Terry took a quick look at the dining room through the serving window at Merlotte’s. It was hot as balls back in the kitchen, but from the twin peaks poking out of Holly’s shirt, you could tell Sam had the air conditioning cranked in the dining room.
He dropped some chicken fried steak another batch of fries in the hot grease before turning to get another look at his wife, Arlene. Damn, he still liked the sound of that. He was a lucky man. She was a beautiful, kind woman. And she was smart; he thought so anyway. She was trouble though, that was for sure.
She’d been through a lot. Married four times before she agreed to marry him, and now there was the baby. Her other kids were older and Mikey seemed to really be stressing her out. She had gotten some crazy ideas in her head that the baby was evil or possessed by her dead husband Reneé, but everything he read on the Google said that women were pretty hormonal for the whole first year after they had a baby. He figured she’d calm down after a while.
I had baby Mikey in a carrier on my chest as I waited tables. They couldn’t really afford a sitter so when they both had to work I just brought the baby with me to the restaurant. So far Sam hadn’t complained, but there was that one day when he’d called her a redneck breeding machine, but he hadn’t really been himself that day.
“Terry!” I barked at him though the window before I dinged the ‘order-up’ bell at him.
“What? Jesus. Tits. America. You scared me! You know not to sneak up on me, baby. You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you.”
Terry suffered from PTSD after his time in the Gulf War. He’d been known to drop to the floor when he heard a car backfire, and he sometimes got a little lost staring into the blades of the ceiling fan, but he didn’t carry a gun, so Arlene knew he was full of shit.
I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous phrase Terry had picked up from Andy recently.
“I need that chicken fried steak for Mrs. Fortenberry. She’s gettin’ fidgity and I’m afraid she’s gonna eat the baby.”
“Comin’ up, Sugar.”
He pulled the baskets out of the fryer and shook the grease off, waiting a few seconds before dumping them each onto a plate. Slopping a scoop of coleslaw beside the steak and fries, he took the dish to the counter, but held it just out of his wife’s reach.
“Give me some lovin’,” he teased.
“Terry! Not now!” I huffed, irritated.
“Aw, come on, baby.”
He’d been watching her for hours and just needed a little kiss.
“Don’t ‘baby’ me. I’ve been on my feet over four hours lugging this baby around and my boobs are leaky. Give me the meat, Terry, now.”
He was properly chagrined as he lowered his eyes and handed me the plate.
“Sorry, baby.”
“Hmph. You can make it up to me later,” i muttered as i walked away, my hips swinging and gum smacking. Baby Mikey was asleep, his little face buried between my leaky breasts.
The remainder of the lunch rush passed without incident. I was refilling salt shakers after finally getting Mikey to play quietly in his pack ‘n’ play with his baby doll. I didn’t know what it was about that scary doll that calmed him down, but it did.
Andy Bellefleur wandered in, hitching up his pants and heading straight to the window to the kitchen.
“Terry,” his gruff voice called.
“You got my steak ready? I don’t have much time. Gotta get back out on patrol, you know?”
I knew there wasn’t that much to patrol in the Bon Temps area and something had been off with Andy lately anyway. He’d been twitchy and moody, even treated Holly all weird giving her mixed signals when he showed up then ran out on their lunch date.
“Sure thing, Andy,” Terry answered him with a nod.
“I made it how you asked, but I thought you liked your steaks well done. When’d you start liking it so rare?”
He bristled at his cousin’s questions.
“I don’t know. Just tried it one time and liked it. What do you care?”
“Don’t care really. Just observing. I’m good at that, you know? Did a lot of that in the war…”
Terry’s eyes clouded over a bit and he got lost in his head. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed before he turned to make his way out of the kitchen towards the store room. Andy felt bad that he’d somehow pushed his cousin back into his painful memories, but before he could call out to Terry, his harpy wife started yelling.
“Damn it,” I snapped.
