Balance

Which brings me to my next point, I know you said I don't owe you anything, but, I can't let you go broke taking care of me. For Christ's sakes, you don't even work and you drive a fifty year old truck! I know, you promised me that I wouldn't lose my house and I don't know how you ever got Ms. Starr to say the same thing, but, the reality is this is a community property state, Richard and I did not have a prenuptial agreement at the time of my marriage. I inherited the house five years ago, he is going to get half the value of this house and barring a miracle I'm going to lose this house!

It will get sold and then I will have close to two million dollars before taxes. After that, I will repay you every dime you've spent on us. I will reimburse you for all the costly legal fees that Ms Starr will be charging. Then I will pay for medical school for Linda. After that, I'll scrap by until I get my teacher's retirement and live out the rest of my life. And you know something, I'm okay with that, just so long as none of this hurts Linda."

John sat still as Barbara finished her fiery diatribe. "Well, Barbara, it seems I can't convince you of my promise, so let's just wait and see how this whole thing plays out."

He sighed as he got out of the chair to go to the foot of her bed. "I need to put some pressure on your wounds to see how you are progressing. I want you to describe the discomfort on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the most severe."

As he probed, each spot, Barbara would correlate it to a numeric value. When he finished he told her that one more day of bed rest should do it and then she could make limited trips downstairs.

"I'm almost afraid to go downstairs." Barbara joked.

John teased back, "I'm not THAT bad!" He got up to leave and wished her goodnight. As Barbara prepared to go to sleep, the thought of losing the house, once again settled in her head. Perhaps, she should just cherish each remaining day she had left living there, she thought as she closed her eyes.

"Okay, mom are you ready?"

Barbara looked all around the downstairs area, for all the racket that John Dupree had made for an entire week, it sure didn't look like much had changed. Linda walked over to the wall where a defunct light dimmer switch was located, she reached up and turned it on. Suddenly, the room was ablaze with the sparkling light of the crystal chandelier that Barbara had last seen working as a child visiting her grandparents. Seeing the room lit up by the beautiful light started bringing back pleasant memories of a much simpler time.

Barbara circumnavigated the room, all the while looking up at the chandelier, holding her hands to cover her mouth. She remembered her grandparents told her the electrical wiring had gone bad on it, when she came over one day and it didn't work. For all those years it hung on the ceiling impotent, yet stately.

When her parents moved into the house, her father had gotten an estimate to repair it and it was deemed too costly to tear up the plaster and replace the defunct knob and tube wiring then re-plaster and paint the room.

'Do you like it, Momma? Mr Dupree fished a new electrical line to the light, so he wouldn't damage any of the wall. Then we removed the crystals and soaked them in white vinegar. Look how it makes the whole room sparkle!" Linda exclaimed.

"He said, he also replaced the rheostat, which controls the dimmer so you can change the intensity of the lights. Now check out the floor, remember how the wood had all those bare spots on it? Mr. Dupree rented a floor sander and sanded down the entire first floor and then re-stained the floor. I was surprised you never smelled anything!"

Now that Linda had directed her attention to it, Barbara looked at the clean, uniform-stained, varnished floor that cast a reflection of the chandelier. She thought how much labor went into making the floor look so good.

That didn't stop Linda, "Come here, Mom. Remember how these French doors were jammed shut?"

Linda effortlessly opened them. "Mr. Dupree said over the years the house had settled, which put them in a bind. He took them down and said he would make the opening "square" again; whatever, that means. Anyway, now they work and we don't have to walk all the way around to get to these rooms!"

"Now come here" Linda commanded, as she led her to what was once the basement stairs entryway.

"Be careful, Linda, don't fall in!" Barbara yelled to warn her away from the pit.

Instead, Linda blithely went down the new set of stairs to the basement.

"I've been finding the neatest stuff down here about our family! Too think, its been here all along and we didn't know about it!"

Barbara had to admit she was amazed at the changes that didn't change the aesthetics of the house. She looked forward to joining her daughter in exploring expeditions into the basement, but now, she had been on her feet long enough to start bothering her and she told Linda. Linda told her they would rest on the front porch, Mr. Dupree was working in the frontyard.

