Willow (The Willow Series Book 1)

by Cheri Lewis

  I turn the knob and open the door. Everything Wade is saying to me I no longer hear. Instead I can’t help but yell at Tiny for letting me walk in on him this way. “Mother fucker! Really Tiny? Fuck you! You stupid jackass asshole!”

  I step back into the hallway and Wade is now coming up the hallway toward me. “You know Willow, my grandmother told me a long time ago that if you curse every other word it loses its dramatic effect.”

  I cross my arms and step out of the way. He walks past me and stops dead in his tracks. “Holy….”

  “Shit. Would be the appropriate word right about now, wouldn’t you say?”

  He doesn’t respond. He bends over and pulls a blue latex glove from a lower pocket on his cargo pants. He slides it on and goes to Tiny who’s sitting up completely naked in his bed with his arm shoved under his large belly and his hand firmly wrapped around his dick. This image will be burned into my head for the rest of my life. This is one of those things that you wish you could unsee, because now every time somebody mentions his name I’m going to see this image in my head.

  I hear the snap of his latex glove as he puts another one on. “Willow, you need to leave. This is a crime scene.”

  “He died jacking his dick, Roscoe. He was probably high and watching porn and just—”

  “He’s been shot.”

  “Shot?”

  I glance around Wade and look at Tiny. I don’t see any blood or a wound. I look back at Wade to argue but he doesn’t give me a chance. “I’ve already said too much. Go be with his mother. You’re obviously friends of the family.”

  My mouth falls open and I’m completely lost at what to do. His mother? What am I going to tell her? I don’t want to tell her he’s dead or been killed. I came over here to wake his sorry ass up from being drunk or high and tell him to call his momma. That’s what I came over here to do. I can hear Wade talking on his cell phone but only bits and pieces as I slowly walk down the hallway. When I hear the words county coroner I walk faster out of Tiny’s house.

  I avoid looking across the street. I stand with my arms crossed over my chest not sure what to do first. Joe barks at me to let me know what I need to do first and that is let him out of the truck. I open the truck door and he jumps out sniffing around. I grab the leash out of the backseat and call him to me to put it on.

  I pull my phone out and call Brandy first. “Well, which one was it? Drunk or high? Or let me guess both?”

  “Brandy, you need to call James and you need to get over to Sheila’s house. I have to get over there before the coroner arrives.”

  “Coroner?”

  “Yes. Coroner.”

  “Willow, are you telling me he’s dead?”

  “Yes.”

  The line goes silent and I know she’s hung up on me. I put the phone back in my pocket and pull on the leash to get Joe’s attention so he’ll follow me. We walk across the street to Sheila’s and as I reach for the screen door I lock eyes with her and she begins to sob. She knows. I honestly think she knew before she called anybody to check on him. A mother’s intuition that something was wrong with her child and I really hate that I’m confirming it for her.

  I open the door and I know Joe can sense something is wrong. When I step inside he sits down right beside me. It sounds silly but I’ve noticed he’s quick to pick up on heavy moods. He hasn’t learned to pick up on me being pissed off at him for destroying something during the middle of the night but he has mastered being calm during stressful situations.

  Sheila’s nurse rushes around trying to find something to soothe her breaking heart but I know there isn’t anything that can be done. She’ll have to be sedated before too long. Tiny was her only child. She was married to one man who died from a heart attack before I met them. I don’t think she’s ever fully recovered from her husband’s death nor Tiny for that matter. I had heard the stories about Tiny being a straight A student and never in trouble but he wasn’t that way when I met him. He drank and fooled around with drugs. It was only pot back then. Mrs. Maybelle wouldn’t allow Heath or me to hang out with Tiny after school but she couldn’t do anything about during school or when we skipped.

  The nurse comes back with a glass of water and some pills for Sheila. I sit down on the couch and wait for Brandy to get here while Joe lies quietly at my feet. It gives me plenty of time to think back to all the good times we had. Some were crazy, some were stupid, and some were simply fantastic. One of the best nights was after Heath and I were released from foster care. Heath, Tiny and me stayed out all night one night at the river with a bonfire, beer, and the stars. It’s crazy how life works out the way it does. The highs and the lows and the truth, sometimes it’s not fair. I pull my phone back from my pocket and call Heath.

  *****

  The next week is one of the busiest weeks of my life so far. We had a memorial for Tiny. His body is going to take a little while to get back from the state that’s conducting the autopsy.

  It was terrible. We were already wounded from the loss of Tiny but witnessing Sheila was the worst. She sat beside a large framed photo of the two of them together. She shook hands and hugged necks even though it was obvious it physically pained her to raise her arms to do the tasks. She was exhausted on so many different levels it was hard to watch but she was a warrior and fought through it. Part of me knows she knows the only reason most of the people came was in support of her. Tiny was who he was and making enemies never seemed to faze him. This time though he made the wrong one.

