Amelia's Difficult Choice
By Anonymous
An Amazonian social worker teaches abusive parents a lesson

The ringing of the telephone snapped Amelia Vasquez out of her 
reverie. She been sitting at her desk thinking about the events of the 
last few weeks. Amelia had just about single-handedly saved the 
neighborhood from the Warlords, the gang she had belonged to when in 
high school. An astute teacher had seen something special in Amelia, 
gotten her started on the right path, and helped her get into college. 

Amelia had become a social worker and wound up back in her old 
neighborhood. She had wanted to contribute something back to her 
community. The Warlords had changed from a neighborhood gang whose 
main activity was defending their "turf" from rival gangs to 
racketeers, controlling the drug and protection markets in that area. 
Amelia had defeated the leader and his two henchmen in a violent fight 
and had turned over records of their drug activity that she found on 
their computer to the police. Now they were in jail for a long time, 
and peace had come to the community again. 

Amelia had now been working the usual type of cases that social 
workers handle. As she came to attention and answered the phone, an 
angry look crossed her face. An eleven year old boy, Adam Sales was in 
the hospital emergency room. This was the third time in a month that 
he had 'fallen down the stairs' and hurt himself. The pediatrician who 
saw him told Amelia that he thought  that Adam had been beaten. His 
step-mother had brought him in. His father had left for work. 

Amelia immediately got in her car and drove to the hospital. She first 
met with the pediatrician. He showed Adam's record to her. It was not 
a pretty picture. His father had divorced his mother three years 
before. He had gotten custody of Adam.  Shortly after the divorce he 
had married his girlfriend Anna, an aerobics instructor and part-time 
dancer. They had started to ignore the boy. Later, they had started to 
resent him. They had wanted to be alone, party, and travel and he was 
in the way. The doctor suspected that both parents had taken out their 
frustrations on Adam. In the last two years the trips to the emergency 
room had become increasingly frequent, and the injuries more severe. 
The doctor wanted Amelia to have Adam taken from Tom, his father, and 
Anna before he was severely injured. 

The young pediatrician was vitally interested in the case but he had a 
hard time concentrating with Amelia standing next to him. With her 
long black hair and sparkling dark eyes, he found her very attractive. 
her strong jawline probably prevented her from being considered truly 
beautiful, but her looks and her pleasant personality had definitely 
captivated him. His eyes ran down from her face to the rest of her 
body. 

She was not tall, only about five-five. She was wearing a business 
suit today, but her shoulders seemed to be wider than normal even 
without shoulder pads. The cut of the suit showed off her slim waist. 
Her legs were magnificent he thought. Too muscular for some people, 
but the doctor an athlete himself, thought they were perfect. He did a 
double take however when he saw her arm bend as she reached for Adam's 
chart. Her biceps appeared to totally fill the sleeve of the suit. 

"My kind of woman," he said to himself. "I'll bet she was an athlete 
in school. Just look at that body. On her, those muscles look good."  

After reviewing the history of the case Amelia agreed with the doctor. 
She went in to interview Adam while his step-mother was in the waiting 
room. Adam finally broke down and told Amelia everything. About the 
withholding of food, the constant verbal abuse, and finally the 
beatings which were becoming routine. Amelia left to get a court order 
to remove Adam from the custody of Tom and Anna. She had discovered 
why they kept him even though it was obvious they resented him. 

Adam's maternal grandmother had passed away a little over two years 
ago. She had left Adam a significant amount of money in a trust fund. 
The custodial parent controlled the income from the trust. That money 
was more than Tom's income. It was supposed to be spent to take care 
of Adam, but it was apparent that they were spending it on themselves. 
To lose custody of Adam would essentially kill their cash cow. 

The next afternoon, Amelia showed up at the Sales house to pick up 
Adam. She had been successful in obtaining all the proper 
documentation with the evidence that she had presented. She was met at 
the door by Anna. She was dressed to go to her aerobics class. A blue 
leotard that left nothing to the imagination showed off her body. She 
was taller than Amelia by three inches. Her stomach looked flat and 
hard. Her arms looked vascular and defined, and her legs were slender 
but firm muscle could be seen. She sneered at Amelia when she opened 
the door. Amelia wasted no time in explaining exactly what was going 
to happen. She wanted Adam and some of his clothes. They would return 
later to pick up the rest of his things. Anna could see the dollar 
signs floating out the door with Amelia. She decided that the old 
saying that possession is nine tenths of the law might apply here. If 
she let Adam leave the money would be shut off. 

