A Pleasant Story

Chapter Seventeen

No Such Ruinous Thought

Brandi Broke was thinking about Dustin. She knew he was a good kid, but he seemed to be heading down the wrong path in life. She wanted to reach him; she knew he wasn't beyond hope. She was wearing the necklace he'd given her after he'd gotten his new delivery job--it was just like him to do something so sweet.




Her reveries were interrupted by the phone ringing; it was Mary-Sue Pleasant calling to tell her that Dustin was in jail!



Brandi got the details about Dustin, then suddenly had to hang up the phone. The baby was coming!

"Oh baby," she said, "Your timing couldn't be worse!"



Beau was awakened by Brandi's cries, and came running down the hall to see what was happening.

"Mom! Is it the baby?" he cried.

He arrived just in time to get the first view of a new baby boy!





"What do you think of your brother?" she asked Beau. She spoke lightly so as not to betray that she was worried about Dustin.

"A boy?" he said, "Oh boy! Can I name him?"

Well," Brandi replied, "As long as it's not something too weird. What name were you thinking?"



Beau thought for a moment, then shouted "Asparagus!"

Brandi laughed. "Try again!" she said.

"Buster!"

"Aloysius!"

"Greeble!"

Brandy was laughing so hard she almost dropped the baby.

"How about we just come up with a nice, simple name? I am going to call your Auntie Dina to come over to watch you because I have to go pick up Dustin. You two can talk about it."

Brandi was glad that Beau didn't seem curious about Dustin's whereabouts; he just wanted to play with the baby.



When Dina arrived, Brandi thanked her for coming and filled her in on what was happening.

"Dustin's in jail. They're not charging him, but I need to go pick him up. So will you watch Beau and the baby? I didn't tell Beau where Dustin is, so if you two can just talk about baby names, that will keep him distracted."

Dina gave her a hug and said, "Don't worry about anything--I'll take care of them. You go ahead."



Dina picked up the baby and snuggled him to her. This was nice! Maybe Mortimer wouldn't object to . . . ?




When Brandi arrived at the police station, she found Carl alone in the lobby area.

"I'm here to pick up my son, Dustin Broke," she said.



Carl rose from the desk and came around to greet her, but was suddenly mesmerized by her necklace.

"That's a nice necklace, Mrs. Broke," he said. "Where did you get it?"





"My son gave it to me," she said. "Could we admire it later, please? I'd like to get him out of here."

Carl replied, "Well now, it's very serious, your son being in jail. He is almost a big, bad criminal."



Brandi shook her head, both at his words and at his odd, dramatic manner. "I was told he wasn't being charged. Could you bring him out to me, please?"



Carl finally complied and retrieved Dustin from his cell. Dustin ran to his Mom and hugged her and started babbling about how sorry he was.

"It's going to be okay," she said. "Let's go home."

When they had left the police station, Carl dialed the phone.

"I think I found the necklace," he said. "The Broke woman has it. Said her son gave it to her. What do you want me to do?"

He listened for a moment, then replied, "Okay, send him over here and I'll give him the information."



When Brandi and Dustin got home, she asked him what he thought he'd been doing.

"Mom, I was just doing deliveries for the simoleons! I didn't know it was stolen stuff!"

"What about my necklace, Dustin? Is that stolen?” she asked.



"No, Mom, I promise! I bought it from the Travelers! They've been everywhere and they have a lot of cool stuff from the islands! I swear, I bought it fair and square!"

"Who are the Travelers?' she asked him.

"They moved to town not long ago. Your friend Sanjay told me about them. He rents a room in their house! They have a daughter named Tina and they are really nice! I swear I didn't steal the necklace! I wouldn't risk anything that would get me arrested!"



"Okay," she said, "I believe you. But that's it for these jobs. You are going to quit the criminal track and focus on school. We'll get by. If worst comes to worst, I can borrow some simoleons from a friend."



Dustin turned from his Mom angrily. He hated the idea of depending on charity. Since his Dad died, he'd been proud that he'd helped to keep the family fed.

Brandi spoke again, "Dustin, I didn't tell Beau where you were, and I don't think he needs to know. But why don't you come inside and meet your new brother?"

"I'll be in in a minute," he said. "I want to think by myself."

Dustin scuffed his foot in the dirt as Brandi left to go in the house and suddenly leaned down to study an interesting bug he'd noticed. His affinity for nature kicked in and he scooped it up in a jar to observe it.



Brandi heard music as she entered the house and was stunned to discover Beau happily pounding away on a piano!

"Beau! Where did this come from?" she asked.

"Auntie Dina got it for me! I told her how much I love music and she just had it brought over!"



Brandi turned to Dina, who was watching TV. She raised her hand and said, "Don't even protest. It's just a gift for my godson! I was glad to do it!"

