Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (6 page)

“
Midnight pickup? I’m in if
you are,” Jacob said.

“
The police have my stick.
But you don’t really need one do you. You can move the puck around
with your mind.”

Jacob gave Mike a sideways look. Mike
shrugged his shoulders.

“
I have a couple of
sticks,” Jacob said. “You can have one of my extra.”

“
You don’t want to talk
about your powers?”

“
I don’t.”

“
Mike Roper is a God,” a
woman said as she left the exhibit.

“
Yeah, I saw that Valerie
Lipson. She’s tiny. I bet I could take her,” the woman’s friend
said.

Laughing, the women walked to the parking
garage.

“
Yeah, I’ll borrow a
stick,” Mike said.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night — 8:30 P.M.

Sandy and Jill were inseparable in the large
crowd. After a while, Heather migrated over to them. The women
found a little sitting area near the end of the room. Around eight,
Katy came to rest on Jill’s lap. Noelle and Nash came by every half
hour but otherwise, the women were on their own. When Mack began to
fuss, Blane insisted on taking him home.

Tanesha had just appeared when a woman came
up to them.

“
Hi Jill,” Helen Siegle
said. “I’m wondering if you would tell me where Aden
is.”

“
Hi Helen,” Jill said to
the head of the Marlowe School. “Aden’s not here
tonight.”

“
Do you know how I can get
a hold of him?” Helen asked. “I just learned that Nash hasn’t been
in school for almost a month.”

“
Aden’s not available right
now,” Sandy said. “I’m Nash’s guardian. Is there something I can
help with?”

“
Who are you?” Helen
asked.

“
I’m Nash’s guardian.”
Sandy stood to meet the woman.

“
Where’s Aden?”

“
Aden isn’t here,” Sandy
said. “If you’d like to talk about Nash, you need to speak with
me.”

“
I’m sorry, but I don’t
know who you are…”

“
I don’t know who you are
either,” Sandy said.

Shifting Katy to her hip, Jill stood next to
Sandy.

“
Sandy, this is Helen
Siegle. She runs the Marlowe school. Nash went there until this
year.”

Sandy nodded. Helen turned to Jill.

“
Where is Aden?” Helen
asked Jill again.

“
Aden is in prison, Ms.
Siegle. Currently he’s in a medically induced coma,” Sandy said.
“If there’s a problem with Nash…”

“
No,” Helen said. “No. No
problem.”

Tapping her lip, Helen looked as if a light
bulb went off over her head.

“
Aden beat up the
pedophile. Jerry told me it was someone at Lipson but didn’t tell
me it was Aden. That means that Noelle… Nash… Oh my God. I had no
idea. Jerry didn’t tell me and…”

Sandy watched sorrow dissolve the woman’s
indignation.

“
You’re the girlfriend,”
Helen said.

“
Right now, I’m Nash’s
guardian. That’s all that matters. Is there something
wrong?”

“
I just can’t believe he’s
not in school,” Helen said. “I was talking to a woman who was his
teacher. She said he was kicked out. Nash went to our school from
the day we opened. One of the original kids. I can’t imagine him
kicked out of school. I wondered if there was something I could do.
I would offer to take him back into the Marlowe school but we
couldn’t do that until next year… at the earliest.”

“
Nash has been working at
Lipson. We’re looking at options for the fall but he can’t get
in…”

“
Wait,” Helen said. “The
woman I was talking to? Nash’s teacher? She said something. Let me
get her.”

Helen darted off. Shaking her head, Sandy
sat down with Jill. They had all but forgotten about the crazy
woman when she appeared with another woman at her side.

“
This is Nash’s guardian,”
Helen said. “Tell her what you said to me.”

The young woman looked embarrassed. She
looked at Helen and back at Sandy.

“
Go ahead,” Helen said.
“Consider it your first interview for the Marlowe
school.”

“
What’s going on?” Helen’s
husband, and Nash’s supervisor, Jerry asked. He put his arm around
Helen.

“
Nash needs to be in
school,” Helen said. “Why didn’t you tell me that he was the boy
you took onto your team?”

