by Lisa Tucker
“The stress of the problem can’t be helping.” She paused. “Are you thinking these two could be of some use for that?”
He was over by the front door, and he turned to look at her. “I know it sounds ludicrous, but it crossed my mind. What do you think of the idea?”
“I’m concerned about possible legal ramifications. Where is the mother now?”
“She lives in a crack house, apparently. At this moment, she’s probably sitting in her own shit after partying all week with my five grand.”
“We could still press charges. I could connect with the people we used last year to get Herdrich’s DUI dismissed.”
Danny was scared then. “My mom didn’t mean to—”
Dr. Connelly shook his head. “Let’s say the mother agreed to let them stay. It shouldn’t be hard to convince her. Fifty dollars should do it. Hell, she’d probably sell them outright for a few hundred.”
“I don’t think paying her is the best way to handle this.”
“Judiciously put,” Dr. Connelly said, and he walked over to the couch, near Danny’s sister. He leaned down to Isabelle and smiled. “If I pay for you, I’ll look like what your brother calls a perv. Then your dope fiend mother can blackmail me. We don’t want that, do we?”
“No!” Isabelle said, laughing.
Danny said, “Don’t talk to my sister.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Dr. Connelly said. “She lives with me in this scheme, remember? So do you.” Then he said, “Luke, I am your father,” in a really weird voice, and Cassie laughed; Danny wasn’t sure why.
After a while the man sat down, resting his hand on the left side of his face, and said to her, “Is this as stupid as I think it is?”
Cassie waited a moment. “Perhaps you could just confess to this scientist that you stretched the truth. If you had—”
“No. Absolutely out of the question.”
“Even if you gave him a compelling emotional reason? You said he’s having a child and is obviously very involved with his girlfriend. If he doesn’t know you very well, he might be able to believe that you were momentarily jealous.”
Dr. Connelly put his other hand on his face, too, and sat there like that for so long that Cassie finally coughed.
“Sorry,” he said. “I keep going into these trances. Good thinking, but unfortunately the scientist does know me.”
“Oh,” Cassie said. “That won’t work then.”
Danny was getting worried. It had been dusk when the woman arrived, and now it was dark. If he was walking home, he wanted to get out there now, before it was too cold. “What about my mom?” he said, crossing his arms, looking at the man. “Will you send her to Changes or not?”
Dr. Connelly exhaled. “He wants his mom in rehab, but not just any rehab—Changes.”
“That might be a possibility,” Cassie said. “If the mother would sign a letter saying that she’s going there and designating you as temporary guardian, we could talk to Drossman about admitting her immediately. I’m sure he’d be happy to—”
“Thirty days? You have to be kidding.”
“We could find other arrangements for them on Friday with social services. But the lengthy rehab makes the letter necessary and protects you from any number of possibilities. Assuming it’s worded in such a way that it’s clearly her choice to have you take care of her children, this limits her actions against you in the future, among other things.”
“I wish I could think more about this after I get some sleep.” He sighed. “Do we have to do it tonight?”
“The children are here now without parental permission. I think you have to either send them home or do it tonight, as quickly as possible. I’ll help you, but first I’ll have to call Gerald.”
“No, I can’t let you do that. Go. Be with your family. I can deal with it.”
“At least let me make all the arrangements with Changes and work on a draft of the letter. And get a plane reservation for the mother, late tonight if possible, tomorrow morning otherwise. I can do all that from the car once you give me the go-ahead. That way, when she signs the letter, you just send her in a cab to the airport.”
Danny was squinting at this woman, stunned at how serious she sounded. Like it was actually going to happen after so many years of hearing about Changes. His mom would be going there. His mom would be off drugs.
“Great,” Dr. Connelly said. “That would be a big help.”
“I’ll also send a car over tomorrow morning with some toys and children’s clothes. I have most of my kids’ things; my mother insisted I save it all for Deana. She still believes my sister will decide to grow up and get married someday.” Cassie shrugged. “I don’t really mind. We have a very large basement.”
