Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (3 page)

“
Why?” Sandy
asked.

“
Your pacing isn’t much
better than Sissy’s frappé,” Aden said. “Did you know that frappé
means ‘struck’? It refers to the dancer touching the floor and
their ankle.”

“
It may as well mean
stuck,” Sandy said.

“
I looked it up on your
iPhone,” Aden said.

“
I’m sorry to have kept
you waiting,” a nurse said as she entered the waiting room. “Your
mother is ready to see you now. Will you follow me?”

“
In the nick of time,”
Sandy said under her breath. “Why am I not surprised?”

“
I’m sorry,” the nurse
said. “Did you say something?”

“
No, nothing,” Sandy
said.

“
Is this your husband?”
the nurse said.

“
This is Aden,” Sandy
said.

“
Your mother’s talks a lot
about how proud she is of you,” the nurse said. “She’ll be right in
with her therapist.”

“
She didn’t ask about
Sissy or Charlie?” Sandy asked.

“
She wanted to make sure
they weren’t here,” the nurse said. “I know they’ve been begging to
see her but it’s just too much for the poor dear. Your sister,
Mitzi, has called her every night this week. She’s just too fragile
for such a needy child. Mitzi is fourteen. She should be more
independent, but you know how your mother is. She smothers you kids
with love.”

Behind the nurse, Sandy looked at Aden and
made a vomit gesture. He almost laughed out loud. The nurse opened
the door to a small room with a table in the middle. She gestured
to the chairs.

“
I’ll tell you,” the nurse
said. “Mitzi and Charles are going to have to grow up if your
mother is ever going to come home.”

“
Grow up?” Sandy
asked.

“
Jobs after school, hell,
clean up after themselves,” the nurse sniffed at Sandy. Sandy
gawked at the woman. “They are too old to require such babying. So
are you. You kids are going to have to take some responsibility for
yourselves.”

Before Sandy or Aden could respond, the
nurse pulled the door closed. Sandy tried to move her foot in a
frappé but failed.

“
Did you hear that?” Sandy
tried to move her foot again in a frappé. “Sissy? Needy? She just
helped take down a serial killer and a nest of evil creatures. She
is a super hero! Charlie too! He beat his addiction and helped Seth
and… Those kids practically raised themselves!”

“
I answered the phone this
week,” Aden said. “Your mother initiated every call.”

“
Lying bitch,” Sandy tried
the frappé again.

“
Like to strike her?” Aden
smiled.

Sandy nodded. He pulled out a chair at the
table and she sat down. They settled in for another wait.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
& FIFTY-EIGHT

Pond Scum

Saturday mid-day – 12:45 P.M.
Treatment Center, Tucson

Sandy rubbed her left breast.

“
Sore?” Aden
asked.

“
It’s the longest I’ve
gone since Rachel was born,” Sandy gave a slight nod.

“
You’re leaking a little…”
Aden pointed to her right breast.

Sandy looked down at her blouse. She was
reaching for the towel she carried with her when the door opened.
She popped to her feet with the kitchen towel in her hand. Her
mother came in with a man in a business suit and a kind-hearted
looking woman. They stared at each other for a moment.

“
Nice to finally meet
you,” Aden said. He held out his hand to Sandy’s mother. “I’m Aden
Norsen, Sandy’s husband.”

He put his hand on Sandy’s shoulder. Sandy’s
Mom gave Aden a limp handshake.

“
Hi Mom,” Sandy
said.

“
Don’t I get a hug?” her
Mom asked.

“
I…” Sandy pointed to the
moisture on her blouse.

“
What did you spill?”
Sandy’s mother’s false smile slipped to a look of sheer disgust.
Before Sandy could answer, her mother sat down across the table
leaving the man and woman standing in the doorway.

“
I’m Jeanette,” the woman
took Aden’s hand and shook it. “Dr. Jeanette Smythe. Alice is my
patient.”

Sandy blinked at the use of the name ‘Alice’
for her mother. Her mother’s name was Patricia Delgado.

“
Alice?” Sandy blurted
out.

