by A N Sandra
“I know how much that sucks,” Joshua said. In the moment there was no feeling of pain, but the loss of his father was still an empty place that he had not let himself dwell on. He managed to keep a clear head, probably due to the ivory box that he never put away, but nothing could heal the loss of the person Joshua trusted most. He had also lost the closeness of his family, but he hoped that was temporary.
“Your dad is gone, gone,” Court told Joshua with her eyes fixed on something Joshua couldn’t see. “My mom is just… gone.”
“Huh?”
“My dad had the Hollister mental health people take her away four years ago,” Court said. She sat up and took another toke from the blunt and offered it to Joshua before putting it out again. “I was seventeen, I didn’t know what to do. My grandparents, her parents, tried to go through the legal channels to get her back, but they were old, lawyers charge a lot, and the mental health people kept promising she’d be out soon if she was really fine.”
“Wow,” Joshua said. It was one thing for Uncle Kenny to put Brock in one of those places. Uncle Kenny couldn’t possibly have known what it was really like. He had probably thought Brock would be in a cozy, clean, well-staffed group home. It would have been impossible for him to conceive of the people warehoused in the filthy den of death Joshua and his father and brother had broken into. Court’s father was a doctor for Global Forces. He would have known what one of those places was like, and yet he still sent his daughter’s mother there.
“My mother left him when I was six,” Court said. “My brother was four. My father was a busy doctor and when he came home, he would order my mother around, insult her, and make her cry. When I was six, she got a good job offer out of the blue, she took her chances and left him. Everything was fine for a while. My brother and I lived with our mom, and her house was a really good place.”
“What changed?”
“My dad married my stepmom, and she had kids of her own, so he didn’t see why she couldn’t take care of my brother and I too. I think he felt like my mom wasn’t necessary anymore. My dad is one of those doctors that thinks he’s God. He never got over my mother leaving him. He felt like she didn’t have that right. So, he took her to court and paid a bunch of phony experts to say she was mentally unstable and a drunk. He got custody, but she still had visitation, so we went to her house quite a bit. It saved us, being with her. My stepmother is a controlling maniac, so she was perfect for my dad, but their house was always full of drama.”
“I hate drama,” Joshua reflected. There had been a lot of tense days with six kids in one house, but there were very few crisis situations in his family until Uncle Kenny left Aunt Joyce. The ramifications of Uncle Kenny’s selfishness had caused trouble in the normally peaceful Henderson home.
“Probably your parents did too, and you had a pleasant home” Court said. “My mom was a fun person, but my dad just couldn’t relax and be happy. It was really hard to live with my father and my stepmother. They always had to have some chaos and mostly they were always making up stuff my mom supposedly did to them. Anyone who knew my mom knew they were lying, but they never worried about getting caught.”
“Some people don’t mind getting caught lying,” Joshua reflected. “They just start telling bigger lies.” He thought of the whoppers Susan had told to justify having his father killed. Anyone who knew Bud knew that he hadn’t attacked Susan (although he had picked up and physically removed her from his house), but Susan had managed to destroy Joshua’s family with lies. Even Caleb, who should have known Bud the best, had taken her side.
“At my junior high orientation my stepmother ran up to my mom, who was helping me open my locker, threw herself on the ground, and started screaming that my mother had pushed her.”
“Psycho.” Joshua analyzed Court’s nutty stepmother from his stoned viewpoint.
“Oh, yeah, she’s super psycho,” Court agreed. “But she plans her nutty stuff really well. She never pulled that at my brother’s school. My father loves my brother. They did all their crappy stuff to me to hurt my mom.”
“Not fair,” Joshua interjected.
“Everyone loves my brother. He’s charming. He was born charming. His name is even Channing, so it sounds like charming. My father always wanted me to choose him over my mom. I always did. I knew he’d make my life miserable if I didn’t. It was never enough, though. Finally, he made me make a statement about my mom and the Hollister people used that to take her away.”
“I’m sorry,” Joshua said. Being stoned at the moment, he couldn’t really internalize how evil such an act was, but even in an altered state he knew Court’s father sounded like Susan. Why had Court's mother ever married such a person? He must have trapped her the same way Susan had trapped Caleb. Joshua didn’t understand that kind of dark allure. The witchcraft that surely must be involved with a union between someone like Susan and someone like Caleb was beyond Joshua.
“He’d have done it without me anyway. It took me more than a year to see that, but I know it now. He just really wanted me to be complicit with hurting her. After that he wouldn’t give me my college money. He said the account got hacked and there was no money in there… I’d have to join the Hollister Youth Foundation if I wanted to pay for college.”
“He’s a jerk,” Joshua said.
“He makes more money in two weeks than college tuition for a year would be anywhere, even someplace like Harvard. I know I have a trust fund, but he’d never let me have it because that would be giving up control. I just wanted to get away from him, so I joined the Hollister Youth Foundation.”
“Good for you,” Joshua told her. The pot was amazing. In his relaxed state he noticed odd things. “The texture on the ceiling is really good. My cousin BJ does drywall and I don’t think he could do that—”
“The drywall is really good,” Court agreed. “We could use more drywall at the compound. I don’t have any more favors to call in or I’d ask Curtis to get your cousin to come do it.”
