by Kent Haruf
What do you mean?
Ma’am, the judge has issued an emergency custody order and your children are going to be placed in a foster home. There’ll be a hearing about this within forty-eight hours.
Betty stared at him. Suddenly she threw her head back and wailed. You’re taking my children! I knew you was going to! She began to pull at her hair and scratch at her face. Luther leaned toward her and tried to catch her hands but she shoved him away. The sheriff’s deputy stepped across the room and bent over her. Here, he said. He took hold of her hands. Stop that now. That’s not going to do you any good. What good is that going to do anybody?
Betty shook her head, her eyes rolling unfocused, and she continued to wail into the rank and odoriferous air.
ROSE TOOK THE CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL AND DROVE TO the hospital and the doctor examined them in the emergency room. The lacerations were bad but he could find no broken bones. He applied antiseptic ointment to the cuts and welts and dressed the worst ones with bandages.
Afterward Rose drove them to her house and gave them lunch, then she took them with her to Social Services at the courthouse and sat them at a table in the interview room with magazines to look at while she went next door to her office. She spoke with the deputy on the phone and then called three different foster homes and finally reached one with a vacancy in a house at the west side of Holt that belonged to a fifty-year-old woman who had two children already in her care. Then she went back to the interview room and told Joy Rae and Richie what was going to happen. We’ll go by your house first to get some clothes, she said. You can see your parents for a moment. Do you want to?
The children looked at her out of their grave eyes and said nothing. They appeared to have retreated to some unassailable place.
She drove them to Detroit Street to the trailer and went with them inside. Betty was calmer now but there were the distinct red scratches on her cheeks, like the excoriations after an attack by some animal. The children went back to their rooms and gathered several changes of clothes into a grocery bag, and Betty followed behind and petted and whispered to them and cried over them, while Luther stood in the front room looking up the hall, waiting as if he had been blunted by a sudden blow.
When they went outside to the car Betty and Luther followed them into the street, and when the car started away Betty trotted beside it, her face close to the rear window, crying and moaning, calling: I’ll see you soon. I’ll see you tomorrow sometime.
Mama! Richie called.
Joy Rae covered her face with her hands and Luther lumbered along beside Betty until the car sped up. It disappeared around the corner. They stood out in the empty street then, watching where the car had gone, watching nothing.
ON THE WEST SIDE OF TOWN THE WOMAN LET THEM IN. She was tall and thin in a flowered apron and she had a bright way of talking. I’m going to have to learn your names, she said. I just think you’ll like it here. Won’t you. I hope you will. We’re going to try anyway. Now I’m going to show you around first. I just always think people want to see how things are located the first thing. Then they feel better.
Rose waited in the living room while the woman showed the children through her house, starting with the bedrooms they’d be using, then the bathroom and the other children’s room. Then they came back out and Rose told them what they could expect over the next few days. She hugged them before she left and said they should call her at home if they needed anything at all, and printed out her number and the one at the office on a piece of paper and gave the paper to Joy Rae.
ON TUESDAY THERE WERE MEETINGS AND INTERVIEWS.
Luther and Betty met for an hour at the courthouse with a lawyer assigned to them by the court.
The two children were interviewed at the foster home by the guardian ad litem, a young attorney appointed to act in their behalf and represent their best interests. He listened to their story and took notes and they did not go to school that day but stayed at the woman’s house.
The county attorney met with Rose Tyler and the investigating sheriff’s deputy in Rose’s office and drew up the Petition of Dependency and Neglect, which would be filed with the court.
But no one who met that Tuesday in these various meetings was pleased by what was decided in any instance.
ON WEDNESDAY THE SHELTER HEARING WAS CONDUCTED in the middle of the afternoon on the third floor of the courthouse in the civil court across the wide hall from the criminal court. It was a dark wood-paneled room with a high ceiling and tall mullioned windows and benches arranged in rows behind the two tables left and right that were reserved for the attorneys and other involved parties. In front of the two tables was the judge’s bench raised on a dais. The two children did not attend.
Luther and Betty entered the courtroom that afternoon dressed for the formal proceedings. Betty wore a brown dress and new sheer hose, and she had rouged her cheeks to cover the scratches. Her hair was freshly washed and brushed, held back on the sides by a pair of Joy Rae’s plastic barrettes. She looked peculiarly childlike. Luther wore his blue slacks and a plaid shirt with a red tie wound under the collar that was not drawn tight under his chin since the collar could not be buttoned. The tie reached only to the middle of his stomach. They entered and sat down behind the table on the right.
Their attorney came in and sat in the bench behind them, across the aisle from the guardian ad litem. After a while Rose came in with the sheriff’s deputy. He sat next to the G.A.L. and Rose slid in beside Betty and Luther, and she leaned over and took their hands and said they must speak the truth and do the best they could.
Rose, what’s going to happen? Betty said.
We’ll have to see what the judge decides.
