Crayons

by P. S. Power

  “I said I'd call when I got in and forgot.” He ran to the phone, nearly tripping in his haste. Oops. Hopefully it wasn't too late, only eight-thirty. The number was right by the phone still, where he'd left it. Josh dialed a bit shakily, but calmed as it started ringing. It was just a performance and all he had to do was tell the truth. No problem.

  After the fourth ring it picked up. He tried to remember his manners, not wanting to be insulting.

  “Hello? This is Josh Harding. Um, I'm calling to let Amy know that I got in alright?”

  No sound came from the line for a few seconds. Then a voice that sounded sad, like there had recently been crying involved, spoke quietly. There was yelling in the background, a male voice and a female one that sounded familiar. Not Amy. Meridith.

  “Josh?” It was Laura, who yelped when something crashed.

  “I... This isn't a good time. Things... A family problem. Or two. Or twenty... God. I'll tell Amy you called. Or, just in case, call again tomorrow? I may end up too drunk to remember tonight. This is fucked up. Everything is... I... have to go...” The line clicked and went dead.

  All... right. He stared at the handset as if it could somehow provide an answer. It didn't, not at all. They needed a better phone he decided.

  “What is it?” Mercy asked as the show ended, the theme music filling the room.

  “I don't... know. An argument? I couldn't tell much but Laura answered the phone and Meridith was screaming at Bill as far as I could tell. That doesn't seem like her. If anything she sounded like a big supporter of the guy earlier.” It was kind of scary. He and Mercy didn't fight, ever, so he had little to compare it too. His mom and dad used to fight, but then they'd gotten a divorce. He couldn't even guess what the fighting was about.

  For a while Josh sat back in the chair and didn't say anything while the next show played, one with a prospector singing about silver and gold. He just hoped the fight wasn't anything that Amy had to be involved in. Well, he also hoped it wouldn't be too big a deal and that Meridith would be OK. He liked her. She was a little too forward and seemed a bit forced most of the time, but she was good looking, nice and had tried to make him feel at home in her own way.

  For all he knew this was just how they spent the holidays at their house though. Have a giant blow out each day leading up to the main event on Christmas? Some people kind of did that, didn't they? It was on TV, if that could be trusted.

  The women cuddled together on the couch kept looking at him every few minutes, so he made himself smile. It wasn't like he could do anything about the situation from here. Even if he knew what was going on, it probably wouldn't have made a difference. What was he going to do? Tell them to stop? Because yeah, that would work. Everyone listened to good old Josh, didn't they? Because, yeah, that just made sense.

  The phone didn't ring again, not the main one at least. Both his mother and Joanie had their phones ring, but they didn't say anything to him about the situation. That it was a situation was apparent, because they both left the room. They didn't do that for regular phone calls. He heard talking, but not what was said. Joanie came out a bit later, a forced happy look on her face, and suggested they make a snack. He wasn't hungry, but went along with her on the idea. She kept looking into space like she did, trying to stare at his mom through the wall, worried and tense. She didn't say what the deal was, which he'd learned to deal with over time. His mom couldn't talk about a lot of what she did, since it was privileged information. That they weren't talking now probably meant something like that.

  More, Joanie had been called. That meant that something was up that required other than legal work to be done. Halfway through the batch of cookies being done she got another call and wondered away again, talking in hushed tones by the TV. When the call finished she looked at him and grimaced.

  “Um, duty calls? I need to use the computer and, well, could you not come over? I don't think you're allowed to know about any of this. Not yet. I...”

  She looked miserable. Very close to despondent.

  That made him worry of course. More. He just fixed the next dozen cookies they were working on, slicing them off of a refrigerated loaf, which meant homemade as far as Josh was concerned. And sat at the dining room table, just nibbling on one for a long time. Pretending to eat.

  It didn't take a genius to figure out that if both of them were needed and there had been a fight when he called Amy, that Bill Banister might be involved somehow. What the situation was he couldn't tell at all. He started on a second cookie, but couldn't really eat it. It was fine, still warm and tasty enough, it was just that his stomach felt like someone had used it as a place to dump old battery acid for some reason.

