Fort Lupton

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  When Heather didn’t return right away, Jill opened her laptop. Sandy and Jill started working on the colors for each room. Hearing Heather’s footsteps, they looked up.

  “You’re never going to get this done without my help,” Heather said.

  “That’s what I said!” Jill smiled.

  “You’ll pay me?” Heather asked.

  “I will.”

  “Real money?” Heather asked.

  “Do you want to be a partner in the business?” Jill asked.

  “I don’t know,” Heather said. “I’ve never lived a life this long, so I’ve never thought about stuff like that. Now that I know I’m going to be here awhile, I need to be a little more serious.”

  “I couldn’t give you part of the business until Jake comes back,” Jill said.

  “Fair enough,” Heather said. “I need to talk to Blane anyway.”

  “Talk to Blane,” Jill said.

  “But you’ll pay me?” Heather asked.

  “Real money,” Jill said.

  “I’ll do it!” Heather smiled. “What’s our first step?”

  “I can walk you through the design,” Jill said. “Or what I have so far.”

  “Great,” Heather said. “Can we go fast so I can get back to the girls?”

  “Sure,” Jill said.

  Jill closed up her laptop, stuffed it in her backpack, and started the tour.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday afternoon — 2:30 p.m.

  Jabari bounced up and down. After an hour of hard begging, his teacher had finally agreed to let them finger paint. There was just enough time to make a finger painting for Ms. Yvonne before Mr. Rodney came to pick him up. Jabari missed Ms. Yvonne terribly and wanted her to know that he loved her. He and the children at his table followed the teacher to where the supplies were kept. She gave the boy who sat on the right of Jabari the paper. The boy took it and ran back to their seats.

  “What do you think, Jabari?” the teacher asked. “What colors should we use today?”

  “Blue!” Jabari jumped up and down.

  “Here you go.” The teacher gave him a jar of blue poster paint.

  Jabari grabbed the paint and ran back to the table.

  “Miranda? What color, do you think?” the teacher asked.

  The teacher continued to pass out paint until they had each picked one color.

  “Remember, kids, we share here at the Marlowe School,” the teacher said.

  Jabari set his color in the middle of the table. The other kids set theirs in the middle of the table. Miranda, the girl who sat on Jabari’s left side, was a small, slight creature who struggled with allergies and talked almost non-stop. Jabari let her reach over him to get what she needed. The boy on Jabari’s right, Stephen, gave him a big piece of paper.

  Jabari set the paper in front of him. While Jabari gazed off into the distance to contemplate what he should put on his page, Stephen dove right in. Miranda sneezed and reached over Jabari’s page to get some paint.

  “Who’s that?” Miranda asked as she moved back over Jabari’s clean page.

  Jabari continued to gaze away.

  “Somebody,” Stephen said.

  Jabari didn’t bother to look. After all, his picture was for Ms. Yvonne and should be something very special.

  “Jabari,” Miranda said. “She’s looking at you.”

  Jabari furrowed his brow as an image came into his mind. Nodding to himself, he reached over his clean page for the blue paint. His hands were around the blue paint jar when he realized that the top wasn’t screwed on. He glanced at the round-faced, red-haired boy across the table from him. Melvin always forgot to screw on the top. Melvin caught his look and shrugged. Jabari shrugged too. He was just happy he’d realized the top was loose so the paint wouldn’t ruin his picture.

  “She must be famous ’cuz there’s a movie camera,” Miranda said.

  Jabari’s finger painting was going to be really nice. He was carefully moving the blue paint jar over his clean, bare sheet when an adult’s grabbed his arm. The hand jerked his arm. The top flew off the paint jar and the blue paint went everywhere. Miranda screamed at the top of her lungs at the same moment Stephen laughed.

  Jabari watched in horror as the blue paint flew up in the air. While the hand tugged him out of his seat, the blue paint dropped onto the table and the kids around him. A glob of paint landed in Miranda’s hair and ran down her face. Stephen had turned toward the person yanking on Jabari, so the paint had sprayed over his glasses. Melvin looked up just as a drop of paint fell on his red nose.

