Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Lieutenant Deviled Yeggs.  I work homicide in the big city of Tracy.  Working for me are my old partners: Detective Sgt. Jim Wednesday and Detective Poached Yeggs, my nephew who is slowly becoming a good detective.  And Sophie, my daughter, solves a few mysteries herself.

Editor’s Note: In probably over two hundred stories about the big city of Tracy, I have never named the state.  I have hinted that the state is in the middle of the country, but it is not a state that exists.  Maybe I could pry a couple of state borders apart and stick my fictional state in there somewhere.  The three large universities have been mentioned in past stories.  There is the university in Tracy, T.R.U.S.T. (Tracy Regional University for Science and Technology).  T.R.U.S.T. is a conservative university.  Then there is State.  State is middle of the road, but they are known for being the party school.  State is defined by big on sports, even when the teams are not very good, and partying whether they win or lose.  Then there is Uof.  It would be U of then the name of the state, but I prefer to not give the state a name.  Thus, Uof is the liberal university in the state capitol.  This story does not put Uof in a good light, and the story is not meant to represent any university today.  The revelations in this story do not coincide with any situation today, but it might happen in the future or simply be a work of fiction.  Any similarities are coincidental and not intended.

Even though I show up in this story, this is a first-person Sophia story.

I saw Mom in the stands when I got sent to the showers.  I was probably going to get a lecture on the way home.  But, come on!  The grounder hit by the coach was meant to be tricky and between hops.  The fact that it took a wild sideways bounce was just the uneven infield.  So, I had to catch it with my bare hand.  Since I was off balance, I tossed the ball while falling and throwing sidearm.  I did not need a lecture on how this was practice.  According to the coach, I had to catch with the glove and return to a state of balance and then throw properly overhand.  Sure, me pointing out that Patrick Mahomes practices throwing the football at all kinds of angles, not knowing what angle he might need in a game was just pressing the coach’s buttons.  Besides, I made a perfect throw to first base, and Carla, the girl playing first base, did not have to stretch.  So, I got sent to the showers for sassing the coach.

But maybe God had a hand in it.  When I got to the lockers, I slammed the locker door in anger.  I went to the showers to turn one on.  I did not like cold showers.  But on the way, in a nearby corner of the locker room, I heard some soft crying.

I looked and it was Tammie Thompson.  She had graduated the year before and she had gotten a near full-ride scholarship to Uof.  We were disappointed she did not go the T.R.U.S.T.  She was three years older, but for her senior year we would be a power to deal with.  You see, last year for our undefeated state championship, the Sophie to Tammie to Carla double play combination was the most prolific in Flintheart history.  But now, we were grooming Menzie at second base.  She was getting good at the pivot, but this was practice, without a runner trying to get in the way.

I sat next to Tammie, “What’s wrong, Tam?  I thought you’d be at Uof, showing them how to play softball.”

She looked at me through the tears and said, “I left, and I am not going back.  Soap, I have ruined everything.  Even if I could come back to Flintheart, Menzie is looking good.  Sure, she’s a freshman, and don’t expect an error free season, but she is going to be good someday, maybe soon.”

I asked if she wanted to talk about it.  She shook her head no, but she started talking anyway.  I barely had time for a quick shower before everyone else came in, including Mom.

Mom said, “Young lady, you will not sass the coach, again.  Understood?”  I nodded. “And there are two more things I need to say.  Your coach was out of line.  In a game situation, you might have to do what you did.  Practicing always righting yourself and throwing overhand will lead to runners on base and opposing scores going up.  And you did one of the most outstanding off balanced throws I have ever seen.  Keep it up, kiddo!  Now, when Menzie and Marge take their showers, we can go to Lily the Pink.”

I asked, “Can we have one more in the SUV?  I texted Aunt Pink.  Tammie is temporarily homeless, no job, not going back to Uof for good reason, and there may be something hinkie going on.  I texted Dad, too.  Tammie has a story that will melt your socks off.  Is it okay?”

