The Children and the Wolves (10 page)

When we got home, there was a white Chevy Malibu parked behind my dad’s car with a bumper sticker that said All God’s Children.

Bounce was waiting for me in the Lexus. We were gonna go to the True Value hardware on Hockley Boulevard cause Bounce said she needed to buy a special tool. She dropped me off so I could run in and give my dad the refill of his pain pills I picked up at the Osco on the way home from the mall.

Are you Tim? the woman asked.

I almost ran straight into her. She was standing in front of the door, out of the sun.

She wore a pink T-shirt with a silver lion on it and black jeans. There were big sweat stains under her arms. I think the lion was from one of those Disney movies. She fanned herself with a piece of paper. Her face was wet from the humidification.

She said, Takada Flowers, and she stopped fanning herself and put the piece of paper under her arm and held out her hand and we shook.

She said, The other day I spoke with you on the phone. Do you remember? Takada Flowers from Children’s Services?

She was smaller than I thought. Sometimes you can guess how big a person is by their voice. She was whiter looking too. I think she was part Mexican. Her hair was dyed orange, almost the same color as mine.

I turnt and looked at Bounce in the Lexus. I wanted to signal to her in case shit got weird.

Takada Flowers said, Is your father around? I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer.

She was standing in the shade and I was in the hot sun. I had to squint and sweat was stinging my eyes.

She said, He’s in there, isn’t he?
Maybe, I said.
I can hear the TV.
I said, It’s always on. He’s prolly sleeping.
Does he sleep a lot? she asked.
As much as anybody else, I said.
What are you holding? she asked.
I said, His pain stuff.
Can I see? she asked.
It’s just pills, I said.

The sun was really irritating my eyes. Things got pretty tense for a second and then she asked if she could come in.
I was like, What for?
She said, Just to talk with you a little.
I was like, We’re talking right now.
She said, But we’re not
really
talking, are we?
I said, What do you wanna talk about?
She started fanning herself with the piece of paper again and went, I understand that your mother has been gone for some time.
I said, Did she die or something?
She said, Not that I know of.
I was like, Cause if she’s dead that’s cool with me.

Takada Flowers made a face like her heart was breaking into a million little pieces and said, You sure I can’t come in for a moment, Tim? It’s hot as the blazes out here. I’d love a glass of water.
I said, You’re a stranger.

Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a wallet and showed me her ID. It said her name and how she was an official employee of the state of Illinois, in the Division of Children’s Services.

I went, You can make stuff like that with a copy machine.
She said, But I didn’t.
I was like, You’re still a stranger.

She looked at me and smiled. One of her teeth was gold. I thought maybe I could knock it out and give it to Wiggins.

She said, I’d like to help you, Tim.
I was like, I don’t need no help.
Then she said, I’m aware of your father’s condition. He must be in a lot of pain.
Maybe he is, I said.

Then she made her eyes all serious and squinty.

She said, Well, since you’re obviously not going to invite me in can I at least ask you a question?
I was like, I’m sort of in a hurry. What?
She went, Do you feel like you’re getting everything you need?
I said, Yeah.
She said, Do you feel you’re receiving proper care? Food? Clothing? Responsible parenting?
I was like, I eat.
What about the other stuff? she asked.
I got clothes, I said.
When was the last time those were washed? she said, pointing to my Hoya shorts.
I don’t know, I said. I wash ’em.
She said, You like Georgetown?
Maybe, I said.
She was like, You wanna be a Hoya?
Maybe, I said again. They got a good hoops squad.
She said, I’ve smelled cleaner clothes.

That made me want to do bad shit to her. That’s what started the badness in me.

She looked up at one of our windows.

She said, You sure I can’t come in for a minute?

Then I opened the door and went inside and closed it on her face. I stayed there on the other side of the door till I could hear her walking away.

My dad was in the living room, asleep with the TV on. He’d been watching the Home Shopping Network. Someone was trying to sell a cat made of perfect crystal. It was called the Crystal Cat and it was sposed to be a great addition to the collection we didn’t have.

My dad’s head was rolled forward on his chest and he was snoring.

I put his pills on the kitchen table.

I didn’t bother checking on the Frog cause that woman had wasted so much of my fucking time and Bounce was prolly already pissed. Besides, I knew Wiggins was planning on coming by to feed her later.

When I got in the Lexus Bounce was like, What did Tyler Perry want?
I said, She said she wanted to help me.
Where was she from? Bounce asked.
Children’s Services, I said.

I told her how she wanted to know if I thought I was getting proper care.

Bounce made a fart noise with her mouth.

Proper care, she said. Was she doing stand-up?

*  *  *

On the way to True Value hardware we saw the white Malibu parked in front of the RadioShack on Flint Boulevard.

That’s her, I said. That’s her car.

Bounce said, Hot bumper sticker. All God’s Chirren.

We parked a few cars away and waited for her to come out of the RadioShack and then we followed her.

Proper care, Bounce kept saying under breath. Proper fucking care.

We followed her downtown to the building where she worked.

We followed her to the grocery store and to the post office and to the library.

Then we followed her home.

She lives in a shitty part of town. Much shittier than where me and Wiggins live. It’s like gangbangers everywhere. Gangbangers and old homeless crack niggers and wild dogs. I wouldn’t get out of the car unless I had to.

