by Geof Johnson
“My magic healing jelly. I learned to make that when I was kidnapped.”
“She was kidnapped by witches,” Jamie said. “She’s a witch and I’m a sorcerer.
Her mouth and eyes went wide again and she scooted her chair back from the table. Before she could get up, Lisa reached over and put a hand on the frightened woman’s knee. “Jamie and Fred...they’re not evil, Miss Francesco. They’re the good guys.”
“There’s a little orphan girl named Sammiwho’s a witch, too,” Larry said, “and she wants to live with us, but there are some extenuating circumstances. That’s why we had to show you this today.”
“Larry,” Lisa said, “I think we’re telling her too much, too soon.”
Miss Francesco’s hands squeezed the edge of the table and her lips moved wordlessly. Lisa said, “I’m sorry, I know it’s unbelievable. It was for me and Larry, too, when we first found out about the magic. But we had a little more time to digest it all.”
“Witches,” Miss Francesco managed to mumble, and she looked at Fred. “You were kidnapped by witches.” It wasn’t a question.
Hope she doesn’t faint. “We have a lot to tell you, Miss Francesco,” Jamie said quickly. “Is anyone going to interrupt us?” He glanced at the closed door.
“Uh...no...not with the In Use sign on it.”
So they told her about their magic, as much as she needed to know, in a hurried, condensed version. Miss Francesco listened in stunned silence at first, but she seemed to become engaged near the end. When they told her about Sammi and her escape from Mr. Gundy, the social worker’s face grew hard.
“I hate men like him,” she said. “Pedophiles should be shot.” Then she shook her head. “But I don’t see how he could’ve been cleared to be a foster parent.”
“He had connections with the old sheriff,” Jamie said, “and the sheriffmust’ve put in a good word for Mr. Gundy. Sammi had trouble staying in a foster home. She was on the verge of being medicated because everybody thought she was crazy, so social services in that county might’ve been eager to let the Gundy’s take her.” Jamie shrugged. “Since nobody else would.”
“People thought she was crazy because she hears voices,” Miss Francesco said with a knowing nod. “Because she’s a witch.” She turned to Lisa. “Did Sammi really hear what you and Jamie’s mom said when you were sitting in the gazebo, way back in February? I mean, that sounds impossible.”
“She repeated it to us word for word. It was a bit of a shock to us when she did.”
“I’m sure. And then she rode the bus all the way across the state to your house because of that. Wow.”
“We think it’s really important for some reason,” Jamie said. “We don’t know why yet, but we’re working on that.”
Miss Francesco leaned forward in her chair again and narrowed one eye. “That’s pretty amazing, though, a girl that young doing that.”
“She did it because she really wants to live with us,” Lisa said.
Miss Francesco took a deep breath while she regarded Lisa and Larry. “That’s a good thing, if that’s what you want, too. I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“How about now?” Jamie said.
“Where is she?”
“At the school on Eddan’s world.”
“The other world,” she said weakly. “So...so that part is true?”
“Well, yeah. It all is.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “Let’s go.”
“Wait! Uh...what...how does this work?”
“I’ll make a magic doorway and we’ll go through it and you can meet Sammi. Simple.”
“Uh....” Her eyes grew frantic again as the others stood, too.
“I know we’re overwhelming you, Miss Francesco,” Larry said, “but we really need to become foster parents in a hurry, for Sammi’s sake. We wouldn’t do this to you, otherwise. Please go with us, for her sake.”
Jamie eyed the stunned-looking woman sympathetically. “If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Callahan was a real mess when we told him about the magic.”
“He looked like he’d been hit in the head with a stick,” Lisa said with a laugh. “I was probably worse.”
“You were, Mom,” Fred said, “but you both handled it just fine, eventually. We’re sure you can, too, Miss Francesco. You’ll see.” She turned to Jamie. “Let’s go.”
Jamie outlined a glowing doorway and opened it. “Who’s first?”
Fred stepped through without a word and Larry went right behind her. Miss Francesco stayed seated, but Lisa grabbed her arm and helped her up. “Come on. You’ll love this. You’re going to another planet today.”
