by Donna Fasano
Angelina continued to stoke the sleeping puppy. She never said anything, only waited, probably sensing there was more to come. Tee knew she was passing a line of no return, but her resistance was low and Angelina’s gentleness more than she could fight.
Not being able to stop, she added, “It was her last day working as a social worker. She was moving to another city with her husband and quitting her job because she was expecting a baby. While I was having my last appointment with her, she got called out of her office and left the computer files open. Truthfully, I’ve wondered if she did it on purpose. I mean, she knew I was being left there alone—right?”
“What did you do?”
“I accessed my file and found some of my personal stuff. Like, my mother was very young when she had me, and I was born here—in Victoria.”
“Is that why you’ve come here?”
“Yeah! Everything was crappy back in… ah, I can’t tell you.”
“That’s okay. Go on.”
“Well, the idea of going into another foster home wasn’t cutting it. Being the new girl in yet another school was more than I could handle. I’m glad I ran away.”
“I get the feeling that you’re a teeny bit rebellious, aren’t you?” Angelina broke into the telling silence after the verbal outpouring. She grinned, encouraging Tee to get her joke.
Tee’s found herself wearing a one-sided smile. “You could say, I’m a little bit of a bitch, but, Angelina, you have to understand. My life stank. I came here as soon as I could grab some cash and sneak away.”
“You’re on the run, because you took money?” Angelina clenched the puppy so hard, he awoke and his little tongue, licking her hand, had her easing off.
“Nah! I never stole a cent in my life. I earned every penny planting trees in the spring. It was lousy, backbreaking labor, but good money for a hard worker.”
“You planted trees? That’s difficult…and…dangerous. How did you manage to convince the employers you were old enough to work?”
“Bogus social insurance numbers, male name and clothes, and attitude. I’m a good actress.”
Angelina laughed just as Tee had hoped she would. “At least, now you’re a clean, medicated one. I’m sorry Joe wasn’t available, but it’s probably a good thing you’ve got the antibiotics to clear up the infection. How you’ve managed these last few days, I’ll never know.”
Tee had seen Angelina’s disappointment when they’d called Joe and he hadn’t answered. She stored the information away and responded to her new friend’s questions.
“I went to one of those shelter places for the last few nights, but I got in mega-trouble for coughing, and I couldn’t face going back tonight. Plus, I had to hide Peewee from them, or they’d have kicked us out. Tonight I had made up my mind to find a doorway when I spotted your lights still on.” What she didn’t admit was that she and the pup had made many trips past the old building, constantly being drawn back there. Lucky for her and Peewee, tonight they’d finally found Angelina alone.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am my shipment arrived just as I was leaving and I decided to hang on and take a look. It’s the new furniture for the offices we’re going to set up on the first floor so we can start working again next week.”
“I can finish unpacking the rest tomorrow, if you want? It’s my fault you left everything tonight. I’m a good worker, Angelina, I promise. No one has ever complained of me not doing my fair share.” This was an important feat to Tee, a cred in her world that bought instant acceptance and respect.
“We’ll see how you feel tomorrow. Since I brought a load of stuff home with me, Monday is soon enough to return to the office. As I explained, my grandmother whose home this is, flew to Las Vegas to meet my parents. Which means, we’ll have the place to ourselves. Rosario, the lady who’s looked after my grandmother for years is back from visiting her sister in Chile, and will be returning tomorrow to make us breakfast and look after the house. She’s wonderfully sweet. She’ll love having someone else to fuss over. Since I’m seldom home, and Grandma’s often travelling, she complains of not having enough to do.”
“You have a maid? Hey, I’ve never known anyone with a maid before.”
“She’s not a maid. She’s a friend of my grandma’s who happens to work for her. The story goes like this. Many years ago, before my parents were married, my grandmother was visiting Chile to meet my father’s people and help plan their wedding. There was a dreadful commotion in the yard next door. The noise brought my mother and grandmother at a run in time to watch a drunken moron beating the maid and her small boy. Both Grandma and Mamá flew into a rage, and managed to chase away the maniac who happened to be the maid’s husband. He was demanding her earnings, which she hadn’t received because the house’s owner had left on an extended vacation and hadn’t had the decency to pay her before leaving. What attracted my grandmother was Rosario’s defense of her child. She never let the animal near the boy but took each blow herself. Right then and there, Grandmother took Rosario and her little boy, Jorge, into safekeeping.”
“Yess! Good for them! Oh, sorry, go on.”
Chapter 34
Relief flooded into Angelina as she watched young Tee’s enraptured, expressive face. Good, she cares, thought Angelina. “It was the last day of Grandma’s visit so she decided to hire Rosario, help her and her son emigrate to Canada by acting as their sponsor. She would give Rosario work, not charity, which she would have refused. In this way, she made it possible for them to escape their nightmare and have a chance at a good life. Today Jorge, Rosario’s son, is an architect, having graduated a few years back from Victoria University, and Rosario has looked after my grandmother ever since.”
“Wow! What an awesome story. It’ll be chill to meet her. But are you sure she won’t mind me being here?”
“What do you think?”
“Right! Gotcha!”