"You are not taking the little brat anywhere." Anna spat at Amelia. 
"He is going to be here when his father gets home." 

Amelia had seen enough, "If you won't cooperate, I will get his things 
myself." With that she started for Adam's room. 

Anna grabbed her arm and said, "Where do you think you're going. The 
street is this way." She was pointing to the door. 

"Don't you ever put your hands on me again," Amelia said to Anna. 

"I'll put my hands anywhere I damn well please. Now get out of my 
house you sorry-assed bitch." 

Amelia replied, "Just as soon as I have Adam and his clothes." 

Anna was getting angrier, "If you don't get I will throw you out." 
With that she took hold of Amelia's shoulder. 

Amelia shoved her away, "That's the last time I'm going to tell you to 
keep your hands off me." 

Anna was steaming, "I'm going to kick your fat ass out of here" she 
snarled at Amelia. 

"I would be careful if I were you. I might be a lot tougher to beat up 
than an eleven year old boy. I don't want to fight you. I just want to 
exercise this court order. But I want to give you fair warning. If you 
try to stop me I will fight you, and then I will hurt you, so stand 
back and let us leave in peace." 

Anna had been taking box-aerobics and worked out some on the heavy 
bag. She had beaten up one of the dancers at the club where she worked 
part time, giving her a black eye and a bloody nose before the other 
girl quit in tears. This gave her a tremendous sense of confidence. 

"I'm tired of all this talk," she shouted and threw a punch with her 
right hand at Amelia's jaw. The punch landed with a loud crack. Amelia 
was not expecting the blow, and staggered back. Anna followed up by 
driving a kick with her right foot right between Amelia's legs. Amelia 
dropped to the floor, stunned, and in pain. "I'm going to fuck you 
up," Anna told Amelia as she started to kick her in the ribs. Three 
times she drove her foot into Amelia's ribs. 

Finally Amelia was able to roll away behind a chair. Anna pursued her. 
She reached down and grabbed Amelia by her long black hair. As she 
tried to drag Amelia to her feet, she said, "Jeez, you're heavy. 
You're ever fatter than I thought. Get ready to take your pounding, 
fat girl." 

While she was talking, Amelia due to her superb physical condition was 
quickly recovering from Anna's initial sneak attack. Anna cocked her 
fist and fired a punch to Amelia's stomach. Amelia anticipated it and 
tensed her strong abs. The punch just seemed to bounce off Amelia. 
Anna had released her expecting Amelia to fold up and go down from her 
belly punch. Amelia backed away to take a few more precious seconds to 
completely recover.

Anna didn't know it at the time, but she had just landed her last 
punch of the fight. She launched herself at her foe, but this time 
Amelia was ready. Anna was met by a hard fist smashing straight into 
her right eye. She stopped dead in her tracks. Even though Amelia 
couldn't get her weight into the punch just the power from her 
shoulder and arm was enough to hurt Anna. 

Pain shot through the right side of Anna's face as she stopped and put 
her hands up to her eye. She had never really been hit before, and 
that sharp, sudden pain was unexpected. Amelia followed up by driving 
her right fist blasting into Anna's tight stomach. "Pretty firm, but I 
can break it down," she thought. 

Even though she was in excellent shape, Anna felt the punch. As her 
hands came away from her face, Amelia's left fist thudded into that 
same eye again. Now it started to swell and bruise. Anna again tried 
to relieve the pain by placing her hands over the eye. Amelia set her 
feet and this time got her weight behind a ripping uppercut to that 
flat stomach. This time she felt a little give as her fist landed. 
Twice more she drove that fist powered by her awesome biceps into 
Anna's gut. Each time her fist seemed to get a bit more penetration. 
Anna made one last try to get back into the fight. She tried to drive 
her knee straight up into Amelia's crotch. This time Amelia saw it 
coming and turned to take the knee on her big thigh. It hurt, but not 
like it would if the knee had hit the intended target. 

