by BJ Mayo
Dr. Lynn looked down at Jackaleena and then back up to the Judge. “Yes, sir, that is exactly what I am saying. I would like to make the application today, if you will grant it.”
Judge Linquist stood. “I will be back in five minutes.” He walked through the back chamber doors of the courtroom. Dr. Tindell looked at Dr. Lynn, shrugging in an unknowing fashion.
Judge Linquist finally made his way back through the chamber doors and took his seat in his great, black chair.
“I have sat at this bench for over seven long years now. I have seen just about everything there is to see, and seen everything tried there is to try to get into the country. Religious persecution, physical persecution, and the like.”
He took out his handkerchief and blew his nose. Slowly he took off his glasses and dabbed his already red eyes.
“Yes, sir, I can say I have seen it all. But I will tell you one thing. I have never seen two doctors come in from Africa aboard a Mercy Ship holding the hands of a young African girl and one of them offering to take care of her. Unheard of. And her. Why, she stands there tall. Undefeated. Parents killed. Whole village killed. She told me that with conviction. She is telling the truth. I can tell.
“It is the position of the court in this case that she be granted URM status. Her application will be made out today before you depart. You, sir,” pointing to Dr. Lynn, “are appointed as her guardian under the provisions of the letter you have put before me. When and if she is placed for adoption, she and the adoptive parents will appear before the court. If she is not adopted, you sir will appear before the court. In this case, I am putting a one-year timeline on adoption so her fate will not linger. She can get on with her life. She will also begin the normal process of applying for citizenship, if she desires, and that will be laid out in the court order as well.
“She is hereby granted URM status and is allowed entry into the United States of America. Welcome, young lady.”
Dr. Lynn stood there, speechless. He scooped up Jackaleena and hugged her. He kissed her on the forehead as he danced in a circle. He put her back down and hugged Dr. Tindell, dancing in a circle.
“We did it. We did it.” He ran around the room and back to Jackaleena, grabbing her hand.
The judge looked down from his bench. “Doctor, we do have other folks that want to come before me. You are now dismissed.”
“Yes, sir, Judge. You bet, Judge.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I came home early on Friday afternoon, wanting to be there before Beatrice came in from work and mostly to just get my thoughts together. There was absolutely nothing to lose by asking her out on a date. Imagine asking your wife out for a date after over twenty years of marriage. What if she said no? She had every right in the world to say no. I had decided that if she said no, I would simply try again on another night.
Sitting in my easy chair, I waited. The two hours passed slowly, and I finally heard her car enter the driveway. It kind of felt like a high school kid asking a girl out for the first time. My palms were sweaty and I could not keep my heart from pounding out of my chest as she entered the door.
“Hey,” she said. “You get off early today?”
“Well, I did get off a little early.”
“What was the occasion? Captain Burris figure he is working you too hard?”
“That is not it at all,” I said as I eased out of the chair.
“Alfie, is there something wrong?” Her beautiful eyes rose in slight alarm.
Walking slowly to her, I held out both of my hands. She looked down and carefully placed her hands in mine. “What is wrong, Alfie? Is something going on?”
“Bea, I don’t really know how to begin.”
She looked intensely at my eyes for a sign of what was going on.
“Go on,” she said.
“Bea, you are beautiful. You are the most precious thing I have on this earth. I want to say I am sorry for the way I have treated you for the last twenty years. Especially since we lost Patricia.”
Bea looked down and let her grip go, retreating to a bar stool. She began to weep.
“I ran out on you because I could not handle the grief myself. I never even thought of you and what you were going through. I am asking forgiveness.”
Tears came in rivers down Bea’s elegant face. She stood and hugged me hard and kissed me with all her might. “Of course I forgive you. I love you.”
“Bea, I know I have not said it much at all. I really love you. I really do love you a lot. I don’t just like you, I love you. I hope you not only love me, I hope you like me too.”
“Alfie Carter, of course I like you and love you. I respect you, too.”
