Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“Veronica, have you called the lawyer yet to set up the paperwork to dump Tim?”

“I’ve been busy, you know, with all the other shit?” Veronica said, trying to deflect Violet.

“I’m not letting you duck this! Monday we are driving over to the bank, you’re setting up the new accounts, and going to the lawyer. If you don’t have one picked by then, I will find one. You had the idea of packing the pods and shipping his shit and getting him to sign the paperwork. Great idea! Now we need the paperwork to make it happen. I’m sure the brunch crew would help pack his shit.”

“Violet…” and Veronica stopped talking and looked at her hands, mumbling.

“What was that?” Violet leaned closer. Veronica lashed out.

“I said I’m scared, damn it!” Veronica yelled. Violet jumped right back at her.

“You’re not scared! Embarrassed, yes, ashamed maybe, but what do you have to be scared of? You are already living alone. You can and have been supporting yourself. He sees you like an accessory. He doesn’t value you or respect you. We need to cut his ass off at the knees. So, are you going to do the paperwork or do I plan a trip to DC and pack my cleats?”

Violet was all spooled up. Veronica could tell, but it didn’t help.

“How could I have been so stupid to fall for his bullshit” What did I see in him? What’s wrong with me?”

“There is nothing wrong with you. You are just smarter now and don’t need to put up with this bullshit.” Violet wrapped Veronica up in a fierce hug and held her for a few moments while Veronica composed herself.

She was looking for the strong, driven Veronica she grew up with, not this self-questioning thing Tim had driven her to become. Tim was a passive aggressive bully. Violet could feel her own temper raging. She had to motivate Veronica but she had to let her come to the right answer. Time to be the engine.

“Now, Princess, what’s the play?” Violet said as she held her at arm’s length. She looked up into Veronica’s tear-rimmed dark brown eyes. There was some steel in them, finally.

“Off with his head.”
 
Sportsman

Sportsman

Veteran Member
ComCamGuy said:
Alright loyal Market Day readers

First week of Part Five?
Click to expand...

Speaking for myself, I love the way you’ve handled the perspectives so far. Not adverse to hearing some new juicy details or even new characters that Marty come and go along the way. But you’ve laid out such a consistent story line that I don’t want it diluted too much.

Carry on! And Thanks.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Bank, divorce lawyers, more banks, real estate lawyers, the week was taken up by all the preparations for ‘removing the tumor’ as Bron put it. She had a great divorce lawyer she recommended to Veronica, who recommended Veronica do a paid one time consult with the other top five divorce lawyers in the city to keep them from being able to represent Tim.

The lawyer also pointed Veronica to a couple of real estate lawyers who helped shore up her position with the house. Fortunately, it was bought in Veronica’s name with her VA so it wasn’t easy for Tim to get his hooks too deep.

In the evenings, Violet and Veronica packed boxes of Tim’s stuff. Violet encouraged Veronica to be evil and vindictive. She was feeding Veronica positive powerful energy to keep her from backsliding and questioning herself again.

Sometimes this was in the form of mislabeling boxes, like a box of clothes marked ‘Insurance Papers’. Other times, it was generic labels like ‘Stuff from Kitchen’. They also spread stuff among multiple boxes instead of clumping them together with like items. His football and baseball card collection was spread throughout seven different boxes mixed in with books, magazines and other items.

Bron added another couple layers of ‘screw you’ to the process. One evening she showed up with two whole paper bags full of packages of microfine glitter. After that, almost every box got one or two packages of glitter opened and shaken in the top of the box. To ‘protect’ some of the more fragile items, they poured into the boxes fine Styrofoam packing beads or lose popped popcorn. Just the thought of all the mess and bother Tim was going to have when he opened them kept everyone howling with laughter as they worked.

Part of this was to drive Tim to the point of frustration and hastiness. Sooner or later, he will stop opening boxes and just sign for everything. This was the plan. Veronica was paying for an associate of her divorce lawyer to be there and shepherd the paperwork. The verbiage was already worked out. He would mix the divorce decree in with the other paperwork.

Veronica worked through assets and elements, separating any intermixed elements of her life with Tim. The house was in her name already. Her two vehicles were in her name since she had them before she met Tim. Shoot, the SUV and the Boat were in her name as well since she had bought them as presents for him. Utah was great for military about vehicle titles, enabling them to be listed as this and/or that person on the title instead of the standard both. This meant someone deployed could have the other person take care of everything, no additional signatures required.

Veronica was keeping her claws sharp. As long as she was trying to plan and work through and process, she didn’t have time to question herself. Anger was better than despair and self-loathing.
 
