Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (17 page)

“
What a fool,” a woman’s
voice said. “Her husband was dogging her less than two weeks after
they got married!”

“
Did you see that
ring?”

Jill looked down at the Marlowe diamond.
She’d intentionally chosen the big blue diamond ring to wear today.
The ring reminded Jill of the line of strong Marlowe brides who had
worn this ring. If they could endure the horrors, and winters, of
Leadville, she could endure this. She’d also worn the matching
earrings Jacob had given her for Christmas. They made her feel
powerful, safe and most of all, loved.

“
Guilt diamond,” the women
said together.

The women laughed. One woman went into the
stall to Jill’s right. After trying Jill’s door, the other woman
went into the stall on Jill’s left.

“
I heard her ex-husband was
a dog too,” the woman on her right said.

“
Twice in a row?” the other
woman said. “She must be lousy in bed.”

“
Have you seen that Jacob
Marlowe?”

“
No.” The woman on her left
flushed her toilet. “Why?”

“
He’s totally hot,” the
other woman said. “He’s Valerie Lipson’s brother. You know the
actress? He’s very, very yummy. Rich too. I wouldn’t mind a round
or two with him. Hell, I wouldn’t mind
saying
I went a round or two with
him. Would make me look good.”

The women laughed.

“
Gorgeous, wealthy.” The
woman turned on the water to wash her hands. “She probably doesn’t
care if he sleeps around. That kind of money creates a whole lot of
understanding.”

“
Well, here’s the kicker,”
the second woman said. “I heard he’s gay!”

The women laughed.

“
I wonder when the men will
start coming forward to say they fucked him.”

The women laughed as if they’d never heard
anything so funny.

“
I think…”

The women left the bathroom and Jill let out
the breath she’d been holding. One thing was true. Jill wasn’t very
strong. She wanted to run away, to hide.

And the women were right. When were the
lying men going to appear? When were the people going to start
asking for money to stay silent?

The door to the bathroom opened again. Jill
held her breath.

“
Jill?” Tanesha’s voice
whispered. “Jill, are you in here?”

Jill popped to her feet. She fumbled with
the stall’s lock.

“
Is that you?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I can’t get out!” Jill
said.

“
Climb under,” Tanesha’s
face came under the door. She held her cell phone to her ear. “Yeah
I have her. Fifth floor.”

Jill dropped to all fours to climb under the
door. She was half way through when she realized she’d left her
book bag hanging on the door. She climbed out.

“
I left my book bag,” Jill
said.

“
I’ll get it,” Tanesha
shimmied under the door.

The door to the bathroom opened again. An
older woman stepped into the bathroom.

“
You should never let a man
treat you like that,” the woman said. “Have some self
respect.”

Without saying another word, the older woman
went into a stall. Tanesha pushed Jill’s book bag under the
door.

“
You make all of woman-kind
look like fools. You should be ashamed of yourself,” the older
woman said.

“
You should be ashamed at
yourself for spreading gossip,” Jill said.

“
You poor thing,” the older
woman said.

“
Lady, you don’t know what
the hell you’re talking about,” Tanesha said.

Heather came into the bathroom. While
Tanesha squeezed under the stall door, Heather gave Jill a hug.

“
I’ve been in her
situation,” the woman said.

“
There is no situation,”
Heather said.

“
Denial is so painful,” the
woman said. “You must tear off the bandage and move on.”

Tanesha opened her mouth but Jill shook her
head. The three friends left the bathroom. Sandy met them on the
other side of the door. Sandy clasped Jill to her.

“
You Ok?” Sandy
asked.

“
No,” Jill said.

“
Forget them,” Tanesha
said. “And focus on us.”

“
We have a spa afternoon
planned,” Heather said. “Sandy’s doing our hair.”

“
We have massages scheduled
at the Woodhouse Spa,” Tanesha said.

“
Nails and everything,”
Heather said. “A gift from a handsome stranger.”

