Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 08:52:31 +0200
From: Amy Redek <adultreading@gmail.com>
Subject: Vigilante. Part Three.

            This story is for persons of eighteen years or over.  All
comments, good or bad, are welcome and all will be answered.

            Part Three

   It was by chance that I saw Miss Johnson pass by our office window a
couple of weeks later, but by the time I got outside to try and speak to
her, she had been swallowed up in amongst the many people walking up and
down the street. This prompted me to go and give Mother Phelps a call and
see if she was well and in need of anything. Lucy understood my wanting to
pay this visit and said that she would see to our dinner, but to be sure to
be back home before dark.

   Mother Phelps hadn't changed a bit and seemed genuinely pleased to see
me and made me sit in the parlour while she made a fresh pot of tea. I was
left in that parlour with a small woman who evidently had been beaten up
quite severely for half of her face was just one big black bruise and the
eye puffed up and closed. The one open eye looked so full of weariness and
pain that it hurt me inside my chest to see so much anguish come out from
that unseeing eye. A small child was hanging onto her dress who also showed
signs of having been hit.

   But it was the state of the woman that got me to rise up and go and sit
down next to her and put my arm around her, words not being needed. The
open eye turned to me and focused and I saw one tear form in the corner if
it and slowly begin to roll down her cheek.

   `You poor thing,' I whispered as I fumbled for a handkerchief and wiped
that tear from the corner of her mouth where it had stopped. `What's your
name?'

   `Alberta. Alberta Parsley,' she mumbled through her split lip.

   `That's a strange name,' I said.

   `It's a herb from the ground where I come from.'

   `I mean your Christian name,' I said softly.

   `My father was a Canadian. That's where he came from.'

   `And was it Mr Parsley who did this to you?' I asked gently.

   `Herbert Parsley. I think his father had a sense of humour which didn't
come out in his son.' Her mouth twisted in what I took to be an attempt at
a smile

   `The bastard,' I said with some venom.

   `The very words I said,' as she made a chuckling noise and gave another
attempt at a smile.

   `And what's this sweet little things name?' I asked, giving the child a
smile as she looked at me with wide frightened eyes.

   `Odette. I loved that film and so that's what I called her.' At this
point, Mother Phelps came in with the tea and that was the end of my
conversation with Alberta Parsley, but I never forgot her.

   Three weeks later I sold a house and found out that I not only got a
weekly wage but commission on the sale having seen it through from the
beginning to the sale. Mind you, the man who bought this house also wanted
me to move in with him, but I said that the house was enough and he took
the rejection okay. By the time that summer came round, I had sold three
and Lucy one, so we had quite a bit of money saved up and I thought it was
time we spoke to Mr Trentham about our holidays. This was readily agreed
and also that we could take it off together as high summer wasn't really a
good house selling time.

   On our day off, which was now a Monday, we went to a travel agent and
booked a fortnight's holiday in Benidorm before realising that we didn't
have passports, so on the following Monday we queued all day at Petty
France, but got them just in time before we were due to go away.

   Though we gave some of our wages to Doris, who had since taken in a
lodger, we still had enough for us to have a good time in the sun. We were
like two schoolgirls again because this was our first ever holiday for the
both of us, though Lucy did say she had been taken to the seaside once, but
she couldn't remember a thing about it. It was a package holiday, but
having no experience of any other, couldn't fault it. Once we got to the
airport we found others going on the same package and so we just followed
them.

   The flight was exciting and even the Spanish airport crowd didn't faze
me to be in this foreign country and to hear the people speak their own
language that I couldn't understand. Even the signs were unintelligible to
us, but the sun was shining and everybody had big smiles on their faces as
we got on the bus that took us to our hotel.

   We squealed with delight at seeing the sparkling water of the
Mediterranean, the golden colour of the sand that was fringed with tall
palm trees. The hotel seemed to be made of marble and we had a lovely room
near the top floor that overlooked the pool and the people lying there to
soak up the sun. The room itself wasn't big, but it did have its own
bathroom and big fluffy towels that Lucy wanted to pack up in our suitcase
when we left.