“Now look what you’ve done, Andy. It’s been hard for him having to live in your granny’s house since the fire. Too much change. Why’d you have to stir him up? You know better.”
“This ain’t my fault,” he muttered, then spoke a little louder.
“Get off my back, Arlene. Getting mixed up with you has him all screwed up; don’t you go blaming it on me.”
The baby started crying and i scooped him up to hold him on my hip. I rubbed Mikey’s back as i raised an eyebrow at Andy and unloaded weeks, maybe months, of frustration on him.
“You listen here, mister. I don’t know what’s going on with you but you ain’t been right. What the hell was with how you treated Holly the other day? You took her flowers with you when you ran out on her – how could you do that? How dare you hurt her feelings like that. You’ve never been a mean person, but that was downright nasty. Now you’re questioning Terry when all he did was ask you a question? You should be ashamed…”
He heard my voice continuing with my tirade, but the words didn’t register anymore. The thoughts in his head drowned mine out as they screamed at him to get her to shut up so he could eat his food and go find some V. He knew he was running out of time before the real withdrawal set in and it wasn’t going to be pretty. His thoughts moved to figuring out how to get his hands on more vampire blood and he almost smiled.
"Uh..uh...I gotta go....Sorry" he bowed slightly and pushed himself away from the sefving counter and vacated through the front door.
I tapped my feet on the sticky floor and cuddled Mikey to my chest to try and soothe him, using the freaky, scary doll to stop him from crying. Sam was behind the bar serving a regular pitcher of beer when he stomped over to the serving hatch.
"Arlene...Take him through back"
"He's a just a baby Sam!" I snappd back at him.
"I know...but he is disturbing the customers...Take your break....Go on....Before i change my mind" he sighed.
"Fine!" Kissing Mikey's head as he gurgled playing with the doll.
Stomping back to Sam's office, Terry continued flipping burgers on the grill, whistling to a tune on the radio. Opening the door to his office, i walked in, almost slamming the door closed behind me. My eyes dropped to look at Mikey, he was almost asleep, clutching the doll between his fingers.
What was it with the doll?
He dropped some chicken fried steak another batch of fries in the hot grease before turning to get another look at his wife, Arlene. Damn, he still liked the sound of that. He was a lucky man. She was a beautiful, kind woman. And she was smart; he thought so anyway. She was trouble though, that was for sure.
She’d been through a lot. Married four times before she agreed to marry him, and now there was the baby. Her other kids were older and Mikey seemed to really be stressing her out. She had gotten some crazy ideas in her head that the baby was evil or possessed by her dead husband Reneé, but everything he read on the Google said that women were pretty hormonal for the whole first year after they had a baby. He figured she’d calm down after a while.
I had baby Mikey in a carrier on my chest as I waited tables. They couldn’t really afford a sitter so when they both had to work I just brought the baby with me to the restaurant. So far Sam hadn’t complained, but there was that one day when he’d called her a redneck breeding machine, but he hadn’t really been himself that day.
“Terry!” I barked at him though the window before I dinged the ‘order-up’ bell at him.
“What? Jesus. Tits. America. You scared me! You know not to sneak up on me, baby. You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you.”
Terry suffered from PTSD after his time in the Gulf War. He’d been known to drop to the floor when he heard a car backfire, and he sometimes got a little lost staring into the blades of the ceiling fan, but he didn’t carry a gun, so Arlene knew he was full of shit.
I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous phrase Terry had picked up from Andy recently.
“I need that chicken fried steak for Mrs. Fortenberry. She’s gettin’ fidgity and I’m afraid she’s gonna eat the baby.”
“Comin’ up, Sugar.”
He pulled the baskets out of the fryer and shook the grease off, waiting a few seconds before dumping them each onto a plate. Slopping a scoop of coleslaw beside the steak and fries, he took the dish to the counter, but held it just out of his wife’s reach.
“Give me some lovin’,” he teased.
