Righting A Wrong

"I mean, yeah, we was both like, 'shit girl, you pregnant? What you going to do?'" Carrie admitted. "And she's all like 'aw don't worry about it, dog; got this dumb ass mother fucker, just tell him it's his.'"

Lisa did give a little satisfied smirk at Russell.

"At this time, we'd like to submit the two DNA tests that Mr. Jones obtained," Sonny said, showing two envelopes to Judge Marie Robichaux.

"Objection; we weren't given any copies of this evidence," Penny said, getting to her feet.

"We offer this to substantiate Ms. Brown's testimony," Sonny said, smirking at Penny.

"I'll allow it; the witness did offer the statement," Marie said.

"The first one was obtained the day of Katherine Lisa Jones' birth," Sonny said.

"When you did that?" Lisa asked.

"Just told you, at Katherine's birth," Russell smirked.

And it does show that Russell Jones is the father," Sonny went on.

"This second test was obtained on the second of this month," Sonny went on. "It proves that Russell Jones, again, is the father of Katherine Lisa Jones."

Carrie gritted her teeth when Sonny questioned her about her cousin's behavior after the birth of her daughter and Carrie admitted that she and Lisa were usually doing drugs and having sex with several men.

"But it ain't like they was just going to give us the shit for nothing!" she defended.

"So, in other words, you and Lisa are prostitutes?" Sonny asked.

"What? No!" Carrie shrilled.

"But you just said that you were having sex for drugs," Sonny countered.

A loud slap rang out and Lisa's mother stood up and walked out of the courtroom. Lisa clutched her face where her mother had slapped her.

When Lisa's mother did return, she sat several benches away from her daughter.

"And who usually took care of Katherine while you and your cousin prostituted yourselves?" Sonny pressed on.

"Russell," Carrie admitted.

"And was Mr. Jones aware of what you and his wife were doing?" Sonny asked.

"What you think?" Carrie angrily asked.

"What I think is not important, Ms. Brown," Sonny smirked.

"Answer the question," Judge Robichaux ordered.

"No," was Carrie's sullen response.

A few questions later, Sonny came to the original petition for divorce.

"Then we hook up with Latavius and he's all like 'aw you my girl; I cop a squat at your crib, know what I'm saying' and Lisa's all like 'aw yeah, just tell Russell he's got to go' and..." Carrie testified.

"Was Mr. Jefferson one of the men supplying you with drugs?" Sonny asked.

"Please tell me Mr. Jefferson is no longer living at your house," Penny hissed to her client.

"He ain't had time find no place else," Lisa hissed back.

Judge Robichaux motioned the bailiff over and instructed him to call the Bender Police.

Lisa reached into her purse; she had seen the interchange between the judge and the bailiff.

"Fuck!" she cursed under her breath.

Her cell phone was in the front seat of her car; the courthouse would not allow cell phones to be brought in."

"Um, listen I got to go, know what I'm saying?" Lisa whispered to Penny.

"You move out of that chair and I'll have you arrested before you leave this room," Penny hissed back.

"But I got to take me a shit; you going keep me from taking a shit?" Lisa asked, a little loudly.

"Right now? Hell yes," Penny snapped. "Hold it."

Outside of Lisa Brown's house, the Kimble and Bender Police Departments consolidated their forces and even brought along Duke, the drug sniffing dog of the Kimble Police Department.

"Down! Down! Everybody down!" Officer Darren Richards screamed as his wife, Sergeant Elise Richards screamed the same commands from the back door.

Latavius, L.J., and five other men and the two prostitutes were still dazed, reeling from the two flash bang grenades that had been lobbed into the house.

Duke located three stockpiles; the oven held a few bags of cocaine while the washing machine held a large cache of cocaine and heroin. Most damning for everyone concerned, though were the several weapons Duke ferreted out in the master bedroom.

"AK-47," Elise whistled as she catalogued the weapon. "Bet this is the one used on them two girls reported that meth lab?"

"You're a good boy; yes you are, yes you are!" Mike Stevens, one of the Bender police praised the dog.

"Yes, Duke!" Trey Gremillion, Duke's handler, praised, handing the happy German shepherd a treat. "That's my good boy! Duke's a good boy!"

"Would y'all like to be alone with the dog?" Officer Becky Yuma asked as she photographed the oven and its contents.

Mike smirked; it was a well known fact that he preferred the company of animals more than the company of most people. Being a cop for twenty years, and often the only black cop in the department made him wary of most people.

"Would you?" he Mike back, then rubbed the dog's head.

"Three twelve gauge shotguns, modified," Elise continued her narrative. "All loaded with buckshot."