   As the flight hadn't been very long, we still had some time to go down
to the pool, so we quickly changed and were soon splashing about in the
cool water and feeling the hot sun on our backs. I'd bought the biggest
swimsuit that I could and yet it still seemed too small for me and what I
had showing was like a honey pot for the bees.

   It wasn't long before we had boys and men of all ages stopping by as we
lay on our covered loungers, chatting us up and buying us drinks. To be on
the safe side, we kept our drinks down to the soft ones knowing that though
the cocktails looked nice, guessed that they could be lethal to those who
didn't really drink.

   As I said, we got chatted up by quite a few fellows and we joked with
them, but that was as far as it went. That was until we sat at the poolside
bar one afternoon when I heard one man say to another with a laugh. `How
about having a Mint Julep Parsley?' and he laughed. The man who he had
addressed replied, `If my first name had been Basil I might. I'll stick to
my own brand of Parsley wine thank you,' and they went off laughing.

   It was the name Parsley that made me study the man. Reasonably good
looking being about the late twenties in age and looked as though he been
there for about a week judging by the sun tan that was still a bit red in
parts. Him and his friend tried chatting us up the next day and I only
talked to them because I needed to know just that bit more and it wasn't
long in coming.

   `Come on Bert, get a round of drinks in,' said the other man and Lucy
and I accepted a coke each as I casually asked what was Bert short
for. `Herbert,' the other man answered, `but he doesn't like being called
that.'

   `You're not Canadian by any chance?' I asked him.

   `No, but I do know someone who came from Alberta,' and he laughed as did
his friend at their little joke that they were obviously not going to share
with us. When married men flirt, they do not advertise that they are
already married, but he didn't have to with me, because he'd now confirmed
exactly who he was and I could see in my mind's eye that battered face of
his wife and child.

   We left them after that drink and I made a point of ignoring him and his
friend for the next couple of days. Up till then, Lucy and I loved the sun
and made love in the bed and I think she was hankering to try another man,
one not being enough to be able to judge the others by and when she told me
of this problem she was having with herself, told her to go ahead and enjoy
herself, but to be careful and see that a rubber thing was used. She kissed
me and said that she'd take care and would still love me even if I didn't
go with any of the other men, and the only thing I asked of her was not to
use our bed.

   I wanted our bedroom for my own purpose.

   That night after dinner, I saw that Lucy was being chatted to and it
looked as though she had chosen that particular man for whatever they would
do. I hung around and saw this Herbert come out to the pool bar and before
he got together with his friends got alongside him to talk.

   `I`ve been watching you,' I said as an opener. `I haven't seen you go
with any of the other girls here, are you queer?'

   `Good Lord no,' he replied somewhat startled. `Why?'

   `Well I wouldn't like to ask a man up to my room if I knew that what
he's got has been somewhere where it shouldn't, now would I?' I smiled
sweetly at him. He looked again where his eyes had already been many times,
roving over my breasts.

   `Would you like to see them in the flesh, so to speak,' I asked
softly. All he could do was nod. `Well go and wait by the lifts. I don't
want my friend to see us go into the hotel together.' He said that he
understood and went off towards the hotel and went inside, and only when he
was out of sight did I slip off my stool and casually stroll off in the
same direction

   He was waiting by the lifts and when he saw me approaching, he pressed
the call button and the lift door opened as I got there and we both entered
and I pressed the button for my floor. We didn't speak while it took us up
and neither did we say anything till I'd opened the door of my room and we
were both inside.

   `God I wanted you from the moment I first set my eyes on you,' he said,
trying to take me in his arms. I managed to evade them and went and opened
the windows to our miniscule balcony before turning back to the room and
framed in the window with the muslin curtain swishing about me, took off my
top to expose my breasts to him. I could see that he already had a hard on
as he moved forward to me and I stepped backward out onto this small space
and opened my arms to him. He came straight into them and kissed me as I
moved round with him in my arms so that he had his back to the rail.