“You have gone to church every Sunday, and I have not gone since, well, for a long time. When Cotton died, something changed me. God changed me. I really cannot explain it any better than that. I am changed. I don’t think like I did before. I do not look at folks like I did before. Can you understand that? That night on the mountain, something happened to me up there when Cotton died. I just kind of came apart at the seams and well, I prayed to God for forgiveness. I accused you and God for everything.”
“Alfie, I have prayed for you and us for a long time. Nearly as long as I can remember,” she said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “I won’t say I had given up, but I was just kind of running on empty. I love you so much. I never stopped loving you. I know how bad it hurt you with Patricia and all. It hurt me real deep, really deep. I was her mama and never got to see her. That hurt me real bad, Alfie. That was a long time ago. We have a long way to go hopefully. Maybe it is time to put it to rest.”
“Bea, I never been to the grave after I buried her. I just can’t.”
She placed her fingers over my lips and just looked in my eyes. She shook her head ever so slightly. Then she kissed me tenderly on the lips.
“Bea, there’s one more thing I have to ask you. I want to ask you out on a date tonight.”
“A date? You, Alfie Carter, want to take me, Bea Carter, on a date?”
“I am afraid that is what I want.”
She grabbed my shoulders and jumped up, wrapping her legs around my waist. She kissed me mightily, nearly pulling my lips off my face. I cried as I could taste her salty tears.
“I have not been asked out on a date since high school. You were the one that asked me. Of course I will go out on a date with you. Where are you taking me?”
“Well, I have not thought that through just yet, because I did not know if you would go.”
“Well, you better decide pretty fast, mister, because we are leaving when I freshen up a bit, and I am real hungry. You better have more than twenty dollars.” She set her feet back on the floor and held my hands. “Alfie, God has answered my prayers. I finally got my Alfie back. I have something I want to talk to you about as well. We will talk about it over supper. And I do not want to go to Merle’s Café. He is the gossip of the town, probably the universe.”
“Okay, it will not be at Merle’s. We will go get a pizza. I have enough money ratholed back for a pizza.”
The mood was light all the way to the pizzeria downtown. A new establishment, it was getting high marks around the police station and the boys. Good food, fast service, and comfortable booths.
Bea ate like a horse.
“For a small person, you can sure put away the pizza.”
“Yes I can, and don’t be trying to steal one of my pieces,” she laughed. “Alfie, let’s take a drive to someplace private.”
“Bea, we are a little old to go parking, don’t you think? I am an officer of the law, you know.”
“Well, we can do a little parking if you wish, but there is just too many ears in here.”
“Okay, Bea. We will go parking. I hope we do not get arrested. Think of how that would look in the paper.”
I guided the car with the headlights up to Turner Point, outside of town.
“Been a long while since we been up here, little girl. I am talking a l
ong time. About twenty years, plus or minus.”
She kissed me mightily. Looking intently into my eyes, she reached out and took my hand and put it over her heart. “That is our life blood pumping. Can you feel it?” she asked.
“I do indeed, that is pretty wild.”
“I have something I want to talk to you about, Alfie. Something that is very important to me and I hope will be important to you as well.” She took my hands in hers. “Alfie, I mentioned maybe adopting a child one time before you left for the mountains. You remember that? It was just a thought then. Well, there is this little girl I want you to meet that came to our orphanage recently. Are you against something like that?”
“Why, no, Bea, what am I meeting this little girl for?”
“Well, she is a very smart little girl. I mean really smart and wonderful. She arrived at the orphanage a short time ago. Brought in by my doctor, Dr. Lynn. Do you remember him? He was my doctor when Patricia died.”
“Yes, I do remember him. Been quite a while.”
“Well, Dr. Lynn brought her in with another doctor from Africa. Her family and village were slaughtered by a group of guerrilla fighters. She stowed away on a mercy ship to get to America by herself. By herself, Alfie. Can you believe that?”
