Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 31
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

For the first ten days after the divorce, Melissa had sat in the house 
in a state of numb shock. She ate when told to eat, slept when told 
to sleep, and stared at the wall the rest of the time. With just a few 
words from her mother, she had gone from princess to trash that 
had been thrown away. She couldn't wrap her mind around the 
enormity of it all.

Jerry had stayed in the house every night since Melissa was 
terrified of staying in the house alone, particularly at night. 
However, he couldn't remain trapped in the house forever. She had 
to start taking care of herself. That evening, he announced that he 
was going over to Henry's house with Bill. It was Friday night and 
they had work to do. 

The choice between staying at home alone and going out in the 
neighborhood terrified Melissa. Only a little less afraid of being 
out in the neighborhood with her father, she followed Jerry and 
Bill out of the house. It was the first time in ten days that she had 
stepped outside.

It was dark by the time she followed them down a driveway to a 
detached wood garage behind a house several blocks from where 
they lived. Even after the little time she had spent in the 
neighborhood, she recognized that this house was in better shape 
than those around it were. Ruining the image of a nice house with a 
white picket fence were several extension cords running out from 
the house to the garage. 

When he saw his friend, Jerry waved and called out, "Hello Henry. 
We're here to finish the fountain."

Stepping out from behind the fountain, Henry replied, "Good to 
see you. I was wondering if you'd make it tonight."

When Henry had stepped out, Melissa had her first look at the big 
man. She swallowed heavily taking in his size. He was the biggest 
black man that she had ever seen. She couldn't believe it when her 
father said, "Good to see you. We figured that a little runt like you 
wouldn't be able to load it in the truck without some help."

Henry noticed Melissa peeking around from behind her father. 
Knowing the answer, he asked, "That your daughter?"

"Yes," answered Jerry as he stepped away so that Henry could see 
her better.

"Is she the one that called my girlfriend a nigger?"

Jerry didn't answer, but looked over at Melissa to see her reaction. 
He and Henry had talked about that incident in depth. Henry was 
angry, but Sharon had calmed him down about it. He understood 
that Melissa's statements didn't reflect how Jerry felt about the 
people around him. He had even laughed when he heard that Jerry 
had given Sharon permission to slap the kid.

Trembling in fear, she stared at the black man. She had known that 
her father was a big man, but having been around him that fact had 
not truly registered. Looking at Henry, she realized just how 
frightening it was to look at a big man who was angry. In a very 
weak voice, she answered, "I don't know who your girlfriend is."

"It's Sharon," interjected Bill as he watched his sister squirm under 
the glare from Henry. 

"Oh, I guess I did," answered Melissa as she covered her mouth 
with her hand. She made a mental note to never make that guy mad 
at her. Judging by the look on his face, she realized it was too late. 
She swallowed when Henry flexed his arm muscles.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to someone," commented 
Henry, his gruff voice rumbling from the garage. He narrowed his 
eyes as he looked over the young woman. She was attractive in a 
white middleclass cheerleader sort of way. He knew that the kids 
in this area would eat her up and spit her out for saying something 
like that to one of them. 

"I guess not."

"You guess?" bellowed Henry. He took a couple of steps closer to 
her and then asked, "Don't you know?"

Standing to the side, Bill smiled as he watched his terrified sister 
stare at Henry like a bird in front of a cobra. Jerry stepped out of 
the way so that she was facing Henry directly. Bill took a little 
pleasure out of seeing his sister realize that her father wasn't going 
to rescue her. 

Melissa, nearly scared enough to wet her panties, answered, "I 
know. It was a horrible thing to say to her."

"Have you apologized to her?" asked Henry with a glare. He 
placed his hands on his hips and spread his legs shoulder wide. The 
pose only made him look larger and the muscles bulge out even 
more.

Licking her lips nervously, she answered, "Not yet."

"What are you waiting for?"

The question took her by surprise and, without thinking, she 
answered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to her," corrected Henry. 
Shaking his head, he made a growling sound.

"I will," she replied.

"It had better be a good one. Can't be friends with you until you 
become friends with my future wife. You don't want me as an 
enemy," growled Henry. The animalistic nature of his voice 
conveyed a greater threat than the content of his message.

