“What do you want, Ruth?”
“I want a family.” She finally said what had been on her mind for months. She’d gotten tired of the grind almost as soon as they’d set out. Everything he said was true. They had discussed it. She’d been all for it. He’d made it sound so exciting. It turned out to be just the opposite. They lived in a tiny, cramped trailer with a leaky roof and a window that didn’t close all the way. They traveled from town to town with whatever sideshow they could manage to hook up with. Most of the time, they were searching for a new sponsor every couple of months. The act was terrible and showed no signs of getting better. It was time for a change.
“A family?” Richard laughed. “Kids? You know we can’t have any, Ruth. Besides, we can barely afford to feed ourselves. How are we going to take care of a baby?”
“We could if you got a job.”
“I have a job.”
“A real job, Dick.”
“So that’s what this is all about? That’s why you sabotaged the performance?”
“Now wait a minute, Mr. Remarkable. You can’t put all the blame on me. You haven’t exactly been holding up your end of the bargain. I’ve yet to see anything even remotely resembling remarkable.”
“Watch that mouth, Ruth.”
“Don’t you mean Matilda?”
Richard raised his arm, but paused as he looked at his wife. She had that crooked smile that he found so endearing, and he felt his heart melt.
“The Mysterious,” he said.
They laughed. Richard sat down and put his arm around Ruth. He apologized. They kissed. She cried in his arms. He comforted her. By morning, they came to an agreement. Three more performances for Bossman Wallace, and they’d part ways when the show moved on.
At the end of the week, they’d head to Memphis. Ruth had heard about a woman with the Tennessee Children’s Home Society who could help them. They were going to be parents.
CHAPTER THREE
Things were looking up. Ruth’s brother-in-law, Ray, agreed to hire Richard. She’d convinced Richard that he would need a steady job if they wanted to adopt a child, and he conceded, but not without a good deal of resentment. Ruth didn’t care. She wanted a baby, and as far as she was concerned, the magician idea was childish and unrealistic. Much to her surprise, when she announced that the new job would require them to relocate to Chattanooga, Richard offered little resistance.
“How was work, darling?” Ruth said, pouring it on a few weeks after their arrival.
“I shovel shit all day, Ruth. How do you think work was?”
“It’s a job, Dick.”
“When I agreed to work for Ray, you didn’t tell me he worked for the sewage department.”
“He works in the office. How was I supposed to know where you’d be working?” She had known. She also knew that, if she had told him, he’d still be trying to saw her in two while a dozen bored half-wits heckled them.
“This wasn’t part of the deal, Ruth,” he said. He grabbed a towel and a change of clothes and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. They’d found a place to rent in a small hotel that offered little more than a room with a bed. There was a bathroom with a shower at the end of the hall that was shared by everyone on the floor and generally required a long wait in line to use it. Richard came home filthy, and he needed a shower before all else, right about the time every other person on their floor needed one, too. Ruth knew he’d be a while, and his temper was not likely to improve until he was clean and fed.
When he returned to the room, he found his wife dressed for dinner. Richard was suspicious.
“Where’s my dinner?”
“I thought it would be a nice change if we went out tonight, honey.”
“You did, did you? Who’s going to pay for that?”
“I have wonderful news! Alice and Ray offered to help us pay the adoption fees. There’s a little bit left over from what they gave me for the train to Memphis and a hotel. I figured we could also squeeze out a couple of bucks for dinner tonight to celebrate. You work so hard, you deserve it.”
“I’m not taking charity from Alice and Ray. We can make due until we save enough on our own.”
“It’s not charity. They want us to have a family, and they see that you’re trying so hard. They just want to help.”
Richard was not convinced. He never liked Ray, and Alice was a stuck up bitch. They seldom gave anyone anything unless there was something for them attached to it.
“What are we going to tell the good people at the orphanage? We live in a flop house?”
“That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about, but I was going to wait for dinner.”
“Oh no!” Richard interrupted. He didn’t like the sound of this. “We’re not moving in with your sister and Mr. Wonderful.”
“Of course not! I would never suggest such a thing.”
Richard looked at his wife and waited.
“If you’re going to spoil the surprise, then I guess I’ll tell you. Remember that room above Alice and Ray’s garage—”
“No, no, no–”
“Please, I’m not finished. They are fixing it up into an apartment. It’ll have a kitchen and a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom. There’s even space for a nursery! I’ll have help with the baby, and—”
“No, Ruth, I said no,” Richard was insistent. “I said I didn’t want charity, and I meant it.”
“It’s not charity, Dick. Ray assured me that the rent would be reasonable.”
“Rent? They’re charging us to stay in their garage?”
“It’s an apartment, not a garage. I thought you said you didn’t want charity. If we pay rent, it’s not charity.”
Richard cursed under his breath but relented. It appeared his wife had planned everything out. He knew it was pointless to argue about it. She was going to get what she wanted no matter what.
Richard figured that what she wasn’t saying was that she thought her husband was an idiot who was too stupid to see what was really going on. He suspected Ray had other ideas and that Ruth was a part of those ideas. He assumed that, slowly, but surely, good ol’ Ray was setting him up, making him completely dependent on his goodwill so that he’d be able to get whatever he wanted from him, including his wife. Richard believed that he had no choice but to play along.