I don’t want to lose my kids, Rose. I couldn’t bear that.
Yes. I know, dear.
Rose stood and moved to the other side of the aisle and sat at the table with the county attorney who’d entered the courtroom while she had talked to Luther and Betty. Everyone sat and waited. Outside the courthouse the wind was blowing, they could hear it in the trees. Somebody went by in the hallway, the footsteps echoing. Still, they waited. Finally the judge came in from a side door and the clerk said: All rise, and they rose. Be seated, the clerk said, and they sat down again.
There was just the one civil case this Wednesday. The courtroom was largely empty, and it was hot and stale, smelling of dust and old furniture polish.
The judge called the case from the file before him. Then the county attorney stood and spoke briefly. The judge had already seen the Petition of Dependency and Neglect and the county attorney began to review it for the record. The Petition explained why the children had been taken into emergency custody, described what had been done to them by their mother’s uncle, and stated what both the county attorney’s office and Social Services recommended. The Petition stipulated that the children be kept in foster care until such time as the uncle was apprehended and brought to trial. Until then the children should not be allowed to return to the home, since their parents had not shown that they were capable of protecting them from their uncle thus far. The parents should be granted regular visitations with the children under the supervision of Social Services, and the case should be reviewed at some future time and date.
Then the Wallaces’ lawyer rose and said what he could in their defense, telling the court that Luther and Betty Wallace had been good parents, under the circumstances, and had done the best they could.
Are the parents in the room? the judge said.
Yes, Your Honor. They’re here.
The lawyer motioned to Betty and Luther. They came forward and stood beside him at the table.
You’re aware of what injury was done to your children, aren’t you? the judge said.
Yes sir, Luther said. Your Honor.
Did you make any effort to prevent the injury to your children?
He wouldn’t let us.
Your wife’s uncle. You’re referring to him.
Pardon?
Yes. That’s him.
Did you witness what Mr. Raines was doing to your children?
My husband did, Betty said. I never seen it. Afterward I just seen what he done.
What did you do yourself?
You mean me?
Yes.
I told him he couldn’t do it. When he first come in our house I says, You can’t come in here.
Mr. Wallace. What did you do?
I went on in there, Luther said. I seen him using his belt and I says, You can’t do that. You got to stop that.
Did you physically try to stop him?
Well, like I says, I was in there. Then he come and hit me cross the neck. It’s still stinging me. Luther rubbed at his neck beneath the shirt collar.
What did you do after he whipped you with his belt?
I went back to take care of my wife.
What was she doing?
She was laid out bawling about all what was going on.
So in fact you didn’t do anything.
Luther looked at the judge, then he glanced at Betty, then he faced forward again. I went in there to stop him. But he whipped me cross my neck. With that belt of his.
Yes. I heard you tell the court that you did that much. But just entering the room where he was whipping your children didn’t stop him, did it. That wasn’t enough.
He says he’s going to kill us.
Sir?
He says he’s going to kill us if we done anything.
Mr. Raines told you he would kill you?
Yes sir. That’s exactly what he told us.
That he would kill you if you tried to prevent him from whipping your children.
Yes sir.
If we told on him too, Betty said. If we called somebody on the phone.
That’s right, Luther said. If we called somebody, he says he’s going to hear us, and he’s going to kill us like we was dogs.
So he threatened you both.
He put a threat on us both right in our own house, Luther said.
The judge looked at the file on his desk for a moment. Then he raised his head. This is the second time this has occurred. Isn’t that right?
Yes sir, Your Honor. He done it once before, Luther said.
Do you know where he is now?
No.
Where do you think he might be?
He could be about anywhere. He might be in New York City.
New York City. Do you think that’s where he is?
Might be Vegas too. He’s always talking bout making a killing in Las Vegas.
The judge looked at him. Well. I thank you both for your testimony. You may sit down.
The judge then called the guardian ad litem. The young attorney stood and approached the table and reported his interview with the two children. He closed by submitting his own recommendation to the court.
I’m to understand from what you’ve just informed the court that you concur with the recommendation of the county attorney and the Social Services? the judge said.
That’s right, Your Honor.
Thank you, the judge said. He looked out into the courtroom. In a case like this one, he said, I have to make two determinations. First, on the filing of the Petition of Dependency and Neglect. Secondly, I must make a determination about the custody of the two children. The court has heard the various parties involved in this case. Is there anyone who wants to say something more?
Betty stood up from where she sat behind the table.
Yes? the judge said. Do you have something more to say, Mrs. Wallace?
You’re not going to take my children, are you? Betty said. I love my children.
Yes, ma’am. I appreciate that, the judge said. I believe you and your husband do love your children. That’s not in dispute here.
Don’t take them. Please.
But Mrs. Wallace, it’s evident to the court from the testimony we’ve heard today, including your own testimony, that you can’t protect them. Your uncle has abused them twice. For now, they’re better off in foster care.