Amelia returned to her task of breaking down the muscular stomach of 
Anna. Her hard right fist slammed into it again and again. After four 
more vicious smashes, she felt the musculature start to give. Anna 
dropped her hands and arms to cover her stomach, leaving her face wide 
open again. Amelia shifted targets hooking her right fist to the 
undamaged eye. Before Anna could even start to react Amelia smashed 
that eye again with a vicious blast. Now both eyes were quickly 
swelling shut. 

Anna was finished. She started to cry. She was just standing there 
with her hands hanging uselessly at her sides. Amelia instincts 
reverted back to her old gang days, and instead of backing off, taking 
Adam and leaving, she decided to punish Anna even more for all the 
beatings she and Tom and inflicted on Adam. Amelia rocketed her big 
right fist into that belly again. This time the resistance was gone. 
She had completely broken down those strong muscles with her constant 
powerful battering. Her fist sank deep into Anna's flesh. Anna started 
to fold. 

"Not a bad punch for a fat girl, was it," Amelia said to Anna. Amelia 
had to hold her up or she would have collapsed to the floor. "Let's 
see if the fat girl can do that again." That rock hard fist drove 
again to Anna's poor belly. This time it penetrated even deeper. Anna 
was moaning and crying. "You don't know me, but if you did you would 
know what is coming next. In my gang days I had what they called a 
trademark, or signature. You are about to find out what it is." Amelia 
was holding her up with her left hand. as she finished what she had to 
say without warning she cocked that hard right fist and blasted it 
straight into Anna's mouth. She could feel the front teeth give way. 
"That is the trademark from the old days, knocking out a few teeth 
from anyone dumb enough to challenge me. You are lucky that I need to 
get Adam and leave, otherwise your punishment would be worse." 

Even though she was barely conscious, Anna couldn't imagine how it 
could be worse. Her stomach was in agony, both eyes were closing 
rapidly, and she could feel at least two teeth that had been either 
knocked out or broken. "Since we have to go, I think its' time for 
your afternoon nap." Amelia  sunk her left fist into that now 
unresisting belly. As Anna started to fold up from the force of the 
punch, Amelia brought her right fist  up from her knees to crash into 
Anna's down moving chin. Amelia's strong fist found its target and 
continued  upward until her arm and fist were extended over her head. 
Anna's body rose off the floor and toppled over. She landed on her 
back. She would be out for a long time. 

Amelia looked around and saw Adam standing in the door to his bedroom. 
He had been watching the whole fight. Amelia was embarrassed. "Wow! 
you were awesome!" Adam said.

"Violence doesn't solve problems, Adam, and if she had not jumped me 
this would have never have happened. However, we all have to be able 
to defend ourselves. Now let's get your stuff and go." 

Tom Sales knew something was wrong as soon as he arrived home. The 
door was unlocked and Anna's car was in the driveway. He opened the 
door but saw no sign of Anna. Usually when she is at home she greets 
him at the door with a kiss and a drink. Then he saw her flat on her 
back on the floor. "Either she's sick or we've been robbed!" was his 
first thought. He rushed over to where Anna was sprawled on the floor. 
"My God!" he blurted out when he saw her face. He ran into the kitchen 
and filled two Ziploc bags with ice. Anna was just starting to stir 
when he got back. He placed the bags of ice over her eyes which now 
were just small slits surrounded by a sea of black and purple. He was 
even more astonished when he looked down and found a tooth seemingly 
stuck to the top of her leotard just above her breasts. "Don't move." 
he said. Just stay there and take it easy. When you feel you can talk, 
tell me what happened.". Assuming that they had been burglarized he 
asked "What did they take?" 

"Just Adam" she managed to say through her puffy lips. 

"Kidnappers!" Tom exclaimed. I'll call the cops right now.

"N-No don't do that. Wait a few minutes and I'll try to tell you what 
happened but no cops." 

"Who did this to you, then?" Tom wanted to know. "You look like a 
wreck." 

"P-P-Please get me some aspirin or Tylenol. I hurt so bad I can't 
stand it." 