Jamie waited until Lisa guided her through before following them and closing the doorway.
They were in front of the Rivershire School, and Miss Francesco gazed at their surroundings, her mouth and eyes wide. “What...where are we?”
“We don’t know what planet this is,” Jamie said, “but we call it Eddan’s world. The people who live here think it’s Earth, but it’s not.”
She stared at him wordlessly.
“The people here are from Earth, and they settled here four hundred years ago, but they didn’t know that at the —”
“Jamie,” Lisa said, “some other time.”
They heard a little girl’s voice and Lisa said, “That sounds like Sammi. The kids must be playing outside.”
They walked around the corner of the building and saw five children running around in the nearby field. Jamie recognized Sammi, Aiven, and Leora, but not the other two girls. Jamie’s mother was sitting at the picnic table under the tree, and she rose and walked toward them when she saw them.
“They’re dressed so old-fashioned,” Miss Francesco said as they watched the children play.
“We call it Little House on the Prairie style,” Fred said.
Larry cupped his hands to his mouth and called, “Sammi. Somebody’s here to see you.”
Sammi stopped in her tracks, looked over at them, and then streaked across the field to them. She passed Rachel and flew straight to Lisa and gave her a hug, then she hugged Larry, Fred, and Jamie. Rachel joined them and Lisa introduced her to Miss Francesco.
Sammi took Lisa’s hand and Lisa said, “Sammi, Miss Francesco is from Social Services in Hendersonville.”
Sammi’s face lit up and she said, “Does that mean I get to live with the Callahans now?”
Miss Francesco took a short breath before answering, then smiled gently. “I can’t promise you that, Sammi. But I’m going to try to make that possible.”
“You can do it.” Sammi bobbed her head. “I know you can.”
“I’m glad you have so much confidence in me, but it’s going to be hard. We might have to bend the rules a little bit in your case.”
“But you can do it.” Sammi bobbed her head again.
“Honey, I need to ask you something.” Miss Francesco bent her legs and rested her hands on her knees so that she was eye level with Sammi. “Do you really want to live with the Callahans? Because if you’re not sure, I don’t want to take the risks.”
“Oh, I do! I really do. More than anything in the whole world!”
She said it with such conviction that Jamie could feel it himself. They weren’t just words. She meant it with every fiber of her heart.
Miss Francesco stood up straight and sighed. “Okay. But I don’t want you to be disappointed if it doesn’t work out.”
Jamie knew Sammi wouldn’t be disappointed, she’d be devastated. Sammi nodded and let go of Lisa’s hand, wrapped her arms around Miss Francesco’s waist, and squeezed her tightly. Miss Francesco put her hand on Sammi’s head and smiled at her until Sammi let go.
“Sammi,” Lisa said, “we need to talk with Miss Francesco a little more. Why don’t you go play with the other kids again?”
Sammi turned and ran back toward the other children, who were watching from the shade of the big oak tree. “Leora! Aiven!” she yelled as she ran. “Guess what?”
“Sammi!” Lisa called after her. “It’s not for sure yet.” Sammi ignored her and raced to her friends.
Miss Francesco shook her head slowly as she watched Sammi go. “She sure is adorable. I can see why you want her as a foster child.”
“Please help us,” Larry said.
“I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
“Do you think there’s a way we can do the classes in two weeks?”
“There is, but I’ll have to teach them myself. What time do you get off work? What’s the earliest you can start?”
Lisa glanced at Larry and rubbed her chin. “Five-thirty? Would that be okay? We’d be done by eight-thirty.”
Miss Francesco exhaled slowly with her cheeks puffed out, eyes fixed on Sammi. “I guess, but we can’t start tonight. I want to have a look at Sammi’s case file, first. Then I’ll call you later and let you know.”
Jamie shook his head. “My dad said we shouldn’t talk about this stuff over the phone.”
“Um...can I drop by your house?”
“Why don’t you come for dinner?” Lisa said. “Then you can get a decent meal for a change.”
