The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices (30 page)

Leaning forward to take a closer look, Catrine remembered the day she had let Brhin sit alone. In the picture he was sitting at a small table with various McDonald's paraphernalia scattered about, but what was not shown was her image sitting not a foot away.

“Every Saturday, I sat not too far away and listened to you talk. I learned everything from the two of you and I made my plans. But this is not how I had it planned at all." She shook the gun at them. "I knew you were sick." She directed her comment to Catrine. "I saw you here last Saturday and you looked deathly ill then. You were moving all slow and looking pitiful. Sweater too large for you, hat pulled down on your head. Ew…" She shuddered dramatically. "You looked like walking death; I was hoping that you would fall down dead on the spot. It would have made things so much easier if you would have. I saw myself taking the boy, walking right out of the door and us living happily ever after. I was sitting over there waiting for you and Brhin to come in. And when you did appear, as I said before, you looked pathetic, depressing."

Mona pointed to a corner booth looking out on the play area. "And the two of you were sitting at the table diagonal and across from me. I had heard you tell Brhin that if you felt as ill during the week, you would see if his auntie would pick him up from The P. S. Center. So bright and early on Monday morning, I parked across the street from The P. S. Center and watched to see if you would be the one to bring him. Sure enough, you dragged your little body there morning and afternoon. You were looking dreadful, feverish and without the common sense to stay home out of the weather. The way you treated yourself let me know that you really didn't care about the boy.

Who do you think would care for him if you let yourself die? You would leave him in the care of your demanding bossy assed sister? I just can't see him living the rest of his life with her in charge. I just knew you would take care of yourself but on Tuesday you did the same thing. The only difference was, on Tuesday evening, I felt for sure that you would not be there the next morning. But you fooled me. You got there later than usual, and you looked worse. When I saw you drive up there this morning, I wanted to beat you myself. You cared so little for your child that you wanted to get rid of him even if it meant giving yourself pneumonia and dying."

"That's not true," Catrine interjected, bitterly.

"Shut up." Mona held the gun to Catrine's face.

"Don't get me wrong, I could care less if you die. I just don't like the idea of Brhin being pushed off just so you can be comfortable. You sat in your car as he walked to the building and I could hear you yelling a reminder to him that his auntie would be at the school to get him right after nap time. And then you made him go in by himself. He could barely open the door. He's such a little boy."

"I'm a big boy," Brhin stated strongly.

"I'm sorry. Yes, you sure are."Mona smiled in agreement. "This afternoon I hurried to The P. S. Center so I would beat that bitch of an aunt there. It was so simple. I walked in the door and saw Brhin going down the hallway all by himself. He turned and he looked at me. I almost made a sign to him, but he turned and went to his class. I stood frozen for a couple of minutes. My nerves started to leave me and I almost backed out of the door. I was shaking so bad I thought my legs would fold under me. I thought I was going to pass out. I practically fell on the sofa. While I was sitting I watched the activities in the building through the monitors. Two of the teachers were in their assigned classes and the rest were in the kitchen area. Nibbling and I assumed, fixing the snacks. As luck would have it, the monitor to the reception office was on and it showed that no one was in the office. I knew the director was not there because I know what kind of car she drove and it was not parked in the lot. No one was in the reception office and so I flicked the monitors off. Did they show you the monitor tapes? I left a message on it for you. As a matter of fact I thanked you for giving me such a great kid and here you want to take him away. I don't think so. I call keeps, so no takies back."

"I know you don't think you can get away with this.”

"Listen, this is not a soap opera. So don't throw me that dumb ass line."

"It's not a line. How do you expect to get away? You were on television. Your face is on the monitor at the center. You will not be able to leave this parking lot with my child."

"You are not making a good point." Her hold on her patience nearing an end, Mona rubbed her temple. "If I can't have him, you will not either. Hand the boy over, now," she screeched.

"I don't know what to say, except to reiterate how much this is hurting Brhin." Catrine rubbed her hand over Brhin's head.

