Ch 133
Joan and her mates had a good swim, and went to her parent's hour to see people and alligators. It was a minor feeding & meeting party on the dock. JJ, Lilly and Peggy were going to be headed back to the farm to begin the grape harvest, Nana and Mayu were taking over the gator feeding duties. Instead of just Allie Gator, there were now 12 smaller alligators that came and went. Although Nana liked feeding the alligators, Mayu was doing it with her to help keep Nana safe.
Joan sat at the end of the dock with Allie Gator's head on her lap as she rubbed the under side of the animal's jaw. Allison also had a couple small five footers beside her getting their jaws petted. Bob went up to the house to see if the Connors had and advice to help him deal with the ex slave girls.
"We'll work on them, don't worry about it and concentrate on your games," Delilah told him.
"They need to figure things out for themselves," John said. "You can't do it for them."
"Bob, everything I've heard from and about them," Cameron said, "Is they want you to accept them, or kill them. Unless you can change that, then you know what your options are."
Bob winced. "I can't keep them around. The only reason Joan hasn't gone nuts on them yet is she knows I'm trying to change their thinking."
"No, it's because she knows on some level, you do care about them or your never would have let them come back," Cameron said, correcting him. "Bob, When Delilah first came to us in surrender, I didn't want her anywhere near John. I was ready to smash her chip, burn her in thermite, anything to keep her away from John. In anger I did ... rotten things to her. I know Joan is feeling like that now with those women you brought back."
Bob glanced at Delilah, then asked Cameron, "I can't believe you were ever mean to Delilah."
Delilah grinned and said, "Cameron cut my breasts off and stomped them into mush on the barn floor."
Bob stared at Delilah, then Cameron. "You did that?" he asked weakly.
"I did. Keep in mind, Allison is the original me, so I know she's feeling just as jealous as I did back then, and just as scared they might pull you away from her. I bet Joan feels the same."
Bob stared at nothing and gulped.
"Yeah, Bob, you have reason to worry," John said.
.
Ms. Harper was happy to get a teaching position in the sleepy town of Driftwood. Just out of college, she moved out of California for a better place to live. Luckily, she got a job in Texas and away from big city classrooms. She was going to teach Kindergarten, and looking at the list of students, she only had 11. She did notice she had names and parent's phone numbers, but there was information missing. Going to the New Principal, Dakota Hughes, she had a question.
Going into the office, she asked, "Ms. Hughes, There is no ethnicity listed for any of the children."
Dakota eyed her. "Why would that be important? And it's MRS. Hughes."
Ms. Harper paused. OK, 'Mrs.' Hughes wasn't liberated. "I just thought it would give me a heads up on who I might have to watch," she offered.
"As in?" Dakota asked, eyeing her.
"Who the troublemakers might be."
Dakota frowned at her. "Right, you're from California. First off, We have a larger diversity of people here in Driftwood than just about anywhere else in the world. Second, if I hear anything about you treating any student differently that the others, for any reason, you'll be out of a job by the end of the day. Even after you get tenure, that still applies. Tenure here is not automatic, you're going to have to prove yourself to get it if you're here one year or twenty. I don't care of the student is male, female, Black, White, Hispanic, other, or from outer space! They will all be treated the same if you want to keep your job. Is that understood."
"I won't get tenure after five years?"
"You may, if you earn it."
"The teacher's union might have something to say about that," Ms. Harper stated.
"The teachers union was kicked out fifteen years ago by popular vote from the citizens. Your only option to complain is me, the Superintendent, or the sheriff," Dakota told her. She then smiled and said, "The good news is you'll have no union dues."
"I plan to complain about the working conditions here."
"Go ahead. If you can't treat all the students equally, then go tell the sheriff all about it. Or should I call him for you?"
Ms. Harper said, "I plan to complain to my lawyer."
"Have at it. Until then, are you ready for class Monday morning?"
Ms. Harper replied, "Almost, I must get the classroom ready."
"If that is all, then you better go do it." Dakota said firmly.
Ms. Harper turned and strode out. She couldn't believe this school was so backwards! She decided she needed to step up and straighten things out.
.
After making sure all her additions to the classroom were in place, Ms. Harper went and found the only lawyer in town. The first consultation was free, and since he wasn't busy, he agreed to see her.
