The Cell Block Tango Chapter 1 – Pop

A/N- This will be a series of one shots based on the song The Cell Block Tango from the musical Chicago. It will not be in my rotation but will be more along the lines of when I get writers block on the other fic's or the fire of inspiration hits me. Warnings: Language

And now the six marry murderesses of the cook county jail in their rendition of the cell block tango.

"You know how people have these little habits that get you down." Lee said in an agitated voice as she struck match after match while walking down the walkway of the prison, "Like Eddy. Eddy, he liked to chew gum. No, not chew. POP."

Lee and Eddy had moved to Chicago a few years ago to find work, the great depression as they were calling it, had made jobs hard to come by in the small town they were from. What little money they had was spent on the apartment they rented and a few essentials. The building was a worn down mess, the room they rented was barely a livable space for one person let alone two, and the price they were paying in rent a month was outrageous. So right out the gate the first thing Lee had to do was go out there and find work, Eddy on the other hand sat at home checking the classifieds for factory work. Which admittedly would bring in more money than the jobs Lee could find waiting tables or minding some counter at a department store.

But she did what was needed to and walked for miles in search of work, at first she checked the stores and restaurants close to the apartment. But no jobs were to be found close to home, so she expanded her search radius walking further and further from home every day. Finally finding a waitressing job two miles from home, that wasn't too bad right. It would just be a block to the trolley stop then a twenty-minute ride to her stop and a three block walk from there to her job, then back again once her shift was over. Nothing to it right, she could handle this, she would have to if they wanted to eat and have a roof over their heads.

Eddy's job hunt wasn't going so well, if it was going anywhere at all, every day she would leave for work he would still be sitting at the table looking at the paper. Every evening when she came home he would still be in the apartment drinking a beer and chewing his gum, incessantly popping it, as though it was some nervous tick he had developed. "Hey, Eddy," she yanks the pillow out from under him, "What have you been doin all day while I'm bustin my hump?"

"Out lookin for work," he rolls over on the bed facing away from her.

"Oh really, don't look like it from where I'm standin," she picks up some of the mess on the floor, "You could at least help out around here, pick up after yourself."

"That's the dame's job," he waved her off, "Now go fix me some dinner."

Day in and day out this was her life, get up go to work, bust her ass for very little money and very rarely any tips, it was the depression after all, people just didn't have the money to spare. Then after all this and the trip home she would walk through the door just to have to clean up after him and cook for the both of them.

Two months of this treatment and she was close to over it, why was she supporting his lazy ass, she could make it on her own no problem. Why was she putting up with this, she didn't need him, she didn't need nobody in her life that treated her like this, a doormat to wipe their feet on, a work horse to whip.

The day of November first just started off on a sour note, first off Eddy didn't even make the pretense of getting out of bed to go "job hunting". She just sighed and got ready for work, finally getting out the door on time but still needing to rush for the trolley stop. Work was a mad house, being a Saturday, people were stopping in to eat as they did their Christmas shopping. Also working a double today, she got the pleasure of the late crowd as they were headed to the speakeasies, some of them already noticeably drunk and rather hands on.

On her way home she breaks her shoes heel as she was walking to the trolley stop from work, missed the trolley and had to wait for the next one alone in the cold November night for an hour. Then the trudge home to find the apartment a wreck, no food for supper and there's Eddy, lyin' on the couch, drinkin' a beer and chewin'. No, not chewin'. Poppin'.

"What are you doin'," she pushes him violently her frustration getting the better of her, "why don' ya get ya lazy ass out there and find a job."

"I'm looking," he bellowed at her, "You think it's easy?" POP.

"Ya right, all you do is sit around here and drink," she runs her hand through her hair, "Wastin my hard earned money on liquor."

"Fuck you, you god damn bitch," incessant chewing, "I'm trying." POP.

"You pop that gum one more time," she yelled as she pointed a finger at him.

"Yeah, what you going to do about it," and he did, POP.

So she took the shotgun off the wall and fired two warning shots...into his head. The police report was simple, domestic dispute gone wrong, she was charged with murder in the first degree and awaits her trial in the Cook County Jail.

He had it coming, he had it coming, he only had himself to blame. If you'd have been there, if you'd have heard it, I betcha you would have done the same!