Page 12 of Cullen
“I thought they had to give me a week’s notice.”He told her that it would have taken a month to get some of the house cleaned up.“I did let it get out of hand this time, but I was busy with seeing Bash all the time.If you hadn’t arrested him, then the house would have been in better shape.See?Between you and my sister, this is all your fault.”
“Your sister doesn’t even live around here.How is your nasty house her fault?”She told him about the bail money.“There is no bail money going to be paid if he doesn’t see the judge.I’ve told you that before.You just don’t want to listen.”
“I know my rights.He is entitled to bail when he’s in jail.My sister said she’d pay it.”He was shaking his head even before she finished speaking.“Yes, she did.She said that she’d pay me five grand so that I could get him out so that we could be together.Now I’m in here too, and it’s going to cost her twice as much.”
“I don’t think she’s going to pay for either of you to be getting out of jail.She’s been taking care that things are mounting up for you and Bash so that you spend more time in jail.”She called him a liar.“Believe what you will, but I’ve spoken to her since you were arrested.She’s not even going to come and see you before the judge comes into town.I think she’s washed her hands of you.Don’t you even care where your kids are right now?”
“In the hospital.I put them there so that’s where they’ll stay until I get out of here.And if anyone thinks I’m paying that hospital bill, they’re out of their mind, too.I’m not.It’s not my responsibility to pay it when it’s all your fault that they’re in the place in the first place.”He asked how she figured that.“You made me hit them when you came after me.Bash always told me that the police would help kids before they arrested you if you had them around.I guess he was wrong about that, too.”
“So you hit your kids, thinking that we’d take care that they’re all right before we arrested you?That’s the stupidest thing that I’ve ever heard.Of course, we’re going to arrest you first.You’re the one causing trouble by beating your children.Not to mention the state guy that was there to inspect your house.”She told him that they shouldn’t have been able to do that.“Well, I guess you’re wrong about that, too.When we had to go there when you were hurt, we took pictures.It’s our job to make sure that you’re all living in a stable home environment when you’re living in the subsidized housing.When we see something, we’re required by law to report it.And since they had a report from us, they don’t need to give you any kind of notice when they come to inspect your home.”
“That’s not right.You messed things up for me.”She looked around the cell and saw that there was no one on either side of her.“Why don’t you put Bash in one of the cells next to mine?It’ll be nice for us to be together.I love him so much that I can’t stand to be without him.It won’t cost you a dime to put him in there.In fact, it’ll be easier when you have to bring us our meals, since we’re so close.”
“No.You’re fine where you are.”He dropped off the jumpsuit and sheets for her bed.“Have that on before meal time, or you won’t get any food.If you don’t do it, we’ll have some of the officers do it for you.I’m serious right now.Get it done, or we’ll do it for you.”
She put the suit on because she knew it smelled better than the clothing she had on.After that, she sort of made her bed.She didn’t make her bed at home, so why would they think she was going to be making her bed at the jail?After sitting on the cot in clean clothing, she was happier than she’d been.Now all she had to do was figure out what to do about Bash and getting him closer to her.They’d not been sleeping apart, other than his jail cell days, since they’d gotten married.He’d even stayed with her when she’d had the kids, much to the anger of the nurses at the hospital.They just loved one another and didn’t care who knew it.They were like two peas in a pod when it came to being together, and she hated being away from him even for a couple of hours.
Dinner was brought to her, and she couldn’t believe that they considered this a meal.When she had the food card at the beginning of the month, they’d have steaks and baked potatoes every night.Then, as the money started to run out, they’d be stuck with having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.Tonight she was having a bologna sandwich with chips and a bottle of water.They told her that there wasn’t enough time to get her a good meal.She wished she’d asked for half of Bash’s meal, and theycould have shared.It was what they did when things were tight around the house.Then she thought of the kids.
She wished they hadn’t had any kids.One might have been all right, but two made it so that their food card was much more.She would have had another one but for the fact that they couldn’t get any more housing than they had right now.It was bad enough that they only had a four-bedroom home right now; she wanted the biggest.And that was a six-bedroom home that would house four or five kids.But having to have that, she’d have to have more kids, and she didn’t like the idea of having more kids just for that.She did wonder what the food card would be like.She got nearly eight hundred dollars a month as it was.
After eating her meal, she sat on the cot and thought about what she was going to do to get out of here.Without her sister’s help, she knew that she was going to be stuck in jail for a while.All Emmie had to do was let go of that tight fist she had on her money and give her some.It would have gone a long way in greasing some palms to get Bash next to her, too.Emmie was just a selfish bitch, and she sometimes hated her.Most of the time, actually.
She and Emmie had never gotten along.She wanted things to be just so when they were living at home, but Mary Beth wanted things just to be relaxed.Like she didn’t care if things were going her way at all, so long as she could do what she wanted.Emmie even had to have good grades in school instead of just skating by like she did.Mary Beth had quit school when she’d been sixteen, and they had allowed her to.Mom and Dad were probably relieved; the school was coming down on them, too, for her not going to school on a regular basis.Then she’d met and married Bash.They’d had their first child a month later.