Mom turned to Tammie.  She combed her fingers through her hair.  Tammie smelled pretty bad.  Her hair was a mess.  She would not make eye contact.  All Mom said was, “Tammie, Pink Lady likes to make eye contact, even when it hurts.  Is that okay?”

Tammie made no eye contact with Mom, but she nodded.

Mom shocked me when we reached the SUV.  She tossed me the keys.  “Young lady, your Dad has told me that you are pretty good.  You drive.  Tammie will sit behind you, and I can keep an eye on her from the passenger’s front seat.  Menzie in the middle and Marge behind me.”  We all piled in the SUV as directed.

To catch everyone up, I asked for a driver’s license for Christmas.  I am old enough only for a learner’s permit, so I have to have a responsible adult in the car when I am driving.  But just wait another month, and I will be on my own!  As I pulled onto the street for the first time with Mom as the responsible driver, Marge asked, “Tam, you don’t look yourself.  Is Uof a hard place to go to school?”

Tammie choaked back the tears, “You could say that, Marge, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

Marge said, “Excuse me!  It’s not like we were teammates for the past two years or something.  Just starting a conversation.”

Menzie muttered, “She said she don’t want to talk, Margie.  Give her a break, okay?”

Mom had read my friends the right way, and Menzie was a good buffer.  With no talking from the back seat, Mom and I talked about the traffic, which was light that time of the afternoon.  I told her that I saw the children playing in a front yard and the car with the brake lights on and I would make adjustments if the back-up lights were on.  She felt much easier, knowing that I was looking down the road and assessing the hazards, even with three friends in the back seat.

I was a little shocked when we walked into Pink Lady’s office.  Dad was there along with Georges Evident.  In the play area, Kanok, Joon, Gigi, Sparkle, and Stormie were getting acquainted with each other.  Gigi was pulling herself up these days, but the walking thing had not yet started.  Sparkle was just watching everyone, and Stormie only saw her Mommie, my sister-in-law, Jemima.  Jemima said, “Oops, everybody.  Let’s go to the big sandbox.”  That meant the beach volleyball court.  Grannie Fannie took Sparkle.  PawPaw got Joon and GiGi into a twin stroller, and Kanok walked with them.

But then there was Tommie Tat and someone I don’t think I had ever met.  And Aunt Gwen was there.  Aunt Pink had Tammie and me sit in the visitor chairs and everyone else grabbed seats around us.  Dad was at the side of Aunt Pink’s desk with his laptop on the desk.  Mom sat next to him.

Aunt Pink went through the introductions.  The lady that I did not know was introduced as Rhoda “Rosie” Posey, a recipe coordinator, meaning that she worked in raw materials for the cider operations.  But Aunt Pink gave us no clue why Tommie Tat and Rosie were here.  But then, I turned around and Menzie was there, standing next to Tammie.

Aunt Pink said, “Menzie, do you not have homework to do?”

Menzie looked Aunt Pink in the eyes and said, “I did my homework before practice, and I think Tammie needs a hand to hold onto.”  Rosie grabbed a chair so that Menzie could sit down.  Tammie grabbed her hand and squeezed it.  Aunt Pink smiled.

Aunt Pink said, “I see a Uof gym bag.  You are not the only one from that university at the state capitol that I know, but you are the only one here.  Tommie Tat is from State.  She successfully graduated in four years and almost never was sober for a single day.  I got pregnant, out of wedlock in my junior year of college, but I finished on time and with honors.  I went to T.R.U.S.T.  But my niece next to you called me and said she had a person that needed my special touch, homeless, no job, ran away from school where she had a scholarship, and her parents ran her out of their home.  She says you need me.  But before I decide if I need you, I need to know your story.  Tell me who Tammie Thompson is.”

Tammie looked Aunt Pink in the eyes.  Aunt pink smiled, and slightly turned to Mom and winked.  Tammie said, “If you ask my parents, I’m a drunken pervert and ungrateful jerk that threw away my parent’s reputation.  If you ask my softball coach at Uof, I am a lesbian who could not handle college life.  If you ask the guy who had been sleeping with me six months ago and now goes by the name of Tabitha instead of Tab, I am the traitor that is probably making him work to make up the difference in rent that I am not paying.”  At this point, she shook Menzie’s hand, as she sobbed; she was so overwrought.