The smartly dressed middle aged man showed her into his office. They sat down.
"What can I do for you today?" he asked.
Ms. Harper said, "I have been hired by the grade school here. I have found they have no Teacher's Union here. I do have a right to union representation as an educator, in ANY state."
He smiled and said, "You mean in any public school run by the state."
"Yes."
He shook his head. "In this county, the schools are run by the county, and are not technically public schools, but schools run by each town and responsible to the citizens and controlled by the local law enforcement. Local taxes pay for the local schools, the superintendent is responsible to the sheriff here to show where money for the schools is being spent. There is no teacher's union here, and by law, one is not required."
"How can that be?" Ms. Harper asked.
"Simple, private schools are not required to allow the Teacher's Union in. If a town wants one, they can vote it in."
"So Mrs. Hughes can fire me whenever she wants?"
He replied, "Mrs. Hughes is a good woman with a long list of accomplishments. She is highly respected. She just took the grade school Principal position over after Mr. Green retired. She was previously a high school teacher. From what I know, the selection was between her and Mr. Nader. She was selected because many think Mr. Nader is a little too stiff for the younger crowd."
"I asked about races of the children, and she read me the riot act," Ms. Harper complained.
"I imagine so. Here, more than anywhere else, everyone stresses racial equality. You don't understand yet, but you will. There's just too many people from different backgrounds here not to. Miss Harper..."
"It's Ms."
"Fine. Everyone in Driftwood gets along, no matter what they are. We want to keep it that way. Things like teasing or hazing is strictly Sheriff is very strict on that."
"It should be!" Ms. Harper stated. "After all, we're all human beings."
The lawyer laughed. "Actually, no, we're not."
The speaker on his desk said, "Mr. Bennett, Sonya is here to see you."
He keyed his intercom. "Thank you, tell her I have someone here, I'll be with her in a minute." To Ms. Harper, he said, "Anyway, there's nothing you can legally do. My best advice is to quit now, or do as Mrs. Hughes tells you to."
He got up and opened his door. Ms. Harper strode out of his office to face the biggest women she's ever seen. She stopped and gaped at the giant woman with long wavy bright red hair who's head nearly touched the ceiling. She was built too, not fat but sturdy looking due to her well proportioned size. If she was a couple feet shorter, she could be a model.
The woman laughed. "Never seen me before, huh? I'm Sonya." She extended a huge hand. On her hip was what had to be a five hear old with short red hair.
"Hi, I'm Gretchen Harper," she replied and shook the giant's hand. "Is your boy coming to Kindergarten this year?"
"Dennis? He's only two, he'll be three soon, he's too young for school." Looking past Ms. Harper, Sonya added, "Hi Mr. Bennett, is the paperwork done?"
"It is, come in, and watch your head please," he replied.
Sonya cast Ms. Harper a smirk and said, "No one builds their doorways tall enough."
Ms. Harper watched her go into his office ducking down. She had seen women that were six feet tall, but Sonya was over seven feet if she was an inch!
The secretary offered,"Sonya is one of the Connor clan, that is one of the unusual families around here. Be careful not to get them angry,"
"I'm not afraid of anyone," Ms. Harper stated.
The secretary shook her head. "It may suck to be you," she said under her breath.
.
After Robert and his girlfriends returned by jumping up on the dock to get their fish tails off, Allison took the tails inside and Joan and Robert opened the doors on a but shed part way up the yard. Seeing the had a bar and were hauling on it, Malinara, Jo, and Hanna ran out to help.
They stopped as the white thing came out on a trailer. "What is that?" Malinara asked. It was really odd looking.
"My airplane," Joan said as she and Robert pulled it out and turned it to push it towards the water.
"Why does it have bent swords sticking out of the middle?" Hanna asked.
Joan and Robert laughed. "It's called a propeller," Bob told them.
"It will make sense after we get the wings extended," Joan said.
The harem girls watch them get it to the water, then stopped to bring the flat panels on the side out to extend them flat to the sided instead of vertical along the sides. Joan opened the clear panel and reached in. Robert tugged gently on each one. "Locked in place," he announced.