"Would have cut us in half if they'd had time to get to them," Darren said quietly.

Duke found more drugs in the tool shed in the back yard of the property. Several bags of meth were photographed and catalogued.

Inside of one of the cells, Mustapha Ahknahari stared coldly at Latavius Jefferson.

"As Allah is my witness, if I spend even one night in jail, I will make sure you die like the diseased dog that you are," he hissed.

"What the fuck you want me to do about it?" Latavius yelled. "Huh? Take a look around; I'm right here too! What you want me to do, huh?"

At the courtroom, Judge Robichaux adjourned for the lunch break.

Lisa raced to her car, frantically fished around for her cell phone, then typed out a text message to Latavius' cell phone, telling him to get out of the house.

Then she looked around and saw her cousin stomping toward her own car.

"Carrie, hey!" she called out.

"Fuck you; you don't talk to me, fucking bitch!" Carrie screamed at her cousin.

On the other side of the parking lot, Russell and Sonny were walking toward their cars.

"Dead End's right there, oh, hey, you like wings you have to go to Best Wings in Bender," Sonny was naming the places to get a quick lunch.

"Got a PB and J in the truck," Russell said.

"Man, really?" Sonny asked.

"Damn, man, I'm still making payments to you, paying child support, alimony, rent, lucky I can afford the bread, much less the peanut butter and jelly," Russell said.

"Wow, um, well, okay then; see you in an hour," Sonny said and mentally flipped a coin. The Dead End Bar won; he could get a plate lunch and watch some young women dance.

"What kind of jelly?" Penny asked."

Apple; it's the only one worth eating," Russell smiled.

"And please tell me it's whole wheat; not that God-awful white bread," Penny smiled.

"Okay, I'll tell you that," Russell said, pulling the plastic bag out and showing her it was white bread. "I'm not under oath, am I?"

"Oh, Coach; that's so bad for you," Penny whined.

"Hey, Lady, it's a dollar sixty nine a loaf," Russell said.

"A dollar... My God where are you buying your bread?" Penny asked.

"Early's; if there's any left after three days, they put it on the discount rack," Russell explained.

"Would you rather go get some wings?" Penny softly asked.

"This is fine," Russell lied.

"Oh, okay," Penny said and turned to leave.

"But thanks anyway," Russell mumbled.

"Welcome," Penny mumbled back.

"Why you was talking to him, huh?" Lisa yelled, getting in Penny's face.

Penny thought quickly.

"I was talking with his lawyer; trying to keep you out of jail," Penny yelled back.

"They find anything, and I do mean ANYTHING at your house, we won't be worrying about custody," Penny hissed. "We'll be trying to keep your ass out of jail."

At the Jones' house, the team was moving the last of the weapons from the house to the rear of the police van.

Darren felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he looked at the black SUV that pulled up to the curb.

He checked to make sure that his weapon's safety was in the 'off' position then approached the vehicle.

Before he reached it, though, the vehicle drove away.

At the station, Sheriff Dick Davis stared in disbelief as an order to release Mustapha Ahknahari came from the State Attorney's office.

"Allah is good," Mustapha smiled as he slipped on his shoes, then placed his turban back on his head.

The black SUV's rear passenger door opened and Mustapha got in.

At the courthouse, Judge Robichaux called the courtroom to order and the trial reconvened.

Dr. Leblanc, now available to testify, was sworn in and gave her assessment of both Katherine and Latavius Junior.

"Wait, wait, why are we hearing about Latavius? The child's name is Latavius? Why is he relevant to this hearing?" Judge Robichaux asked.

"The minor child, Latavius Jefferson Junior is residing in the same home," Sonny informed her. "In fact, it would appear that the two minor children are occupying the same bedroom."

"Please proceed," the judge snapped, glaring at Lisa Jones.

The doctor finished her report and answered all of Sonny's questions.

"No questions, your honor," Penny said.

"Why not? Huh?" Lisa demanded.

"Because, Ms. Jones, if you remember, we were the ones that hired Dr. Leblanc," Penny snapped back.

"Oh yeah," Lisa conceded.

Sheriff Robert Chastaine entered the courtroom and caught the bailiff's eye. The bailiff alerted Judge Robichaux.

Judge Robichaux looked up and motioned the DeGarde police officer to approach the bench.

""Have a warrant for the arrest of Lisa Jones," the Sheriff whispered and showed the judge the paperwork that Sheriff Dick Davis had faxed over.

"Very well then," the woman smiled tightly.

She sat back and hammered on the bench with her gavel. "Mrs. Lisa Jones, please rise," she ordered.

Lisa and Penny stood.