Aunt Pink asked me, “What say you, Sophia?”

I said, “She is a dear friend and a great teammate.  She needs help, the kind of help that a lot of people here at Lily the Pink get every day.  If she can get herself back on her feet, she will work hard.  She can make good grades if she can find a way to get back into school.  And I do not care what all those other people say.  Menzie is my BFF, but Tammie has always been a friend to me.”

Aunt Pink sighed, “Tammie, I did not tell you to say what others say.  When I ask you for your story, I want to know what happened to the scholarship student that was going places?  I understand softball, minimally.  I was never much of a sports fan.  I preferred sitting next to the pool, trying to turn pink skin into a tan.  It never worked.”

Tammie sniffled, “Well, Tab Fowler was my boyfriend.  We had it all planned.  My parents gave me their permission for Tab to take me to a hotel for an entire weekend after the senior prom last year.  We had both waited.  We were clumsy, but we spent the three days in bed together.”  Mom gasped. Tammie looked in her direction.  “Oh, I didn’t stay pure like you did?”

Mom shook her head, “No, dear, it was this lummox here that kept me straight.  I kept stripping my clothes off, and he kept wrapping blankets around me.  Pink and maybe most people in this room are Christians.  But we all make mistakes.  Don’t worry about someone judging you.  I think someone in this room has made the same mistakes you made.  Whatever those mistakes are.  I apologize.  I gasped because I remember when you were playing youth sports years ago.  You were such a pretty girl and a wonderful athlete.  I want to know how you lost that spark inside you.  I want to see that spark shine again.  Okay?”

Aunt Pink had never flinched.  She had heard worse intros.

Tammie shrugged.  “Well, after spending a nice vacation with my parents on the Florida side of the Gulf, I packed my stuff and moved in with Tab.  He is renting his uncle’s house near the campus at a reduced rate, since he’s family.  He went through a lot of cash living there alone last year, so he was happy that I moved in.  We were like rabbits all alone for a couple of weeks and then the softball coach came by.  There were some things in the scholarship contract that I and my parents signed that needed explanation.  I wanted them explained before I signed, but my folks saw how much they were going to pay, and they said the conditions were okay.  Just do as the coach said.  All they cared about was the money.  In the end, that’s all Tab cared about either.”  Pink had a hurt look on her face.  She did not like Tammie making those judgments, especially about her parents.  “Well, the coach said that the artsy and artful photoshoots were for a nude calendar of the starting softball lineup and the pitching rotation to get the twelve.  The twelve of us would all pose nude for a group shot on the cover.  Between now and the shoot, the coach would pick me up to get a driver’s license.  I told her I had one, but she said that I needed a new one.  I would be wining and dining legislators and it might not look good to be underage.  My new driver’s license has my birthdate, but three years older.”  My Dad asked for her license.  He had plugged a strange kind of device into the USB port.  He handed her back the license.  He said it was not a fake.  He explained that there was a sliver of a rare earth metal in the licenses to help cut down on fakes.  It was hard staying a step ahead of the criminals.  Tammie said, “I could have told you I got it at the DMV.  The Uof has ‘friends’ all over town.  There was a half dozen freshmen athletes there with me.  Anyway, a couple of days later, we did the photoshoot.  They had two photographers and a videographer.  They took a lot of pictures and the ones they took of my privates, really close up, were the worst, but Tab told me that he would lose the house if I didn’t do the shoot.”

She stopped the wipe away the tears.  Pink had given her an entire box of tissues.  “Then a week later, the coach walked into the apartment with J’Mickie Montle.  Her name is really J’Micah Mondell, but they changed it since she is a switch hitting for power centerfielder that reminds folks of Mickie Mantle.  She’s a year older, and she was paired with me for the second photoshoot.  The camera crews came in along with a man that I only knew as ‘The Spin Doctor.’  He said that I was a lesbian and I said I was not.  Then the coach said that whatever the Spin Doctor said was true.  The team was being touted as the first all protected subgroup team in the nation, all twelve of us were lesbians or switch hitters like J’Mickie.  With Tab encouraging me, I did it.  I hated it at first, but then J’Mickie got to places Tab knew nothing about.”  My Dad asked if the videographer was also there, and she nodded.  Daddy was typing away on his laptop.  I thought Aunt Gisele was the interview transcriber, but Daddy wasn’t too bad either.

