Successions of Somethings ~ Chapter Two

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Psalm 119:130

Pearl picked up the plate of muffins and held it toward each of detectives as she looked at them one at a time and assured them that she was not a lunatic ready to pop at the slightest move. Walters looked deep into her eyes, searched her face, and then said, “Ms. Mackinac, you have not heard yet, have you?”
“Heard what?” she replied
“There has been a terrible accident involving your older brother. The reason we are here…”
“Is because his wife said that she saw me last night on her street as she was returning from work,” Pearl interrupted, “I had no idea she had been working such long hours since their daughter left for school, but she was offered a pay raise if she took the position of head nurse in the pediatric unit at the hospital. She really is a brilliant girl except for the mistake she made when she married my brother, I would say she is the best person I know. When she took that position, I thought my brother was going to lose his mind. He went got so angry- beat her until she couldn’t stand. She called me and asked me to help her get the house back in order while he was out. I did. The house was a wreck. He has been doing that stuff since the day they married, but she won’t ever leave him. No, she always says that if God had intended for her to be without him, He would take care of it. So…I… well- I helped.”
“Oh, hold on. You mean to tell us that you took care of the problem?” Conner asked surprised.
“I mean to tell you that I finally took care of a problem in my family for the first time in my life. I stood up to the man who tried to take every dream I ever had away from me- from all of us. And, I mean to tell you that I stopped something that should have been stopped over twenty years ago.”
“Ms. Mackinac, will you tell us exactly what happened last night and where you were between nine and midnight? Maybe you would like to tell us what led you to visit Little Rock last night?”
“Yes, I would like to tell you everything I can remember, but it goes further back than last night, much further. You see the things my brother did to his wife; he did to his previous wife, to his daughters, to our brother, and to me. He was the Freddy Kruger of reality, and I have dreamed every day since I was five that this day would come, not just for me, but for all of us.”
She looked at the two strangers in separate glances and poured herself some coffee. She opened a packet of artificial sweetener and poured it into her cup followed by some cream, then stirred gently. As she moved the spoon in circles, she peered into the bottom of the cup as if she were peering into a mirror, a reflection of herself or what she once was. The pictures she saw all representing a part of her, a longing for freedom that had never been released, and now, today, there was a glimpse of hope that they would all be set free. The bars are cut and all they lack is the prying open, and then the torment will be over.
“Please, go on Ms. Mackinac. We are still not clear as to what took you to his house last night and what you did once you got there.”
“Well, I guess you need to know a little more background before I go on into my secrets and the secrets of my youth. Please eat-- there are plenty of muffins”