18. Sheltered
With a bowl of peanuts Sara sat next to Sofia, who had already two beers in front of her.
"You know how many germs are in these peanuts? Everybody touches them, you have people who came in from the streets, who came from the bathroom without…"
"Keep calm and relax, I asked for a fresh bowl and fresh peanuts. You can leave the germs out and have a couple. These are not a threat to your heath."
"Good. Any thoughts of the case you worked?"
"Yes, if parents are not willing to love their children, they shouldn't have some. This guy, he killed the boyfriend of his son because he didn't want his son to be gay. What did he think? When Carl is gone, his son won't be interested in any other guy anymore? How can somebody be so stupid? And how narrow-minded and full of hate do you have to be to kill the person, your son loves?"
"Our society isn't that open-minded and broad-minded, as would like it to be, the United States are not a place of freedom and liberty for everybody."
"Looks like. How can we expect society to be open-minded when even a father hates his son? For something, that's not wrong."
"This lies in the eyes of the beholder. From a religious view it is wrong."
"Then religion is wrong."
"I'm with you, many people aren't. They say the bible says it's a sin."
"The bible also says some people are meant to be slaves. Are we going back to re-civil times and keep slaves again? It's a book, not proved science, people have developed. We don't rest on the seventh day of the week. If we all do that, a lot of people would be dead because doctors had to rest too." Not to mention cops, which gave criminals a wonderful opportunity to do whatever they felt to do.
"Sara, I'm not saying Dylan or Carl did anything wrong, I'm only saying some people have different opinions. Why a father hates his son for being is something he doesn't approve of, I don't understand. To me it sounds like there is something wrong with the father, nature wants us to love our children. So he's the one, who doesn't act natural."
"He's one of the monsters, Tommy Barnes wants his daughter to be safe of. One of the reasons, why he built this place. Which amazed me." A house underground, a safe place for his daughter. Okay, it was wrong to keep her there like a prisoner, but it was better than killing her.
"I saw photos, he must have spent some time to create it the way it looks now. And he's also a very good example for a loving father. He doesn't try to push his daughter back into their own world, he wants her to explore the world. He really loves her."
"Yes. I'm glad they'll move to a normal city so she can start to have a normal life. It will be hard, she never learnt to socialize with other people, but I'm sure they'll be fine. They have family up there."
"What will happen to Dylan?"
"His confession is bullshit, we all know it. He'll stay with relatives, who are hopefully more open-minded than his father. Whom I wish to become the girlfriend of a mean guy in prison." Not a nice thing to ask for, but this man didn't deserve any better.
"Your wish might become true. Any other wishes, Miss Sidle?"
"Another beer and people, who stop killing each other."
"These are two wishes. You want to be out of work?"
"I'm more than happy to work assaults, B&E and other things. Homicide is something, I don't need in my life."
"Unfortunately, as long as there're human beings, there'll be homicides." Sofia held up their empty glasses to tell the bartender they needed new beer.