   `I remember Alberta and Odette,' I said softly after the kiss and I saw
his eyes go wide in shock. They couldn't go any wider as I violently pushed
at his chest with both hands and with the strength of his wife and child to
help, sent him over the rail to fall down to the pool area.

   I heard him scream as I closed the window and put on my top and quickly
made my way down to the lobby. Nobody saw me leave the lift for they were
all outside and I was soon amongst the crowd that was being held back from
the now covered body of what once had been Herbert Parsley.

   I never saw Alberta or Odette again, but I hoped that they made a better
life for themselves now that they were free of the fiend. Of course the
accident at the hotel was the talk of the place for the rest of our stay
but it didn't spoil my enjoyment as Lucy and I soaked up our last drop of
sun before it was time to head back to England and work.

   My seventeenth birthday came and went without much fanfare as I didn't
want to draw attention to myself as Lucy and I now used to go to the pub
for the occasional drink. There I would wear a big baggy sweater but we
still got chatted up all the same. I also now went and got a provisional
driving licence and began to take driving lessons though this had its
problems at the beginning. I went on my day off from work and over the
first four weeks had four different instructors and I think they had been
drawing straws to each get their turn. So I had it out with the four of
them in their office on the fifth week.

   `Now I've had enough of this! You've all been out on the road with me
and had a good eyeful but it's got to stop. I can't concentrate on the gear
stick with you all fiddling with yours under your clipboards. I either have
one regular instructor or I'm going to go to another driving school.' At
least two of them had the decency to blush at my remarks and so I settled
down with just the one teacher. I was doing very well but then had to stop
for quite a few weeks because I broke my arm.

   Winter had gone but it was still dark in the early evening when we made
our way home from work. Lucy had gone on ahead to start preparing dinner
while I stopped off at the library to change a book. I was only about
fifteen minutes behind her, but she still missed what I didn't.

   I was several blocks away from our street when just as I reached a
corner, this figure came hurtling round and knocked into me, sending my
book flying. I recognised Billy Kramner straight away as the big bully from
the time I was at school with Lucy. His face was flushed and there was
sweat on his forehead, but what I noticed more was that he was clutching a
handbag as he pushed me away and went off running down the street. I picked
up my book and turned the corner to see two people, halfway down the street
bending over something on the pavement. One person had dashed away and had
just got back when I got closer to see that it was Mrs Heathers, the old
lady who lived at the end of our street.

   `I've phoned the police and asked for an ambulance,' one man gasped as
the other man supported her head with his jacket. I immediately put two and
two together and knew who had done this. He'd been reported before for
doing this, but it had never been proved and as I was seething mad at this
being done to old Mrs Heathers, vowed that I would handle it. The police
would only put him up in court where he would either get a fine or a short
prison sentence. It wasn't enough!

   As she was being looked after, I hurried on home but didn't say anything
to Lucy about it.

   After dinner, I told her I was going out and got dressed in my black
calf length boots, black tights, black skirt and a black coat that looks
like what we call a bomber jacket.

   `Where are you going dressed like that?' Lucy queried.

   `I'll tell you later,' I said, giving her a kiss and let myself out. For
three nights I went out like this and it was on the third night that I
crashed back into our small hallway with a broken arm.

   `Lucy!' I cried out as I fell in a heap at the foot of the stairs,
nursing my left arm that was hurting real bad.

   `What happened,' she cried out as she saw me lying there, her actions
frantic as she shut the front door and knelt down beside me, her face
having gone all white.

   `I'll tell you later,' I said between gritted teeth, `but first you got
to do this for me. Get my boots off and this jacket and put them in a
cupboard. Got that?'

   `Yes, but why?'

   `Then go to Fred's, two doors down and tell him to phone for an
ambulance, telling him that I've fallen down these stairs and broken my arm
and is unconscious. Got that?' I could feel the sweat running down my face
and I'm sure that the pain was showing in my face. `Do you understand what
I want Lucy?'

   `Yes, yes,' and she quickly unzipped my boots and pulled them off easily
enough, it was the coat that was the problem. We got my right arm out of
the sleeve and it off my back but it was the left arm that was causing some
concern.

