Featured image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay
“Hello?” came the voice of a little girl over the phone.
“Hi Kassie, it’s uncle Ra.”
“Hi. Are you coming to visit?”
“No. I need to talk to your mom. Is she around?”
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”
“She’s coming.”
“Kassie.”
“Yes?”
“Next time you holler for mom, be sure to turn the phone away from your mouth.”
“Okay.”
“Who is it Kassie?”
“It’s uncle Ra.”
There was a rustling of phone changing hands before I heard “Ra?”
“Hello Tiffany. Can you send the kids out of the room and sit down?”
“Don’t scare me like this!”
“Badger’s dead.”
The screaming and wailing went on for a bit. I could make out through the sobbing that she was telling Kassie their daddy had been hurt at work and wouldn’t be able to come home again. I sat there in silence hoping the battery would last as long as the phone call.
Tiffany wasn’t an innocent. She never lived this life, but she knew who Badger was and what he did for a living. He made her accept the fact this call would come one day before he agreed to marry her. Yeah, he loved her enough to leave her. She’s a good woman. She will vent this off in just a couple of minutes and be right back to in control.
The best part about Tiffany was when she said something was over, it really was over and you had been forgiven. Most women are royal bitches at heart. That’s not sexist, that’s a fact. Everything they consider a man’s mistake or slight, especially the tens of thousands of things which aren’t by any stretch of the imagination, will be stored away in a mental vault that outlasts Alzheimer’s and accrues interest at a rate which makes car title loan places drool. Every time they want to force you into doing something, or they’re simply pissed at the world, each and every one of those things will be dragged out, at their currently accrued value, sometimes in chronological order, adding hours, days, even years to a pointless situation no guy should ever be in but a woman thinks he is obligated to endure.
Not Tiffany. She’s a good woman. When she boxes it up it goes to the curb and a truck takes it to the city dump, never to be heard from again. When she says it is over and all is forgiven, it really is over and all is forgiven. Every other woman I’ve ever met just means you have a temporary stay of execution.
If every woman was Tiffany the world would be overrun with children and happy marriages which last a lifetime. Since we are overrun with single parents and a greater than fifty percent divorce rate, you do the math.
Finally her voice got close to normal and I heard “How?” over the phone.
“Details not clear. We were supposed to do a job together. He got to the base camp before me and I found his body. We might have been screwed from within. Are you sure you are safe?” I finally asked.
“We are so remote the town doesn’t even have a Post Office” came her answer. She hated having to live out there, but it was Badger’s price for having children. He knew the risks, she only thought she did. “Same twenty people been living here since we built this house. Anyone new showing up would set all of the tongues a wagin. You saw what it was like when Badger brought you here. How do I get his body back for a funeral?”
“Don’t know if that is possible right now. This may all be on the news shortly. As far as I know the company doesn’t know about you. That will change if you come forward to claim a body. Did you two ever work out a cover story which would survive interrogation?”
“I think so. It has survived ten years here where everyone knows everyone else’s business.”
“If you are sure, I will blow the lid off this thing so you will have a chance to collect him to say goodbye.”
“You just hunt the fuckers down!” she spat.
“I’ll be doing that too, not to worry there. Did Badger leave you survival kits in various places around the country in case you needed to run?” I asked.
“A few that I know of, but we shouldn’t have to run. We are pretty well set here, back yard of the NRA and all” answered Tiffany.
“You might have to. Reporters will track you down and even pester your kids to get a sound bite if you come forward to claim the body. Anything for ratings you know. There is no such thing as journalism today.”
“I thought you were talking about the company” she answered.
“I’m sure someone in the company is involved. I don’t think the company itself is behind this. Blowing the lid off will let them know they have a problem. If you come forward though, one side or the other may decide you are inconvenient.”
“Well, I can’t come forward until I see it on the news. You know how they can keep things quiet” Tiffany replied.
“Ooooh. I’m fairly certain this hand grenade will go off before they realize the pin was pulled” I answered. “I just needed to tell you myself about Badger, and I needed your blessing.”
“My blessing?” she asked shocked.
“I can do what needs doing in ways which won’t put you at risk. I do not believe anyone in the company other than me knows about you. That belief is re-enforced by this phone call. Badger has been dead for a few days. They would have swept you up by now if they knew of you. I can pop the top on this and you can make your own decision about coming forward. Your cover story will hold better if you have had time to prepare. If you decide to keep yourself and the kids safe, I’m fine with that. I’m sure Badger would have wanted it that way, but, all further choices are yours. You still have that one email address for me, right?”
“Yeah, I think so. On a scrap of paper in my dresser” answered Tiffany.
“This phone will be destroyed once I hang up. I don’t check that email regularly, but I do get around to looking at it. If you need a survival bag dropped somewhere I can probably arrange that, but, cannot ensure a speedy response.”
“We’ll be fine, but, thanks for offering. Badger always told me to find you if something happened to him. You could get us out of wherever we were at and kill whoever did him in. He really respected you. I’m sure he told me more than he should have, but, now . . . I’m glad he did” said Tiffany. “Besides, you met our dog. Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend never owned a dog.”
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