She stared at him unable to believe anyone could be that huge. It 
wasn't that he was all that tall, although he was. It was that he was 
broad with muscles that seemed to be built on top of muscles. Two 
average men could stand side by side and only begin to match him. 

Her gaze shifted from Henry to her father. It was at that moment 
that she realized her father was the same size. Growing up around 
her father had made her oblivious to his size other than as a source 
of insult. Only now did she understand that if her father had ever 
really lost his temper with her mother, she would have been 
snapped in two like a toothpick. 

Bill stood off to the side watching the look on his sister's face. She 
had that look on her face that indicated she was seeing a big man 
for the first time in her life. Moving over to Henry, Bill asked, 
"Are we going to finish this thing tonight?"

"You bet. Got to get some money to pay for the wedding," 
answered Henry with a smile. His easy conversational tone of 
voice when talking with Bill contrasted sharply with the tone of 
voice used with Melissa. Putting a friendly hand on the boy's 
shoulder, he led Bill over to the fountain. 

Melissa watched as Bill walked next to Henry without a concern in 
the world. Bill wasn't quite the same boy that he had been the night 
his mother had taken the baseball bat to him. She saw that he had 
grown. In fact, she realized that he was now bigger than most of 
the guys in her grade. Unable to help herself, she muttered, "Damn, 
he's going to be as big as the gorilla."

Jerry looked down at Melissa and asked, "As big as whom?"

"You," answered Melissa.

"Ah, so I'm still the gorilla in your mind," commented Jerry 
shaking his head. He wondered how long it would be before she 
ever called him dad. 

"I don't know what else to call you," countered Melissa. Her whole 
life, her mother and she had referred to him as 'the gorilla' and now 
she didn't know what else to call him.

"You could call me, dad or father," suggested Jerry barely showing 
any surprise that she didn't know any other way to refer to him.

'Dad' sounded too friendly and Melissa wasn't sure that she wanted 
to be that close to Jerry. That left 'father' as her other choice. She 
tried it on, "Okay, father."

Jerry grinned and said, "That's nice."

Melissa didn't know if she liked it or not. Life had thrown her a 
few curves over the past ten days and she was still trying to 
recover her balance. She had lost her grandmother, but that hadn't 
really bothered her as much as learning how little her mother cared 
about her. She had thought that they were the best friends in the 
world. She had wanted to be just like her mother in every way. 
After her recent experience, she wasn't sure that was such a good 
goal.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice Jerry enter the garage. When she 
finally pulled herself together, she watched as the three males 
discussed the lighting fixture for the waterfall. When Henry moved 
out of the way, she saw what they had been working on for the first 
time. She froze in place as she stared at it. Stepping forward, she 
asked, "Where did you get that?"

Looking over a Melissa, Jerry answered, "Bill and Henry made this 
one. It'll be done as soon as they finish wiring the light fixture."

Mouth open, she asked, "Do you know how much that is worth?"

Chuckling, Henry answered, "This one is worth exactly eight 
thousand dollars retail and four thousand from the factory."

With a surprised look on her face at the fact that he knew how 
much it was, she said, "Bonnie's parents got one a couple months 
ago. It cost them sixteen thousand dollars."

Henry asked, "Did it have a copper center overlaid with gold leaf?"

"Yes," she answered confused by the fact that he knew exactly 
what her friend's parents had purchased. She had gone over to their 
house and stared at it in envy the night they had it installed on their 
living room wall. She had told her grandmother about it and they 
had gone out and ordered one that same day. 

Bill said, "That was the third one that Henry and Dad built."

The announcement staggered Melissa, shocking her beyond 
anything that she had seen or heard over the past few weeks. Those 
wall-mounted waterfalls were rapidly becoming the hottest items 
in town and 'the gorilla' was one of the artists behind them. It didn't 
make sense to her.

Henry ran a hand over the wood and said, "I do the woodwork. 
Jerry and Bill do the metalwork. This is Bill's first."

She stepped closer and examined the dimpled copper plate that 
hung down the center and the polished wood frame. It was a work 
of art. Her brother had done that? It was hard to believe that her 
little brother had made that gorgeous piece of art. Confused, she 
said, "Wow. It's really pretty."

