath as she faced him from across 
the room. Angry, she shouted, "I thought you were one of the 
niggers come to rape me!"

"What?" He asked his question in an attempt to understand what 
she was saying. 

"A nigger came to the door this morning and asked for Bill. Now 
that they know a white woman is in the neighborhood, they're 
gonna rape me. All those niggers want is to rape white girls," she 
shouted. She had spent the entire day huddled in her room 
clutching the knife convinced that a horde of angry blacks was 
coming to rape her.

"Jesus, you're just like your mother," swore Jerry in disgust.

"Don't try to make me feel better," she countered, not realizing that 
his comment wasn't a compliment. She spat, "You brought me here 
just so that you could torture me."

Staring at the floor, Jerry was at a loss concerning what he could 
do with her. If she had attacked any of the kids in the 
neighborhood, they'd have killed her. He had no doubts about that. 
He asked, "What did you tell Abe?"

"Who's Abe?"

"The young man that asked for Bill," answered Jerry afraid of what 
he was going to learn.

"I told the nigger to get the hell away from here," she answered. 
She nodded her head to emphasize just how correctly she had 
acted. 

Jerry said, "He's one of Bill's best friends."

"So?" she asked while looking at him with a puzzled expression. 
She couldn't imagine that anyone would want a black friend, it just 
wasn't done. As far as she was concerned, she had done Bill a 
favor by chasing the boy away.

The complete lack of control over her actions reminded Jerry of 
Lenny in the book that had bothered Bill and him so much not that 
long ago. She was going to destroy their dreams and not even 
know what she was doing until everything came tumbling down 
around her. He wanted to shake her awake, but knew it would do 
no good.  

Jerry bent down and picked the knife off the floor. It was the 
largest kitchen knife that they had. Examining the blade, he noticed 
the drop of red at then very tip of it. He looked down at his cast 
and saw the puncture through the cast material. He swore, "You 
stabbed me."

"Well, it was your own fault," she charged. If he hadn't left her 
there all alone, she wouldn't have had to defend herself. She said, 
"I'm hungry."

There weren't many things that she could have said that would 
have surprised Jerry at that point. He said, "You didn't clean up the 
mess you made in the kitchen."

"I'm not your maid. Get your crack whore girl friend to clean it 
up," she replied. 

Opening the door, Jerry said, "Come with me."

"No."

"Okay, you can stay here, but you're going to be here all alone 
when it gets dark."

The threat worked and Melissa followed her father out to his car. 
She climbed into the passenger side after realizing that he wasn't 
going to open the door for her. Once she was in the car, Jerry drove 
off to the hospital. He didn't know how bad he had been cut. Even 
if it was a pinprick, the fact that he couldn't clean the wound 
through the cast concerned him. He had septicemia and pneumonia 
already this year as a result of getting shot. The last thing he 
needed was some flesh eating disease working on him under his 
cast.

As he drove, he pondered his situation finding it bleak. In her first 
full day at the house, she had assaulted him twice. His face under 
his eye was swollen and had turned an ugly purple color from the 
plate she had thrown at him. Now he had been stabbed through his 
cast. He asked, "Aren't you even the least bit upset about having 
stabbed me?"

"No. Why should I? It was your fault," she replied. She sat in the 
car with her legs tightly crossed and her arms rigidly folded around 
her chest. Whenever he made a turn in the car, she fell over. Each 
time she fell over, she glared at her father for not driving in a 
suitably smooth manner.

They reached the hospital and all was going well until he told the 
admissions nurse that he had been stabbed. Suddenly the police 
were present and he was being questioned about the circumstances 
under which he had been stabbed. When it became clear that 
Melissa was going to be taken away, Jerry fumbled with his cell 
phone and called his attorney. 

The nurse took him to one of the treatment rooms where they 
removed the cast to get access to his cut. The cut was a minor 
puncture that required two stitches to close. As the doctor was 
stitching him up, his attorney came into the treatment room and 
said, "They are prepared to take her to juvie for the night, although 
they are considering sending her to the psycho ward for 
observation."

"Why?" 

"She was verbally abusive to one of the black police officers and 
appears to have no remorse for her actions."

His brow furrowed as he considered the kinds of things that she 
would say to a black police officer. Considering the kinds of 
comments that she had made over the past twenty-four hours, he 
was sure that her words had been less than acceptable. He asked, 
"Why weren't you able to get her to shut up?"

