by Laura Dragon
Algie shook his head. “C-can’t we w-wash them?”
Miss Violet laughed, and Leta shook her head. “If we wash them, Algie, they’ll fall apart.”
Algie frowned.
“Maybe we can get you some new ones,” Miss Violet said. “I’ll keep an eye out for a set. Now, find yourselves some things to wear.” She disappeared into another room.
Hollis and Leta checked the sizes on the table in front of them, pulling out items they thought would fit each of them. Soon, they each had a small stack of clothing.
When Miss Violet returned, her arms were filled with packs of socks and underwear. They thanked her and, loaded down with their new possessions, headed back to their cots. Along the way, Algie gave a sudden crow, dropped everything he’d been given, and ran over to another donation table.
“Algie! Come back!” Leta cried.
She and Hollis struggled to pick up his things. Algie returned, his chest puffed with pride. In his arms nestled a two-foot polyresin figure, adorned with a fluffy white beard and dressed in a yellow shirt and a pointed red hat.
Hollis eyed the garden gnome, appalled. “Put that back.”
Algie shook his head. “I like him.”
Leta laughed. “He’s just like the ones at Mr. Joseph’s house.”
Algie glared at Hollis from behind the red hat. “I’m bringing him to Gee for the yard. His name is Gnomie.”
Miss Violet smiled. “You never know what you’ll find in donations.”
Algie snuggled his cheek against the gnome’s hat.
Leta whispered, “Maybe he’ll make Algie easier to handle.”
“You think one of us ought to remind him there’s no yard anymore?” Hollis waved his hand. “Whatever. If it makes him happy.”
The three thanked Miss Violet and wobbled back to their cots. When they had almost reached their area, a huge man, tall and dark, appeared and squatted in front of them, blocking their way.
“Hi,” he rumbled in a deep, rich voice. “Nice gnome.” He patted Gnomie’s hat.
Algie grinned.
“My name’s Red. You can call me Red Beans. I’m not gonna bother you three for long. I’m just gonna tell you what I’ve told the other kids. If you have any trouble from any of these people, you come let me know. I’ll take care of it. Okay?”
Hollis nodded, his chin disappearing into the clothing he held. The man got up and ambled away.
“Who’s th-that?” Algie asked, wide-eyed.
“He’s really big,” Leta said. “Do we trust him?”
Hollis stared after Red Beans. “We’ll ask Eden.”
“Maybe he’s trying to get us to trust him so he can do something to us, like Kiki was saying,” Leta said.
Hollis nodded. “I say we stay away.”
“Do we tell Miss Violet?”
Hollis shook his head. The man hadn’t done anything yet, and he knew what Miss Violet would say about that. He’d tell if something happened. “Stay away from him, Algie, okay?”
Algie frowned. “I l-like him. He l-looks like F-fat Albert and, anyway, I l-like red beans.”
Hollis considered that. “He does look like Fat Albert, but he ain’t Fat Albert. Stay away.”
Algie scowled but nodded. Hollis sighed. He hoped that Miss Violet would find Gee soon, before anything—or anyone—got in their way. Being an adult was much more complicated than he’d thought.
Chapter 17
Dead Ends
Two days passed with no word from Miss Violet about Gee’s location. Oscar hadn’t left yet, either. Hollis set aside his thoughts on Oscar and concentrated on Gee. He felt both bored and scared. There was no way that Jonas or Gee could find them way out in West Virginia. Leta had drawn a rough map of the country, and so Hollis now had a good idea how far away they’d driven from New Orleans. Right now, Miss Violet was their only hope. He wanted to find some way he could help her.
The families in the shelter gathered at the door to the dining area in anticipation of lunch. Before leaving the kids area, Hollis glanced at the TV, which showed the mayhem still going on in New Orleans. Lines of people had just been discovered at the convention center. They were screaming, begging for someone to come get them. Hollis was glad that he wasn’t still there but wondered if Jonas was among those remaining.
“I don’t see Jonas,” Leta said from her cot. “I’ve been watching and watching. So many people are still stuck there.”
