Unleashed- Case of the Hound About Town

by Erik Schubach

  This got a smile from Luce and then she showed the baby off to us. The nurse smirked a little as she shared, “Miss O'Conner has helped us raise almost every girl here today, and the dozens in between, except Miss Fitzgerald. She doesn't think we're qualified.” The woman winked at us as Luce set the baby in a bassinet, gave her a pacifier then took an inordinate amount of time arranging the blanket perfectly around her.

  She turned and asked the woman, “And what would you know about being a child? Things have changed since the dark ages.”

  The woman just gave her a warm smile. “I love you too, young lady. Now, are you supposed to be in here? I heard through the grapevine you were doing orientation today with your prospective mothers.”

  The defiant look on Luce's face faded and she got into my personal space and whispered, “She's ok. I like her, even if she is stingy with the hand sanitizer for the rest of us anywhere but the loos.”

  I shared as I offered a hand, “I like her too, Luce.”

  The woman winked again then shook my hand then Jane's, who said, “It was a pleasure.”

  This got Nurse McDougal to incline her head and said to the three of us, “Good luck.” She crossed her fingers and I did the same as we left the nursery.

  Luce shared in a somber tone, “I was like the babies when I was brought here, just a little older. There wasn't anyone to tell me the things I needed to know. But Bri made sure to share the rules of being a child when I was old enough to understand.”

  I was building a picture of how Luce processed things. Mrs. Doyle shared with us once that Luce doesn't always process visual and emotional cues correctly sometimes, but I don't think that is entirely accurate. I think she is feeling so much all the time, additional input shuts her down, confuses her a bit, so she isn't entirely sure how she is expected to respond, and that just amplifies things in a never-ending loop. I felt that way after dad died, and was so overwhelmed by it that I was effectively emotionally paralyzed.

  And Luce's unique mental process makes it that much harder for her, and it is structure, information, and rules that help her organize her thoughts. It is how she copes and I can completely relate.

  She brought us back to the stairs and up to the second floor. Then into the second door on the right. I recognized the space from our video chats. This was her dorm room which she shared with five other girls. The room across the hall was no doubt a mirror image of this one and the rest of the girls were housed there. There were a couple more rooms down the hall which had probably been filled in the home's heyday.

  We looked around the space, six beds in it with six nightstands. There weren't any other girls there, they must have been in class.

  It was a typical room of little girls, messy and chaotic while still being organized in a rudimentary manner. Except for a space in the corner which was impeccably tidy, almost antiseptically so. It was such a calm space in the middle of that chaos, and it relaxed me just looking at it.

  One thing we hadn't seen in the videos because of the angle was the outside wall of the room which had lots of arch-topped windows along it, and a decorative round one with stained glass inlays at Luce's space, which cast multiple colors and rainbow starbursts across her things.

  She saw me looking and shared, “I've been here the longest, so I get first choice of beds. I chose this one because the colors... they're happy... so they can make you forget where you are sometimes.” She moved her hand through the light coming in the window and watched the colors play across her skin.

  Then Luce told us, “You can sit on my bed if you want, and I've a little library just there if you want to read. Bri brings me books from the city when they let her go in with her new friends from the high school on weekends.”

  Then she dashed toward a closet by the door and said, “I'll be right back.” She rummaged through the closet, and I saw it was partitioned into six small sections. She grabbed some clothes and then dashed out of the room. Cal wandered around the room, sniffing everything as Jane sat on the corner of the bed with a wistful smile on her face.

  I sat next to her, being sure not to mess up the impeccably made bed. “What?”

  She shook her head and said, “God I love that little girl already. She's got more depth and facets than people give her credit for. She just can't work out how to express it.”

  I sighed and melted into her side with a smile on my lips as I laid my head on her shoulder. “She is pretty wonderful, isn't she? How could any couple pass her up? Idiots to the one.”