“I can babysit for Sammi once you start your classes,” Rachel said. “And I’ll fix some dinner on those nights for you. You won’t feel like cooking that late.”
“We can’t ask you to do that,” Lisa said.
“Nonsense. Maybe Adele will take turns with me. It’s the least we can do if you’re willing to go through this for Sammi.”
Lisa turned and looked at Sammi again, who was surrounded by her friends, talking excitedly. “We’d go through a lot more than this for her.”
Chapter 11
Rachel watched as Lisa set two more bowls of food on her table — mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. Miss Francesco watched, too, with a hungry look in her eyes, standing next to one of the chairs. “Boy, something sure smells good,” the short woman said.
“She made a pork roast,” Fred said without looking up, already sitting at the table, scrolling through text messages on her phone.
Sammi walked out of the kitchen carrying a handful of silverware and grinned. “Mrs. Callahan is the best cook in the whole world.”
“Not hardly,” Lisa said. “But I get by.”
Carl came in the front door with a manila folder in one hand, and he introduced himself to Miss Francesco. “Heard you went to the Rivershire School today. First visit to another world?”
She laughed weakly. “Yes...um...memorable day, to say the least.” She rested one hand on the back of a dining chair and stared at it for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. “That’s pretty awesome what you all are doing there, with the school and clinic.” She turned to Sammi and took a long breath as she regarded the dark-eyed girl. “Sammi, I...um, almost had a change of heart after I went back to my office today.”
Sammi’s smile faded as she stood there with the silverware still in her hands, and Miss Francesco continued, “I thought, why shouldI do this?Why should I risk my job for you? You’re just another kid, and we have plenty of kids come through the system. If the Callahans want to be foster parents, they can follow the certification process just like everybody else.”
Sammi’s face fell, and Rachel’s heart fell with it, but Miss Francesco gave her a half-smile and said, “But I decided to have a look at your case file, and that helped me see things in a different light.” She glanced around the room at the others. “I found some disturbing stuff, notes from the Gundys’ new social worker, Mrs. Nash.” She lowered her eyebrows. “Mrs. Nash had some concerns about Duane Gundy, so much so that she was thinking of moving Sammi to another foster family, soon as one became available.”
“There aren’t very many in Bicksby,” Sammi said.
“I know. But Mrs. Nash was hoping to find one soon. She thinks Mr. Gundy is oily and evasive — her words, not mine — and unstable. She was also concerned about the bruises she saw on Mrs. Gundy’s face on her last home visit.”
“He hits her,” Sammi said. “He hit me, too.”
“Sammi had horrible bruises on her back when she first got here,” Lisa said. “We took pictures to document it.”
Anger flashed through Miss Francesco’s dark eyes and she nodded. “According to their file, Mrs. Gundy said she fell down the stairs, and that’s how she got the bruises. Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“They don’t have stairs,” Sammi said quickly. “But she won’t ever say anything bad about Mr. Gundy. She always backs him up.” She bobbed her head for emphasis.
“I know, and that’s all too common.” She locked eyes with Sammi and cleared her throat. “But I decided...I decided if you have the guts to ride a bus hundreds of miles, by yourself, in the middle of the night, then I can have the guts to take a chance to help you.” She nodded at Sammi. “That was very brave, what you did, getting away from Mr. Gundy like that.”
“I had to borrow the money for the ticket from my friend Libby, but I paid her back already. Mr. and Mrs. Callahan gave me the money and I sent it to her. I addressed the envelope myself.” She smiled proudly. “So now I have to do chores to pay the Callahans back. That’s why I’m helping out now.”
“And Fred isn’t,” Lisa said with a sharp look at her daughter.
Fred glanced up from her phone and frowned.
Carl wrinkled his brow. “Sammi, did you put a return address on the envelope?”
“Unh hunh. Mrs. Callahan told it to me, and I wrote it.” Her proud smile returned.
“You need to call your friend and tell her not to put the envelope in the trash, or if she does, to tear it up into little pieces. Mr. Gundy might search their garbage and find it.”
