When Friendship Followed Me Home (14 page)

41

THE MAN WHO COMES TO TAKE YOU AWAY

“Son, just let me into your phone,” the police lady said. The precinct was noisy and crowded, and they had me in a room way at the end of the hall. Hot as it was back there, Flip wouldn't come out from my hoodie pocket. “Tell you what,” the cop said. “Just give me your name at least.”

“I can't,” I said. “We can't go back there.”

“Where?”

“Please, just let us go. I'm begging you. We'll be okay, I swear.”

“Sweetheart, I'm begging
you.
I only want to help you and your dog, okay? The emergency caseworker is on his way. In about five minutes, he's going to be here. If I don't know your name by then, he takes you away into protective custody. Now, they don't let dogs into the emergency housing facilities.”

“I know.”

“Your friend there goes to the pound.”

“I know. I know. I don't know what to do.” Flip kept cocking his head and licking my face.

“Please,” she said, “just give me your name.”

Somebody leaned into the room and said to her, “There's a guy outside who says he's here to pick him up.”

The cop turned to me. “This is your last chance.”

“Okay,” I said. “Okay. Just promise you'll call Halley and give her my dog.”

“Halley?”

“My friend. My best friend.”

“Okay. Good. That's a deal. I'll call her. I'll get our little friend here to her myself. And if she doesn't want him,
I'll
take him home. I promise.”

“You sure? You have dogs?”

“Two.” She showed me a video on her phone. Her dogs were fat and wagging their tails like crazy because she was feeding them cheese puffs. She was my kind of cop.

“Okay, my name is—”

“Ben,” somebody said. I looked up and there was Mercurious. He hugged me and told me it was okay, that everything was going to be okay.

42

THE MIDNIGHT MEETING

The clock ticked past midnight and into the month of October. We were sitting around the dining room table. Flip snored belly up in Halley's lap. Mrs. Lorentz ordered pizza but nobody ate. I told them everything—except the part about Leo slapping me. The part about him kicking Flip was enough, though, because when I finished talking, Mrs. Lorentz said, “Okay, you're staying here with us.”

“I don't think it's that easy, ma'am,” I said.

“Ben, please, I'm a librarian.”

“Media specialist,” Halley said.

“Either way, stop calling me ma'am.”

“It's better than him wanting to send you the wink,” Halley said.

I gave Halley
SHUT UP
eyes, and Halley said, “She doesn't even know what it means.”

“The emoticon?” Mrs. Lorentz said. “Oh that's so sweet of you, Ben. You send me the wink any old time you want
and I'll wink right back. We'll be total wink buddies, how fun!”

Halley gave me a look like, Wow, she's even dopier than you on this one. “You so totally have to stay here with us,” she said. “You and Mommers—you two are gonna get along
great
. Yes, it's going to be truly fun to torture you.”

“Ben,” Mrs. Lorentz said, “I'm thinking you want to call your aunt.”

She was going to be a weepy mess. She was going to make me talk to Leo too. I couldn't handle that. My brain was fried. I just needed to pass out. “Can you call her for me?”

“You poor baby. Okay, give me her number. You'll call her tomorrow.”

Mercurious said, “Ben, let's get you and Flip set up for bed.”

The couch in Mercurious's little home office folded out into a bed. Pictures of stars and galaxies covered the walls. Model planets and airplanes hung from the ceiling, and books were jammed every which way into their cases. He pulled a sparkly blanket off a model of a city, Luna Park 1905.
Dreamland at Night.
It was half built, but the golden tower was almost done. He'd strung miniature lights from the steeple to the smaller towers that surrounded it. The buildings were made of shiny paper. “Turn off the lights,” he said. Flip's eyes glowed gold with the reflection. “For her birthday,” Mercurious said. “For when she turns fourteen.”

43

JEANIE

By the time I was awake the next morning, Mrs. Lorentz had a bunch of papers spread over the dining room table. She and Mercurious were reading through them. Halley was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. She wore a bright pink wool cap with pink antlers. Flip hopped up into Halley's lap, raised his paw for a knuckle bump, yawned and rolled over for her to scratch his fat little stomach. “I just wish he felt more at home here,” Halley said.