  His bare, clean sheet of paper was now coated with a spray of blue paint.

  Jabari screamed, and a hand slapped him across the face. He looked up to see who had slapped him.

  Annette.

  “No! No! No!” Jabari screamed.

  Her hand slapped him again.

  “Ma’am, I need to ask you . . .” a man’s voice said.

  Jabari saw the security guard grab onto the arm Annette wasn’t holding him with. When the security guard yanked on Annette’s arm, Jabari flew into the air. Blue paint flew out of the jar and sprayed kids at other tables.

  “You have no right!” Annette yelled at the security guard.

  Jabari was falling toward the ground. He came down in the teacher’s arms. Annette yanked on his arm and the security guard pulled on her, and all the while the teacher was holding tight onto his body.

  “ENOUGH!” the teacher said in a scary, loud voice. “I did not survive the blasting sand and scorching heat of Iraq to watch spoiled adults hurt babies here in Denver.”

  Annette was so surprised by the teacher’s loud voice that she let go of Jabari’s arm. The security guard grabbed hold of Annette’s upper arms. The teacher wrapped herself around Jabari.

  “Get her out of here,” the teacher said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the security guard said.

  “And call the police,” the teacher said. “I want to report her assault on a child and disrupting our peace.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the security guard said.

  Never letting go of Annette, the security guard leaned close to the teacher.

  “Cassie?” the security guard said in a low voice. “You’ve got blue . . .”

  His hands full with Annette, the security guard used his nose to gesture to the teacher’s face. Her hand went to her face and she felt the wet paint.

  Miranda stopped screaming and Stephen stopped laughing and Annette stopped screeching and the security guard stopped talking. The room was suddenly very still.

  Jabari pulled his sleeve down over his hand. He reached up and wiped the blue paint from his teacher’s ivory cheek. The teacher looked down at him and started to laugh.

  When the teacher laughed, the kids started to laugh. Melvin tossed the orange paint out of the jar. The paint flew into the air and showered down. Miranda started screaming again. Stephen picked up the green and followed Melvin’s lead. Kids at every table began to throw paint in the air. The paint flew through the air while the security guard dragged Annette out of the room.

  The principal came in. Rather than get mad, she organized the kids to help clean up. By the time parents came to get their kids, they were coated head to toe in paint. Even Miranda.

  All the while, the teacher held on to Jabari for comfort, and he let her.

  Chapter Three hundred & twenty-four

  Take it in

  “She did what?” Yvonne exclaimed.

  Yvonne screeched into the microphone of her computer. Tanesha waved her hand to encourage Yvonne to lower her voice. Yvonne gave her a dark scowl. They were talking to each other on a video call.

  “You’re breakin’ my ears,” Tanesha repeated what she always said.

  Yvonne grinned.

  “Jabari’s with Jer in the kitchen,” Tanesha said. “They’re baking a cake.”

  “What?” Yvonne asked. “That can’t be! You’ll lose the boy and . . .”

  “Slow down!
” Tanesha said. “Let me tell you what happened.”

  Yvonne gave Tanesha another dark look, but nodded that she would be quiet.

  “After all of that, the teacher insisted on calling the police,” Tanesha said.

  “And did she . . .” Yvonne started.

  “Let me finish!” Tanesha’s voice was firm but she laughed. Her mother loved Jabari completely. “The police booked her on assault on a child. Then . . .”

  Tanesha leaned in.

  “Turns out the DA has been working with Atlanta to put together a case,” Tanesha said. “They have a lot of evidence, but they were waiting for it all to come together. When this happened, they couldn’t wait anymore.”

  “And?” Yvonne snorted her indignation. “Did they finally do something?”

  “They charged her with child endangerment for sending Jabari to Denver,” Tanesha said. “They charged her for assault on a child for giving him the med that she knew made him sick. They charged her for hitting him at the school. And . . .”

  Tanesha nodded.

  “The judge was still there. You know, the one that’s on our custody case?” Tanesha said.

  Yvonne nodded. Her eyes were wide while she took in everything Tanesha was saying.