Joan then got in where the seats were and called out odd words like flaps, ailerons and rudder. Robert watched these things move and tugged gently on them, He told her they worked and she called out other odd words for him to inspect. After their inspection, Joan got out and they lifted it into the water to float by the dock.
Jenny came running down the yard. "What is that?" she asked.
Joan smiled at her. "Want to take a ride?"
"It's a boat?" Jo guessed.
Joan chuckled. "For the moment." To Robert, she said, "I'm going to do a short test fly, landing gear down as I fly overhead."
"I'll check the landing gear when you go by."
Joan got Jenny in the got in herself. Robert backed away. The blades behind the cab where Joan sat began spinning with a hum. The hum increased a wind kicked up and the boat - thing backed away from the dock.
Joan backed out into the middle of the lake, then turned. She then ran down the lake picking up speed. Through the tees, they saw it lift into the air.
"It flies!" Malinara said in amazement.
They watched it turn and fly the other way, and came down lower. Wheels on extensions came out. Robert watched intently as it approached. Jenny waved to them, all smiles. Everyone waved back. Robert stuck his arm in the air with his thumb up. Joan flew away over the trees. A short time later, Joan came back on the lake, like it was just a really odd looking boat. She stopped next to the dock and shut the engine off. Robert tied it to the dock with ropes.
Jenny got out all smiles. "Did you see?" she cried, "We were up in the air like birds! We could see for a long way!"
"You liked that?" Bob asked.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Jenny cried happily. She spun to Joan and asked, "Can we do it again?"
"It only carries two, me or Robert need to fly it. Someone else might want a turn," Joan coaxed.
"Can we?" Jo asked.
Joan ended up giving rides to all of them. Malinara was last. Joan told her not to touch anything, so Malinara gripped her knees when they lifted off the lake and into the air.
"wow," Malinara said, looking down on the trees and the spattering of houses. "We're not going to fall down, right?"
"Nope. This is a good plane," Joan assured her.
"How high can it go?"
"The legal limit is 10,000 feet. We're only a thousand feet up right now."
Looking at Joan, Malinara said, "You are special, Joan. All the amazing things you can do. I've never seen anyone who can swim like a fish and fly like a bird. You can play that football game really well too."
"I learn everything I can and do my best," Joan told her. "You will be able to also, once you learn. Down there is our town."
"Will you allow me to do what I really want to do?"
Joan eyed her. "What is that?"
"To keep living with you, Allison and Robert. I want to do my best for all of you."
Joan was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why? You know you can do anything, go anywhere you want here."
"Because I respect you all, and I want to do things for all of you. Your work very hard, so does Allison and Robert. I want to see you able to relax and have fun when you're home. That's what Jo, Hanna and Dina want also."
Joan bit her lip. Seeing she was coming up on the big lake, she banked over and headed back. "I'm not comfortable with that," she finally said.
"That's my fault," Malinara said quickly. "I ... we need to understand how things work here. If we are doing something that makes you nervous, please let us know so we can correct it. This is really amazing, being way up here." she said as she gripped her knees tightly.
"You want to remain slaves."
"We want to stay with you. With you, we know we are safe and have a good place to live. We've never been alone, and the thought of being alone is frightening," Malinara stated.
Joan nodded. "I understand that. In time, there will be things you want to do, places to go see. Know you can do that and no one will stop you."
"Will we be able to come home after?"
"We will not deny you a place to stay," Joan said, not wanting to commit to them permanently staying.
"I suppose that's something," Malinara replied. Maybe it would take time, but she hoped she could get Joan to accept them. When they came back down on the lake and returned to the dock, Malinara wanted to kiss the ground being able to stand on solid ground, but refrained, thinking Joan might take offense.
.
After the rides, The plane was packed up in one trip from the house. Malinara and Hanna insisted in helping to carry the bags to the plane, then passed them to Robert on the float who passed them to Joan in the storage area.
The next morning after breakfast, They all trooped down to see Bob and Joan off. Allison got a hug from Joan and a hug and long kiss from Bob. Then Bob was ran into by a weepy Hanna. She wrapped her arms tight around him. Bob let her hug him for a moment, then pushed to pry her loose, and she hugged him harder. She wasn't letting go as Joan and Allison's irritation built.
"Ahh, Hanna? You have to let go," Bob told her.