“Yeah,” Hollis said. “And we’re still stuck here. Lunch, Leta. Algie?”
“No!” Algie said.
Hollis started toward him, but Algie jumped up and ran past him to join the line now filing out to eat. Smiling, Hollis was about to follow when he spotted the toe of a Nike sticking out from underneath Maleeki’s bed. The toe stirred and slowly drew out of sight beneath the cot.
What’s he up to?
Hollis strolled to a nearby donation table and ducked under the floor-length cloth. He lay flat on the floor, but he couldn’t see Maleeki’s hiding place from where he was. Just as well. If he couldn’t see Maleeki, then Maleeki couldn’t see him. Hollis relaxed against the floor and waited.
Not long after, he heard the sound of faint grunting and watched as Maleeki popped into view, his eyes darting around the quiet room. Once he was sure that no one remained, Maleeki crept across to the main section and slid a hand under the pillow of the nearest cot.
Hollis frowned. The low-hanging tablecloth covering the donation table was great for hiding, but not very good for spying. He sat up, trying to find a spot with a better view. A gap in the cloth at the end caught his attention. Scooting down to it, he placed his eye at the opening.
Having moved on from the first cot, Maleeki rummaged through another resident’s possessions and then another. With well-practiced movements, his long fingers slipped into bags, boxes, and bedding. Arms and pockets filled at last, Maleeki hurried back to his own cot and dumped the loot into a carry-on bag Hollis had seen him get out of donations the day before. Once he had stowed away the stolen items, Maleeki shoved the bag back under his cot. With a satisfied grin and a whistled song, he sauntered off toward the dining room for lunch.
When Maleeki’s whistle faded, Hollis emerged from his hiding place and scrambled over to Maleeki’s cot. Yanking out the bag, he trotted with it to the family section of the shelter. After unzipping the bag, he upended it over one of the cots. Seven packs of cigarettes, three lighters, several packs of gum and candy, a pocket knife, a lady’s watch, a few coins, and a ten-dollar bill fell onto the bedding.
Hands shaking, Hollis ran back to Maleeki’s bed and shoved the bag underneath. He grabbed a T-shirt from the donation table and threw it over the heap of items on the other cot. He stood for a moment, his chest heaving, and surveyed the job he’d completed. Although he felt like whistling himself, he chose a quieter exit, trotting across the room and slipping into the dining area to join the others for lunch.
“Where were you?” Leta asked as Hollis slid into the seat next to her. He scanned the room and was relieved to see Maleeki sitting alone on the other side of the room with his back to their table.
“Bathroom,” Hollis said and stuffed his hot dog into his mouth. He wanted to be the first one back to the resident area. French fries and a wedge of apple pie followed the hot dog. Wiping his mouth with his shirt, Hollis left Leta to finish her dessert. Algie was busy offering his hot dog to his gnome.
After jogging across the room to his bed, Hollis sat down to watch as the other residents trickled back. One man began tearing his bed apart.
“Where’s my smokes?” he demanded in a loud voice.
“Mine’re gone too,” his wife said as she turned back her sheets and searched under her pillow. “And my lighter.”
An uproar ensued as people checked their bags and discovered their losses. A man in a dirty blue shirt entered and wandered over to his bed, glancing around in curiosity at the commotion. Hollis’s eyes sparkled and he sat up straighter.
“That’s my lighter,” yelled another man. He stomped over and snatched a red lighter from the pile. “Right here. Y’all come see. Oscar’s got a buncha stuff on his bed.”
Oscar held up his hands and backed away from the cot. “I never took nothin’,” he said. “I don’t know how all that got there.”
Leta strolled up, towing a scowling Algie with his gnome dragging behind him. Focused on the scene at Oscar’s cot, Hollis barely acknowledged them. People came from all over the room, identified their belongings, and glared at Oscar.
“Someone’s settin’ me up,” Oscar protested, his eyes wide and child-like. “I never took any of that stuff. And if I did,” his eyes narrowed, “I’d’ve hidden it better. If I’d known there was stuff under there, I wouldn’t have picked that shirt up, now would I?”
