Fort Lupton (8 page)

“
Yes, sir,” Ephraim said.
“I’ve submitted a copy of the custody arrangement that Judge
Teirten approved yesterday.”

“
I see that copy here,”
the judge said.

“
Sir, we’d like to remind
you that the father in this case telephoned my client and insisted
that Ms. Annette take the boy,” Annette’s attorney said.

“
That’s what’s confusing
to me,” the judge said. “This custody
arrangement . . . It took a lot of time and a lot of
thought.”

The judge waved the agreement to show its
bulk.

“
You can almost smell the
billable hours,” the judge said. “Now why would a father spend all
that time and all that money — and this document reeks of money —
only to
telephone
his ex to have her come pick up the boy?”

“
His wife has forced him
into . . .” Annette’s attorney said.

“
How dare you?” Jeraine’s
indignant voice echoed through the court. “They almost killed my
father-in-law’s dog!”

“
Mr. Wilson.” The judge
put his index finger to his lips. “I don’t have any problem
sticking you in jail here in Atlanta, but that’s not going to help
your boy.”

Jeraine nodded.

“
On the matter of the
canine.” Annette’s attorney stepped across the space between the
tables and set a document down. “We are requesting the City and
County of Denver detain and evaluate for disposal the ferocious
animal that attacked Ms. Annette’s friend, as well as, compensation
from Mr. Wilson, who did, in fact, instruct them to remove the
child.”

The judge waved the attorney’s forward with
the document. The courtroom was silent while the judge, Schmidty,
and Ephraim James read the document. Schmidty finished first. He
set the document down on the table out of Jeraine’s reach. Jeraine
tried to get the document, but Schmidty blocked him. Bumpy put his
hand on Jeraine’s shoulders to steady his son. After a few minutes,
the judge set the document down.

“
I must say,” the judge
said with a nod, “this is definitely a unique
situation.”

In the matter
of

The judge took off his reading glasses.

“
Here we have a child, who
was stuffed onto an airplane by
Ms.
Annette, who happens to have no last name,” the
judge said. He looked around on the desk. He held up a DVD and a
paper report. “This event was well documented both by the national
broadcast of the mother’s reality television show
and
an investigation by
the Atlanta Police. It’s also a part of an active investigation led
by the Department of Family and Child Services with the two
siblings of the child in question in protective care.”

He dropped the reports and DVD onto the
desk.

“
And now, the child in
question has been allegedly thrown out of the house by his father,”
the judge said. “Only after his father spent considerable time
working through a detailed transition and custody
agreement.”

The judge lifted the thick document and then
dropped it onto his desk.

“
Your Honor,” Ephraim
James said.

The judge held his hand up to silence the
attorney.

“
I hear myself and I
think, ‘This child is a pawn in some sick game of the parents,’”
the judge said. “The child should be placed in protective custody,
as these parents clearly cannot care for the child.”

“
You can’t do that!”
Yvonne jumped to her feet. “Jabari belongs at home, in Denver, with
us.”

The judge waved her down in her seat. Yvonne
gave him strong look, and he nodded. Reluctantly, she sat down.

“
But I have this report
from Denver
Human
Services that says that the minor — whose name happens to be
Jabari Wilson — is well loved and happy with his father and his
father’s wife. The child even calls his father’s wife, ‘Mommy,’”
the judge said. “The report further states that the child has a
close, loving relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, whom he’s been
living with while this custody matter is resolved. In short, this
child is no pawn in anyone’s game. He is well loved and well cared
for in his new home in Denver, which, in case you weren’t aware,
happens to be in the
state
of Colorado. This a key issue in this matter as
Denver, Colorado, where the child is happily resides, is not in the
state of
Georgia
.”

The judge looked at Annette.

“
I don’t know what you’re
up to,” the judge said. “I doubt you do, either. But this child is
returning to the care of Denver Human Services. It’s my
understanding that they are here as well.”