Linda led her outside to the porch, a shirtless John Dupree was swinging a heavy sledgehammer busting up the remaining brick foundation of what was once the house's wrought iron fence. Vandals from two Halloweens ago discovered the rusted frail fence with the crumbling bricks and mortar and had ripped it out of the foundations.

Barbara and Richard had gotten an estimate to replace the fence, but, the homeowner insurance agency balked at the $30,000 price tag. Richard settled for $4,000 and the fence was hauled away.

"Mr. Dupree is going to replace the fence. He said would make a template and put precut wrought iron in it and bevel wherever the iron rods connected, then he would weld the rods, grind out the rough edges and paint the sections black enamel. He told me, we needed to decide what decoration we wanted on top of the vertical rods."

Barbara continued to admire John Dupree's physique as he worked. His body reminded her of all the old Bruce Lee's kung fu posters, so much explosive power in a lean wiry body. She frowned as she noticed three spider-webbed shaped scars marring his pale white torso.

I wonder how that happened, she thought to herself.

He finally noticed his audience and hurriedly put on his T-shirt. "Good morning, ladies" he began walking toward them.

"Good morning, Mr. Dupree!" Linda responded, "Just showing Momma your handiwork. Come sit and I'll bring us some lemonade!" As she left to go to the kitchen, John Dupree sat on the shady porch and wiped sweat from his brow, then he grinned at Barbara and said, "Last project."

When Linda appeared with the pitcher and ice cubed filled glasses, John poured a full glass and handed it to Barbara, then one for Linda, then himself. Barbara watched as John appreciatively sipped at the tart drink.

"I should be able to finish this before the holiday."

That reminded Barbara how close it was for John to turn into a recluse.

"Mr. Dupree, why do you hide during the Fourth?" Linda asked.

Barbara was stunned at how John seemed to age 30 years when Linda asked the question. The incredible sadness and pain that played over his features. He remained silent and Barbara thought he was not going to answer the question.

"Miss Linda....I'm not prepared to tell you that today."

The easy neighborly conversation had frozen into an uncomfortable silence and John Dupree excused himself and walked back to his house.

"I didn't mean to upset him, Momma!" Linda cried

"That's okay baby, you can apologize to him later."

In fact, they did not see him for the rest of the week. Like clockwork, the Warrenton Historical Society appeared at Barbara's house and began decorating it for the holiday. Barbara was so tempted to follow John Dupree's example but at the last minute kowtowed to the Society. It is a pity, that at the very last chance I would have to deny them, I would lose my courage, Barbara thought to herself.

Then came the Fourth, and once again, John Dupree's house stood silent and mute as the nation celebrated its birthday. The Society's members showed up in full force to take advantage of Barbara's and Linda's hospitality. Barbara was scurrying around trying to accommodate one of the elderly ladies' request for a pillow to support her back, when she literally ran into Richard Lovett.

A stunned Barbara asked, "Richard, what are you doing here?"

He snarled, "Since you sicced your law firm on me, I thought I'd bring my fiancé with me to see the house she is going to wind up living in! Kim, this is my bitch of a wife, Linda!"

A brunette with a smug smile came over to Richard's side and casually draped her arm around him. Barbara recognized her as the woman who looked at her in amusement as she laid helpless on the highway roadside.

"I'm going to have so much fun redecorating this house." the woman taunted Barbara. "You might know my mother, she is the President of the Warrenton Historical Society. She has been complaining for years of how the Society needed to get control of these manors. Once, this goes up for auction after your divorce, Richard and I will snap it up!" The brazen audacity left Barbara speechless as her attention focused on a large gold locket Kim was wearing around her neck.

She narrowed her eyes to slits and asked the intruder, "Where did you get that locket?"

Kim was thrown off by the unexpected question.

"My mother gave this to me years ago."

Without warning, Barbara reached and snatched the locket and broke it off the chain of the startled woman.

"You fucking bitch, I'm going to have you arrested for battery and theft of property!" Kim yelled.

