Joni and Me IV

Slowly I read her note once more
Then I went over to the house next door
Her teardrops fell like rain that day
When I told Joni what I had to say

I had those words etched into then piece of the tree bark from the town I had grown up. I had it framed and kept it on my bedroom dresser. It was life then I wished I had changed the outcome but it was not to be. I left at the age of twenty-two soon to be away. I did go back like a restless soul after five years but it was a shortstop. Since then I had not been back. It was all because of a lady I loved.

Joni.

The letter she wrote to me was behind the tree bark on the frame.

“Jimmy, we are here.” I heard my partner telling me then. We had driven over five hours to the town where our work was to begin. I am a Federal Officer of the Marshall Office. My responsibility was to provide witness protection. My partner, Gary Chao was with me for over two years. We had worked on several cases beforehand. He was shorter than me but he had the tough guy built up with the regular gym visits and a famed sharpshooter. For myself, I was the opposite; lanky build and the preference for the physical altercations. I was the country boy's true bred.

I looked at the Sheriff Office there. It was the same as it was twenty years ago. The building was a double level red-bricked structure with the double doors and the four windows facing the street. On the right side was the area to park the cars large enough for six cars and the left side facing the adjacent street. The only difference that day was the officers were wearing flak jackets and there was a shooter perched on the upper-level second window. It was most unusual for a small town of only two thousand inhabitants. We were met by the Sheriff at the doorsteps. He was new and unrecognized to me.

“Welcome to Little Cuba.” The sheriff quickly led us into the secured building. It was late afternoon when we arrived.

“I have the building secured. Not much we can do with the limited personnel which we have.” I looked at the Sheriff. When I was in the town, we had the crime statistics that will make us the baby otter compared to Godzilla. I recalled the police sirens were only heard on the weekends and I was one of the bad boys. Joni was of the pack. The recent event had raised it higher than any case in the state.

“Tell me of the witness. And why the heavy guns out there?” Gary took the lead.

“Okay. We did not send the folder yet. Our mail service is still in the dark ages.” The Sheriff gave me the peevish smile. “Those guns are to protect us. We got the witness in custody.”

The witness was a surprise.

Twenty years had passed but the basic looks remained then. The hair, the facial expression, the body frame, and the smile.

“My goodness. Is that you, Jimmy? It’s me, Joni.”

It was my Joni. Her voice was like a shot in the chest. I wanted to reach out for her but I had to be professional. We were taken into a room where we were brief. Our names were introduced and we got down to the serious part.

“Joni here is a witness to the human smuggling cartel.” The town was not far from the border and the farms needed workers. The extra workers are sent overland to the cities. Not all of them made it and maybe arrested before they are deported. Those are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones may be dead or ended up as slaves. That was the reason Joni was the key witness. She was married to the man who was the mastermind.

John Lindsey Buchannan.

John was my best friend. When we were then, he was the nasty boy. He will jump off the cliff into the pond below from thirty feet above, or steal into the candy store to get some sour candies. He was one who got me to buy alcohol when I turned twenty-one. Or appeared to be with the fake ID. I was not surprised he married Joni. I thought he was balling Madge but the later was also balling the other guys and girls. Madge was a lunatic. She was far-reaching in her words.  So I was myself but I ended up leaving. I ended up in the Army and then Marshall Office. I went clean in my books.

“Guys, you can’t leave. I got words that the Cartel has besieged the town. They are powerful, and I am with only a dozen officers. Most of them have families.

“I am from the Border Patrols. I have done my bit to keep the borders secured but we are porous in so many places, I gave up and retired here.” The Sheriff confessed to us. He was in his fifties and his build was of good farming food. “I have a family here too.”

“Jimmy, go to my house. We can be safer there. The town need not be hit by them.” Joni spoke up. “We can be …. alone. I know the back road. We won’t be seen.”

I knew it was a silly ….no, it was a stupid reason to be alone. I drove over to Joni’s house. Gary decided to stay at the office to call for reinforcement. The local officers did not volunteer to be with us. I declined the extra guns. I felt that John may talk to me.

The house looked very much like it was twenty years ago. The apple tree was still there; taller and held more branches. So were the bed of roses.

“We …. Well, myself. I come back to upkeep it. Most times, just to dust the place. Since you left, there was no love here anymore.” We were seated at the dining table having a farm-grown vegan dinner. The china table wares from her grandmother were what it was served on. The cupboard shelves held the old jam jars that her mother used to collect. So was the ugly deer head that her father tucked on the top of the shelves when he found out it was made from China. I had removed my jacket but kept on my shoulder holster with the Glock. Joni refused to hold any guns. She wanted to be the Joni I knew once before.

