by Lisa Beeson
I sat up and looked at the red mark on the side of her face. I gasped. “Oh Ruby, did I do that to you? I’m so sorry!”
She stepped back from the door. “It’s alright, honey. Don’t you worry about it. Come on out.”
I got out of the car and stretched. We were parked in front of a Salvation Army thrift store.
She said, “Leave your bag in the car, and tuck that necklace back in your shirt. We need to get you some different clothes and out of that uniform. We don’t need to be broadcasting where you came from.”
That made sense, so I did what she told me to. Then she locked the car and we went inside. She told me, “Pick out two shirts and two pairs of pants. I’ll go find you some shoes. What size do you wear?”
My mind was still waking up so it took me a second before I answered, “Umm…size seven.”
She nodded, and went straight for the shoes. I stood there for a second to get my bearings, and then went towards the pants rack. I picked out two pairs of jeans that were about my size, and then went over to the t-shirt rack. I had to find something that didn’t stand out, so nothing bright or neon. I found a plain black shirt that seemed to fit, and then I saw this faded blue vintage Adidas shirt. I love retro stuff; I couldn’t pass that up so I grabbed that too.
Ruby was waiting for me up front. She held these black Chuck Taylors and my dark grey hoodie. I gave her the clothes I picked out, and then she went over to the counter to pay for them. I felt bad that she was buying me a bunch of stuff, but there was nothing I could do about it right then.
As we walked back to the car she told me to change in the back and to put my shoes and uniform in the plastic bag. After I did what she told me, I climbed back up front and buckled up as she pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the highway.
Apparently I’d been out for almost three and a half hours on the way to the thrift store, because we were already about twenty minutes outside of Atlanta. I thought about Jack. He had been living and working in Atlanta for the past ten years, and he usually came home on holidays or long weekends. I thought about saying goodbye to him before I left, but no…I had to keep him out of this. He’d be better off if I didn’t lead the Suits straight to his door. So instead, I thought about the first time I met him. He had come home for the weekend to meet me. I’d started talking by then, so after I gave him a shy greeting, he gave me one of his famous smiles and said, “Hello, baby sister.” He radiated kindness, and I liked him right away.
Jack’s a really talented artist and works as a graphic designer. One time he made a pen and ink drawing of me. It depicted me with an enigmatic Mona-Lisa smile, and my eyes were painted in a wash of Ceylon blue water color. He had somehow made me look innocent and knowledgeable at the same time. When I asked him if that was how he really saw me, he said that when he looked at me, he saw a beautiful little girl with an old soul. My parents still have that picture framed up in the upstairs hall, next to the drawings he’s done of Lydia, Sadie, and Hector.
As we drove by the road that I knew led towards Jack and Stacey’s house, I quietly said, “Goodbye, big brother.”
When Ruby was finally able to find a parking spot across from the bus station, she quickly pulled in and turned off the engine. “Get your bag and come back to the trunk,” she instructed. When she opened up the trunk there was a large tote bag stuffed in the back corner. She pulled it forward and started rooting around searching for something. “Okay, here’s a universal bus pass that will let you ride on any Greyhound bus to anywhere you need to go, for up to a year.” She put it in my hand, and then turned back to the tote and picked out something else. She placed a Visa card and a roll of cash in my other hand. “That’s a pre-paid credit card, so it won’t be traced back to an account when you use it. There’s $200 on that, and that’s $100 in cash. It should get you by for a bit if you’re frugal.”
“How did you know…were you just driving around with this stuff in the back of your car?” I asked.
She smirked, pointing to her eyes again. “I had a vision you’d need my help. So, I called up Cass and she saw the same thing. We were prepared.”
I looked down at the items she had put into my hands. “I can’t take all this Ms. Ruby, it’s too much.”
She looked me in the eyes. “You can, and you will. No arguments,” she insisted in a strict tone. She went back into the tote and pulled out some protein bars and a bottle of water. “Alright, now put that stuff and the extra clothes into your bag, and then put your school stuff into the tote.” As I did what she said, I said goodbye to my old life.
