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Authors: Melba Heselmeyer

All About B.A.D.

BOOK: All About B.A.D.
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All About B.A.D.

A novel

 

By Melba Heselmeyer

All About B.A.D.
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Melba Heselmeyer

Cover design by Yocla Designs

Edited & formatted by Michelle Josette

ISBN-13: 978-1508907060

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

To Robert, Jennifer and Rebecca.

 

Table of Contents

Part One – Snapshots

Chapter 1

Not a Bad Habit

Chapter 2

A Swing and a Promise

Chapter 3

The House of Mrs. Lee Griffith

Chapter 4

Life Unwinding

Chapter 5

A Tighter Knot

Chapter 6

The Splits

Chapter 7

Riding Transitions

Chapter 8

Scholarly Decisions

Chapter 9

Goodbye, Bernadette

Part Two – BAD in the Middle

Chapter 10

Life’s a Beach

Chapter 11

A Gulf In Between

Chapter 12

Prime Lots

Chapter 13

On My Own

Chapter 14

Counter Proposal

Chapter 15

In Transit

Chapter 16

Transformations

Chapter 17

Inside/Outside

Chapter 18

What Were You Expecting?

Chapter 19

Scouting for Truth

Chapter 20

The House of Many Colors

Chapter 21

Bernadette Growing

Chapter 22

Color Me Here

Chapter 23

Speaking of Change

Chapter 24

Artful Beginnings

Chapter 25

Do You See Me?

Chapter 26

Checking Out

Chapter 27

Baby Steps

Chapter 28

Three Strikes

Chapter 29

Ordering Up

Chapter 30

Clamor for Glamour

Chapter 31

Steps up to a Challenge

Chapter 32

Crashing

Chapter 33

Dawns

Chapter 34

In Sync

Chapter 35

A Kick out of Giving

Chapter 36

Making a Scene

Chapter 37

Bundles

Chapter 38

Nearing Completion

Chapter 39

Add In

Chapter 40

At Home

Chapter 41

Announcements

Chapter 42

On the Move

Chapter 43

Attachment

Chapter 44

Stomaching the Pain

Chapter 45

Slow Going

Chapter 46

Trade-offs

Chapter 47

Lean Times

Chapter 48

Firsts

Chapter 49

Bouncing Back

Chapter 50

Gaining Momentum

Chapter 51

The Bridge

Chapter 52

To the Letter

Chapter 53

Home Again, Home Again

Chapter 54

Where is Home

Chapter 55

Reprieve

Chapter 56

How You Gonna Keep ‘Em

Chapter 57

Alone

Chapter 58

No Goodbyes

Chapter 59

House of Darkness

Chapter 60

You Can’t Go

Chapter 61

Deepest Sleep

Chapter 62

A Royal Goodbye

Chapter 63

Letting Go

Chapter 64

Dividing, Growing

Chapter 65

Continuing Soul

Part Three – BAD to the End

Chapter 66

Waking from a BAD Dream

Chapter 67

On the Go

Chapter 68

Rehabilitation

Chapter 69

Coincidences

Chapter 70

Exchanges

Chapter 71

Home for the Holidays

Chapter 72

Update

Chapter 73

Memory Pool

Epilogue

At the Table

Prologue

 

With my eyes closed, I am flooded with memories sharp enough to prick my skin.

I see a tunnel created by rows of trees whose tops reach out to stroke one another. Occasionally, streaks of sunlight pierce this overhead mantle, creating a cool confine for bare feet in an East Texas summer. These stately sentinels are connected by a would-be fence of barbed spikes—a rusty string making a halfhearted attempt to cling to one lissome pine and then another—offering a boundary while keeping nothing in or out. 

Narrow trenches, pared from powdery sand by wheels of a red-paneled wagon, run along the middle of this rural arbor. The solitude makes it a place ripe for dreams and fantasies, the perfect spot to begin an adventure.

Bernadette Ann Donahue lived at the end of this marvelous lane. She was called BAD, labeled by an unfortunate assembly of letters. She pretended annoyance at the nickname while relishing in the idea it set her apart. BAD, the owner of two knee-length pigtails of dark, glossy hair. Tall, gritty, fierce and fun. BAD’s house had little to offer. It was the journey there and back that made it special.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1
Not a Bad Habit

 

“BernaDETTE! You girls come on in. Getting dark; things lurk in the dark.” Mrs. Donahue’s words searched for us across their acreage. “Lilly, your folks will be worrying. Mr. Donahue will haul you home. Get your shoes.” 

Mrs. Donahue, always orderly, had placed Lilly’s well-worn sandals by the first column on the ancient porch.

“Yes, ma’am, I know right where they are.”

Lilly was rarely ready to leave BAD’s house. There was always a stir in the air, a promise of adventure, a hint of mischief. These were heady feelings in a place where necessities were hard to come by. It was especially sad to leave now as Lilly had just recently been allowed back in BAD’s good graces after dismally failing one of her greater teaching moments. It was an experiment which had almost exiled them from the Lone Grove Christ Fully Divine Church. 