  I’ve had to give my statement three times to what I witnessed and what was found at the scene. Three statements, three different cops, and all the same answers. If they call me again I’m going to tell them to fuck off. I also went to the Department of Human Resources and made a formal complaint against the family that Jacob lived with before his grandparents. They’re real pieces of work. I didn’t have to dig deep to see they had complaints against them in the past and either it wasn’t properly handled and followed up or the complaints were dropped. Everything from abuse to neglect. This time, I will follow up and the complaint won’t be dropped.

  I tried to find out what I could about Jacob’s current living situation but the DHR woman wouldn’t budge. So now I’ll have to keep doing my own digging to see if he’s still living with the religious freak snake people. From what I can tell they’re just old and very religious but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to hide.

  Life is finally getting back to normal and now here I sit on my back porch waiting for Joe to use the bathroom. That’s what I feel like my life has turned into waiting for Joe to pee or poop somewhere and I’m not going to complain since it isn’t in the house. I look down at my phone at a text that just came in from Heath – Pool tonight?

  Me – Where?

  Heath – My house!

  Me – You gotta pool table?

  Heath – No.

  Me – Are you drunk? You texted the wrong person.

  Heath – No I didn’t. Do you want to come over tonight?

  I decide to end this silly back and forth confusing text and call him. “What’s up, Willow?”

  I look up and Joe is no longer in the backyard. “Okay, why are you so chipper? I mean I’m glad with everything that has been going on lately.”

  I stand from the porch and begin walking to the side of the house to look for Joe. “Party at my house tonight.”

  “Hold on.” I yell out. “Joe, come on boy!” Still no sight of him so I start to the other side of my house. “Who all is coming?” I ask.

  “You, me and my pool.”

  “You have a pool?”

  “Yes. I asked you if you wanted to swim in the pool tonight?”

  “No you didn’t you said, ‘Pool-tonight?’ So I thought you were asking me if I wanted to play pool.”

  “You make everything so complicated.”

  “Well say what you mean then.”

  “Okay how about this. I spent the last two nights working with almost no
sleep because it’s takin’ me all week setting it up during the day.”

  “Why did you buy a pool?” I ask, then yell out again when Joe isn’t on the other side of the house, “Joe where are you?”

  “Where’s Joe?”

  “If I knew that I wouldn’t be calling him.”

  “Well, go find your dog and call me back. I’m grilling hamburgers. You bring the beer.”

  “Fine,” I say and hang up without any type of goodbye. “Joe, you get back here where I can see you right now!”

  I walk all the way around the house and no Joe. The only thing I can think is he went into the woods after something but I didn’t see him leave or hear him bark and normally he barks when he’s after something. I spend the next fifteen minutes calling for him but nothing. I feel a little panicky inside and I don’t like this feeling. The feeling that something might have happened to him. The feeling that somebody might have stolen him. What if he never comes back? “I wouldn’t have to watch him piss or shit anymore,” I mumble out loud to myself. I frown and kick the grass below my foot. Come on, Joe. Where are you? I look back scanning back and forth across the trees that line my back yard. I go back inside and grab my truck keys and begin driving down the neighborhood looking for the white fur ball. Then I expand my search to the streets that lie behind my house. It’s almost a mile but he’s fast and he could have gotten turned around in the forest. No luck. No Joe.

  I call Heath back. “I can’t find Joe.”

  “Still?”

  “No he was here one second and gone the next.”

  “I’ll be over in a bit.”

  “No. No you stay and do your thing. It’s just a dumb dog. There’s no since in ruining your afternoon coming all the way over here.”

  “I’ll be on my way in a minute.”

  I hang up again without a goodbye. I know he doesn’t care. He does it to me all the time. But if I admit the truth I feel better knowing Heath is coming. I just want my dumb dog back. I go back to my house and wait on the back porch calling his name every few minutes. It’s not long before Heath is sitting beside me on the porch not saying a word. I try to look down at my phone to find something to keep my mind off the fact that Joe has now been gone almost two hours.

  I look up at Heath as he says, “I’ll drive around again.”

  I nod and as Heath stands we hear leaves rustling in the trees. I’m up and go toward the noise yelling for Joe. I see his white fur coming wide open toward me. I smile and find tears flood my eyes. “Oh Joe, where have you been?” I fall to my knees and Joe runs straight to me. I notice something’s in his mouth. “What do you have, boy?” I reach out to hug and pet him but jerk away instead. “Joe Matthews is that a rat? Have you been chasing rats?”

  He lowers his head and places a tiny matted kitten on the ground beside my knee. “Where in the… Oh Joe, did you kill it?...” It wiggles around showing it’s very much alive then begins crying out for its mother. “No, sir. No way. You take that right back to where ever it came from.”

  Heath reaches down and scoops up the tiny kitten. Joe jumps up on Heaths side trying to sniff the kitten. “It’s half dead.”

  “Where have you been?” I ask Joe again and, yes, I do expect an answer even though I know I’m not going to get one.

  “It’s missing a leg. Its mother probably left it behind when it couldn’t keep up.”

  Heath and I are silent a long while and it’s a safe bet that he’s pondering over the same thing I am: the irony of a kitten with a mother that didn’t want it falling at my feet. I watch as he pets the small creature that’s still crying. Heath looks at me. “We got to get it something to eat.”

