The Daydream Cabin

by Brown, Carolyn

  “When your girls arrive, you will give them each a handbook,” Henry said. “And then you will take some time to go over the rules with them. Y’all would do well to highlight each and every one of these rules and the disciplinary action that will be taken if they break one of them. We don’t take kindly to the I-didn’t-know excuse, and you can put money on it that one of them will use it before the first week is out.”

  “Why would they do that if this is their last chance?” Jayden asked. “Forget I said that. We deal with all kinds of problems in my school, too . . . and just as many excuses for why they did what they did.”

  “Honey, that’s in all schools now,” Novalene said. “Family structures and the constantly changing world around us make it tough to navigate. Teachers, and especially us counselors, feel the burden of having to deal with the effect all this has on the kids.”

  “Amen!” Jayden agreed, and drizzled honey over her sopaipilla.

  “Why do you think that is?” Henry asked.

  “Because in all the fussin’ about what should be done, each of those adults wants their way. They spend more time fighting among themselves about who is right than they do paying attention to the kid,” Jayden answered.

  When they finished eating, Mary passed around sheets of paper. “These are the specifics on your summer-session girls. Y’all need to know all of them. We’ll start with the Daydream Cabin that belongs to Jayden. Tiffany Jordan struggles with bulimia and was caught shoplifting. She also has two priors for cyberbullying—taking pictures of overweight girls and posting them on the internet with hateful messages. Carmella Ruiz has been before the judge three times for shoplifting. Ashlyn Causey was caught for the third time driving while under the influence.”

  Ashlyn, Tiffany, and Carmella, Jayden repeated the names silently.

  “Novalene, you have Moonbeam Cabin as usual, and your girls are Lauren Fielding, who has anger issues combined with drug issues. She’s been in rehab more than once. Bailey Morse, who’s been caught cooking meth for distribution for the third time. And last is Keelan Johnson, who sells cocaine to her fellow high school students and also to the vo-tech kids she went to classes with there.”

  Sounds like a Tuesday in my school, Jayden thought.

  “Diana, you get Rita Standish. She was beaten so many times by her stepfather that she acted out by trying to burn down the house. Next is Quinley McAdams. She’s had assault charges brought against her for fighting with other girls. And last is Violet O’Hare. Her boyfriend got her on drugs and then abused her. She got tired of it and put him in the hospital. He filed assault charges on her.”

  “Looks like we’ve all got our work cut out for us,” Diana said.

  Jayden felt a little better now that she knew what she was dealing with. She enjoyed counseling the kids in her school, and she felt confident that she could be a help to these girls.

  These girls will be with you twenty-four hours every day, seven days a week, for two months. You don’t get to counsel with them an hour or two and then go home at the end of the day. Her mother’s voice was in her head and Jayden couldn’t argue with her.

  “Dammit!” she muttered under her breath.

  “You just realized what you bit off, didn’t you?” Novalene asked.

  “I’m afraid I did,” she said.

  Elijah started for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Henry asked.

  “To get the keys out of the van. We might have a runner,” Elijah teased.

  Novalene laid a hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “I’ve been doin’ this for ten years, honey. You just give them my little speech when they first arrive, and that will set the mood for the whole time.”

  Jayden was warming up to Novalene. “And what speech is that?”

  Novalene pushed back her chair and slowly stood up, squared her shoulders, and narrowed her eyes. Her expression sent chills down Jayden’s back. “Listen up, girls, because I only intend to say this once. You may think you are going to drive me up the walls, and you might do just that. Remember this, though. I can only climb up that wall so far”—she turned around and pointed behind her—“and then I’m going to fall, and when I do, it will be right on top of you.” She whipped around and pointed her finger right at Jayden.

  Elijah chuckled and came back to the table. “That’s a pretty good speech.”

  “It sets the mood very well. We have to be tough at first and lighten up as they earn it.” Novalene smiled and sat back down in her chair. “I’m going to go over the book, and then take a nap. Today will be the last time I get to have one for the next eight weeks.”

  “And now for the crowning glory.” Elijah brought out three baseball caps in different colors and explained the reasoning behind each as he passed them out. “Dark blue for Novalene with a moon on the front for the Moonbeam Cabin. Yellow with a bright sun for Diana for the Sunshine Cabin. Clouds on a pink hat for Jayden.”

  “Why do I get clouds when my cabin is called Daydream?” she asked.

  “Daydreams are like clouds, ever changing and bringing much-needed rain to the parched earth,” Mary answered. “When you read the handbook, you will find that your girls are not allowed to be outside without their caps that go with their cabins. That way we’ll be able to locate and know which one belongs to which counselor.”

  “Amen to that.” Jayden crammed the cap down on her head and stood up. “I’m going to help Mary clean up this kitchen and then go unpack and wander around the place so I know where everything is located.”

  “See you at suppertime,” Diana said.

  “Thanks for the offer, Jayden, but me and Henry got this,” Mary said. “Elijah, you should go show Jayden where everything is located, and you might tell her a little about each place and why we do things the way we do.” Mary shooed them out with the flick of her wrist. “Now get going, and help these ladies get their suitcases into their cabins.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Elijah snapped to attention and saluted.