“
I’d love to go,” Jill
said. “But I need to get home. Jacob is waiting for me
to…”

“
Jacob’s downstairs with
some Lipson guys,” Tanesha said. “They’re escorting us to Sandy’s
place. You guys can talk there.”

“
Oh,” Jill brightened.
“That’s perfect. But… I have to ask… Do you…?”

“
No,” Heather said. “That
skeevy woman is jealous.”

“
Jillian Roper,” Tanesha
said. “You’re being an idiot.”

“
I had to ask,” Jill said.
“Sandy?”

“
Jacob’s not Trevor,” Sandy
said. “He’s crazy about you. And you know it.”

Jill nodded her head. The friends began
walking down the hall.

“
Skeevy?” Sandy asked
Heather. They laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Monday mid-day – 12:20 P.M.

Aden pulled into the sewer line extension
site at the edge of Stapleton. The site was one of the few
privately funded sites. Today, it was one of the only Lipson
construction sites still up and running. Stepping out of the truck,
Aden was met by Jerry Siegle, the site manager.

“
Aden!” Jerry said. He
patted Aden on the back and the men walked toward the construction
office trailer. “I haven’t seen you in a couple of months. Your
dance card has been full.”

Aden laughed.

“
No seriously,” Jerry said.
“What I don’t get is…”

“
Why did I do it?” Aden
asked.

“
No, no,” Jerry said. “That
makes sense to me.”

The men continued walking to the
construction trailer. Jerry had his hand on the door handle.

“
An excavator digs fourteen
feet straight down. We have six active sewer sites,” Jerry said.
“Even the most ambitious operator only drops a sewer line at eight
feet.”

Aden stopped walking. He stared at
Jerry.

“
Two minutes,” Jerry said.
“And bye-bye predator.”

Jerry looked Aden in the eyes then gave a
curt nod.

