by Darrell Bain
"What is it, Sammie? Do we need to take you to the doctor or emergency room?"
"N... no. It's just... S... Shel... " She put her hands to her face, unable to say anything else and unable to stop the tears.
The moment she realized Samantha had tried to talk about Shelton, Elaine at first thought something had happened to the boy, an injury, or even worse, but then her daughter shook her head when she asked. She knew then it was a matter of the heart and that she would probably tell her about it once they were home.
Cuddled on the couch with her mother and with a cup of hot chocolate on the end table, Samantha managed to get most of the story told, even if some of it didn't include the exact wording. As close to her parents as she was, there were some things she couldn't bring herself to mention.
"Mom, he was saying awful things about me... and he was saying he was going to poison S... Shufus! How could he be like that?"
"I simply don't know, Sammie. All I can tell you is that some people aren't like they appear to be on the surface. Some of them can lie and pump themselves up so convincingly that we believe them until they make a misstep and we discover the truth. Just be glad you found out in time, honey."
"Could he really poison Shufus?"
"I doubt it. You've done well to teach him never to accept food from anyone but us. Have you told him not to eat anything he finds outside, too?"
"Yes. I'll tell him again, though. But how could anyone be so mean? Setting a poor defenseless cat on fire after giving it some food. That's horrible!"
"It certainly is and if we could prove it I'd report him to the Juvenile Authorities."
"Mom, I heard him admit it! Oh, I hate him!"
"It's not good to hate, Sammie. Just stay away from him and if anyone asks you why, tell them. It will serve him right if some of his classmates begin ostracizing him."
She nodded, then said, "I think I want to go up to my room and lie down for a while. I really don't feel good now."
"That's fine. I'll be here if you need me." She gave her daughter a long hug and kissed her on the forehead. "Go on, now. Lie down and try not to think about it too much."
"I'm sure not going to think about him anymore!" She brushed at new moisture on her cheeks, then left her mother and trudged up the stairs. Shufus followed at her heels and when she lay down he jumped up onto the bed beside her. She hugged the dog and wished again that people could be as kind and loving as Shufus was.
Chapter Sixteen
Samantha hated to go to school the next day but knew she had to. She had stopped riding the school bus when Mr. Douglas opted to teach early classes so that he could take her. Sometimes he was able pick her up after school but not always, in which case she rode the bus. When her father dropped her off at school he kissed her cheek and said, "Just face whatever comes along, Sammie. Your mother and I know you can. You're a brave girl and we're both really proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad. I'll be alright, I promise."
"Okay, just always let us know when you need any help. We'll be there for you."
She smiled for the first time since hearing that devastating conversation by Shelton and his buddies and opened the passenger door. She stepped down to the curb, waved to her father and squared her shoulders. She walked up toward the wide front entrance of the school. As usual, she headed for the student lounge where Betty should be waiting for her. She hadn't looked at her phone at all the evening or night before. She didn't want to know yet if the subjects she had overheard were being passed around. She soon found out that they were.
Betty saw her coming and stood up to greet her, but instead of simply saying "hi" or "hey, Sammie" like she usually did she greeted her with sympathy. "I heard about Shelton talking so mean and nasty, Sammie. You ought to give him a good slap in the face."
"I'd like to slap him somewhere it would hurt more--with something besides my hand."
Betty chuckled. They sat down together and Betty recounted what she had heard. Samantha found it had grown in the telling and that apparently another girl had overheard parts of the same conversation she had, then repeated it to others. By now the gossips were working full time, abetted by a few of the girls who had wanted Shelton to pay attention to them. They were repeating stories they'd heard, whether they knew they were true or not. All they cared about was that Samantha was out of the way.
"Any girl that gets close to him will regret it," she said. "He is hateful and a creep. Anyone who'd set fire to a cat would do the same thing to a person if he got mad enough."
"You really think so?"
She waved her hand as if brushing away an annoying insect. "Oh, I don't know and I don't care. I'd rather not even talk about him anymore."
With that, the morning conversation turned in other directions and soon it was time for class. Even though Shelton was a year older than her he was in two of her classes where he had failed and was having to repeat them.
She avoided him as well as she could but inevitably he managed to corner her. "We need to talk, Sammie," he said.
"I'm not interested in talking to you ever again, Shelton Brady," she said forcefully. "I heard you talking about setting that cat on fire and I heard you talking about me!"
"I was just kidding, Sammie. Honest, all I--"
"Bullshit!" she interrupted, using a word she hardly ever uttered to do so. "Just get away from me or I'll have you charged with harassment."
His lip curled cruelly. "You do and I'll do the same thing to your stupid dog as I did to the cat, smarty pants. How would you like that?"
"How would you like to wind up in juvenile detention?"
"You can't prove a thing!"
