"A divorced
mother of two boys fight for child support payments"
TWO LITTLE BOYS
©2004 by Mae
Ondracek
Mary was destitute but didn't like the idea of becoming a welfare freak. John had to start paying child support for
his two sons. I know, he'd rather enjoy
being out partying instead of paying welfare for his two sons, but she couldn't
go out and work and leave the boys with someone else. Who?
Mary couldn't think of anyone nearby who had a business taking care of
little ones in her home. There was one
lady who took in kids while the mothers' worked but she didn't have a license. That made Mary sort of suspicious of her ways
and she wouldn't take her children to that woman, no matter how good she
was. No, Mary would just have to get
after John and make him pay child support.
He hardly came to see the boys anymore, which made Mary angry. The boys were four years old twins and old
enough to make up their own minds it they wanted to see their dad or not. But he just didn't care. So Mary did the best thing she could of, she
went to see a lawyer. The lawyer asked
her a lot of questions and then told her he'd see her within a week. It turned out that within three days he had
all the evidence he needed and told Mary they could go ahead with the
proceedings. This surprised Mary but she
said they should go ahead with the paperwork.
They got into court and wouldn't you believe it, John wasn't there. Where was he?
The judge asked Mary some questions and she answered them but somehow
they couldn't get anything from John, where was he?
Mary's lawyer, Mr. Standish, said they should write out the papers,
asking him to pay Mary $500.00 a month for up keep of the two little ones. She agreed and Mr. Standish made out the
paper work. She read what Mr. Standish
wrote and said she'd be happy with that.
Mr. Standish told her she could go home and she'd be hearing from him
within three days with all the paperwork.
Mary knew these things took time to write out properly, so she was happy
things were coming to an end. She just
got home when the phone rang and it was John.
He said that he hoped she was happy now but she wouldn't get any money
out of him. Mary gasped and wondered how
he knew what had happened so quickly.
She slammed down the phone and stood looking at it. Then she thought maybe she had better write
it all down so she wouldn't forget anything.
She was in a terrible state lately, and she could easily forget
something, so she quickly wrote down what had just happened.
The next day John again called with the
same message, and the next day and the next.
She wondered why he was getting so familiar but she wrote them all down
the same way she did the first one. Upon
a whim, Mary wrote out a second sheet of paper and put them away. She didn't know what had made her do that,
but she did. It was just a precautionary
measure, she told herself.
She was going to take the boys out for their daily walk, when suddenly something
unusual happened and really surprised her.
She thought her lawyer was seeing John and it bothered her. She dressed the boys in their outside wear
and drove to where John lived. She
parked a couple of houses down the block from John’s and waited, for what she
didn't know. Soon the door opened and
both John and Mr. Standish stood in the doorway. Mr. Standish was talking and waving some
papers around and suddenly John reached up and kissed him. John quickly shut the door and Mr. Standish
hurried to his car. Was he going to her
place? Well, he wouldn't find her at
home, this time. She drove to the court
house and took the boys inside to see the judge. After talking with the judge, Mary felt a
little better and decided to get some ice cream for the boys. They walked into the ice cream store and
ordered ice cream cones and then Mary sat them in a booth to relish their
treat.
To her surprise, John and a girl walked in. She was really hanging onto him like he was
going to get lost or something. They
ordered their ice cream and were coming to the back of the store but the woman
wanted to sit up front, which was a relief.
She could hear them talking and laughing when suddenly John asked the
woman if she was almost ready to leave.
She said, yes and they could be gone within three days. The woman told John that her apartment was
almost cleaned out; John said his was too.
They were so cleaver to have everything planned like they did and that
Mr. Standish was going to fix the papers so he wouldn't have to pay child
support. He sure was a clever one and no
one suspected him of anything. Mary
wanted to leave the store but couldn't when suddenly the woman said they should
leave so she could get back to figuring out what to take with them. It was a relief when they left the
store. Mary watched as they drove away
and then she hurried the boys outside to the car. She drove back to the judge's office and told
the boys to be very careful and not touch anything. The judge happened to not be busy and could
see her right away. He was very surprised
when Mary told him what had happened at the ice cream store. She told him she wanted a different lawyer
and he wholeheartedly agreed. Mr.