Grinning at the unexpected compliment, Bill said, "Thanks. I'm 
still learning about metalwork. Dad's are usually more complex, 
but he can't do much until he gets the cast off."

Deciding that she was going to show off her knowledge about 
these wall waterfalls, Melissa said, "Grandmother ordered one by 
the Sharjen Company. I understand that they are the best artists 
when it comes to these things. Do you know anything about their 
work?"

Surprised, Jerry burst out laughing while Henry chuckled and 
turned his back to Melissa. As the laughter overwhelmed him, 
Jerry had to sit down on the floor as tears ran down his face. The 
grin plastered on Bill's face was so large that it actually hurt. 
Wondering if she was smart enough to figure it out on her own, 
Bill answered, "The two guys that own Sharjen named the 
company after their girlfriends, Sharon and Jenny."

Confused by their reaction to her question, Melissa barely listened 
to Bill's answer. After a minute, she realized that there was 
something familiar about the names he had mentioned. It took her 
another minute to realize that Sharon was Henry's girlfriend and 
Jenny was her father's girlfriend. Mouth open, she asked, "You 
don't mean?"

Nodding in appreciation of the cosmic joke, Bill said, "Yep. 
Grandmother ordered this one."

Henry, trying to stifle a laugh, croaked, "Oh, the irony."

"Who said that God didn't have a sense of humor?" asked Jerry as 
he held his side. He had a stitch from laughing too hard. Tears 
were running down his face as he gave himself over to the humor 
of the situation.

It took almost a half an hour for the three men to collect 
themselves enough to continue working on wiring the lighting 
system. After Bill finished soldering the wires, he stepped back 
and announced, "It's done."

Henry plugged in the cord. He watched as the lights came on and 
the water started to run down the face of the copper plate. The 
waved pattern of the central dimpled copper plate broke the flow 
of water into an intricate array of droplets that caught the light and 
reflected it. From the catch pool at the bottom, the sound of drops 
hitting the water gave forth the sound of a spring shower. 

Bill stepped back and looked at the results of all his hard work. 
With a smile plastered on his face, he said, "Yes."

Jerry put his hand on his son's shoulder and said, "You did a good 
job, Bill."

It wasn't possible for Bill to stand up any straighter than he could, 
but he felt as though he had grown a foot from his dad's praise. 
Henry, arms folded across his chest, rocked back and, smiling, 
said, "Outstanding."

Looking down at his feet, Bill replied, "Thanks."

Melissa had been sitting off to the side well out of the way 
working men. She was thinking about how her life had changed 
over the course of the past two weeks. Her grandmother had died, 
she had moved into a slum, angered all of the neighbors, spent two 
nights in jail, been abandoned by her mother, and had discovered 
that her father and brother had talents that no one had suspected. 
She looked over at the finished product. There were no doubts that 
it was a major work of art. 

Unplugging the cord powering the waterfall, Henry said, "All 
we've got to do is wrap it for shipping. Tomorrow, I'll take it down 
to the store and deliver it."

Squatting down, Bill reached under the base of the wooden frame 
and turned the knob that would allow the water in the catch basin 
to drain into a plastic bucket. While the water drained, he picked 
up a towel and started drying the interior of the fountain. With a 
critical eye, he examined the surface of the copper looking for any 
scratches or other imperfections in the varnish that would allow the 
metal to oxidize. 

Jerry fetched the roll of masking tape while Henry cut some 
cardboard to make pads for the corners. As Henry worked, he said, 
"Melissa. Why don't you go in the house and get us some cokes?"

The neatness of his house was not the first or the last surprise of 
the night. The conversation among the three men flowed as they 
discussed their goals. She listened to the talk, surprised by the 
kinds of things they thought were important. Perhaps the most 
surprising thing she observed was their obvious pride in their 
work. 

Melissa sat on the futon watching a television show while Bill and 
Abe were in the backyard clearing the trash from behind the house. 
The program was lame and she was bored out of her mind. She had 
done all of her assigned chores, hating them as she had performed 
what was expected of her. The only reason she had done them was 
to the break the monotony of sitting around the house. 

