Breaking the Family Ch. 03

"None of them would ever shut up about 'Gee, I can't wait for Kathy to come back,' or 'Kathy would know how to do that,'" he said.

"Well, bless their hearts," she laughed.

"So, next quarter, I plan to step down, and recommend that the board appoint you as the CEO and General Manager, if that's all right with you," Tony said and playfully threw a wad of paper at Nancy, one of the tellers that was taking too much interest in the meeting between Kathy and Tony.

Nancy ducked the paper wad then stuck her tongue out at Tony.

The treatment center let Anna out to attend the funeral of her husband. Within five minutes of arriving at her parents' home, Anna was on her way to a monumental drunk. The funeral itself was a sham; Michael's family was poor and few of Anna's family had any sympathy for the young man.

"Gee, I'm shocked," Dr. Amber Istrey smirked as Anna finally confessed to the group that she'd gotten drunk while out on leave. "Fuck anyone while out there too?"

"No, cunt!" Anna snapped. "It isn't like I'm some big fucking whore, you know."

It tore at Alicia's guts to look at her Daddy, but Alicia kissed his cheek before walking to the door. At least they didn't have to sneak around anymore, but that was little consolation when she saw how defeated her Daddy looked. She also stopped and kissed Bobby's cheek and both she and her father actually smiled when the eleven-year-old boy made a big production out of wiping the kiss away from his face.

"I love you, Daddy," she said and opened the door.

Doing her Fourth Step, 'Took a searching and fearless moral inventory of us,' made Anna extremely uncomfortable and she just knew she wouldn't be able to follow through on the Fifth Step. There was just no way she would be able to sit down with anyone and admit any of this stuff to anyone.

"And if God don't know about it by now," Anna said to her counselor, "Then I sure as fuck ain't going to tell Him."

Alicia nervously touched the various knick-knacks around Tony's house. Finally, he took her hands and held them together in one of his large hands. She smiled as she playfully struggled to get free, but he held her firmly. His other hand began a slow, methodical spanking of her buttocks ands she grunted as she felt the wetness begin in earnest. She almost sank to her knees as he sucked a kiss from her.

"I'm going to fuck your ass; you better not get any shit on my cock," he whispered and she orgasmed.

Anna sobbed as Father McBride listened to her Fifth Step, 'Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.' Her sobs took on the form of wails as he pointed out that the death of Lucille had probably hurt Tony just as much as it had hurt her. He also pointed out that her infidelities hadn't helped either herself or Tony in dealing with that grief. Nor had it helped her marriage to Michael.

"How'd it go?" Amber asked as Anna sat in Group that evening.

"How the fuck do you think it went?" Anna spat at the doctor, whom she had dubbed 'Doctor Happy.'

"Anyone else had to swallow huge chunks of the truth about themselves?" Amber asked and the discussion was underway.

"Between you and me, and this goes no further than this room," Amber said to Anna as Anna sat on the edge of her bed. "I hated when I was a patient at Lakewood CDU five years ago."

Anna's eyes grew wide. There was no way that this beautiful, sexy, poised, elegant woman had ever gone to a treatment center.

"I was such a complete, miserable bitch that the staff actually applauded when I graduated," Amber laughed at the memory of it all. "But within three years of graduating from Lakewood, I had my doctorates in Substance Addiction and Clinical Therapy. Your daddy helped build this facility; we both thought DeGarde could use a good Chemical Dependency Unit."

Anna took on the haughty demeanor of a Scanduro.

"That's the only reason I didn't boot you out of here when you came back drunk from your husband's funeral," Amber said, which wiped the smug smile from Anna's face.

"Yeah, well, I was kind of upset, you know?" Anna mumbled.

"Life doesn't stop, just because you quit drinking," Amber said firmly. "People are going to die, jobs will be lost, people will get married, divorced, fall in and out of love, but there is no good reason to drink. Ever. Whether we're happy or sad, or bored, to drink is to die."

"But..." Anna began.

"But nothing," Amber said. "Listen to me. I've sat right where you're sitting, felt just like you're feeling, and wanted to tell everyone they could all just kiss my pasty white ass and go fuck themselves. But we survive, we stay sober, and we learn to live sober, one day at a time."

Anna graduated after twenty-eight days of treatment. Barbara Scanduro picked her up and drove her to her house. The house that Anna and Michael had lived in was still in police custody, under investigation. Anna clutched the meeting schedule for all the local AA Meetings within forty miles of DeGarde.

Barbar was shocked when Anna quietly asked her if she would drive her to the Methodist church for a meeting that night. Normally Anna would have demanded the ride, or simply taken the keys to the car, silence or not.

Amber smiled warmly as a very nervous and apprehensive Anna walked into the meeting room.

"Is this where the AA Meeting is?" she asked. "I figured it was, since I could smell the coffee."

"Anna, it's me, Doctor Istrey," Amber giggled. "Bet you didn't recognize me without my lab coat on."

Anna burst into merry laughter, which very quickly dissolved into sobs of relief. She let Amber hug her and hold her until the tears finally stopped. When she pulled away from the compassionate doctor, a man stuck a coffee cup into Anna's hand.

She sat and listened as the seven men and three women shared their experiences, and even though they were talking to the group, she felt as though they were all talking directly to her. She froze when John, the chairperson of the meeting called on her, then frantically shook her head no.

"Well, maybe next time," he smiled warmly at her and she again shook her head no, which brought on a few chuckles.

"Need a ride home?" Amber asked as they stepped out into the dank nighttime air.

"No, Mom's coming to get me," Anna said.

"Well, okay then, " Amber smiled and waved in greeting to the worried looking Barbara. "See you next week."

"How'd it go?" Barbara asked.

"It was real good," Anna smiled.

"Know anyone there?" Barbara asked.

"Mom, it's anonymous, I can't tell you if we know anyone there or not," Anna chided her mother, and then burst into giggles. Amber would have been proud of her for remembering to respect others' anonymity.

Alicia stared uncomprehendingly at the empty office. Both Nancy and Kathy had told her that Tony had resigned as President and CEO. His house had a 'For Sale' sign in front of it; Clark International was selling it. His cell phone had been turned off and the manager of the construction site said he didn't know where Tony was.

She felt the world spinning underneath her feet and felt as if she was going to pass out.

Scanduro Property Management was non-existent. Scanduro Construction had to lay off its entire labor force; there just wasn't any work to be done. Scanduro Realtors likewise had to shut its doors. Barbara Scanduro very calmly transferred all of her money to pay the numerous bank loans that Danny had incurred in trying to keep his family together.

Anna surprised the judge, her lawyer, and the prosecution by accepting her six-month jail term and saying 'Thank you' to the court. Once behind bars, she applied for the rights to start an AA Meeting in the DeGarde Jail.

Alicia Scanduro called every 'Clark' she could find in the Houston Texas phone book, but never could find Tony. Finally she gave up and found a biker to use her.

Bobby still woke up on occasion with horrible nightmares of finding his mother and father's bodies.

Dan Scanduro was given twelve years in prison for his arson for hire scheme. His failing health cut the sentence to four years time served and five years probation.

After serving her time, Anna applied for a job at DeGarde CDU as an orderly. Mopping up others' spills and changing others' bedding gave her a sense of purpose and belonging.

She saw that someone had been to Lucille's grave and put fresh flowers on the small grave. She put the birthday card next to the flowers and wished her daughter a Happy Seventh Birthday. She looked again at the flowers and smiled sadly. She wanted to see Tony again, to make her amends to him, but any attempt at finding him had been fruitless.

The End of 'Breaking The Family.'