Second Chances (4 page)

“I’m being serious here, sis,” Rico said.

Nichole’s stomach hurt from laughing so much. She was back
in her office waiting for Richard to become available, and Rico had called to
get her opinion about a dispute he was having with Anita.

“Wait, wait,” she said, gasping. “So you are telling me
Anita asked you to call the hair and makeup people? She asked
you?
”

“Yeah,” Rico said defensively.  “She was busy, so she asked
me to give them a call and get a price for a wedding trial.  I still don’t know
why they couldn’t just quote me a damn price.”

“Okay, so then what happened?”

“Well, so I was like: ‘how much is it for six people to get
their hair done?’ and the woman was like ‘are they relaxed or natural?’”

“And what did you say?”

“What do you mean ‘what did I say’? She wears it up in a
ponytail
and
she wears it down and curly, so I said ‘both’”

Nichole laughed.  “But it can’t be both!”

“That’s what the woman on the phone said. But I was like,
‘well, her hair is natural, but it’s usually relaxed too.’ Then, she said:
‘that’s not what it means.’”

“No, it isn’t,” Nichole agreed

“So, I was like ‘then what’s it mean,’ and she was like
‘well natural means the hair they were born with.’”

“Yeah,” Nichole agreed.

“So I was like ‘so relaxed means she wears a wig?’”

Nichole burst out laughing. 

“What? That’s not what it means?” Rico asked.

“No,” she said.  “It’s when they put chemicals in to
straighten your hair. Like permanently straight.”

“Yeah, she said something like that. But, then why call it
‘relaxed’? That doesn’t describe it very well.  They should call it
‘chemically-straightened-hair.’”

“Maybe you should pitch that to them.”

“Maybe I should,” Rico said.  “But, I think it’s the last
time Anita is going to ask for help planning the wedding.”

“Three months away, Rico,” Nichole said.  “Are you ready?”

“Hell yeah,” Rico said.  “I’m ready.”

“Do you think she’s ready?”

This time he was slower in responding.  “I hope she is.”

“You have been together for almost three years, so I’m sure
she’s more than ready to marry you,” Nichole said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I hope so.”

She sobered up and rubbed her forehead.  “Did you call yet
today?”

“I did,” Rico said.  “I got Officer Martin again.”

“I always imagine him as being short.”

“Me too. Probably fat. He sounds fat.”

“And…? What did Officer Martin say?”

“No news,” Rico said.  “About Mom. But they are still
looking into it, and as soon as they know something, they will call.”

“They always say that.”

“Yeah,” Rico said. “He said they can’t change it from a
‘missing persons’ case unless they find her. Or a body.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true, though,” he said.  “Until they find something,
it’s low priority.”

Nichole sighed and shook her head.  “They don’t even care,
do they?”

“Sis, just relax.  They are doing the best they can.”

“The best they can sucks.”

“I know.”

“Ty asked about her again today.”

Rico sighed.  “He did?”

“He wants to know when she’s coming home.”

“Damn. I wish we had an answer for him. But there’s nothing
we can do about it.  What about Kenni?”

“I don’t think she even cares anymore,” Nichole said. “She
was devastated when Mom first disappeared, but when I mention Mom to her now,
she just shrugs and looks away.”

“It’s rough, sis.”

“I know.”

“We need to get her back into Northmont. At least then
something will be working out for her.”

“I know, Rico,” Nichole replied.

“Did you ask Richard about it?”

“Not yet,” Nichole said.  “I tried, but there wasn’t enough
time. He had a meeting.”

“You need to ask.”

“I will, Rico,” Nichole said. “I will. I’m going to ask today,
because I don’t think I’ll be able to come back tomorrow.”

“Kenni can’t stay in that school,” Rico repeated.  “She
hates it. You hated it. I hated it. She needs to go back to Northmont.”

“She told me they made fun of her at school,” Nichole said,
“this morning. Like she did something wrong by leaving and going to Northmont.”

Rico sighed.  “I’ll talk to her tonight. What about Richard? 
Does he know you didn’t enroll yet?”