   `Pull it off and put it away,' I pleaded, tears running down my face
with the pain, so she pulled the sleeve down my bent arm and I screamed and
passed out.

   She related later to me that she put the coat and boots away in a
cupboard, covered me with a blanket and ran round to Fred's. Fortunately he
was in and did as she asked and phoned for the ambulance, which to
everyone's surprise, turned up within fifteen minutes. I was still
unconscious for which I was grateful as were the two ambulance men, for me
because I didn't feel any pain when they moved me onto a stretcher and for
them that they didn't have to hear me scream. Lucy travelled in the
ambulance with me and the attendant as I was taken to the emergency
unit. She sat there while I was examined by a doctor, but not allowed into
where they took x-rays of my arm and head. But she did get to see the
pictures of my bones as the doctor put them up on the screen for him to see
properly the extent of my broken arm. He told her that it appeared that my
head was okay but that my arm was fractured in a bad way.

   She watched as they set my arm and then plastered it from the wrist
right up to the shoulder and then I was carted off to a ward where I was
put to bed. I was to be kept there for a few days for observation in case I
had damaged my head, but they would wait till I came round. She was there
when I did come round and it was her that was the first thing I saw, the
pleased happy smile on her face, glad that I had woken up at last. My head
felt a bit woozy and I could feel a heavy throbbing in my left plastered
arm that was lying out on top of the bed covers. They had given me some
kind of pain killing injection and whatnot so I did feel a bit light headed
as I smiled up at my love looking at me.

   `Did you do as I asked?' remembering what I had done and what I'd asked
of Lucy. I held up my right hand and she took it and held me tight.

   `Yes. Yes I did, but why?' she asked.

   `I'll tell you tomorrow darling when I'm not...not so tired,' and I
closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

   It was next morning when I woke up and could hear and see the bustling
activity that was going on around me in the ward.

   `How are you feeling this morning?' a nurse asked, who seeing that I was
awake had came over to me. `How's the head?'

   `Fine,' I replied, `it's my arm that hurts.'

   `Your arm will be okay, it's your head that we were worried about. Now
put this under your tongue,' and a thermometer was put in my mouth while
she held my wrist as she looked at her watch that was fixed upside down on
her uniform. She then let go of my wrist and took the thing from my mouth
and looked at it before shaking it and putting it into a plastic beaker by
the bedside.

   `Slightly up, but that would be normal in this case,' she said as she
made a note on a chart that was on a clipboard at the foot of the bed. `How
about a cup of tea?' Now that was a lovely thought as I could feel the
dryness of my throat. But that was all they gave me for breakfast as they
wanted to do a few more tests before letting me eat, but all seemed well,
apart from the arm that is, so I was allowed to sit up and have some lunch.

   With that cleared away, I then lay back and thought about what had
brought me here. It was on that third night that I found Billy Kramner as I
searched the neighbourhood, him just coming out of one of the council
blocks of flats. This particular block was on two levels, not much, but it
meant that it had to have some steps between them because one was about
four foot lower than the other. Now why they didn't have railings or a wall
there, I don't know, but it was there that I came up to him.

   `Billy you bastard,' I said to him in a low voice. `That was poor Mrs
Heather you mugged the other night.'

   `Oh, you recognised me did you? What you going to do? Tell the police?'
he sneered.

   `No. I'm going to deal with you myself,' I sneered back at him as I drew
my knife from my boot and lunged at him. He was quick and had already half
turned as he saw what I had in my hand. The knife went into his side and he
gave out a gasp and grabbed and held me as our bodies came together. With
his turning movement, my forward momentum and the fact he was holding me,
we went over and fell to the ground of the other half of the council
block. As I said, it was only about four feet but it was enough to do the
damage to me. With our turning movement, it was me that landed first, on my
left arm with all his body weight on it. I think I screamed out as the pain
tore right through my body as we struggled to separate and get up. Him with
my knife in his side and me with an obviously broken arm. As we parted, the
knife twisted in his side and he gave out a cry and clutched at the wound
as I pulled it free and half up on my knees fell forward onto him and drove
the knife up under his ribs this time. He gave out another gasp, louder
this time and then I felt him shudder and I knew then that I had killed
him.

