On the Pineapple Express

by H. L. Wegley

  27

  It was 3:30 PM on Monday afternoon when Jennifer walked up to her apartment door. Nearly sixty hours had passed since she left it early Saturday morning to analyze the scanner data. And now she was leading two people she loved through that door. What a difference the past two days had made in her life.

  Lee gestured towards the car sitting across the street. “Looks like we’ve got police protection.”

  A reminder that Trader was still at large.

  Her stomach tightened. But the manhunt was intensifying. They would catch him soon. “I hope we don’t need them very long. Actually, I hope we don’t need them at all.”

  Lee opened the door for her and Katie, and then he scanned the sky. “The storm has passed. The wind’s coming from the northwest. You can say good-bye to our balmy, sixty-five degree weather and to the rain.”

  “It’s a storm I’ll never forget. And I don’t care if I never see another drop of rain.” Inside her apartment a room waited for its new occupant. “The Pineapple Express almost took our lives, but it brought us another life.”

  Katie looked uncertain.

  She took Katie’s hand. “Come on. I’ll show you your bedroom.”

  “Good thing you rented a two-bedroom apartment, isn’t it, Jenn?” Lee squeezed her shoulder.

  “In hindsight, I doubt it was an accident.”

  Katie stopped staring wide-eyed down the hallway. “Was it an accident that I got here without any of my clothes or other things?”

  She gave Katie a side hug. “Don’t worry. Tonight you can use one of my nightshirts. It’s too long for me, anyway. I have an extra toothbrush and anything else you might need in the morning. Mrs. Barnes said she would bring your things from the foster—”

  “Can we not mention that place?” Katie’s gaze pleaded with her.

  She would help Katie bury those fears from her past. Beginning right now.

  “Sure. As of right now, it’s gone forever. Now get ready for bed. We all have some sleep to catch up on after being up for two days.”

  Lee relaxed on the couch.

  And that’s what she wanted to do, curl up beside him. She scurried to her room, slipped into her pajamas, and threw on a robe. When she came out of her room, she collided with Katie.

  Katie wasn’t complaining verbally, but her down-turned mouth and head said she wasn’t comfortable in a nightshirt that advertised a movie, though it fit perfectly. Katie’s blue eyes, blonde hair, perfectly sculptured face, and tall, slender body put movie stars to shame. She was going to attract every young man in Seattle.

  Lord, please help me handle that issue for Katie better than I did for myself.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Starved.”

  “I thought you might be. The bottom cupboard to the left of the sink holds my supply of healthy snacks. Grab anything that suits your fancy. But then you’d better get to bed.”

  “Can I have a drink first, Mommy?”

  Mommy. It was meant as a joke, but still the word touched a warm, sensitive spot in her heart. She forced a frown on her brow, and then gestured towards the refrigerator. “Grab some juice from the fridge, and then it’s to bed with you. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

  “Doing what?”

  “For one, buying you some clothes.”

  “If it’s such a busy day, why are you headed towards Lee in the living room?”

  “Lee and I have a lot to talk about, a wedding and—”

  “And me?”

  “Katie, we’ve already talked about you.”

  “When was that? I’ve been with either you or Lee ever since—”

  “In the van coming home.”

  Her frown remained. “But you two are going to talk about me, aren’t you?” Katie needed a hug.

  Jennifer circled Katie’s neck with her arms. “If we do, you’ll hear all about it in the morning. And don’t worry. It will all be good talk.”

  Katie returned the hug. “You mean that, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Lee and I try not to say things we don’t mean and…we don’t keep secrets.”

  “Hey, what’s going on here?” Lee stepped into the living-room end of the hallway. “Can I get in on it?”

  Jennifer opened a spot for him in their huddle. “Three’s not always a crowd.”

  “Without you, Katie, this would have been the saddest day of my life—if I still had a life.”

  ****

  Thirty minutes later Jennifer and Lee sat side-by-side on her couch while Katie slept in her bedroom. They hadn’t talked about those two hours when neither of them knew if the other was alive. But the scratches on Lee’s hands came during that time. She caressed them with her lips.