"Do you think I care? A kid gets over things and if the right person loves them, they forget. I didn't cause a big trauma when I got him from his class. As a matter of fact, it was pretty easy to get him. The teacher seemed pretty agitated already and with the other little animals in the class running around in an uproar; she almost threw him in my arms to get us out of the room. I took him and damn near ran out of the building. I went through too much to get this boy. Do you honestly think I'm going to give up on him? Not. Just give him to me."

"Mona, think about what you're doing. Think about this as being between two women. You know how you feel about having a child of your own. How could you take away my baby? How can you do this to me? I thought you loved Brhin. I can tell by the way you cherish the picture. By the way you talk about him. You don’t want to terrorize him like this and put a fear he may never get over."

"What two women? Girls don’t talk to me like you know me. Calling me by my name as if you think we are friends or something" she gritted. "I don't give a hot damn about you. You are not in the same category with me. You've had your baby. I have had none. You have your man, a man that obviously really cares about you. Why else would he be standing over there trying to figure out how to get my gun out of my hand? He is about to jump out of his skin, itching to show his stuff." Mona laughed gratingly. "Twice he's nearly made me shoot him. Why, for you? I have never had a man in my entire life to care about me. So how are we going to talk? Me as 'Ms. Nothing' and you as 'Ms. Have it all'?"

Catrine stood silent and unmoving. She had no idea of what to say. No ideas on what to say that would make things sound promising to Mona. Nothing that would obliterate some of the pain the woman had lived through."Don't try to figure out anything to say," Mona filled the silence. "Just hand him over."

"Brhin, go on over there." Catrine instructed the distraught child.

Crying louder, but obedient as ever, Brhin released the grip he held on his mother's neck and reached behind him for the lady.

Taking advantage of Mona's moment of blindness as she reached for Brhin, Catrine tightened her grip on Brhin, took a step backward, turned her body to the side and raised her left foot to hip level. Quickly kicking out with all of her strength, she landed a breath stopping punch in the woman's chest.

"I guess you never followed me to my kick boxing classes, did you?" Catrine sarcastically questioned the prone figure on the floor.

"Yeah, Momma," Brhin cheered. "You did it."

"Damn. I didn't know you knew anything like that." Austin stood in awe.

Whispering in Brhin's ear before putting him down on the floor, Catrine watched as the little boy ran to one of the cubicles and ducked under its table. Pulling his legs to his chest, he made himself as small as humanely possible. Returning her attention to the woman lying on the floor, Catrine stood ready for anything.

Moaning as she slowly tried to struggle to her feet, Mona Boots raised her gun and shakily pointed it at Catrine.

"I said to hand him over," Mona gasped and coughed through her struggle for air.

"Woman, you have got to be crazy. The boy is mine. I'll never give him to you."

“Then I guess I'll just have to take him."

"You can try," Catrine invited.

"Listen Champ, I think we have better things we could be doing."

Austin stepped between Catrine and Mona, interrupting the conversation as he pushed Catrine out of the way and grabbed the woman's wrist of the hand that held the gun.

"That's great you learned something in your kick boxing class," he continued, "but I think our son is ready to go home." Squeezing hard, he heard the bones in Mona's wrists crack as her hold on the gun loosened and it fell to the floor.

Kicking the fallen gun as hard as she could, Catrine smiled as she watched it slid half the length of the restaurant and was stopped by the foot of Detective Serge. The detective slowly bent to pick it up. He smiled at Catrine with a lift of his brow.

"When did you get in here?" Catrine questioned the officer.

Detective Serge stood with his gun aimed at Mona and kept it that way.

"I've been here for a little while," Detective Serge answered. "The manager dialed 911 almost as soon as we ran out of the building. He unlocked the side door and he and the staff slipped out. Detective Williams and I came in as they were leaving out. We were waiting to get a clear opening. I can see you two didn't need our help."