  She stiffened almost imperceptibly, and I glanced up to see anger hiding deep down in her. I had struck some sort of nerve, and only someone who knew her like I did, an extension of my soul, would have caught it. “What?”

  She shook her head then kissed the top of my head. “Not here.”

  What did she know that I didn't? I thought back about our earlier talks with the ladies of the home. The only thing she did that I hadn't was... “What was in Luce's file?”

  She again said, “Not here.” Then she changed the subject as she leaned over to see the eclectic book collection that was fastidiously arranged. It ranged from children's books to dog breed encyclopedias, to the thickest English dictionary I had ever seen, to... I had to smile that she did have books other than educational or informational. There were some sci-fi and fantasy books, and even a romance.

  Jane pointed at that section. “I'll lay odds that she didn't pick that group out, and it was her friend.”

  I nodded. “It's the sort of thing Kerry would do when we were young, so I won't take that bet.” Everyone needed a friend like Kerry who pushed you out of your comfort zone, then would catch you if you stumbled out there. You know what I'm talking about, I see you nodding.

  I reached out to pick up a book on philosophy, and thumbed through the book and got engrossed in Plato. One of my favorites. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, Luce returned looking fresh and clean in a tie-dyed tee and the coveralls we first saw her in from our first video conference with her. It must be her favorite outfit.

  She looked at her hands as she came up to us. “I've only the one dress. It's Bri's from when she was little. I get all her hand me downs...” She motioned at her current garb. “Sorry.”

  Was she wearing the dress because I preferred them? Did she wear it just to gain my favor? I growled out as Calvin flowed around her, rubbing up against her legs, making her smile, “You don't need to wear dresses because of me. We love you just the way you are, sweetie.”

  She looked to be processing as she started smoothing out the wrinkles from her bed when we stood. Then she nodded to herself and finally met our eyes. “They are expecting us in two minutes, we should go.”

  She grabbed a fist full of Calvin's fur and led us back down to the offices, to where the women were waiting. She stopped in front of the open door and looked at the clock on the wall. Jane opened her mouth but I held up a halting hand as I glanced up at the clock. I counted down three, two, one... and the second hand reached the top of the clock and Luce stepped into the room.

  Mrs. Johnston said, “Punctual, as usual, Miss O'Conner.” This pleased the little redhead, and she reached up to touch her wet hair that smelled like lavender now that she had showered.

  Luce said simply as she took her seat, “It shows respect for yourself and others, to be when and where you ought.”

  We looked back to the office when Miss DeLancy poked her head in, her eyes creased in worry as she said, “I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but Luce, where are the emergency intake forms?”

  All the color drained out of Luce's face when she looked at the woman, aghast, as she asked hoarsely, “How old?” She started rocking in her seat and rubbing the back of her hand violently across her jaw.

  The woman said apologetically, “Two.”

  Luce's rocking started getting violent as well and she started pulling her own hair again, “I was two when I got here...”

  When I stood to rush around the table to Luce, I c
aught sight of an older teen girl with wet dripping auburn brown hair covering one side of her face, stepping past the offices in the corridor. She froze and looked past Miss DeLancy to Luce. Then she dropped her backpack in the hall and came rushing into the room as Luce said in a faraway voice, “First shelf, third bin.”

  The girl pushed past me before I could get to Luce and said, “I've got her. What is it, Luce?”

  She was holding up a pinky as she locked her one good eye on our girl, the other eye we could barely see under the mass of hair covering that side of her face was milky white. Luce looked at her finger, then the girl, and asked, “Bri?”

  Brianne smiled and nodded. “What's going on?”

  “Emergency intake... two years old.”

  Bri sat next to her as Luce locked her pinky around her friend's in a death grip. “It's ok Luce-Goose it's an emergency intake. They just need ta find a livin' relative and they will be back with family in two shakes.”

  “That's only happened once.”

  Bri nodded and smirked. “See? It can happen.”