  The despair lay behind them. It was time to look ahead, to love, joy, and peace.

  His eyes were sagging, nearly shut like hers.

  “I’m going to need a rental car for a couple weeks. Can you come by in the morning and take us to the car lot?”

  “I’ll be here at 8:00 AM. They don’t open until 8:30. That’ll give us time for—”

  “For something we’ve missed for several days,” Jennifer sighed. “Coffee. And then I’m going to—”

  His soft kiss punctuated her sentence. “What is it you’re going to do?”

  Good question. Did it even matter?

  “I’m not sure. This man I met keeps changing my plans.” She paused. Yes, it did matter. “I’m going to schedule the church. After that, I’m going to call my family and see if they can be here in three and a half weeks for a wedding.”

  “Aren’t you going to schedule me?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head.

  “You’re not even going to check with me about my schedule?”

  “Silly boy, you’ll be there. I think we need to talk about Katie now. She thought we would. In fact, I’ll bet she’s full of thoughts tonight.”

  “Jenn, she’s a teenage girl. You probably don’t want to know all the thoughts running through her mind.”

  He wasn’t getting it.

  “But, Lee, Katie is like us.”

  His eyes scanned her face. “She’s like you, spectacularly beautiful.”

  “No, I mean like both of us.”

  “In what sense?”

  Sometimes he was clueless.

  “I saw some of the papers Mrs. Barnes brought with her to the field station. Did you know that Katie’s IQ is, well, it’s higher than yours.”

  “Just spend five minutes with her and anybody would know she’s bright.”

  “Lee, we’re equipped to understand her better than most parents, because we’re both, well…”

  “Even Lee, the family idiot, with his 145 IQ gets your point.” He paused. “I’m sure there are ways we can help her, ways other parents might find difficult.”

  “She needs us. Adopting her is the only way we can guarantee some future caseworker won’t take her from us.” There. She had dropped the load on her heart.

  Lee could carry it now.

  He rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “How do you feel about having a daughter who’s only ten years younger than you?”

  “Sometimes it feels like there isn’t even ten years between us. But it’s fine with me.”

  He stared across the room. “You’re probably right. But deep inside Katie there’s still a little girl who has wounds and scars from being orphaned, placed in the foster-care system, and who knows what else. And she had to kill a man. That memory won’t magically disappear.”

  “I know.” His neck was warm against her cheek. She let her heavy head rest there. “But we both know a God Who can heal those wounds. Other parents may not have a loving Lord to introduce Katie to.”

  “It’s not like I didn’t see this conversation coming. Right after Katie threw that fastball through Trader’s SUV window, I saw the bond between you two forming.”

  “What about you?”

  “After the incident with Jacko at the ranger’s house, I bega
n thinking I’d be proud to have a young lady like her for a daughter.”

  “Then we’ve got to adopt her as soon as we’re married.”

  “That would be a lot faster than waiting nine months to satisfy your granddad’s demand for a great-grandchild.”

  “Men, they all have a one-track mind.”

  “No, I don’t. I’ve got at least a two-track mind.”

  She brought a couch pillow down hard on his head.

  He grabbed the pillow and tossed it out of her reach. “So are we agreed, then?”

  “On what? Your mind or—”

  “That we’ll push the paperwork as far as we can and file for adoption after we’re married?”

  That was Lee. Like all men, clueless at the start. But he was a quick study.

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” She slid her arms around his neck. “We’ll file when we return from Maui. But we probably shouldn’t tell Katie until we’ve got the paperwork in the mill. You know, in case there’s some obstacle we haven’t anticipated.”

  “No, Jenn. If we’re agreed to pursue this, we should tell her our intent. She needs to know we’re committed to her. If she knows that, everything will be fine.” He was right.

  Maybe she had some clueless moments, too. “OK. Then we’ll tell her together. How about tomorrow evening?”