  “He and the judge in Atlanta did a final parental rights termination,” Tanesha said.

  Dionne cheered in the background. Yvonne looked stunned.

  “She still has a chance to get him back,” Tanesha said. “She has six months to clean up her act, but she’s already said she’s not going to take the parenting classes or anything.”

  “And my baby Jabari?” Yvonne asked.

  “He’s here,” Tanesha said. “At the house. We get him while you’re in Arizona, then we’ll share him after that. Dionne too.”

  Dionne cheered again in the background.

  “The judge said that he’s never seen a child who had so many people who wanted to love him.” Tanesha smiled. “That’s our boy.”

  Yvonne bit her lip and looked worried.

  “You don’t seem happy,” Tanesha said.

  “What if she steals him?” Yvonne asked.

  “She’s not going to be doing anything for a while,” Tanesha said. “She’ll be in jail here until she makes bail . . .”

  “But . . .”

  “Schmidty filed the papers saying that she defrauded Jer,” Tanesha said.

  “What?” Yvonne asked.

  “We found his birth certificate, or Schmidty did,” Tanesha said. “Jabari is two and a half, just like you thought.”

  “I knew it!” Yvonne said. “Jeraine was chatty like that, even when he was a little thing.”

  “What did she say?” Dionne’s face came into view. “He’s not three?”

  “Not yet,” Tanesha said.

  Dionne’s face clouded over with rage.

  “I know,” Tanesha said. “But we have to focus on going forward. Being angry isn’t going to make it better.”

  Yvonne reached up and grabbed her friend’s hand. They exchanged a look, and Dionne nodded.

  “With the fraud case, they froze all of her assets,” Tanesha said. “She’s not going to be able to make bail.”

  “What about the TV people?” Yvonne asked. “Won’t they . . .”

  “They’ve been ordered out of this entire mess,” Tanesha said. “Um . . . injunction, I think that’s what it is. Anyway, Schmidty said they can’t even talk to her.”

  A small smile crept onto Yvonne’s face.

  “I don’t want to wish her bad,” Tanesha said.

  “I do!” Dionne yelled from behind Yvonne.

  “She’s Jabari’s birth mother,” Tanesha said to Dionne.

  “I don’t care,” Dionne said in the background. “She gave up that right when she almost killed him.”

  Yvonne smiled. Tanesha shook her head. Yvonne leaned into the computer.

  “You think it’s over?” Yvonne asked in a low tone.

  “For now,” Tanesha said. “As long as Jabari’s in our lives, it won’t be over because it’s never going to be over for him.”

  Yvonne nodded.

  “And who knows?” Tanesha smiled. “Maybe when he’s almost thirty, his mom will get her act together and everyone will be happy. Stranger things have happened.”

  Yvonne gave her a broad smile.

  “For now, he’s here with us,” Tanesha said. “Sam’s upstairs finishing the small sleeping room so he can be up there with us. He and Jer already set up his room on this floor.”

  “Ms. Yvonne! Ms. Yvonne!” Jabari ran into the dining room from the kitchen. He climbed onto Tanesha’s lap. “Guess what? Guess what?”

  “What?” Yvonne asked.

  “You’re not Ms. Yvonne no more,” Jabari said.

  “Anymore,” Rodney said from over Tanesha’s shoulder. Jabari looked up at him. Rodney gave him a “say it” nod.

  “You’re not Ms. Yvonne anymore,” Jabari said with a big smile into the computer camera.

  “I’m not?” Yvonne gave her best surprised face. “Why . . . what am I then?”

  “Ga’ma,” Jabari said.

  Tears sprang to Yvonne’s eyes.

  “What about me?” Dionne leaned over into the screen.

  “You’re Nana,” Jabari said. “Is that okay, Nana? N-n-na-a-a-n-n-n-a.”

  Dionne grinned at him.

  “Daddy told me I should call you that,” Jabari said. “But it sticks in my mouth.”

  “Jabari!” Jeraine yelled from the kitchen. “The frosting’s done.”