The man who had taken back the ten-dollar bill nodded. “I can’t prove this is mine,” he said, waving the bill in the air. “But Oscar never argued. He just let me have it. Maybe it was a prank.”
Others nodded their agreement. Once all the items had been returned, the people who had reclaimed their possessions drifted back to their own spaces. However, Hollis noticed that some people still threw sidelong glances at Oscar, who sat grumbling on his cot. From his cot, Hollis heard more than one person mutter, “Need to watch that guy.”
“I guess he’s in trouble again,” Leta said.
Algie clutched Gnomie to his chest. “He’s a b-bad man.”
Hollis saw Maleeki scowling into his now empty bag. Maleeki lifted his head and scanned the room, raking each person with fierce, suspicious eyes. Hollis turned his head and tried to appear as innocent as possible.
Right before dinner, Miss Violet came to find Hollis, Algie, and Leta.
“Children, come with me, please,” she said, her eyes unhappy as she pressed her mouth into a straight line.
Hollis glanced at Leta, who bit her lip. Algie picked up Gnomie and grabbed Leta’s shirt. Looking uncertain, they all followed Miss Violet to her office. Once they had reached it, she held the door open for them.
“Algie, why don’t you and Gnomie wait outside,” said Miss Violet.
Algie pressed his face against Gnomie’s hard, blue vest. “No.”
“You might as well let him stay,” Hollis said, leaning against the desk. “He’ll just start screamin’ if we make him leave.”
Miss Violet closed the door. “Sit down, children. I have some news for you, but I’m afraid it isn’t very good.”
They sat on the couch. Since there was no room for Gnomie, Algie set him on the floor and clutched the peak of his red cone hat in both hands.
Miss Violet sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I’ve called every hospital and shelter in Baton Rouge, and then in the rest of the state of Louisiana. No one has seen your grandmother or your brother or the Jacksons. Now wait,” she said, putting her hand up, her gaze directed at Algie.
Hollis noticed Algie’s face clouding up to cry. He picked up Gnomie and handed him to Algie, who seized him and wildly rocked him back and forth. Leta pressed herself deeper into the couch to avoid being impaled on the tip of Gnomie’s hat.
Her eyes still on Algie, Miss Violet went on, “It’s good news that your brother’s not in any of the hospitals, don’t you think?”
Algie and Leta looked at Hollis, who sniffed and nodded. “But Gee?” Hollis asked.
“I spoke to a woman at one of the hospitals who said that the Baton Rouge hospitals filled up right away. To make sure everyone could find a doctor, they went on what they call “diversion.” That means that anyone else who wanted to come to Baton Rouge had to go somewhere else instead.”
“Where?” Hollis asked.
Miss Violet held up her hands. “Everywhere. The National Guard, state troopers, and police took people all over the country by helicopter, car, bus, ambulance, and sometimes airplane.”
“So there’s no way we can find out where Gee and Miz Jackson went?”
“I just think it’s going to take a bit more time,” Miss Violet said hesitantly.
Algie frowned. “W-we can’t find Gee?”
“Not yet, Algie. But we’re gonna keep lookin’.” Leta patted Algie’s arm.
A distressed expression crossed Miss Violet’s face. “I know that this isn’t what you were looking to hear, but I wanted to let you know where we had started to search. I know you thought we’d find her right away. We all did.”
Laying his forehead on Gnomie’s belly, Algie began to wail. Leta glanced at Miss Violet in embarrassment, who came around from her desk and knelt in front of Algie.
“I’ll find her, Algie. Don’t worry.”
Algie wailed louder. “I want Gee.”
Leta stroked his head and shushed him. Hollis stood up. He felt like crying too, but pride wouldn’t let him do it in front of a stranger.
Leta rose, lifted Gnomie out of Algie’s lap, and pulled him to his feet. After she had handed Gnomie to Hollis, she turned to Miss Violet. With her head tilted back and her nose in the air, Leta reminded Hollis of Gee when she talked to the preacher at church.
“I’m sure you’ll find her, Miss Violet.”
“I’m so sorry, Leta.”