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Griz3752

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Tim boy didn’t realise there's always a price for bad behaviours or self interest at the expense of others.

I think this is only his 1st installment.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“So, with Paige waking up and getting released, what do you think about going out for a visit?” Veronica asked as they drove back to her house late one evening.

“Sounds great! The damn defense lawyer won’t be back here for another week or two so I’m here at least until then. It’d be good to actually see mom and dad.” Violet hadn’t had a decent visit with them in a few years.

“So we load up and head out Friday morning.” Veronica paused as she considered her next idea.

“What do you think about ditching this big ass behemoth?” Veronica was asking an honest question. She needed to make sure she wasn’t just doing the ‘getting divorced checklist’. She had no interest in getting a boob job, but a new shiny car could be fun.

Violet knew Veronica was wanting a real opinion, not just reflex concurrence.

“Well, you have plenty of four wheel drive and bad weather car, so what were you thinking of trading this in for? Or were you looking to just ditch it and pocket the money?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking something ‘fun’. Maybe a convertible something to run around here and there.” Veronica answered. Violet could see even in the dark the sheepish grin on her face.

“Shoot, if we are going over to see the ‘rents, we can also look there for princess’ new chariot. If we ditch it there, it adds one more layer to the ‘where did it go’ effect if Tim’s lawyer wants to dig.”

They would have talked longer but as they came into the driveway, they saw a beat up small pick up in front of one of the garage doors, which was up, the lights were on, and two people were moving around in the garage.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Violet looked over at Veronica. She seemed pretty calm for what looked like somebody robbing her house. She looked back at the garage. The people moving around didn’t look like they were panicking either.

Veronica pulled up to the garage and parked. She looked over at Violet and saw the worry on her face.

“Don’t worry, V. They are friends. Come on. I’ll introduce you.” She said as she slid out of the SUV and walked towards the garage.

By the time Violet was in the garage, Veronica was already standing beside the two at the big cutting board table. She could see the two new people were a lot younger than she initially thought. They were a high school aged boy and girl.

“Violet, this is Derek and Gretchen. They have been playing hooky to fish and didn’t want to make a mess somewhere else. They will be leaving us some fish for us to eat for dinner since they are using my stuff, Right?” She turned her head back to look at the kids.

The first thing Violet thought was they were a cute couple. Derek was starting to fill out and get his adult size. He could be any one of the boys she went to high school with in one of her four high schools. Right now, he was in blue jeans and flannel shirt. His hair was hidden under a ball cap. His smile was infectious as he replied to Veronica’s statement.

“Ma’am, I learned my lessons early on. There are already four nice brook trout cleaned and packaged in the fridge over there.” He pointed with the fillet knife in his hand.

Gretchen spoke up to defend Derek as well. Violet looked over at her. She looked younger than Derek. She had on a sweatshirt and blue jeans. A brown pony tail was visible bouncing through the hole in the back of her hat. She looked like most of the girls she went to school with that she liked growing up. Her hands were covered in fish parts as she scraped the parts into the big sink.

“We know the deal. Make sure we cleanup and sanitize everything we use. Leave at least a little behind for you and take out the trash.”

Violet instantly like the pair. She shook her head as she though of her classmates growing up.

“Utah is weird. When I was in high school, if we were going into somebody else’s house with no one home, it wasn’t to clean fish. It was usually for beer or snogging.”

Violet was surprised at the pair’s look when she said that. She was also a little confused by Veronica laughing.

“Ma’am, this might be Utah, but it would still be inappropriate for us to be snogging. Gretchen is my little sister.” Derek chuckled a little as Violet turned bright red as he continued talking. “Besides, cute as she is, she is a sophomore and I’m a senior. It wouldn’t be right anyway.”

Veronica figured she better start talking so Violet had a chance to pull her foot out of her mouth.

“So what are you guys doing fishing on a weekday?”

“Parent-teacher conference day, so we decided to get lost for a while and get some fish.” Gretchen said as she used a spray bottle and some paper towels on the cutting table.

“Yeah, the wind wasn’t bad and I was trying to show her some more with the fly rod.” Derek said as he finished filling a couple baggies of fish with water.

“I take it she caught the hang of it well enough if you guys caught so many.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s great with the fly rod out in the open. I was just showing her some tricks to get under and around stuff up in the tight streams and under tree limbs.” Derek wiggled Gretchen’s hat on her head as he talked. She spun around, the bottle in her hand.

“I’ll squirt you in your eye, you keep it up!” The smile took all the threat out of it.

Veronica made a snap decision.

