by Mark Tufo
“You bitch,” Sara said vehemently.
Bonnie began to walk out of the house. “The van will be by later today, have all their things ready to go.”
Callis began to cry. Sara came over and hugged her, and for once, Callis did not shrug her off or sigh melodramatically. They both knew she was warming up, and it was a welcome feeling; security and trust were wrapped up in that hug. Callis watched as Bonnie got into her car and began to drive away. Anger welled up in her as she took control of Bonnie, she jammed Bonnie’s foot down on the gas and turned the wheel slightly so it was headed towards a light pole.
“What the heavens?” Sara asked as she turned around listening to the squeal of tires as the car shot forward.
Callis let go, Bonnie swerved violently, ripping the mirror off the passenger side door.
“That’s a little bit of karma,” Sara said.
“What now?” Callis asked, her lip trembling tremulously.
“First we clean up your nose and then I’ll call Social Services and my lawyer or maybe my lawyer first. This isn’t over yet.”
Sara was able to delay the inevitable for another week, but the black cloud of the impending move hung over them all. Callis kept a watchful eye on Erik, thinking that he may slip back into his room crapping ways.
Callis packed as little as possible, hoping that by not taking her stuffed animals and her posters and leaving her room in exactly the same way, she would be able to come back. She took one long rueful look at her room and closed the door behind her. She wanted to hold onto the good memories of it as long as possible. Her head was hanging as she walked down the stairs. Sara was clutching and hugging Erik, his tears matching Sara’s.
“I love you, Mom,” he told her.
“Come on, we’ve got a schedule to keep,” the new driver Jerry said. He was a few years younger than Danny and infinitely more hard-hearted. He was chewing a baseball-sized wad of gum as he watched the scene unfold before him. He couldn’t have been more disinterested if he had been watching a gaggle of women pick out new yarn colors.
“Well you’re a looker aren’t you,” Jerry said, perking up when Callis came into view.
“That’s appropriate!” Sara screamed at him.
“Whatever…just making an observation. Come on we have to go,” he told them, walking back out the door.
“You going to pay attention to driving and stop looking over at me?” Callis asked.
“All you hot chicks are the same,” Jerry said disdainfully.
Callis had gotten increasingly uncomfortable since they had dropped Erik off. They had hugged, and he had told her that he loved her before going off into his new home; by all outward appearances of it, it looked like he had hit the lottery.
“How much further?” Callis asked, shifting in her seat.
“Almost there, sweetheart,” he told her as they pulled up to a singlewide trailer that had seen its best days when Ronald Reagan was in office – his first term. Most of the siding was rusted and one of the windows was covered with a green trash bag. The small parcel of land that was considered the yard was covered in old lawn ornaments that were fashionable when Reagan was starring with monkeys in movies.
“This is the Lowries’ place,” Jerry told Callis as he got out. “They had a son once. He died during a training accident in the Army, I believe a helicopter crash,” he told her with no more concern than if her were telling her the sun was out.
The Lowries had started fostering soon after the accident as a way to get past their grief; it never did work out for them.
“Wait here for a second and I’ll make sure that they’re ready for you,” he said as he took the keys. “Don’t want you stealing my ride.”
Callis hoped they weren’t. The trailer looked dark and dingy; whatever happiness had once been here had been bleached out with the passing of the seasons. It wasn’t that the Lowries were bad people, they were just indifferent, incapable of expressing much beyond disdain for the world around them. It would be a home for Callis albeit a callous one.
Mrs. Lowrie answered the door, a can of soda in hand and a half-smoked cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
“Who is it, Helen?” Mr. Lowrie shouted from the living room, although if he had merely craned his head he would have been able to see.
“It’s the stork, come to deliver us another child!” Helen cackled.
“Better not be a big one, I’m getting sick of feeding the oafs they send here.”
“Well, where is the little treasure?” Helen asked before taking a deep drag off her smoke and issuing forth a large plume into Jerry’s face.
He brushed the smoke away. She offered no form of apology or remorse. “She’s in the van. You mind not blowing that shit in my face?” he asked her.
“I don’t mind…bring her up here.”
“Damn it,” Jerry muttered as he walked back to the van.
Callis could tell by his body language that he was not happy, although he put on a happy face when he opened the door, the dome light reflecting off his teeth as he forced a smile.
“Why do you look so bad? I’m the one staying here,” Callis asked.
“Better you than me. Get your stuff and get out.”
“You sure are a people person, did Social Services hire you with that in mind?” she asked with a remarkable sense of comedic timing, although Jerry didn’t appreciate the humor.
“She ain’t fat,” Helen yelled to her husband as she watched them come back up the small walkway.
“Good damn thing,” echoed out of the trailer.
Callis was want for nothing physical at the Lowrie homestead. She had a small bedroom; a variety of used clothes – most from the Goodwill, some from past foster kids that had outgrown them. She ate three meals a day. What was severely lacking was any emotional contact of any kind. Mom and Pop Lowrie barely spoke to each other unless it revolved around what was for dinner or what was on the television. She had been there a solid year and there were times Callis had to stare in the mirror for long moments to make sure she had not disappeared.