Standish was coming by with the papers and he would see what was going on. If she got any papers, she was to bring them
to the judge tomorrow morning. She
thanked him and left and just drove into their parking lot when Mr. Standish
drove up. He had the papers, he said and
all he needed was her signature on them.
She asked him to leave them and she would get back to him in the
morning. He hated to do this, he said,
but he would, for her.
Mary read the papers, every word on them, and there were no hidden
meanings. This she couldn't understand
and immediately called the judge. He
told her to bring the papers in right away.
He was just going home but would wait for her. So, she called Mrs. Worth to sit with the
boys while she had to go up town.
Mary hurried to the judges chambers and he looked at them. He read every word and the judge couldn't
believe she had seen them at John’s.
What was going on anyway? He'd
find out tomorrow. She shouldn't sign
the papers until morning, just in case there were extra words that could come
onto it in the meantime.
She
thanked him and drove to the store to get hamburger for dinner. She thought, why did there have to be so much
trouble getting John to pay her? They
were his boys and she should take care of them, not go someplace else. She hurried home and thanked Mrs. Worth for
sitting with the boys and began making supper.
When supper was over, Mary sat the boys in front of the TV while she did
the dishes. She was almost through when
the phone rang. It was Mr. Standish
wondering if she had signed the papers yet.
She told him no and wouldn't have time until morning, as her boys meant
to much to her. He said alright, he would
pick them up then.
Mary
kept wondering why he wanted the papers and she looked at them again. How could she have missed anything? But wait, weren't these little black lines
coming on for a reason? She watched as
more of the little black lines began to appear.
At first it didn't make any sense to her, so she put the boys to bed and
sat looking at the black lines. She
couldn't believe they were forming words.
Why, there was her name and other different words on the papers. She'd have to sleep through this to be sure
she was reading it right. Nothing could
go wrong now, so she went to bed.
Mary
was jarred awake by something falling.
What was it? Mary heard the
flutter of papers as she eased open her bedroom door. She was so surprised to see Mr. Standish
there picking up the papers, that she had one time for a picture and that was
all before she closed the boys bedroom door and locked it. She was shaking but he wouldn't try to tangle
with three people. But he did try to
deal with her. He gave her his word if
she would just sign the papers, everything would be O.K. Mary didn't answer him and he knew it was
useless trying to talk with her. He went
to the door and opened it and then closed it again. But she wouldn't come out. It was no use, he
might just as soon go home and come back in the morning.
He let himself out and went home.
He'd come back real early and get her to talk to him. He couldn't mess around with her, one way or
another he'd get his picture way.
Meanwhile, Mary got the boys up and dressed and in the car with her
camera. She had to get away while he was
gone. She wasn't sure how long he'd be,
but she wasn't taking any chances; she had to get away. For her boys’ sake, she just had to get them
to a safe place.
Suddenly there was a car behind her and she hadn't even been thinking
about a car. She thought Mr. Standish
had gone home. She should have known
better. It was a good thing she had
gotten her tank full of gas. She could
get pretty far away before he made her stop and then what? Suddenly the car behind them swerved and she
was glad she had a chance to get away.
There was an off ramp just a little ways ahead. Should she take that and possibly get away
from him? Oh, please let me do the right
thing, she prayed. She saw the car was
still at an angle and she hurried as fast as her car would go. She didn't like to take chances while her
boys were in the car but this was a dire situation and thankfully they were
asleep. She quickly took the off ramp
and hurried to find the police station.
She knew she'd be safe there.