“
Now Helen, I…”

“
Didn’t want to upset me,”
Helen said at the same moment Jerry completed, “didn’t want to
upset you.”

“
Well, I’m upset,” Helen
said. “Tell Sandy what you told me.”

“
I’m Nash’s Spanish
teacher? Over at Smiley? And…”

“
Tell her,” Helen
said.

“
That Assistant Principal?
This isn’t the first time there’s been trouble with him,” the woman
said. “He’s been written up a couple of times. And…”

“
The boy who attacked Nash
is in jail right now,” Helen said. “He attacked a girl and it’s on
tape. Her parents are suing the school. And…”

“
I have email memos going
back a couple of years about that Assistant Principal. I don’t
think the Superintendent knows about all this trouble, including
the boy who attacked Nash. I was there on guard duty when that
fight happened. Nash was attacked. And the principal? She just
thought that if she got rid of Nash and Teddy, she wouldn’t lose
her job. But…”

“
You should take this to
the Superintendent, Sandy,” Helen said. “I’ll go with you. Nash
needs to be in school. And this Teddy too.”

“
They are really good
boys,” Jerry said.

Helen, Jerry and the teacher began talking
all at once.

“
Stop!” Sandy said. Jill,
Heather and Tanesha moved to stand next to Sandy in a united
front.

Helen, Jerry and the teacher stopped talking
to stare at Sandy.

“
You’re saying that you’re
willing to tell the Superintendent that the other boy attacked
Nash,” Sandy pointed to the teacher. “And you’re willing to provide
documents that the Assistant Principal was a problem for
years.”

“
I also have a petition
from two years ago when we teachers tried to get him removed,” the
teacher said. “I mean, none of us were surprised that he was
arrested for child pornography.”

“
Ok,” Sandy said. Pointing
to Helen, she said, “You’re saying that Nash can go to the Marlowe
school next fall. Can Teddy go too?”

“
I don’t know this Teddy
but…”

“
Yes or no,” Sandy said.
“Nash isn’t going if Teddy can’t go.”

“
I will personally review
him and if…”

“
Teddy’s a great boy,”
Jerry said. “Tough and smart.”

Turning to Jerry, Sandy said, “You. Teddy
and Nash love working. Would you take them after school? And this
summer? I’m not going to make this happen if they don’t get to keep
working. They love having money and they feel really proud of what
they do there.”

“
I’d have to talk to Jake,”
Jerry said.

“
About what?” Jacob asked.
“Hi Helen.”

“
Nash and Teddy working
after school. If we start that we may have a lot of kids working
after school,” Jerry said. “Some of our families could use the
money and…”

“
We can make it work,”
Jacob said. “Most of our employees are owners now. By law, their
kids can work at businesses they own.”

“
But…”

“
Gentlemen, you work this
out on your own time,” Sandy said. Turning to the teacher, she
said, “When can you get me the documents?”

“
I can email them to you
from my iPhone,” the woman said. “I got them ready last night. I
knew that Nash knew Mike Roper. I came here tonight hoping to find
someone to help. It’s not just Nash and Teddy who suffer. It’s a
lot of kids.”

The teacher sat down in a chair and began
working on her phone. Helen, Jerry and Jacob began talking about
Nash and Teddy.

“
Are you okay?” Jill
whispered into Sandy’s ear.

“
Pissed off,” Sandy
whispered back.

“
What are you going to
do?”

“
Make this right,” Sandy
said.

“
We’ve got your back,”
Tanesha said.

“
Damn straight,” Heather
said.

Sandy nodded.

“
Ok, they’re in your email
box,” the teacher said.

“
Time to kick ass and take
names,” Tanesha said.

Sandy nodded.

“
Say something,” Jill
said.

“
From now on, I’m doing
things my way.”

CHAPTER
NINETY-THREE
Sandy’s
way

Monday morning — 7:45 A.M.

“
Noeeelllle.” Sandy called
from the living room of the apartment. “Come on, honey. We’re going
to be late.”

