6
Daniel and Lindsay ran into Norma Judge's house. Norma turned around, startled, and pointed the gun at the two. Daniel threw himself down on the ground while Lindsay screamed, turned away and covered her face.
“Oh!” Norma exclaimed, “I'm sorry Lindsay-dear. You startled me. Daniel, get up off the floor. I haven't swept in weeks.”
Daniel stood up and looked at Lindsay against the open door and Emily sitting on the stairs and Norma pointing the gun at Burt, who was tied to a chair with neckties.
Daniel held out his hand, “What are you doing, Mom?”
“I finally got tired of it, dear. Burt has hurt me repeatedly and I'm getting even with him,” Norma said in an almost crazy tone.
“Now, whatever he's done does not warrant you shooting him,” Daniel said calmly.
“He's been hitting me, Danny. In the face, in the stomach, in the back. Besides, I'm not going to kill him, just wound him,” Norma explained.
Daniel looked from his mother to Burt. “He's been hitting you…?” Daniel turned to Emily who was slowly walking over. “Did you know about this?”
“She told me after I called you.”
“Well now I'm in a quandary. As much as I hate gun violence, I also hate people who hit women!” Daniel said and stormed over to Burt. “What the hell's your problem?” he asked, slapping Burt in his temple.
“Daniel…” Lindsay said softly. This had been the very first time she had seen Daniel angry and losing his cool.
“When did all this start Mom? Why did he start beating you?”
“It was a couple months ago after I finished writing my book,” Norma began.
“Mom, you wrote a book?” Daniel smiled.
“Yes, it is about our family.”
“Oh, Mom…” Daniel frowned.
“Exactly what I thought,” Burt said, “it was horrible.”
“Shut up!” Daniel ordered. “Where is it, Mom? I would love to read it.”
“It's upstairs in the guest room,” Norma directed.
“Can one of you girls get it for me, please?” he requested.
“Untie me!” Burt yelled, pulling at his restraints.
“Hold your horses, it's not like you're going anywhere anyway,” Daniel said. Emily came downstairs and handed a stack of letter-sized papers, held together by a large binder clip, to him. “Thank you. Wow, this is really thick!”
“781 pages. That'll probably be scaled back when the book is actually published,” Norma smiled. Daniel began reading the first chapter while everybody was silent. He finished the first page and looked at his Mom, grinning. “Like it?”
“Love it.”
“You only read one page!” Burt hollered.
Daniel smacked the 781 pages on the top of Burt's head. “I am very proud of you, Mom. It's a whole new future for you. You don't need Burt anymore. Give me the gun, Mom.”
“Okay, Danny,” Norma turned away from Burt and lowered the gun. She suddenly raised it again, pulling the trigger and hitting Burt in the shoulder.
“Mom!” Daniel yelled.
“AAAaaauugghh!” Burt screamed.
“EEeee!!” Emily and Lindsay shrieked.
“Why did you do that?” Daniel asked.
“”He hit me, Danny. He beat me. He said I was stupid. He needed to be punished.”
“Then take him to court,” he sighed, “you don't shoot him.”
“Hello?” Burt spoke up. “I'm bleeding here and have a bullet lodged in my shoulder blade.”
“Emily, call an ambulance,” Daniel took the gun from his Mom and began to untie Burt. The doorbell suddenly rang. “Could you get that Lindsay?”
Lindsay obliged and opened the door. A policeman stood on the porch. “Emily, cancel 911…” Lindsay said. Everyone turned toward the front door.
Daniel, Emily and Norma walked out of the office of the investigating officer. “I can't believe how they treated me like a criminal in there,” Norma complained.
“You shot a man, Mom so you're lucky Burt's not pressing charges. You won't go to jail but you will have to go to therapy. Now come on, let's go home, I'm meeting Lindsay in the morning,” Daniel said. “I'll see you two later.”
Emily and Norma left the police station and Daniel glanced at the front desk. His Uncle Linus was standing beside the desk and filling out a form.
“Uncle Linus?” Daniel walked over to him. “What are you doing here?”
“Filling out a police report. Why are you here?” Linus questioned.
“I was just…” Daniel pointed toward where the offices were but then realized why he was there and went to scratching his head. “So were you robbed or in a car accident?”
“No, my idiot son over there,” Linus pointed toward one of the five holding cells across the room, one of which currently housed Benjamin, “and his two idiot friends broke into my house and proceeded to try and steal my home entertainment system.”
