“That’s a deal. I won’t be your friend. Consider me your chauffeur, merely driving you down there.”
“Maybe then I can treat you like a slave. No, I guess I don’t want to do that. Those pictures I remember, most of those black faces were in pain.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
The check arrived, and a day later Todd and Hiram began their journey.
Erin had told Todd that Hiram seemed positive about the trip. “The kid is the happiest I’ve seen in months. He very much wants to find out where he came from.”
“I hope I can fulfill that wish,” Todd said. “We’re going into unknown territory with just a few clues.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a detective?”
“Now that you mentioned it, I am. We’ll see what happens.”
In the car that day, Hiram loaded two suitcases and a duffle bag into the trunk. “We’re not going down there for months,” Todd said. You’ve taken your entire closet.”
“I want to be prepared for anything,” the kid said. Todd didn’t know if he was prepared enough for Hiram.
They had just gotten out onto the Interstate when Hiram said, “Could we stop pretty soon?”
“Hiram, we’ve been driving only twenty minutes.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“All right, I think the first rest stop is about ten minutes away.”
Before they reached the outskirts of Washington, they had stopped two more times.
“Hiram, you must be storing gallons of water in that bladder of yours.”
“I can’t help it. I’ve always had to go to the bathroom a lot. I liked it when I was two and out on the road. I could just pee anywhere.”
“Well, we cannot do that on the Interstate. If you were brought up to Calypso from Charleston, that’s quite a trip. I know you weren’t very old, but do you remember anything at all about the ride?”
“It was in a car, and I remember the car was big because I could run around inside it.”
“What do you mean, run around. Literally there was enough space for that?”
“Yes, one end to the other.”
“That sounds like a limousine. You were brought up there in a limo?”
“Maybe.”
“Your parents must have been rich because it’s close to nine hundred miles that you traveled. It would cost a fortune to hire a limo for that distance.” Todd was thinking that probably Hiram had exaggerated the size of the car. Being two years old, everything seems larger than it is.”
“So you don’t remember your parents at all on the trip?”
“Lately some things come back to me, but all I can picture is one other person in the car, not two. The person seemed male, but I can’t picture his face.”
“On our trip now be sure and tell me anything that comes back to you.”
“All right.”
An hour later at another rest stop while Todd was experiencing a more serious bathroom issue, he told Hiram to wait outside the Men’s Room and not move from there. Of course when he came out ten minutes later, the kid was gone. Todd scoured the two fast-food restaurants nearby, but still no sign of the kid. He started to ask people if they had seen a blond-haired kid. There was no luck until the fourth person he asked said, “Yeah, I saw a kid like that with long hair out by the Interstate.”
Sure enough, out by the exit, standing on the shoulder of the highway there was Hiram as the cars were whizzing by.
Todd pulled him off to the side and started walking him back to the car, hanging on to him the entire time. “Hiram, I thought I told you to wait right outside the rest room.”
“I was warm. Those cars out here going fast really kick up the breeze. I got cooled off.”
“Hiram if you disobey me again, I’m driving to the nearest airport and putting you on a plane back to Calypso. You’ll never find your true parents.”
It looked like the words scared the kid. Whether Todd would actually do something like that was another story.
Todd’s threat was put to the test when they bedded down for the night at a Best Western on Interstate 75 near Knoxville Tennessee. They ate at a nearby Cracker Barrel. All Hiram wanted was pancakes, over which he spread five syrup bottles. He had created a syrup lake, but he ate every piece of pancake.
During the meal Todd asked him about his experiences with Ma Blessing and Walt Fosdick.
“At the beginning I was just glad to have food and a warm place to stay. Ma was very nice. She talked and played games with me. Sometimes when she had work to do she took me to the bar to have Walt look after me. As I got older Walt would sometimes sneak a drink to me. He never gave me more than one. He would tell me he wanted me to know how the drinks tasted so that I would know what to drink when I got to be an adult. He would always say, Every person needs to drink to be able to handle life. He told me it was all right to get drunk, but to not do it all the time. Drinking should not be your life, just use it to be able to survive, he would say. Since he was being so nice to me, I never told him I didn’t like any of the drinks he gave me.”
As they were going out of the restaurant, Hiram saw a sign that he reacted to. “Bounce, USA, what’s that? I remember bouncing a lot in some kind of building on the way up to where I was dropped off in Indiana. Inside that building there were all sorts of rubbery bouncing stuff with nets around so no one would get hurt. I still remember how much fun it was.”
Todd asked the lady at the cash register what kind of place Bounce USA was. The way she described it was the exact way Hiram had explained his experience. “Hiram, let’s go take a ride to that place.”
Hiram immediately recognized the rooms. Inside the building were huge rubbery enclosures surrounded by netting. Before anyone could stop him, he ran toward one of the units. “I’m going to do it again!” he shouted.
