Whatever Occurs: Till Death Do Us Part

Paying a Visit

(As told by Beaudry Venston)

My boss tells me I get to take a day off of work. I decide to pay a visit to Malyssa and Jeremy's house. I feel very bad, since my conversations with Malyssa have become fewer. I don't call her, but choose to surprise her.

I ask Carissa and Jayla if they want to stay home. They decide to come with Khloey and I in a separate rig.

"Drive safe, Cari."

"I will. See you there!"

My mother and father-in-law prepare for tomorrow morning for Jayla's sweet sixteen party. Khloey speaks to them on the phone while I drive us to the Cox residence. I almost get T-boned twice.

"What the fuck, y'all? Do you not know the difference between a red light and a green light?!"

"Shhhhhhhh!"

"Sorry!" I whisper.

We finally pull up in Malyssa and Jeremy's driveway. Carissa and Jayla follow close behind. I park the car close to Jeremy's clothing shop. We all start toward the back door, open up, and walk in.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here!" Jeremy exclaims and embraces me.

"Who's that?" Maly yells from upstairs.

"It's Beau!" I reply.

Maly comes walking downstairs and says, "Hi Beaudry! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Lyssa," I speak as we embrace, "how are ya, baby sis?"

"It's been really hectic around here!"

A couple comes walking downstairs. "You must be Beaudry!" The woman yells, "I'm Louisa!"

"I am Beaudry Venston," I respond as we shake hands, "Maly told me a lot about you!"

"My name is Tony," Louisa's husband states.

"I'm Beaudry," I reply back after almost having to ask him for his name again.

"Tony's the quieter one," Malyssa states.

"Yep, I'm an introvert. I just happen to have been married to an extrovert for twenty plus years."

We all laugh. Carissa and Jayla head upstairs to play Yahtzee while Maly, Jeremy, Louisa, Tony, Khloey, and I stay downstairs to chat. Louisa strikes the conversation.

"Maly, what's going on with the Venston versus Taylor case?"

"It's moving pretty slowly. Almost two weeks ago, we all personally testified to the court. That testimony was the hardest thing I ever wrote. Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I put so much heart into it."

"Oh, good heavens. When's the sentencing hearing?"

"January 11th, just a couple weeks before Spencer's birthday. He would be thirty-seven years young on the 26th if he were still alive."

"Will you guys testify to the court again on that day?"

"Probably not. If we were to, it would be just Nika, Bryan, and Nolan."

"Jog my memory, are Bryan and Nolan Spencer's sons? Is Nika his wife?"

"Yes and yes. Bryan and Nolan are especially very devastated. They don't have the motivation to try in school anymore."

"Oh shit."

"Hey! Watch your mouth," Tony snaps at Louisa.

"Sorry!" She apologizes, then looks at us and says, "Tony grew up in a very religious family, and when I'm around his folks, it feels like we're in church ALL THE TIME. Don't get me wrong, I love God very much, but the whole church thing that goes on with them 24/7 just isn't necessary."

"I curse too, but I always make sure none of us slips up in front of people who are typically very language sensitive."

"I try to ignore it unless it's abundant! My brothers would curse all the time, but Spencer was the worst," Maly speaks, "My parents also curse, but definitely not as much."

"I have a really hard time with Tony about this one, and that's saying GD. I've been trying to give up saying that word, but I definitely didn't become a sailor on my own. Keith is the only one out of my nuclear family who doesn't curse."

"Of course he doesn't, he's a pastor! I don't like GD at all. It's such a horrible, filthy word to use."

"GD?" I ask.

"It means goddammit," Khloey answers.

"Oh crap, that word. Yeah, that's a bad one!"

"Everytime I say it in front of Tony, he'll always say, 'God's last name is not dammit.'"

"Well, it's not!"

"Beaudry made the mistake of saying mother-effer, GD, and SOB all in one sentence when we were in Scotland. Little did he know that Brits find those words very offensive," Maly adds.

"Beaudry!" Louisa yells.

"I don't know why that surprised me at first, but my aunt Tommie, whose favorite words are the F word and the C word, also looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears."

"I freaked out when I was in Great Britain one year because someone told me 'hand me a fag.' Tony told me the dude wanted me to hand them a cigarette. So that's how I learned that a 'fag' is a cigarette in the UK."

We all have several off-topic conversations after that one.