“Curtis said my family could come if I worked out,” Joshua said. “I’m holding him to that.”
“If we get out of this job without ending up on a bridge crew you can hold him to that,” Court said. “Let’s take it one thing at a time.”
Four hours and lots of expensive room service later, Joshua, Brooke, and Court were in their car on their way to Beverly Hills. Joshua hadn’t driven in SoCal before, but Court gave him good advice and directions.
“This neighborhood scares the crap out of me,” Joshua fretted. “I’m too broke to afford air in this place.”
“My dad wouldn’t pay for it himself. Global Forces makes him live in this gated community for his protection.”
“Who would attack the head doctor of Global Forces?”
“A really good person. The Hollisters are super bad people.” Court shrugged. “They have lots of enemies. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
At the entrance to the gated community Court put her hand on Joshua’s arm.
“Just stop, stay here, and stay quiet. Lights off, no matter what, okay?” She looked at him in the dark car.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Court hopped out and fiddled with the box by the gate. All of them waited in the dark before a security guard showed up and he and Court had an animated exchange that lasted twenty minutes but ended when another car came, used their clicker, and drove through. Court was careful to turn from the car so that her face was never visible. Joshua was impressed at how smoothly she handled the guard. With a flirty wave Court turned back to the car and the security guard let them go.
“We have the code for the month,” Court said smugly. “My stepmom, Valinda, never Val, never Linda, couldn’t be nice to one of these guys to save her life. They know me. My mom was always nice when she came to pick me up for visitation, but Valinda always has to be a very brittle, super bossy, special snowflake and make these guys bend over backwards. So, I slipped them a tiny bag of pot. It won’t keep both of them high for a week, but t
hey let me have the code to the gate. Oh, yeah.”
“You’re amazing,” Brooke told Court as Joshua drove them past McMansions on either side of the street.
“Being kind is free.” Court shrugged. “Tonight and tomorrow night are just dry runs. I need you to know how to get through the neighborhood. Turn left here… left again here… fourth house on the left.”
The huge house of many windows, fountains, and gables would have been impressive anywhere, with landscaping that set Joshua back even though he was seeing it in the dark. Almost all the lights were off. Court frowned. Joshua remembered what she had said about both of her stepsisters and her brother getting their college paid for but hers was not. There was probably no one home other than a middle-aged doctor and his snowflake wife.
“Just pull up to the curb and park for a few minutes,” Court said.
All three of them slowed their breathing while they watched the huge house. Nothing happened while they waited. A few minutes turned into half an hour.
“They are old and boring,” Court noted. “We’ll try this again tomorrow, partly so the neighbors see the car. Day after tomorrow, we’re going in.”
“All three of us?” Joshua asked. The house was huge, and a bad feeling seemed to emanate from it.
“You and Brooke are only going as far as the garage. You’re the driver. You have to get the car.” Court grinned although Joshua had a feeling that she was scared. Joshua had learned that when he was scared, even with the ivory box in his pocket, there was a good reason to think about what you were doing. The plan was moving forward even though no one other than Curtis thought it was a good idea. “We’ll be leaving in Dad’s car to go to the hospital. I know exactly where the spare keys are. Dad goes through drivers like crazy. No one will doubt you’re the new driver. That’s the safest part of the plan.”
Court felt a little beside herself as Joshua drove back to the hotel. It had been two years since she had been back to her father’s house, and she had never intended to go there again for any reason. His wealth and prestige had always shadowed her life, hindering her more than helping. There were too many painful memories associated with him and his controlling behavior. Valinda, her stepmother, had been a walking nightmare of manipulation and selfishness. Channing had been the only person she loved to live in that house, and he was in college far away.
“Just seeing their house and knowing I didn’t have to go in was so empowering,” Court thought out loud. “It feels really weird, but good weird.”
“I feel like I’ve beaten my sister-in-law every time I realize I’m in SoCal, far away from the crummy apartment she tried to stick us in,” Joshua contributed. “She isn’t going to win.”
“No, she’s going to die,” Brooke said. The grin on her face was disturbing. “The people who killed my parents think they won, but they’re going to be dead in months and I don’t think they’ll be winners then.”
“I’m so sorry about your parents.” Joshua didn’t know much at all about Brooke except that she was Court’s most faithful sidekick.
“They were activists,” Brooke said. “People tried to warn them not to take on the Hollisters, but they were Stanford professors. They thought they were invincible.”
“So, they tried to tell people bad stuff about the Hollisters, and they got taken away?” Joshua guessed.
“Their friends tried to tell them it would happen, but they thought they were immune. I’m not really Brooke, you know. Curtis got me a new name to register with the Hollister Youth Foundation. I used to be Mahalia.”
“Cool,” Joshua said. But it wasn’t cool. Brooke’s original name had been carefully chosen for her by her parents and now she was someone else. Just like Joshua, she didn’t have a father. Out of respect for his mother’s religion, he crossed himself, thinking a silent prayer for her protection.
“Why did you do that?” Court asked, looking at him like she might look at a bug she had never seen before.
