Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (7 page)

“
Can we have lunch with
Nash and Teddy?”

“
I don’t see why not,”
Sandy said.

Noelle visibly brightened at the idea of
having lunch with her brother and his friend.

“
But first, let’s go talk
to Mrs. Valerie,” Sandy said. “This is a serious thing, Noelle. You
can really hurt yourself and your health by throwing up food. Not
to mention it makes your teeth ugly.”

“
Oh… oh… I don’t want to
mess up my teeth! They are the one thing that’s actually okay. I
won’t even need braces,” Noelle said. “I just want to
be…”

“
Perfect,” Sandy said under
her breath. “Why don’t you change into some regular clothes and
I’ll meet you up front? I’ll call school. Bring your uniforms so we
can get them fixed.”

“
Ok,” Noelle
said.

Sandy went to get her shoes and waited for
Noelle in the front room. She pressed her hand against her eyes to
keep from weeping herself. She wondered if she should call Noelle’s
therapist. Not that the therapist did any good. Clearly, Noelle had
thought she was fat for a long time. No, the therapist wasn’t going
to help.

Sandy had no idea what might help. Noelle
came out in jeans and a cute top. The little girl had washed her
face but there was no disguising the swollen blotchy mess that her
tears had created.

“
Let’s find Mrs.
Valerie.”