Without thinking about the police station coming into view, she screeched
to a halt and quickly woke the boys. She
hurried them inside and when the policeman saw them, he wanted to know who was
chasing them and he laughed. She said it
was somebody trying to get her camera away and would he please keep them safe
until morning? Then she'd be on her way
again. He obligingly took her and the
boys to a free, clean cell and she begged him to lock the door for her
safety. He took the key off his fob and
told her to lock the door and stay in there as long as she liked. They each said good night and the chief sent
his partner out to pull the car into the car port. Everything was nice and easy.
The next morning, Mary was awakened by an awful lot of racket. She listened intently but it was a woman who
had "lost her husband". It was
after
Mary was sort of edgy about leaving the parking garage but knew no one
was lurking around. She made a bee-line
for her mother's house which was still four hours away.
Her mother was very happy to see Mary and the boys, and wasn't going to
do anything that day, so it was a good time to come up to see her. She looked very hard at Mary's face and could
tell something was wrong. She asked them
into the house and had Mary tell her what was wrong. Mary related the story to her mother and asked
her to keep the boys there while she went home to get the divorce taken care
of. Mary called the judge and told him
she wouldn't be there for a day or more, so would he please schedule her
meeting for tomorrow or the next day?
She was leaving the boys with her mother and would come right back. He said he would do this and was also
checking on John because he heard he was leaving town. So, he'd see her in two days, and would she
please drive carefully.
When she returned, the judge told her John was trying to leave town, if
she wanted to see him, he was in jail.
Mary said no, she'd just like to get this over with and know he was
going to pay. That was all she wanted, for
her little boys to be better taken care of.
He said he didn't know where Mr. Standish and gone, but he was sure he'd
show up soon. Mary told him a car was
chasing her the night she left, but didn't know what happened to him. Just then the phone rang and when the judge
answered it, he looked surprised and looked at Mary. He thanked them for letting him know, and then
hung up the phone. He asked Mary if she
really didn't know what happened to Mr. Standish, and she said no, and he said
they wouldn't be bothered by him anymore.
He was killed in a car crash just this side of town that night. So, it couldn't have been him chasing her
that night. Mary cried for awhile but
was just as sure as anything that it was him trying to stop her from getting to
her mothers' that night.
The judge said no, it couldn't have been because he was hit head-on by a
truck and killed instantly. Mary kept
swallowing and said she didn't know it.
Mary broke down and cried because of all the stuff he had done to
her. She was now free of Mr. Standish
but had John to worry about.
As she wiped her eyes, she asked the judge to get her a different
lawyer. The judge said they were
bringing over papers found in Mr. Standish's car the night he had been killed. The papers might be for a case he had
here. As the judge said this, there was
a loud knock on his door and he got up to answer it. He thanked the man for getting the papers to
him so quickly. He returned to his desk
and sat down and opened the envelope. He
asked Mary if these were the same papers she had seen that evening.
She looked at the papers and said they were but all these little things
added in were not there then. She had
made a scratch mark on the back of the last page to show that she had read them
and it was still there. She told the
judge how Standish had been over and was trying to steal the papers. That is why she took her boys over to her
mother's house
The judge told her not to worry about any of this and he tore up all the
pages. He said he'd get another lawyer
for her and she'd start over and have a clean life, not one that Mr. Standish
wanted her to have.
Mary thanked the judge for all his generous help and she guess she'd go
home now to wait for his call or one from another lawyer. He said that was a good idea as she needed
some rest. When she got home, there was
a big surprise waiting for her. Her
apartment had been wrecked while she was gone.
Her overstuffed chairs were ripped open and her kitchen chairs were
broken, as well as the table and just so much damage was done. She couldn't call from home because the phone
had been ripped from the wall. She went
to Mrs. Worth's house and called the police.
They arrived within 15 minutes and took her statement. Then they went into the apartment and just
stood there. They couldn't believe the
mess that had been brought on by someone.