“So, it still wasn’t time to start school yet, and maybe the indignities were over, but then a week later, the Spin Doctor burst through the door and told Tab and me that we had to stop what we were doing.  We were just having sex, but he said that I was a lesbian and I had to get my satisfaction through J’Mickie and if Tab could play along and be an ambiguous gender boy that J’Mickie could have for a boy toy, then he would get a stipend.  The Spin Doctor wanted to use Tab for an experiment.  Tab would wear a girl’s top and a bra and wig.  He would go into one grocery store or another and pick up produce to fill the bra and then walk out without paying.  The Spin Doctor said that everyone in the state capitol was so afraid of being called homophobic that he would never be questioned.  He went for lemons and J’Mickie told him that he had to go for something bigger if he was going to be her boy toy.  He turned around and went into the same grocery store, grabbed some navel oranges and blew a kiss at the store manager on the way out.  No one said a thing.  When he graduated to grapefruit, that’s what we had for breakfast every morning.”

She continued, “The next day, J’Mickie showed up with her stuff and moved into Tab’s bedroom and my stuff was moved to the bedroom down the hall.  I could only be with Tab if J’Mickie wanted us all three to play together, if you know what I mean.”

Aunt Pink smiled, “I was never a prostitute here when this was a brothel, but the ladies have told me such things.  Talking it through in detail purges the system for some of the ladies here.  But stick to the Cliff Notes version of your story for now.”

Tammie nodded, “Well, we don’t really start softball practice until January, but we have strength training all year.  The other girls were okay, but a few wanted to kiss me.  J’Mickie had to approve it.  She was black and the Spin Doctor had to show that she had the upper hand with both Tab and me.  By Thanksgiving, I was actually hoping to spend an entire week in my room while J’Mickie and Tab were having all the fun by themselves.  I was forgotten until the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Two big black guys showed up and J’Mickie called them her brothers and they were going to sleep with me.  They raped me for three days.  Then, J’Mickie came in and said we could swap.  Some brothers, when she slept with both of them.  I was so torn up inside, Tab tried to make love to me, but he was disinterested in me, and I could not respond anyway.  I hurt everywhere he touched me.  He went into hysterics like a little school girl.  He said that I didn’t love him.  He really was turning into someone who was ambiguous as to their gender.  And I craved my time with J’Mickie, just to have loving human contact, and a chance to be with Tab.”

She broke down and sobbed.  Menzie wrapped her arms around her and said it was going to be okay.  Pink worked miracles.  She was going to help.

Tammie continued, “That next week, I went to the Dean of the Business school.  I was in a Human Resources major.  I told him everything that had happened all semester.  He nodded and then asked, ‘Do you want a real man to make you feel like a real woman again?’  I nodded.  He stood up and he’d already undone his pants, and they fell to the floor.  We made love, and then I went back a week later to ask if we could do it again.  For two months, alone in my bed, I had been drinking.  After all, I was twenty-one according to my driver’s license.  And oh, I forgot.  I went on a few dates with female legislators who had copies of the calendars, and they knew I was a lesbian.  They wanted to understand what it was like, and I made up a story, since I really wasn’t like that.  And the dates always ended up in bed with these women that had husbands and children at home.  They wanted the experience, and I gave it to them.  The coach was pimping me out.  My parents thought I would be going out to state dinners and such.  No, it was fleabag hotels with legislators and heads of the governor’s departments.  I told my parents all of this at Christmas and they yelled at me.  They said for me to stop making up stories.  I was back at the Uof before New Years.  It was just J’Mickie and me, since Tab had gone with new friends of his to California.  I guess I really am a lesbian.  I craved that time in the master bedroom with just her, but something also called to me.  I stayed drunk until school started and I was back in my room alone.”