Barbara yelled back, "Listen slut, five years ago when we were hosting your precious Society, this locket was stolen from this house. It had belonged to my mother and apparently your sorry bitch of a mother stole it. Now there was a police report made; and there was a homeowner insurance report made with color photographs of this locket; including pictures of this!"

Barbara sprang the hidden catch to reveal a black and white photo of Barbara and her mother celebrating one of Barbara's victory as a track star inside the locket.

"That is a picture of me and my mother, Allison Ferrell. If that isn't proof enough for you, her full name is engraved in the locket. My father gave that to my mother when I was born. My birthdate is also engraved in the locket.

So call the police if you want to because the only person that is going to be arrested is your sorry cocksucking ass! Now, I want you off my property! As a matter of fact, I want every one of you sorry bitches off my property this fucking minute!"

A tornado of activity ensued as the members of the Society were unceremoniously ejected off the property. Barbara assisted their effort by launching their belongings from her lawn into the street before an applauding crowd.

Barbara stood breathing heavily before the crowd, staring directly into the shocked face of her estranged husband and said, "Let this be a warning, that will be the last thing you ever steal from me, Richard Lovett!"

She went inside and called a number on her speed dial. "Hello, Ms. Starr, this is Barbara Ferrell, that's right I'm using my maiden name from here on out. I just wanted to let you know, you are about to earn your keep."

She explained the entire scenario and her attorney went into damage control mode and called the prosecuting attorney in Warrenton and gave him the entire details of the dispute.

She ended the conversation this way, "Now, I'm sure the President of the Warrenton Historical Society is going to come to you and say that Allison Ferrell gave that to her as a gift.

What you need to remind yourself is Mrs. Ferrell has been deceased for five years. The locket is recorded and photographed in the probate records of her estate.

There is a listing and photograph of the locket in the Lovett's homeowner's insurance policy after Mrs. Ferrell passed away. Also, the police report has the photograph. So, how did Mrs. Ferrell give her the gift after she had passed away?"

As it turned out, the prosecuting attorney did in fact have a meeting with the President of the Historical Society, and the police chief, and the mayor, and their wives, and Richard Lovett and his fiance.

All of them were screaming for the head of Barbara Lovett since the locket had been a gift from Allison Ferrell. The Prosecuting Attorney said he would look into the matter and determine whether criminal charges were warranted. When they left, he gave a silent prayer of thanks for the heads up from his law school classmate, Veronica Starr and avoided this pitfall.

On July the fifth, Barbara's house fielded a number of notes and cards from well wishers thanking her for standing up to the Society.

There was also a package with a card addressed to her. She opened it to find a new pair of New Balance running shoes in her size and several pair of thick athletic socks. There was also several pairs of running shorts and shirts. On the envelope was inscribed, "Congratulations on your Independence Day", the small card read, "All things in moderation."

One of the things she decided to do to celebrate was to go ahead and schedule to take out the saline in her breast which she had done at Richard's behest.

On the date she had the surgery done, she came home to find her wrought iron fence up, complete with the original styled ornaments. She was halfway regretting not asking John to repair her mother's greenhouse.

When she went into the backyard she found the greenhouse fully restored, and stocked with new tools and implements. She resolved once her compression bra was off and she had done her two weeks of recovery period she would start planting orchids.

John came by everyday to check on her and brought her a gift of a potted orchid each visit. After showing it to her, he would go and repot the orchid in her greenhouse. Each day it would be a different variety. When she finally ended her recuperation period, she went into the greenhouse, to find out that for every one he had shown her, there were three he hadn't.

The entire greenhouse was filled with alive vibrant orchids. She gave him an impulsive hug and almost regretted moving away from him. She realized that it had been awhile since she had been with a man.

Would John be interested with becoming a friend with benefits? Would she? Maybe she needed to really think about this before she mentioned this to John. Because, however you sliced it, this would be a game-changer. And how would that affect her divorce? Would Richard use the information to paint Barbara as a slut in their custody battle? Hell yes, he would! That by itself made this a very bad idea.

All John knew was one minute a beautiful lady was hugging him and the next minute had froze in his arms and pushed him away. He had no idea what he had done. Could she have felt his instant erection when she hugged him? She must have! How in the world does he apologize for that? He left a very unhappy person.