With a sigh, Sandy went into the hall. She
checked Noelle’s bedroom.
Nothing.

They had just finished breakfast. While
Sandy had put on her makeup, Noelle went to get ready for school.
Sandy noticed that the door to the bathroom Noelle and Nash shared
was closed.

She tried the knob. Locked.

Sandy knocked.

“
Noelle! We have to go,”
she said. “Finish up and let’s get going.”

Nothing.

Leaning her head against the door, she
thought she heard Noelle crying. Slipping off her shoes, she
trotted out of Noelle’s room and into Nash’s room. She tried his
door to the bathroom. The knob turned.

She said a silent prayer of thanks to
whatever saint looked after guardians of children whose father was
in a medically induced coma in prison. Shaking her head at her own
insanity, she opened the door.

“
Noelle?” Sandy stuck her
head in the door.

Noelle sat in front of the toilet weeping.
When she saw Sandy, she made an animal-like moan and pulled her
knees up to her eyes. Sandy rushed to her side.

“
What is it, honey? Are you
sick?”

Noelle jerked away from Sandy. Curling into
herself, the little girl pressed her face into a corner of the
bathroom. Noelle made sounds somewhere close to an injured cat.
Unsure of what to do, Sandy wrapped herself around the weeping
girl. Slowly, gently, Sandy began rocking Noelle like an infant.
While the clock ticked past the start of school, Sandy rocked
Noelle in the tight corner of the bathroom.

Noelle cried until the flood of sadness was
released. When the desperate storm passed, she sighed. She rubbed
her face against Sandy’s shoulder.

“
What happened?” Sandy
whispered.

“
I’m fat,” Noelle
whispered. “I’m so fat. Everybody says I’m fat. I tried to eat less
and I’ve been working out but I’m still fat. FAT! I hate being
fat.”

“
Honey, you’re not fat,”
Sandy said. “Your Daddy is tall. Your… Nuala is tall. You’re going
to be tall like Daddy and Nash. That’s all. You’re almost taller
than me already. That’s not fat, it’s healthy.”

“
The cute girls throw up to
stay skinny.” Noelle’s eyes welled with tears. “I can’t even throw
up right. I tried and tried and tried but I can’t do
it.”

Tears fell from Noelle’s eyes.

“
I can’t do anything right.
I’m fat and ugly and I can’t even throw up right.”

Sandy rocked Noelle until she stopped crying
again.

“
Who do you know that’s
skinny?”

“
The cute girls at school,”
Noelle said. “They have really cute clothes and…”

“
You wear a
uniform!”

“
They have theirs tailored
to be cute,” Noelle said.

“
Ok, besides school,” Sandy
said. “Who do you know that’s skinny?”

“
You used to be,” Noelle
said.

“
Before the baby made me
look like an elephant? Yes, I was thin and small,” Sandy said. “But
I never made myself throw up. Never. Heather and Tanesha? They look
great. Don’t you think?”

Noelle nodded.

“
They don’t throw up food,”
Sandy said. “Do you think Mrs. Valerie looks good?”

“
She’s beautiful,” Noelle
said. “But I don’t want to be that skinny.”

“
She’s downstairs,” Sandy
said. “Let’s ask her how she stays so skinny.”

“
She’ll probably lie,”
Noelle said. “Everybody throws up.”

“
Not me or Heather or
Tanesha or Jill,” Sandy said. “Jill’s in great shape, don’t you
think?”

Noelle nodded.

Sandy hefted herself off the bathroom floor.
She held a hand out to Noelle.

“
Come on, let’s ask Mrs.
Valerie,” Sandy said.

“
What about school? I’m
late for school!” Noelle’s voice rose with hysteria. “I can’t miss
school. Everyone will be mad at me. And…”

“
I thought you could spend
the day with me today,” Sandy said. “I was going to run some
errands. Maybe we can get your uniform fixed. Do your hair. I bet
Heather would help you figure out some nice makeup to
wear.”

Noelle took Sandy’s extended hand and stood.
Sandy hugged the little girl.