Bounce made me write down Takada Flowers’ address in this little spiral notebook. She lives at two-fifty-seven Triche Street in this little apartment building with a barbecue grill and a picnic table in front of it. There’s a fake stone pitbull chained to the picnic table. Someone spray-painted a Latin Kings symbol on it.

Bounce said, This makes Piano Road look like Santa’s Village.

After that we went back to True Value hardware on Flint Boulevard and bought some tools.

Bounce bought a hammer.

I asked her what it was for and she said, Hammering.

She told me to get a tool, too, so I got some pliers.

What’s that for? she asked.

Proper care, I said.

Originally the hammer was sposed to be for Sophia George, this little rich anorexia ho from Bounce’s Honors English class. She’d just gotten accepted into some special music school in Cleveland and Bounce wanted to break her hands before she left. But that all changed after Takada Flowers came by.

About the hammer Bounce said, I’ll warm it up on our new friend.

*  *  *

That night I went down to the basement and pulled things out of the wall with my new pliers. The Frog watched me with her big buggy eyes.

I was like, What?

But she didn’t say nothing.

So I pulled some staples out of a wooden beam.

I perfected my grip and pulled six nails out of the wall behind the washer-dryer unit.

Proper care, I thought. Proper care.

Then I went over to the Frog and made her take more Aricept pills.

Here, take more of these, I said. They’ll make you feel less demented.

I gave her some with a cup of milk.

*  *  *

The next night we waited for Takada Flowers at her house. I was nervous about it but Bounce was like, The cops don’t want to bother with Triche Street. They get paid to keep all the thugs from that part of the city out of
my
neighborhood.

It was the hottest night of the summer. During the ride over, the man on the radio said it was a hundred and one degrees and the humidification was fucking madness. It was like five-fifteen. Bounce wouldn’t turn the air conditioner on cause she said we needed to think like the heat.

While she was driving, she handed Wiggins a screwdriver.

What’s this for? he asked.
Just take it, she said. It’s the night of tools. Tools for all the fools.

He took it and put it in his sock. Wiggins wears his socks high and tight like a cheerleader.

Be ready, I said to him.
He went, For what?
To change the world, Bounce said.
I said, Just be ready, chucklehead.

We only had to wait for Takada Flowers for like ten minutes. She parked her Malibu and came out of her car with two big bags of groceries. Her hair looked oranger than the day before. Oranger and more faker.

Bounce told Wiggins to go offer to carry one of her bags for her.
Who is she? Wiggins asked.
Just go be a good boy scout, she ordered him. Go now!

So Wiggins got out of the Lexus and caught up to her right as she was walking past that stone pitbull that was chained to the picnic table and he said something to her and she smiled and gave him one of her bags and he took it and just before they entered her apartment building he looked back at us like, what the fuck?

Now! Bounce said. Let’s go!

And then we were out of the Lexus with our tools. I stopped the front door of the apartment building with my foot just before it closed. There was a TV on really loud somewhere. It was a baseball game. The Cardinals were playing the Phillies and the pitcher had just beaned the other pitcher.

Wiggins and Takada Flowers were on the second floor. I could hear her keys jingling. Me and Bounce took the stairs two at a time, low and wide, creeping like panthers, and just as they was going into her apartment, Bounce hit her in the back of the head with the hammer. Takada Flowers screamed and dropped her groceries and went down to a knee and a gallon of milk fell on the floor and busted open. Then Bounce turnt Takada Flowers’ cheap-ass old-school TV on and a Lil Wayne video came on and Bounce turnt the volume up loud and Takada Flowers started pleading with Bounce, face down in the puddle of milk, all desperate and begging for her life,
please please please,
but Bounce hit her again, hard, like three times, one with the claw part of the hammer, and then Takada Flowers went quiet and the blood started mixing with the milk.

Proper care! Bounce screamed. Proper fucking care!

After Bounce took her left shoe, she looked at me. It was a black Nike crosstrainer.

Your turn, she said, panting.

Bounce’s eyes was wild. And her face was drenched with sweat. It was beautiful.

There was a painting of Jesus over the TV. It was irritating me so I tried turning it around but there wasn’t no nail hole on the painting side so I just let it fall down the wall.

Bounce was breathing hard but it wasn’t like she was out of breath, it was like a legend was happening, like she was getting her picture taken after setting a world record.

I took my pliers and reached into Takada Flowers’ mouth and started pulling on her gold nigger tooth. That shit was fucking hard to get out cause a tooth is a bone. Just when I started really digging in, Wiggins stabbed me in my leg with his screwdriver. It was my left leg and it was deep like I think I could feel it hit my leg bone and I ain’t never felt that kind of pain before. It was like lightning going in me. Like lightning or maybe like a scorpion sting or a shark bite.

Wiggins’ face was white and he had puke all down the front of his shirt.

I was gonna give you her tooth! I yelled. I was gonna give you her fucking tooth, chucklehead!

Bounce helped me pull the screwdriver out of my leg. And that’s when I got sick too. I think it was cause of the noises it made. Like my leg wasn’t part of me no more. It was like it turnt into some chicken. There was all this blood and I could see the muscles and the bone and the gristle in my leg. It was stinging and going numb at the same time and I could smell blood in the milk puddle and the room was starting to spin.

After we got the screwdriver out, I lost my conscienceness.

All I remember is Bounce yelling for Wiggins to go start the Lexus. She was squeezing my hand and yelling as loud as she could but Wiggins was already gone.