"Mrs. Jones, this is Sheriff Robert Chastaine; he has a warrant for your arrest," Judge Robichaux intoned.

Fifth game

The coach for the Eagles yelled at his players, yelled at the umpire, yelled at the players for the opposing Bears and yelled at the parents.

Time!" Russell yelled, signaling to Officer Mike Stevens, who was performing as the game's umpire.

Russell waved Mike over, then ran to the dugout of the Eagles team.

"Listen, I don't care if you yell at your kids; you yell at mine one more time, I'm beat your ass," Russell snarled at Graham Johnson.

"We win this game; we're in first place," Graham yelled at Russell. "So fuck you, you don't like me..."

"Sir, there are children here," Mike said, getting right in Graham's face. "Use language like that one more time, I'll pull your sorry carcass in; hear?"

"Uh huh," Graham glared at Mike.

"Thanks," Russell said to the umpire then ran back to his dugout.

"Fucking faggot," Graham hissed under his breath.

In the bleachers, Penny Sat next to Ethel. On the other side of Ethel, a surly Darryl sat sulking. Instead of focusing her attention on him, Ethel was busily chatting with Penny.

He had been right; the only reason Penny had given Ethel a job was to spite him. And now, Penny seemed to think that being his fiancé's boss meant that she was back in his good graces too.

By the fifth inning the score was still zero to zero. Both teams were playing their best.

"Oh God, please, please, please," Penny prayed as her baby strolled up to the plate, swinging his bat.

"Come on Lucas; you can do it!" she screamed out.

"Come on, Lucas!" Ethel yelled too.

"Stee rike one!" Mike boomed out.

"Come on boy!" Darryl demanded.

Stee rike two!" Mike called out.

"He's going to fuck this up like he always does," Darryl spat.

"Hey Darryl, why don't you try being a Dad for once, huh? Instead of being such a critical ass hole, why don't you try being a Dad?" Penny snapped.

"See, this is exactly what happens when you let a useless cunt have custody of a boy; turns them into stupid little pussies," Darryl snarled at her.

"Amen to that, brother," a man that was seated behind them said.

Lucas hunkered down and waited.

The boy whipped his arm out and Lucas smiled. The ball looked like it was coming in slow motion. Lucas knew he had this one.

"Aieeee!" Penny screamed as the ball flew off of Luca' bat; it was still rising into the air as it sailed over the fence.

"He hit it! Did you see that!? He hit it!" Penny screamed to everyone in the bleachers.

"Yes sir, that's my boy," Darryl told the few men that weren't watching Ethel's breasts bobble up and down as the girl jumped up and down, screaming Lucas' name.

Lucas smiled widely as he trotted around the bases then did a little dance as he stood on home plate.

"Way to go, Lucas!" his teammates cheered as he trotted back to his dugout.

"All right, Lucas," Russell smiled and sent Michael One out.

The Eagles' pitcher was rattled enough to throw two balls before managing to strike Michael One out.

The game progressed with a score of zero to one until the last inning. The Eagles had one runner on first and two outs. Josh was getting tired but he didn't want Coach Jones to pull him off of the mound so he didn't say anything.

"Crack!" the batter managed to catch the ball, sending it out to left field.

"Oh, God!" Penny screamed as the ball sailed right over Lucas' head.

Lucas ran after the ball. He dove for it, glove outstretched.

Penny held her breath. Ethel held her breath.

Lucas stood up and showed that he had the ball in his glove.

"He caught it! He caught it! Did you see that?" Penny screamed, running down the rickety bleachers.

"He caught it!" she screamed, running at full speed.

She slammed into Russell Jones, knocking him to the dirt.

"He caught it!" she sobbed, hugging and kissing him feverishly.

"Oh God; I think you broke my ribs!" Russell groaned.

"Way to go," the man seated behind Darryl said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Uh huh," Darryl muttered, watching as Ethel and Penny jumped up and down, hugging each other.

"Son of a bitch!" Russell groaned, trying to get up.

He managed to get onto his hands and knees and crawled over to the bench.

"I'm not kidding; I think my ribs are broke," he groaned.

"You all right, Coach?" Michael Two asked.

"Oh God," Russell groaned.

At the same time that Lucas was being hailed as a hero, Latavius, Lisa, and Prentiss Shaw were frantically searching the house, looking for any drugs that may have been missed when the police raided the place. All three were coming down and coming down hard.

In his room, L.J. was playing soldiers, lining up the plastic pieces.

Mustapha Ahknahari nodded solemnly and one of his men very easily kicked in the front door of the house.

