Taming the Beast

All of that praying was for nothing. My worst fears were realized. I hid in the backyard as a thirst for blood swelled inside of me. The need was absolute, and to my horror, I considered going inside the house. To my family. I fought it back for hours, crying and praying some more. My life was over. I was a vampire. I was a monster.

Chapter 1

“Your Honor, I hardly think that walking home after a few drinks while singing ‘God Bless America’ warrants a charge for disturbing the peace.”

I stood in court attempting to defend my client, Joey Miller, but it wasn’t going very well.

“Attorney Brennan can think whatever she wants, Your Honor, but to imply that her client was simply walking down the street minding his own business is a distortion of the facts. Mr. Miller was intoxicated, as indicated by his blood alcohol level—”

“Your Honor, my client’s blood alcohol level should never have been tested. He wasn’t operating a motor vehicle,” I said, while Joey swayed next to me, eight hours after his arrest. I jammed my elbow into his stomach and hissed, “Stand still!” He burped, and the smell of his breath wafted toward me; I almost started swaying, too.

“Sustained,” said the Judge.

Thank God.

Why the hell was the district attorney being so hard on Joey, anyway? Everyone in town knew that Joey had gone through a rough time, and could use a break. I looked at the DA and noticed her expensive suit, perfectly styled hair and $600 briefcase, and wondered how she managed all of that on a D.A.’s salary.

“Your Honor,” the D.A. tried again, “Mr. Miller was screaming something that could generously be called ‘God Bless America’, and punching mail boxes at 1:30 in the morning. In addition, when the police arrived at the scene, he had his pants unzipped in an attempt to urinate in Mrs. Lee’s flower bed.”

I tried to keep a straight face at this likely accurate description of events, and was about to interrupt when next to me Joey loudly said, “Hey I was only tryin’ to help out a neighbor, know what I mean, Judge?” I picked up my right foot and smashed my pointy heel down on the top of his sneaker. He yelled in pain, grabbed his foot and said, “What the hell, Rose?”

“Stop it, Joey!” I whispered. “You only speak to the Judge when he asks you a question, so unless you want to get some jail time for contempt, be quiet!”

I held my breath as the Judge looked at us silently, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose. “Contain your client, Counselor,” was all he said, before he went back to reading Joey’s arrest report.

I glanced at the district attorney again and she looked amused. I decided I disliked her right then, as she gathered her papers to put them in her expensive briefcase. She acted as if the probable cause hearing was a slam dunk, and her work here was done. I had never been opposite her in court before, being that a probable cause hearing for a charge like Joey’s was way below her pay grade. I knew her reputation as being rather…difficult, and because of that, the D.A.’s office was understaffed. But, I was getting annoyed. And when I became annoyed, my secret became that much closer to being exposed. That could never, ever happen.

“Your Honor, my client has gone through some personal struggles lately. Since this is a small town,” I said, with a pointed glance at the D.A., “all of us know his wife recently passed away. All of us know he lost his job at the mill, where he had worked for 23 years. All of us know his only child is in the Army, and my client worries about him as any parent would. Joey is a good man, Your Honor, and while I don’t excuse his behavior last night, I do think that there are extenuating circumstances that help explain what Joey’s state of mind was at the time. We’ve all had bad days, Your Honor. Joey’s had more than his share lately. I respectfully ask the court to show Joey some compassion, and drop the charge against him.”

The courtroom was silent after my rather impassioned plea. The district attorney was now looking at me. I could tell because I saw her in my peripheral vision, but I refused to look over. I just stared up at the Judge, while the D.A. stared at me, and the Judge stared at the D.A. It was obvious that the Judge expected Expensive Suit to speak up, but she just kept staring over at me.

The Judge sighed and said, “Well, I’m leaning toward giving Mr. Miller a break on this one.”

“Please, your Honor, the defendant’s behavior rises to a chargeable offense,” Expensive Suit sputtered.

“I disagree,” the Judge said mildly. “Your office has been pursuing some cases with more vehemence than necessary, in my opinion,” he continued, while Expensive Suit flushed a little.

“If I drop the charge against him, will your client apologize to Mrs. Lee?” the Judge asked me.

“Wait a min—,” Joey interjected, and I grabbed his left elbow, hard, to get him to shut up.

“Yes, of course, your Honor,” I said.

“Good. The charge is hereby dropped, and Mr. Miller is free to go.” The Judge stood up, the court officer called out “All Rise”, and the courtroom became animated once more. The D.A. looked hard at me for another moment, and her resentment about losing to me was palpable.

I turned to Joey. “You’ve got to go home, shower, dry out.”

“I know,” he replied sadly. “I guess I fucked up. Again.”

“It’s okay, Joey. But the Judge may not be so lenient next time. Listen, call me and I’ll pick you up next time, okay? I’d rather be trapped in a car with you while you sing “I Will Always Love You” than try to get your ass out of trouble again.”

He smiled. “What would I do without you, Rose?”

“Spend a lot of time in the drunk tank is a safe bet.”

Chapter 2

Later that night I stood in the doorway of Scully’s Beer Shack.