The manager of the place smiled. “That’s all right. Let him go. Kids of all ages love this place. They’re springing up everywhere in the country.”
“Could one individual come in and use the facility like he’s doing?” Todd asked.
“Not really. Group parties are booked ahead of time, with at least fifteen kids and as high as thirty. It’s usually wild in here. We’re just closing for the night.”
Todd wondered how Hiram was able to do his bouncing within those group rules. The only thing he could think about was that the person driving Hiram paid off the manager to loosen the rules. Again, it seemed to Todd that the person driving that car had money. That was weird. Why would a person who made it possible for Hiram to have fun on the trip, four hundred miles later drop him off in a desolate spot and leave him there?
All that had been a dozen years ago. This manager said he’d been working there only three years. No clues there. The manager let Hiram bounce for almost a half hour, and then they left.
That experience in Bounce USA was a reminder to Todd that Hiram should be having some fun on this journey, so before bedtime they went down to the indoor pool. Todd bought Hiram a swimming suit. At the moment there was no one else in the pool area. Walking to their chairs, Hiram got too close to the edge and slipped into the water. Todd thought, well, it would be an early swim. However, Hiram sank down toward the bottom and didn’t come back up.
Holly cripes. Todd jumped in with all his clothes on. He hadn’t planned on swimming. Back to the surface he brought a sputtering Hiram gasping for air. After a coughing bout and spitting up water, Hiram seemed O.K. Todd swam him to the shallow end where they could use the steps to get out.
“You were being nice to me getting me the suit,” Hiram said. “I didn’t want to tell you I couldn’t swim. I was just going to go in at the other end and float a little. Thanks for the help. I didn’t know if I was coming back up.”
Todd sat there with his wet clothes while Hiram did his floating.
Back in the room Todd changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt. They watched a little TV, but after an hour Hiram said he was tired and could go to bed. Todd had go
tten a cot for the room. He would sleep in that while Hiram could have the bed.
Todd was more tired than he thought he was, and was quickly beginning to fall asleep when a voice came from across the room. “I still don’t want you to be my friend, but at least now I know you’re not mean. Maybe you can be just a companion, someone I know.”
Todd smiled. “I’ll gladly be your companion.”
“Thanks.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
A complimentary breakfast that morning at the Best Western was helpful to Todd’s budget. He was trying to cut corners wherever he could. He didn’t know how many days he would need in the South Carolina port city. He definitely did not want to ask his dad for more money.
Hiram said if Todd got tired he could drive. Todd told him that he was not going to have a fourteen year old behind the wheel. The reply was that Hiram had been driving tractors and pick-up trucks for the last two years in Calypso. “It’s easy to drive,” he said.
“And it’s easy for the both of us to get put in jail if I let you do it,” said Todd. However he liked it that the kid was willing to pitch in to help. The sullen attitude was changing.
Another 430 miles, and they pulled into Charleston at six P.M. that day. Todd used his Smart Phone to find a clean but cheaper hotel. He saw that the Days Inn on Meeting Street was running a room rate for under a hundred dollars. He booked three nights. He figured it would take at least that long to get acclimated and start searching for Hiram’s origins. The motel was close to the Old City Market that Hiram had remembered. Todd felt they could walk around that area to see if Hiram remembered anything else there. The motel website said they accepted pets so maybe they also would accept a teen-age boy. Again Todd liked the free breakfast that was advertised.
After dinner at a local seafood place they did their walking around. Hiram said that definitely he remembered this area, especially the stalls for boarding the horses. The next day when they returned with the carriage rides now in full operation they were able to see the horses out on the street. There was a bit of excitement as one of the carriage owners was leading his horse to be hitched to the carriage.
Someone shot off some fireworks nearby, spooking the horse. The frightened animal broke away from his handler and started running down the street scattering the tourists. One of the young lads who was part of the bicycle transport crew, pedaled his bike furiously to catch up to the horse and then leaped onto its back. He pulled back on the reins and within twenty more yards he had the horse stopped. The crowd applauded. The kid jumped off, bowed, and then waited for the handler to catch up.
“I remember riding in the back of one of those bicycle carts,” Hiram said. “I have been in this area.” Walking around for another hour produced no more memories.
“Let’s get the car and see what else you remember,” Todd said. The ride for the next two hours produced more confusion because Hiram picked out four areas that seemed familiar. Those four areas involved two hotels, a bus garage, and the harbor open space. They were all far from each other and seemed to have no common connection. Todd felt that Hiram wasn’t really remembering.
“You identified from that magazine with Ms. Brock the Boone Hall Plantation. Let’s drive out there and see if it’s still familiar to you in real life.”
The plantation was a half hour further away from the other four areas. More disconnection. When they got there Hiram said, “Yes, this is that road with the trees on either side. See that big gate. I remember it because it seemed scary to me as if a monster lived inside the wall. I remember looking at that big white house up the path from the gate. I thought that’s where the monster lived.”