   I got up, pulling my knife free again from his body and pushed it back
down into the sheath in my boot. Then the pain of my arm hit me and I
staggered back to lean against that low wall. I could feel the sweat
running down my face as I whimpered and held my arm close to my body and
looked down at the body of Billy Kramner.

   `No more mugging of old ladies for you,' I spat at him before I stumbled
over his body to get up those few steps to get out of the council
block. Though I was only two streets away from home, it seemed a thousand
miles away. At every step I took I felt as though I was treading on glass
as the pain shot straight up my leg to my arm. I tried long strides, I
tried short steps and even tried limping, but the pain still came every
time I moved. I nearly howled out there and then in the middle of the
swings and roundabout that the children play on. But I didn't dare. I had
to get home. Had to get to Lucy and it was that thought of Lucy that kept
me going. Lucy, Lucy, Lucy was all I could keep saying at every step of the
way to try for her name to take the pain away from my arm. Then I was home
and fell through the door to shout for Lucy herself.

   She came that afternoon to visit me and had a small bunch of flowers for
me and a packet of sweets and a newspaper.

   `How are you feeling today,' she asked, giving me a kiss on the cheek
before pulling the chair close to the bed and sitting down.

   `Fine, except for this,' I said, indicating my left arm. `I can't even
lift it.'

   `How's the head?'

   `Nothing wrong with that as they'll soon find out. Thanks for coming,' I
said as I held out my hand. She took it and gave it a squeeze as she smiled
at me and my heart melted at the sight.

   `I told them at work that you were here and they all said how sorry they
are and to give you their love and hope that you'll soon be out. In fact,
the sister told me that if all is well, you'll be let out tomorrow.'

   `Shouldn't you be at work now?'

   `I went in this morning but told them that I had to have the afternoon
off to come and see you which was no problem.'

   `What day is it?'

   `Saturday, so I'll be here all day tomorrow if they don't let you out,
but I hope they do. It was so lonely there in our bed on my own,' and I saw
some tears spring to her eyes.

   `Oh darling,' I said, gripping her hand tight as tears came to mine
too. We talked for a little while about the office and the house before she
picked up the newspaper she had brought in with the flowers and sweets.

   `The local rag reported another mugging that happened on Monday. An old
woman of seventy two.'

   `How is Mrs Heathers?' I asked.

   `It doesn't say, just that she was mugged and taken to hospital. There's
another item here. Do you remember Billy Kramner, you know, the bully we
had at school?

   `Vaguely,' I said cautiously.

   `Well he was found dead. Stabbed twice.'

   `Muggings and killings, this place is going to the dogs,' I said.

   `Sally. I took your boots off and there was a knife in a sheath
inside. It had blood on it. So did the jacket that I put in the
cupboard. Sally,...' There were tears in her eyes.

   `Not here,' I said, squeezing her hand, tears coming out and starting to
roll down my cheeks. `Not here. Don't say anymore. Wait till I get home.'
Tears were now running down her face too as she got up and leaned over and
hugged me.

   `I love you Sally,' she sobbed into my hair. `I don't want anything to
happen to you.' I was really crying now as I stroked her hair and in some
ways suddenly felt much older than her and now I had to protect her again
as I had done once before.

   `I love you too Lucy and I can't wait to get home to show you.'

   `It'll be awkward with only one hand,' she said with a shaky laugh as
she got up and released me, wiping her cheeks with the palm of her hand.

   `I've still got a mouth and tongue,' I replied, wiping away my own
tears. `We'll talk about this when I get home.'

   So with more kisses than was really necessary even though it was a
women's ward, we said goodbye and she left me to cry alone, knowing that
she would soon be learning about the real me and I fervently hoped and
prayed that it wouldn't turn her away from me.

                                                            *