Bored, she went to the back window and watched the two boys 
working. They had their shirts off as they attacked the tall grass 
with a pair of weed-whackers. A couple of the neighborhood girls 
were watching them. They were posed and putting on a major 
display of their bodies to the teenage boys. The boys had noticed, 
but kept to their task feeling that it showed off their muscles 
without being too obvious. They knew that the girls would wait for 
them to finish.

Melissa could see the girls lips move as they made comments 
about the broad shoulders of the two boys. It was clear that the 
boys were enjoying the attention being given them. She couldn't 
believe how the girls were basically throwing themselves at the 
boys and was tempted to go outside in order to tell them to run 
along.

Sitting around the house all day was boring. She couldn't afford to 
go shopping and didn't have transportation to go to a movie. Since 
she had moved here, she couldn't even visit her friends. There was 
no way that she was going to have one of them come to this 
neighborhood. She'd never survive the humiliation of having them 
see where she lived.

She glanced out the window at the girls again. She snorted as she 
realized that at least they were doing something to occupy their 
time. It was better to be out teasing the boys than to stand by a 
window watching them. She crossed her arms and frowned when 
she realized the girls weren't teasing the boys - they were making 
promises. 

A knock on the front door interrupted her thoughts. She answered 
the door to find Henry standing there with a large smile on his 
face. The smile faded as he looked at her. He asked, "Is Bill here?"

"He's in the back with Abe," answered Melissa wondering what the 
big man would want with her brother.

"Ah, thanks," replied the big man as he turned and headed around 
the corner of the house. 

Curious about his reason for stopping by, Melissa followed Henry 
around to the back of the house. The two girls that had been 
watching the boys suddenly stood up. They looked around with 
guilty expressions on their faces when they noticed Henry enter the 
backyard. Henry stopped and looked at the two girls. He greeted 
them, "Hello girls."

"Hello sir."

"Are you behaving yourselves?" asked Henry as he looked from 
one girl to the other.

Melissa couldn't believe how respectful the girls were of Henry. 
She didn't know anything of the neighborhood dynamics or the 
important role that he had in it. The boys had stopped working and 
turned to greet Henry. Abe grinned when Bill nudged him in the 
side and whispered, "Let's hear you call him shit head."

Abe whispered back, "They aren't married yet."

Oblivious to the conversation taking place between the boys, the 
girls, transfixed in place, were practically wilting under the 
unwavering gaze of Henry. Together, they answered, "Yes, sir. 
We've been good."

Henry relaxed a little and said, "I'm glad to hear that. Your mothers 
would really be upset if you got knocked up."

Abe, realizing that his plans for that afternoon had just been 
thwarted, exclaimed, "Hey!"

Even Bill had been expecting a little fun that afternoon. The 
younger girl, Shauna, had mentioned something about how fun it 
might be to try adding a little white meat to her diet. He wasn't 
naive enough to think it was anything other than a promise of sex. 
He said, "We weren't going to do anything."

Turning to give the two boys a glare, Henry added, "And I'd hate to 
have to pull the heads off of those two boys."

Melissa stared at her brother realizing that he would have been 
having sex with one of those girls later that afternoon if Henry 
hadn't stopped by. She stared at her brother wondering what a girl 
would see in him. 

The boys looked down at the ground knowing that anything they 
said would only get them into trouble. The girls shifted 
uncomfortably for a minute before the older one said, "I guess we 
had better be going home."

Henry smiled as he said, "That might be a good idea."

Abe and Bill called out, "Good bye."

The girls smiled at the boys, frowned when they saw the look 
Henry gave them, and then replied, "We'll see you around."

When the girls had left, Henry went over to the boys and said, 
"You two are way too young to be fathers. I bet neither one of you 
have any kind of protection."

Bill didn't have any condoms. He hadn't even thought of getting 
condoms. He looked over at Abe and could see from the 
expression on his friend's face that his friend hadn't thought about 
it either. The boys shuffled their feet and wouldn't look at the big 
man.

Henry said, "I can tell by the looks on your faces that I'm right."

Bill argued, "We wouldn't have done anything."