“You don’t have to bother with that.”
“If you were in the process of adopting these children, I don’t think you’d have them wearing these clothes and playing with nothing but cushions.”
Isabelle had all the cushions off the big white chair and was jumping on them. Danny had noticed this earlier, but if the man wasn’t going to object, he sure wasn’t.
“But don’t your kids want their toys?”
“My son is at Princeton and both my girls are in high school. I don’t think so.”
“Sorry. I forgot.”
Cassie smiled. “You’re not interested in children, Matthew. Everyone who works for you knows this. It’s nothing to be sorry for.”
Danny agreed with the last sentence. From his experience, most people weren’t interested in children, and they weren’t sorry about it, either. He wasn’t sure why she was smiling; maybe because the boring conversation was about to be over.
“I’ll need your mother’s legal name,” Cassie said to Danny. It was the first time she’d spoken to him, or even looked at him.
“From her driver’s license.”
“Does she even have a driver’s license?” Dr. Connelly said.
Danny nodded. It was from a few years ago, but he figured it would still work. He told Cassie his mom’s name, and she punched the letters into a little computer-like thing that Dr. Connelly called her “crackberry.”
A minute later she stood up, and Dr. Connelly walked her to the door. He whispered something to her and she gave him a quick hug. Danny was surprised by this, after the stiff way they’d been talking. Maybe they were friends, too, not just people who worked together.
Once Cassie was gone, the man was back to being grumpy. He complained that his head hurt and that he was tired about a million times before he said that Danny would have to go find his mother and bring her back here.
“Okay, Doctor Connelly. We’ll do it right now.”
“Not we. You. And don’t call me Doctor Connelly.” He was slumped on the cushionless chair. Isabelle was sitting at his feet, tugging on a loose thread in the rug. “Call me Matthew or Your Highness or even Fuckface. Anything but that.”
“I can’t go without my sister.”
“You can and you will. I don’t trust you, and I definitely don’t trust your mother. What if she just scored a bag? She’ll say rehab can wait, and then you won’t come back, either, and I’ll be fucked. Isabelle is my insurance that you will return, dragging your dope fiend mom with you.” He smirked. “Think of it as déjà vu to the fabulous night we met.”
“But who will watch her?”
“Who do you think? I’ll force myself to stay awake until you get back. Better hurry, though. I’ll have to call up the security guard to help me if you’re gone too long.”
Danny felt like he was going to cry, but he made himself sound angry. “I don’t want to do this.”
“Neither do I. I don’t want to do any of this. I’d rather chew off my own leg than deal with the happy couple tomorrow, but those are the breaks. I have to do certain things, and so do you. It’s part of being a man. Buck up and take it.” Matthew laughed harshly. “I got that from my own father, and now I’m passing it on to you, my new son. Hope you appreciate i
t.”
Actually, Danny did appreciate it. It chased away the crying feeling. It also made him feel older and even respected, to be talked to like he was becoming a man.
He went through the list of things to watch out for with Isabelle and Matthew listened, though he kept going “Yeah, yeah, yeah” after each thing. Then Danny took Isabelle into the bedroom and put a diaper on her, ignoring her complaints. He told his sister that he was running out for a minute to get Mommy, but he’d be right back.
“Back,” she repeated, but her voice was quieter. He realized she’d missed her nap, which was good. Maybe she’d fall asleep and stay that way the whole time he was gone.
When they were back in the living room, the man asked him how far away his house was. “I don’t know,” Danny said. “Not that far.”
Dr. Connelly, Matthew, reached into his pants and took out two twenty-dollar bills. “This should cover the cab both ways.”
“Thanks,” Danny said, because he was in too much of a hurry to explain that he didn’t know how to take a cab. He knew a shortcut once he was over the bridge. He could walk there in less than a half hour, grab his mom, and be back before anything happened to his sister.