Brandi thanked her for watching the boys, and for the gift of a the piano, and then asked, "Hey! Did you guys think of a name for the baby?"

Beau said, "Oh, yeah! We like 'Tom' because it is simple and strong. What do you think, Mom?"

"Tom Broke," Brandi said, as though trying it out. "I like it! Good choice!"



Dustin came in the house behind her and went straight to his room. Dina raised her eyebrows at her and Brandi shrugged.

Brandi sent Beau to bed and said goodbye to Dina and then sat down in the kitchen, suddenly exhausted from her long day. In addition to all the drama, she still needed to get in touch with Tom's father and tell him about the baby. As she was sitting and thinking, Dustin came in and sat beside her.

"What are you wearing?" she asked.

"Some of Dad's old clothes. I thought they'd suit my new path," he replied.



"They look nice on you. Very distinguished. So what's your new path?" she asked.

"I don't know, but not criminal, that's for sure." he explained. "I want something respectable. A dangerous life is not for me. Just being in jail for a few hours made me realize that. I love nature, so maybe something having to do with that. And I want to be a good example for Beau, and the baby."

“Tom,” Brandi told him.




Brandi stood and hugged him. "I think you ARE a good example. You just had to find your way."

"I'm going to do my homework now! I've got a lot to catch up on!"

Brandi smiled fondly at her son as he happily sat on the floor to do his work.

"I'm so proud of you, Dustin," she said to him, "and so would your father be."

Brandi went to bed that night peacefully, more at ease than she had been since Skip's death.



Dustin heard small sounds coming from the baby as he finished his homework and got up to get him a bottle before he woke his mother and Beau.

“Are you a hungry little stinker?” he asked his brother.



“Yup, you sure are!” Dustin carried Tom to the changing table, reflecting that it wasn't too bad to have younger brothers. He'd stand up for them, no matter what!



The next day, Dustin came home from school excitedly and showed his Mom his A+ report card.

"I knew you could do it, Dustin!" She cheered. "You just had to get caught up! Well done!"



A few hours later, Brandi cheered again when Beau came home with HIS A+ report card!

"I've got two smart boys!" she said.




Outside, Dustin was talking to Angela.

"What is up with this geeky outfit?" she was saying. "You don't look like yourself!"

Dustin told her what had happened to him about going to jail, and continued, "I decided I don't want to go down that path. I am cleaning up my act."



Angela seemed excited. "So what now? Politics? Or law! Oh oh, or business! Something clean and respectable! And where you can make lots of simoleons!"



Dustin explained to her, "I really love nature, and animals, so I decided I want to go into a field like that. Maybe oceanography or something. I'm going to work really hard at science. I could study entomology, too."

"Bugs?" Angela said, "You want to study BUGS? Like creepy-crawly things? I thought you were going to study something classy! Digging around in the mud with bugs is not classy!"




"But it's what I love!" Dustin said. "I thought you'd be happy for me, for getting out of crime!"



Angela snorted. "I wanted you out of crime, but into something better, where you get respect. Not playing with animals. You have to decide if you want to muck around in the mud, or spend time with ME! What's more important to you?”

Dustin responded somewhat angrily, “If you really cared about me, I would think you'd want me to follow my passions!”



Angela spoke angrily, too, “If you cared about ME, you'd do what I wanted! I think it would be better if we didn't see each other anymore."




With that, she turned on her heel sharply and walked away.

Dustin watched her sadly, but not really with surprise. He'd suspected for a while that Angela only liked him because she thought she could fix him and make him into someone he wasn't. Someone up to HER standards.



He turned and looked at the bare back yard.

“There's probably lots of bugs here to discover! Or I could plant a garden!”



Dustin went inside to help his Mom get ready for dinner. She'd invited Tom's father over to tell him about the baby. Dustin hoped he'd be nice, and maybe willing to help out with child support.

They smiled at each other as Dustin helped her set the table.

“Hey, guess what,” she said, “I sold a painting today! Only for 66 simoleons, but every little bit will help!”

“That's great. Mom!” Dustin told her.

When Tom's father arrived, they all sat down at the table together and Brandi said, "Jace, this is Dustin and Beau. Boys, this is Jace Lieve. "

"Hi! How are you guys?" asked Jace. "You sure are big boys, huh?"




Dustin thought he looked nice enough, maybe a little dim, but nice enough. He hoped he'd still be nice after his Mom broke the news about Tom.

Jace said, "Oh, boy. This food is great! I like fish! I don't like green stuff, though."



Suddenly, their dinner was interrupted by Tom crying from his crib. Jace asked what that sound was.

Brandi said nervously, "Oh, that's my son Tom! He's just a baby!"

"Oh," said Jace, "Babies are nice."

Jace may have been nice, but he didn't seem too bright, Dustin thought. He couldn't believe Jace hadn't figured it out yet!