"You forget that I grew up in this neighborhood. It's summer time 
and you don't have to go to school. All of the adults are gone and 
you kids get bored with nothing to do. Then one day you discover 
that sex is free. It doesn't cost you anything to climb on top of 
some pretty girl. She's just as bored as you are and getting laid 
breaks up the day quite nicely. The next thing you know, a quarter 
of the girls around here are pregnant," commented Henry as he 
shook his head. He wondered how many of the girls would become 
trapped in this neighborhood because of unwanted pregnancies. 

Abe looked down at the ground and said, "But everyone else is 
doing it."

"Boy, you know better than that," countered Henry.

"I know. It's just that I… You know," explained Abe. He was 
young and horny. It seemed like the only thing on his mind most of 
the time were girls. 

Glancing over at the boys, Henry chuckled as he recalled his 
summers when he was their age. He had walked around with an 
erection almost all of the time. There was only one thing on his 
mind and that was sex. He replied, "I know exactly what you 
mean. I was your age once."

Not realizing that Melissa was watching, Bill asked, "So if we get 
some rubbers? Could I, you know?"

Henry was silent for a minute and then nodded. It was not worth 
the effort to keep them from the girls since they'd ignore him the 
first time that one of the girls lifted her shirt. He said, "I'll talk to 
your father about getting some rubbers for you."

From behind him, Melissa shouted, "You can't be serious!"

Not having noticed that she had followed him, Henry turned to 
face Melissa and looked at her for a minute. He set aside his anger 
at her for the moment and replied, "Yes, I am serious."

Melissa stamped her foot and said, "You can't turn these boys 
loose with permission to have sex with sluts!"

It was a difficult topic to discuss with the daughter of his best 
friend, but she was making it necessary. Henry said, "If these two 
boys use proper protection, they just might keep a couple of girls 
from getting pregnant. Maybe some of the other boys in the 
neighborhood might get the hint and use protection as well."

Abe looked over at Bill and wiggled his eyebrows. He was happy 
about the direction the conversation had taken. He whispered, 
"Hey, it's okay with him if we get laid."

Melissa argued, "They are minors! You can't tell them that it's 
okay to have sex. People are supposed to wait until they are 
married before they have sex."

Shaking his head, Henry didn't bother to answer her. She was 
clueless about real life, particularly in a poor neighborhood. 
Instead, he turned to Bill and said, "I delivered the waterfall after 
work."

That Henry would stop by to tell him that he had delivered the 
waterfall puzzled Bill, so he shrugged his shoulders and offered, 
"Good."

Smiling at the obvious confusion of the young man, Henry held out 
a check. With a smile in his voice, he said, "Payday."

"Payday?"

"This check is yours," said the large man waving it around in front 
of Bill.

Bill reached out and grabbed the check. With wide eyes, he read 
the amount written on it. Looking up at Henry, he asked, "Is this 
all for me?"

"Yes it is," replied Henry with a chuckle. The disappointment from 
having the girls chased off had been replaced by an excitement of 
another kind.

Abe asked, "How much is it?"

"It's almost sixteen hundred dollars," replied the boy excitedly. A 
large grin spread over his face as he added, "This is more than 
enough to get the car painted."

Henry said, "Jenny took out taxes and everything. It's a real 
paycheck, Bill."

"This is so cool."

Melissa heard the exchange and stared at her little brother. Several 
things didn't make sense to her. The first was that he had been 
surprised to see the check, thinking that he should have expected to 
be paid for his work. The second was that the amount was so large. 
There was no way that her brother should have been able to earn 
that much money. The third was that he was planning on spending 
it on the junk car that sat in front of the house.

Bill seemed lost in thought for a minute and then said, "I guess I'll 
have to put this in my savings account."

"That would be a good idea," answered Henry, pleased that the boy 
wasn't thinking of blowing the money on records and clothes. 

Stepping forward, Melissa said, "I'll take that into the house for 
you."

"No you won't," replied Bill in a very harsh tone of voice. He 
wouldn't trust her with a penny much less a check worth that much 
money. He excused himself from the others and ran into the house 
to put the check in a safe place.

Abe watched his friend beat a hasty retreat and said, "That's a 
pretty good paycheck."

Looking over at his future son, Henry said, "Yes it is. Mine was 
the same size."