He was at the door when he thought to ask how he’d get back in. Matthew said he could just ask the guard to let him come up, the way Cassie had. “He’ll see you leave. It shouldn’t be a problem.” He shook his head. “Obviously, he’s not all that concerned with the security of my apartment.”
“I don’t think he’ll let me in,” Danny said. What he really meant was the guard wouldn’t let his mom in, but he couldn’t admit that without admitting he’d been inside the locked closet, and from there, he had a feeling that the man would get much, much grumpier.
“Live dangerously.”
“Really. He won’t let me in, I’m sure.”
“All right, anything, if you’ll just stop talking about this.” Matthew disappeared into the bedroom and returned with something that looked like an ATM card. He explained how to use it outside the lobby and at his front door, too.
“Now, if you give my key to anyone else, I’ll have to give your sister to someone else. Fair is fair.”
“I won’t.”
“By anyone, I also mean your mother, or any of her friends.”
“I promise.”
“Fine, I’ll accept your promise, despite how well you kept the last one. Any other requests, or are you finally leaving?”
“Take good care of Isabelle.”
Matthew pointed at the door. “Go.”
Danny did as he was told, even though leaving without his sister made his heart beat so hard he felt like it was trying to break through his chest. When he was out of the building he started running to the bridge, and he was still running as he headed over to Spring Garden. By the time he got to his house, he was holding his side and panting. Luckily, when he pounded on the door, some woman answered. She let him in even though she didn’t know who he was.
As he walked around looking for his mom, he couldn’t help noticing how ugly the house was—much worse than he remembered. Part of it was that the lights were on for a change, but the other part, he knew, was that he’d been spoiled by living in the man’s place. He wondered how long it would take him to adjust again. The guy had mentioned getting rid of them on Friday, meaning he and Isabelle would have to come back here for a month, without their mom. It would be really hard, but at the end of the month, his mom would be off drugs. They could start their new life.
He found her on the third floor, alone in one of the bedrooms, lying on one of the dirty mattresses. She wasn’t sick, but she wasn’t normal, either. When she saw him, she blinked with recognition, but then she closed her eyes.
“Come on, Mom.” He pulled on her arm. “We have to go to Isabelle.”
“My baby?”
“Yeah, she’s over in West Philly. We’re going to get her, and then you’re going to have a big surprise. You won’t believe it.”
She finally sat up. “Cobain? Where have you been?”
Cobain was Danny’s real name. His mom had picked it because of some singer she’d liked in high school. The singer’s first name was Kurt, which wasn’t great, but it was a whole lot better than his last name.
“Danny,” he said. “You have to call me Danny.” He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I’ll tell you everything on the way there. Isabelle is waiting. We have to make sure she’s okay.”
His mom tried to stand up but she stumbled, and Danny had to grab her hands so she wouldn’t fall. “Sweaty,” she mumbled. He didn’t bother to tell her that he’d run all the way there. Her hands seemed warm, too, and her face was very warm to his lips.
Of course he kissed his mom. He hadn’t seen her for eight days.
She smiled, but her head fell forward, like it was too heavy for her neck. Then he knew what was wrong. She’d taken too much of the stuff in the needles. She’d be all right in a while, but it was going to be a struggle to get her to Isabelle.
Zeke, a guy who’d lived in the house forever, came in to see what was up. Danny had heard Zeke talking about Changes a thousand times, and he couldn’t resist telling him that his mom was going there, tonight.
“Good news,” Zeke said. He sounded genuinely happy for them. Danny wished he could send Zeke there, too. “Damn, Kim, you’re lucky.”
“Changes?” his mom said, blinking. “I thought we were going to get Isabelle.”
“We are. Isabelle is with the man who’s going to send you there. The one who’s going to help us.”
“Hold on a minute, champ,” Zeke said. “Nobody does nothing in this world without a reason. What’s this guy really want with Kim?”