“Now when you go in there,” she continued, “get on the 8:30pm bus to New Orleans. My cousin, Jean-Baptiste, will meet you down there at the station. He’s a big bald black man with a bit of a Creole accent. He’ll be looking for you.”
“Wait, you’re not coming in there with me?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, honey. The less we’re seen together, the easier it will be for you to disappear. They have security cameras in there. In fact, put that jacket on and pull the hood up over your hair. It’ll be harder to see you from above.”
I pulled out the grey hoodie, slipped it on, zipped it up, and then pulled the hood up over my head. I put the cash in my bag and then slipped it on my shoulders. I put the card and the bus pass in my jeans pocket. Ruby looked me over, and then asked me if I had a watch. I shook my head. She took off her own watch and put in on my wrist. “Here. Take this until you can get another one.”
I was about to protest, but she pre-empted me by putting her finger on my lips, affectively hushing me. Then she enveloped me in a goodbye hug. I squeezed her back, tears threatening to break free. I owed her so much. She’d been looking out for me this whole time.
She pulled back, kissed my forehead, and then wiped the tears from her own eyes. “I wish you all the luck in the world, baby girl. Don’t worry, you’re gonna be just fine.”
I nodded my head, wanting to believe her with all my heart. “Bye Ruby, thank you for everything.” My voice broke on the last word.
She squeezed my shoulders. “Dry those tears and get on now. You don’t want to miss that bus. It’ll get there in the morning so you can sleep on the way.”
I nodded, and then gave her one last quick hug before I turned to go across the street into the station.
Finding my bus wasn’t difficult, but I’d never taken public transportation before. So I took out my bus pass and kind of held it out in front of me so the bus driver could see it. The driver was a big paunchy guy with a full beard. He sported a name tag that said Frank. He nodded at my pass, then noticed my hesitancy. “This your first time?” he asked.
I nodded.
“You by yourself?”
I nodded again. “Uh…yes sir, I’m going to go visit my grandmother.”
I thought to myself, Oh jeez, that was lame. I sound like a Little Red Riding Hood reject. I have to get better at this.
He seemed satisfied with my answer though, so he nodded and gestured back towards the seats. “Take any seat you want, darlin’. Don’t worry about a thing; I’ll keep an eye out for ya.”
I smiled and thanked him, moving back towards the middle seats. I didn’t want to be too far back in case I had to make a quick exit. But I also didn’t want to be too up front in case Frank wanted to get chummy; that would make it harder for him to forget me.
So, I picked two empty seats in the exact middle of the bus and sat in the one by the window, putting my bag in the other seat, hoping no one would need to sit there. People started filing in; picking their own two seats, and not paying any attention to me.
My stomach growled and reminded me that I hadn’t had dinner. So I dug around in my bag, looking for the protein bars and water. I managed to scarf down both bars and half the water in record time. I decided to put the pass and the credit card in the front pocket of my bag, where I found Sadie’s old iPod that she’d given men and my ear buds. Thank the Lord! I forgot I put those in
there. The battery was still charged, which was a small miracle. I turned it on and stuck the ear buds in. The music was soothing, and the ear buds would help to make sure that no one would try to talk to me. I took off my hoodie and then balled it up against the window to use as a pillow. The bus doors closed, and Frank pulled away from the station.
As the music poured into my ears, my last thought before I fell asleep was, Okay Absolem, here I go into the abyss.”
Chapter 11
“The ride was pretty uneventful. I fitfully slept most of the way, and Frank would wake me up when he stopped for gas and bathroom breaks, but that was about it.
We rolled into the New Orleans station at about 5:30am. I felt rough, so, after saying thanks and goodbye to Frank, I went straight for the restroom. After washing my face, I gargled some water from the sink, and left the restroom to look for Jean-Baptiste.