  He offers me a hand to help me off the ground then I follow Heath and Joe back into my house as I google what to feed a kitten on my phone. I look at Heath who’s leaning against the counter. “It wants to know how old the kitten is… any idea how you tell?”

  “I don’t have a clue. I would say it’s about five inches. How old is a five inch cat?”

  I roll my eyes. “Let’s start with him being newborn and work our way up. It says you’re not supposed to use cow milk it can cause diarrhea. Wait another site says you can but cut it in half with water.” I go and get the milk from the refrigerator. I mix the milk and water in a cup and heat it in the microwave for a few seconds, then search through my kitchen drawers for something to feed it with. I settle on a meat injector. I pull the needle out and use the large syringe.

  “You can’t use that,” Heath scoffs.

  “It’s all I got until I can go to the store and get kitty formula and a real syringe that the website says I need.”

  He frowns but turns toward me and helps me put the small tip in the kitten’s mouth. The kitten begins licking the milk like it hasn’t eaten in weeks. It’s not long before its tummy is poking out way more than it was and it’s no longer crying. Heath hands me the kitten and I look down at it now resting on my chest in my arms. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

  “Hold it. I’m going to wet a towel and see if we can get it cleaned up a little.”

  “Why don’t we just take it to the vet and let them do it?”

  “You’re going to pay a lot of money to take it to an emergency vet clinic on a Sunday.”

  I sigh. “So what are you going to do with it until the morning?” Heath spins around and gives me a smirk. “Oh no. No. No. No. No. No. I’m not keeping this kitten. I can barely keep up with Joe. I just got him back after losing him.”

  “What do you want to do then? Abandon it? I can’t have pets.”

  “That’s not fair at all. And I find it hard to believe you can have a pool but you can’t have pets.” I want to be a bitch and ask him if he’ll be allowed to have a baby at his house but I don’t. He actually seems in a good mood and I don’t want to ruin it.

  “I don’t make the rules.” He says as he waves his hands in the air.

  “You know, Heath, sometimes I think you do. I want to see your rental agreement.”

  He turns back and grabs my hand towel off the counter running warm water on it. Next thing I know we’re bathing the kitten and it’s purring loudly in my arms. “What am I going to do with a three legged cat, Heath?”

  “Same thing you would with a four legged one.”

  “You know what I mean. I lost Joe earlier and…”

  “And it scared you.”

  “It did not.”

  “Yes, it did and there is nothing wrong with that.”

  I don’t want to talk about or admit what I felt when I thought Joe was gone so I change the subject. “I thought you wanted to swim today?”

  He looks at his watch. “We still have a few hours.”

  “Well, I’m bringing Joe and Gimpy.”

  “Gimpy?”

  I nod down to the kitten. “The kitten.”

  “You named the poor kitten, Gimpy?”

  I shrug. “If the shoe fits, right?”

  “Sure… yeah I guess, and there’s no rules about pet’s visiting.”

  “I bet and it’s a good thing since Joe’s been there numerous times already.”

  *****

  The next morning I sit waiting my turn for almost three hours at the vet’s office. With Joe hiding under my legs, and a kitten burrowed in a towel in my arms. After I’m done I walk to my truck with Joe in tow and super kitty in a nifty cardboard carrier the vet gave me. I think back over what this visit just cost me. I’m more than sure I was charged for the cardboard box even though they said it was free.

  To make matters worse I find out as they are giving my credit card back that I’ll need to wipe the kitten’s bottom with a wet cloth to help it poop. I wonder if I pissed God off. He’s allowing me to live out a scenario of my own personal hell at the moment. Then I remember the promise that I broke about attending church last Sunday. Is that why I lost Joe and now have a three legged cat that I don’t need? Is that it God? I’ll go… it’s been a crazy week and now I have more responsib
ilities. Okay, I’ll go to church like I promised.

  I hear my name and I look up. Debbie, a vet tech, is staring at me like she’s worried about my sanity. “Oh, hey.”

  She baby talks at Joe and squats down giving him a lot of attention then looks up to me and smiles. “I don’t think God is punishing you by giving you a sweet little kitten.”

  Well, damn it all to hell… She heard my conversation that was supposed to be private. Have I lost my mind to where I can’t keep my thoughts contained in my head? “If you only knew my life.” I say to her but also myself because it’s the truth.

  Joe licks her a few more times in the face and I’m ready to tell her he ate another dog’s poop this morning with that same tongue licking all over her but instead I just grin. There are only two vets on this side of town and the other one hates me ever since I caught him stealing the opposition’s political signs when his wife was running for Mayor. I pull on Joe’s leash. “Come on, Joe.” I look back to Debbie. “We gotta go. I still have to go by the pet store and then figure out what I’m going to do about this one.” I say and raise the cardboard kitty mobile.

  “That’s what I stopped you for, to see what your plans were for the kitten. Dr. Tomaz said it only had three legs.”

  “Yep, it’s a three legged cat. I’m not really sure. I don’t really need another pet right now but I can’t abandon it and the pound… I just can’t do that so, yay me. It looks like I’m a cat owner now.”