For now.
CHAPTER FOUR
The train ride to Memphis went without a hitch. Before long, they found their way to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. The excited couple waited in an open area for awhile before being escorted into the plush office of Georgia Tann, the highly regarded and well respected proprietor of the orphanage.
“Hmm.” The dour woman grunted behind a frown as she rifled through the mountain of paperwork that the Hendersons had been required to fill out. After she’d flipped through the forms one last time, Miss Tann stacked them neatly in the center of her desk, folded her hands in front of her, and sat back. Her disapproving eyes examined the humble couple in front of her. Eventually, she leaned forward and addressed the pair.
“I’m sorry you two came all this way, but I don’t think we’ll be able to help you.”
Well, that’s that, thought Richard, shifting in his chair. At least they’d tried. He reached over to hold his wife’s hand, and he felt the tension right away. Sneaking a glance at her, he saw that her head was bowed as she fought back tears. This would not do at all.
“I’m not sure I understand you, Mrs. Tann,” said Richard.
“Miss,” she responded. He wasn’t the least surprised.
“Miss Tann,” Richard corrected himself. “Surely, there’s something we can do.”
“Is there? I’m not so sure. After reading your application, I see that your work history is somewhat, how should I say it, brief? Neither one of you have any money to speak of nor a permanent residence of any note.”
“Money isn’t the only thing that makes a good parent,” said Richard. Everything the woman had said was true, but he’d be dam
med if this ugly, no good hose beast was going to disparage him and break his wife’s heart without him putting up a fight.
“This is true, but money pays the rent. It buys the groceries. It buys clothes and diapers, doctor’s bills, school supplies. You get my point.”
“Absolutely, I would agree with you. It does all those things. Sometimes, it does more.”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“I think you do.”
Ruth picked her head up and silently watched the standoff that had developed between her husband and the woman behind the desk. She’d never seen her husband like this before, and she liked it. Sure, he could be a bully when he tried to push her around, but this was something different. He was standing up for her, for their imminent family. Maybe she’d misjudged him after all.
Miss Tann considered the man before her. It was time to put the bite on the couple. “From what I see in these forms, I doubt we have much to discuss, Mr. Henderson.”
“What makes you think I put everything on paper, Miss Tann? Do you?”
For the first time, the plump woman behind the desk smiled. It was almost as scary as her frown. “Our Society deals with discretion, Mr. Henderson. Our transactions are confidential, as is expected. Therefore, it is customary to periodically destroy our files. It is all on the up and up, I assure you.”
“I’m sure it is, Miss Tann. Let’s get to the bottom line. We are a loving couple who want to share our stable home with a needy child. That is all. We intend on doing just that. Somewhere in this building, there is such a child who needs us as much as we need him.”
“Her,” Ruth spoke for the first time.
Richard looked at his wife with surprise. They hadn’t discussed whether or not they’d adopt a boy or a girl. It made no difference to him, but clearly, his wife had thought about it and made the decision for them, as usual.
“A girl!” Miss Tann said with delight. The price just went up.
“So I ask you, is there any way we can come to an agreement, or should we go elsewhere? It’s up to you. I’m not here to tell you how to run your orphanage, but we are not going back to Chattanooga empty-handed. Maybe with an empty wallet,” Richard added not very subtly, “but not empty-handed.”
“There may be something we can do, but it’s not as easy as you might think,” Georgia responded. “There’s a complication with availability at this time. Given enough time, I can get you whatever you want—for a price, of course. But if you’re adamant about doing this now, we’ll have to make do with what we have in stock, for lack of a better term.”
Ruth was horrified by the woman’s demeanor. If she could, she’d take every last child away from this monster.
“Go on,” said Richard.
“Would you consider an older child? Perhaps even a toddler?”
Richard began to nod yes, but his wife interrupted, and he quickly changed the direction of his head movement.
“I want a baby. A beautiful baby girl,” said Ruth.
“That’s what I thought,” replied Miss Tann. “Unfortunately, that might be a problem.”
“Why is that?” asked Richard. “Do you mean to tell me you don’t have at least one baby girl for us to choose from?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?” Richard replied.
“Come,” Miss Tann announced, abruptly standing up. “Follow me. I have something to show you.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Georgia led the couple out of her plush office and down an ornate flight of stairs. They walked through a long corridor before the woman nodded for an attendee who waited by the exit to unlock a steel door with a square, wire-meshed window. After that, the Hendersons followed Miss Tann around a corner and through another set of locked doors. They entered a large room with dozens of cots lined up along one wall. A row of windows with iron bars allowed a fair amount of light into the room. No other decorations were present. Richard thought it looked more like a prison than an orphanage.
They followed Miss Tann until they came to three cribs tucked away in the corner of the great room. The first crib was empty. The second and third each held a sleeping baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
“I thought you said you didn’t have one baby girl,” said Richard.
“We don’t,” explained Miss Tann. “We have two.”
“Very funny.”