Brandi stood up and said to Jace, "Why don't you come with me? I'll introduce you to the baby."

Jace said, "Okay, yeah, sure. I like babies!" They stood and walked to the back bedroom.

Dustin turned to Beau. "Brilliant conversationalist," he said.

Beau laughed. "How stupid is he?" He put on a dull expression and said in a mock grown-up voice, "Uh, duh, what is that sound of a baby crying? Is it a BABY?"



Dustin and Beau laughed together.



The brothers tried to stifle their laughter as Brandi led Jace to Tom's crib.

She reached into the crib and held Tom. It was obvious he loved his Mommy.



Brandi showed him to Jace.

"I need to tell you this," she said. "The baby is yours."

"What? You're giving him to me?" He gave her a puzzled look.

"No," Brandi said patiently, "You're his father. Remember the other night when we, well, you know."

As Jace slowly processed what she'd said, his dim expression was replaced with one of shock.

"Uh, I don't want to get married! I mean, you're nice and all, but we just met and . . . I'm too young to be a father!"

Brandi interrupted him, "Who said anything about marriage? I just wanted to tell you this is your baby. We're NOT getting married."

Jace looked relieved. "Oh, okay, that's cool then." He made a face at the baby.





Brandi continued, "And I am not asking you to be a father to him. The boys and I can handle it. But because he is yours, you'll need to pay child support, okay?"

Jace nodded quickly. "Yeah. sure. Okay. Well listen, thanks for dinner, but I need to go, and, well, I'll send you a check tomorrow!" He ran out the door.



Brandi shook her head as she watched him go. "What was I thinking?" She cuddled Tom and carried him to the kitchen to feed him his bottle.

To her surprise, the next day Jace showed up on her doorstep. Brandi greeted him as he handed her a gift.





Brandi opened it to find a check for 50,000 Simoleons.

"Wow!" she said to him. "Are you sure? This is much more than I was expecting!"



Jace nodded. He told her he thought it would be better to just pay her all at once rather than every month. She thanked him in surprise, and he told her, "My Dad set up a trust for me when I was born, but I don't really need it because I have a good job. But anyway, I had it available and I don't want you and the boys to need anything." He paused and looked at her kindly. "I may not be ready to be a husband or father, but I'm not a jerk." He waved at her as he left. "Take care."



Brandi was amazed. Things were going so well! And tonight they were having their neighbors over for dinner to meet the family and the new arrival!




That evening, Brandi sat down to dinner with Kaylie and her son, Anthony.

"I'm sorry Carla couldn't come," Kaylie said, "But she had to work."

"That's okay," Brandi said, "I'm sorry I had to miss your wedding! And we don't have enough room anyway! I mostly wanted Beau to meet Anthony! Dustin, do you want to pull up a chair?"

Dustin shook his head. "I'm okay. I'm not hungry. I just wanted to meet everyone."

Brandi told their newest neighbor about their new baby, and promised Anthony he could meet him later.



Kaylie asked Beau about his hobbies, and he excitedly told her about his love for music.

"Well that's great! Anthony loves music, too! You guys could practice together!" Kaylie told him.




Beau told Anthony that they could play video games after school the next day, and Anthony told him that sounded fun.




Brandi asked Anthony, "So what is your room like? Your house is designed just like ours, except backwards."

He replied, "It's yucky purple right now, but my Moms told me I could decorate it however I wanted, so I am going to do it like space! I like space stuff like rockets and stars and aliens."




Beau was happy he had a new friend, Brandi was happy to have a nice neighbor, and Dustin was happy that his life was getting on track and that his family was happy. He told his Mom, "And you're going to like this! I got a job in the oceanography career! I start in two days!"



The next morning, Brandi gave the boys hugs as they headed off to school.




"Now that I'm not pregnant," she thought, "I can get a job!" Brandi looked in the paper and found a job in the Entertainment career that had great hours--she'd be working at night, so Dustin could watch the boys while she worked. And she was sure Dina and Nina would help her with babysitting sometimes.



Then she went over to her easel and happily continued the painting she was working on. As her skill progressed, she could sell them for more simoleons!




She was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" she wondered, "I wasn't expecting anyone."



When she opened the door, a large, mean-looking man pushed past her into the house.

"Give me that necklace," he snarled at her.



"What are you talking about?" she said in surprise. "My son gave this to me! Who are you? I want you to leave!"

The man moved toward her menacingly. "I'm not leaving here without the necklace," he said through gritted teeth.



Brandi stepped back and shrieked, "My neighbor is a cop! You get out of here or I'm going to scream and she'll hear me!"

The man did not answer in words. His hands reached out for Brandi's neck.




A moment later, the door slammed.

Then there was quiet.

A fly beat against the window.

The faucet dripped.

The wind blew through the trees.

Then there was quiet.

A small, plaintive cry came from the crib.





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