I shook my head in acknowledgement. “Brave little cuss, I would say. So why do you want me to meet this girl? What does she need?”
“Alfie, I love you with everything I have. I am past having children and do not care to do so. But this little girl needs a home. I want her to live with us. I want us to be her parents. Maybe adopt her.”
I stared out the window for a good while. “Bea, I am not sure God wants me to be a father. Especially after what I have done, the way I have behaved.”
“You will make the best father that ever was, Alfie. You just have to trust in God and let Him do the rest. Will you at least meet her? You don’t have to commit right now. Just let me introduce you to her. Maybe get permission to bring her home for the weekend, or something. If you do not think it will work, we will not do it. I will just tell her she will get to come home with us for the weekend as a reward for her English efforts, or something like that. How does that sound? But I am warning you now, cowboy, she is going to win your heart.”
“Well, this Friday night date certainly did not turn out like I was a thinking, as Cotton would have said. But it sure turned out interesting. Yes, Bea, I will agree to meet this girl. How old is she?”
“I think she is about maybe twelve years old. You will like her. I just know it.”
“Well, we will see about that. We will just see about that.”
“Now, let’s do some parking, cowboy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dr. Lynn agreed to allow Jackaleena to come to the Carters’ for the weekend.
“How did Alfie take it when you asked him, Bea?” he asked. “As I recall, he was not in a good state of mind when you lost your child many years ago. What has it been now, close to twenty years?”
She turned her head away.
“I am so sorry, Bea, I did not mean to dredge up old, bad memories.”
“It is okay, Dr. Lynn. Perfectly okay. I am doing better these days. I never talked to Alfie about the way I felt. I guess we just dealt with it in our own ways. He would take off to the mountains every year while I stayed home and cried the whole time he was gone. Pretty sad, in its own way, but that is what happened. Anyway, I really hope this meeting with Jackaleena goes well. She has stolen my heart and I want that little girl.”
“Well, to be quite honest, I have had you specifically in mind from the time we got off the ship. I saw the connection when you and her were first introduced at the orphanage the day I brought her in. It was Alfie I worried and still worry about. I am not sure how he will take to adopting a child.”
“Well Dr. Lynn, we just won’t know until she gets there, will we? How does Jackaleena do in a car?”
“She walked from her village to Benguela by the Sea, stowed away in the small boat to the Mercy Ship, rode it across the ocean. Flew with me from Houston, Texas, then home. Rode in a car to my home and then to the orphanage. She will be okay on the car ride from here to your home.”
I was behind the barn with my cowboy hat and leather gloves on when Bea pulled into the driveway. I could make out the small black girl getting out of the vehicle. She was not short or tall. Kind of in-between. Bea took her by the hand and led her into the house.
Bea poured her a glass of water from the fridge. She was sipping the water and looking around when I cracked the back door open.
“Well, I see we have a guest,” I said. “Bea, who is that you have with you?” as I took off my hat.
“Alfie, this is Jackaleena. Jackaleena, this is Mr. Alfie Carter. He is my husband.”
Jackaleena walked toward me. I just stood there, surprised to be approached by a young black girl whom I had never laid eyes on before.
“Hello, Mr. Alfie. I am Jackaleena,” she said. She reached out her hand and touched mine. “I am pleased to make your meeting.”
“Well, I am pleased to make your meeting, too. Would you like to go outside with me for a little while? I am lopping down some small mesquite bushes in the back and raking brush. Big thorns, you know and not good on—well, they are just not good to have around.”
“Yes, I go with you,” she said.
I turned and showed a look of concern to Bea as I closed the door. Bea put her hands to her face and looked out the window as she watched them head toward the back. She was quite small when compared to Alfie, but did not linger behind him while walking to the back. She was taking two steps to his one but managed to keep up.
“Now, this is a mesquite thorn,” I said, picking up a broken branch from the pile and pointing out the green thorn. “They are worse than a bite by a snake. You ever seen a snakebite, Jackaleena?”