“No,” Nichole said.  “But he’s going to figure it out sooner
or later.”

“What then?”

“I’m guessing he will fire me. Or let me go, or whatever it
is they do to interns.  The internship was contingent on my grades, and I don’t
have grades if I’m not in school.”

“They aren’t paying you anyway.”

“Yeah, but its good experience.”

“It is, but if you aren’t in school, what’s the point?”

“Yeah I know, but I mean…”

She didn’t know how to explain to her brother.  Rico had stayed
at home after their Mom disappeared, helping take care of his siblings as best
he could.  He was engaged, nearly married, and worked two jobs to keep everyone
fed and clothed. He had gone above and beyond what they ever could have asked
from him.

It was already too much to ask, and after running numbers
Nichole had figured she wouldn’t be able to stay in college. They just didn’t
have enough equity for her to keep going. All of the loan money was spent maintaining
the apartment and keeping food on the table while their Mom was missing.

But, the internship meant something else.  When she was
chosen out of hundreds of applicants to come work at Franklin and Greenwood she
had felt really good about herself. It was what set her above her peers.

Losing it would be a lot harder than dropping out of college.
But, to Rico, it was just somewhere she worked and didn’t get paid.

“Then you can spend more time at your actual job,” Rico said,
“and I’ll have more money to spend on Anita and the wedding.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, unwilling to argue.  It was hard to say
anything, because Rico worked almost eighty hours every week to pay for
everything.  “I’ll ask as soon as he’s free.”

“Good,” Rico said.  “I’ll see you tonight, sis.”

“Later,” she said, hanging up the cell phone.

It was hard talking to her brother about anything right now.
Not this close to his wedding date. Basically everything revolved around it.  He
wasn’t interested in listening to her talk about how much it sucked dropping
out of school or losing her internship.

And she couldn’t really complain. He’d given up a lot
already. 

Now, after the months went by, they started to get the
feeling that it wasn’t likely their Mom would ever come home. Rico had all but
given up on her and was looking to the future; to their lives without her.  She
was gone, and they were on their own.

Part of Nichole didn’t want to believe that, but the
rational side told her that Rico was right. They needed to take care of
themselves, no matter what.  Maybe her Mom would come home, and maybe not.

At least, for now, there wasn’t a body.

At a little after ten in the morning, she went to the front
desk.  It had probably been long enough that Richard wouldn’t be in his meeting
anymore.

“Hey Meghan,” she said.  “Is Richard busy?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Do you need anything in
particular?”

“I was just hoping I could talk to him for a few minutes.  I
can come back…”

“Nonsense. Let’s check with him.”

She dialed into his phone, spoke with him for a minute, and
then waved Nichole into his office.

“You can head on in, sugar. He’s waiting for you.”

Nichole’s palms were sweaty and she felt a tightness in her
stomach.  She had to do this, for Kenni, but she hated asking anyone for help.
Especially since she was deliberately withholding information from him at the
same time.

As she opened the door, she saw that there were several
people already in his office. Richard was sitting on the edge of his desk, coat
off and shirt-sleeves rolled up.  Other than him, there was a woman in her
mid-fifties in a business suit with shoulder length hair and a man in his
seventies with wrinkled leathery skin.

Not what she’d been expecting, she hesitated at the door.

“Ah, Nichole!” Richard said, gesturing for her to come in. 
She let the door shut behind her, a confused expression on her face.

The woman smiled over at her.  “So you’re the Nichole we
keep hearing so much about?”

Nichole frowned and looked at Richard, who was also smiling
at her.

“I told them that you were the one who researched the
international pricing issue for them a few weeks ago.”

Nichole nodded. “Oh, okay.  The one where possibility of
litigation seemed to low.”

“Yeah,” Richard agreed.  “I gave all of your work to Beverly
after we made recommendations.”

“And I thought you did a wonderful job,” the woman said. “I
am Beverly, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Nichole replied, shaking her hand.