“
I’ve left Patty behind,
Sandy,” her mother said. “Too much pain and trauma. I’ve chosen
Alice as my new name for my new life.”

Stunned, Sandy blinked at the woman.

“
Vere Morgan,” the man
shook Aden’s hand. “I’m Alice’s attorney. I apologize for the
delay. I needed to prepare some of the paperwork required for
today. Alice has had a tough time deciding her course of action.
But we’re certain now. Right?”

Somewhere between a scolding teacher and a
kind Santa Claus, Vere raised an eyebrow to the-once-Patty. She
gave him a soft, almost romantic smile. To keep from vomiting,
Sandy focused her attention on her leaking breast. Her eyes caught
the sparkle from her diamond wedding set. For the briefest moment,
she was glad Aden had insisted on something so big. She was usually
too embarrassed to wear it. But today, she was glad it was
ostentatious and on her finger. The soon-to-be-Alice cleared her
throat and Sandy looked up.

“
Sorry,” Sandy said.
“We’ve been waiting a long time. It’s the longest I’ve been away
from my daughter. She was a preemie so we nurse every two and a
half or three hours.”

“
You’re feeding her like a
cow?” The same-old-Patricia said.

“
I’m breastfeeding my
daughter,” Sandy said.

She opened her mouth to spout off all the
reasons breast feeding was better for Rachel when Aden put his hand
on her leg. She looked at him and smiled.

“
I hate to be rude,” Aden
said. “But we need to get back to our children. Alice, you
requested that we fly here with Sissy and Charlie. You asked me on
Thursday if Sissy and Charlie could come here themselves. We’d like
to know why you won’t see them now.”

Sandy’s once-mother’s eyes filled with
tears. She gave her psychologist an imploring look. Sandy scowled.
Clearly the woman was Dr. Stupid.

“
If you’re going to take
that tone,” Dr. Stupid said. “We’ll need to end this
interview.”

Aden was so surprised his mouth fell open
for a second. He furrowed his brow and sat back in his chair.

“
This is a very painful
conversation for me,” the-motherish-woman said. “I…”

“
What if I start?” the
lawyer said.

While the lawyer was looking for approval
from the female-once-known-as-her-mother, Sandy squinted. She
couldn’t remember his name. Bear? Swear? No something Presbyterian.
Vere. Vere what? Vere the lawyer. That would have to do.

“
There’s no easy way to
have this conversation,” Vere the lawyer said.

“
Give us some idea what
we’re dealing with,” Aden stated.

Presented with the lawyer, Aden switched to
business mode. Sandy leaned back in her seat to allow him to take
over. Her eyes shifted to
the-creature-she’d-thought-was-her-mother.

“
Patricia Delgado has
given as much as she can. She has worked her fingers to the bone,
struggled, suffered and given until there is nothing left,” Dr.
Stupid said. “Only a shell of a woman remained.”

“
In a few days, Patricia
Delgado will cease to exist,” Vere the lawyer said.

“
From the ashes of
Patricia Delgado, Alice Endicott will fly!” Mimicking the wings of
a bird, Dr. Stupid’s arms went up. While Sandy tracked the motion,
her eyes never left the-not-quite-a-bird creature sitting across
from her.

“
So this is what you had
planned,” Sandy said.

“
I’ve tried and given and
tried and given, Sandy,” Patricia-becoming-Alice-once-her-mother
said. “You of all people know how hard I’ve given.”

“
Yes, I know how much
you’ve given,” Sandy snorted. Patricia-becoming-Alice scowled at
her.

“
What does this have to do
with us?” Aden asked.

“
Alice can no longer
parent Mitzi and Charles Delgado,” the lawyer said.

“
We’re prepared to take
full custody of Sissy and Charlie,” Aden said. “Is Patricia or
Alice or whoever prepared to terminate her parental
rights?”

“
There’s a sticking point
with that,” Vere the lawyer said. “The children’s father arranged
his estate so that Alice’s support is tied to the care of his
children.”