It started with a simple action. Bernadette took the paring knife from her mama’s special kitchen box.

“Look pure, Lilly, and don’t be so jittery or Mama is sure to know something’s up.”

“Where are we going with that? You know what she says about taking things from their right places.”

“Hush. Follow me and swipe off that stupid grin.”

BAD’s glare wiped it from Lilly’s face. The giggle inside remained.

Lilly followed her out to where Mr. Donahue struggled to keep his vegetables alive. They passed the last straggly row and headed for their secret place. Near the entrance were the remains of a split rail fence hung with grapevines from another era. Bernadette sawed and hacked at one of these ancient creatures until the knife blade was rough and pitted.

“What are you doing with that?” Lilly was getting nervous.

“You’ll see, Lilly. In fact, you’ll see
first
.”

What she should have heard was, “Run, Lilly, run!” Instead, she stood waiting for Bernadette to finish grating away at the old finger of wood. BAD took the jagged piece of vine and rubbed it against her shirt. From her pocket she took a book of matches and marched into the hideaway.

“Okay, here’s what. You’re going to put this into your mouth like this and I’ll light it. Then you suck on it like it’s a straw and blow out hard. Got it?” She handed Lilly the weapon.

“BAD, I don’t know about this. Mama says redbugs live on these things.”

“So what? They can’t stand smoke, right? And I’m gonna put a match to it right away.”

“Why me? Why do I have to go first?” 

“Well, somebody’s got to light it and I’ve got the matches.”

“Let’s trade.”

“Do you want to know about smoking or not? Decide now, and if you don’t then we’ll go right back to the house.”

Lilly didn’t like the tone of Bernadette’s voice. She sounded mean and dangerous. “Okay, okay, but be careful. I don’t intend on going home with a burnt nose.”

The vine tasted woody, earthy, dirty, and with just a hint of redbug. She thought she felt something crawl down her chin. BAD dragged the match across the package’s scratchy strip and it came to life spewing the smell of sulfur. She held it against the stubby tendril and waited for the flame to make its leap. After a short struggle, they had contact.

“How’s that? Taste anything? Are you sucking and blowing?”

Lilly struggled to follow instructions while worrying about what was scampering over her lips and down her throat. She drew in a long breath and slowly let it out like she’d seen Bubba Henderson do behind the school gym.

“Well?” BAD was getting impatient and fidgeting for her turn.

“Nothing,” Lilly said. “Nothing at all.”

“You aren’t doing it right. Suck in faster. My gosh, Lilly, really give it a go.”

Lilly pumped until dizziness threatened to turn her inside-out. “There’s something…I feel something.”

“What’s it like?”

“Like when you’ve twisted the rope swing to the top and let it go. I am spinning and my mouth’s a little numb.” That was the best she could do.

BAD wasn’t impressed. She grabbed the would-be cigarette and jammed it into her mouth, then inhaled and exhaled until both she and the old grape stem looked seriously distressed.

Pain, marching across Lilly’s skull and playing drums inside her brain, replaced the dizzy feeling. Her stomach turned a flip. BAD made Lilly leave the secret place when Lilly got the heaves. BAD, however, managed to hold everything down; it was her way.

“BernaDETTE! Lilly! Time to come in! Things lurk in the dark. Head back!” The voice had found its way to their secreted world. 

“Come on, BAD. Your mama’s calling. Besides, I’m not feeling all that good.”

“What did you say?” BAD had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, head down, arms across her stomach. She raised her eyes, and the look on her face shouted volumes to Lilly.

Lilly worked to get her mouth around the words and push them out in sounds that made sense. Instead it was as if they stopped just beyond her teeth and fell to the floor of pine needles.

“Oh my. Oh dear. Oh my lord…” BAD’s words stumbled out.

Things weren’t sounding as if Lilly was about to get good news.

“Your lips. Purple! They’re purple. Huge. Lilly, your lips are huge!”

As the words reached Lilly’s ears, she felt her upper lip touch the bottom of her nose. The lower lip headed toward her chin. She needed water.

BAD got to her feet and stared at the swollen opening that was once Lilly’s mouth. Inside was a heavy tongue in shades of blue. Not good…definitely not good.

“Lilly, be calm.” BAD always knew how to create panic. “We’ll go back and get you some iced water. Don’t tell Mama.”

It hadn’t occurred to BAD at this point that a conversation with Mama wasn’t going to be the problem.

They got back to the house in a haphazard manner. One look from Mrs. Donahue and Lilly was placed in a kitchen chair with a cold compress against her face. She drank some white powdery liquid and began to pray.

“Am I gaw-naw be awright?” Animal sounds were pushed across the space.

Lilly began drifting between layers of brown haze. She saw Mrs. Donahue’s head bobbing slowly up and down, her regular-sized lips making little movements.

Dreams of bugs climbing and clawing their way across her face kept Lilly moaning throughout the night. She awoke in her bed the next day, ready to face her own angry mama.

BAD and Lilly were accused of many things during the ensuing years, but smoking was never one of them.

BOOK: All About B.A.D.
5.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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