  This broad stroke logic non-logic seemed to be doing the trick as Bri made a show of taking one deep breath after another and Luce followed her lead. Then once our girl gathered her wits and nodded to the other girl, Bri let go of her pinky then realized there was a room full of people watching. She looked away from us and self consciously raked her wet hair out to cover more of the left side of her face to hide the heavy scarring there. “Sorry. I shouldn't be interruptin'. I know this is important stuff.”

  She made an attempt to leave but Luce grabbed her by the arm then released her quickly and then put her hand under her armpit, looking sheepish. “Bri, you know the McLeary-Mays... and Sir Calvin.” She motioned a hand down to the dog who was looking up at the newcomer, tail swishing.”

  The girl said almost bashfully, “Of course... umm... hello.”

  Then Luce reminded us like we didn't recognize the cute older teen, “This is Brianne Fitzgerald, we're pinky sisters. I've been here thirteen days longer than her, but she's older than me.”

  The look on Luce's face was almost pleading when she finished like she was seeking our approval or something. I just beamed at the girl and said, “It is a pleasure to finally meet face to face. Luce is quite fond of you.”

  The girl smirked, looking suddenly full of mischief as she shrugged. “What's not ta like?”

  Luce slapped her shoulder, then leaned in too close to her and whispered, “Bri, behave. This might be my last chance.” My heart broke, and I saw the light in Jane's eyes dim too.

  But then I smiled internally, Bri was a moderating force on Luce, and she reminded me so much of Jessie and Kerry's cocky mannerisms when she wasn't concerned with people seeing her injuries. “Bri? Why don't you join us?” Then I looked at Mrs. Doyle and Johnston.

  Mrs. Johnston nodded as she started moving toward the door. “What a splendid idea. I have to go tend to this emergency. I'll leave you in Mrs. Doyle's capable hands. We're just about done anyway.”

  Then she added, “I hope to see you again soon, ladies.” She couldn't see that we'd take Luce home with us right then if it wasn't for their rules? I could still see some skepticism in her eyes and I again wondered what was in the files Jane had read. I'll have to look myself.

  She stepped out, then popped her head back in, brow furrowed and said to Mrs. Doyle in an about-face from what they said earlier that day, “I think we can count our little outing today as a supervised visit can't we?”

  Then she was gone.

  Chapter 7 – Bed Time

  It wasn't long before we were being dragged around the home, Luce and Bri giving us the grand tour. It had stopped raining by supper time, so they showed us the grounds too. There was a little area fenced in out back with an old school play-set and monkey bars for the children, and the girls exchanged a look before Luce leaned into Jane and whispered, “Want to see the secret Quiet Place, where we go when the world gets too big?”

  Jane nodded and we followed them to the back of the groundskeeper's cottage. Bri looked around then reached up above the door frame and pulled down an old brass key and unlocked it, then put her finger to her lips when she looked at us.

  We slipped inside to see it was a cute little one-room space with a stone fireplace, and a door to what I assumed was a bathroom to one side. The place looked not lived in for quite some time, with sheets over all the furniture, except for the conspicuous lack of dust. I glanced at Luce, suspecting her hand in it.

  We saw a blanket on the floor with pillows to sit on and a box that had all sorts of knickknacks in it, and a box of crackers. Luce explained, “The girls before us and the ones before them knew about this place. They all leave something in the box for the next girls. And little notes about their time here at the home.”

  Then Luce leaned into me and whispered, “We make sure all the new girls know how to get in so they can share with the next ones once Bri and I age out of the system.”

  I winced at the words, wondering if she still thought she would age out, instead of us taking her home.

  She stepped back as Brianne explained, “This is the Quiet Place, where you can go to be alone to think and decompress. Luce reads here all the time when she isn't herding the little ruffians around. But we daren't let the headmistress know or they will change the locks, everyone knows the caretaker's cottage is off limits.”

  Luce brought a finger to her lips, her eyes twinkling with the mischief of being a rebel in her super structured world. I winked at her and mimicked the motion. Jane was just smirking in amusement. “It's a great space, like a secret fort. All girls need a place of their own, I had a little tree fort when I was a girl.”