She said nothing, just nodded.
“Well, I tell you, these things are worse, I believe. Especially in the knee when you are on a horse. Be very careful when I cut them. Just pick them up easily like this and place them on the pile for me, okay?”
She nodded as he began to lop the remaining bushes.
The job took an hour. I lopped the mesquite bushes with my newly sharpened loppers and Jackaleena picked the branches up carefully and placed them on the pile.
“Well,” I said, taking off my gloves. “Looks like we got this job done. Are you tired?” I looked at her carefully. “Jackaleena, you have a cut on your arm. It is bleeding a bit. Let me look at that.” I took her hand and looked at her left arm. There was a large scratch undoubtedly put there by a mesquite thorn as she was dragging the branch.
“Mr. Alfie, you have one on your arm, too.” She pointed to a bleeding scratch on my arm above the glove line. She held her arm up to mine. “Look, you are Milano, I am darker. Jesus Man give us all the same color blood. It is red. See. All blood I ever see is red.”
I had to turn away as the tears came to my eyes. Never in my life had I ever seen something like that. A small girl from Africa, different skin tone than me and showing me that all blood is red. I turned around and looked at her.
“Yes, Jackaleena. Skins are all shades of different colors. But all blood is red. I never quite thought of it like that, but it is true. How about we go get a glass of Bea’s lemonade? Ever had any lemonade?”
“No, Mr. Alfie. I have no lemonade.”
“Well now, let’s go get some. How about you take hold of my hand so no bears get you?”
“Mr. Alfie, what is bears?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The formal adoption process was put into place for Beatrice and I to adopt Jackaleena. I fell head-over-heels in love with her and did not want to spend a lot of time apart from her. Her high aptitude and thirst for knowledge were some of the highest hurdles for Bea and I had to jump. We could never keep enough books for her to read and on any subject matter. She not only read them, sometimes ten or more a month, she a
bsorbed every letter, every syllable, and every phrase of every page. It was as if she had a photographic memory. We had never seen such a gifted child. Once she was formally adopted, she would take our last name and over time would become a US citizen.
I found her reading one day in the late afternoon. Strangely, Bea was not at home when I arrived home from work. This was never the case.
“Jackaleena, where is Mrs. Bea?”
“She goes to see dead baby, I think. Maybe she need you very much.”
I had not been to the graveyard since Patricia was buried over twenty years ago. I felt very uncertain.
“Mr. Alfie, maybe she need you very much I think. Let us go to dead baby place. We have one of those in Benguela by the Sea. It is where Joao is below the ground.”
I pulled up to the graveyard slowly. The memory of how I had handled the owner of the graveyard years before came flooding back.
“Mr. Alfie,” Jackaleena said as she touched his hand. “Mrs. Bea, she need you I think. Let us walk.”
I could scarcely remember which section of the graveyard Patricia was buried but finally spotted Bea’s car, parked behind some cedar trees lining the roadway under the Garden of Gethsamane sign. There were small cherubs on each side of the sign with wings.
I parked the car and could see Beatrice lying on a blue blanket on Patricia’s grave. It was the same blanket she had made for Patricia before she was born. She was facedown and crying quietly. There was box of tissues by her head. She did not hear or acknowledge Jackaleena and I when we approached. Jackaleena looked up at me and pointed at Bea.
“Bea, it’s me. It’s Alfie.” She turned her red, swollen eyes toward me. She saw Jackaleena standing to the side. “Bea, I am here. I am finally here. You never have to face this alone again. I promise.”
“Oh, Alfie,” she said. “I am sorry. I am sorry I could never give you a child. I failed.”
“No, ma’am. You did not fail. I have a child, she stands right there.” I motioned Jackaleena to come forward. I wrapped my arms around both of them. “Bea, Patricia is gone. Jesus is taking care of her. We will see her again someday. We all have each other now.”
