How a Woman Goes From Just a Woman to
to a Woman of Dominance
Penned by
Edited by P.Adams
The Dead of Night
Lawrence James McCoy was a mean man. People called him L.J. for short. L.J. McCoy was born mean and raised to be meaner. Though a handsome man on the exterior he was pure ugly inside. Whatever, or whomever, he touched became tainted.
L.J. was married. His wife was more a slave and battered woman than a wife; he took all of his frustrations out on her. Her temperament had been that of a kind and considerate woman by the name of Helen Katz McCoy. L.J. treated his dogs better than he treated Helen.
Helen was a slight woman, slim to the point of looking anorexic, with grey eyes. She had long brown hair which she wore in a pony tail all of the time. Her legs, though thin, where shapely and her ass was well rounded. She was a pretty little thing with high cheek bones and nice teeth. Her clothes came from the second hand store but she chose wisely and they looked alright on her. Not pretty but acceptable. She had delicate hands though they were rough from the work she did at home. Had she eaten enough and had her hair fixed nicely she would have been considered a pretty woman.
By the time they had been married ten years, Helen was all of twenty-six years old. She had been beaten down by L.J. so that she thought little of herself and felt she deserved whatever L.J. did to her.
Helen had no family with whom to take her in and no friends. She lived under constant fear of her husband and what he might do when the mood struck him. His bad moods struck often and she was the brunt of his anger at himself as well as the world in general.
They lived on a farm in the South and he worked hard to make money but the money never seemed to come. The harder he worked, the meaner he became because of his own failure.
Cash crops withered on the vine and he would beat Helen. A hog died and he would beat Helen. A horse broke a leg and he would beat Helen. He considered her to be the reason for everything that went wrong in his life. She was a hoax and a she-devil as far as he was concerned.
Helen was a broken woman in so many ways. She had no self esteem left, she accepted the fact that she was a bad omen; she felt his anger was her fault. Not only had her ribs had been broken, so had her spirit.
At two in the morning, in the dead of the night, L.J. arrived home drunk. Again. Helen knew when she heard the truck drive up that she was in for a beating.
The brakes squealed as he came to a stop. The door of the truck slammed. His footsteps on the porch were hard and fast. He almost ripped the door off of its hinges as he opened it. He was in a rage of temper because he had lost over fifty precious dollars in a poker game.
L.J. went to the bedroom where Helen was pretending to be sleeping. He flung her out of the bed and began to swear at her telling her she was nothing more than a drag on him; he could do better with someone who had brains. She was so stupid she did not even know she was stupid!
Then he began to hit her with his fists as if she were a rag doll. Her cheekbone was broken, two ribs fractured, her body was covered in bruises and she had contusions which covered her almost head to toe.
She was unconscious. Knowing he had gone one step too far this time, he threw her over his shoulder, into the truck, and dropped her body in from of the emergency room at the hospital in town.
Helen remained in a coma for three days. No one knew who she was or where she had come from or how she’d arrived at the hospital. All they knew that this was a woman who had been beaten half to death and it was touch and go to save her life. But save her they did.
When she was finally conscious she told them her name but did not, or would not, tell the authorities who had beaten her so severely. L.J. was suspected but, without her testimony, there was nothing that could be done for her by the police.
When she was released from the hospital the next week she borrowed a quarter and called L.J.
"Would you come pick me up?"
"Why should I, bitch?"
"I have no place to go, L.J., so please, I beg you, come pick me up." She was in tears.
"I'm busy right now. I'll be there in a couple of hours."
"Oh, thank you, L.J., thank you."
Helen sat for two and a half hours waiting for L.J.
When he arrived there was a young girl of about eighteen in the truck with him.
Helen opened the truck door and slid into the tuck sitting as close to the door as possible. She didn’t say a word.
L.J. began to drive but not towards home. He pulled up in front the office of an attorney and told her to get out of the truck.
"We have business inside," he said.
Helen couldn't imagine what "business" they had but obediently followed him.
"I'm here to see Jackson. He knows I am here." L.J. had a voice like steel and the secretary was apprehensive about Attorney Jackson having an appointment with this man.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I'm L.J. McCoy. Tell Jackson I'm here."
"Yes, sir; if you will have a seat I am sure he'll be right with you."
L.J. didn't move. "Just tell him I'm here."
When, only a few minutes later, he and Helen were in the office of Attorney Jackson, Helen got the jolt of her life.
"So, you both want a divorce. That's no problem. If you are both agreeable and there are no assets to divide or children involved, I think we can do this in record time."
"The sooner the better," L.J. said. "I want this bitch out of my life."
Jackson ignored the last remark and went about the business of organizing paperwork needed for a divorce. He felt sorry for the poor woman who was married to L.J. and could well understand her wanting to be rid of him. The sooner the better.
Once the paperwork was signed by both L.J. and Helen, they left the office. Jackson had told them it would take three months for the divorced to become final. He would be in touch with them when a court date had been set.
Back in the truck once again, Helen began to cry.
"Shut up, bitch! I do not want to hear your whining."
"L.J., where am I going to go? Can I stay with you? Please? Where will I go?"
"The minute the divorce is final me and Lori Ann are getting married. I do not want you around."
"Let me stay until the divorce, please. Oh, please!" Helen was begging with every bit of her strength.
She figured that in three months she could find a place to go and that L.J. would not really throw her out without a dime. He would give her enough money to get started.
"Oh, let her stay, L.J.," Lori Ann said. "She can do all of the cooking and cleaning for us until the divorce. Let her sleep on the couch."
L.J. did not want to divulge his true nature to Lori Ann and said, through gritted teeth, "For you, whistle britches, anything you want. She can be your maid until the divorce but then she's out on her ass. I want us to get married the day the divorce is final and I do not want her around to jinx it."
"Oh, L.J., you are a good man." Lori Ann had much to learn about men and life.
The three months seemed to fly by. Not once during that time did L.J. beat Helen or treat her as anything but a door mat. That was fine with Helen. Being a door mat was better than being a punching bag!
On the court date, L.J. took Lori Ann with him. Helen had no attorney to represent her and the divorce was granted immediately. L.J. and Lori Ann went from one room in the court house to another; they went to get a marriage license with his divorce papers in hand.
Helen was ready to go. She had packed her few belongings in two suitcases. The truth be told, she was a happy woman because she was no longer married to L.J. McCoy!
When Lori Ann and L.J. arrived back at the farm L.J. was in a good mood. Yes, he would give Helen a ride to town. Yes, he would give her money to get started. Yes, he would do whatever it took to get her out of his life forever!
He took her to the bus station and gave her a hundred dollars and a copy of their divorce decree.
"This will buy you a ticket. Get out of the state and never come back or I will kill you. You have done enough to ruin my life and I do not ever want to see you again. Is that clear enough for you, stupid bitch?"
Still not able to stand up to him, Helen took the bills and envelope then nodded her acceptance of what he had said.
She got out of the truck with her two suitcases and he drove off, not looking back. Her eyes followed the truck until it was out of sight. Though he was a bastard and she was glad to be rid of him, she worried about what was going to happen to her. She had a hundred dollars. That was ten dollars a year for all of the abuse she had taken from him.
But at least he had given her that much!
Anna J. Lightfoot
A Lightfoot Pulication
Copyright 2008
Helen's History