The Right to Bear

“… it’s a horrible, horrible situation. And we’re not going to fix it.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) 

“Babe, are you sure we can afford Kaynes Steakhouse and the Catbird Seat? We can cheap out on dinner one night if we need to.” Lorelai, 7 months pregnant, sweeps into the living room working a calculator, holding a notebook, walking, and talking all at once. “I’m looking forward to this trip but I’m not looking forward to it breaking us right before we have this baby.”

“Honey,” Dean stands from the sofa to greet his wife's belly with a hand and a grin. “A babymoon is to celebrate and bid farewell to a child free life. We will not have a chance to see the inside of a restaurant like those two for years. They are luxury at its finest! It is now or darn near never. Yes, expensive but we and this baby bean are worth it. The reservations are already made, and we won’t go broke.”

“Fine. We could downgrade the hotel. We are staying at the Westin! We could just stay at the Holiday Inn. Nice and much cheaper.”

“What part of treating ourselves and celebrating means ‘going cheap’ to you?”

“What part means ‘going broke’ to you?” 

“Woman! We are not changing a single part of this trip! You are ordered to let go and enjoy every bit of it. You will love the hotel. You will delight in the food. You will rejuvenate and relax on the spa day. Finally, you will do the 7 months pregnant version of rocking out in the box seats for the concert. Got it? You are ordered to have fun and let go of worries for this babymoon. We waited too long and tried too hard to get this baby for you to not enjoy every part of the process after getting pregnant, including this trip.”

“But Babe…”

“But nothing! Relax, enjoy, no worries!”

“Dean, we are 42. We cannot just SPEND!” Lorelai starts ticking life's responsibilities off on her fingers. “Baby, retirement, housing, daily living ex…”

Holding her hands in his hands, Dean says, “We can afford it! Come on, lover of mine, sit and watch tv with me. Relax! For three days you will have no worries. Only delight.” 

As Dean promised, dinner the first night was divine. Luxuriating in the bed of their suite at the Westin on this second day, Dean holds Lorelai big spoon style with a hand resting on her stomach while both enjoy the little ones jumping jack routine. “Lai-Lai, aren’t you glad we didn’t skip Kaynes? My ribeye…”

“Was interrupted by Georgia.” Her ire is clear. She goes stiff in his arms. “It’s been years. It’s been five years, and we are still being haunted by very real ghosts of your girlfriends past. You said so many times you could end it, but she called the restaurant looking for you. How Dean? How did she know where to find us in a city we don’t live in, Dean?” Lorelai gets angrier with every question. “Why do you insist on not involving the police, Dean? Why is her terrorizing our relationship ok with you, Dean?” 

“We cannot keep arguing about this Lai. Obviously, it isn’t ok. It’s complicated.”

“It is very much NOT complicated! She is your ex and she, years after the breakup, is still stalking you. You have had ample opportunity to end this but have not. What complication am I missing?” Dean tries to speak but she quickly cuts him off. “Let me help you. You will say it's not that simple then I remind you that it is. You will say what can she do to us, and I remind you that she aimed a car at me, stole your identity, and humiliated me in front of my family, all of which are ‘somethings’ she has done. What’s next Dean? You will say I don’t want to involve the police, it won't be good for her. Then I say she needs help, and this isn’t good for our relationship.  You will say how good she was to you in the past. Leaving me to quash the desire to say screw you both and I end the convo.”  With that, she removes herself from the bed, the room, and the conversation.

Dean is left to his own thoughts. He knows it isn’t fair to make his wife deal with Georgia. He knows he owes Lorelai more, but he feels sorry for Georgia. She is not stable, and he does not want to be what finally pushes her over the edge. Kid gloves, if he continues to handle Georgia with kid gloves surely, she will eventually move on. Dean gets out of the bed and turns on the TV. May as well get up and woo his wife back into a good mood before the couple's day at the spa in a few hours. In theory, nothing would be more uncomfortable than a couples massage where the couple in question isn’t talking.

The television comes on to the morning news “... So it’s a horrible, horrible situation. And we’re not going to fix it. Criminals are going to be criminals. And my daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese. And he told me, he said, Buddy, he said, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.”  On the newscast is Tennessee Representative Tim Burchette. There has been another school shooting.  “... I don’t see any real role that we can do other than mess things up, honestly, because of the situation. Like I said, I don’t think a criminal is going to stop guns.” Lorelai comes back into the room brushing her teeth.