  Mary shook a fork at him. “Don’t you go all smart-ass on me. You’ll own this place in a few months, but right now I’m still your boss as well as your aunt.”

  Elijah chuckled and tipped the brim of his cap toward her. “You know I love you, Aunt Mary.”

  “Aunt Mary?” Jayden asked.

  “I claim him most days.” She smiled. “When he’s being a bad boy, then he’s Henry’s kin, not mine.”

  “Henry is my mother’s brother,” Elijah explained. “Let’s get out of here before Aunt Mary”—he put emphasis on the last two words—“decides to kick me out and not sell this place to me after all.”

  “Thanks again for the offer to help clean up, Jayden. I might just take you up on it sometime,” Mary said.

  “Anytime,” Jayden threw over her shoulder as she followed Elijah outside.

  Diana and Novalene were halfway across what must be considered a lawn, since it had some sparse green grass on it. But it sure didn’t look like the gorgeous lawn her mother and grandfather had kept. Jayden glanced at the Daydream Cabin and sighed as she headed toward the van.

  Elijah beat her to it, opened the door, and jerked the keys from the ignition. “Just takin’ the necessary precaution. If you run, then I’ll have to step in and be the counselor for the Daydream girls, and I don’t think it would go over too good to have a man living with them.”

  “I gave my word, and I never go back on that.” She grabbed her suitcase and headed toward her new home. Elijah jogged across the yard and opened the door for her.

  “Thank you,” she said as she walked into the living room and stopped in her tracks. “The inside is so different from the front of the cabin. Whew!” She wiped sweat from her brow. “It’s almost as hot in here as it is outside.”

  “Yep.” Elijah grinned. “We just faced the front with wood siding so it would look a little more inviting. There is a small window air conditioner in the girls’ bedroom and in yours, but we advise against using them in the day, because
they freeze up so badly in this climate. Save the cool for the night so you can sleep better.”

  Sweet Jesus! she thought as she parked her suitcase in the middle of the floor and looked around at the stark furnishings. Two worn but soft-looking leather sofas faced each other with a scarred and beat-up coffee table between them. The only inviting thing in the room was a bookcase on the far wall, filled with all kinds of reading material and baskets of craft supplies. She noticed there were no knitting needles or scissors.

  “Your room is in here.” Elijah opened a door to the right. “The girls will bunk over here.” He crossed the room and pointed into another that held a footlocker at the end of each of three cots and a metal rack for clothing beside each one.

  “Bathroom?” Jayden asked.

  “The bathhouse is out back beside the laundry room,” he answered. “I’ll show it to you right now.”

  I hope you have a miserable trip to Europe, Skyler Jane Bennett, she fumed as she followed him out of the cabin. You could’ve told me that I’d have to go outside with the lizards and coyotes just to take a shower or use the bathroom.

  “I bet these girls just love this,” she muttered as she kept in step with Elijah.

  “They hate it, but it’s good for them.” He stopped at a building with BATHHOUSE painted on the swinging sign above the door. “This is for ladies only. I’ll wait for you out here.”

  “And do you have a bathroom in whatever building you live in?” She crossed her arms over her chest and wished she could cross her legs, but she refused to let him see her do a fancy little bladder dance into the place.

  “See that little building beyond the clotheslines? That’s my house, and the one on down from there is where Henry and Mary live. We have bathrooms and we also have central heat and air in our places.” He grinned.

  “Now you’re just showing off,” she said as she stepped inside the hot building. Maybe they should repaint the sign to say SAUNA AND BATHHOUSE. She counted six showers with plastic curtains and as many toilet stalls, but there were only three sinks, and they did not have mirrors above them. When she finished in one of the stalls, she washed her hands, dried them on a brown paper towel, and went back outside.

  Elijah waited with his back against the stucco and arms folded over his chest. Did the man not realize that was a true sign that he was blocking everyone out of his life?

  “No mirrors?” She raised an eyebrow. “And I didn’t see any in the cabin, either.”

  “They each have what they need, including a hand mirror in their footlockers,” he answered. “We’ll walk this way so you can see the stables.”

  “Horses?” She asked another one-word question.

  “Not for riding. We don’t even own a saddle. Henry adopted three horses and two donkeys that were going to be sent to the slaughterhouse. Grooming and walking them make for excellent therapy for the girls, plus someone has to muck out the stables daily, so that’s another good job.” His stride was long, and he walked fast.

  She lengthened her step only a little to keep up with him. “My DUI girl can do that. How often does it need done?”

  “Every day the horses need exercise. I usually have whoever has that job walk them on the trail out to the half-mile marker and back. Why do you think your DUI girl should take over that job?”

  “Seems like a good thing since she’s been driving recklessly while drinking. She can see what she’d have to depend on if she lost her license,” Jayden replied.

  “Sounds reasonable to me.” Elijah grinned again. “You’re tougher than your sister.”

  “I do my best.” Jayden had worked hard over the years to develop a tough skin and took pride in her resilience. That Elijah noticed put a smile on her face. “Now let’s go see these rescued animals.”

