Free Worse Than Being Alone by Patricia M. Clark

slobbering tribute to his wonderful mother and new
dad.
    Marian and Billy cut the cake, which was the best
part of dinner. The band started playing in earnest. A whole bunch
of liquored up people flocked to the dance floor to provide
absolute proof white people can’t dance. Harley was happy to shed
his suit coat and roll up his sleeves so he could boogy with
Roni.
    I was still sitting at the table with Sara when I
spotted Murray making the rounds at each table. Sara made a gesture
with her hand that Murray might have tipped a few too many glasses
of liquor. Murray finally made it our table, totally ignoring Sara
as he asked me to dance. Sara tried to hide a smile as she urged me
to go for it. I agreed mostly because I thought it might be a good
opportunity to pump Murray for information, but apparently he had
other ideas.
    “ I hear you’re quite the
troublemaker,” Murray said as we went to the back of the dance
floor and began moving with the music. It was a slow song and
Murray kept trying to pull me closer.
    “ I think you should back off and
stay out of this,” he said as a blast of stale liquor breath
assaulted me.
    “ And if I don’t?” I
asked.
    “ You want Billy and Roni to have a
relationship, don’t you?” he whispered in my ear.
    Hunching my shoulders back, I gave him my best
incredulous stare, but I knew it was the wrong move when he grabbed
my ass and pulled me closer.
    “ Now be a good girl and back off,”
he said as the music changed to a faster beat.
    I shoved Murray away and backed up, taking his hand
as if we were going to continue dancing. I reeled him in and then
landed a knee to his groin. It was more of a reflex than anything
else although my next feeling wasn’t remorse. Because I had seven
brothers, my nuclear family reaction to physical attack always had
been a well-placed knee.
    Murray grabbed his private parts and started moving
toward the exit as if he wanted to collect himself outside. Harley
must have been looking in our direction because he gave me a
strange look as he closed the distance.
    “ What was that about?” Harley
asked as he watched Murray’s retreat.
    “ Dance with me and look innocent,”
I said as I grabbed Harley’s hand. “That pig grabbed my ass and
told me to back off.”
    “ Murray, the big momma’s boy?”
Harley asked. “I didn’t think he had it in him.”
    “ Harley, I’m telling you, there’s
something off about these people. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t
think is going to end well for Billy or Roni.”
     

Chapter Fifteen
    Two weeks after the fateful wedding, I was hoping to
end the Mary Poppins saga once and for all. Paranoid about being
spotted, I traded vehicles with Roni just in case Mary recognized
my eye catching little red convertible. Harley’s front-end damage
had been repaired and though reluctant, he had tossed me the keys
along with several warnings about consequences should another
accident occur. I was sitting in front of Mary’s condo munching a
salad, hoping another shopping spree was imminent.
    After that, I needed to get over
to St. John’s to visit a new referral and her family. Beverly Knull
worked in a fireworks factory. A huge explosion right before the
4 th of
July had rocked the plant, leaving her with second and third degree
burns over 60 percent of her body.
    I had worked in the burn unit at
St. John’s for two years and still felt ambivalent about the
experience. Working with burn patients, while very rewarding, also
had the onus of being very depressing. There were patients who had
been burned so severely that surviving would not be an option. The
heart wrenching process of watching them die slowly and painfully
eventually caused me to seek a less stressful situation.
    Skin is the largest organ in the
human body. The consequences of a severe burn are devastating to
every system. The incidence of complications is so staggering it
becomes difficult to predict survival. Beverly Knull would fall
into the 50/50