Tough City, Tougher Woman by Richard E. Riegel

Author:Richard E. Riegel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: black rose writing, richard e riegel, tough city tougher woman
Publisher: Black Rose Writing [email protected]

Chapter 15

Linda and Bev were enjoying some time off from work, Linda from the Club Festival, Bev from her hospital job. They were spending some time shopping at the Clackamas Town Center mall south of Portland.

Linda’s experience with Tail Gunner had changed her mind about the sweetness of revenge, yet she couldn’t help remembering the evil things men had done to her and to other women. Linda was privy to the tale of one man’s life, that of her brother Joe. For reasons she couldn’t understand, he’d become a punisher of women.

“I want to tell you about my brother,” Linda said quietly to her close friend. “Please keep this between you and me. I want you to know this information.” The two were having some lunch at the shopping center’s food court. Chinese food.

“I’ll keep it to myself, honey,” Bev replied to Linda. She continued to eat her spicy chicken dish.

“My brother Joe had been through several relationships,” Linda began. “He was a gentle soul as a young person, with no history of abuse to any living thing. He’d been particularly gentle with pets. The one time he’d shot a bird with his bb gun, he’d felt such remorse that he destroyed the gun.”

“I like that,” Bev said.

“Wait. There’s more. When he got married, all hell broke loose.”

Bev shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“At first, everything was nicey nice with the new wife. But the minute she began with the backtalk, he began with the slapping.”

Bev put down her fork. She stared at Linda.

“I guess that’s what he was taught growing up in American society. When your wife gives you any backtalk, you give her the backhand.”

“So he hit his wife?”

“Yeah,” Linda said. “I guess that was his way of expressing his anger. He liked slapping his wife around. She reacted well to it, meaning she reacted poorly, breaking down, crying, whimpering. He liked that. His wife divorced him.”

“So that taught him a lesson?”

“No,” Linda said. “Things only got worse.”

By this time Bev had stopped eating and was paying rapt attention to Linda.

“He learned to hand out the punishment not in dribs and drabs, but in a withering display of human firepower. The next woman he’d push around,” Linda continued, “was a girl he’d met after the divorce. Here’s the strange part: I guess she had been involved in sex with multiple partners at the same time, what the boys call a ‘gang bang.’ Well, she became known by the guys in her high-rise apartment as a slut.”

“Man,” Bev said, “that’s sad.”

“It gets sadder for her. Her solution to her shame was attempting suicide.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“My brother Joe tried to help. He started to pick up the pieces of her life. He wanted to help her get over her suicide attempt and the depression that followed. He really did want to help her.”

“I know a bit about psychology,” Bev said. “I studied it in school to get my bachelor’s degree in nursing. Depression, huh?”

“Yeah,” Linda said, “but he also was not so helpful.

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