  Luce's eyes went wide and she whispered, “You did?”

  Jane nodded with her own rebellious twinkle in her eye.

  I squished my lips to one side and admitted lamely, “My safe place was under my bed.”

  Luce nodded sagely. “If I can't come here, that's where I go. It can block out a lot of the outside that tries to force its way in.” Exactly, it always gave a false sense of isolation that helped to calm me. This girl understood what a lot of others couldn't about growing up being... not quite made with the same cookie-cutter as most. Hey, pipe down or I'll 'special' you right upside the head, now shush and let me tell the story.

  We went back inside the main building after the girls locked and carefully re-hid the key. Kids were running through the hall and Luce started speaking loudly. “Slow down or someone is goin' ta get hurt you savages.”

  One girl, maybe five years old stopped and turned to look at her, looking like a kid caught doing something they weren't supposed to, “Yes, Sissy.” Another girl chimed in, “Yes, Sissy.”

  The Bri said, “Scoot upstairs and wash up, it's supper time.”

  The girl nodded enthusiastically and headed up the stairs at a sedate pace, the moment they were out of view the squealing started again, and it sounded like a herd of wild beasts charging down the hall.

  Luce huffed and muttered to herself, “No sense at all, that lot.”

  Then she looked at us. “Supper in the commissary in five minutes. There's another washroom down here by the nurse's station.”

  Bri left us saying, “I'll make sure the mongrels are actually cleaning up Luce, I have to change out of my school uniform anyway, see you at the table.”

  Luce waited until Bri disappeared up the stairs then said behind her hand to us, “That one has her uses. Though I'm quite sure she's the source of most shenanigans here.”

  I grinned and said, “And she's your bestie.”

  Luce tried to hide her grin as she ground a heel on the floor and tugged at her hair as she admitted, “And she's my bestie. Don't tell the wretched beast that or it'll go to her head. She's incorrigible.”

  Jane cocked a brow and snorted once and said in a tone full of mischief, “You sound just like someone else I know.” She had the common decency not to grunt as I stomped he
r toe.

  Then Luce added as she looked down. “She's always been here. She protects me when I don't understand even though I've technically been here longer. But she's older so she's seen things, and knows things. I just wish she'd keep her space cleaner, I keep organizing it for her but a few minutes later it looks as if a bomb went off there.”

  It was my turn to snort and shoot an accusing look at my loving wife. She squinted an eye at me in fun.

  Then I looked around and said, “Well we shouldn't intrude on the home's supper. We should be going, and we'll see you first thing tomorrow for our Saturday unsupervised visit. We can draw up an itinerary and make it a touristy day in Belfast.”

  She looked disappointed, but Mrs. Doyle stepped into the hall. “Nonsense, you're welcome to join us. All the girls have been curious about you all day. You don't have any other plans tonight do you?”

  I looked at Jane with pleading eyes, I wanted to spend as much time with Luce as we could. She sighed with an expectant look. “Of course, you don't need my permission, pipsqueak.”

  Yay! I grinned.

  Jane said, “We'd be happy to join the children for supper.”

  Mrs. Doyle was already heading down the hall to the commissary. “Grand. See you there.”

  After we got washed up and went into the little cafeteria with Luce, we saw all the children were gathered. Most were around four or five but there were two who looked to be older, but no older than about seven, eight or so. They all grabbed trays and Luce grabbed some for us as Bri stepped in like she owned the place, full of confidence until she saw us and raked her hair farther over her scars.

  She nudged Luce with her hip when she handed her a tray, and Luce nudged her back, which started a nudge war and I beamed at it, seeing Luce being playful. She muttered, “Best you leave off, woman, lest my tray collects a Bri shaped dent in it.”

  Bri wiggled her free hand. “Oooo, I'm scared.”

  Luce pointed at her when she looked at us, saying, “See what I have to deal with all the time?”