"I guess she didn't study me as well as she thought she had." Catrine agreed with a smile of her own. Catrine turned back to the woman. "Mona, I wish you weren't a sick woman. I would love to beat the hell out of you. I can only promise you one thing…I will make sure that you spend a long time in prison."

"I'm sure she will." Detective Serge stood menacingly beside Mona as Detective Williams knelt to handcuff her and read her rights.

"I wanna go home," Brhin whispered. "Take me home, Momma."

"Go ahead and take him home, Ms. Teddi. We'll be here for a while. Just remember to come to the station tomorrow and file charges."

"You can bet I'll be there," Catrine answered.

Bending to look under the table where Brhin was hiding, Catrine gave him a signal to come out of his hiding place. Brhin, trying to stay out of Mona's reach, walked as far away from her as he could.

“Brhin," Mona called out. "Baby, I'm not as bad as you think. Didn't I buy you things? I have things you can play with. I'll give you whatever you want. Don't go to her."

Not bothering to answer, Brhin ran to his mother and she thankfully scooped him into her arms.

"Oh, I love you." She kissed his face and gave him a big squeeze before moving closer to Austin. "Can we go and check on Roosevelt?"

"And I'll be filing charges against the both of you," Mona Boots glared at Austin.

"You probably broke my wrist and she more than likely broke my ribs."

"You're lucky that's all I broke. Breaking your neck would make me feel real good right about now." Austin answered.

Avoiding Mona's kicking feet; Austin crossed over and knelt next to Roosevelt's still unconscious body. His head, immediately past the temple had swollen to the size of a golf ball. The bleeding from the wound had stopped, but it still looked nasty. Giving, Brhin to Austin, Catrine touched Roosevelt's neck. The pulse was slow, but at least he was alive.

"He's cold." She looked up at Detective Serge. "There are no blankets in this restaurant, I'm sure. Did anyone call for an ambulance or his mother?" She asked the detectives."

"I don't know if his mother was called, but an ambulance is on the way. It should be here soon," answered Detective Williams. Watching Mona as she clutched her sides and moaned in pain, Detective Williams put a call through on her police radio. "I guess she'll need an ambulance, also."

"Why don't you use my coat to cover Roosevelt until the ambulance gets here," Austin offered. He sat Brhin on the table closest to him and took of his coat. Picking the boy back up he walked over to give Catrine the coat.

"Watch it." He tried to pass Mona and she kicked out at his ankles. "Don't make me do more damage to you."

"I hate you," She hissed spitting at his shoes."

"Get over it or deal with it." Austin looked down at her with contempt. "Brhin, are you tired, Pal?" He rubbed the child on the head.

"Yes." Brhin's head drooped on his shoulders and he could barely keep his eyes open. "Yes, I'm tired." He repeated drowsily. "I wanna lie in my momma's bed and go to sleep."

"Shut up. Shut the fuck up." Mona screamed out each command. "I'm tired of hearing this Lilly white crap. You people make me sick with your goody-goody attitudes. You all act like you are so much better than I am. I can't take it."

Kicking out, she landed a terrific blow in Detective Williams' kneecap that caused the detective to bend over in surprise and pain. Squirming into a kneeling position, Mona elbowed the officer as hard as she could in the face. The cracking of the policewoman's nose was clearly heard.

Wrestling and struggling with the injured detective, Mona managed to get to a standing position. Victorious in her efforts, she ran at break neck speed towards the nearest giant pane of glass.

"Stop or I'll shoot." Detective Serge ordered. "Damn." He shouted when he realized the glass she had chosen to run towards was much too close to the heads of Brhin and Austin. "Damn," He repeated. "That bitch is smart." He muttered in unabashed admiration.

Holding her head down and never pausing in her stride, Mona broke through the glass. Flying shards of the splintered glass cut at her face, dragging relentlessly deep gauges down her cheeks. Fragments of the glass rained on her head like the drops falling from the skies and sticking in her hair.