“Nobody Messes
With Mama”
by
John Tures
Ma Tasker slammed the screen
door to her
double-wide, sending several Florida flies scurrying. “That ‘Republic of Condo’
Company will rue the day they tried to kick me off mah lakefront lot!”
Across Lake Gentry, earthmovers
hungrily prepared
to chew up the quaint dwellings dotting the landscape. On her side of the lake,
houses and mobile homes were boarded up, covered with signs declaring “Sold”
and “Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.” Republic of Condo bulldozers parked along
the closest paved road, eager to deal the death blow to her former community of
neighbor friends.
All except one.
But they didn’t know
Mama, and her computer-savvy
children.
“Alexander, where
you at with Step A?”
“Cyber Doc,”
the elder son, looked up from his
terminal at his mother. “The company’s cyber defenses are a joke. Picked ‘em
clean.”
“Heh!” Mama’s
mood improved. “Step B . . . Honey?”
Her blonde daughter turned
around her laptop to
show the others.
“Catfished the CEO
with the photos of me in the
leopard-print bikini, Mama. Got every password of his.”
“Good girl,”
Mama chirped. “How’s Step C,
Fitz?”
Her youngest child gave
a toothy grin. “Found
the boss’s slush fund with Honey’s passwords.”
“The CEO skimmed company
funds, hiding them
from shareholders,” Cyber Doc explained, rubbing Fitz’s mop of hair. “We tucked
them into a bank on a Caribbean Island where the boss won’t find ‘em.”
Honey gasped at the figures.
“Mama…that’s
enough to save your trailer, an’ get you a catamaran!”
Ma Tasker shook her head.
“No boats, Hon. We’ll
jes’ use that money to buy back all the land, bringin’ mah evicted friends back
to their homes.”
She put her hands on her
hips, adding a
satisfied smirk. “Republic of Condo just learned a big lesson. Nobody messes
with Mama!”
John
A. Tures began writing for the El Paso Herald-Post in high
school. He wrote for his college paper at Trinity University in San Antonio and
at Marquette University. He earned his doctorate at Florida State University,
analyzed data in Washington D.C., is now a Professor at LaGrange College. He
writes a weekly column for newspapers and magazines. He has published a number
of short story mysteries and thrillers. His book Branded will
come out later this year with Huntsville Independent Press (Huntsville Independent Press).
He thanks family and friends for listening to his stories.