“
Mitch was such a selfish
bastard,” Dr. Stupid said. “Poor Patricia put up with him because
she loved him so but…”

“
You will not say another
word about my Dad,” Sandy jumped to her feet. Her voice was low and
deadly. Her finger pointed like a dagger at Dr. Stupid’s heart. For
a moment, there was no question who was the most powerful person in
the room. Intimidated, the psychologist and lawyer fell back in
their seats. “Not one word.”

“
See what I have to put up
with?” the woman-who-always-hated-Sandy pretended to
weep.

Aden tugged at Sandy’s arm to get her to sit
down.

“
Are we clear?” Sandy
asked.

“
Perfectly clear,” Dr.
Stupid said.

The-almost-new-but-still-bitter-Alice gave
Sandy a seething look.

“
Good,” Sandy sat down.
“Now continue with the bullshit.”

“
Why don’t you cut to the
chase?” Aden asked. “We’re in contact with Social Services. They’ve
already established that we’re a suitable home for Sissy and
Charlie. Terminating Patricia’s custody is only a matter of filing
the paperwork. Do you have the documents prepared?”

“
By relinquishing her
parental rights, Alice will no longer have access to medical
benefits and the financial support provided by her deceased
husband,” Vere the lawyer said.

“
How much?” Sandy
asked.

“
Sandra really, I think…”
the woman-Sandy-had-suffered-for started.

“
How much?” Sandy
repeated.

“
The remaining parental
benefits amount to almost three hundred thousand dollars,” Vere the
lawyer said.

“
How about five?” Sandy
asked. “Will five hundred thousand end this once and for
all?”

“
Sandy?” Aden
asked.

His eyes took in her face. She shook her
head. They had argued about this. While he disagreed with paying
for the children outright, it was her call. He gave her a nod.

“
In gold,”
the-woman-who-knew-the-entire-time-about-Sandy’s-abuse
said.

“
So that’s what this is
about,” Sandy leaned back against the chair. “The gold.”

“
I
knew
you had it,”
the-creature-who-stood-by-and-did-nothing said. “I
knew
it!”

“
What gold?” Vere the
lawyer and Dr. Stupid asked at the same time.

Aden turned to assess Sandy. While he had no
idea what she was talking about, he knew the look on her face –
part shame, part rage, and a healthy dose of deep pain. This was
about Sandy’s sexual abuse. He set his face to stone.

“
Patricia’s husband, the
man I thought was my biological father, sexually abused me from the
time I was about two years old,” Sandy said. “He made his living,
and paid his child support, by prostituting me and selling the
video tapes and photos of my sexual abuse. Because his activities
were illegal, he was mostly paid in gold Krugerrands. He gave me a
two-gallon jar of Krugerrands every Christmas. He said it was my
college fund.”

Sandy never broke eye contact with the
woman-who-was-never-her-mother.

“
Patricia feels horrible
about what happened,” Dr. Stupid said. “Everything that happened
with her ex-husband – his death, the revelation of his horrible
business, discovering what happened to you – was a crushing blow.
It’s a key reason she’s leaving Patricia behind.”

“
Did she tell you that she
was an active participant in the business?” Sandy asked.

Dr. Stupid and Vere the lawyer turned to
look at the womanish-thing-sitting across from her. Dr. Stupid
recovered first.

“
How can you say that?”
Dr. Stupid tried for indignant.

“
The only way this woman
could have known about the gold is if she was involved from the
very beginning,” Sandy said. “Did you steal me from my birth mother
to have a child to build a prostitution and pornography business
around?”

The cruel-mammal sneered at Sandy. Crossing
her arms, she looked away.

“
That’s what I thought,”
Sandy continued staring at the breathing-garbage-in-human-form. “I
always wondered how he managed to set up the business. He wasn’t
very bright. But you? You could have set up the entire thing with a
blink of an eye. And the new Internet business? Sheer brilliance.
What were you? An equal partner? A share holder? What? Is that why
you told Sissy we would live together? So you could restart the
pornography business using her?”

“
You’re exhausting,” the
speaking-residue said. “Don’t you get it? Your endless needs have
destroyed me.”