“Oh, she wouldn’t throw it away, Mr. Sikes, ’cause it’s from me. She’ll keep it forever and ever. I’m her best friend.”
“Well, call her, just in case.” Carl turned to Larry. “Make sure you block the caller ID, and make sure Sammi keeps it short and doesn’t say where she is.”
“But Libby already knows,” Sammi said.
“That’s okay, but we don’t want to say things like that over a cordless phone. There’s an easy way to listen in on those calls.”
Larry narrowed his eyes. “There is?”
“You can do it with a scanner. A lot of bounty hunters use them.”
“This is starting to sound creepy,” Miss Francesco said. “I have bad feelings about this Mr. Gundy.” She took another deep breath. “Sammi, another thing that helped me make up my mind about you is that I realized that you need to live with a family that will accept the fact that you’re a witch. That would be a big problem for just about any other family, but the Callahans are uniquely qualified.”
“We already raised one witch,” Larry said and nodded toward Fred. “We have the experience.”
“So, you can start the course tomorrow, five-thirty sharp, at the Social Services building.”
Larry and Lisa both let out deep sighs of relief, and Sammi clapped and smiled broadly.
“Try to keep her out of sight as much as possible until you get custody, okay?”
“She goes to that school almost every day,” Lisa said.
“Perfect,” the social worker said. “You can’t get more out of sight than on another world, right?” Then she grinned awkwardly.
“Good,” Carl said. “Now that we got that settled, let me tell you what I found out today about Mr. Gundy. He’s the youngest of three boys, and his father was a drunk who used to beat them all on a regular basis. The oldest boy ran away before finishing high school, and nobody knows where he is. The second one is in prison somewhere in Texas, and Duane enlisted in the Army right after he graduated, but he got kicked out after six months on a dishonorable discharge.”
Carl scratched his chin and glanced at the folder in his hand. “I don’t know what he did right after that, but he eventually started working as a bounty hunter, and he did that for several years. I called the last bail bondsman that he w
orked for, and he told me that Gundy was good at catching guys who jumped bail, but a little too heavy-handed sometimes. When he put the last guy in the hospital, the bonding company had to cut him loose. I already told you he’s been arrested at least a couple of times for assault, but those charges didn’t stick.”
Carl opened up the folder in his lap and glanced at it before continuing, “Gundy drives a black Trans Am, relatively new, so that should be easy to spot. If you see one on our street, call me right away. I printed some copies of his mug shot so you’ll know what he looks like, just in case he comes snooping around here.”
He handed one to each of them, and Rachel examined the photo in her hand. It was a head shot of a man with a square face and thrusting chin. His hair was medium-length and dark, and his brown eyes were small and menacing. He had a short, scraggly beard that didn’t quite cover the scar that curled from below his cheek to his neck.
“Ugly little cuss,” Larry said.
“He looks mean enough to eat nails,” Lisa said with a frown.
“He is,” Sammi said. “I should know.”
* * *
Jamie took Rachel, Evelyn, Aunt Connie, and Sammie to the Rivershire School the next morning, and waiting out front for them were two families, one with two young boys and another with a girl named Daisy who was Sammi’s age. They all wanted to tour the school, but were especially eager to see the magic box — the television.
Jamie gave them a brief demonstration of the electronic wonder and they gawked at it like stunned statues. Then Rachel showed them the rest of the facility and escorted them to the front door.
“And it’s all free?” Daisy’s father asked. “Even the magic box?”
“Yes, even the magic box.” Rachel fought the urge to roll her eyes and said, “The kids are going to watch something on it this Friday afternoon. You’re welcome to join us, if you can.”
Both families said they would come, and would register their kids for school then. Not long after Jamie left, the regular children arrived, Aiven, Blane, Milly, and the others. Three more families stopped by that morning to see the school, and by the time Jamie came back in the late afternoon to take Rachel and the others home, several more visitors had come, bringing the possible total of new students to twelve. Jamie seemed pleased, but Rachel was concerned.