I saw a man who fit Ruby’s description waiting by the front doors. He seemed to be looking for someone, so I decided to take a chance. “Umm...Jean-Baptiste?”
He turned and looked down at me. A big smile spread across his face, showing a mouthful of straight white teeth. “Yes ma’am, and I’d know you anywhere, Ruby told me all about ya!” His skin was darker than Ruby’s, but I saw similarities around the eyes. He was at least 6’ 8”, and his arms looked like he could crush a man’s skull just by flexing his biceps. But there also seemed to be a genuine gentleness and kindness about him that made me feel at ease. He pointed to my backpack, “Is that all ya have, cher?” he asked.
“Yes sir,” I answered.
He chuckled, “Makes things easier for me then, let’s go.” I could hear a bit of the Creole accent in his voice that Ruby had mentioned, but it wasn’t so overpowering that I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He led me outside, and then through a parking garage to a big, shiny blue Dodge pick-up. After we got in and he put the key into the ignition, he asked me if I was hungry.
I laughed and said, “Always.”
He laughed as he pulled out of the parking spot, “I’ll take you to one of my favorite places for breakfast that happens to be one of the only places open at this un-godly hour.” He smiled and gave me a sideways glance to show he wasn’t really put-out by the early hour.
As Jean-Baptiste drove, he kept stealing glances over at me until he finally shook his head and said, “I just can’t get over how much you’ve grown since the last time I saw ya.”
I looked over at him sharply. “What do you mean ‘the last time’? We’ve never met before, have we?” I was sure I would have remembered that.
He looked over at my confused expression and chuckled. “Of course you wouldn’t remember, cher. But I’m the one that plucked you out of the river when you were just a little thing.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re the ‘fisherman’ that found me after the storm and brought me to the hospital?” I asked?
He smiled and nodded. “Mmhmm, yes ma’am. Cass told me about when and where, so l went and waited for you to show up. And lo and behold, there you were…floating down that canal.”
I couldn’t believe it. Jean-Baptiste was the one that found me, and most likely saved my life. I looked over at this big man that had fished my five year old self out of the water, and I felt a connection to him. He’d known me since before I could remember.
He continued talking after he made a left turn. “To be honest, Cass never said if you were going to be a boy or a girl, so when I found you in the river with your hair cut so short, I thought you were a boy. I called you Moses, just like in the bible story,” he said, sounding a bit embarrassed.
I had wondered why my hair had been so short back then. I think that’s why I never cut it and let it grow so long. I was trying to distance myself from the past. “Umm…my parents said I had been floating on some debris, possibly from a boat. Did you see anything that might give me a clue as to who my birth parents are?”
I never thought about my birth parents much. Really, the Rileys were everything that I had needed. But now, it might be useful to get any information I could that might help me, such as where I came from and why there weren’t any records that proved I was alive before I was found.
Jean-Baptiste continued looking at the road, but his face seemed to get sad, and maybe a bit angry. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, cher… there was nothing to give me any clues about who your birth parents are, or where you came from. Just…,” he drifted off, seemingly reluctant to say the rest.
“What…just what?” I prodded.
Refusing to look at me, he took a deep breath. “Your clothes were a strange material, and torn up pretty bad…and there were bruises and sores around your ankles, wrists, and neck… like you had been put in shackles.”
I sat there silent and in shock. Maybe I didn’t want to find out where I came from. I know it sounds horrible, but I hoped that I had been kidnapped or something. Because what kind of parents would do that to their own child? I didn’t want to believe my birth parents were monsters. I was appalled.
Jean-Baptiste’s large hands gripped the steering wheel tight. “It hurt my heart to see a sweet innocent child marked up like that. As soon as I made sure your heart was beating and you were breathing, I scooped you up in my arms, got in the truck, and held you all the way to the hospital. I stayed there until I was sure the doctors were taking good care of you. In fact, I even bought you a stuffed teddy bear from the gift shop and put it in your room.” He let go of the wheel with his right hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
“You were the one that gave me that bear?”