  “If you can hold her off that long.” Lee chuckled. “If she suspected we’d be talking about her, she’ll be full of questions.”

  “That’s settled, then. Now, there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about. I…want to spend some time speaking to parents and kids at schools, churches—wherever I can—about the child-trafficking epidemic. Whenever possible, I would like to have Katie, Mel, and Kirsten on the platform with me. What do you think?”

  “Go for it, if their parents agree. If anyone can paint a picture of what’s happening, it’s you. You’ve been there.” He gave her a hug. “I’ll help in any way I can.”

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  Lee slid down in his seat on the couch and leaned his head on her shoulder. “I’m starting to fade. Do you have any other surprises to spring on me before I fall asleep?”

  “Just this.” She offered her lips.

  He pressed his softly against them.

  She intended it be a goodnight kiss. But afterward, instead of shooing Lee out the door and leaving for her bedroom, she thought it would be nice to lean her head against his for just a few moments…

  28

  Tuesday Morning, November 5

  The sound of distant music woke Jennifer to a fuzzy state of semi-consciousness. The alarm in her bedroom played a soothing praise song. A hand rested on her shoulder.

  Lee?

  Through the fog a picture formed of Lee sleeping beside her on the couch, and then the fog returned, warm and fuzzy.

  “Jenn, I think you need to wake up. You know, if we aren’t careful this is going to become a habit that’s impossible to break.”

  The fog cleared. “Good morning. What’s going to be impossible to break?”

  He kissed her forehead. “I was talking about sleeping under the same roof. Saturday, Sunday, and last night—”

  “We didn’t sleep Sunday night.” She tried to raise her head, but her neck wouldn’t cooperate. “There was a little too much excitement. But last night was nice, even if I do have a major kink in my neck.” Her right arm was draped over a blonde princess sleeping beside her. “Katie thinks so, too.”

  “So I’ve noticed.”

  Katie opened her eyes and clutched Jennifer’s arm. “No bad dreams, no bad people. It’s really nice. I haven’t slept like that since—I can’t remember the last time.”

  Lee yawned. “Here we are like the three bears. Maybe more like two bears and Goldilocks.”

  Katie sat up, her body rigid. “Never ever call me that again, Lee, or I’ll—”

  “Or you’ll kill me? That’s what Jenn would say. But I’m sorry, Katie. If you don’t like—”

  “I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to get angry.” Katie’s eyes were wide and tears welled in them. “But Mr.—I won’t even mention his name—called me that when he harassed me. So please—”

  “Vocabulary.” Lee pretended to type on a keyboard. “Goldilocks—delete. It’s gone. Are there any other words I should delete while my dictionary is open?”

  “You can delete princess, too. Same reason.”

  At least Jennifer had only thought the word.

  “It’s deleted, Katie.” He lowered his hands from his imaginary keyboard. “I think it’s nice too, nice to be here together without having to worry about how we’re going to escape, or about being shot.”

  There was work to do today. Women’s work.

  “It was very nice. Uncomfortable, but nice. Now, Lee, don’t you have someplace to go? Something to do?”

  “Are you running me out, without even offering me breakfast?”

  “You need a shower and clean clothes, and I need a rental car. So get cleaned up and get back here, because I really need breakfast too, from our favorite coffee shop.”

  “I’ll pick up breakfast on my way back. Orders, please.”

  ****

  The doorbell rang. It was a good thing she had shortened the drying cycle. Jenn handed Katie her clothes. “They feel dry enough. Jump into these, Katie. Lee’s here with our breakfast.”

  Soon all three sat around Jennifer’s table. “I’ll pray this morning.”

  Humor had been in short supply over the past two days. But their favorite coffee had been missing entirely.

  “And we thank You for providing these mochas and saving us from the black tar at the police station. Amen.” Jennifer finished her prayer and looked up.

  Katie frowned at her. “Jenn, do you always talk to God…like that? Flip, I mean, casually?”