Meanwhile the divorce case had gone radioactive. After Barbara had embarrassed Richard and the Society, they had vowed to burn through every dime Barbara had. They had filed deposition after deposition to drive up the legal fees. An army of expert witnesses were hired; which meant Barbara's law firm was forced to hire an opposing army of experts. That had caused the proceedings to be delayed considerably.

They even tried to get Barbara fired from her teaching job, a quick call from her attorney to the school district stopped that. All this translated into stress on Barbara, even though her attorney kept telling her to let her do the worrying, since she was being paid for it.

Barbara did begin running again; this time slowly and carefully. The first run was only to the end of the block and back. It was almost ridiculous to think of all the warming up and stretching she did to run such a short distance, but, Barbara was resolved to be disciplined this time. The next run was 100 yards farther out. And the third run added another 100 yards increment. For the rest of the first week she continued to add a new 100 yard increment daily.

The second week she ran only the distance she had completed by the seventh day. So for the second week she would acclimate to that distance. On the first day of the third week, she added a 100 yards increment. Each day of the third week; she added increments. On the fourth week, she did acclimation runs. And so it went, odd weeks were increments; even weeks were acclimations.

It wasn't easy on Barbara, it took awhile for the soreness to go away and Linda and John fretted over her to make sure she didn't overdo it. But she stuck with her plan and continued to run. When she weighed herself and saw she lost that first pound, she was floating on air, but, she knew as the fat converted to muscle, she would actually gain weight for awhile. She would not let herself be discouraged.

Every night, Linda and John would bolster her spirit by praising her efforts. She reluctantly asked them if they could focus her meals to lighter fare to cut her calorie intake. They immediately complied and in a show of solidarity ate the same meal as Barbara. Linda suggested that she and John join her on the runs as well, but, John nixed that idea.

"I think your mother prefers the solitude aspect of running, besides, I wouldn't be able to keep up with either of you."

So Barbara continued to run alone as the days tracked on and the heat from the divorce continued to grow hotter and the running got colder.

January, February, March passed and Barbara continued to run, by now she had reached the city limits as her turnaround point. When April came, the weather warmed up and Barbara began to shed her cold weather running clothes. She began to notice that on every run now that she had picked up a distant guardian, as a certain 1965 Chevy truck trailed her to make sure she was okay. She never spoke to John about it.

Then May came and she lengthened the increments, by now, her hair had lost every vestige of the former blonde bleach and was tied in a ponytail on every run. Her stamina had increased, while her measurements had decreased. The running shoes were well broken in and caused no problems.

Now her turnaround point was where she had fallen the past June. She thought of it as a personal victory each time she hit that spot and turned around. Still her guardian followed behind her.

By the last week of May, she would be attired in a thin shirt, concealing her teacup breasts; running shorts that exposed her muscular toned legs; socks and running shoes that was how she was dressed when the trouble started.

A car full of young men passed her, honking and waving at her. She paid them no mind, just as she did to the truckers who would cut loose with their airhorns. But, this vehicle made a sharp U-turn on the highway and raced to her. Barbara began to get nervous as the vehicle cut her off from running when it stopped in front of her.

"Hey Baby, you want to party?" said the driver.

"Of course, she wants the party" said one of the passengers as he reached to grab her. She avoided his grasp and began to back up.

"Oh Baby, don't be like that!" said another passenger as he caught her arm and forced her close to him. She began to struggle which only made her captor laugh.

Then she saw John Dupree step out of his vehicle and walk quickly to her. When she saw his visage, she shuddered, because she saw nothing that reminded her of the John Dupree she knew.

"Hey Man, get the fuck out of here! Nobody invited you!"

John ignored him as he continued toward Barbara. One of the passenger, much bigger than John moved to obstruct him. In a flash, John struck him three times and the young man crumpled to the ground. That caused the driver and another passenger to gang up on John. In a flurry of moves John quickly disabled them and continued toward Barbara. The passenger holding Barbara reached into his pocket and Barbara heard the snick of the switchblade as the blade locked in place.