“It’s no joke, Mr. Henderson. Take a closer look.”
“They’re twins!” Ruth exclaimed.
“Identical twins,” Miss Tann corrected her. “Which is the problem.”
“So?” Richard asked.
“So, we won’t separate the pair. It would be cruel,” explained Miss Tann. “Besides, we have a policy against such things.”
Miss Tann was full of shit. There was no such policy. They split siblings apart all the time, but she knew a couple of marks when she saw them. Either they didn’t have the funds to adopt a child, and this new development would drive them off, or they had enough, and she could squeeze them dry. Either way, she had nothing to lose.
“I, I don’t know,” Ruth said. “I mean, one baby is a handful, but two…”
Richard stared at the twins, deep in thought. Ruth didn’t like the way he was looking at them one bit. It was the same look as when he proclaimed his interest in starting the magic act. She could practically see the wheels turning inside his head. He was hatching a scheme. Whatever he was planning was undoubtedly doomed to failure.
“Well, if you think they’ll be too much for you—” Miss Tann said.
“No, that’s not what we’re saying,” interjected Ruth. “Is it, Dick?”
Richard’s gaze shifted from one of the girls to the other, and back again. It was as though he was hypnotized.
“Dick? Is it?”
“We’ll take ‘em!” he exclaimed, snapping out of his trance.
Miss Tann smiled. She could already count the dollars before she even deposited them in her substantial savings account. Ruth was happy, yet wary. Two babies would stretch their resources thin, and tax her abilities as an inexperienced mother. What on Earth was Richard thinking?
CHAPTER SIX
Not long after the couple returned to their garage apartment with the twins, the world erupted in flames. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Ray was able to secure a stateside position with the civil service, but Richard knew his chances of not being drafted to the front lines were slim to none. In the patriotic fervor that gripped the nation, Richard Henderson enlisted in the Navy.
Ruth was not happy about her new predicament. The girls were infants and required round-the-clock attention from her. Her fantasies about motherhood turned out to be just that—fantasies. The reality of caring for two children by herself was overwhelming. She let Richard in on her displeasure at every opportunity. Every letter, which she sent sporadically at best, was filled with complaints.
Richard had bigger concerns. Twice, the ships he was assigned to took on torpedo fire. He barely escaped with his life when a third ship went down in flames after a brutal kamikaze attack. His leg suffered shrapnel damage, and his forearm was severely burned during one of the battles, earning him a six week furlough in a Hawaiian hospital and a Purple Heart. Ruth expressed her concerns for his injuries by whining about her inability to buy pantyhose and having to help Alice with their victory garden.
While the other sailors received care packages and letters from their sweethearts professing their undying devotion, all Richard heard from Ruth was how horrible it was to live in safety and comfort. She griped about the noise the girls made when they cried, but Richard was certain it was far better than the explosions and whimpering of wounded men. He found himself feeling jealous when one of his fellow seamen received a Dear John letter, and he secretly harbored a romantic crush on Tokyo Rose.
Eventually, the war ended and Richard returned home, but things were different. He was different. His wife was different. The world was different. He no longer had any interest in wor
king for Ray. Instead, he took a gig as a stagehand at one of the rundown playhouses left over from the days of vaudeville. The hours were sporadic and the pay was meager, but Richard didn’t care. He hadn’t survived the war to go back into the sewers. Life was precious, and he’d made a promise to himself that if he made it home in one piece, he was going to do what he wanted to do. And he wanted to be a magician.
Ruth was disgusted. Opposite of most soldiers, Richard left as a man and came back as a child. She already had two children to look after; she didn’t need a third. Even if it was true that Richard was able to supplement his income with his monthly disability payment from the Navy, which was hardly the point. He was around too much. She found out almost immediately that she didn’t know how good she’d had it when he was gone.
Richard soon knew something was up with Ruth and her sister’s husband. She’d moved out of the garage apartment only to rent a run-down double in a sketchy neighborhood, coincidentally owned by Ray. Alice gave Ruth an icy stare on the few occasions they’d come in contact with one another, and she refused to help out with the girls altogether. Ray, on the other hand, was more than helpful whenever the slightest repair was needed. Richard noted that the neighbor’s rabid Doberman Pincher didn’t bark when Ray came around, despite trying to attack any other soul who happened by. Things were definitely suspiciously askew.
The only thing that made Richard’s homecoming worthwhile was Lacey and Laura. The girls were as cute as could be and loved the attention he poured on them. They were fascinated with the magic tricks he showed them. He used every opportunity to teach them and they took to it like pros. More importantly, it was impossible to tell them apart. It was a magician’s dream.
Richard knew that in a few years they’d be old enough to become his assistants, which is why he’d insisted on adopting both of them in the first place. As long as he only brought one of them out with him at a time, no one would be the wiser. His head swam with the possibilities.
Richard studied his craft at every turn. He watched the performers at the playhouse and learned a great deal about showmanship. He peppered the most skilled entertainers with questions and rehearsed for hours on end. Richard converted the garage into a workspace and built a variety of contraptions for use when the time came.
The Bone Puzzle Page 2