"Take me with you or kill me," Hanna said in a sob.
"No, Hanna, you can't go," Bob stated. He pried her off, Allison helped pull her away, then held onto her as Bob got in and shut the canopy.
Allison waved with the arm she wasn't restraining Hanna with. They others waved also. Bob waved back as Joan pulled out then powered down the lake.
"Maybe you should kill her," Joan grumbled as they lifted into the air.
"They are not easy to deal with." Bob said. "But hey, we can forget about them for a while."
Joan barked out a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah, a vacation away from them."
.
Allison had her hands full. Hanna was so grief ridden, Allison had to help hold her up going back to the house. Malinara and Dina sniffled heavily. Jo didn't make any noise, by tears ran from her eyes. It was dawning on Allison how attached to Bob these girls were. Thankfully Jenny was happy to watch the plane fly away, and kept waving until it was out of sight.
"Listen up guys," Allison told them firmly. "They will not be gone forever, they will be back and you'll be able to see their games on TV."
"He left us," Hanna said in a croak.
"Bob and Joan left to go do their jobs, They will be back," Allison stated.
"This Dallas, where is it?" Malinara asked.
"I can show you. It's not the end of the world that Joan and Bob left," Allison explained.
"His name is Robert!" Hanna snapped.
Focusing on Jenny's first day of school, and making sure she was ready, Allison got Hanna to stop thinking her life was over. Afraid Hanna might do something stupid, Allison had Hanna stay with her to check over Jenny's clothes, match them up and pick outfits for her to wear for the week. At least this got Hanna to stop crying.
The very first day of school, it was encouraged for parents to bring their children in. Allison drove Jenny in and had Hanna come with her. After they got Hanna to school, Allison was going to get Hanna some help from someplace!
.
Ms. Harper had the classroom ready for the students, with 11 chairs, tables and paper, crayons, pencils and erasers set in front of each chair. Unlike most schools, they had two real copiers and a color printer for the office computer so high quality worksheets could be made for classes. She also hung up her inspirational rainbow poster with, 'you can be anything you want to be' written below the rainbow in colorful letters. Her 'think LIBERAL' poster was taken down by someone, she found it torn up and in the trash can. Still, she had young minds to work with and she would mold them.
The first child in was a boy in a suit and had a briefcase. His mother was in a nice dress and happily greeting Ms. Harper. The boy Tommy was eager to get started in school so he could grow up to be a lawyer like his daddy. Poor kid. A girl with the same brown/gray hair as her mother, a Mrs. Gray, came in. Ms. Harper also saw a long bushy tail peeking out of her skirt as sh tan over to join the other kids. The lid had to be involved with cos-play.
As they came in, Ms. Harper had them go into the play area until they all arrived. One girl came in with two women. The meek brown haired girl was in a nice dress. She stayed glued to the side of the thin woman with auburn hair, holding the woman's hand tightly.
"Jenny, this is your classroom," the slim woman said. To Ms. Harper, she said, "Good morning I'm Allison Young, this is Jenny Tanner."
"Hi," Jenny said meekly.
"Hello, I am Ms. Harper," she greeted happily and shook Allison's hand. Then went to shake the dark haired woman's hand. The woman just stared at her.
"Hanna, it's proper to shake someone's hand when you meet them," Allison coaxed.
Hanna nodded and shook Ms. Harper's hand.
"So, Jenny is ... who's child?" Ms. Harper asked, shifting her gaze between the women.
"Robert adopted her, Jenny has had a hard life," Allison explained.
Hanna eyed the room. She leaned towards Allison and asked, "Should I stay with her?"
"Hanna, the teacher will watch over the kids, Jenny will be safe here," Allison told her.
"Which of you is Robert's wife?"
Allison was about to speak, Hanna quickly said, "I am Hanna Tanner."
Allison glared at her. "You are not married to him."
"I am his," Hanna stated in return.
Jenny looked up at Allison and asked, "Mommy Allison, I'm not getting sold, am I?"
"No, sweetie, this is a place you come to learn. You're safe here," Allison said gently.
Ms. Harper's head spun with what she was hearing. "We will take good care of Jenny," she assured both women. She then added, "After school, I would like to talk to you and Mr. Tanner at your earliest convenience."