“
That’s what I don’t get,”
Jerry said.

~~~~~~~~
Monday afternoon – 3:25
P.M.

Delphie and Katy were making brownies in the
main Castle kitchen when the doorbell rang. Drying her hands on her
apron, Delphie followed Katy to the door. Katy was doing the Katy
hop to the door – hop on one leg, then hop on the other. Adding a
new flavor, Katy twirled around in place every fourth hop. Delphie
laughed at her little friend.

The doorbell rang again.

Delphie opened the door to find the mailman.
He held up a package and Delphie opened the security door.

“
I just need a signature,”
the mailman said.

While Katy watched the man from between
Delphie’s legs, Delphie signed for the package.

“
How are you feeling?” the
mailman asked.

“
I’m stronger and stronger
every day, Ted,” Delphie smiled. She gave the card back to
him.

“
Good to hear,” he
said.

He gave her the package and the rest of
their mail. Delphie thanked him again and closed the door.

“
Don’t open that,” Katy
said.

“
How come?” Delphie said.
“It has my name on it.”

“
You’ll get very sick,”
Katy said.

Delphie looked at Katy. She turned the box
over to look at the return address. City of Denver. She looked at
Katy.

“
What is it?” Delphie
asked. She set the rest of the mail on the table by the
door.

“
I don’t know,” Katy
said.

“
Should we be brave?”
Delphie asked.

“
Can we be brave AND have
brownies?” Katy asked.

Delphie laughed at Katy’s chocolate lust.
She herded Katy back to the kitchen then lifted the child up to the
countertop. Setting the package on the kitchen table, Delphie
returned to the easy rhythm of making brownies with Katy. Katy
cracked the eggs on the bowl and squealed when she didn’t get any
shell in the mix. They blended the chocolate goodness then put the
batter into the greased square pan. Katy pressed the chocolate
chips that escaped her mouth into the top of the brownies. Delphie
slid the pan into the oven.

“
Shall we take a look at
what the City of Denver sent us?” Delphie asked.

Zonked by the chocolate, Katy gave an
exaggerated shrug. Delphie picked up the package and carried it to
the kitchen counter. Taking a knife from the rack, Delphie cut
through the packing tape. She found a letter and a metal container
inside the box. She used the knife to open the envelope.

“
They sent me Levi’s
ashes,” Delphie said out loud.

She looked at the metal container.

“
Naomi says you should put
that back in the box and wait for Grandpa Sam,” Katy
said.

“
I heard her.”

Delphie stared at the letter and the metal
container. The metal container had a jaunty red top with white-rice
like flecks on it. It looked like it could just as easily contain
Christmas cookies it could the ashes of the most evil person she’d
ever known.

“
I’m still Levi’s heir,”
Delphie said out loud.

“
That box will make you
sick.” Katy touched the box. “Don’t open it.”

Delphie looked into the child’s dark sincere
eyes and then back to the box and letter. Since Saturday, she’d
been trying to reorient her life. Jill, Honey, and Sandy continued
to make dinner. Alex taught Honey and Sandy how to care for the
bees. Jill and Delphie spent yesterday afternoon going over what
they wanted to plant in the gardens. For the first time in all the
years of living here, she had an army of loving assistants and
helpers. Even the men helped out.

“
Don’t open it,” Katy
said.

Delphie looked up at Katy again. She didn’t
feel dead anymore. She felt like her life was evolving in wonderful
ways.

And yet…

She looked at the box again. She could
easily go back to living as Levi Johansen’s slave.

Just open the box. Everything will return to
normal.

Delphie smiled at Katy.

“
Let’s call Auntie Valerie
and Uncle Mike,” Delphie said. “She should be at her apartment by
now. Wanna?”

Katy cheered. Delphie set Katy on the
ground. She was almost out the door when she turned back. She
picked up the metal box and tossed it into the big kitchen trash
can. She pushed the metal box into the other trash in the can and
put another bag of trash on top of it.

Running to catch Katy, Delphie passed MJ on
his way to his apartment.

“
MJ?” Delphie asked. “Would
you mind taking out the kitchen trash? It’s not too
full.”

“
Just stinky?” MJ asked.
“Leave it to me. Stinky trash is my specialty.”

“
Good to know,” Delphie
laughed.

“
I’ll do it right
now.”

As Delphie turned the corner to the long
stairwell, she saw MJ pickup the trash bag and carry it out of the
house She smiled.

Levi Johansen deserved no better than to
spend eternity with the other garbage at the Denver Dump. She was
at the top of the stairs when she heard MJ return from the
dumpster.

“
Make sure to wash your
hands,” Delphie called.

“
Consider it done.” MJ
yelled back.

She heard him add a new trash bag to the
trash can and wash his hands.

“
Come on!” Katy said from
the loft apartment. “Mommy’s getting the computer
ready.”

“
I’m on my way,” Delphie
said.

Smiling to herself, Delphie turned back to
her new, and vastly improved, life.

~~~~~~~~

Monday night – 8:49 P.M.

“
But Dad wants to know how
my first day of school went!” Nash repeated what he’d been saying
all night. “He told me so.”

“
Your Dad is zonked out
after getting his teeth worked on,” Sandy said. “I’m sure he wants
to know about your first day at the Park Hill School
but…”

“
He’s our Dad!” Noelle
repeated her part of the argument when she came out of her bedroom
wearing her pajamas. “He needs us!”

“
He needs to rest,” Sandy
said. “I promise you. He will get through all this oral surgery
this week and we’ll see him when he’s feeling better. He’s very
swollen.”

“
Tell us again what
happened,” Noelle said.

“
After you brush your
teeth,” Sandy said. “Nash! Pajamas!”

Nash stomped into his room. He came out
moments later wearing pajamas.

“
Teeth?” Sandy said to
Nash.

He scowled at her and went into the bathroom
he shared with Noelle. Sandy heard the kids squabble over the
toothpaste. Noelle came out.