Up to now, Angelina had been careful not to ask leading questions. She sensed handling Tee was a delicate matter, and wanted to pacify her. Not to prod or irk her, but establish a good rapport. The time had come, she thought, where questions would be accepted. However, it was still an approach that needed to be tactful.
“Sweetheart, trust me, I don’t wish to pry, but did you by any chance find out your mom’s name or her old address?”
“Just the hospital, the city where I was born, my mother’s first name, and the year she was born. It was confusing trying to scan the documents and memorize everything as fast as I could. Looks like I’m my mother’s daughter though—following in her footsteps, young and in trouble.”
Stiffening, Angelina blanched. “You’re pregnant?”
Overcome with mirth, chuckling in her husky way, Tee violently shook her head. “Uh, uh,” she crowed. “No way!”
Jokingly, Angelina pushed at Tee’s thin shoulders affectionately and stopped when she heard the ferocious sputters from Peewee. He’d moved to lie between them on the sofa and was now glaring first at her and then at Tee, uncertainty clearly visible. “Little beast,” she ruffled him playfully, and then scooped him up for hugs and smooches.
Once she’d satisfied the little fellow that she had no intention of hurting his mistress, she glanced up to find Tee’s eyes brimful.
“Oh, niñita, come here.” She reached for the teen’s shaking body, hugged her close and rubbed her thin back. Poor little girl needs a good cry. And a good friend.
Chapter 35
Bright and early on Monday morning, Angelina and Tee arrived at the office and met up with Ray. The sun was teasing its way through the clouds giving warning of a warm day in the colorful, flowery paradise of downtown Victoria. All around there were signs of busy crews hired by the damaged businesses to restore their locations back to their former charm. Hard work was the order of the day for everyone. Angelina couldn’t stop smiling when she acknowledged the major efforts being made, not just by her, but the whole neighborhood. She shifted her daily bundle of bribery from Tim H
orton’s and reached out for Ray’s arm.
“Ray, you remember my friend, Tee? I’ve given her a job to help out with the cleanup. Maybe you can keep her busy?”
“Hey,” Tee smiled warily.
“Yeah, well oats are cheaper, and grass is free,” Ray chanted the old ditty, obviously recognizing the girl from the other day.
Slumping into a petulant stance, the chip on her shoulder hanging out and visible to anyone with knowledge of youngsters—and Ray had that in spades—Tee seemed to react instinctively. Before any damming words slipped out, she must have caught the teasing glint in his eyes, and realized that his whole countenance was relaxed, not at all antagonistic. “Not on these streets,” she answered guardedly.
“You got me there, little girl.” His face broke into an irresistible grin.
Angelina saw Tee melt and breathed a sigh of relief.
Stretching his back, his round belly protruding at the waistline of his well-washed denims, Ray turned to Angelina and said, “Leave this one with me, Angelina. There’s a whole lotta work here, so if she’s a worker, she’ll be busy. If not, you can have her in the office, cause I donna wan’ her under my feet.” He added teasingly, “Looks a might chintzy to me.”
“Chintzy? Hey, ol' man, I’m a hard worker; just make sure you keep it coming.”
Angelina interrupted. “Tee, please don’t overdo it today. There’ll be plenty more when you’re feeling better.”
During the rest of the day, Angelina watched out for her new friend, and she saw Tee working harder than there was any need to.
~*~
Tee was tiring faster than on any of her previous jobs. Knowing it was the infection she was battling and her body’s unhealthy state that taxed her muscles, she tamped down her irritation. She had no choice but to accept the fact that it would take time to be at her best. It was still frustrating. The intense need to show everyone how worthy she was pushed her beyond her ability to keep up, and if it wasn’t for her dogged stubbornness she would have collapsed in a heap and ended up bawling again like she had a few nights earlier.
She still couldn’t believe that she’d broken down like that, and in front of a virtual stranger. Except, Angelina didn’t seem like a stranger at all. That was the difference. But she had to remember that other people had let her down before. Best she keep her affections under control and not take any chances.
Finally the call came for a lunch break.
When she appeared from where she’d been working on the third floor, it was in time to hear Ray singing an Italian aria, forcefully and unharmoniously.
“Too bad you’re such an old man. You could be on Canadian Idol,” Tee snickered, deciding to test the waters with a joke.
“Hey little girl, watcha your mouth. I’ma still hot stuff,” he bantered.
“Sure, on a geriatric ward.” First she chuckled, and when she saw his phony leer, she giggled.
Looking surprised and then delighted, the old Italian softie spoke. “It’s good to hear you laugh, Tee-short-for-trouble.”
Then he sang even louder. His Italian was more pronounced, his love of opera apparent in his musical choice, but his tone was utterly, completely… painfully off-key.
“Aw, Ray, cut it out. I’ma dyin’ here,” Tee said, teasingly.
He stopped mid-note and answered her. “I’m sure your instinct for survival will kick in shortly. Come here and eat your lunch!”
“Dictator!”
“Brat! Hypothetical question here! Say I was to make the rule that workers had to show respect to their boss alla time. Whatcha gonna do about that, little girl?”
“Only thing I can do. Get ear plugs!”