“Derek, stop messing with her hat and pay attention!” Derek stopped. Veronica had both Derek and Gretchen’s complete attention.

“Now.” Veronica looked outside at Derek’s truck, then back in the garage. OK, It will work, she thought.

“Derek, tell your dad to come over here this weekend and pick up that old broke boat.” She pointed over at the gleaming red metalflake bass boat.

Derek looked confused. He looked from Veronica to the boat a couple times, the question on his face.

“Yup, it’s broke. There will be paperwork sitting on it for him to sign showing I am paying him $100 to tow away the broken boat.” Veronica’s voice was serious and her speech was very deliberate.

“You’re kidding me, right ma’am?” Derek asked in disbelief.

“Not kidding. If your dad has questions, have him call me. Second thing. I’m running out of town next weekend. When you guys swing by for the boat, keep an eye on the place for me.”
 
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Texican

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
FNFAL1958 said:
And this Gentlemen is why I remain single in my old age and in full control of my remaining Assets, Women are ruthless. :(
Click to expand...

Well, the dear wife told me after we got married that if she caught me fooling around, that she wouldn't divorce me, but break me financially.

Now threatening to hit a guy in his back pocket is just cruel.

Texican....
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The pods were packed with care. Copies of the paperwork were made, certified and notarized. Operation Sever Ties was almost complete. Violet and Veronica were sitting reviewing the packets. In the bottom of the additional paperwork were copies of the bank statements and paperwork showing the joint account, both before and after Veronica took out half, the paperwork removing him from access to all her accounts, removing Veronica from all the Joint cards and accounts, and so on and so forth.

“Well, when you do something and put your mind to it, you go whole hog.” Violet said as she thumbed through the paperwork packet on the table while Veronica got another glass of wine.

“Hey, I could have taken everything, gutted the accounts, sold the whole thing and hit him up for spousal support and so on and so forth. I only took half, my fair half.” Veronica sounded pretty defensive now.

“What about the boat and the SUV?” Violet countered.

“I included all the email traffic where I asked him several times over the last year about bringing it out, about how he had plenty of places to fish out there and use the boat, and he would need the SUV to pull it. That Metrosexual Redneck must have a new group of friends he is hanging with that don’t do that sort of stuff. He kept saying he didn’t want it out there, wouldn’t use it, etc. So, he abandoned it in my mind. I can also show where I bought them.” Veronica grinned.

Violet kept flipping through the pages. Her friend was devious, thorough, and twisted. She had pictures of the inside of each box before any packing material or glitter for that matter, went in to document for damage claims.

DVD, collection, TV from his sports den, clothes, a box of framed pics from his ‘I love me’ wall, on and on the pictures went. Violet was just shuffling along until one stopped her dead in her tracks. She had to back up and look again.

“Veronica? What the hell is this? I don’t remember us packing this.” Violet turned the picture around and slid it across the table to show Veronica.

“Let me see.” Veronica took the picture, looked at it and started laughing.

“V, what the **** did you do?” Violet asked again as she took the picture back.

“I was cleaning out the last of his sports room and found an old stash of porn. You know, a couple DVDs, books, and magazines.” Veronica was grinning hard to keep from laughing again.

“You know what I’m talking about. What The ****?”

Violet pointed to one of the objects in the picture. It was a clear zip-lock bag with a pair of panties in it. A pair that didn’t look the right size or style for Veronica and Violet knew the pairs she brought on the trip and they weren’t hers. There was a note in the picture, stapled to the bag. It said ‘And whose are these?’

“Just a little mind game. It would be hard for him to deny the books and videos were his, and adding this in adds another level of embarrassment if he fights me.” Veronica explained calmly.

Violet was starting to worry about how far her friend was now going in her plans and schemes.

“So, you just bought a random pair and threw them in a bag to **** with him?”

Veronica shook her head and chuckled. It wasn’t a friendly chuckle either. It made Violet think of Vincent Price from some old horror move. What Veronica said next didn’t help. Instead, it made her worry more and more about the effect this divorce was having on her friend.

“They couldn’t be new, or freshly laundered. They had to be used and well worn. They also couldn’t be anyone in the DoD’s DNA data base, a ghost. This way they couldn’t prove it was someone impossible for it to be.”

‘Who’s are they, Veronica?” Violet’s tone was more serious now.

“The other night when Gretchen and Derek were here, I gave her a hundred dollars to buy new stuff and drop the ones she was wearing into the zip-lock. She isn’t in a database and if they dig any deeper, they will find nothing to tie to anyone. Just a dirty pair of girl’s panties.”

