by Lincoln Cole
Marlene, on the other hand, raised her hand. It shot up into the air with barely contained excitement. She grinned and waved it around. Jason pretended he didn’t see her.
“Kyle? Want to get us going tonight? No? How about you, Eddie? You could tell us about that new job you got, maybe.”
Both young men looked away. From the look on Eddie’s face, he probably didn’t have that new job anymore.
Marlene started making little sounds for attention now, little ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ noises. She was practically jumping out of her chair. Jason smiled slightly but kept pretending like he didn’t see her.
“Ben? You’ve been here for a few weeks now, but you haven’t shared anything yet. Maybe you could start off with something simple.”
Ben was a tall young man, maybe in his late twenties, and rail thin. He was wearing baggy clothes that were ripped in several spots and a dark brown jacket with stains on the left side.
He probably hadn’t showered in days, maybe weeks, and it had been even longer since those clothes were cleaned. Richard wasn’t sure, but he thought he could smell Ben from across the room.
“Where you are from?” Jason continued prodding. “Maybe you could tell us something about your family or friends? You don’t need to tell us anything major, just something small.”
Ben was leaning forward in his chair, hands clasped between his knees and head bowed. The entire group was silent, looking at him. He glanced up when Jason spoke, and then looked down again.
“Is that a no?”
Ben didn’t respond. He glanced around the room at all the people staring at him, stood up, and headed for the exit.
Everyone watched as he pushed the door open and disappeared into the night. Jason let out a little sigh, shaking his head.
“Four weeks of not missing a night, but the kid hasn’t said a word.”
“I can,” Angelina—the donut woman, Richard remembered—said, raising her hand. Her pink dress looked crumpled up in the chair and her pale legs were shiny in this light. “I can go first and say something. I’ll start us off for the night, if you like.”
Jason smiled at her. “Sure Angelina. Thanks.”
He sat back down and she stood up. It was a laborious process, the chair wobbling a little bit under her weight, but she managed.
The pink dress stood out, matching her cheeks. She smiled and brushed absently at some strands of hair on her cheek.
“Hi everyone. I’m Angelina, and I’m an alcoholic.”
“Hi Angelina,” the room echoed back.
“But I guess you all already knew that. I’ve been coming here for six months now, and I’m still sober so it must be helping,” she said. She paused, then shook her head. “No, I know it’s helping. I’m glad you are all here.
“I’m thankful, because my life has gotten better since I started this clinic. This weekend I went to my son’s soccer game. It’s his first game and he was so excited. He has been waiting for this season to start, since it’ll be his first time playing. He looked so cute in his little uniform running up and down the field. It was like…”
She trailed off, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and continued:
“It was like watching a little angel play soccer. I also got to see my daughter, Kaitlyn. She is such a little sweetheart and Greg had her dressed up in braided pigtails like a little princess. She was so adorable when she looked up at me and…and it just broke my heart to think of the last three years…”
She trailed off, a tear streaming down her cheek.
“…and she told me about…”
She stopped, wringing her hands in front of her, choked up. A few moments passed in silence, everyone watching in collective silence. She cleared her throat and smiled sadly at the group.
“Sorry, I didn’t think it would be this hard. I just wake up every morning and thank God that I started coming here. I’m thankful that you all accepted me and treated me like I was family. I don’t think I could have done this alone.
“And Greg has really come around, now that I’m getting better. We haven’t reached the court date yet, but Greg wants to try and work out a visitation system without needing to see a judge. I’m seeing them once every few weeks for now, but he’s hoping we can make it more often soon. He said that all children need their mothers and he isn’t going to try and keep me away anymore.
“I’ve been able to see my children again, and they don’t seem to remember just how bad…I just…thank you, everyone. Thank you.”
She sat back down quickly, covering her face with her hands. Jason stood up and started clapping his hands. Everyone else followed suit.
“Thank you for sharing Angelina. We knew Greg would come around, so we really appreciate you telling us about all of this. We are all here to talk about our failures and be supportive of each other, but it’s more than that. We want to hear about the successes too. You are family, Angelina, and don’t you ever forget it.”
She nodded, smiling through her tears.
“Okay, who’s next?” Jason asked.
Marlene’s hand shot up again. Everyone else looked away. Jason sighed in exasperation.
“Okay, Marlene. The floor is yours.”
She stood up, grinning like a loon, and then cleared her throat. Richard saw a few looks of exasperation from the other members.
“Hi everyone,” Marlene said. “I’m Marlene, and I am an alkee-holic.”
A few people mumbled a response back. One older man just yawned.
“As most of you know, I lost a lot of things in my life due to alcohol. It was hard trying to get by when I was drinking regularly and it took a lot for me to overcome it. I mean I used to be a banker, but because of alcohol I just lost interest.”
Richard cocked his head sideways. He glanced at the people in their seats. A few looked annoyed, some disinterested, and a couple were smiling in bemusement.