“Oh no. Not again.” Her anger has been replaced with sadness and worry as she takes in the news story. “Dean, the world, it's just getting worse. How can we trust enough to put this little one in school when the time comes? Hell, how can we trust the world enough to even leave the house. This is happening every day somewhere in America. I’m just so scared. How can anyone be safe anywhere nowadays?”

“How? By getting the guns off the streets. But Burchette literally just said he won’t support doing anything like that at all. That’s OUR congressman! Doing nothing for his voters! Look, he just said that his way of protecting his child is to homeschool. What about those of us who don’t happen to have a paycheck from the US government?!? We need to work and can’t homeschool without giving up half our household income.  They protect their own and leave us out here in the wild wild west!”

“I don’t think we can afford homeschooling but maybe private schooling. If I go back to work sooner than we planned and save till its time, maybe.  Even then, I’d have to sit with the numbers to see if it's even a sustainable solution with the childcare we would need to get me back to work.”

“Honey, that was a private school. We have time to decide if we will put baby bean in public school, private school, or no school. The issue right now is that every time this happens, they have a barrel of bullshit to toss at the American people to disguise the problem as something it isn’t. If it’s never addressed, it will never change.”

“True. He just said that the country needed religion…’ I think we really need a revival in this country,’ were his exact words. We don’t need a prayer meeting. We need less access to guns. Every single time they offer thoughts and prayers but do no actual thinking about a solution and only pray they don’t have to answer for it. As you said, if it's never addressed it will never change.”

The spa has been a godsend after the stress of the fight this morning and the worry over the state of the nation. It’s a slow Saturday so the staff is almost laser focused on the couple. There have been manicures and pedicures, facials, haircuts, new styles, and lunch. Last event of the spa experience is the couples massage with hot rocks. Lorelai is already face down on the table. This establishment specializes in pregnant massage and has a table to accommodate Lorelai’s belly, but Dean and the masseuse had to help her into position. As he gets into position on his own table there is a commotion from elsewhere in the facility. “What is that,” Dean asks the masseuse. 

“I have no idea, but I will go find out if you will excuse me.” Before she touches the door the first shot is heard. “Oh no!”

“Shh! Kill the lights and hide. Does this door lock? Help me get her off the table!” Another round is heard, closer this time. Dean thinks he can hear someone calling his name. 

“No locks on treatment rooms, sir. Spa policy.” As the masseuse plunges the room into darkness there is another shot. Now Dean knows he does in fact hear his name.

“Come on out Dean! It’s time to go home! You have played long enough!” Georgia yells through the halls of the spa as she shoots again. 

“Oh my God Dean! Is that her?” Lorelai quietly wails. “She has lost touch with reality. Are those gunshots?”

“Lorelai - Shh! Another exit? What's behind the curtain?” He asks the worker.

“Shelves for towels and sheets. That’s the only way in or out,” says the masseuse, pointing at the door. “Shh…look under the door. Shadow. Don’t move.” The person on the other side of the door knocks twice. They call Dean’s name and then crack open the door. Feeling around unsuccessfully for a light switch there is a slight pause then two shots in quick succession. One through the door. The masseuse screams and falls to the floor. Georgia pushes the door fully open and finds the light switch. She is elated to have found her prize. The masseuse has taken a bullet to the midsection and writhes on the floor.

“DEAN! About time you turned up. There were only 2 rooms left.” Georgia is vibrating with happy energy. “It's time to go honey. I need you at home now.” From her vantage point of the door Georgia can see Lorelai but not her face as she is still sitting on the table facing away from the door. “I came to get you so let’s go now.”

“Don’t move.” Dean says to his wife without looking at her. Maybe if he ignores Lorelai Georgia will too. “Georgia, why are you here?”

“I said I came to pick you up. I drove 2 hours so I could get you home as quick as possible. Let’s go.” The worker continues to writhe and moan on the floor. “Shut up! I can’t talk over you!” she snaps. Immediately her sunny disposition returns as her attention goes back to Dean. “Honey, it’s been so long. I have made some changes to the house. I think you will like what I did with the living room. It’s done in gray now.” The simple act of trying to breath forces sound from the woman on the floor. Zeroing in on that sound Georgia loses it. “What the hell? Just be QUIET!” Georgia raises her gun and shoots twice into the masseuse. There will be no more sound.  “Better,” she says with a contented exhale.

“GEORGIA! My God Georgia, what are you doing?” Dean reaches for the woman on the floor and Georgia raises her gun again. He stands back up. “Okay. Talk to me then Georgia. Why has it come to this?”