They took pictures and asked her to help with the rest of the
house. When she opened the bedroom door,
a couple of guys jumped out at her, not realizing the cops were there,
too. They were caught right away and
were taken to the police station. Mary
was crying and the cops told her to go ahead and have a good cry, this was really
worth crying about. All her clothes were
ruined and all the furniture. She had to
start fresh if she was going to make anything of all this. The policemen told her she could leave now
and get a place at
As she entered her apartment she heard things being slung every which
way. She opened the door just a little
ways and saw it was Mr. Bramble, the house owner. She pushed open the door and Mr. Bramble
didn't even hear her. She stood watching
him piling things on the counter, and wondered what he was doing. Finally she could stand it no longer, so she
asked him what he was doing. He whirled
around and asked her what she cared.
This place had to be cleaned up.
She said not the way he was cleaning it and asked him to leave. He said he didn't have to leave as the place
belonged to him. She said not for two
more weeks she didn't and he left and she locked the door. She would have sat down but there was no
place to sit.
Everything was completely ruined.
She couldn't believe it now that she had a chance to look around. Why did they go through everything, she
thought? It was bad enough just ruining
the kitchen but the boys room and her room, too. She just couldn't make sense out of all this
and went in to check her clothes. She
knew at a glance there was nothing left to wear. Even her underpants had been split. She wondered if they had gotten the pictures
in the closet. She didn't see any
pictures on the floor, so she got a chair from the kitchen and fitted the leg
back in. She climbed up to the shelf
and, glory be, the little box of pictures was still there. She was so happy to see the box of pictures
that she fell from the chair. She just
missed hitting her head on the bed and she thought that was enough of
that. She looked around again and took
it all in, and then she went to see the judge.
He was in his business suit, which surprised her, but she thought she
shouldn't say anything. The judge asked
her if that was the only dress she had and she answered that it was. Everything she owned had been ruined
today. All the clothes were torn and cut
up, all the boys clothes were ruined, all the kitchen things were in a mess and
it was terrible how much of a mess it was really in. When she said that even the landlord was
there seeing what he could salvage, the judge was just floored. He wanted to go over there and see what a
mess it was really in, so she took him over to her apartment. When he walked in the door, he was very surprised
and asked her how much it would cost to clean up the mess. She said she didn't know because she had to
clean everything by herself. He said
he'd help her because he didn't have anything to do this weekend.
She started to object but he pulled her into a tight hug and kiss. Then he pulled away and said he was
sorry. She couldn't talk because it had
really taken her breath away. He said
again he was sorry but she just looked at him with surprise. He took her in his arms and gave her another
kiss. He held her tightly and whispered nothing
like this would ever happen to her again.
She finally found her voice and asked him what he meant by that, and he
was going to marry her and take care of her.
He held her as they walked outside and helped her into his car. Mary couldn't believe it that he had kissed
her, really kissed her. She was floored
by his attention and didn't understand why he was feeling so floored. He got in the drivers seat and just sat there
looking straight ahead. Then he turned
to her and asked her to marry him. He
really meant it, too. She didn't know
what to say and he asked her again to marry him. He reached over and gave her a kiss, then
asked her to marry him again. All she
could do was shake he head, yes.
She wouldn't have to worry about the boys and herself any longer. She'd have a nice place to stay in and all
the clothes and food they wanted. She
looked at the judge, Robert, and said she'd be real happy to marry him if he
really meant it. He said he did mean it
and he was just going to prove it to her.
They drove to Anita's and he picked out a beautiful gown over her
objections. She said she never had
anything so pretty and really couldn't pay for it, it was a present from him,
and he gave the girl his credit card.
Then he stopped and said to hold on, he had to get something else. He walked over to where they had evening
jackets hanging and picked one out. He
brought it back for her to try on and it fit perfectly. He held her for a few seconds and said how
happy he was. Then he gave the credit
card to the sales girl and paid for their purchases.
He couldn't believe it how pretty she was. He was so glad that she had come to him for
help, and the two boys were divine, a ready-made family. He couldn't believe it. He looked at Mary and was so happy, he didn't
care if she felt like it or not, he knew they would be happy. Robert gave her another kiss before he opened
the door. He threw her dress in the back
seat and said now he'd see just what they were made of, and off they went to
the Marines' Ball.