  Jabari gave a laugh and slipped off Tanesha’s lap. He went running back to the kitchen.

  “He really looks just like . . .” Yvonne started.

  “Jeraine,” Dionne and Tanesha said.

  “Rodney,” Yvonne said.

  Surprised, Tanesha scowled for a moment before she nodded.

  “I think you’re right,” Dionne said. “How . . .?”

  “Who knows?” Yvonne asked. She gave Tanesha a big smile. “Now I know you have to go. We’re due for massages. We’ve been positively slaving over the phones.”

  “Slaving,” Dionne said with a laugh.

  “Have fun!” Tanesha said.

  “You happy, Tannie?” Yvonne asked.

  “I am,” Tanesha said.

  “Good.” Yvonne waved. “We’ll be home in a shake! Love you!”

  “Love you!” Dionne yelled from the background.

  “Love you!” Tanesha clicked off the computer. She got up and hugged Rodney.

  “Can you believe it?” Tanesha asked. “It all worked out.”

  “I can’t,” Rodney said. “You know what I think.”

  “We should enjoy it because things will go to shit soon enough?” Tanesha asked.

  “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Rodney grinned.

  “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” Jabari called from the kitchen.

  “Come on,” Rodney said. “Let’s go soak it up.”

  They walked into the kitchen together.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday evening — 7:45 p.m.

  “So there’s no word from Jake?” Blane asked Heather through the glass wall that protected him.

  “Nothing,” Heather said.

  “How’s Jill holding up?” Blane asked.

  “She seems fine, you know,” Heather said. “She’s focused on what has to be done while he’s gone.”

  “But she’s okay?”

  “Oh, no, she’s not even close to okay,” Heather said. “This is what she did when Trevor disappeared or whatever. She focused on what she could control.”

  “Trevor,” Blane said. “I haven’t thought about him in . . .”

  “Years,” Heather said. “I know. I haven’t thought about him either.”

  “And no one’s heard from Jake,” Blane said.

  Heather shook her head.

  “It’s so weird,” Blane said. “Even when he lived in Maine, Sam used to hear from him at least once a week. And Val?
”

  “Has she heard?” Heather shook her head. “Everyone’s pretty worried.”

  Blane nodded.

  “Katy?” Blane asked.

  “She’s really focused on passing this horse test,” Heather said. “They have to pass some safety test before they can ride in the mountains. Paddie’s already passed because he’s so much . . .”

  “Bigger.” Blane nodded. “Poor Katy.”

  “She’s been up crying every night,” Heather said. “You know how she gets.”

  “Perfectionistic,” Blane said.

  “Like Jake,” Blane said at the same moment Heather said, “Like Jill.”

  They smiled.

  “How are you?” Heather asked.

  “Concerned about Jake,” Blane said. “He’s never gone this long without some kind of contact.”

  Heather nodded. They fell into a worried silence.

  “And you?” Heather asked again.

  “Me?” Blane asked.

  Heather smiled.

  “I’m . . .” Blane sighed. “Sick of this room, lonely, wishing I was better, mad that I’m impatient, grateful, so, so grateful for you, for everything. How is Mack?”

  “He misses you,” Heather said.

  “I miss him desperately, just after I miss you,” Blane said. “The nights are the worst. I miss you guys so much. I can hardly wait to get home.”

  Blane coughed. Just a cough. But it so horrified them that they stared at each other in shock.

  “I’m sure it’s noth . . .” Blane started.

  “I’ll get the nurse,” Heather said.

  The nurse came in to the room Heather was in. She dressed in hygienic scrubs, a hair cover, and a mask. She stepped into the negative flow room before going into the room. Heather watched while the nurse took Blane’s temperature and some blood and listened to his chest. After a few minutes, the nurse came back out of the room.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” the nurse said. “I’ll get this to the lab and we’ll know.”

  “I feel . . .” Blane nodded.

  “Sick?”

  Blane shook his head. He tipped his head to the side.

  “Jake?” Blane asked the air.

  Heather was so horrified that she could only stare.

  “I can hear him,” Blane said.

  “Hear who?” Heather asked.