"Bob and Joan left yesterday, and won't be back for a while," Allison said. "I can come back later to speak to you of you like."
"Stop calling him Bob," Hanna said firmly.
"I would like to speak to both of you," Ms. Harper said, wondering what their family relationship was. At first, she thought these two women were married, but now she found out a man was involved and possibly another woman. That was not a healthy relationship, or even legal!
Allison squatted down by Jenny. "Everything is fine, dear. We have to go, I'll be back to come get you after school, OK?"
Jenny nodded. "Don't forget me."
"Never," Allison said firmly.
The women left. Jenny wandered to the middle of the room, looking lost.
Mr. Harper went over to Jenny. "Jenny, dear, can you tell me about why you were adopted?"
Jenny thought about it and said in a dull tone, "It was after the soldier men chopped Dad's head off. They were going to chop my head off, but Robert stopped them. He paid them for me and took me to find Mom and my sister. We found my sister, she said Mom screamed at them, so they chopped her head off too. She told me to run away. Robert took me away. He was stopped by some men, the one on the horse was the one that wanted to kill me until Robert paid him. He said Robert didn't pay, and wanted to fight him. He attacked Robert with a sword, Robert killed him and made the others go away. Then the winged lady Anne and Delilah came and brought us all here. Robert is my new Dad, and Joan and Allison are my new moms."
Good god! Ms. Harper thought. "What about Hanna?"
"Oh, she's one of Robert's slaves. They came with us too."
"Slaves?" Ms. Harper asked. "How many does this Robert have?"
Jenny counted on her fingers. "Hanna, Malinara, Jo, Dina."
Ms. Harper's jaw dropped. The sheriff had to know about this and put that man in jail!
.
Hanna sat in the waiting room at the hospital as Allison went into thee the psycho doctor. In a short while, Allison came out and Hanna was called in. The white haired doctor said, "Hanna, please have a seat," as he pointed to a couch opposite his chair. "Make yourself comfortable."
Hanna sat on the edge of the couch.
The Doctor looked at some notes and said, "I understand you have been held as a slave your whole life?"
"Yes, as far back as I can remember."
"This Robert has been your last master, and he brought you and the others away from the place that kept you as slaves?" he asked.
"That's right. He had to come back to his home. He let us come with him."
"So, he has freed you? Doesn't that make you feel good, to know you're no longer slaves?"
Hanna frowned at him. "It makes me confused!" she stated. "Robert cared for me when I was injured and no one else would! He gave us money and wanted us to run away! I refused to leave without him, even after we came with him, he got me help so I got all healed up and better. His girlfriends want us to take the money he gave us and go. As before, I will not leave and abandon the best master I ever had! I want to stay with him. I have told him, Joan and Allison, I will stay with Robert. If he doesn't want me, then kill me!"
"Being a slave is very demeaning..." the doctor began.
Hanna shot to her feet, fists balled. "How dare you! do you have any slaves?"
"No, I don't believe in ..."
"Have you even been around or even seen any?" Hanna asked in red faced anger.
"I have not," he said, taken aback by her anger.
"Then you have no clue what we do!" Hanna said, glaring down on him. "I will tell you I am a good, loyal slave! I always have been, and now when I get a good and decent master that treats me well, EVERYONE wants to take him away from me!" she ended in a yell and flail of arms. "I say NO! I gave Robert his choices, keep me or kill me! HE is the only one who has any right to decide which it will be."
"Please, calm down, Hanna, I only want to tell you all your options..."
"No! Who are you to even suggest what my options are? What gives you any right to tell me what's good for me when you admitted you don't know what you're talking about!" Hanna said, glowering down on him. She then turned and walked out.
Hearing Hanna yelling, Allison sat up. She wasn't surprised to see Hanna burst out of the office. Hanna strode up to her and asked, "Will you take me home, or do I walk?"
Allison got up. "Come on, let's go home. We'll come back to town later to get Jenny from school."
Going back to the car, Allison could see Hanna was quaking in anger. They got in. Allison drove out of the parking lot and asked, "I take it it didn't go well with the doctor?"
"He admitted he doesn't know what he's talking about. Talking to him is a waste of time," Hanna stated.