"Alright. Remember the tiger? How would you like to become the object of its intentions? Or maybe I'll tell every stray dog I run across to find you and bite you in the ass like you deserve!"
His face paled at the thought, letting her know she had struck home. He, like almost everyone else in Lufkin had seen the video of her leading the tiger back into the zoo. Not only was he cruel, he was a coward at heart, she thought. She wondered how she could ever have thought he was a nice person, then told herself to stop thinking about him at all. She walked away, leaving him standing wordlessly by himself.
***
For several weeks Samantha had no further problems. She hung out with Betty and their circle of friends but was hesitant about allowing herself to get close to another boy. That didn't mean she didn't become mildly interested in several whom she thought had possibilities but she wasn't going to get in a hurry, not after misjudging Shelton so badly. She promised herself that when and if she did think about seeing boys in a more romantic manner she would first introduce them to Shufus and see how he felt. She had no idea how he had zeroed in on Shelton's faults so unerringly, but he had proved she could trust his instincts.
By December, her parents were beginning to believe, very cautiously, that Meriweather might have given up on her quest to remove their daughter from her home for her "safety". They had heard nothing further from her nor had Steve said anything. Samantha had been called to the zoo twice but they had managed to avoid any publicity from either encounter, both of which Samantha had solved. She received a very nice check from each occasion. Most of it went to her college fund but she was allowed to spend some on herself.
When she and Betty, Betty's boyfriend and another boy were taken to the movies at one of the major malls in Lufkin by Betty's father, she shopped around and found presents for both her mother and father.
"Why are you buying something for them, Sammie?" Betty wanted to know.
She shrugged, slightly embarrassed but nevertheless told the other three, "Oh, just because they have to go with me to the zoo when I get a call and because they're always so nice."
"I wish my parents were even half as good as you say yours are," Caiden Jessup, the boy she was with said.
"What do they do?" Samantha asked curiously.
"Oh, it's not so much what they do as what they don
't do. They never seem to have time for me. Always going somewhere with their friends and leaving me with someone, or making me stay home and not use my phone or computer or anything. They never offer to help me and never take me anywhere with my friends, either. It's always someone else's parents that do the driving."
Samantha felt sorry for the boy. She couldn't imagine either of her parents not paying attention to her or helping her with anything if she asked. In fact, they volunteered before she asked if they thought she needed any help or attention. That was proven dramatically when she arrived home after Mr. Orleans dropped her off.
She came inside with the presents she had bought, a new wallet for her father and a bracelet for her mother.
"I'm home!" she said gaily, "and I brought you some--". Her voice broke into an abrupt silence as she saw Ms. Meriweather sitting on the couch with her lips set in a thin, satisfied line. There was a female police officer beside her. Samantha thought they must have just arrived because her father had his phone out and was dialing someone. "What is she doing here?" she asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Just a moment, Sammie. Your father is calling Steve."
"He just dropped me off!" she said. "You didn't say why she's here. And what's the police doing with her?"
"Just wait a moment, honey."
Her father began speaking. "Steve? Sammie said you'd just let her out. Can you come back, quickly? Meriweather is here and she has a police officer with her. Yes, they just arrived a few minutes ago."
Samantha made a wide circle away from the CPS Director and scrunched in beside her mother in the big easy chair. "Why are they here, Mom?" she whispered.
"Ms. Meriweather is "investigating", or so she says," she replied loud enough for Meriweather to hear while looking daggers in her direction.
"I certainly am!" the woman said. "I believe I have enough evidence now to convince a judge remove this child from a clearly dangerous environment."
Samantha started to reply but her Mother gripped her tightly and told her, "Don't say anything else until Steve gets here, Sammie."
In lieu of not being able to speak, she added a volley of daggers from her eyes to those her mother was still throwing in Meriweather's direction. If looks could kill, the CPS Director would have been stretched out on the floor, dead as last week's road kill.
Ronald jumped up as the doorbell rang and hurriedly went to let Steve in. On the way back to the living room he explained what the CPS investigator had said, then added, "I have no idea why the police officer is here with her."
"It's a requirement now. She should have had one with her the last time, too. Have you said anything to either of them?"
"Nothing other than to ask her what she was after and why she had an officer with her."
"What did she say?"
"Nothing except that she was here on an official investigation and that she had enough evidence to have Samantha removed from our custody."
"Did you record it, I hope?"
Ron held up his phone in a way that it was blocked from Meriweather's view.
"Good. She can't have a child removed from anywhere by herself. A judge has to order it done. Don't tell her that, though," he said, lowering his voice as they came into the living room.
As they entered, Ron said to Meriweather, "I believe you know Mr. Orleans, do you not?"
"I do, but he's not going to do you a bit of good this time."
"We'll see. What is the officer doing here?"
"It's required in case the parents won't cooperate, which you certainly are not," she said, enunciating the last word with a snap of her teeth.
