The Trouble Way by James Seloover Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t deserve that either. Maybe I am a shit-ass, or, more accurately, a stupid shit-ass.
    But then, Bella came along and made everything alright. I give her the whole candy bar. But then, she gives some back to me, as much as I want. She didn ’t even know Ma.
     
     
    I suspect Bella ’s mom, Polly, is jealous of me and Priscilla. Whenever I babysat Bella, and Polly showed up to pick her up, Bella would hear the door open and immediately shoot off and hide. Sometimes she hid behind the floor-length curtains in the living room. Or, if she had time, she would run to the bedroom and hide under the comforter on the bed. She absolutely hated to leave with her mom. She cried nearly every time her mom showed up to take her home -- and I watched Bella for nearly five years. It came to the point where I would have to prep Bella a few minutes before Polly showed up. I’d tell her to “be sure you run to your mommy and give her a hug.” Sometimes she would, but more likely, she would hide and then cry when discovered. Her body would turn limp, like a baby does when they want down, when she was forced to put her jacket and shoes on. It came to the point of Polly would become very rough with Bella when Polly was ready to go. She’d grab her and quickly hustle her out the door, giving Priscilla and me a perfunctory goodbye. I always wondered just how rough her mom was with her at home. I know that Bella dreaded going home -- there’s something going on there -- I am a bit unnerved about that.
    I don ’t feel good about some of the men Polly dated. One in particular, an aspiring undertaker who also happened to be a three-timer who stayed overnight quite often.
    He ’s the fellow who Bella said she saw his “long pointy thing.” She had to use the potty and went into the bathroom.
    “ He didn’t even lock the door,” Bella said. “He is supposed to lock the door … Mommy said.”
    Polly dumped him because of the infidelities, not because Bella mentioned seeing his “pointy thing.”
    Polly seems to have exceedingly low self-esteem.
    “When I was thirteen, my stepdad said I had boobs that looked like bananas,” She’d told Priscilla. “He laughed; I cried all night.”
    Her esteem issues could possibly explain the exceedingly obese or exceedingly unwholesome looking characters she seems to habitually attract. None were particularly adept at social intercourse.
    The wanna-be undertaker showed up late for Thanksgiving and missed dinner. He had the balls to ask if he could take some turkey home to eat for his lunch the next day. Priscilla and I had never met the guy before then. It didn’t seem to embarrass Polly in the least.
    I get the impression Polly thinks Bella loves Priscilla and me more than she does her. I think that too. Maybe that is what caused Polly to do what she did. It is still way too difficult to talk about.
    Polly has strange deductive reasoning skills. She seems unable to compromise or even make up her mind about the simplest things. She just says that she has come to an “impasse” on whatever she couldn’t convince someone of her point of view, as absurd at it most often is. I had several disagreements with Polly and she would always come to the opposite conclusion that most anybody else would come to.
     
     
    She thinks it was not important to be on time. She is never, and I mean, never, on time for anything. Her lateness cost her three successive jobs; one was menial but the second was in her chosen field, nursing, and the third, nursing related. She said she had reached an impasse with her bosses. They wanted her at work on time and she was unable to see why being ten or fifteen minutes late was as important as they were making it out to be. She couldn ’t fathom that hospitals were a business and had salary expenses that must be considered. For those three jobs, they ceased to worry about salary expense as far as she was concerned; they fired her.
    She told me in all seriousness, “I just