Two minutes later, the four bodies were pulled into the living room. There, the bodies were doused with gasoline, then Mustapha lighted a book of matches and tossed the matches onto the bodies.

CLOSING CEREMONIES

"Sorry about your ribs," Penny mumbled as Russell gingerly walked to the table.

The large pavilion echoed with the screams, laughter, and chatter of the ninety six boys and their families.

"Think they're only bruised," Russell tried to smile.

"Still, I'm sorry; I was just so excited," Penny said, bottom lip quivering.

"Well, we'll be doing playground football in about three months; want to teach tackling?" he smiled.

"Coach; we're over here," Josh excitedly told Russell, pointing to the Bears' table.

"Thanks," Russell smiled down at the boy.

"I knew she liked you," Josh said.

"Nuh uh; she was asking me for your phone number," Russell teased back.

Five of the six coaches were present; Graham Johnson said second place wasn't worth showing up for. Russell took his place in the food preparation line, putting a handful of chips onto the paper plates. Several of the Moms did duties of bringing the plates to the rambunctious kids.

"How're your ribs?" Troy asked.

"Hurt like a mother fucker," Russell admitted.

Finally, it was time to present the trophies. Each child did receive a trophy, even Troy's team, the last place Cougars.

"And in first place, the Bears," Troy called out.

"All right Bears!" Russell yelled and gasped as his bruised ribs protested.

Each boy proudly came up and got his trophy as Russell called them by name.

"And this last one, this big old monster, we got this for our M.V.P.," Russell said when all sixteen boys were back at their table, cradling their trophies. "We all voted; a lot of you voted for yourselves."

There was some laughter.

"But quite a few of you voted for one boy. He couldn't play worth a hoot when we started. In fact, he didn't even have the right kind of glove," Russell went on.

Penny put her hand up to her mouth.

"Bet you're sorry you traded with me, huh, Troy?" Russell smiled.

"The Bears selected Lucas Richard, our MVP," Russell yelled, straining against the pain in his ribs.

The Bears cheered as a stunned Lucas walked up to receive his MVP trophy.

"I won this?" he asked Russell. "Really?

"Well, it's got your name on it," Russell smiled and shook the boy's hand, then handed him the large trophy.

"Thanks y'all," Lucas said, then sat back down.

"And thank you to all you parents that took time out to drive your sons back and forth, thank you for coming to the games and cheering for your boys, and thank you for allowing us to coach them. Hope we'll see y'all for football!" Troy said, ending the ceremony.

"You coaching football?" Scottie's mother asked.

Russell smirked; her partner, again, was staring hard at Penny's ass as Penny, Ethel, and even Darryl were praising Lucas and examining his trophies.

"Yes ma'am; I was planning on it," Russell agreed.

"Well, whatever team you're coaching, I want Scottie on your team," the woman said and gave him a hug.

Russell felt like he was going to pass out from the pain as she squeezed him too tightly.

A few of the boys' parents insisted on photographs of their sons with Coach Jones. He obliged them all, smiling widely.

"Did fine," Darryl said, pumping Russell's hand too vigorously.

"Go Bears!" Ethel said and gave Russell a tight embrace.

"Thank you," Penny said quietly. "Thank you so much; you really really made a difference."

She stepped up and Russell stepped back. His ribs couldn't take one more hug.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tackle you again," she tried to smile.

"Oh, good," Russell tried to smile as well.

"Thank you; this means the world to me," she said and kissed him softly.

"Maybe just a little hug," Russell suggested.

She smiled and gently put her arms around him.

"Really, I can't thank you enough," she said and kissed him again.

"Hey, listen; we're having a barbeque at the house tomorrow; why don't you come on over?" Darryl jovially asked. "Bring your girlfriend, huh?"

(It was meant to be a dig; Darryl was convinced that Russell Jones was gay.)

"Bring my daughter?" Russell asked.

"Sure; come on over about eleven, eleven thirty," Darryl said.

At his apartment, Mrs. Santiago, who was supposed to be watching Katy, decided that the large dog had everything under control and lay down on the couch to take a nap.

Cookie found a bag of flour and ripped it open. Then she joyously shook it vigorously, then ran around the apartment with it in her mouth.

When the bag was empty, she shredded the bag.

"Oh my God!" Russell cried out when he entered the apartment and saw what a five pound bag of flour could do to an apartment.

Cookie, realizing that she had done something wrong, whimpered and tried to hide underneath the small kitchen table.

"Mrs. Santiago," Russell called out pleasantly.

"Oh, you back? I just lay down," she lied, sitting up.

"You just laid down?" Russell asked.

"Yes; Cookie and Katy, they in Katy's room," the woman said.