"I wasn't there. Her attorney was present during questioning, but 
she ignored his advice. Apparently, she felt that if she explained 
the circumstances to a real police officer that they would 
understand why she stabbed you. Cutting her allowance justified 
striking you with the plate and a young black man knocking on the 
door was a definite threat against her life. She stabbed you because 
you were endangering her." 

Tony felt sorry for Melissa's attorney. He had done everything to 
protect his client, but she was totally oblivious to what she had 
confessed. From everything that he had heard, the girl was a 
sociopath. 

Jerry winced as the doctor finished tying off the second stitch. 
Jerry said, "She's just like her mother. The only one that she is 
concerned about is herself."

"I knew you were getting a problem, I just didn't realize how much 
of a problem," said the lawyer. 

Jerry watched as the doctor wrapped his wound. Looking up at his 
attorney, he asked, "What can I do?"

"Not much that you can do. You are responsible for her until she is 
eighteen. That's another year and a half. I hate to tell you that she's 
going to cost you a fortune between now and then."

"Why?"

"This little episode will cost you a couple of thousand dollars by 
the time everything is totaled," replied Tony. 

The cast was soon replaced and Jerry was sent on his way. As he 
left the treatment area, a policeman and his ex-wife's attorney met 
him. Looking from one to the other, he didn't like the expressions 
on their faces. The attorney broke the silence, "I've been fired."

The officer said, "She threatened to kill you if you took her back to 
your house."

"I'm her father and can't throw her out on the street. I can't move 
just because she's not happy there," said Jerry.

"We are going to have take her to the juvenile hall and let a judge 
figure this one out," stated the cop. He didn't like these kinds of 
calls. He added, "I know you're her father, but you have to 
understand that some of these kids really mean these threats 
against their parents."

Jerry stepped out of Jenny's house wearing his new suit purchased 
at a chain that specialized in clothes for large and tall men. He felt 
better about his appearance then ever in his life. It was perfectly 
tailored. They had even modified the coat so that he could wear it 
over his cast while still looking sharp. 

Jenny locked the door behind him and turned to look at him. 
Licking her lips, she said, "If we didn't have to pick up your kids 
and go to the funeral, I'd drag you back into the house and have my 
way with you."

A large grin crossed his face as he replied, "You'd drag me?"

"Okay, I'd strip naked and entice you back into the house," she 
teased. 

"I wouldn't want you to expose yourself like that to the neighbors. 
You'd only have to promise to get undressed to entice me back into 
the house," admitted Jerry with a lecherous grin.

"And why wouldn't you want me to expose myself like that?" she 
said with a pout and acting as though she were hurt.

Jerry winked as he answered, "All of the old men would have heart 
attacks from seeing such loveliness and I'd have to fight off the 
young men wanting to ravish you. It's not that I mind protecting 
you from those young men, but the idea of all those poor widows 
just breaks my heart."

Jenny laughed and grabbed his good arm. She pressed her body 
against him with a sigh and said, "We can't have that."

She took the bag with the black dress for Melissa from him as they 
made their way to her car. They were taking her car since it would 
be a little easier for the four of them to get into and out of than his 
Camaro. Jerry held the door open for her, appreciating the view as 
her black dress rode up her legs when she entered the car. She 
caught him looking and smiled when he blushed. She giggled and 
said, "You're so cute when you blush."

It always unnerved Jerry when she made comments like that. He 
just shuffled for a moment not knowing how to respond. He 
realized he looked pretty stupid standing beside the car holding the 
door open and closed it with a little more energy than he had 
intended. When he finally settled into the driver's seat, he looked 
over at Jenny thinking how good she looked. With a sigh, he said, 
"I don't know why I'm going to this thing."

"You're doing it for your daughter," replied Jenny patiently. They'd 
had this conversation several times. It bothered her that he wasn't 
too thrilled about attending the funeral for the sake of his daughter. 
The idea that he didn't really love his daughter upset her 
tremendously. Of course, she had been shocked to learn that his 
daughter had stabbed him and had no remorse about having done 
it. She loved her dad and couldn't imagine why Jerry's daughter 
didn't love him.

"I guess."