But don’t take them. Please don’t.
The court has to decide what is in the best interest of the children.
They’re suppose to be with their mama and daddy.
In most instances, that’s right. The court makes every effort to keep the children with their parents. But in this case, it’s the court’s decision that they’re better served by being placed in foster care. At least for the time being. Until your uncle has been found, Mrs. Wallace.
You mean you’re going to take them away?
You may still see them. Under supervision. They won’t be taken out of the local vicinity. They’ll still be in Holt County and you can visit them on a regular basis.
Oh no! Betty cried. Oh no! No! No! Then she screamed something that was not even words. Her voice rang in the room and it echoed shrilly against the dark paneled walls. She fell back into the church bench and banged her head. Her eyes rolled wildly. Luther tried to help her and she bit his hand.
The judge stood up in surprise. Somebody help her there, he said. Somebody bring this woman a glass of water.
43
AFTER HIS SUPPER OF FRIED MEAT AND FRIED POTATOES, sitting alone at the pinewood table in the kitchen, the house so silent and still with just the sough of wind outside, he rinsed off his meager dishes at the sink and moved into the dining room. He took down the phone from the wall and carried it on its long cord to the parlor and sat in his old recliner chair and called Victoria Roubideaux in Fort Collins.
I was just picking up the phone to call you, she said.
Were you, honey? I just figured it was about my turn. I was wondering if you knew when you and Katie was coming home for the summer. I hope you’re still coming.
Oh, yes. Nothing would change that.
I’ll sure be glad to see you. Both of you.
I’ve only got another couple weeks of classes, then finals.
How’s your classes going?
Okay. You know. It’s school.
Well. It’ll be nice to have you home for a while. How’s my little Katie?
Oh, she’s fine. She talks about you all the time. Here, do you want to say something to her?
The little girl came on.
That you, Katie? he said.
She began to talk immediately and her high voice was clear and excited at once, and she was telling him something about day care and some other little girl there with her, and he couldn’t make out much of what she was saying, but he was satisfied just to hear her voice. Then Victoria took the phone again.
I couldn’t get all of that, Raymond said. She’s a talker, ain’t she.
She talks all the time.
Well, that’s good.
Anyway, I plan to be home by Memorial Day, she said. I’ve been thinking I wanted to take some flowers out to the cemetery.
He’d like that.
I think about him just about every day.
I know. I been catching myself talking to him again.
What do you talk about?
Oh, just the work around here. Like we used to do. Making up our minds about what to do concerning one thing or another. I’m just turning old and crazy, I reckon. Somebody ought to take me out back of the barn and shoot me.
I wouldn’t worry about that. You’re not really worried, are you?
No. I guess not, he said. Well. Now how about Del. I guess he’s still in the picture.
Yes. We were out together last night. We took Katie to a movie downtown. That reminds me—do you think you could use him this summer during haying?
Does he want to do that?
He was asking about it. He wanted me to ask you if you thought that would be all right. If he came out for a while this summer.
Well sure, I could always use another hand. He’d be welcome.
Okay, I’ll tell him, she said. But what about you? Have you seen Rose Tyler again
?
Well. We been out several times. We been out to eat dinner.
Are you having fun?
Yes ma’am. I believe you could call it that. At least I think so.
I’m glad. I want to meet her. I haven’t even met her yet.
I believe you’re going to like her. She’s a awful fine woman to me. I want to get us all together once you get home.
And have you been taking care of yourself?
Yes. I’d say so.
Have you been eating right?
Pretty good.
I know you haven’t. I know you don’t eat right. I wish you would.
It’s just awful quiet around here, honey. You say you’ll be home by Memorial Day?
Yes. As soon as I can.
That’ll be good, he said. It’ll be good to see you.
They hung up then and Raymond sat in the parlor at the back of the house with the phone in his lap, musing and remembering. Thinking about Victoria and Katie and about Rose Tyler, and about his dead brother, gone on ahead, already this half year and more.
44
IN A BORROWED CAR MARY WELLS DROVE TO GREELEY, out across the high plains two hours west of Holt, and spent all that warm day going around to various places of business applying for work. She finally found a job late in the afternoon in an insurance office downtown in the old part of the city. Afterward she went to a phone booth and called home. She had begun to feel lighter, she believed things were going to be better now. When she called, the girls were home from school and she told them she would be back by nightfall and they’d all have supper together.
In Holt she returned the car to her friend and then walked along the streets to her own small house on the south side of town. The streets were all empty, with everyone inside eating supper. At home the two girls were waiting for her on the front steps when she walked up to the house. Were you worried about me? she said.
You took so long.
I came as fast as I could. But it’s all right now. I’m home.
They went inside and she cooked supper for them, and they sat in the kitchen and she told them about finding a job in Greeley that afternoon. It’ll be better there, she said. We can make a fresh start.