Allison noted Hanna looked stressed out. "You've had a hard couple days, haven't you?"
Hanna sighed in agreement.
Thinking about first getting Hanna calmed down, Allison went to the bar.
Seeing it wasn't home, Hanna asked, "What's this place?"
"A place to relax for a bit. You need it, come on."
.
A wine cooler for Allison and four for Hanna later, they were sitting side by side in a booth with Hanna leaning on Allison.
"It's not fair," Hanna sniffed. She went to reach for her wine cooler and saw it was empty. "Darn," she grumbled.
"Barkeep, another?" Allison called.
He brought another one over opened. Allison passed it to Hanna. "I think she's about reached her limit," he told them.
"We'll be going in about another hour here," Allison replied. "She needs this, trust me."
He chuckled, "Just don't let her drive," he told her.
Hanna put a drunken arm around Allison. "I see why Robert loves you so much. Joan too. I know you see us as competition for Robert, even though that's not true. Yet, you do your best for us. Even if it's somewhat misguided, you do everything you can for me, for all our benefit." She then took a long pull from her new bottle.
"We know you came from someplace horrible, Hanna. Of course we're going to help you," Allison told her.
Waving a finger at her, Hanna said, "Please stop thinking we are trying to take Robert away. None of us, me, Malinara, Jo or Dina would do that to you. All we ask is ... Robert is our savior. Please, let us share our savior with you. All we want is to be there, for him and for you."
Allison cast her a sad smile. "I don't think Joan would ever agree to that. I find it very hard to think about Bob having all you women also."
Hanna frowned and shook her head. "No, you make it sound like we all want to pile in bed with him at the same time! That's not it at all! Yeah, it's true that if Robert wants me, I'll gladly, even eagerly give myself to him. BUT!" she said raising a wavering finger. "The choice is his, and whoever he picks is up to him. Even if he never wants me, which I hope he does because I really want to have someone who doesn't like to beat me or hang me up, I will still be loyal to him ... to everyone in the house. Allie, I need the safety being around others I know won't hurt me any more, and I want that for all of us, I mean everyone."
Allison caught what Hanna said. "What do you mean, hang you up?" she asked.
Hanna sighed and said, "Many times, the old Master I had liked to tie ropes around the base of my breasts and hang me up by them. Sometimes he'd punch me to spin me around, sometimes he'd have me while I hung there, or he'd have another girl and wonder if they got dark enough, they'd just separate and I'd fall down. He did many other things to me that really hurt too. When Robert came, at first, I couldn't believe anyone would want to see my battered and bitten body. All he had to say about it was if he knew my former master had been doing that to me, he would have killed him much slower."
She gave an insane giggle. "He even forbid me to work and made me rest." After another good guzzle from her bottle, Hanna said in a conspiring tone, letting Allison breathe her alcoholic breath, "That is why I won't have any other master. I don't want any other man to even touch me. Robert saved me. I no longer have to pray that man might kill me to end my pain. Robert ended my pain. If I can't have him, I want him to be merciful one last time and just end me."
Allison hugged Hana. "You have my word, Hanna, nothing like that will ever happen to you again."
"I just want acceptance," Hanna slurred and cried on Allison's shoulder.
In Allison's mind, it was becoming harder to be mean to this poor woman. It was getting time to pour her into the car and wait for school to get out.
.
Allison assured Hanna several times that she would be her friend. By the time Allison got to the school, Hanna was passed out on the passenger side. Allison parked and tapped Hanna on the shoulder. "Hanna, I'm going in to get Jenny."
A low mumble answered her and Hanna shifted to get comfortable. "Stay here," Allison said and got out.
Just inside Allison saw the secretary. "Hi, do you have a child in school too?" she asked.
"No, the sheriff was called, I'm to escort you to the Principal's office," Anne explained.
"Something wrong?"
"Ms. Harper had made some very bad accusations about Robert."
Allison frowned at her. "Like what?"
"You'll hear when we get there."
In Mrs. Hughes' office Jenny was in a chair, Dakota was behind the desk and the sheriff sat closer to the door than Jenny did. Jenny was looking nervous. Anne went in, then Allison. The instant Jenny saw her, she jumped up and ran over to hug Allison. "Don't let them take me away!" Jenny cried.