“Veronica, you need to get a hold of yourself. You might be taking this way too far.” Violet was worried now.

“I’m taking it far enough to make sure he leaves me alone, drops everything and vanishes as far as I’m concerned! It’s not like I’m waiting outside his apartment building in the bushes with a stun gun and a garrote! He chose his new life! I’m not stopping him in it! He can go on doing whatever the hell he wants to do. I just don’t want him ever trying to include or influence me or my life again!” Veronica was practically shouting now.

Violet could see the brittle shell Veronica had used around herself these past days to keep this contained. Violet tried to evaluate what Veronica was doing from this new perspective. She wasn’t trying to rip him off, steal everything, or ruin his career. She was just creating enough of a firewall to make him realize he needs to let it go and move on.

“What did you tell Gretchen?”

“Nothing. I told her I needed them for another project. I’ve snared a t-shirt or two from Derek and Gretchen before to work tracking dog exercises and SAR exercises. If Tim runs the DNA on these, he will end up with an underage female sample between 13 and 16, not a good age range for them to be found in his stuff.”

“You have been hunting bad guys too long. You are….Never mind.” Violet shook her head.

“What!” Veronica snapped at her.

“Now that the boxes are gone and the packets and such, why don’t we focus on getting ready for our road trip.” Violet thought she might need to talk to her mom about how to help Veronica. She hated to go that drastic, but it might need some professional help.”

“Sounds great!” Veronica was all smiles now. “I’ve had my eye on picking up some meat for a cookout when we get there. A bit of hunting will clear the mind.”
 
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C

Chapulin

Veteran Member
I don't mind the new scenarios being added in this chapter. How about a global view of the Utah/Right coast versus terminal oil/kill your dinner on the Left coast?
 
Texican

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
“You have been hunting bad guys too long. You are….Never mind.” Violet shook her head.

“What!” Veronica snapped at her.

Seeemmmmsssss like you do not want to get on Veronica's bad side.

Now, being on V's good side could pay positive dividends, if you survived the tryst....

Texican....

ps:
For the knuckle draggers and the mental challenged ones,

tryst
noun
An agreement between lovers to meet at a certain time and place.
  1. An agreement between lovers to meet at a certain time and place.
  2. A usually private meeting or meeting place that has been agreed on by lovers.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“How’s the fuel?” Veronica asked Violet.

“Plenty. Still around the three-quarter mark.” Violet answered from behind the steering wheel of the big SUV.

They were traveling down the road aback towards the Mountain Warfare Center and their parents’ house. The conversations they were having while driving swerved all over the place.

“Well, keep an eye out. We should top up every time we find someplace with fuel. This thing drinks a lot.” Veronica replied as she looked back down at her map. With a pencil, she wrote ‘No Gas’ on the off ramp they just passed. At least these stations had the message on their signs so they didn’t waste time getting off the freeway. This was the third time they saw it.

“The GPS says another possible place in about a hundred miles. Hope they have some, but we should stop anyway. I have to pee.”

“Well, there’s a rest stop in twenty miles.” Veronica countered.

“I prefer a real bathroom. Those rest stops barely have walls. I about froze my tender bits at the last one.”

Veronica started to say something but Violet cut her off.”

“No! We are not stopping at that one!”

“It’s just a rest stop. You didn’t do anything wrong there. We didn’t do anything wrong there.”

“I lost control of what I was doing there. He shouldn’t have been that bad.” Violet said.

Veronica could hear the difference in Violet’s voice. This was a very important thing. It affected her greatly. At this moment, she felt bad for her friend. It was Veronica’s plan. Violet was put in a bad position by her, by her plan.

“He could have stopped at any time. He is the one who was attacking you and kept attacking you. You have no reason to feel bad.” Veronica reached over and put her hand on Violet’s leg. It was trembling.

“Violet! It’s not your fault!” Veronica needed to get Violet to let go of this!

“You don’t understand and I’m not sure I can make you understand.” Violet said. Her gaze was locked forward, scanning the road ahead. The SUV was silent for many long minutes before Violet finally spoke again.

“Think about it like this. Imagine you were a phenomenal, top notch shot, never missed, upside down, long shots, close shots, day, night, doesn’t matter. Then, one day, when you really needed to be good and instead of a tiny group, you sprayed the bullets everywhere. I didn’t do what I did the way I should have. I was sloppy and out of control. That’s the problem. Now I have to re-examine myself, my capability, what I’m teaching. That’s the problem.”

“Violet, you told me, right after it happened, no one else you knew could have done this. You survived. You fought with focus and restraint. You could have killed him outright anywhere through the process, I’m sure, but you didn’t. The goal was to stop him and make an example of why it was wrong. You were able to do that.”

