The Legend of Bastien - Chapter 6 – Plotting – Part 3 of 3

 

The Legend of Bastien

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 6 – Plotting – Part 3 of 3

 

“Mom!” Miranda said the minute she got home. 

“Yes dear?” Alicia replied.

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“What’s that?”

“Remember last night when we were talking about making Chrissy not sound so smart when he talks anymore?”

“I don’t recall that being an exact subject of the conversation.  What I remember most is that you were overly hung up about him…and I’m guessing you still are.  Forget him Miranda.  Once and for all, forget about him.”

“Not quite yet, Mom.  Now will you listen to my idea?”

“Why?  What’s it about?”

“It’s about making him sound like a total dufus every time he opens his mouth.”

“Miranda, to what point?  He’s already the biggest town joke we’ve ever had…in the history of Bastien.”

“I know, but I want to make it worse.”

“Why?”

“Billy had his way with him, now I want mine.”

“Uh…in case you forgot, I seem to remember that half of Billy’s ideas came directly from you.”

“Yeah, but now I want something else.”

“Miranda, the judge’s order is already written and distributed.  It’s been law for two days now.  You can’t change it.”

“Maybe we can’t change it, but Mom, I know that you’re powerful enough in this town to add a few other things to what Chris has to do, without anything being in writing.”

Alicia stared at her daughter.  “What makes you think that?”

“Moomm!  Give me a break!  Everyone knows who really runs this town.  You and Grandma.”

“Don’t tell your father.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.  Now will you at least listen?”

Alicia rolled her eyes.  “Okay.  But know this much before you start.  I’m not planning on implementing anything at all that you want.”

“Mom, at least listen, okay?”

“What is it?”

 

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It was after dinner when Alicia left the house.  The rest of her family were all watching TV.  She had to go up to the judge’s house to talk to Olivia.  Getting together like that was something the two women did often because Miranda had been right, she and Olivia did run the town, their husbands just didn’t realize that.  In fact, the two women looked after all the business of running almost everything, while the men mostly made sure everyone did what they wanted them to.  That’s the way things had really worked for five generations of Bastien women now.  But tonight, Alicia was heading over to the judge’s house because there was a problem and Olivia had called earlier in the day and asked her to come.

It wasn’t long before the two women were sitting across from each other at Olivia’s kitchen table, while the judge stayed out of the way back in his office.  As far as Alicia could tell, the judge never left his private office in the house.

“Did you manage to get a count for Chrissy today?” Olivia asked.

“Nine again,” Alicia replied.

“Does that include me too?”

“You!”

“Yes, me.”

“No.  Tom didn’t mention you.”

“Then it’s ten.”

“You?” Alicia asked again.

“Why not?  Besides, as inexperienced as he is, it may have been the best sex I’ve ever had.  It was a true indulgence, dear.  You really should try it.  In fact, I highly recommend it.”

Alicia looked at her skeptically.

“Try it!” Olivia told her.  “Why not?  We’ve created the official town position.  You’ve got no reason not to.”

“I’ll think about it,” Alicia replied.

“Trust me, do it!” Olivia told her.

Alicia changed the subject by getting down to business.  “Now what’s this problem you mentioned with Chrissy?  If there is a problem, then I have no doubt that Tom will make sure nobody will ever be using Chrissy’s services again.”

“That’s what we don’t need right now,” Olivia replied.  “It’s a problem, because I’m making it a problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“After Chrissy and I…you know.  He was a mess.  I mean his face.”

“It was?”

“Alicia, trust me, try it with him!  After he left, I had to take a shower to clean myself up!  I didn’t stop him until after my third orgasm.”

Alicia looked shocked.  “Three?”

“Three!  Then I pushed him away and told him he needed to get a lot better at it.”

Alicia chuckled.  “Okay.  So what’s the problem?  I’m sure he must have been a mess after that.”

“He had some of those makeup removing pads in his purse,” Olivia told her, “and he used them to clean his face off.”

“So?”

“So he cleaned his eye makeup off too, and he didn’t have any with him to fix it.  He said his mother does it all for him and the only thing she’s taught him to do so far is the eyeshadow.  Nothing else.”

“It’s only been two days.  The only time I ever wear makeup is for any kind of village function, and it takes me forever just to do my eyes.  He probably doesn’t have a clue as to how.”

“True, but that’s not the point.  As I see it, Chris, or Chrissy, was not following the letter of the law by not having that makeup with him to at least attempt to take care of it.”

“Mom, where are you going with this?”

“I’m afraid it’s all a bit complicated.”

“Then lay it on me, or we’ll never get through it.”

“There’s a couple of things,” Olivia replied.  “First of all, at the rate we decided for Chris to start paying back what’s owed to the store, he’s never going to get there.  Nine or ten people a day isn’t going to cut it.  We need a better way to deal with it.  A system or something.”

“Agreed!” Alicia said.  “Absolutely!” what else?”

“As far as I’m concerned Tess Moore did a piss poor job of raising her son.”

“He used to be considered one of the best kids in town,” Alicia pointed out.

“Not if he didn’t know better than to say the things he did.”

“Good point.  If he was half as smart as Miranda keeps telling me he was, then he would never have even considered saying those things.  Especially not after what happened to his father.”

“Does he know what really happened there?” Olivia asked.  “The records all say it was a hunting accident.”

“I don’t know,” Alicia admitted.  “But Tess isn’t stupid.  I’m sure she’s figured it out.”

“Either way, as far as I’m concerned, Tess didn’t do a good enough job of raising him.  And my bet is that she didn’t even try to discipline him.”

“Discipline?  When he didn’t do anything wrong?”

“How do we know what he did and didn’t do?  He’s a kid.  A boy.  You know for a fact what kind of trouble boys get into all the time, and then they try and hide it.”

“Billy doesn’t seem to try and hide it as much anymore.  He crows about it instead.  Bragging about it.  And every time, Tom seems to be more proud of him than ever.”

“We’re all proud of him,” Olivia told her.  “He’s going to be another generation of Bastien leadership that this town can be proud of.”

“No doubt about that,” Alicia agreed.  “So you’re angry because Chrissy didn’t have enough makeup with him today.”

“Yes!  But more than that, I’m convinced that Tess simply did a lousy job of raising him.”

“So what is it you’re proposing?”

“That we start making her fix the situation.  Do it right.”

“How?  And don’t forget, it’s all going to be a lot more difficult now because of what Billy fixed him with.”

“It doesn’t matter.  Here’s what I think we should do.”

Alicia listened to it in disbelief, then she shook her head.  “I like the idea,” she finally admitted, “but everything you’re saying would depend on some kind of list of…demerits or something.”

“Yes!”

“But what?  And who could possibly tell or know.”

“I don’t know yet, other than anything that anybody ever sees that would be out of place or not living up to the letter of the law.”

“So for him not having any makeup today, that would be one demerit?”

“I was thinking two, one for not having it with him, and another for his mother not teaching him to use it yet.”

“It’s only been two days.”

“So what?  She could have at least tried.”

“Okay, I can see that,” Alicia replied.  “But…it doesn’t seem like enough.  There’s got to be something else we can use to gage this all by.”

“I know.  That’s one of the main things I was hoping you could help me with.”

“Are you going to get Dad to amend the order he published?”

“I could.  But I don’t see where we need it.”

“That’s what Miranda said earlier.”

“Miranda?”

“Yes.  She’s still too hung up over Chrissy.  You wouldn’t believe what she asked me to saddle him with now.”

“You mean she had an idea to use against him?”

“In a major way.”

“I’ve always loved Miranda,” Olivia said with a smile.  “Tell me.  All of it!”