“I think it’s my birthday today,” she told her reflection. “Did you get me anything?” Her reflection shook her head. “It’s okay, I wasn’t expecting anything.” Her reflection looked back at her sadly. “I miss you, Dad.”
She felt for her mother, but had not yet gotten to the point where she could forgive her for what she had done. Callis now knew her part in her father’s death, she had wanted that damned stupid iPod and involuntarily sent a piece of herself to steer her dad into getting one. She had no idea that it meant literally steer him. She buried her face in her hands as she remembered the car accident.
The Lowries were alright people, especially Ben. They were warming to Callis in slow degrees, and they were moving past being the placeholders for the people they once were. The pictures of their son Jakob were coated in a thick layer of dust that had not seen a cloth for years. Callis was thankful the new school year was starting. She was allowed to go outside, but she knew none of the kids in the neighborhood, and besides, most of them were years younger. She would usually just watch them enjoy their youth from her bedroom window, wishing that she had been able to.
“You come home after school,” Mrs. Lowrie told Callis as if she had been a social butterfly the previous year and had been staying out until all hours of the night.
Callis thought she sounded like a robot, and maybe that was exactly what she was; just a person going through the motions. Those weren’t the exact thoughts going through the young girl’s head, but it was a fair approximation.
“Yes, ma’am,” Callis replied, but the door was already shut. “I wonder what they’d do if I was late?” she asked, not really in defiance, but as a general question. They spoke little to her, but they seemed to care and they gave her all the space she desired, never initiating contact.
Callis waited at the bus stop. She had picked the best of the clothing that was available. It was a blue flower print d
ress. She had done her best to sew up the holes, but she was no seamstress. She felt pretty good about finally getting out of the house, not necessarily about going to school, but at least the opportunity to meet kids more her own age. She had not connected with anyone at the junior high – too despondent in her despair to let anyone in – and with her feeling more herself, she was happy to be going to high school and the new opportunities it would present. She was nervous at the prospect of starting a new school year and a new school but happy to make some new friends. It was with those thoughts she climbed the stairs to the bus. She hadn’t made it past three rows of seats before the finger pointing and snickering began.
Her face flushed with heat, red fingers of embarrassment flowed up her neck and onto her face. She desperately wanted to sit somewhere…anywhere…on the crowded bus just so she could hide. The bus was near to capacity and a red haired, freckled girl placed her book bag on the first seat she tried to sit in, barring Callis’ way.
“Please?” Callis begged.
“Not a chance. They already make fun of me, if I sit with you I’ll have to go to another school,” the red-haired girl scoffed.
“Freak,” one of the ring leaders said loudly. Her name was Mindy Denton, her parents owned Denton Furniture.
“Oh come on, Mindy,” the girl sitting next to Mindy said. Her name was Laura McMahon. “She’s not a freak, she just lives at the Lowries. Oh, my mistake,” she said, placing her hand to her mouth. “That does make her a freak.” Mindy and some others laughed.
“She looks like a vampire. When do you think the last time she got some sun was?” Mindy asked.
Laura pulled her leg in as Callis passed. “Oh gross, she almost touched me. Can you catch poor?” she asked. “Did you get a free bowl of soup with that dress?”
Callis had no idea what the slight meant, but that it was mean-spirited was easy enough to pick up on.
“Where’s she going?” a third in the group of girls asked. Her name was Talea Fields.
“I told my father I needed my car out of the shop before school started. See what kind of vagabonds you get exposed to when you ride the bus.” Mindy said haughtily.
Callis was going to the back of the bus. She didn’t care if she had to stand, just as long as the girls stopped laughing at her.
Then she noted there was a half-empty seat. The boy sitting there was asleep and had his legs draped over most of the green cushion. She figured there was still a good six inches with which she could mercifully sit and be out of the field of fire. The girls turned a few more times, but eventually tired of her when she didn’t respond and for the most part she kept her head down looking intently at her yellow legal pads that Mrs. Lowrie had gotten in the bargain bin at the local drug store.
She didn’t even know when the bus got to the school until the door opened and students began to file out. When she looked up, the trio of teasers was still sitting; occasionally looking back to see when Callis would go by them so that they could start round two.
She was praying to a God she didn’t believe in that they would just get off the bus and leave her alone.
“Who are you?” a voice next to her asked. It was her seat companion finally awakening.
“Callis, Callis Rose,” she said in a near panic. “I’m...I’m sorry, there was nowhere else to sit.”
“It’s okay, no big deal, just never seen you before.” The boy watched her as she looked at him and then back to Mindy and her friends before putting her head back down.
“They giving you a hard time?”
“Who? No? Everything’s fine.”
“Oh, I know it isn’t, the ringleader there is my sister.”
Callis’ eyes grew wide.
“Relax, I love her, but I know she’s a butt dart.”