“Terry! Not now!” I huffed, irritated.
“Aw, come on, baby.”
He’d been watching her for hours and just needed a little kiss.
“Don’t ‘baby’ me. I’ve been on my feet over four hours lugging this baby around and my boobs are leaky. Give me the meat, Terry, now.”
He was properly chagrined as he lowered his eyes and handed me the plate.
“Sorry, baby.”
“Hmph. You can make it up to me later,” i muttered as i walked away, my hips swinging and gum smacking. Baby Mikey was asleep, his little face buried between my leaky breasts.
The remainder of the lunch rush passed without incident. I was refilling salt shakers after finally getting Mikey to play quietly in his pack ‘n’ play with his baby doll. I didn’t know what it was about that scary doll that calmed him down, but it did.
Andy Bellefleur wandered in, hitching up his pants and heading straight to the window to the kitchen.
“Terry,” his gruff voice called.
“You got my steak ready? I don’t have much time. Gotta get back out on patrol, you know?”
I knew there wasn’t that much to patrol in the Bon Temps area and something had been off with Andy lately anyway. He’d been twitchy and moody, even treated Holly all weird giving her mixed signals when he showed up then ran out on their lunch date.
“Sure thing, Andy,” Terry answered him with a nod.
“I made it how you asked, but I thought you liked your steaks well done. When’d you start liking it so rare?”
He bristled at his cousin’s questions.
“I don’t know. Just tried it one time and liked it. What do you care?”
“Don’t care really. Just observing. I’m good at that, you know? Did a lot of that in the war…”
Terry’s eyes clouded over a bit and he got lost in his head. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed before he turned to make his way out of the kitchen towards the store room. Andy felt bad that he’d somehow pushed his cousin back into his painful memories, but before he could call out to Terry, his harpy wife started yelling.
“Damn it,” I snapped.
“Now look what you’ve done, Andy. It’s been hard for him having to live in your granny’s house since the fire. Too much change. Why’d you have to stir him up? You know better.”
“This ain’t my fault,” he muttered, then spoke a little louder.
“Get off my back, Arlene. Getting mixed up with you has him all screwed up; don’t you go blaming it on me.”
The baby started crying and i scooped him up to hold him on my hip. I rubbed Mikey’s back as i raised an eyebrow at Andy and unloaded weeks, maybe months, of frustration on him.
“You listen here, mister. I don’t know what’s going on with you but you ain’t been right. What the hell was with how you treated Holly the other day? You took her flowers with you when you ran out on her – how could you do that? How dare you hurt her feelings like that. You’ve never been a mean person, but that was downright nasty. Now you’re questioning Terry when all he did was ask you a question? You should be ashamed…”
He heard my voice continuing with my tirade, but the words didn’t register anymore. The thoughts in his head drowned mine out as they screamed at him to get her to shut up so he could eat his food and go find some V. He knew he was running out of time before the real withdrawal set in and it wasn’t going to be pretty. His thoughts moved to figuring out how to get his hands on more vampire blood and he almost smiled.
"Uh..uh...I gotta go....Sorry" he bowed slightly and pushed himself away from the sefving counter and vacated through the front door.
I tapped my feet on the sticky floor and cuddled Mikey to my chest to try and soothe him, using the freaky, scary doll to stop him from crying. Sam was behind the bar serving a regular pitcher of beer when he stomped over to the serving hatch.
"Arlene...Take him through back"
"He's a just a baby Sam!" I snappd back at him.
"I know...but he is disturbing the customers...Take your break....Go on....Before i change my mind" he sighed.
"Fine!" Kissing Mikey's head as he gurgled playing with the doll.
Stomping back to Sam's office, Terry continued flipping burgers on the grill, whistling to a tune on the radio. Opening the door to his office, i walked in, almost slamming the door closed behind me. My eyes dropped to look at Mikey, he was almost asleep, clutching the doll between his fingers.
What was it with the doll?