Jerry started the car and headed to the juvenile facility to reclaim 
his daughter from the legal system. They were releasing her back 
into his custody. The judge had accepted her lawyer's argument 
that she was upset about the death of her grandmother and not 
entirely in control of herself. The judge had ordered her kept in the 
juvenile hall until the morning of the funeral as a warning of what 
she could expect if she didn't learn to control herself and to attend 
group counseling so that she could come to grips with her grief. 

As he drove, he thought about what he could expect for the next 
year and a half. The future didn't appear very bright. With a frown, 
he asked, "Could you take in Bill for a couple of days? I really 
don't trust her to be around him."

"You talk about her as if she is an ax murderer."

Jerry took a deep breath and slowly released it. In a quiet voice, he 
said, "Don't judge me too harshly, but I think she is a psychopath."

Shocked that a father would say something like that about his own 
daughter, Jenny stared at him speechless. It was a full minute 
before she was able to reply, "That's a horrible thing to say about 
your daughter."

"Never mind," replied Jerry. 

The rest of the drive was made in silence, but Jerry kept glancing 
at Jenny. She stared out the passenger window wondering if she 
had been mistaken in her assessment about the character of the 
man beside her. How could a man say such things about his own 
daughter? The relationship between a father and a daughter was a 
special one. His words tarnished that relationship for all fathers 
and daughters.

Jerry pulled into a parking spot outside the facility and turned off 
the engine. He asked, "Do you want to come in?"

Coming to a decision that she should protect the daughter from the 
father, she answered in a tight voice, "Of course."

Jerry held the door open for her and watched as she got out of the 
car. This time, there was no sexy show of legs. Clutching the bag 
with the black dress for Melissa, Jenny walked beside Jerry 
without holding his hand. When they reached the door, he held it 
open for her and she passed through without comment. Jerry 
watched her walk past thinking that his daughter had just cost him 
his relationship with the woman he loved. All he wanted to do was 
run away and cry.

Jenny sat in a chair leaving several empty chairs between her and 
Jerry. She was fuming at the idea of a father calling his daughter a 
psychopath. After waiting for ten minutes, Jerry stood and paced 
around the small waiting room for his daughter. Finally the door 
opened and his daughter stepped out. For one second, the two of 
them just stared at each other. He hadn't seen her without makeup 
in six years and she had never seen him in a suit. He noticed the 
black eye and wondered what had happened to her.

He stepped towards her as he said, "Hello, Melissa. What 
happened to your face?"

Her face contorted as she shouted, "You fucking gorilla. It's all 
your fault that I was here."

"My fault?" asked Jerry not entirely surprised by her comment. 

"You shouldn't have told that bitch of a nurse that you were 
stabbed."

"But I was stabbed," countered Jerry.

Melissa put her hands on her hips and shouted, "So what? They put 
me in jail! You should have lied or bribed the judge. Mom is right! 
You are a poor excuse for a man. A real man would have kept me 
out of jail."

He stared at her thinking back to that night. She had stabbed him. 
She had insulted the black police officer. She had ignored the 
advice of her lawyer and practically forced the police to take her 
away. Giving up, Jerry said, "I brought a black dress for you. Why 
don't you go into the ladies room and put it on?"

"So you brought a black dress for me to wear. Oh my, I'm 
speechless. Why would I want to wear a black dress?" 

Melissa hated wearing black. With her pale features, black clothes 
made her look like a Goth girl and, as far as she was concerned, 
nobody that had any taste wanted to be seen looking like that. 
Besides, black was such a depressing color. 

"To go to your grandmother's funeral?"

Jenny had watched the exchange in shock at the behavior of the 
daughter. She was willing to give Melissa the benefit of the doubt 
until the young woman replied, "I'm not going. I'd rather go home 
and soak in a hot bath."

"It's your grandmother's funeral," said Jerry with an expression on 
his face that conveyed his dismay at her total lack of any kind of 
emotional commitment to the woman that had taken care of her for 
the past year. 

"Look, she's dead. She doesn't care if I go or not," she answered 
looking at him with an expression challenging him to come up 
with a counter argument. She wasn't kidding about not wanting to 
go to the funeral. 

Unable to control herself, Jenny exclaimed, "I'm so sorry that I 
doubted you."

Knowing that he would hate himself for what he was about to say, 
Jerry took a deep breath and then said, "Your mother will be 
there."