Leta smiled, maintaining her grown-up air, and held the still howling Algie in front of her. “I’m not worried. Come on, Algie. Stop that noise. You’re upsetting Gnomie. We’ll find Gee.” Her voice cracked. “It’s just going to take longer than we thought.”
“Is there another family member somewhere that I can call?” Miss Violet asked, tapping her phone with a pencil.
Leta and Hollis glanced at one another. “There’s our father’s mom, Grammy Williams, in Baton Rouge, but—”
“What’s her first name?”
“Mary,” Hollis said. “But I don’t know her number. We don’t talk to her much.”
“Mary Williams. I bet there are two or three of those in Baton Rouge. Do you know her address?”
Hollis shook his head. “We’ve never visited her. Just letting us talk to her upsets Gee. Grammy Williams says bad things about Mama. Gee doesn’t like her.”
“We don’t like her either,” said Algie, his cheeks splotchy, and he started to cry again. Leta shushed him.
Hollis watched Leta march Algie out of the office. As he followed, he said over his shoulder, “Thank you for tellin’ us, Miss Violet.” With head down and shoulders drooping, he scuffed his way out, Gnomie tucked under his arm.
Since Algie was still wailing when they entered the residence area, everyone knew they’d gotten bad news. Eden and Kiki met them in the children’s section. Calaya and Drayden quit watching TV with Lolo and hurried over to hear the latest.
“They can’t find my mom and dad either,” Eden told Algie. “Or Dray’s grandma or any of our parents. We don’t know where our families are, just like you. And we’re not crying.”
“Even though we might want to,” Dray added. When Eden glared at him, he stuck his tongue out at her.
“Come on, Algie.” Kiki pulled on his hand. “Come watch TV with Lolo. Spongebob is on. Gnomie told me you love Spongebob.”
Hiccups replaced Algie’s wailing, but tears still streamed down his cheeks. Spongebob could fix a lot, but not everything.
Chapter 18
Families
The day after Miss Violet told them about not finding Gee, Hollis stood next to Eden’s cot and watched her fold some of her latest finds from the donation pile. Donations arrived several times a day, and Eden was always the first person to sort through the newest items.
“Do you trust Miss Violet?” Hollis asked.
Eden looked at him in surprise. “Don’t you?”
Hollis shrugged. “Just some things she does sometimes make me not.”
�
�Like what?” Eden asked, as she quit her folding.
“Well, how we got here, a man, Oscar, that guy over there—”
“The thief?”
Hollis smiled to himself and nodded. “He stole Algie and scared him and threatened us, but she let him stay.”
Eden nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
Hollis stared at her.
“Y’see, Miss Violet? She’s churchy. You know what I mean by that?”
Hollis shook his head.
“She’s not a disaster-relief worker, so she really doesn’t know what she’s doin’. She’s just a member of this church. A volunteer. One of the other volunteers told me that Katrina was so bad and happened so fast, no one was ready. The people here just want to help. Anyway, Miss Violet? She wants to help everybody. The good thing about that is she’ll work really hard to find our families. The bad part is that she’ll work just as hard to help people who don’t care about anyone but themselves. But I think she’ll do a good job for us, Hollis, I really do.”
“Okay,” Hollis said. “So, you have a mom and a dad?” he asked.
She nodded. “Doesn’t everybody?”
Hollis shook his head, clearing a space on her bed and sitting down. “I don’t. My dad left us.” He held up a round box printed with a flowered pattern. “Hey! Where’d you find this?”
“Where do you think?” Eden laughed. “That’s—”
“Dusting powder, I know. Gardenia—it’s Gee’s favorite. Is there any more? I’d like to take her some.”
“You can have it. I’ve got lots of smell-good.” Her expression changed. “You have a dad, Hollis. He just doesn’t live with you. When’s the last time you saw him?”
Hollis frowned. “I was six.”
“That’s a long time.”
“That’s when our mom died, too.”
Eden reached out and touched his shoulder. “He left after your mom died?”
“He left before.”
Eden blinked. “Are you sure you want to find him?”
Hollis nodded. “Everyone asks me that, but he’s part of me. I want to know who he is.”