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Judy's Secret

This one's a bit of a downer, so if you're in a good mood, skip it and come back later.

I work with this little old lady, named Judy, who for the most part I have ignored completely.

She's really tiny, and doesn't even come up to my chest (I'm a hair under 6'2).  She's nothing but skin and bone, and her voice trembles and is weak.  Judy is the epitome of frailty.  I'm guessing she's in her mid to late 60's, and I know she makes roughly a mere ten bucks an hour.

The little shitty job she has is her only source of income, and even though she's full time, her boss always cuts her hours short every week. 

Normally, I don't talk to her, or care to for that matter.  She only finds me when she needs me to reach something for her, or to unlock something, or to access something on the computer.  She mumbles to herself, and I secretly believe she's not all there.  Kinda sad, really, but wait it gets worse.

A couple of weeks ago, another employee told me about Judy's problems at home.  Her husband died several years ago and left her with next to nothing.  She has a daughter living with her, who refuses to work.  Her daughter has a live in boyfriend, who also refuses to work and is abusive.  Supposedly the live-in deadbeat boyfriend bosses everyone around, and takes Judy's money (which isn't much) and her car whenever he feels like it... which is, apparently, all the time.

I try to stay away from work place gossip like this, so I blew it off when the employee told me, not thinking anything more about it.

That was until today, when I had to run to Staples to get some computer paper. 

When I get back, I park my truck, which has dark tinted windows, and I see Judy standing at the other end of the parking lot.  She's standing beside her rusted piece of crap car with the door wide open, her little arms crossed and her feet closed together, head tilted downward, like a timid and slightly terrified child afraid she's going to be backhanded by an abusive father.  Standing directly in front of her is some skeezy asshole screaming at the top of his lungs and jabbing a stiff index finger in her face.  This is out in the middle of public, where people easily are taking notice.  In the passenger seat of the car, I can make out the image of someone's head, presumably her daughter.

The dude is yelling so loud I can hear it over my music (which I blast) and my windows all the way up, and he's a good 50 or 60 feet away.  At first I was just in shock, and then I remembered the rumors the employee told me.  I didn't know what to do at first, but I knew what I was seeing was severely pissing me off.

As I jumped out of my truck, he walked around Judy like some kind of thug and snatched the keys out of her hands.  Then he got in the car and slammed the door as hard as he could. By the time I got to the car, he had already backed out of the parking space and had cut the wheel, he looked over his shoulder at me approaching, and I made a gesture to "come here" as I flicked my wrist and cupped hand backwards towards me.  The chicken shit just floored it and spun out with the already bald tires. The car was already 20 years old and only god-knows how many miles it had on it.

I turned and looked at Judy and said, "You let him talk to you like that?"

She looked at the ground, obviously embarrassed, looking almost the same way she did when she thought she was about to be hit, and said, "I know."

"What do you mean, you know?"

Then she said, "Well, we only have one car...."

_____________________________________________________

I don't know what to do about this.  Should I call the police?  Should I forget what I saw and not get involved?  I really feel bad for that poor lady, and since this afternoon I can't stop thinking about it... but what can anyone do to help her?

 

 

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