"No one here is interfering with you. Now do your inspection and leave, please."
"I have an emergency court order to support me."
"An illegal one, I'm sure. Sammie is in no danger whatsoever and neither of her parents intend to either place her in danger or cause any problems."
"Sir, I have to enforce the order to remove her if you don't relent custody voluntarily," the police officer said.
"And you are?"
"Oh. Sorry. I'm officer Amanda Billings."
"Well Officer Billings, I'm Steve Orleans, the family's attorney. Tell me, are you officially on duty or have you been hired as an off-duty officer working another job?"
"She doesn't have to answer that!"
"She most certainly does. If she's not officially on duty she has no business here. You need to go read your own regulations. And in case you need to review them, I happen to have a copy of the official procedures on my laptop in my briefcase. Would you care to look?"
Meriweather flushed a violent red, saying as plainly as words could have that she had been caught out.
"I see," Steve said. "You thought bringing a police officer along would intimidate Mr. or Mrs. Douglas into obeying an illegal court order. She can't be removed until after an investigation and then getting a court order. You can't do it in advance. Or didn't you and whatever judge signed your order know that?"
Meriweather remained silent for a moment but then stood up. Her face was still flushed. "This completes my investigation. I shall report that I was obstructed by the parents and I have a witness to prove it!" She glanced at the officer.
Steve raised his brows in the policewoman's direction. "Are you sure you'll be comfortable telling a court that you witnessed obstructive behavior when clearly there wasn't any? Swearing under oath is a serious business, officer. If I were you, I would quietly depart and have nothing further to do with this woman. She's been trying to grab Samantha Douglas for quite a while now, strictly for publicity purposes, thinking it might help in getting her promoted."
"That's a lie!" Meriweather said loudly but her face turned an even darker color, now resembling nothing so much as a ripe red beet.
The young woman glanced at Meriweather, who was already in the process of leaving, then at Samantha cuddled next to her mother. She remembered the publicity and the video of the girl leading a runaway tiger back into the zoo. "You know, Mr. Orleans, I believe you're right. I was brought here under false pretenses. I certainly don't see any evidence of abuse, obstruction or danger to the girl. I'm sorry I came."
"That's quite all right," Steve said gently. "You're not the first person that woman has fooled. She's a blot on the CPS Department. They do needed, useful work and it's too bad Lufkin has her at the head of the office here."
"I agree. She may bother you again, but I certainly won't, not unless I'm ordered to come with her."
After the officer had departed on the heels of Meriweather, Elaine asked, "Is this never going to end?"
Steve shook his head. "I doubt it. Meriweather should be fired but getting rid of someone in her position is almost impossible because of the Texas civil service regulations. I guess we can look forward to another day in court." Or maybe not, he suddenly thought. I'll just bet the judge will think twice after reading that document Jane Carruthers left with me. And if not, then Jane herself, or possibly even her boss might have something to say about the case!
"And more publicity," Elaine said despondently.
"Don't give up so easily, Elaine. If this actually makes it to court I have a hole card I can play that should set matters right."
"You do? What?"
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but it's part of something I can't talk about for a number of reasons. Anyway, CPS court hearings are handled away from the media. Only the interested parties and their attorneys are allowed to be present."
"There'll still be a notice about it," Ronald said. "That's all it'll take to start the firestorm of publicity again."
"Well, I'll try to keep that from happening but I can't guarantee it. What I can tell you is that Samantha will not be removed from your custody. Trust me on this," Steve said, then refused to answer any more questions. He wished he could tell the family more but he was under an injunction from the agency not to reveal any help they might give him.
Chapter Seventeen
>
"Apparently Meriweather had to go back and start over, Ron," Steve said a couple of months later in answer to when he thought the woman might try again. Christmas had passed and they were well into the new year without any more word from CPS. "But don't let that fool you. She may be a butt hole and not all that bright but she's stubborn and persistent."
"It would be nice if nothing happened until the school year is out," Elaine said. "Sammie's doing real well in school with her advanced classes and I'd hate to have her be all upset the last week or two."
The four adults were enjoying after-dinner drinks at the Orleans home. They were keeping their voices low even though Samantha and Betty had retired to another room. It was a small house and they didn't want either of the girls to overhear.
"That would be good and we may just make it. Only a couple of months to go." The attorney scratched his chin for a moment before continuing. "I can't guarantee it, though. Also, when she does try, I suspect Meriweather will bring in one of her pet CPS attorneys and fight us all the way. A lot will depend on which judge we draw."
"Well, all you can do is the best you can do. We've got Dr. Summers on our side for certain, and I contacted the officer who was here that evening. She told me she would be a witness for us if we had to have her, but she doesn't really want to. She's afraid it might jeopardize her job."
"You can't really blame her for that," Steve said. "I'll certainly vouch for the fact that she came to your house with Meriweather under devious circumstances."