“I married John and we were happy. We were for some years being the young couple. Soon, he got a job at the Maison’s place.” I knew the Maison’s; migrant rich families from across the sea. They held a huge estate and many businesses. They were the untouchables.

“John worked for them in one of their businesses. He was doing the logistics. He arranged the inter-state trucks. Soon, John was promoted and we bought a house. We thought all was well but nothing happened. I was still without a child with John. It was then he drifted but we remained as a pair. Soon, I became involved. I was the Administrator. I was a planner. I arranged the routes and the migrants travel permits.”

“You were trafficking humans?” I was upset. “How could you do it?”

“Who the fuck is you to ask me? You left me when I needed you. I loved you then, and you just said I was too young. Heck! We had a life then.”

“We did not have a life then,” I shouted at her. I was upset that she was no more the Joni I knew. She had become a monster.

“We were close. We were sharing the bed.”

“Yes, we did. You were fifteen and it was not permissible.” I snapped back. “I was …”

“What? Being decent? Does decency mean getting into bed naked and fondling? How many times have you gone down on me? How many times have I done it for you? Did you not moan my name? Need I go on?”

“We were young then. You were fifteen.”

“And you were twenty-two. Does that make it okay for you?” Joni had rubbed the salt into the wound on my reply.  

“Bitch!” That profanity snapped from me. Then it occurred to me that there was something wrong about the place and Joni. I have been a Marshall for three years but in the Army, I was the Military Police involved in crime investigation. I had my share of investigating soldiers doing the crime; violent ones and the coverup with the ones they were shooting at. I investigate them and brought them home either in chains or in a box.

“John was not a smart one. He was the reckless one but you were the opposite. You were the schemer. I remember now. Your mother used to work for the Maison. Or was it the Hernandez? They changed their name in the nineteen twenties. My dad worked at the farms for them too after the Vietnam War. He was close to his last son. He knew their dirty secrets too. He died suspiciously but we could not pin it on anyone.”

“So was David Maison? He died soon after you left.” Joni looked at me.  “Did you kill him?”

I looked away. It was over twenty years ago. The military taught me many skills.

“Yes, I did. I cornered him out of town and killed him. It was quick.” I confessed. “I went back to the Army and was posted overseas. No one was to know.”

“Well, now I knew. I will tell you one other secret.” Joni looked at me. “I killed John. That was why they are coming for me. I sought the Police to tell them the set up. It was my bargaining tool with them.”

“Why John? I thought you loved him?” I looked at the lady whom I may not know anymore.

“I loathed him. I loved only you. I married him to spite you. I got him the job with the Maison to keep him out of the house. I went to work because I was having an affair with Mr. Maison himself. The old man wanted me there so he could get me when he needed it. I took it for I needed the security.” Mr. Maison, if I could recall, should be seventy-five or more, in the age then. He could not even fuck the barndoor if it was open wide.

“You are lying, Joni. You have been lying to me. You used to lie to me before. Remember the times, we get caught and you will talk us out to freedom.” I raised my voice.

“Okay, I was. I became the Planner. The old man and his family went into retirement.”

“You are lying.” I shouted out. I pushed the plate of vegetables off the table.

“No. I am not. I may have but loving you was not. I did love you. That was the truth. The one truth I have with me.” Joni sighed.

“Thank you. I love you too.” I replied. “Tell me why are we here once more? Why the men outside there? Are they to kill or protect you?”

“They are here to kill me. They don’t know I changed my mind on confessing. I have decided to stay with you. Like before.”

“Why me?”

“Jimmy, I love you. I want you to be with me. You are forgiven.” Joni smiled.

“How did you know how to find me?”

“You under-estimated the smaller town people. We can be influential. I had you checked out. I had everything planned. I have the witness protection people in my pocket. The rest was simple.” Joni smiled wider. “I am retiring and have decided you will come with me. Till death do us part.”

“Did you ask me beforehand?” I looked at Joni.

“Did you? You did not ask me if I will follow you then. I would have followed you to Hell if need be. If only you asked.” Joni replied. It was then the shots came through the door and the windows. The bone china wares were the first to break and the jars and the ugly deer head. I ducked beneath the table and saw Joni went down with blood on her chest. She fell down when I crawled over. I held her right hand and pulled her under the table. It would had saved her but I was shot then in the back. And at the back of my neck. I felt my right hand went lifeless but my mind was still working.

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me

I'll grow up someday you'll see
Savin' all my kisses just for you
Signed with love forever true

I could see us at the altar. We were exchanging vows. We were getting married. I smiled. It was all a dream. A long dream of dreams. It took me twenty years to realise we were not the only fools in the deceit of love. Only the lucky ones ended up ashes to ashes.

We had ours eventually.