Tom went to the medicine cabinet and found extra strength Tylenol was 
the strongest thing they had. He got two tablets and a glass of water 
and went back to Anna. He got down on his knees and lifted her head up 
slightly so she could take the medicine. While he was kneeling by her 
his hand accidentally brushed over her stomach. She let go with a 
renewed cry of pain. He gently removed her leotard and saw several 
black and blue splotches on her tender belly.

"I-I'll try to talk now," Anna told him. "It's very hard to say 
anything with my mouth like this." Tom took a closer look at her 
mouth. Her upper lip was split and swollen to twice its' normal size. 
The tooth that been stuck on her leotard had come from her upper front 
teeth. The one next to it while still barely attached was bent far 
back toward the roof of her mouth. When Tom touched it the tooth came 
out in his hand followed by a fresh gush of blood. Anna tried to 
compose herself. 

She started her story. She told him about Amelia's arrival with the 
court order to take Adam away from them. She included the part about 
how she had tried to stop her. Then she described the fight. "I never 
believed a woman could hit that hard. She just kept pounding my poor 
tummy." 

Tom interrupted her. "You've had me punch those abs. They are like 
steel. I thought it would be impossible to hurt them." 

Anna continued her story. "At first I was able to tighten them when 
she hit me, but she just kept driving those hard fists of hers in 
there over and over again. Finally I just couldn't take it any more 
and my tummy muscles just caved in. She really hurt me. When she hit 
my eye the pain was so bad I couldn't move. She kept bashing both of 
my eyes with her fists until I couldn't see. Then through the pain I 
heard her say something about gangs and trademarks. Right after that 
she did this to my mouth. The last thing I remember was her saying 
that I was lucky she didn't have more time or I would receive even 
more punishment for the way we treated Adam. Then I think she 
mentioned something about nap, I felt a terrible pain in my chin, and 
everything went black. Tom, she knows about the money. She is having 
custody transferred to Adam's mother.'

"Right now, I am taking you to the dentist to see what he can do about 
your teeth. We will tell him you were in an accident. After you have 
recovered we will pay her a little visit," Tom told Anna. 

"I'm not paying her any visit. I never want to see her again. She 
might hurt me even worse the next time. I thought I could fight, you 
remember the dancer I beat up, this bitch's fists were like being hit 
with clubs. Big, hard, clubs. I'm not going anywhere near her again." 

Tom picked up the court papers and started to read them, "Maybe I'll 
just go see Ms. Vasquez myself. I'll even things up for you, don't 
worry."

Amelia took Adam home with her. Lilia,  Amelia's mother insisted on 
preparing a huge dinner for Adam. He ate like he hadn't seen food for 
days. Lilia topped off Adam's dinner with a large bowl of ice cream. 
Amelia sat down next to Adam. "I'm sorry you had to witness that fight 
this afternoon. Fighting is not a way to solve problems. I tried my 
best to avoid it, but Anna forced me to do it.'

'She didn't also force you to knock her out there at the end, did 
she?' Adam asked. 

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "This is a pretty aware kid," she thought. "No 
she did not," Amelia explained to Adam. "I did that because I wanted 
to. That is where human emotion gets in the way. I was very angry for 
the way she and your father have been treating you. In the heat of 
that anger I wanted to punish her for their actions. I was also angry 
because she attacked me. I must admit that once it started, I let my 
old feelings from my gang days get the best of me. I used to love 
fight and hurt people. I don't anymore, but in some situations I 
revert back to the past." 

Adam looked at her again. "I think she deserved everything she got and 
even more," he said. "I wish you would do the same thing to my father, 
he beat me even worse than Anna did." Suddenly Adam changed the 
subject. "Show me your muscle, Amelia. I've never seen a girl with 
muscles like yours before." 

Now Amelia turned red. She was proud of her muscles and strength, but 
had never had anyone openly admire them like this before. "I'll tell 
you what," she said, "let me go change my clothes and we will have a 
short workout and both of will show our muscles, OK?" Amelia went to 
her room and put on a cropped halter top and shorts. They couldn't go 
to the gym, so she led Adam through a series of exercises. Soon both 
of them had worked up a sweat. 

