Bum Magnet
by
Deborah McClatchey
...Billy Don looked harmless...but she knew better.
He could be in a violent rage within seconds. That happened twice so far,
over hardly anything important...but he’d been dead drunk each time.
He had pushed her hard several times, making her fall down once. Then another
time he threw her against a wall knocking the breath out of her. A couple
of times he came at her with a frying pan! His scary-looking face terrorizing
her!
Sometimes he screamed at her calling her fat names...and some very nasty
names. She knew it was the beer and let the painful words roll off. But
she was having a hard time understanding why she put up with it. She wasn’t
married to him and she wanted him out! And this was the last straw!
She looked over and saw Wimpy crouched in the hallway watching her with
a strange expression. Like he was saying, “how can you let this person
in our happy home?” Wimpy was like that... you could read his little
cat face like a book.
All of a sudden, Billy Don leaped up like a cat...drunk or not, he was a
different man. He pushed Wendy, who was on her knees mopping up, down with
his bare foot...hard. She sat there in the beer, stunned. Her anger so great
she couldn’t think straight!
Billy Don’s hair was sticking straight up and spittle was collecting
in the corner of his twisted mouth. His eyes were rolling like a horse on
loco weed and radiating hate. She suddenly knew he had the capacity to kill
her!
He knocked over the coffee table with a sickening crash and her thin, clay
pewter vase with the navy blue silk flowers, cracked in two. Then he pushed
over an end table sending magazines everywhere.
Wendy scrambled heavily to her feet and turned to bolt for the front door
only a few feet from where she was. He’s crazy and I’m going to
die! She thought frantically.
Billy Don snapped out his long, skinny arm and caught her silk shirt by
the sleeve. Wendy kept her feet moving in a forward motion and wrenched
herself hard...being much heavier than Billy Don, she surged forward suddenly,
as the sleeve ripped.
She grasped the doorknob and was outside in a flash. She ran around the
side of the house into the darkness making little noises in her throat.
Should she cream for the neighbors? No, this was her battle! She felt like
she was in a movie and that none of this was really happening. In reality,
she should have been caught in his clutches and murdered by now!
She could hear Billy Don shout out her name. He came outside into the chilly
evening air with his bare feet and light velour jogging suit that she had
bought for him. He staggered around looking for her, calling her name. “Wendy,
come back...I won’t hurt you...heh, heh...come back to me now, please.”
She heard him add in a lower pitch, “Fat bitch!”
She found a break in the hedge behind the house and climbed in. She didn’t
know if it was thick enough to cover her bulk! She squatted down and hugged
herself against the cold and fear. She could hear him coming closer on the
sidewalk...half-hysterical giggles suddenly bubbled up in her throat like
the head on a glass of ginger ale.
She had to clap both hands over her mouth and press closer to the wall,
struggling to hold the maddening giggles in. This was insane, she thought.
She could see him now in the street light not too far away. He looked demented!
He swayed on his feet, carrying a can of beer...he tilted his head back
and took a long drink. She stifled the mad giggles again.
If I get out of this one, I’m marrying Chad... if he’ll have
me. The idiot will have to leave then... rambling thoughts raced through
her head.
Billy Don lurched away, then he paused, right palm rubbing his left cheek,
as if checking for stubble. Then he headed straight for Wendy. Her eyes
grew wide over her covered mouth. He had spotted her.
“Wendy, honey...I’m not pissed off,” he slurred. “I love
you and I won’t hurt you.... 
To download the first chapter free click here.
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