Chapter 36
Some days later, Tee, who was toiling tenaciously, diligently ripping at the chunks of fallen bricks, lathe, scraps of wood and gyp rock, looked up to see Ray watching her. She had painstakingly formed the mangled mess into an organized pile, but not without painful blisters seeping on the palms of her hands, and cuss words spitting uncontrollably from her mouth. Yanking and muttering, she cursed a blue streak: “Ow, dammit, shit…!”
“Brat, you gotta eat with that mouth.” Ray yelled, castigating her with his hands on his hips.
“Eat,” she blasted, “I’m full up from all this sh-tuff.” Kicking at the powdery whitish mounds of fine plaster and filmy dust made her feel better.
She slipped off her work gloves, lowered her facemask and perused the fresh sores on her aching hands. Then she wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her T-shirt that had seen better days, obvious by the faded dragon motif splashed across the front.
“I’m astonished at the amount of work you’ve accomplished up here, missy. But you gotta slow down. Dean sniveled yesterday that you don’t stop. He’s eighteen and having trouble keeping up with you.”
“Yeah, well, he works harder than me. Probably trying to show off. He’s your son after all.”
Ray laughed. “He hasn’t been sick recently and should be able to do a lot more than you shrimp, so stop trying to compete.”
Tee watched as the old man surveyed the space. The damage on this side was intense, so destructive they’d been forced to shore up the roof and, in places, tarp the areas that had completely buckled.
Turning to leave he said, “I came to tell you there’s lunch downstairs. Come, take a break, eat and rest for a while. Angelina’ll take a stick to me if you get sick again. You work too hard. It’s enough now.” He turned away, certain she would follow—in her own good time.
“I want to check out this last corner.” Holding a couple of fingers up towards him, she reiterated, “Two more minutes.” She headed towards a particular area of pandemonium where large pillars were twisted, crisscrossed and lying over heaps of crushed furnishings. Pieces of lathe and wire mesh coated with broken slabs of gyp rock, and segments from the collapsed roof were scattered in all directions. They were sharp and dangerous, and made the pathway difficult to traipse over.
In the midst of this upheaval, a bright purple color grabbed her eye. She’d spotted it earlier half-exposed from a recessed opening in the top pillar. It was a diabolically clever hidey-hole, and the thrust from the quake had probably broken it apart. She worked her way closer, being careful where she stepped, and cautiously lifted the treasure from amidst the mess. Squatting to investigate, she determined the purple to be an old Crown Royal whiskey bag—actually there were two— probably doubled for strength. The heavy weight of the bundle spiked her fascination.
After tugging to undo the cord, the contents left her open-mouthed and bordering on hysteria. Nestled in the decaying old bag was a whole shit-load of gold coins, all in mint condition, all enclosed in special plastic covers, and all beautiful. She started to count the cache and after she hit fifty, she gave up.
Without further thought she hiked up the heavy bag in her arms like a precious baby, and ran screaming down the stairs.
“Angie! Angie! Come quick! You ain’t never gonna believe what I just found. It is in-frigging-credible! Oops! Sorry, Ray,” she caught his look of distaste as she went screaming past.
Chapter 37
It took them all some time to settle down after Tee’s awesome discovery. Blunting the excitement, Angelina overrode everyone’s proposals as to how she could make the most use of the money, including a cruise, new wardrobe, jewelry and everyone’s favorite suggestion—donating it to a newly formed charity fund thought up by Johnnie called ‘Employee Wage Increases’.
Tee was all for that suggestion, but bursting their fun-bubble, Angelina stated unequivocally, “I’ll have to see if the previous owners are reachable. Since the late 1800s to the 1920s are the dates on the coins, I guess any time after that would most likely be the time period I should check into. Come on you guys! You know the money belongs to these people or their predecessors.”
Johnnie interrupted and qualified, “I’m almost sure anything found on your property is yours, or could even belong to whoever found it. It’s a fin
ders-keepers kinda thing.”
Angelina listened and then added, “Maybe you’re right. But I still intend to hire a private detective firm I know here in town, and we’ll at least try to return the money to the proper owners.”
Meanwhile, no one had paid heed to other people drifting in and out of the open building, hanging back during the excitement. Therefore suspicious characters went unnoticed. That is, except for Tee. She was disciplined by prior circumstances to always be watchful. And what she saw, she didn’t like at all.
~*~
Angelina’s mind drifted a few seconds while she dithered about whether or not to call Joe and tell him the news about Tee literally finding a bag of gold. He’d returned her call from days before when she’d left a message about Tee being back and sicker than ever, but he’d kept the conversation short and to the point.
“Did you take her to see a doctor?”
“Yes, of course! We tried your office first but couldn’t reach you, so I took her immediately to the local clinic. They gave her a prescription. She’s better now, and is working here at the office with Ray’s crowd.”
“Don’t let her overtax herself. She’ll be feeling pretty weak for some time.”
“Right! Telling her to slow down is—well, it’s impossible. The minute our eyes are turned, she’s back at it. Works harder and faster than anyone else on Ray’s payroll, including his sons, and that’s saying a lot.”
“I’m surprised she stuck around. Where’s she staying?”