"Now will you show me your muscle?" Adam asked again. Resigned to the 
fact that she couldn't get out of it, Amelia agreed. She knew boys 
were fascinated by biceps so she decided to save that for last. She 
hit all the poses showing her shoulders, chest, abs, and especially 
her big legs. Finally it was time for arms. 

"First show me yours," Amelia said. Adam did his best impression of a 
bodybuilder flexing. They were both laughing now. Then Amelia stepped 
forward. First she flexed her triceps. Large horseshoe shaped ridges 
of muscle formed on the backs of her arms. Then almost shyly she 
flexed her biceps. Huge balls of muscle that looked to be the size of 
cantaloupes rose on her arms. Large veins ran through them and there 
were splits at the peaks. "Wow!" Was all Adam could say. 

"I think that is enough for tonight. You need to get some sleep. You 
have a big day tomorrow. You are going to live with your mother." She 
took him to the spare bedroom. 

"Will you come in and say goodnight to me?" he asked. Amelia sat on 
the side of the bed next to the small boy. "Amelia you're terrific, 
you are the greatest person I have ever known," he said and he hugged 
her. Amelia kissed him gently on the forehead. "You go to sleep. I 
have to go back to my office for a while to make sure everything is 
ready for tomorrow." 

"Goodnight, Amelia," he said. "Goodnight, Adam," she replied as she 
closed the door. 

Since no one would be at the office she did not change clothes, she 
just put on a warmup jacket over her workout clothes. When she arrived 
she unlocked the door. A large reception area was in the front with a 
hallway behind that leading to several offices one of which was 
Amelia's. She hung her jacket on the back of her chair and started to 
check all the paperwork to make sure all went smoothly tomorrow. Her 
mind drifted to the events since she had returned home as a social 
worker. The fights with the Warlords, and now with Anna Sales. "I hate 
to admit it," she told herself, "but I still like to fight. I love the 
feel of my fists smashing my opponent to mush. I will have to control 
it and only allow myself to fight in situations like these two. When 
right is on my side, it is easier to justify what I did to Anna. Adam 
was right. She probably did deserve that and more, but that doesn't 
make it totally right." 

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone banging on the door. "Who 
could possibly be down here this time of night?" She thought. 

"Open up you bitch, I know you're in there." 

She looked from the hallway to the front door. It was Tom Sales 
banging on the door and yelling at the top of his lungs. "I had better 
let him in before half the cops in town are down here." She hurried to 
the door before he drew anymore attention. Amelia opened the door and 
asked Tom what he wanted. 

"I want you! You have totally screwed up my life. You are taking away 
my son, the money that goes with him and you have beaten up my wife. I 
want some of you."

Amelia tried to calm him down. He would have none of it. He was 
determined to get even with Amelia for the supposed problems she had 
caused for Tom and Anna. "On top of everything else the dentist is 
having to build a bridge for Anna. He couldn't repair the teeth you 
knocked out."

"Mr. Sales, The trouble is all of your own making. All the evidence is 
in. all I did was act as coordinator. The doctor's hospital records, 
the reports from school, and the interviews with your neighbors all 
show that the two of you have a clear record of abuse of a very nice 
kid. You had your chance to make it right and you made it worse 
instead. This is no one's fault but yours. You are his father. I think 
you should be put in jail for the way Adam has been treated." 

"Enough of your bullshit accusations. I'm here to even the score. We 
might be losing the money that came from Adam's trust fund, but at 
least I can get some satisfaction." Tom was shouting now. 

"Mr. Sales, I think you had better leave now before both of us do 
something we will regret. I'm going to call the police so I suggest 
you get out of here before they arrive." Amelia moved over to the 
receptionist's desk and picked up the phone. While her back was turned 
Tom picked up a chair and hit Amelia with it. Fortunately she heard 
him and tried to duck out of the way or her head would have been split 
open. As it was the chair hit her a glancing blow in the back stunning 
her and knocking her to the floor. Tom started kicking Amelia in the 
back and sides. She was unable to get away. Then he sat down on her 
back and put his hands around her throat and started choking her. 

