Left for Garbage

Day was a few days after Keith and I had been forced to sit through Salvatore’s recitation of the defense story and I was pretty damned upset, I can say. And I got more upset when I called his office the next morning and his snotty little bitch of a paralegal t old me he couldn’t be disturbed, couldn’t be disturbed by me, Margaret Brown, who can make any network anchor in this country, and probably any other country, drop whatever they’re doing to hear any word I choose to share?
    Well , I told little Miss Snot Britches to tell Mr. Important, her busy boss, that I wanted a visit with my daughter on Mother’s Day, because little missy and I needed to have a heart-to-heart talk about this so-called defense strategy. And I also told Miss Snot Britches I’d better hear back from Mr. High and Mighty Gutierrez within the next ten minutes or he could read all about it in the media along with everyone else on earth.
    She said, “I’ll give him your message, Mrs. Brown. Thank you for calling.”
    The nerve of her.
    Well , he didn’t call me back in ten minutes, or in ten hours either, and I ended up contacting every news organization I could lay my hands on. Funny thing, though, they might not have gotten my messages, because after I was refused admittance to visit my own daughter on Mother’s Day, I was forced to sit outside the jail in the heat for two hours before finally one lone photographer showed up. Stupid media, missing an opportunity to show me at my heartbreaking best, a mother who, despite all, still loves her daughter.
    So , yes, I must say, hearing Salvatore’s confession that it was his choice to bar the visit, and not Denise’s, melted my heart, as did hearing how she treasures my letters.
    By the time we had finished our overcooked eggs, I was in tears, real ones, and this time Salvatore, who I felt I had misjudged, held my hand while I cried and said, “She needs you, she needs her mother, Margaret, and you’re the only person who can help her now.” When I tearfully asked him why she’d said all those things about Keith and Seeley, and more importantly, why she ignored me in court and kept cuddling with that horrible Penelope woman, he said, “It’s an act. She has to try and keep calm in court. She told me, Margaret, that even glancing at you makes her want to jump up screaming ‘Mommy’ and run to your arms. She doesn’t care about Penelope Bledsoe. All Penelope is to her is a cheap substitute for the mother she longs for.”
    That made a lot of sense to me and I was able to finish my toast , but I still had to know why the stories about Keith?
    Salvatore looked down , studying his cold coffee when he asked me, “Are they all stories, Margaret?”
    I didn’t know whether to reach over and hit him , or to run away, or to scream, but in the end all I said was, “Of course they are, of course they are. I’m her mother, I’m a good mother. Don’t you think I would have known if …?”
    “No one’s blaming you, Margaret, not for anything. I know what a wonderful mother you are. Denise has told me everything, but Margaret, whatever happened, whatever didn’t happen, she needs you, she needs her mother now. Can’t you do this, this one thing? Can’t you help your little girl?”
    I didn’t rush in , no matter what anyone thinks, but the more he talked, the more I felt like I could try to save her life. Salvatore said as much, as it breaks his heart he knows Denise is going to go away for life. This favor he was asking was only to keep her from a needle in her arm.
    He even mentioned how this wouldn’t hurt my PR image for the book. “Don’t you see, Margaret, it makes you more sympathetic , if anything. People’s hearts will bleed for such a loving, brave mother. Everyone will understand. And make sure to wear something pretty for your testimony.”
    The more thought I gave it, the more I realized Salvatore was right, and I had just enough time to run home and slip into my new lavender sundress before heading back to court.
    Salvatore is a lying scumbag, and if he told me what day it was, I’d check the newspaper before I believed him, thank you very much, maybe the same newspaper I’m reading right now, with the headlines, ‘The top ten lies of Margaret Brown’.
    Here, let me read it out loud … why not? Everyone else is going to hear it tonight on that monster Charlotte Hope’s show.

    Today in court both jurors and viewers alike were stunned when the newly