“How'd you sleep?” Mercurious said.

“Great,” I said. I really did too. I slept so hard I didn't even dream.

“We had a very long talk, your aunt Jeanie and I,” Mrs. Lorentz said. “Ben, we need to talk about that
stop sign
you ran into. Look at me. Come here.” She held my face to the light to look at where Leo slapped me. There was hardly a mark anymore. I checked myself in the bathroom mirror first thing when I woke up. Mrs. Lorentz frowned. “Does your
neck hurt? I need you to be absolutely honest with me.”

“I'm okay. Really I am.”

“I need to take a picture of your face.”

“No, I don't want to make a big thing out of this,” I said.

“It is a big thing. It's a very big thing. Hiding it will make it worse.”

“It's not like they're ever going to bring another kid into that house. They were okay before I got there. Aunt Jeanie. I don't want to ruin her life.”

“You're not. You didn't do anything wrong. The fact that Leo came forward and told Jeanie what happened—that's going to help him a lot. He'll get counseling anyway, and he should. He needs it. You're helping him get the help he needs.”

“Doesn't feel that way.”

“Ben, you can't go back to that house. Children's Services won't allow it. Now, there's a lot to sort through. I have the social worker coming here in a bit to inspect the apartment. They're running background checks on Michael and me, and we'll know in a few hours if we're going to get the preliminary okay to be foster caregivers. I expect we will. It helps that you and I have known each other for two years. Jeanie is coming over to meet us this afternoon. She only wants you to be happy. And more than anything she wants you to be safe. You're safe here, all right? You're safe with us. All that said, I want you to know that this is not something that
can't be undone. You're not trapped here either, if you decide you don't want to stay. After Leo gets whatever counseling he needs, and if he's cleared to be your guardian, you can go back to live with Jeanie if you want to.”

“I won't. We won't, me and Flip.”

“Mom, seriously?” Halley said. “Why would he want to go back there?”

“I just want you to know your options. We're going to take this one day at a time, Ben, and we're going to follow your lead. Are you okay with that?”

I had to think for a second before I nodded. I wasn't used to calling the shots. I wasn't used to having options. I was almost excited, the way you feel after you see a movie you thought was going to be just okay, but it ended up being great.

Mercurious was looking at me and nodding. Halley cuddled Flip and said, “Everything's gonna be all right, Flip. Everything's gonna be okay.”

• • •

“So we all agree that Ben is better off living here for the time being?” the social worker said. She turned to Aunt Jeanie. “You're sure you're okay with this?”

Aunt Jeanie was wearing a lot more makeup today. She stared into the center of the table, not at me when she said, “Am I sure, Ben?”

I couldn't get myself to look into her eyes when I nodded.
I looked to Halley instead. She smiled a little sadly and cuddled Flip.

The social worker showed Jeanie where she had to sign, and she did. She put down the pen. She still wasn't looking at me when she said, “Ben, can you walk me to my car? I have a little something for you.”

• • •

It was a beautiful afternoon, and now I was glad to get a chance to talk with her. “I just wanted to thank you for everything.”

“Stop, Ben,” she said. She dabbed her eyes with a cotton ball to keep her mascara from running. “I wasn't in the Lorentzes' apartment for even a minute when I knew just how badly I had let you down. Had let Tess down.”

“You didn't though.”

“I can see why you would rather live with them. They're wonderful. They know how to do it.”

“Do what?”

“Halley's spectacular. They did such a beautiful job with her. I just want you to be happy. I'm so sorry. I feel awful about everything. Here, sit in the car with me for a minute.” We did and she took a small package out of the glove compartment and gave it to me. It was wrapped so perfectly I didn't want to tear the paper. “Save the ribbon,” she said. “It's expensive, and you can use it again.”

The paper folded away, and it was a framed picture. “I
want you to have this,” she said. “It's my favorite of Tess, of the three of us all together.”

Mom was in the middle. She had one arm over Jeanie's shoulders and the other over Laura's. They were all laughing, for real too. They wore Santa hats and they might even have been a little tipsy.