  Katie’s hand was rigid, but it relaxed somewhat as Jennifer put her hand over it. “Not always. God is my friend. But then, He’s also my Heavenly Father and the One I serve. He knows how much I like good coffee. Sometimes I speak in a humorous way with my friend. But the key in talking to God is to never forget He’s also my Father and my Lord. Funny? Maybe, sometimes. Flippantly? I try not to do that. So how’s your mocha?”

  “It’s my first one, but I think I’m addicted already.” Katie sat her cup down. It produced a hollow sound.

  Lee took a sip of his venti-sized mocha. “I’ve been addicted for ten years now. But don’t drink your first one too fast. We don’t want you bouncing off the walls.”

  Smiling, Katie eyed Lee’s cup. “Too late, it’s gone. And don’t take your eyes off yours, or I might not be able to restrain myself.”

  Lee laughed and shielded his cup from her.

  When they finished breakfast, the three climbed into Lee’s ‘62 Impala.

  He started the engine and the exciting, syncopated rumble began, the sound Lee said came from his 283 engine with a racing cam.

  He pulled out onto the street and headed towards the car lot. “So what do you plan to rent, a compact?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. It’s too bad they don’t rent muscle cars.” She laid her hand on the gear shift. “The FBI is paying for my rental car. Since we did a major piece of work for them, without pay, I might add, I’m going for an SUV. If Peterson complains, I’ll remind him of a couple of phone conversations we had this weekend. He’ll pay the bill.”

  “I think you’ve got enough clout right now to manage Peterson. But, Jenn, he thinks of you almost like a daughter. He has ever since last March.”

  Katie sat up in the backseat and put her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “Speaking of last March, you said sometime you would tell me about what happened.”

  She patted Katie’s hand. “I’ll let Lee tell you while I rent us an SUV. It’s a story about terrorists, caves, and a life-changing kiss. Actually, two of them. A tale of two kisses.”

  29

  The small SUV fitted nicely in her parking space at the apartment
. Jennifer slid out. “I need to make some phone calls, Katie. After that, we’ll go shopping. If you want to, you can shop online for a bit, and then show me the clothes you like.”

  “That would be great. But don’t spend a lot on me. I don’t need many clothes.”

  That was probably the story of Katie’s foster-child life. Not many clothes. “This is as much for me as it is for you. You wouldn’t deny me the enjoyment, would you?”

  Katie smiled and shook her head.

  “Well then, the computer is in the corner. Have fun. It may take me a half hour to make my phone calls.”

  “Do you want me to leave the room while you’re on the phone?”

  She was gradually picking up bits and pieces of Katie’s life as a foster child, always on the outside looking in. Maybe the girl would tell her story when the time was right. “No, Katie. There are no secrets in this house, except around Christmas time.”

  She placed her first call to the secretary at Maplewood Community Church. “Kathy, this is Jennifer Akihara. Would you please look at the church calendar and tell me if anything is scheduled for Saturday, November 30th? Yes, I know it’s only three and one half weeks away…you knew I was calling to schedule a wedding…great. I’m going to call some relatives, and then I’ll stop by and pick up the papers.”

  One down, and so far no hitches. Please help this next call to go as smoothly.

  “Hi, Mom. Have you got about five minutes? Good. Now here’s the big question. Can you, Jess, and Julie fly over here a few days before November 30th? Yes it’s for my wedding.

  “Mom, you’re going to be a grandmother soon. I know you raised me to be a proper lady. Yes, Lee’s going to be the father. When’s the baby due? She’s no baby. She’s sitting right here in the room with me. I’ll explain later.

  “You saw the news, huh? Lee and I are both fine, thanks in part to the young lady you’ll be meeting when you get here. She’s the granddaughter I’m talking about. What picture is in your paper? Katie is the tall girl in the middle. She saved our lives, Mom. I can’t wait to introduce Jess and Julie to her. Jess and Katie are about the same age. The wedding will be Saturday afternoon, November 30th. I’ll get back to you with the details.”