Risa, Jabari’s social worker from Denver
Human Services, stood up.

“
Did you write this
report?” the judge asked.

“
Yes, your Honor,” she
said.

“
And it’s your belief that
the child is happy with his father and his father’s wife,” the
judge said.

“
Yes, your Honor,” she
said.

“
The matter of the custody
of Jabari Wilson is turned over to Denver Human Services.” The
judge banged his gavel. “As far as I can tell, the rest of this is
a matter for law enforcement.”

Without saying another word, the judge stood
up. Annette started screaming. Shaking his head, the judge left the
chamber. Annette lunged at Jeraine and managed to rack her long
nails across his cheek before He-Man stepped between them. He-Man
turned Jeraine around and marched him out of the courtroom.

“
I’m not done with him,”
Annette yelled. She caught Yvonne looking at her. “Wha’chu looking
at?”

“
Nothing nice,” Yvonne
said.

“
Why
you . . .?” Annette started for Yvonne, but her
boyfriend held her back.

Yvonne shook her head.

“
Come on, Yvie,” Dionne
said. “We don’t need any of that.”

Yvonne gave Annette a nod and followed Bumpy
and Dionne out of the courtroom.

“
The good news is that
Jabari is coming home,” Risa, the social worker, said.

“
And the bad news?” Dionne
asked.

“
This matter has become
very personal to
Ms.
Annette,” Bumpy said. “She is not going to forget this
humiliation.”

“
It’s not over.” Yvonne
nodded.

“
No, sadly, it is not,”
Risa said.

“
For all our efforts to
the contrary, we’ve made ourselves an enemy,” Dionne
said.

Yvonne looked at Dionne and then at Bumpy.
They looked back at Yvonne.

“
We’ll just take it one
step at a time,” Bumpy said.

His voice sounded reassuring. In spite of
their feelings of dread, Dionne and Yvonne smiled and nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:45 p.m. MT

Denver, Colorado

“
Dad?” Charlie
whispered.

The ghost of Mitch Delgado appeared at his
bedside. Charlie sat up on the side of the bed.

“
They act like I’m dying,”
Charlie said.

Mitch turned to look at Nash, who was
sitting in a chair next to Charlie. Nash was talking and crying.
The boy got up and put his forehead on Charlie’s chest.

“
It creeps me out,”
Charlie said.

“
Understandably,” Mitch
said. “You want to walk?”

An orderly and a nurse came near Charlie’s
bed. They talked to Nash. The boy kissed Charlie’s forehead and
left.

“
I’m going into surgery
again,” Charlie said.

Charlie jumped off his bed when the orderly
started rolling Charlie’s body down the hallway.

“
Should we go
with . . .” Charlie gestured to the bed.

When he looked back at his father, Maresol
was tucked under Mitch’s arm. Charlie gave him a puzzled look.

“
Do you mind?” Mitch
asked.

“
No,” Charlie said. “It
answers a question for me. But . . .”

He stepped back so that Maresol’s body could
roll past on the way to a different surgical suite.

“
Why is Maresol here?”
Charlie asked.

“
I was hit on the head by
that horrible Detective Red Bear,” Maresol said. “They are going to
do some brain surgery. They bandaged it, of course, a few hours
ago. But they decided I needed this.”

Maresol shrugged. She smiled at Mitch, and
he gave her a goofy, puppy-love grin.

“
Otch,” Maresol said.
“They are waking me up for the surgery.”

Maresol stepped back, but Mitch held onto
her hand.

“
Why?” Mitch
said.

“
No sey
,” Maresol said. She leaned forward to kiss him before she
disappeared.

Charlie grinned at his father.

“
What?” Mitch looked at
Charlie.

“
I think I have to ask
you, ‘What?’” Charlie asked.

“
You mean
Maresol?”

“
Yes,” Charlie said. “I
have a long surgery, so you can tell me everything.”