Aunt Pink asked, “When did you leave the school?”

Tammie replied, “I stuck in there for a couple of weeks, but being three sheets to the wind, I couldn’t catch a ball very consistently and making the pivot at second base was next to impossible.  The coach sent me home to sober up, but that was where I was going to be all alone, and all alone meant keeping a bottle handy to keep me company.  I started forgetting what day it was.  Then, I thumbed my way back to Tracy with as much stuff as my gym bag could hold.  I broke into my Dad’s liquor cabinet, and when my little sister got home from school on Monday afternoon, I got her to strip and when my parents came through the door, I was showing my sister what it was like to be a lesbian, and she was loving it.  My Dad slapped me around, probably for drinking all his single malt scotch.  It all tastes the same to a drunk.  And Mom told me to get out and never come back.”

Tammie continued, “So, I took the one bottle of scotch that I hid in my gym bag.  I walked to a bridge near the school and finished it off.  I slept under the bridge last night.  Then I went to the locker room while the team was out on the field practicing.  I watched enough to know that Menzie has already taken my place.  Then I hid in the corner of the locker room where Soap found me.”

Tommie Tat spoke up.  “You said you left your house on Monday, slept the night under a bridge and then you went to the locker room.  What day is it, Tammie?”

Tammie said, “Tuesday.  What day would it be?”

Tommie Tat shook her head, “It’s Friday, Tammie.  You blacked out.”

Tammie started sobbing.  She first looked to Menzie who wasn’t about to let go of her hand.  Menzie nodded.  She turned to me, and I nodded.  Tammie kept saying, “No, no, no.  It’s Tuesday.  It has to be Tuesday.”

Rosie walked around.  She got down on one knee.  She looked Tammie in the eyes.  “Do you want to get clean?  Do you want to be off the booze?  We have an AA group that meets here tonight.  Take the first step.  Go to the meeting with me.  Then, if you want to stay with the program, I can be your sponsor.”

Tammie said, “I’ll go with you, but I don’t have a place to live.”

Rosie said, “I am trying to save you from Mommie Pinkie.  She’ll fix you up with an apartment with people near your age around you and you will be dreaming of white picket fences in no time.  But I want you to stay with me until Pink has everything arranged.  You probably still have stuff back at Uof.  We’ll find some strong gentlemen that will not take no for an answer to get your stuff.  But you stay on my fold out couch until Pink Lady has your mansion ready.  We’ll go to Vespers every night.  We will not miss an AA meeting.  I know that I won’t.  I have a sponsor that makes sure that I won’t miss.”

Tammie shrugged, “Who is your sponsor?”

Tommie Tat walked up, “You’ll hear this a lot tonight.  I’m Tommie Tat, and I’m an alcoholic.  It’s been five years since my last drink.  Some will tell you a much shorter time than that.  But I work where cider is being made and I never touch the stuff unless it is the non-alcoholic brand.  I owe it to Pink Lady here.  I was as strung out as you are right now when I came here for an interview, and she made me the accountant.  An accountant that was a drunk, but Pink Lady saw something in me.  And I know she wants to say something because she has had me looking for an HR director.  You haven’t started classes, but she’ll put you to work.  You can go to school in the summer, after you have been sober a while.”

Tammie asked, “But why Rosie for my sponsor?”

Rosie smiled, “Haven’t you figured it out yet, Tammie?  I was a card-carrying lesbian, not a pretend one like you.  Jesus is my higher power, and He cleansed me of my sins.  I might desire, but I will never violate you.  But when you have those desires, I will know what you are feeling, and we can work it out together.  Attractions to girls or attractions to booze.  Understand?”

Tammie asked, “But you want me to go to college.  I can’t afford that.”

Aunt Pink chuckled, “I can pull some strings.”

Mom said, “And you did not use any of your eligibility.  The Uof will eat the scholarship money for this year.  It happens with washouts like you or someone tearing up a knee like me.  I am the therapist for the women’s teams, and I know all the coaches.  You won’t play this year, and you may be a walk-on next year, but you will play again.  Sober, this time!”