“Doesn't she look so beautiful there?” Jeanie said. “She had the loveliest smile, Tess did. Your mother, I mean. Your mom. Ben, can you ever forgive me?”

“For what? You tried to help me.”

“That's how he was brought up. Spare the rod and spoil the child. Had I known he would hit you, I would have . . . I don't know. I would have done something to protect you. I've never known him to be violent. He says he's just not cut out to be a parent. Some people aren't. Please don't hate him.”

“I don't,” I said, which was a lie. Except maybe it wasn't. I don't know. Maybe I felt sorry for him. I definitely didn't like him.

“You're so forgiving. Tess always said you were special. Ridiculously special, is how she put it. I knew you were too, from the little bits of time we got to spend together the last couple of years, but you were good at hiding. You were so quiet. I thought you didn't like me.”

“I do though. I do.”

“These past few weeks, back at the house, I really wanted
to let you know you I loved you. I just didn't know how. I'm not going to give up, though, okay? I'm going to keep trying. I'm here for you, as much as you want me to be.” She hugged me and then pushed me away. “Look at what I did. I got makeup on your shirt.”

“It's okay.”

“Go, before I start crying. I don't want my mascara to run.” It was too late for that. I got out of the car. “Call me tomorrow, all right? Call me and let me know you're okay. We're going to see each other as much as you want, all right? I want to be in on all the beautiful things coming your way. Yes. All the beautiful things.” Then she said the last thing as she was driving away. She wasn't looking at me, and her voice was soft, and she said it fast, but she said, “Love you.”

I watched her Mercedes get small on the avenue. That car was so clean, and the sun glinted off it, and then it disappeared when she turned the corner. I studied the picture she gave me. Jeanie, Mom and Laura all looked so young. They looked like they weren't worried about anything, like nothing bad could happen, and they would always be this way, laughing, happy, together.

It was such a sunny, breezy day. Sometimes this old woman used to sell flowers on days like this, way down at the other end of the boardwalk. I walked fast down the street toward where she kept her cart. I felt the sun inside me, almost like I was about to float up from the pavement and maybe even fly, so high that I'd be able to see the whole city. The old woman was there, and for five bucks I got the nicest bunch of flowers, reds and purples and pinks. I practically ran home to give them to the Lorentzes. By the time I got back up into their apartment the social worker was gone. Mrs. Lorentz pulled me in for a hug. “I'm so happy you're here,” she said. “So grateful.” She took the flowers and went to the cabinet for a vase and said, “Go and get your room set up now.”

44

CHEWIE

Mercurious had moved all his stuff out of his office into the dining room. I begged him not to, but he did it while I was at school. He left the cool stuff, the pictures of the galaxies, the model planes. I peeked under the sparkly wrap that covered the model of Luna Park 1905 Mercurious was building for Halley's birthday. He'd gotten a little further along. He'd laid down gold foil at the base of the tower and along the beach line. The foil was wrinkled in a pattern to make it look like an ocean filled with quiet little waves.

Above the model was a patch of empty corkboard wall. Mercurious had taken down his diagrams and sketches for the tricks he was working on for that big party he had coming up at the Museum of Natural History. I hung up my Chewie poster. I pushed in the tacks, wondering how long it would be before I had to pull them out again.

Halley came in with Flip and plunked on the bed. She watched me push in the tacks. “So you really are staying then.”

“You don't seem too psyched,” I said. She looked sad.

“I'm totally psyched. Especially since I have to do another round of chemo next week. It's only once a month, but I feel kind of crummy for a few days after. This way I can make you feel crummy too. I'm messing with you, Coffin. I'm just saying it'll be awesome that you're here. We can cheer each other up.”

“How much longer do you have to take the medicine?”

“Not sure. Maybe a few more months, until I'm a hundred and eleven percent. I'll ask the doctor again tomorrow after we get the results from the blood test. That's gonna be one of the best parts about being better. No more bruises on my arms.” She showed me the places where they took the blood. The bruises were different colors: yellow, brown, green, purple. She peeled off a Band-Aid, and the bruise there was almost black.

“It's really nice out,” I said.

“Let's go to the beach and fly a kite.” And that's what we did. It was sparkly purple with a gold tail.