  Not knowing was the worst, he hated it. Even hearing that your life was in ruins was better than not knowing. Everyone else was busy when the main phone rang, so he picked it up, dreading the idea a little. His fingers were a little greasy from the chocolate chip cookies, so he wiped them on his jeans before grabbing up the hand piece. Taking a deep breath he answered firmly.

  “Harding residence, this is Josh, how may I help you?” It was the way his mom wanted the phone answered, so he did it. It kind of made sense, with her focus on career, people did, at times, call her at home for work reasons after all. When that happened she wanted things to sound like she was always ready, which meant Josh had to be too.

  “Hi... Josh? This is Warren Jeffreys. I don't know if you remember me, we met the other night at Bill Banister's party?” The man sounded a lot more humble this time, less greasy. Almost like an actual person instead of a politician.

  “Of course, what can I do for you?” He managed to keep it from sounding short or angry, but situations like this always set his teeth on edge. Josh understood he couldn't be told some things, adult stuff and legal matters were generally off limits, but that didn't mean that not knowing didn't affect him anyway.

  “Ah, well, this is a bit delicate. Do you know what's going on with Bill and his wife Laura?” The man had almost perfect control of his voice, kind of creepy really, but a good thing for a politico to have.

  “In what way? Are you fishing for information or asking if I'm in the loop?”

  “In the loop.” The words were firm, but not angry. Not a deep booming voice, but still serious.

  What could he say? He decided on the truth rather than trying to play games. If it was a real emergency, then they didn't need someone like him messing things up by trying to be clever. That said, maybe he could use this to find out a little bit of information?

  “No. Not yet. Tell me what's going on if you want my help though. I know it's probably a bit strange to hear, but I may be in a position to actually do some things no one else can in this situation, if I have enough information. I can actually do a lot more than most people would imagine. Not to oversell, but I know people in the house and have a genius level IQ. I hear you're known for seeing potential where others don't... Well here I am.” He grinned to himself, feeling a bit snarky and added a bit more, hoping it would actually get the man to say something useful. “If you impress me enough I'll let you hire my services as a fixer. I don't know if you can afford me, but I give discounts for people that don't hide things from me. Steep too, half-off if I don't have to go and figure it all out for myself.” Josh half grinned into the phone, expecting the man to hang up in anger.

  It was just a joke, of course, but then he didn't expect the politician to say anything useful anyway. Not to him.

  There was a sigh over the phone, then silence.

  “Fine... alright. I guess I need to impress you then, if you can really do anything here. I do like a good discount. The situation is... dire. I need you to help me stop Bill from committing political suicide. He caught wind that Laura might have been... less than discreet with her, um, attentions and seems bent on letting the world know all about it in one night. Plus...” The man went quiet.

  “I, um, slept with his daughter and he is not pleased with that right now.”<
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  It was Josh's turn to go silent. He growled back at the man a little. Just a bit.

  “Meridith or Amy?”

  A laugh came over the phone then, “no, his adult daughter, Samantha. She's twenty-six, but, well, I'm married. It was just a fling, but... Well, given all this with Laura at the same time, I think he's about to melt down. But he's not talking to me right now, so I can't do much to help him through all this. He's got all his people circling the wagons in a panic too, so I can't get a word to him at all. I can't even get a phone call in. I was hoping to get Mercy to force a message through, but I can't even get in touch with her. Lines busy.”

  Ah.

  The whole thing really was fucked then. Good to know. Josh nodded, thinking about it for a minute. Was it crazy for him to try and do anything in a situation like this? Yeah.

  Freaking insane. Bugnuts.

  But for Amy, he'd be crazy at need. He'd even con a House of Representatives member into helping him if that's what it took.