“I know all of this logically. It all makes calculated sense, but it still feels off. I feel off. I still wonder why I made the mistakes.” Violet was still staring forward, but the SUV was slowing some as Violet slid to the side of the road. When the SUV came to a stop, Violet put it in park and turned to Veronica.

“I don’t want to dig into this, especially with the others. Can we not talk about it around Paige and the rest?”

“Sure thing.” Veronica said, looking at her friend. Violet looked like she had just driven a hundred miles of sketchy road. She didn’t look that way until the topic of the fight with Frickel came up.

“You want me to drive for a while?”

“Nah, I got this until we find some fuel and a bathroom.” Violet said as she pulled back onto the highway and accelerated.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later, on the Road.


“Well, it’s a good thing we got fuel at the last one. Nothing to be found at that exit.” Violet said as they drove past.

The truck stop at the exit was nothing but a burned out shell, complete with a couple truck chassis at the pumps.

Veronica was driving now. She had a bad feeling building in her gut. Things were looking a bit sketchy now. The Shelves at the last truck stop they stopped at were getting thinner and the price of fuel was getting higher. On impulse she bought two bags worth of assorted stuff she didn’t need.

Violet looked at her funny when they were checking out. Thinking about the stuff she put on the counter now, she understood where the look came from. Not too many people buy two sets of jumper cables, five boxes of table salt, three big bundles of batteries, a dozen bottles of fuel deicer and half a dozen zippo lighters.

The bad part was, she couldn’t even tell Violet why she selected those things. She had her own chuckle when she looked at the stuff Violet was adding to her own pile. Three of the Baja style pull overs, a couple pairs of blue jeans and some underwear added to Violets current wardrobe. She was picking up a couple pieces here and there since she didn’t pack for this long of a trip. Well, at least she could get the right sizes almost anywhere unlike Veronica who had to get lucky to find pants with long enough legs.
 
Sportsman

Sportsman

Veteran Member
You mean to say that when people look at us funny when we leave a quick shop with a half dozen of anything they're being critical? I always thought they were just admiring my choice in purchases. You never know when five or six extra Cliff bars or a couple more 5 hour energy drinks will come in handy.

Thank you, still enjoying the drive.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Sportsman said:
You mean to say that when people look at us funny when we leave a quick shop with a half dozen of anything they're being critical? I always thought they were just admiring my choice in purchases. You never know when five or six extra Cliff bars or a couple more 5 hour energy drinks will come in handy.

Thank you, still enjoying the drive.
Click to expand...


Most people at a truck stop only buy the set of jumper cables they need, not two sets.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
At Ivar and Sofia’s


“Hi Mom, I’m home. What’s for dinner?”

Veronica walked in the house like she owned the place. A surprised yell came from deeper in the house.

“In here! Get your butt back here!”

Came a woman’s voice. A voice Veronica would recognize anywhere. She walked deeper into the house, following the smells of cooking. She came around the corner into the kitchen. There stood her mother, stirring a large pot.

Veronica dropped her gym bag and gave her mother a hug.

“What’s for dinner?”

“Here ten seconds and already thinking of food! And where’s your sidekick?” Sofia said, looking behind Veronica.

“I dropped her off at Amber and Silas’s house. I’ll swing by and snare her in the morning. Where’s Pappa?” Veronica said as she leaned over and tried to see what was in the pot.

“He will be home soon. He just left the office. With all the crap he has on his plate now, it takes longer for him to swim to the top of the paperwork pile.” Sofia saw Veronica looking over her shoulder at the pot. “Chicken and Dumplings. Now, go wash up. Spare rooms are on the left down the hall.” Sofia pointed with her spoon.

“Sure thing, Mom. Be right back.”

Veronica picked up her bag and walked down the hall.
 
R

Remedy

Member
Thank you CCG. I just caught up on 9 calendar days of story. Taken to letting it ride for awhile and reading a large chunk in one sitting. Enjoying this part as you are building the backgrounds of the "supporting" characters from the other parts.
 
A

accountant

Contributing Member
Hey CCG,

As always, loving the story.

I just have a quick question, if you don't mind.

I noticed that Sofia had to tell Veronica that the spare rooms were on the left and down the hall.
As a reader, I would think that a child would know where everything was when they go to their parents' house, unless it was the first time the child was visiting. If Veronica hadn't been to this house before, perhaps this should have been stated earlier.

Again, this is your story and you can spell it out any way you like.
I hope you don't mind the input.

A.
 
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