Then Tom made his first mistake. As Amelia's struggles became weaker 
Tom leaned down and said, "Now you're going to find out what it feels 
like to have your face bashed in."  He removed his hands from her 
throat and pulled her to feet propping her against the desk. Tom 
started firing punches to Amelia's face. She was so groggy she offered 
no resistance. One eye started to puff and swell. Blood was coming 
from both corners of her mouth. Then he switched downstairs to her 
body. Her strong abs were able to withstand his first onslaught. 
Amelia tried to use her hands to protect her face and her arms and 
elbows to protect her body. Tom kept flailing away. Switching to the 
body allowed her to start to regain her focus. 

Then the overconfident Tom made his next mistake. He swung a wild 
roundhouse punch. Amelia just barely slid inside it. She then 
delivered her first punch. But oh, what a punch. As she had moved 
slightly forward and ducked, she brought her right fist up toward his 
chin. Amelia's fist traveled no more than eighteen inches and impacted 
under his chin. It was driven by her huge bicep and the turning of her 
hips. As her hard fist accelerated from eighteen inches away it 
collided with the underside of his chin. The sound made by the impact 
filled the room. Tom's head snapped back so far that the top of his 
head seemed to touch his back. His eyes glazed over. His knees turned 
to jelly, and could no longer support him. He slowly fell to his 
knees, then flopped face down on the floor. 

He was out cold. Amelia couldn't believe it. She had been in several 
fights but this was her first one punch knockout. She was still in 
pretty bad shape herself. She collapsed into the desk chair and tried 
to catch her breath. Her left eye would definitely have a big shiner 
and her lip was cut. She was gagging some from Tom's choke hold. After 
recovering for a few minutes she reached for the telephone to call the 
police. She found that it had been knocked off the desk during the 
scuffle. She thought she heard Tom beginning to come around as she got 
up and started to go to the next desk to use the phone. As she was 
dialing Tom's voice came from behind her.  

"Put the phone down and turn around."  An ominous sounding click 
followed his words. 

Amelia turned and her worst fears were realized. Tom, though wobbly on 
his feet was standing about fifteen feet away with a revolver pointed 
at her. She could see a large bump was starting to form on his chin, 
the result of her earlier knockout punch. "You have caused me more 
trouble than I thought possible. You are taking my son and his money 
away, you beat up my wife, and now you have humiliated me by knocking 
me out. I'm going to put an end to your interference once and for all. 
Now get over here." 

Amelia moved very slowly. She did not want to give him any reason to 
use the pistol. Luckily for Amelia he had not completely recovered 
from the knockout. He staggered slightly just as he pulled the 
trigger. The bullet whizzed past Amelia's head. Before he could fire 
again she charged. Her body slammed into his. They struggled for the 
gun. Another shot rang out as Tom tried to swing the pistol around at 
Amelia. At last she was able to bang his wrist against the edge of the 
desk. Tom' grip on the weapon weakened slightly. Again she banged the 
gun hand into the sharp edge of the desk. This time Tom was not able 
to hold on. The pain in his hand and wrist was too severe. The pistol 
clattered to the floor, and slid under the desk. 

Tom and Amelia broke apart. "If you leave right now, I won't mention 
any of this. All that will happen is that Adam will be going to live 
with his mother." 

"Too late for that now," Tom snarled. He leaped at Amelia. He tried to 
pin her arms to her side and let his superior weight carry her to the 
floor. However the desk was behind them and they fell against it 
instead. Amelia flexed her powerful arms and broke Tom's hold by 
ripping his arms apart. Amelia was tired of Tom always making the 
first move. She recovered her balance slightly before he did. As Tom 
steadied himself he heard the sound of Amelia's footsteps as she came 
at him. When he turned to meet her all he saw was her big, hard fist 
that seemed to block everything else from his vision. A split second 
later it crash landed on his jaw. The force of the blow spun Tom 
around and he stumbled into the desk. Amelia's left hand reached out 
and jerked him around to face her. She pushed him back over the desk, 
with his upper body and head near the desk top and his stomach exposed 
forward. Her right fist rammed into his stomach like a runaway train. 
She could feel his head try to come up in reaction to the punch but 
she held him firmly in place. Amelia ripped that big fist into his 
belly again. 