Mitch grinned at Charlie.

“
You want to go back to
the park?” Mitch asked.

“
Let’s walk on the path,”
Charlie said.

“
Cherry Creek Path?” Mitch
asked.

They were walking along the cement path next
to Cherry Creek, below Speer Boulevard. The day was mild, not too
warm, not too cold. A family of ducks floated along on the slow
moving river.

“
So
Maresol . . .” Charlie started.

“
What do you know about
her?” Mitch asked.

“
Seth hired her when he
got back from college,” Charlie said. “He was like fourteen or
something. She had five kids and a husband, but he died soon after
she started working for Seth.”

“
Couple of years later,”
Mitch said. “Manuel worked for the city. He was killed in an
accident at work. Very tragic.”

Charlie fell quiet. He’d seen Sam Lipson use
this as a way of encouraging someone to talk. Mitch glanced at
Charlie.

“
I met Seth when I started
at East High,” Mitch said. “He’d just come back from Eastman. He
was . . .”

Mitch chuckled.

“
Geeky?” Charlie
said.

“
Very cool,” Mitch said.
“He rode to school in a limo . . .”

“
How’d you meet?” Charlie
asked.

“
I was riding my bike to
school and ran him over,” Mitch said. He laughed. “Seth’s what, six
feet now? He was small then. Looked like a little kid. He wore
these dark sunglasses, a black hat pulled down on his forehead,
very beatnik. I didn’t see him. He also wasn’t looking where he was
going as he got out of the limo. Knowing Seth, he probably was
caught up in his own head.”

“
We had first period
together. I sat next to him.” Mitch smiled. “I don’t know if you’ve
ever had it happen, but I’ll tell you — I knew the moment I met him
that I wanted to be around him. I always felt that way about Seth.
Next time I saw him, he was defending this enormous black kid — we
called them ‘negroes’ then — from a crowd of kids who wanted him
out of the building. This kid was big and looked dumber than dirt.
His clothes were clean but really worn. None of us had any money —
except Seth, you know — but that kid looked really
poor.”

Mitch chuckled.

“
There’s little Seth and
this giant guy,” Mitch said. “Some kid had told the big kid he
shouldn’t be there. Segregation and all. Even though the school
wasn’t segregated, the kids were still fighting it out. Can you
guess who the big kid was?”

“
Dr. Bumpy?” Charlie
asked.

“
Yes, indeed,” Mitch said.
“Seth . . . Some kid tried to punch him and I was
there. It was just one of those things. I’d gone to junior high
with almost everybody. I was really popular, jock, and all of that.
I told them to break it up and that was that. I mean, there was a
little more hassle, but . . . It was just like that
— what I said went.”

“
I went back to Seth’s
house that afternoon and met Maresol,” Mitch said. “They were very
formal then. Seth was the boss. I thought she
was . . . old. I mean, she had five kids and a
house. She was
twenty-two
. That’s a lot older than
fourteen.”

Mitch shrugged.

“
We kind of lived at
Seth’s house,” Mitch said. “Bumpy got his eyes checked at the same
time I did. Turned out we were both blind as bats. Seth bought us
cool glasses. We were smart, good-looking, and in Seth’s jazz band.
Seth’s mom was like something out of a movie — so beautiful, smart,
and still elegantly delicate. We adored her. Seth’s mom took Bumpy
and me along when she went shopping with Seth for clothes. I will
tell you, we were gorgeous.”

“
I bet,” Charlie
said.

“
Maresol fed us, laughed
with us, flirted, but . . .”

Mitch shrugged.

“
I had girlfriends — lots,
but I never . . . you know, sex,” Mitch said.
“Seth . . . Well, you’ve seen Sandy? Imagine a
sexier and more confident Sandy. Andy Mendy was everyone’s dream
girl. She’d show up at school with her band
and . . . Man, the boys would hang out the windows
and drool. She was Seth’s and only Seth’s.”