Throwaway People

Shiny Red Package

Green Acres, Camp: 9:15 PM

Jim wasn't in the main room when Patty walked in. She knocked on his bedroom door. She didn't hear anything. It was possible he was pissed at being told he wasn't wanted. Patty decided that she didn't care. At this point of time she wasn't concerned with what a man thought. How could those sick bastards do that to a young girl? Force her to witness a rape and say it was her fault. Bastards!

Patty decided she needed air. She had made it halfway down the stairs when she saw Jim in the office chair. He had the bottle of bourbon out. There were two shot glasses out, but only one had anything in it. He saw Patty coming down and lifted it up.

"Here, I think you need this." Jim said. Offering her the shot glass.

"Damn right." Was all Patty said, snatching the glass and downing it.

"Tell me about it." Jim said as he poured more bourbon in Patty's glass.

It was twenty minutes and three shots of bourbon later that Patty had finished relating her conversation with Kitty. Mixing into her story her opinion of the male gender in general. Now she transferred her attention to God.

"What kind of god lets this kind of thing happen on his watch." Patty said. "It's because there is no god."

"It wasn't God who did this to Kitty." Jim had a couple of shots himself. He had needed it as he learned what had been done to Kitty. "It was people. Greedy, evil, selfish people who did this for the money and pleasure of the act."

"God let them do it." Patty replied.

"God had no say in it. People were given free will. They used that free will to pursue their own selfish interests." Jim poured each of them another shot. "If you believe the bible, it began in Eden with the apple."

"Oh, don't preach at me." Patty downed her shot. "I didn't think you were Christian."

"I'm not." Jim said. "The story is a metaphor. Of all the trees in the garden, God said that Adam and Eve couldn't eat from the one tree. The apple tree is as good of a guess as any as to what tree that was. The apple is a shiny, red package. Eve saw it and like any human being couldn't resist it. She just had to take it."

"Yeah, sure. Blame it on a woman."

"Doesn't matter. The point is, the apple was the shiny, red package that was forbidden. People are too greedy, too selfish to leave it alone. They have to have it. After Eve had the apple, Adam had to have one too. I don't think Eve had to tempt him. I think he wanted it when he saw Eve had it."

"It gave them pleasure to eat the apple. It didn't matter that God forbade them to do it. After that people keep taking the red, shiny package. They want it, even if they have to defy society, God, or the law to get it. Because they are greedy and selfish."

"You are drunk." Patty said. "And full of shit too."

"Drunk, I might be. You know I'm right. God gave people free will. People choose to do bad things to each other. All in pursuit of that bright, shiny package. People blame God, but it's their own greed that gets them in the end."

Green Acres, Camp: 11:12 PM

Kitty woke up after hearing the shouting. She glaced over at Winnie's bed. She wasn't there. She was visiting Tia Cuervas. Kitty knew that she had to wait until the shouting and screaming was over. That was when she could get up and see if Mommy had bruises on her face again. If Daddy was gone it was better, but if he was still there it could get worse.

Mommy had promised that the screaming would stop. That she would not be seeing Daddy any more. That they had moved to Rapid City to get away from Daddy. Mommy promised that there would be no more bruises on her face.

Kitty held Notawe, her stuffed toy dog, to her chest until the noise stopped. She put the toy aside as she got out of bed. Going to the door Kitty opened the door to her bedroom. Outside a wanagi stood in the dark hallway.

"Daddy?" Kitty asked.

"I could be." Said the Wanagi. "Do you want to see your Mommy?"

"Yes, sir."

The Wanagi grabbed her by her arm. "You're hurting me."

Mommy had been on the bed, there was blood on the covers. No it was dirt. It had to be. To think that it might be Mommy's blood was too much to bear for Kitty.

The Wanagi had wiped dirt on her face. "It was your fault." He had told her. "Your fault." The Wanagi had made her dirty. Wiped the dirt on her face. Made her dirty.