"You are a lot softer than your wife and do you remember what I did to 
her stomach?" He was hurting far to badly to comprehend what she was 
saying. "Maybe a little demonstration will help your memory." Amelia 
pulled Tom upright. She plowed her fist in and his stomach muscles 
offered no resistance at all. Her fist penetrated deep into his 
insides. Tom was trying to barf, but Amelia was just warming up. Four 
more times that terrible fist disappeared in the man's belly. To Tom 
each punch seemed to sink farther in and to hurt more than the one 
before. 

Amelia released her hold and let Tom slump to the floor. Tom rolled 
around on the floor groaning and clutching his damaged stomach. Amelia 
calmly stood by and watched. Finally he got enough wind to speak. 
"Please let me go. I promise never to cause any trouble again for Adam 
or for you. I can't take any more. Please leave me alone and let me go 
home." 

Amelia regarded him with contempt. "You hit me with a chair, almost 
choked me to death, tried to break my face, and then tried to shoot me. 
I asked you several times to leave and you would not. Instead you 
tried to injure me and kill me when my back was turned. It's too late 
to leave now. You have to stay here and take your medicine like a big 
boy." 

Tom tried to run to the front door screaming for help. Amelia caught 
him and hauled him back into the office away from the door so that any 
stray passers-by could not see what was going on. Tom snatched a book 
from a desk and threw it at Amelia. She dodged the book and slowly 
advanced on him. He was backing away looking for a place to run. He 
had given up all thought of trying to fight back, he was just trying 
to save his skin. Pictures of Anna's face after Amelia had finished 
with it kept flashing through his mind. He felt his back hit the wall. 

"No place else to run. Now the fun begins," Amelia said. Tom was crazy 
with fear. He made one last desperate attempt to push by her. Amelia 
shoved him back to the wall and ripped her fist once again into his 
ravaged stomach. Tom's mouth flew open and blood from his internal 
bleeding caused by those battering fists flowed out. Then Amelia's 
left fist battered his right eye. Three times that iron fist smashed 
into his eye. 

"You and Anna will look like a matched set," was her comment as her 
fist continued to hammer his eye. Two quick rights to the other eye 
did insure that he and Anna would indeed have matching eyes for 
several days. Amelia returned to her favorite target. his belly. "It 
is so soft it feels like I'm punching a down pillow," She said. Tom's 
head pitched forward. Amelia brought her right fist up in another 
eighteen inch uppercut just like the one that knocked him out earlier. 
This time she did not want to knock him out so she held back. but his 
head snapped up and hit the wall. 

"It's trademark time. Ask Anna what that means."  

Her fists started blasting his mouth from all angles the first punches 
split his lips the next few loosened his teeth. Finally that big iron 
hard right smashed straight in and blood and teeth sprayed into the 
air. Tom was barely hanging on to consciousness. Amelia finally 
decided to end it. One last time her left fist plunged deep into that 
ruined stomach, bringing fresh blood from his mouth to mix with that 
from his barrel sized lips and broken teeth. As his head came down 
again her right cracked on his chin like a rifle shot. He was 
unconscious before his feet left the floor as he sailed through the 
air and landed on his back. 

Amelia walked to the phone to call the police. As she started to dial 
she looked down at her bloody, bruised, unconscious victim. Instead of 
calling she sat at the desk and started writing. She wrote a note 
explaining that she still had the gun and could always bring the 
attempted murder charge. Then she took his car keys from his pocket, 
picked Tom up and carried him out to his car. She put him in the 
drivers seat, put the keys in the ignition, left her note on his lap. 
She took one last look at the damage her fists had done to the man, 
both eyes swollen shut and surrounded by purpled bruised flesh. His 
split lips looked grotesque they were so puffed up. His open mouth 
showed three missing teeth. There was a huge purple lump on his chin. 
Then she locked the door. 

As she walked back to her office, she again started feeling guilty 
about how much she had enjoyed beating to a pulp both Tom and Anna. 
But she smiled as she thought about the terrific day ahead for Adam 
and his mother. She resolved that the Sales did deserve what they got, 
and she would go on fighting for what she thought was right.