“Because my mom’s a Catholic and I was thinking about her. I am just glad she’s still alive.”
“That is very wise,” Brooke said. “Because you never know when the people you love the most just won’t be there tomorrow.”
Not just the people you love won’t be there. The things you love won’t be there.
For a moment Joshua allowed his mind to drift to band practice with his best friends, driving his Firebird down Highway 44 in the spring, swimming in Butte Lake on a hot day, and the excitement of a pretty girl looking him over. His father had died, and Joshua’s whole life changed instantly. Brooke’s whole life was different, and so was Court’s. Seeing the house Court had lived in blew Joshua’s mind. He never would have guessed that the confident, muscular, bossy young woman who drove a huge truck full of work crews all over Kern County had come from such a place.
“You never know when anything is going to be gone forever,” Joshua reflected. “Not just people.”
“True that,” Court said. “But you also don’t know what will end up coming back around.”
LA was a sprawling mess that Court navigated with no help from the GPS or maps, which made Joshua nervous. Bud had liked maps. He kept maps in his truck, in Danica’s minivan, in his office at the quarry, and by his chair in his own family room. Joshua knew that Caleb and Michael liked maps as much as he did. Driving around a strange place with only verbal directions caused him to sweat, even though he kept the air conditioning blasting in the rental car.
“Turn right at the next light,” Court would say even after they had discussed going a different way. “Traffic is getting bad, it’ll be easier. I’ll tell you what to do.”
Joshua didn’t like it, but Court was the boss. She spent the day talking to every security guard who would be scheduled to work at the Global Forces hospital the next day. She took her targets out for coffee, she charmed them and gave them money and pot. Joshua had never seen anyone operate like her in his life. Brooke gave her information and she turned it into action.
“You’re like a politician,” Joshua said at the end of the day, before he handed over the keys to the valet at the hotel. He tried to remember the camo-wearing Court of the desert, with few facial expressions and the tough attitude. “You know just what to say to which people.”
“Oh, I’m nothing,” Court assured him. “My mother is who I learned from. She was a master. People loved to make her happy. I operate by making other people happy. There’s a big difference.”
Joshua didn’t believe her at all. Court had strutted around job sites in the desert and everyone had been eager to keep her happy. She had been a fantastic boss, letting people organize their own work and do what they were best at. Joshua was sure that everyone she was meeting with was anxious to make her happy by accepting her bribes. Sure, those people wanted the pot and the money, but more than that, they wanted to see Court smile. Her smile made him feel good.
“Tomorrow night is our last night in town, or our last night of freedom. So, we’re going to go by Dad’s and drive to the base hospital again. I booked massages for us when we get done with that,” Court announced. “And then we’re having lobster dinners, or whatever you want, but I want lobster.”
Joshua wasn’t sure if he’d ever had lobster in his life. He reflected over various seafood dinners and found he couldn’t remember lobster at all. He’d have some tonight! With lobster sauce or whatever it came with. Even with the box in his pocket he wasn’t sure that he’d make it through the next thirty-six hours alive. Although Court was trying to look tough, Joshua could see that she wasn’t sure how the “caper” would end.
“Just stop at the gate,” Court told Joshua when they came to the entrance of the gated community. With enthusiasm Joshua was sure she couldn’t really feel, Court went to chat up the gatekeeper, gave him more pot, and sashayed back to the car.
“They know we’re up to something,” Brooke commented.
“They pull off plenty of small jobs on these people all the time,”
Court said. “They’re the thieves protecting the thieves. They steal a little instead of a lot. They know I’m not going to get caught, and they’re enjoying their goodies.”
“I’m ready to enjoy a massage,” Brooke said. “Just driving around is making me stir crazy.”
“We’re done for today,” Court promised.
The sun eased down over the strip malls and the palm trees, and they rode in silence as the city around them slid into nighttime, with the lights getting brighter and the sky growing darker. Joshua pulled up to the valet and handed over the keys casually this time, as if he never parked his own car. The hotel was a lush oasis, like stepping away from LA onto a different planet, but Joshua wasn’t intimidated anymore.
Joshua thought getting a massage sounded weird, but he followed Court without commenting on his misgivings. The hotel spa made Joshua feel even weirder, with crystal bowl music and a receptionist who looked at him as if she knew he didn’t belong. Joshua knew how to respond to people who tried to make him uncomfortable. He smiled right at her and fixed his eyes on hers with interest, making her look away.
“I’m ready for Joshua,” said a middle-aged woman with a sleek ponytail and turquoise earrings standing behind the receptionist.
“Go,” Court encouraged him.
“You have wonderful energy,” the massage therapist told him as they walked down a dimly lit hallway. “I’m a personal energy coach, and I’m shocked to see someone your age exuding such serenity.”
“Thank you?” Joshua wasn’t sure what to say to that. Even before his dying father had placed the ivory box into his hands Joshua had plenty of friends who liked being around him. His mother claimed that younger children are more willing to go with the flow of activity around them, so they are more likeable, but Joshua liked to think his popularity was his own creation. The box had changed the way people around him behaved, and he did have to give it some credit for keeping himself and others calm. They seemed more thoughtful and cooperative, slightly more inventive than normal, too.