  “Give me your number, I'll call back if I can find anything out. Get in touch with Samantha and tell her to call me here. Can you do that?” He sounded adult as he said it, even to his own ears. Bossy too. It was clear that they had to break this down into compartments though, and fast, or the whole thing was going to burn instead of just parts. He also needed Warren to possibly hire his mom if things were going to get really bad. That meant making sure he knew that calling their house worked in a pinch. It was all down to that pesky eating thing Josh liked to do each day. Bad habit, but one long established.

  He got out his school bag and pulled his Algebra folder from the back. It had an unmarked blue cover, and was thick, which meant that the last half was still empty. Then Josh took the number down, using only the man's initials at the top and then hung up quickly. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the table and felt like crying, but just sighed instead. This had to be so hard on Amy. Meridith too. He even felt bad for Bill. The poor guy, having all this happen to him.

  Josh was a bit pissed at Laura though. His heart fell as he thought about what needed to be done. It was obvious, of course, but someone had to do it and an employee simply couldn't. Not if they wanted a job the next day. Hopefully it wouldn't get his mom and Joanie fired. Bill seemed more reasonable than that most of the time, but this wasn't exactly a reasonable situation.

  He dialed the numbers and held his breath.

  “Hello?” The voice was scared, and female, soft. There were tears in it.

  “This is Josh Harding, calling for Bill Banister. Sorry about the late hour, but, well, I doubt I need to explain, this is about the situation there after all.” He made his voice sound old again. Mature and confident. A little sad.

  “What? Josh? This is Amy, I... don't understand.” She really sounded baffled, so at least that made two of them.

  “I know... God. Amy, I want you to get somewhere out of the line of fire if you can. I... I love you. I'm so sorry about all of this. Can you get the phone to Bill? It's better if you don't know what's going on right now, I think. That way everyone can just be pissed at me later... I'm sorry if this ruins everything between...” There was a pause then.

  The voice that returned was small still.

  “I guess. He's... not being normal, everyone has been drinking. Even Meridith. I... Here...” There was a bit of noise. Finally, softly, she spoke, away from the receiver.

  “Telephone, it's...” There was a sudden thunk, the sound of a hand hitting the unit.

  “Who the fuck is this?” The voice was a little slurred and more than a little angry.

  Josh shrugged. It was time to try and change things, even if all he had to work with was... himself. He squared his shoulders and forced a low, slightly cold tone into his voice.

  “Hi Bill. Who the fuck is this? Your new fucking best friend, that's who. Is Amy out of the room?” He kept his tone even, calm. So adult he didn't even sound like him.

  “No...” The man was enough of a lawyer to not speak openly if someone hinted not to. Even a bit drunk he went slightly quiet.

  “Could you remind her of what I said please? That should do it. We need to protect the girls in all this, even if it doesn't feel like it right now.” Bill was a lot of things, but he so obviously cared for those two that Josh thought mentioning it, even now, might just work.

  It took a minute, but the older man managed not to scream at her and Amy didn't wait to find out why she needed to leave. It said a lot about the situation. Well, it probably meant that Bill hadn't been hitting anyone at least. That was good.

  “Now,” the voice growled, harsh and low. Beastly. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “This is Josh Harding. I've been hired to help you manage the situation you found yourself in. Don't worry it's free, for you at least. I'm charging my client through the nose though.” Because real help was expensive and the more costly, the more it was worth, right? Josh had to throw in everything possible if he wanted even a drunk Bill Banister to take him seriously.

  “What? Amy's little friend? I... Well, it's the nicest thing I've heard all night. God. Thanks, but I don't think that we should involve her in this, or a decent kid like you.” The man growled it still, but the words were right.

  “I agree, which is why, officially I'm not involved in this at all. No one is. It's part of the reason for me being the one to contact you, so that we can keep everything off the books. Don't worry about that part. It's my job. Now, can you get to a position where no one can hear us talking, if you aren't already?”

  “Yes. One... moment.” It was the lawyer thing again. Asked to find a secure location to talk he nearly couldn't help himself. Josh's mom was the same way. Tax attorneys might be different but all the criminal ones he'd met seemed to think like that.