Callis nearly snorted. “Butt dart?” she asked.
“Pain in the ass. Get it?”
Callis smiled. “Got it.”
“Sis, turn your ass around or I’ll tell mom you kissed Bobby Fitzsimmons!” he shouted across the bus.
Mindy’s face colored much like Callis’ had a few minutes earlier. Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed before she quickly turned around.
“You kissed Bobby?” Talea asked, “You know I liked Bobby, how could you?” Talea said as she shoved her way off the bus.
“Not cool, Mindy,” Laura told her friend.
“My name’s Kevin Denton,” he said, extending his hand. “If you have any problems you just let me know, but Mindy should be done with you now.”
“Why?” Callis asked, wondering why someone she didn’t know would intercede on her behalf. She had yet to see this practiced in real life.
“Well, partly it’s because my sister could really use a lesson in manners. I cannot figure out why she thinks she’s so much better than everyone else. We share a bathroom, I can guarantee you that her shit does indeed stink.”
Callis laughed out loud; she couldn’t help herself.
“The other part, Callis, you really looked like you could use the help. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re pretty cute.”
She blushed again.
“Now if you could get out of my way I really need to get to class. Coach said if I don’t pass all my classes I can’t play football.”
Callis, in her haste to get out of his way, dropped her notepads on the ground. She bent to pick them up and Kevin got down with her.
She smiled wanly. “It was all they had.”
“Trade?”
“What?”
“I could use a few yellow pads, and I’ve got more college ruled notebooks then I am going to use for all of high school.”
“I can’t really.”
“Listen, give me a couple of yours and I’ll give you a couple of mine, that way we both have what we need.”
“Why are you so nice?” she asked, taking his proffered pads.
“I balance out my sister.”
“She can’t be that bad.” Callis smiled.
“You taking the bus home?” he asked her.
“My foster parents told me to come home after school.”
“Did they tell you what time?”
She shook her head.
“Come watch our football practice and I’ll walk you home.”
She nodded before she’d even realized it.
School was interesting if only because it involved something more than day dreaming at her bedroom window. She was thrilled to be getting the added stimuli and actually looked forward to doing homework. But she’d be lying to herself if she said that the majority of the day wasn’t spent thinking about Kevin Denton and his dreamy blue eyes.
She had seen Mindy in the hallways once in between classes, but now the girl seemed more embarrassed by her than the other way around. After school she found the football field and climbed a few rows into the stands. The team had not yet made it out onto the field, and for a moment, she had the sinking feeling that he may have played a cruel trick on her…at least up until she heard them shouting as they came running out of the school.
He waved to her as he passed.
“Glad you could show!” he shouted, waving at her.
“Who is she? Is she your girlfriend?” a few of his teammates asked.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard him answer “Not yet.”
Practice lasted two hours according to the field clock. She hadn’t noticed in the least the passing of that much time.
“Five minutes,” he mouthed, showing all of his fingers splayed, as he headed to the school locker room.
It was closer to fifteen, but she would have waited an hour and a half if need be.
“What’d you think?” he asked breathlessly. He had run to get back to her.
“I have no idea what I was watching,” she told him, blushing with embarrassment.
“You’ve never watched football?”
She shook her head.
“Never, ever?” he asked again, but he was smiling. “Then w
e have LOTS to talk about. Okay let’s start with the basics. Do you know any of the positions?”
She looked up at him with pleading eyes.
“Okay, I’m going to take that as a no. Alright…I’m the quarterback, easily the most important person on the field,” he said with a laugh. His coach kept telling him that he was only a small cog in the inner workings of the team machine and he believed that by and large. Without his linemen, he was basically a guy trying to survive. Everyone on that field was important, and that was why he laughed at his words. But the girl, the cute new girl Callis, had no idea.
For the twenty minutes they walked, Kevin laid down the groundwork of football. The walk ended abruptly when Kevin stopped outside her home.
Callis looked at her house. “How did you know?”
“I asked around.”
“Do you live close?” she asked.
“Other side of town.”
“You didn’t have to walk all this way.”
“Nope, sure didn’t. But I plan on doing it again tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Callis told him. “I will really try and learn how football is played.”
He laughed. “Bye, Callis, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She ran up to the house and in. Mrs. Lowrie momentarily looked up to see who had entered before gluing her head back in place for her show. Mr. Lowrie waved without moving his head. Callis waved back, although she didn’t think he saw, but she couldn’t have cared less. She had made a friend, not a girl friend like she had supposed, but a friend nonetheless…and he was gorgeous!
“I wonder if he has a girlfriend?” she asked her reflection. Her mirror image gave her a concerned look back.
Mindy gave a hard stare at Callis the next morning and nothing more. Kevin had a beaming smile as he moved over so Callis could sit down.
“Did you do your homework last night?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she answered hesitantly.
“I’m not talking school homework…I’m talking football homework. Do you know what a halfback is yet?”
Her gaze took on a lost countenance.