Taking the uniforms from Noelle, she
followed the girl down the stairs.

~~~~~~~~

Monday midday — 12:12 P.M.

On her first day back to work after the
trial, Honey decided to go home during her lunch break. She wanted
one last check of the pantry before she and Jill went shopping.
Wheeling through the kitchen, she saw that Jill had posted Honey’s
dinner schedule on the wall. Tonight’s welcome home dinner for
Delphie was roasted chicken, baked potatoes and a salad. Sandy was
making rolls and Blane was bringing by one of his amazing
cakes.

Honey smiled. Everything was working out
perfectly. Jill and Sandy treated her like she was one of their
friends. Last night, Valerie introduced her to everyone as her
sister. For the first time in Honey’s life, she was a part of
something, a family.

She wheeled herself into the pantry to check
supplies.

And gasped.

The pantry that had been nearly empty last
night! Somehow, someway, the pantry was now full. There were even
three boxes of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries. Last night,
there was not a Crunch Berry in the house. In fact, Jacob went to
Walgreen’s to get some after he, Mike, and Blane returned from
Midnight Hockey. MJ helped them finish the box before coming to
bed.

No Crunch Berries in the house last night.
Not one.

Now, three unopened boxes sat on this pantry
shelf.

Wheeling as fast as she could, she sped to
stairs. She hooked herself into the stair lift and rode down to the
basement. She plopped herself into the sport wheelchair that waited
for her there. She sped to their temporary apartment.

Even though the kitchen was set up for
standing people, MJ had worked all weekend to create a manageable
arrangement for her. Now, everything was mostly accessible to her.
Yanking open the cabinet, she saw…

More Crunch Berries.

Her pantry was full of real food and Crunch
Berries.

“
What the hell?”

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 1:35 P.M.

“
I wonder if you could help
me with something,” Sandy said to Valerie.

Valerie had gone into such a graphic
description of what happens when you throw up food that Noelle and
Sandy were thoroughly disgusted. To remedy their green looks,
Valerie insisted on treating them to a girl’s day.

They had taken Noelle’s uniforms to the
tailors and bought Noelle some pretty undergarments and flattering
clothes. They even stopped to eat from the ‘roach coach’ with Nash
and Teddy. They were now on their way to get a pedicure at the
Woodhouse Spa.

“
Sure.” Valerie turned
right on Seventeenth Avenue.

“
I have this ten thousand
dollar check that I got from my father’s life insurance,” Sandy
said. “But I can’t cash it because my bank will put a hold on it
for six days. Jill said she could cash it but they would hold it
for three days.”

“
And you need the money
now?”

“
I need the money now,”
Sandy said. “I’m putting my condo on the market and…”

“
You’re putting your condo
on the market?”

“
The kids want to move out
of state,” Sandy said. “That suits me as well.”

“
What about
Aden?”

“
The Social Services lady
said Daddy will see us in the summer if he stays out of jail,”
Noelle said from the back seat of Valerie’s Mustang. “We’ll spend
the school year with Sandy. But if Daddy can’t keep himself out of
prison, we’ll just spend our time with Sandy. Daddy’s fight in
prison made it so we don’t have a choice. We aren’t very happy
about it. In fact, I don’t like it at all. Nash either. But we
don’t have a choice. That’s what the Social Services lady
said.”

“
Does Aden
know?”

“
He’s asleep,” Sandy
shrugged. “I think Social Services will notify him. Our social
worker saw the news about Delphie. Since Delphie is one of the
kid’s guardians, and now she’s sick, they’re giving me custody. We
saw the Social Services lady on Saturday and again this morning.
They filed papers this morning.”

“
Oh,” Valerie said. “I’m so
sorry Sandy. I can hear it in your voice… You’re really
suffering.”

“
Right now, I’m suffering
with this check,” Sandy said. “If you cash it, I’ll give you five
percent.”

“
Sandy, I…”

“
Ten percent?”

“
Sandy, Jake can help you
rent your apartment.”

“
It’s my responsibility.
I’ll take care of it myself,” Sandy said.

They drove a few more blocks in silence.

“
Maybe it’s time to do
something new,” Valerie said. She pulled up at a stop
light.

“
I’m doing a lot of new
things,” Sandy said.

“
You’re doing new
things
.” Valerie placed
her hand over Sandy’s heart. “But not doing new things
here
. I did that for a
really, really long time. Hurts like hell.”

Sandy squinted at Valerie.

“
You’re in pain and you
have to trust someone.”

“
I trust Jill,” Sandy said.
“But that doesn’t get my check cashed.”

“
Fine,” Valerie said. “Is
this your bank?”

Sandy nodded. Valerie pulled into the Bank
of Denver next to her condo building. While Sandy gawked, Valerie
flirted with the clerk until he released the funds for Sandy. Using
her credit card, Valerie even deposited ten thousand dollars into
Sandy’s savings account to cover the check. They were back in the
car before Sandy said a word.

“
Thanks,” Sandy
whispered.

“
Easy. Before you light a
torch to all these bridges, you need to think about what you
want.”

“
I want to get my nails
done,” Noelle said.

“
So do I,” Valerie said.
“Let’s get our nails done. After my doctor’s appointment, Sandy and
I will talk about what we really want.”

Nodding at the confidence in Valerie’s
voice, Sandy wondered what she really wanted. Valerie pulled up in
front of the Woodhouse. Pushing away a tidal wave of sorrow, Sandy
followed Valerie and Noelle into the spa.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 3:15 P.M.

“
Oooh don’t move too fast,”
Jill said when Aden jerked up from his hospital bed.

“
Where am I?” Aden
asked.

“
Canon City Hospital Ward,”
Jill said. “What do you remember?”

“
Nothing.” Still waking up,
Aden moved his head back and forth. “I guess I remember the ride to
Canon City. How did I get in the hospital?”

“
You and Pete were attacked
by your older brother the first night you were here.”

“
Pete!” Aden looked around
the dormitory style room.

“
He’s in the bed next to
you,” Jill said. “I visited him first. He’ll be okay. I left him
asleep.”

“
You?”

“
You don’t remember me
healing you?” Jill asked. “Most people have some memory or sense of
it.”

Aden’s face twisted into a puzzled look and
then he nodded.

“
How?” Aden
asked.

“
It’s a long story,” Jill
said. “Listen, I woke you up to talk to you.”

“
Where’s Sandy?” Aden
asked.

“
That’s what I wanted to
talk to you about,” Jill said. “Sandy’s not coming. Not now and
probably never.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You and Sandy? You guys
are over,” Jill said. “At least that’s what she says.”

“
She always says we’re
over,” Aden smiled at Jill. “She’s just like that.”

“
Not this time,” Jill said.
“I’ve never seen her this angry.”

“
She’ll calm down.” Aden
gave Jill a broken toothed confident smile. “We have a baby on the
way.”

“
She’s putting her condo on
the market,” Jill said.

Jill’s simple statement wiped the confident
look off Aden’s face.

“
What?”

“
Social Services gave her
permanent full custody of Noelle and Nash,” Jill said. “Social
Services has filed to terminate your parental rights in Family
Court.”

“
What?”

“
Oh, I see I finally have
your attention,” Jill said. “That’s good.”

“
Why are you here?” Aden
asked.

“
Sandy asked me to heal
you,” Jill said. “She wants you to be well. That’s Sandy. You shit
on her and she wants you to be well.”

“
How did I shit on her?
When?”

“
You made a lot of promises
and didn’t follow through on any of them,” Jill said. “Sandy is now
a hundred percent responsible for every aspect of your life while
you sleep.”

“
How is it my fault
that…”

“
I was afraid you’d say
that,” Jill said. “Well, I’ve done what I can. Good luck
Aden.”

Jill got up from his bedside.

“
Wait, Jill, please. Just
wait,” Aden said. “I’m not processing very well. Give me a second.
Please. Please. I need your help. Please.”

Unable to turn away from the pathetic look
on his face, Jill sat down again.

“
Thank you,” Aden said. “I
can see it’s hard for you to be here. I don’t know what miracle you
worked… even to get in.”

“
Sandy’s uncle made it
happen,” Jill said. “He’s delighted that she’s dumping you. He
doesn’t want his great-niece or nephew to have you as a
father.”

“
I’m a great
father!”

“
Yeah, a great father who
abandons his children because he wants to beat someone up? A great
father who
says
he’s going to financially support his children and then leaves
them penniless?”

“
One mistake,” Aden said.
“And it’s perfectly reasonable…”

“
To abandon your children?
To leave your girlfriend penniless? To dump every aspect of your
life on your
pregnant
girlfriend and expect her to take care of it?”

“
I didn’t think it
through,” Aden said. “But I took responsibility for my
actions.”

“
No you didn’t. Sandy took
responsibility for your actions,” Jill said. “You’re here,
asleep.”

“
Slowly Jill,” Aden said.
“I’m sorry. I really am, but I need you to go slowly. How did Sandy
get responsible for my life?”

“
Because you couldn’t
control your anger or simply use a telephone to call the police,
Sandy’s life exploded.”

“
Ok, how?”

“
Let’s start with her
father’s death. Big nightmare. Her mother has severed their minimal
relationship. Sandy was shot at. That’s not to mention the FBI,
Denver Police, and whoever else that picked her up and took her to
grilling interrogations at least once a week.”

“
That’s horrible but you
said
my
life. She
was responsible for
my
life.”

“
You said you would marry
her. You didn’t. You said she wouldn’t have to worry about money.
She’s flat broke. You said you would be there for the pregnancy.
You’re not. You said you were a great father and frankly, dumping
your kids on a woman who is basically a stranger to them isn’t
really a great father move.”

“
I fucked up pretty big
time.”

“
You fucked up really big
time.”

“
My chances?”

“
2 percent,” Jill
said.

Aden nodded.

“
Sandy caught Noelle trying
to throw up this morning because she thinks she’s fat,” Jill said.
“Nash is a total wreck. He says that everything is his fault. He’s
not sleeping, has lost weight, he…”