Todd parked the car and inquired about the owners of the plantation. The attendant told him that those people were great-grandchildren of the original slave owner. Those current owners were brother and sister, both of whom were married, but who had no children. They occasionally used the big mansion house as a vacation home, but had not been back here for a number of years. This seemed to be a dead end.
Hiram though, when he saw the tiny brick houses on the other side of the road was doubly sure he had been there. “That’s where I saw the pictures of the Black people,” he said. Todd thought possibly someone who worked on the plantation might be connected to Hiram. He first checked with the employees of the snack bar, but they were much older than Todd himself and their children were older too, all grown up and moved away from home.
Next, he checked with the two tour-guides who drove around the grounds explaining the history of the place. Both of them had to be in their sixties with their children all accounted for. Todd again wondered whether Hiram had really been at this place. Of course it would have been twelve years earlier, and what with so many tourists and their children that even the three people Todd found who had been working there back then said it would be hopeless for them to remember a particular child. The fact that Hiram was now fourteen and all grown up didn’t help either. As the day ended, Todd was beginning to feel that he had set himself up an impossible task, and that this entire trip would be a failure.
They spent two more days driving around the area, with still no luck. Todd was going to give it one more day and then head for home. He could have some extra money left over. He would send it back to his dad, to free himself of any obligation.
The morning of what would have been their last day, Hiram said something at breakfast that changed everything.
“You’re frustrated with me aren’t you, Mr. Henson?”
“Not really with you, Hiram. I’m just trying to figure out how you can remember so many places that seemed to have no connection to one another.”
“I really do remember those places. I’m not making it up.”
“How could you have spent time at all those areas?”
“I didn’t say I spent time at them.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was like I was in and out in just a few minutes. It was quick.” Hiram sipped the last of his smoothie as Todd digested his words.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”
He quick placed a call to the Boone Hall Planation. He asked one question and listened for the answer.
“Hiram, let’s get on the road. Take your smoothie with us.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back to the Boone Hall Plantation and talk to someone who drives a big car that you as a toddler could run around in.”
On the way Todd explained. “These last few days I’ve spent all our time talking with people who worked in those places. That was my mistake. The person we want isn’t an employee of those businesses, but like you said comes there and leaves. I should have thought of it that first day when I saw the bicycle taxi. There are so many tourists here who are unfamiliar with the area like we are. They don’t know how to get around. So they call on people who can transport them. That’s who we want to talk to, one of the transporters. You were absolutely correct about the big car you could run around in. I just called the Plantation we were at. They said that yes, they have a contract with a limousine company who will bring tourists there from any part of Charleston. That’s the kind of car you were being driven up to Calypso in. A limousine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
The Boone Hall Plantation manager had told Todd over the phone that there were two limo drivers who serviced their business. Both drivers had been doing it for over fifteen years, so Todd was hopeful that one of them was Hiram’s father.
The manager said that both drivers would be bringing tourists to the Plantation within the next hour, so Todd was driving fast to get there ahead of the drivers so he could talk with them.
One of the drivers was already there standing next to a sleek black limo. A gray pin-stripe suit with a vest and off-white tie could type-cast him as an influential entrepreneur who had just been dropped off from the limo instead of being the driver of the car.
Todd and Hiram walked up to
him. “Does he looked familiar to you at all?” Todd whispered as they approached.
“No, there’s nothing,” said Hiram. “Keep remembering I was only two.”
The man gave a benign smile and asked, “Were you two the ones who called for the limo?”
“No, we wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
“I have a brochure in the car for our company’s rates. We will pick up and deliver within a fifty mile radius of Charlestown, anywhere you want to go.”
“We don’t need a car. We simply want to ask you about yourself.”
“I can’t imagine why. I’m not famous. I was in real estate for over thirty years, and now in semi-retirement I’m getting a kick out of doing this. I’m not exactly sure what you would want to know about me?”
“Are you married?”
“Yes, I have been for thirty-five years. I’m not really interested in you asking me personal questions.”
“Just one more question. Do you have children?”
“My thirty year old son is a tennis instructor in San Diego. Why do you want to know these things?”
Todd turned to Hiram. “How about it? Any of this ring a bell, maybe even the guy’s voice?”
“Not at all.”
“Sorry sir, just a case of mistaken identity on our part.”
“I’m glad you’re leaving. I was about to call a cop.”
“I am a cop, but not from this district. We’re seeking information about a crime, but you’re not connected to it.”
“My crime was speeding to get over here, and then the people who want the car haven’t appeared.”
Just as he said that two older ladies came shuffling up and apologized for their lateness. “We got engrossed looked at the slave cabins and all the information in there. So many people died on the boats before they got to America. It was terrible, treating humans like cattle.”
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