I remembered the teddy bear, which had always been in my hospital room, keeping a silent vigil over me. That bear was still in my room at home. I looked over at this man – this gentle giant – and pictured him holding a small damaged child in his arms, making sure that it was properly taken care of, and leaving a token behind so that the child would know that somebody cared.
My eyes welled up, and when he put his hand back down, I grabbed it with my own. Then I squeezed it and tried to tell him ‘thank you’ with my eyes, because if I opened my mouth to say it, I would have bawled like a baby. And I didn’t feel like breaking down just then.
He squeezed back, and then let go and embraced the back of my head and neck with his massive hand, to let me know he knew what I wanted to say, and that he graciously accepted my thanks.
I took a deep breath and tried to blow out the emotional knot in my chest. I pulled myself together as he turned into the diner’s parking lot. The diner seemed to be a local favorite, since even this early it was relatively busy.
As we walked in, an older woman with big hair, wearing too much makeup, and sporting an old fashioned waitress uniform smiled and waved to Jean-Baptiste. “Well, hello there Jean-Baptiste. How’re you doin’ this mornin’? And who is this adorable little creature you brought with ya?”
He smiled and said good morning, and then explained that I was a family friend, who had come to visit. I gave her an awkward smile and a wave as we walked by to sit down at one of the tables. I chose the seat facing the door. I was never comfortable with my back to an entrance. The menus, already on the table, doubled as paper placemats. My mouth watered just looking at the breakfast options; I was famished.
The waitress who had greeted us came over right away. I could see that her name was Nadine by looking at the name tag on her ample bosom. She asked what she could get for us, and Jean-Baptiste motioned with his head for me to go first. I told him to go ahead, since I was still trying to decide. He didn’t even have to look at the menu, because he knew exactly what he wanted. He ordered a coffee, a large stack of pancakes, hash browns and sausage on the side, and a ham and cheese omelet.
That sounded fantastic.
Nadine wrote down his order, then looked over at me. “And what can I get you, sugar.”
“Uh, yeah... I’ll just have what he’s having. Except instead of coffee, I’ll have an orange juice, please.”
Th
ey both looked at me like I had lost my mind. Here I was ordering the same amount of food as a man that was easily three times my size.
Jean-Baptiste blinked a couple times, then asked, “Ya sure about that, cher? That’s a lot of food.”
I nodded. “Mmhmm,” I answered like it was no big deal.
He laughed and shared a look with Nadine that said ‘kids these days’. Then Nadine went to go put in our order, smiling and shaking her head as she went.
*****
“So this eating enormous amounts of food is normal for you then?” Adam interrupted again.
“Whatever, I was hungry. The last things I had to eat were a couple protein bars almost ten hours before then. And in the last couple months I seemed to have acquired the appetite of a linebacker. Much to my friend Ainsley’s chagrin; she complained that it wasn’t fair I could eat like a lumber jack and still stay as thin as a rail, while she claimed if she even looked at a donut she’d gain ten pounds. Not that she was overweight or anything, but she just inherited a healthy dose of ‘fat paranoia’ from her exercise obsessed mother.”
*****
“Anyway, while we waited for our food, Jean-Baptiste took the time to explain how he and Ruby’s mothers were sisters. He told me about how Ruby and Cass grew up in Georgia, but after college Cass decided to move to New Orleans to put down roots, since there would be more clientele for her business there.
I asked, “So what do you do for a living, besides helping young damsels in distress?”
He laughed. “Besides that, I’m a salvager.”
“Like the kind that saves boats and their cargo?”
“Sometimes, but mostly I dredge the bayou for things to fix up and sell,” he answered.
I asked him if he was a Seer too, but he shook his head and said that he hadn’t inherited that gift, but that he was sensitive to certain things.
Just then Nadine came with our food and we tucked in. We didn’t talk as we ate, though occasionally we did make noises of appreciation. Eating was a serious affair for us.