  “OK. Talk.”

  “First, I need to be upfront about something. Amy did not retain my services, Meridith or Laura either. The party involved feels that you might be slightly angry at him for having, shall we say made an error of judgment with one of your daughters? That isn't the real issue however. Right now we need to get things calmed down and then deal with this step by step.”

  “Who?” The voice was dark. “Which of the little fuckers hired you? One of the school kids Laura's been fucking? You're the only good one in the bunch. That's the only thing everyone has been clear on. Thanks, by the way. For telling her no like that. Meridith screamed at me earlier for suggesting otherwise and that girl...” He started sobbing softly into the phone.

  “Crap.” His voice was still pretty manly even while crying though. Josh would have been bawling like a school girl about that time.

  “Indeed. But no, it wasn't one of them either, we can go into that later though, I won't hide it from you, but right now I need to know what the situation is and to see what we can do to fix it. You need perspective here and frankly Bill, you just can't be in a state to make your own decisions right now. No one would be.”

  “The situation? It's fucked, that's what the situation is. I told everyone to pack their bags and that the practice is gone. I'll live on the streets before that bitch can have half of what I've built.”

  Josh nodded his head as he cradled the phone.

  Scorched earth.

  One thing goes wrong so he goes nuts and tries to destroy it all. OK. It even made sense in a way. Keep the person that hurt you from gaining by it. It wasn't sane, but it had a ring of solid false logic to it.

  “I see. Well, let's put a stop on that first. Half of a fortune is better than none by a long shot and living on the street would be uncomfortable this time of year. Besides, doing that won't just screw over Laura, but a dozen other people that haven't done anything wrong. I can get the feeling behind it, but there are likely other things that can be done. You're a lawyer for goodness sake. What we need to do right now is pretty simple I think. First make sure you don't drink anything more and stay on the phone with me. I'm your safety line for the night. Anyone has a problem with you right n
ow, you send them to me and let me take the flak, got it? I mean anyone too.” Josh gave him the house phone number and made sure he wrote it down.

  “Also, you're drunk enough that we can sort of erase most of what you've said tonight to anyone not in your family. The rest of you, well, counseling is in order. We'll set up something discreet, don't worry about that. No records will be kept. We don't need a paper trail on this if you decide to run in two years.” He made a face when he said it. Was that even a thing that could be done? Well, they were Catholic, if nothing else he'd get them a priest willing to claim it was. Those guys were good with their secrets.

  “I... I guess. What's the point though? Everything I did was for her... This...”

  “Is horribly screwed up right now. But your love is still there, damaged as it is, as angry as you are. Hold on to that for now. We'll deal with the rest in the morning. Right now just focus on what we know we can do. Now, what did you do with the business officially?” Josh had his hand on his forehead, elbow on the table and phone to his right ear. It was going to be a long night, that was clear.

  As they spoke Joanie walked over, and stared at him, a strange look on her face.

  She mouthed a single word to him, eyes a little wide, “Amy?”

  He shook his head no. Pen already in hand he flipped the page and wrote quickly, not looking at her.

  Bill Banister. Get mom. Emergency.

  That got Joanie to run. Now all he had to do was fake his way through this as if it made some kind of sense. People could be so stupid, but what was going on could potentially hurt Amy. His Amy. That was something he wouldn't let happen.

  Chapter eleven

  Mercy had a phone to her ear as she ran into the room, a half panicked look on her face, being pulled by the arm by an equally stressed looking blond woman. Josh held up a hand to get them not to speak.

  “Right, OK, I'll get that taken care of first. No. Don't go to check on anyone there yourself, no one can get there in this snow, but we don't need the fight to continue, plenty of time to do that tomorrow... um, does Laura have a cell phone? I know the girls do, but they aren't allowed to give the numbers out, emergencies only? Good plan. This counts, don't you think?” It took focus to copy the numbers that Bill gave him carefully, nodding as he did.