Her mom wouldn’t have anything to do with her after Marshall was born.She’d tried to get her to raise him, but she put her foot down and called the cops on her.After spending a few days in jail, she and Bash had gotten themselves into the system and never looked back.A few years later, after Beth had been born, they were rolling in the dough, but it never seemed like enough.They were forever cutting things close or not at all, and that’s when she decided to see what her sister could do for her.
Emmie had a good job.She didn’t know what she did for a living, but she was making good money.Once when she needed a thousand dollars to bail Bash out of jail, she’d come up with the money quickly.After that, she’d hit her up about once a month until she’d had enough.
She still helped them out, but she never saw any cash again after she never paid her back.No one was hounding her for fees at school, and when picture-taking time came around, she got those, too.Once winter started, there were new coats for the kids with boots and gloves as well.And when school time rolled around, there would be a box arrive with all the things that were on the list for them to go to school.She’d been told if she sold any of it off and they didn’t have the supplies that she sent them, she’d cut them off and never send another dime to them for as long as she lived.Mary Beth didn’t bother with selling the things off; they weren’t worth that much anyway.
When the lights went out, she thought of her kids.She wondered if they were cleaning up the house now that the inspector had said it needed to be cleaned.They’d better be if they knew what was going to happen to them.But then she remembered they were in the hospital and thought that was going to cost her too.No matter what she said about the officers paying for it, she knew that she’d be responsible for it, like she did when Bash put them in the hospital.
He’d only do that once a month or so.Just when the food card was used up, and they were whining for food.It wasn’t her fault that it would run out before the end of the month.She’d like to have more money on the thing, too.But they didn’t have a job, so there was no way they were going to get anymore food on the card without a job.So they’d just have to do.
Waking up the next morning, she was glad that she had on clean clothing.It made her feel better when she had something on that was fresh.She didn’t care for taking a shower, but to have clean things next to her skin was nice.Just as she was getting ready to wonder about breakfast, it was slid into her cell and across the floor.
Picking it up, remembering what sort of food that Bash got, she was disappointed to find thatthey had made her some kind of fried bread with syrup all over it.It was a sugary mess.The coffee was cold, and her eggs were scrambled.They should have a menu for people who were in jail so that they could pick out what they wanted to eat.As it was now, she had to eat what she was given and not bitch about it too much.
Bash had taught her that.Never bitch about your food.People might well spit in it, and then where would you be?She was glad that he’d been in jail a lot more than she had.She’d learned all kinds of things from him for all his staying in the system.For lunch, she knew that it wouldn’t be a bologna sandwich but a sub.That was the best when they had to order out for subs for the people in jail.They were usually cold, but they were good that way, too.
She heard someone walking down the hall just before lunch, and she couldn’t wait to see what she had.Instead, it was some man in a suit and tie there to tell her that he was her court-appointed lawyer.She asked him what she was in jail for that she needed a lawyer.
“You hit a state inspector and endangered your children in the process.There is also going to be a hearing about whether or not you can stay in the housing that you’re in.”She asked him what that meant.“You could lose all your perks.”
“I don’t have any perks.They give me a house and a food card, but there aren’t any perks that go along with that.”He said that was what her perks were.“Then why didn’t you say that in the first place.I also get a card with money on it for gas to give people when they give me a ride.Does that count too?”
“Everything you get from the state or government could go away if you’re found guilty of the crime against the inspector.”She said she’d not have any place to live if they took those away from her.“Then you should have thought about that before you hit on the inspector or your children.”
“Can’t I just pay a fine or something?That way, I can start over with them.I could keep my house cleaner, too.”He said that he thought it was too late for that.“Whose side are you on?You’re supposed to get me the best deal you can get me, and that would be my house.”
“I’m going to try and keep you out of prison for what you’ve done.If found guilty, you could be made to pay back all the money they gave you, including the house.You’d be paying back the equivalent of rent on a four-bedroom house, plus the card that you have for food, for as long as you’ve had it.And it’s my understanding that it’s been seven years.”She said she couldn’t afford that and that her sister would have to pay.“No, she’s not.She said that you’ve made your bed, you’re going to have to lie in your filthy mess.Those are her words, not mine.Though I have heard of the mess you’ve made at the subsidized home that you had.”
“I’m not the only one that lived there.I have two kids, too.While I don’t want them either, I can’t be without a house.Tell my sister that she can have the kids if she pays my fines and stuff.”He said that he couldn’t do that.“Yes, you can.She’ll do it for them, too.All she has to do is make sure that Bash and I don’t lose our home, and she can have the kids.It’s the least she could do for us since she never paid any fines when I told her to.Damn it all to fuck and back, tell her what I said, and you’ll get some money too.I’ll make sure of it.”
Mary Beth knew that it was against the law to sell your kids, but no one had to know what they were up to.Emmie would pay whatever had to be paid, and she’d take the kids home with her when she left.It was a good deal for all of them.She and Bash would be together again, and they’d have more food card money to go around because it would only be the two of them.Not that they bought that much for the kids anyway, but it would go further for them.Things were finally starting to look better for her, and she was glad.She’d been in a funk before thinking of this.
Chapter 6