At the expression of curiosity on Abe's face, Henry added, "I'm 
using it to take your mother on our honeymoon."

"You're taking her on a honeymoon? Where are you going?"

With a grin, Henry said, "We're driving down to New Orleans."

Abe rubbed his hands together in excitement and said, "I've always 
wanted to go there."

"You ain't going."

The smile on Abe's face collapsed, but returned very quickly as he 
said, "Momma ain't gonna be home. Party time!"

Henry rested a mammoth paw on Abe's shoulder and replied, "It 
might surprise you to learn that Jerry lives next door and I've 
already told him that he has an open invitation to any and all 
parties held in my house."

"It's my mom's house," retorted a smiling Abe thinking of a 
loophole.

"Not once we're married," answered Henry with a chuckle. He had 
been expecting this discussion and, with Sharon, had come up with 
this argument that would keep Abe out of trouble. She was going 
to let Abe understand the economic consequences of getting 
married.

"Shit," exclaimed Abe with a frown wondering if that was true.

Melissa piped up, "That's right. Everything is fifty-fifty. Your 
mother can quit working and get half of his paycheck."

Turning to look at Melissa, Henry asked, "And what happens to the 
other half?"

"You pay the bills," answered Melissa.

Abe turned and looked at Melissa in shock. He had never heard 
anything like that and wondered if that was true. With a snort, he 
said, "Fuck, I'm never getting married. Whores are cheaper than 
that."

Raising an eyebrow, Henry asked, "Who in the hell told you that?"

Melissa looked over at Abe expecting him to answer the question. 
When he didn't answer, she said, "Answer his question, boy."

Looking over at the white girl as if he wanted to pound her into the 
ground for calling him a boy, Abe said, "He wasn't asking me."

Henry said, "Everyone around here knows exactly how much a 
whore costs and it sure as hell isn't half a paycheck."

Melissa found her face turning hot with embarrassment. She 
answered the original question, "My mother told me all about 
community property. She said that the man has to give the wife 
half of his money and that he pays the bills."

The pair of males broke out laughing at her statement. Chuckling, 
Henry said, "You do realize that your mother is a sick bitch."

"Sick bitch? She sounds like an expensive whore," commented 
Abe shaking his head at the idea that a woman would take half of 
the money while the man was left with nothing except the bills. 

Bill came out of the house and saw that Henry and Abe were 
laughing at something that Melissa had said. The way that she 
stood with her fists clenched by her side let him know that she was 
about to lose her temper. He asked, "What's going on here?"

"They're saying nasty things about mother," answered Melissa. She 
took a deep breath preparing to put the two blacks in their place. 

Before she had a chance to say another word, Bill commented, 
"Oh, yeah mother. Isn't she the woman that sold you out for 
money? I guess we are supposed to sing praises for her clear 
priorities."

The comment stung Melissa like a slap across the face. As tears 
rushed to her eyes, she turned and ran back into the house. Bill 
watched her run with a look of satisfaction on his face. Henry 
turned to the young man and said, "That wasn't nice, Bill. You 
know that hurts her."

Bill looked at Henry and Abe while shaking his head. He replied, 
"I wasn't going to stand by and let her call you racist names."

The comment took Abe by surprise although he should have 
known to expect that. He asked, "She was gonna call us niggers?"

"When she stands with her hands by her side like that, she's going 
to say the most hateful things you can imagine. Hell, she'll say 
hateful things that you can't even imagine. Yeah, she was about to 
call you that."

"I woulda fucked her up good," snarled Abe.

Shaking his head, Henry said, "You leave her alone, young man. 
She may have a foul mouth on her, but the only ones that you'll 
end up hurting are yourself and Jerry."

Bill asked, "You don't think it would hurt me?"

Frowning, Henry answered, "No. As much as it disturbs me to say 
it, you'd enjoy seeing her get fucked up."

The answer had been given in a tone of voice that conveyed that 
Henry didn't think much of Bill at the moment. The tone, more 
than the answer, disturbed Bill. Rather than argue, he stood in 
place in a position of defiance. 

Dissatisfied that what was supposed to have been a good 
experience with Bill had turned sour, Henry said, "I've got to go 
and you two should probably get back to work."