Then Danny wanted to kick himself for bringing it up. “We have to go,” he said to his mom. But Zeke kept saying it sounded suspicious, and then three other people from the house came up and said the same thing.
His mom was standing, leaning against him, but her voice was becoming stronger. “Cobain, did you give your sister to this man?”
“Don’t call me that name! And no, the guy is just taking care of Isabelle until we get back.”
“Oh, my god, we don’t even know him. What if—”
“She’ll be safe. He’s a doctor.”
“I hope he’s not using that baby in some experiment,” Salma said. “I don’t trust doctors. They act like they’re your friend, when all they really want is your body parts.”
“Ain’t it the truth,” another woman said. Danny didn’t know her name. “I heard about a guy who went into rehab and came out without a kidney.”
Danny was nervous, but he reminded himself that this couldn’t be true. Even his mom said the people in the house loved to talk about the rest of the world plotting against them. Danny figured maybe they did it because they were afraid the rest of the world didn’t really think about them at all.
“Mom, listen.” Danny was looking at her, whispering. Two other people had come in to join the discussion, and he just wanted to get out of there. “Remember the guy we met on the bridge? That guy works for a big drug company. He’s the one who wants to—”
“Drug companies are evil,” Salma said. “They kill people with their bad drugs. All they care about is making money.”
“True that,” said some man with a big scar on his chin. “I got a friend who quit smack and the ’done with no help, nothing but his will, but now he’s on Paxil and he can’t get off that motherfucker.”
“That’s how they do it,” Angela said. She was the oldest person in the house, and she’d been an addict for years. “They make what helps you against the law so they can hook you on all their drugs that doesn’t do shit except make you sick.”
This went on for so long that Danny’s mom slumped back on the mattress. Danny begged her to get up over and over. Finally, he said to the whole room of grown-ups, “Stop it! This is my mom’s only chance. You’re ruining it!”
“Listen, little man,” Zeke said. He put
his hand on Danny’s shoulder, but Danny shook him off. “You gotta think about the way the world works. Changes is a whole lotta money. Why would some stranger pay for this unless he wanted something he couldn’t get any other way? Whatever it is, I promise you, it’s something real bad.”
Danny didn’t say anything, but he felt his throat close up like someone was choking him. He could imagine what Zeke would say if he heard the reason Dr. Connelly claimed he was helping them. To make some guests think he had a family? Yeah, right, and cops are all nice people, and Santa Claus will give you whatever you want if only you’re really good. What if all the talk between Cassie and the man was like his train fare story—a put-on, meant to convince Danny they were considering Changes? What if Salma was right, and what they really needed were body parts for some drug company thing? He heard the guy say something about being run over by a bus. There were a couple of things like that he didn’t understand. What if they all added up to something horrible, and his sister was up on the doctor’s table, about to be cut open right now?
He grabbed his mom and pulled her from the bed. “We have to get Isabelle!”
“You want help?” Zeke said. Someone else said, “Yeah, bring along a can of whoop-ass for that doctor.”
“No,” Danny said, but only because Zeke was moving slowly, too, half dressed, and if he said yes to Zeke he might end up with half the house coming along. Getting them all to West Philly would take even longer.
He hurried his mom downstairs and outside. It was much colder now, which helped wake her up and kept her going all the way to the bridge, and then to the street where the man lived. On the way there, Danny told her about the letter and Changes and the woman, and she agreed with Zeke that there had to be something more to the story, something much darker and even sinister. Danny said maybe money didn’t mean that much to this guy, but his mom reminded him that rich people were usually stingier than poor ones. He knew it was true, which was why he never begged from anyone who looked really rich unless he had no other choice. He felt like a stupid kid for forgetting how much he distrusted those people. He liked Dr. Connelly’s apartment, but so what? He didn’t know anything about the man himself except that he cursed a lot, like everybody in their house, but that didn’t make him the same. There was no reason to trust him. He shouldn’t have left Isabelle. He’d broken his vow to protect her.