“Beverly handles all of Malcolm’s assets and is the CEO of
his company,” Richard explained, gesturing at the old man.  “And she was asking
me about some of your recommendations. Since you’re here, I thought it might be
nice to have you answer some of her questions for her.”

“Okay,” Nichole said, not really sure what else she could
say.

“If this is putting you on the spot…” Beverly started to
say.

“No, no,” Nichole said. “It’s fine, just caught me off
guard.”

“Ah,” Beverly said. She glanced at her notebook.  “You made
reference to a small possibility of going before the Supreme Court for
settlement.”

Nichole nodded.  “It isn’t likely, but possible.”

“And you put in the research that, should it happen, we
should reference United States V Carolene Products Co.”

“Yes, that is the relevant case.”

“But, this was a case about milk, wasn’t it? My father ran a
non-profit for many years and his company sells services. We don’t actually
sell any products.”

“It was about condensed milk, but the case itself isn’t the
important piece. It’s the footnote by Justice Stone that matters, because if
you were to stand before the Supreme Court, it would be against the government
specifically.”

“Oh?”

“The footnote sets a precedent whereby prejudice against
discrete and insular minorities might become a special condition and thereby
calls for a more searching judicial inquiry. Basically, it dictates how
powerful the government is depending on the circumstances of an individual
court case.”

“Meaning?”

“In default cases, the government employs rational basis
scrutiny, which puts the burden on the individual contesting the government to
prove that there is not a rational basis for the constitutional power of the
government.

“Alternatively, the government can apply strict scrutiny in
the case of non-economic cases, which puts the government in the position of
having to prove that a law furthers the compelling government interest and is
narrowly tailored so that it achieves this interest.”

“Meaning?” Beverly prodded.

“The entire outcome you would be faced with is decided by
which way the Supreme Court initially decides to see your case. If they decide
the first way, you’ll lose and the law will stand. But, if you can convince
them to see your case under strict scrutiny, then the law will likely be ruled
unconstitutional and you will win.

“So basically, the Supreme Court will decide if they want
you to win long before you ever enter the courtroom, and the trick is to
convince them it is a non-economic issue and affects the country broadly.”

Beverly smiled at her.  “Well said, but entirely over my
head.”

“It is the footnote that the Supreme Court used to justify
internment camps for Japanese Americans. They ruled that the government’s acts
passed strict scrutiny, but it would have failed rational basis scrutiny.”

“Ah,” Beverly said.  “Quite interesting.  I wanted to thank
you personally for doing such a wonderful job on the research, and should we
ever need to challenge these laws in the Supreme Court, I know just who to
call.”

Nichole smiled.  “Thank you.”

The woman stood with her father and they all shook hands. 
The old man walked with a cane and barely spoke.  Gradually, they worked their
way to the exit and outside. Richard closed the door behind them and beamed at
Nichole.

“Perfect!” he said.  “They were extremely impressed.  I’m
sorry to put you on the spot like that, but I wanted them to get a chance to
thank you themselves. Everyone is always impressed with your work, and I
thought you would like to meet the people you’ve been helping.”

“It was a simple case,” Nichole said with a shrug.  She did
like hearing it from them, but right now she couldn’t think too hard about
anything except the business at hand.

“That isn’t the point. They felt like you made it
personalized for them. They know it’s a simple case, but they still love the
fact that you took the time to make them feel important.”

“They are important,” Nichole said. “All of the clients
are.”

Richard hesitated for a second and then nodded. “Yeah, they
all are.  Sorry, I didn’t catch from Meghan what she was saying when she called
in. You needed something?”

“Yeah, it’s about what I was going to bring up earlier.”

“Oh, okay. Have a seat.”

She sat down, trying to relax.

“I’ve got a few minutes before my next meeting, so go
ahead.”

Nichole hesitated, then just plunged in.  “I need help
getting Kenni transferred.  And Tyler, too.”

Richard scrunched up his face.  “What do you mean?
Transferred to where?”

“I want them both transferred to Northmont school district.
To the Elementary and Middle school there.”