Tammie said, “But what about the Spin Doctor and my coach at the Uof?”

Daddy spoke up, “I think Georges will agree.  He may have some contacts with organized crime.  The police at the state capitol are so afraid of the homophobe label, since the same people that use the label are the ones that want to defund them, but we are going to attack this thing through friends of ours in their police department, the Organized Crime guys.  You kept saying they got explicit pictures that they would never use in a calendar shoot.  They had a videographer there every time.  And they had hidden cameras in the house.  You are probably the star of porn films on six continents.”  Menzie rushed to hold her, but Rosie was there too.  “Tammie, we aren’t going after perversion.  We are going after porn and human traffickers.  You might have been sold to someone on the far side of the world if you stayed at the Uof and you completely washed out due to being drunk.  We will get to the bottom of this, Tammie, and the Spin Doctor will sing like a canary when his support group is hiding to make sure the net doesn’t catch them.  Is that right, Georges?”

Georges smiled, “Yes, Sir.  This is going to be fun.”

Tammie asked, “But you are homicide, Lt. Yeggs.”

Georges said, “My old boss is not with the department anymore.  He kind of killed himself.  I work for Sophie’s Dad now, and I brought Organized Crime with me.  I have contacts.  They’ll get the info we need, and if one of your friends is only seventeen, her new driver’s license just gets people at the DMV in trouble for kiddie porn.  This could end up being a major case that could topple a lot of heads at the state capitol.  But that means that we need you sober.  You have to tell your story once again, but after we have the evidence that I know we can find.  Calendars, videos, they have to leave a trail.  And I’m thinking that the Spin Doctor works for someone with deep pockets.  Everyone in the room must not talk about this investigation.  We have only gotten a girl who was abused.  She is confused.  And she is going to AA meetings.  No videos on the loose, and Sophie, absolutely no teenage wizard investigations out of you and your BFF over here.”

I giggled, “Yes, Georges, I will not investigate, but I will keep tabs on Tammie.”

Tammie said, “Please, keep something else.  I have had enough of Tab or Tabitha, whichever he is at the moment.”

Aunt Pink cleared her throat, “Okay, Rosie put me in my place.  I was going to offer you a clerical job to start in a few days, after you are sober, and you must know what day of the week it is.  Your housing here is much less than an apartment or dorm room at the university.  I withhold that from your pay, along with the withholding tax.  I usually provide two meals each day for those who are registered with the mission downtown.  One phone call with Dot Com and that is all set up.  So, what you will make, minus your lunch, you can keep for college.  I will call your parents as a courtesy so that they know where you are.  You may think they only care about the money, but when you are sober, they may want you back.  But something tells me, you will be better off here.  Now, I think you need a long shower and a fresh set of clothing.”

Gwen said, “I have your size.”

Tammie said, “But…”

I whispered, “It’s Aunt Gwen’s superpower.  She can take one glance and know your size.  And don’t mess with the president of the company.  She signs the checks.”

Credits

I had a security badge once that had a little bump in it, a rare earth metal to ensure the badge was not a fake.  When the criminals can make the holograms better than the DMV, the state will dream up something else.

And Dot Com is not mentioned that often.  She runs the mission, including the people that she sends Pink Lady, and her real name is Dorothy Cahn.

The thought of this story is what I see in societies as they evolve.  Evolve is not a bad word in this context.  You soften the moral law in one way or another by either changing the law or not enforcing certain laws.  Then you use political correctness or some other coercion so that those that stay to the moral law are afraid to say anything.  Actually, the gay rights activists had the civil rights law changed so that speaking harmful words was included as abuse, when before, the abuse had to be physical.  So now, they can shout harmful things due to a freedom of speech, but in the right circumstances, the side supporting God’s Laws could go to jail for harming the other with words.  So, now with the opposition muted, the moral decay escalates, and as things get out of control, organized crime remains organized, and they see money to be made.  Thus, this often-seen social evolution cycle is what I used to dream up this totally fictional story.