The Baker And The Queen Pin

14.) Rabbit Hole/Betrayal

~~~Booker

It's been two weeks since Junior has started at the bakery. I noticed he was off for a while but I let it go though I want to treat my son as if he's different, I don't. Paul has been a good worker and an outstanding individual, I trust Paul to close the store and open it. I trust Paul to take care of a lot of things to which Booker does not like. I told him that he's too young for that kind of responsibility and unfortunately, it's true. As much as I want to trust him with this, I know my son is prone to making mistakes like almost putting half a pound of salt in the banana bread. It was a good thing I caught him, he said it was a mistake but I don't know how you can put that much salt in banana bread.

He's also been talking to his mom, lately although I don't know what the conversation's about. I walk around the shop and I notice something, something odd that I didn't think I would notice. The safe was open. After every day, we drop the money, and every day, that money is supposed to go out to the security officials. They weren't scheduled to come today, before I could say anything and I didn't want to jump to conclusions, I check the calendar. No, it wasn't supposed to go out today.

I don't want to believe it and I don't. I look at the footage on my camera and I see it, a hidden camera in the safe to keep it protected. It was my property and I was just monitoring my money which is what my lawyer friend told me but what I was saw was damning, to say the least. It was my own son, emptying the safe filled with 20,000 dollars. I call his mother multiple times with no answer, I call Booker, no answer. He stole over 8 months worth of rent, he stole 3 months' worth of paychecks, and he stole emergency money from my house. I had another place and I found myself asking Paul, "Where is Booker?"

Paul looks at me and says, 'He went on lunch,' and his eyes widen, 'What's wrong?' "Paul, close the store down for the day,' I say to him. Paul says, 'But we haven't,' I turn to him and Paul says, 'Yes sir, Mr. B,' As everything finishes up, I pause and take a moment. Why am I going to go find my son? I'm not in the right state of mind. His mother's not answering the phone and I'm alone. I go to my apartment, not wasting any time and I see it. I was only down the street so I was only a few minutes away, I see Booker leaving out of the apartment.

Part of me wants to confront him but I follow him. I follow him, wondering why he stole that much money. I began to cry as I saw why: Keisha. I see her smiling as she hugs me. He hands her a bookbag and his face looks accomplished. Tears began to flow down my face, I still myself. I grab the phone with my low-quality camera and take as many pictures as possible before I go confront my ex-wife and my son

"Hey, what are you doing?" I say, almost out of breath. 'I'm just seeing Mom. Can't a guy go on his lunch?' I look at him and I say, "What's in the bag?" He says, 'It's just some extra clothes. Mom said she was going to bring me some,' "Booker, you know I'm much too old for you to play stupid. What's in the bag, son?" It's then that he shifts to pure hostility, 'None of your damn business, old man,' 'Yeah, don't make me make a scene,' I hear Keisha say. I grab the bag and open, I wanted it to be clothes, I wanted it to be clothes, it wasn't.

He cleaned out not only the bank safe but my safe. That personal safe had their college money in it, I wanted them to go to college because I didn't get to go because I was raising them. It's then that I feel pure anger overflow as Keisha yells 'Purse-snatcher' and Booker tries to yell 'Purse-snatcher' as I wait for the police, rough-handling me, punching me, and everything in between. They didn't even arrest them, I showed them everything, all of the information and they looked baffled.

It's then that the police officer looks at me and says, 'I'm sorry, I didn't know,' I look at him and say, "No, you didn't but unfortunately, you just cost me a lot of money because of this," 'We make mistakes, sir,' one of the officers say. 'I'm sorry this had to happen like this,' My son stole over 40,000 dollars from me for his mother,' I show them the footage and the police officer says, 'There's no easy way to say this, but if you press charges, he'll be tried as a felon and lose his freedom,' I compose myself as I say something I feel in my being I'm going to regret: "Let him go, let him go,"

It's then that one of the officers say, 'I'm sorry that this happened to you, Mr. Johnson,' I realized I recognized him, he's the same gentleman who was with Mr. Kevin. "It's okay, you were just doing your job," I felt myself get so angry, that I just went home. What else could I say? My own son was willing to do this to me. I go to my house and I sit down and I prepare to cry, I start crying to such a degree that I say "Damnit damnit," and lose my temper.

I found myself, punching my wall to the point that my hands bled. I'm so fed up and tired of this, all I wanted to do was be a dad, all I wanted to do was protect them. Booker didn't want me and Belle is confused. I want to say they're just confused but they've made mistakes I can't even undo and it's just because they're children and Keisha's using that to her advantage. It was then that I get a call, and I recognized the name immediately. "Hey Maria, how are you?" I say.

~~~Maria

I find myself, looking at everything that's happened the past couple of days. Unfortunately, the gentleman didn't take the money and his family died in an unfortunate car accident. This was perfect. I sit in the butcher shop and I let this entire scene melt away. I find myself, just thinking about Booker and what we can be doing for each other, how we can be comforting each other right now and then I call him and I hear his voice. It sounded completely different than it normally would, normally he was happy and gregarious.

This time, he was depressed and I could hear it. What happened? Where was the happy man I was just talking to a while ago? "What's wrong?" I say to him. 'I've been having a bad day,' he says, completely defeated. 'I'm sorry,' I say, immediately feeling sad. We hadn't made our relationship status clear but we've met for the past two Sundays and twice a week. As I sit there, I think about everything we've talked about and I ask him in the most concerned voice, "What's wrong?" 'My son stole from me,' My eyes widened and I felt a slight trigger hit me.

"He stole from you?" I say in a questioning tone. 'Yeah,' "How much?" It's then that I hear him say the number, it was by far not a large amount but the amount for him could have bought the bakery two times over. "Well if you need any help," He then says, 'No, I don't,' I want to be upset with him for being hard-headed but it wasn't the time and then I say, "Is there anything you want me to do?"

He says no in a defeated tone and I hear it in his voice. What could I do? 40,000 dollars was a lot of money for him. For me, it's what I make in a few days and that's on a bad week. I hear his voice defeated and I say to him, "I'm coming over," I hear a debate as he says, 'No, you don't have to,' I then say to him, "It's not up for debate. Send me your address and I'll be there. Please let me be there for you at this time,"

It's then that he says, 'I would love to have someone here,'

End of Chapter 14: Rabbit Hole/Betrayal