“Because It’s time for you to come home. I need you at home.”

“Georgia, I have a home elsewhere. We broke up years ago. Remember? I live somewhere else now.”

“Not anymore. You are coming back to me today. Right now. That thing doesn’t need or deserve you.” She gestures to Lorelai, who still hasn’t moved a muscle, with the gun. “I need you. Let's go.”

“Georgia, I can’t do that, and I can’t protect you from …this.” He gestures to everywhere and everything. “I can’t fix this. These people will call the police.”

“Fix what? All I did was come to pick up my man.” She smiles, “This is me cleaning up the mess you made. It’s fine.”

“Georgia, honey, we are not together, and this will not be fine. You shot and killed a person. You will go to prison.”

“No prison. I get you. That’s the important thing. I get you and you will take care of me, and it will always be okay. You make me better. I won’t need the pills 'cause I’ll have you.”

“Pills? Georgia, can I have the gun while we talk?” He takes a tentative step forward. “It's easier to talk if we sit down and we don’t have a gun.” Dean knows Georgia is bipolar. It is usually well controlled with medication. If she is off her meds he is in mostly uncharted territory and that is terrifying. “Did you bring your pills with you, honey?” He tries for another step forward.

“No pills! I tried for so long Dean. I can’t do it alone anymore. I just need you! I can’t feel ANYTHING with those damn pills. But I felt everything when I had you. You are good for me so let’s just go home. It will all be better once we get home.”

Dean thinks he can hear sirens. Dean prays he’s hearing sirens. Another step forward. The closer he can get to Georgia the less likely she will focus on Lorelai. She came for him so she can have him. “Okay, we can go home now, but as soon as we leave this room you need to let me have the gun, honey. Deal?”

She lights up like a child on their birthday. It’s beautiful. It’s frightening. “Absolutely!  That heifer stays here, right? I don’t even want to see her face. You put her ass on time out as soon as I got here. Face the corner and shut up! I love you Dean.” 

“I love you too.” Dean is sure he can hear sirens now. He takes another step away from the massage table and towards Georgia and the door. The buzzer on the outside entrance sounds. Another step, now footfalls in the hallway. “Georgia, everything will be alright. I promise.” He is almost close enough to touch her when the door is thrown open, startling everyone. 

Guns drawn, two officers fill the door frame and demand to see everyone's hands. Dean easily complies as does his wife. Georgia does not move. “We are leaving now, you are not needed here,” she tosses over her shoulder at the officers. 

“Hands! Let me see your hands! NOW!” To Lorelai goes the order to “slowly get off the table so we can see you fully! NOW!” Georgia still does not move, but Lorelai very slowly, clumsily dismounts the table and turns to the officers, hands held at shoulder height. One of the officers has come fully into the small room, the other still holds the door position. “Hands NOW!” He repeats as he comes parallel with Georgia. 

Georgia, whose attention is fully on Lorelai for the first time. “What the f… You knocked this heifer up?!? Dean no! Another MESS!” Georgia raised her gun again and the world became chaos. 

“Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this august body of legislators. My name is Dean Kennedy. I lost my wife 3 years ago to my own stupidity and preventable gun violence.” This moment has been many years and many tears in the making. The people of Tennessee used two shootings mere hours and only a few miles apart as the driving force behind a push for new, common sense gun laws in America. They failed on the state level. Today is a meeting before Congress to put their ideas in front of the national lawmakers.

“Georgia Jones, my ex before marriage, was the assailant. Georgia had documented mental health issues and according to her doctors was likely having a manic psychotic episode. Despite her documented mental health issues, she was able to legally obtain a firearm, travel 2 hours to Nashville while stalking my wife and I, and kill 4 people before killing my wife. Georgia was killed by officers on the scene as she shot my pregnant wife. Proving her mental instability, she said she was killing Lorelai because she was pregnant. She claimed to be cleaning up a mess. Georgia was not a monster. She was merely a very flawed human who needed help instead of a pistol. Georgia was battling her demons to the best of her ability.”

“Her single shot to the head left my seven-month pregnant wife brain dead.” Dean continued. “She could not be saved. She would never wake again. She was on life support for a month to give the baby the best possible chance. Our daughter is three and will never meet her mom. Given Georgia’s documented mental health issues, she should have never been able to obtain a firearm. There are just enough holes in our current laws to make it possible for this to happen again. We do not want to ban all guns. We believe in the right to bear arms. I do not however believe that Georgia’s right to bear arms should have outweighed Lorelai's right to bear our child to full term and to raise her.”