Subj: Dark Light -- 5
Date: 3/25/99 7:41:49 PM Central Standard Time
From: Flashman

Chapter 5-Still Doing Time

The time was 9:00 p.m. Blake Marler sat alone in her house. The one she had received in the divorce settlement with her ex-husband, Ross. It was almost the only thing she had received in the divorce. He had gotten primary custody of their twin sons and Blake had gotten no spousal support. About the only thing Ross had to do was continue the mortgage payments on their house. When he finished them, hell knows when that would be, the house would be Blake's.

Blake couldn't believe it when the judge announced his decision. She had always thought divorce courts favored women. Not this time. Something she had said or done had pissed off the judge. Or maybe Ross, a prominent attorney in Springfield, simply had too much clout with the legal establishment there. Blake had appealed the trial court's decision but lost.

Here it was in the late spring of 1999. Who would have thought it would end up this way when she and Ross had reconciled from their first separation around two years before? They had both sworn that they would love each other and their children forever. They had until Ben Warren had entered their lives. Ben Warren, Ross's ilegitimate half-brother, who had come to Springfield seeking revenge on Ross. He had gotten it, too. First, he had beaten Ross in two prominent criminal cases. Ben Warren had also gotten Blake into his bedroom. Never mind how. It had happened. Ross had somehow caught then in the act. Blake knew that Ben had somehow set it up so that Ross would catch them. It was the second time she had been caught cheating on Ross during their marriage. There would be no reconciliation this time.

For a while Blake still held out a faint hope of winning Ross back. That's when Nola Reardon entered the picture. Nola, that bimbo. Nola had swooped down from the sky like a vulture to carry off Ross. They had gotten married two months ago. Ross had put out word to everyone that he was happier with Nola than at any other point in his life.

Ben Warren, who had been appointed district attorney, was overwhelmingly re-elected due to the publicity he had received from winning several prominent cases.

Most of their friends had sided with Ross during the divorce even her own mother. Except for the Lewises. Thank God for Josh and Reva. They had given her a job in public relations with Lewis Oil. Public relations. The same job she had held years ago at Spaulding. Her life had now come full circle.

Blake really didn't have much of a life beyond her job now. She realized that she had brought most of her misery on herself. What did that old country song by George Jones say? "When you're caught cheatin' twice, it's twenty to life in a place where the sun never shines." And Blake had a long way to go because she was still doing time.

A few days ago Blake had been shocked by the news of Annie Dutton's escape from prison in Ohio. That madwoman who had brought so much misery into the lives of her friends, Josh and Reva. Why hadn't Annie simply stepped aside and let them be together when Reva first came back to town? Everyone knew that Josh and Reva belonged together.

Still, Blake had liked Annie at first. She had to admit that Annie had been a wonderful mother to Josh's children, Marah and Shayne. Annie had even helped Blake cover-up the fact that she was pregnant with twins by two different men. They had a falling out when Annie embarked upon her search and destroy mission against Josh and Reva.

She hoped Annie would stay away from Springfield. She probably would for a while but Blake knew Annie was reckless and would show up in Springfield eventually if she wasn't apprehended first. She hoped Annie would be caught soon for she feared being a target of her wrath if she did indeed come back to town. However, even if that happened, Blake knew she was probably way down on Annie's list of enemies. Hopefully.

Blake heard a noise from a vehicle driving by on the street in front of her house. Boy, someone needs to get a new muffler. They should get a ticket for disturbing the peace. Suddenly, she heard a noise against her back door. What could it be? She rose from her couch and went to the back door. When Blake opened her door to see what was making the noise, into her house flew a gigantic bat.

Blake shrieked because she had never seen a bat around Springfield before. Then, the bat suddenly began chasing her. It made several passes at her neck. Blake ran to her closet and got out a broom. She began flailing away at the bat. She chased it around the living room and finally out the front door. Boy, that was spooky. Being attacked by a bat.

It was when she finally had chased the bat out the door of her house that she saw the van parked in the driveway of the house across the street from hers. That house had been empty for a long time. Finally, it appeared someone was either buying or renting the place. The van in the driveway looked pretty run down. Maybe it had the noisy muffler she had just heard.

Two men emerged from the front door of the empty house. Since it was dark Blake couldn't make out completely what they looked like but one appeared to be a handsome, aristocratic looking man while the other looked like a dissheveled old reprobate. The two men opened the back door of the van, unloaded something from it, and carried the object into the house. Then, they returned and unloaded a similar looking object and carried it into the house. Funny, both items looked like coffins, even though Blake really couldn't tell for sure because it was dark. Maybe it was merely trunks containing their belongings.

Being naturally curious, some would say a busybody, Blake wondered who the two men were and what was inside those coffins, if indeed they were coffins. She'd go over to the house and check it out in the morning. She could always use the excuse that she was only welcoming them to the neighborhood.

Blake went over to her radio that was a part of her stereo system. One other thing she had gotten from the divorce. She decided to turn on her television set later to WSPR and see if there was any news on Annie. But now Blake would listen to some news on the radio. The dial was turned to the country music station. When the radio turned on it was playing the same song Blake had been thinking of earlier. Still Doing Time by George Jones. That's me, thought Blake.