  “We’re a working farm. Not only do we have horses and donkeys, we have hogs and chickens, and those ugly critters you see wandering around out there are guineas. They keep the tick population down to a minimum. Mary also has a garden out back of the dining room that provides us with fresh vegetables, and Henry keeps two milk cows and about twenty head of cattle. The girls will learn how to milk, haul hay, and maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll even have a calf born out of season so they can experience that,” he explained as they walked side by side.

  “Oh, I can tell you right now that they’re going to love all that,” she said. “I haven’t had teenagers in my school who think they’re entitled. What do I need to expect?”

  “Kids are kids whether they have money or not,” he answered. “Like we said before, this is a private boot camp, not a state-run one. We do have an agreement with the state through the judges that lets the parents send their girls here. If the girls get three demerits, we can take them to the jail in Alpine and they will go to juvie or back home to visit with the judge who sent them here. Most of the time they hate everything about the camp at first, but by the end of their stay, they hate to leave.”

  Chapter Four

  Thank God I listened to Henry when he showed up at my motel room,” Elijah said to his reflection in the bathroom mirror after he’d shaved and splashed lotion on his face.

  He’d thought Henry was downright crazy that summer day two years ago when he’d shown up in San Antonio and told him—didn’t ask him or give him a choice—that Elijah was going to work with him at the camp.

  He’d been to the camp when he had leave, but never when it was in session, and working with nine smart-ass rich girls wasn’t his idea of something to do with the rest of his life, but he didn’t argue. Henry and Mary were his only living relatives, and he loved them dearly. He could give them a couple of months, since he didn’t have anything else to do.

  “Family,” he muttered as he turned away from the mirror. “I’ve learned that they can be taken away in the blink of an eye.”

  The air force had given him a family with a bond that most people would have difficulty understanding. He had purpose in his life, a reason to feel good about the job he did, and then three of his team members were gone—killed. He and the other three kept in touch, but it wasn’t the same as working with them.

  Just like that. He snapped his fingers and left the bathroom to get dressed.

  Even after more than two years, the memory of helping carry those flag-draped caskets off the plane brought tears to Elijah’s eyes. He’d lost three members of his family, and he mourned for them even yet.

  He wiped his eyes and reminded himself that today began a new session. He’d settled into the routine fairly quickly from the beginning, when Henry had brought him to the camp the day before the summer session began, sobered him up with coffee and good food, and told him exactly what his job was. For the first couple of days, Henry helped him get acclimated to the regimen, and then he stepped back and turned it over to him.

  By the end of July, he could see progress in the nine girls who had been sent to the camp, and he’d felt a sense of pride in what he had accomplished. He decided to give himself a year before reenlisting. More than seven sessions later, he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

  A glance at the clock brought him back to the present. He pulled on a pair of camouflage pants, tucked his shirt in, and buckled his belt. Then he sat down in a straight-backed chair and put on his combat boots. They were the only thing that he still had from his air force days. He’d long since worn out those camo pants, but they’d been so comfortable that he had decided to order more. Besides, dressing that way gave Piney Wood a little bit more of a boot camp feel to it.

  He walked out onto his porch and sucked in a lungful of fresh morning air, and then started for the dining hall. The first day of camp was really his favorite time. The girls arrived with their problems all wound up tight around them like chains. It reminded him of those first days of air force boot camp in San Antonio.

  He and the other recruits had to learn a whole new world just like these girls did. A couple of guys who started boot camp with him had washed out. During the two years
he had been at Piney Wood, he had had to take three girls to the jail in Alpine. They were either shipped on to juvie, or else their parents pulled some strings to get them in private rehab centers, but he wondered about them, just like he did about those guys who didn’t make it to the end of boot camp.

  Elijah had felt a sense of failure every time he had to drive one of the girls to the jail—just like he did when he couldn’t save those three buddies who had died. “Matty, Tommy, and Derrick.” He whispered their names. Sometimes he had trouble seeing their faces and had to look at the picture of the seven members of his team to get everything back into focus. When that happened, he felt guilty and oftentimes apologized to the picture even though it seemed silly to talk to a photograph.

  “Hey! Wait up,” Henry called out from behind him.

  Elijah stopped. When Henry caught up, Elijah shortened his stride so his uncle wouldn’t have to rush. “You ready for this?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Henry said. “I can’t wait to see how Jayden does. She seems a lot tougher than her sister. Skyler got the job done all right, but just between me and you, I think Jayden might do better.”

  “Why’s that?” Elijah had felt something stirring down deep when he shook hands with her, and every time she was close by, the same thing happened all over again. Nothing could come of it, not when they worked together. Still, it was the first time he had had any type of feelings for a woman in the past two years. Could his bad luck be changing?

  “She’s worked in a pretty tough school. Skyler came to us from a private religious school that was . . .” Henry frowned.

  “That was kind of protected compared to a public school in a big city?” Elijah finished for him.

  “Yep, that’s it,” Henry said. “What did you think of her? We couldn’t see a lot from the headshot we got. I figured she’d be a little woman like her sister.”

  Elijah told him what Jayden had said about one of her girls exercising the horses. “Sounds to me like she’s going to be a good addition to the summer session.”