"Sheriff, what's up?' Allison asked as she returned Jenny's hug.
"Mrs. Hughes," the sheriff said, motioning to her.
Dakota explained, "Ms. Harper is accusing Bob Tanner of illegal imprisonment by holding four slave women and murdering a man, she also claims that he 'bought' Jenny here, so that's human trafficking and possibly child abuse."
"Secretary," the sheriff said, motioning to her.
"I was there for part of what went on. First of all, we were in a different world to retrieve Bob. Yes, he did kill the man who was these girls Master, he also was attacked, so it was not murder, but self-defense. Also, there is not one who returned with us that did not do so willingly. Bob never forced anyone. He gave them money and told them to run away, they chose to stay and return with him of their own free will," the secretary stated.
"Allison, What can you tell me about this?" the sheriff asked.
"I can tell you Bob hasn't hurt or held anyone against their will and that charge of child abuse is pure malevolent BULLSHIT! Bob wouldn't hurt any of them especially Jenny. Those women are brainwashed to be slaves, that is all they know. We are trying to change their thinking, but from what I've seen and what they have stated, it's going to take a long time. They also need education badly and we're not going to push them out the door until we know they can take care of themselves. Do we have a huge mess at home at the moment? Yes, we do. It's frustrating and hard to deal with, but all of them women need to be ready before we kick them out the door," Allison stated.
The sheriff nodded. "So Bob didn't murder, imprison anyone against their will, or do harm to Jenny here?"
"No," Allison and Anne chorused.
"Mrs. Hughes no charges will be filed," the sheriff told her. "And if you can arrange some adult education for these women to help out, I'd appreciate it. Anne, could you go speak to Miss Harper after her students leave and let her know of the outcome of this investigation?"
"I will, sheriff."
The sheriff tipped his hat to Allison. "Miss Young, whatever help you and your family need from me, feel free to call. Thank you for coming."
.
Ms. Harper was glad the sheriff came a bit early and got Jenny to take her to the office. She'd also noted a couple strange things about her class. They were all happy kids, but the Gray girl had to have some device on that tail she wore. When she was happy, the tail wagged. One time when the girl laughed, Ms. Harper swore she saw the girl had long canines in her mouth.
After the last student was picked up and Ms. Harper waved goodbye to them, a voice behind her said, "Shut the door, Miss Harper."
She turned to see the sheriff's secretary leaning on her desk. "How you get in here?" she asked.
"The door, shut it," Anne replied.
Ms. Harper did, reminding her, "It's MS. Harper."
"Whatever," Anne said with a wave of her hand. "I am to inform you the situation at the Tanner house has been looked into, no charges will be filed, but they are now receiving help to deal with their problems." he walked toward Miss Harper and said, "Due to the fact your new here, the sheriff has decided not to charge you with filing a false police report. He does urge you to find a shred of proof before you go making serious claims against someone."
Calling her 'miss' and disregarding the horrible way Robert Tanner treated women, Ms. Harper said, "That's impossible! Mr. Tanner is a criminal! I demand Justice!"
Anne eyed her. "You demand nothing. The case was looked into and if anything, Robert Tanner deserves to be praised for getting those women away from danger and out of the miserable life they were leading."
Getting louder, Ms. Harper stepped up into Anne's face. "He is holding slaves! I demand you do something about... URK!" She stopped speaking as she was grabbed by the throat and slammed into the wall. Her eyes went wide when the secretary's eyes grew black and long horns appeared on her head. Behind her was a large set of leather bat type wings.
"Getting in my face was a bad call," Anne growled at the shocked woman. "Behave yourself or next time I won't be so gentle. You cannot push us around to do anything by yelling your point, but I can make your life a living HELL if you insist on yelling at me. Any questions?" Anne then let Miss Harper go and reverted to human form.
Ms. Harper stared in shock, did she really see what she thought she saw? No, demons weren't real.
"Be careful what you do," Anne stated then walked out.
Ms. Harper stood in place shaking like a leaf. Touching he throat, she still felt that iron grip. Those eyes, those horns, the sharp pointed teeth in her mouth. None of that could be real, but it did feel real. She collapsed to sit and found she had peed herself. It was dawning on her that in this town, there were things to be afraid of.