“Heck, you could go all the way back to my childhood: I used to know how to throw a boomerang,” Marlene continued. “But then because of alcohol I forgot. But, now that I quit drinking, it came back to me!”
She grinned and chuckled. Richard furrowed his brow, almost expecting to hear a rim shot.
“Recently I learned sign language, though, and it’s been pretty handy.”
Richard shook his head and leaned toward Jason. “You have got to be kidding me—”
“But alcohol did some good things for me, too,” Marlene continued, feigning sincerity. “I mean I used to have a fear of hurdles, but because of alcohol, I got over it.”
“Really?” he whispered to his brother. “Puns?”
Jason sighed and nodded. He whispered back: “Almost every week. She says it helps with her therapy.”
“Hey, did you any of you hear about the accident that happened in the parking garage a few nights ago?” Marlene continued. “Man, it was wrong on so many levels.”
“And you let her?”
Jason shrugged. “I’m not going to tell anyone they can’t talk,” he said. “But there’s only so much I can take.”
Marlene was on a roll:
“I ate some food coloring yesterday. I went to the doctor and he said I was okay, but I feel like I’ve dyed a little inside.”
Richard shook his head. One person chuckled. Probably out of pity.
“Marlene…” Jason said, twirling his finger. She shrugged and nodded, clapping her hands together.
“Okay, okay, I’m done. But seriously everyone,” Marlene said. “I love you guys. You make my life better, and I want to just echo everything Jason and Angelina said earlier. You are my family and I’m always here if any of you need anything. Don’t ever change.”
Everyone clapped as she sat down, and then a man named Peter stood up. He spoke about his family, giving everyone an update about the things happening in his life.
After a few minutes Richard tuned him out, disinterested in the man’s life story. He was sharing details as intimate as where he had dinner tw
o nights ago, what was on the menu, the movie he went to go see afterward, and how it ended. Richard assumed after half an hour Peter would be telling them about the sort of underwear he had selected for this meeting.
“Where’s the bathroom?” Richard asked. Jason pointed down the hallway.
“It’s through the side office,” Jason replied. “The one with all the boxes, across the hall from the coffee machine.”
“Okay,” Richard replied.
“Everyone has to speak on their first night,” he said. “It’s tradition.”
“What?” Richard asked.
“Wait a second,” Jason said. Peter finished talking and sat down, and Jason stood back up. “Everyone, I would like you to meet my brother Richard.”
“Hi, Richard,” they all said.
“Hi,” he said awkwardly.
“Richard, can you tell us all a few things about yourself?”
Richard coughed. “What?”
“Just introduce yourself to the group.”
He eyed his brother for a long moment before finally standing up. “Hey everyone. I’m Richard, and I’m not an alcoholic. I’m not addicted to anything, actually, I’m just here visiting for my brother.
“I’m a lawyer by trade and I work in my own practice downtown with a few partners.”
The room was silent, staring at him. It wasn’t that hard to tell that none of them liked him. But, that didn’t bother him. The feeling was mutual.
He glanced at Jason. “What else should I say?”
“Anything you would like to share.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else.”
“Okay,” Jason said. He turned to the group. “Anyone have any questions?”
One man asked: “What sort of law do you practice?”
“Corporate law,” he replied. “We have a lot of clients.”
“So you’re basically a thief?” the man said.
“Hey there,” Jason said, patting the air with his hands. “No judgement here.”
“I wasn’t sure that applied to lawyers,” the man said, leaning back in his chair and grinning. Richard took a few deep and calming breaths and glanced at Jason.
“Good enough?” he asked.
Jason nodded, an apologetic expression on his face. Richard didn’t care. He headed off as Francesca began speaking and disappeared down the hallway.
He didn’t see a light switch but the hallway wasn’t too dim to maneuver. He found the restroom past all of the boxes, a tiny little cubicle-size room that smelled like a truck stop urinal.
His brother didn’t seem to believe in filing cabinets, settling instead on loading everything into cardboard boxes and using his spare offices as storage. Virtually every room was loaded with boxes of cheap items and papers. It was as though Jason had never bothered unpacking his things. Jason was a packrat, and an extreme one at that.
He heard a voice droning in the background as another speaker took the floor, but decided he wasn’t really interested in what he or she had to say. They would all be saying the same things: woe unto them, it wasn’t their fault, but through God’s grace they would overcome.
Richard took the time instead to check his email and send a few quick responses to clients and partners. He hated sending emails by phone, considering it tedious and uncomfortable, but it served as an excellent way to pass the time.
About halfway through his phone started to ring. He didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?” he said, answering it.
“Hey, is this Richard?”
“Yeah, this is Richard speaking.”
“Hey Richard, its Jim. Deb’s Cousin.”
“Oh, hey Jim,” Richard said. “What’s up?”
“It’s about that missing person Deb asked me to check into. The one for Lakeisha Blake.”
“Ah,” Richard said.
He’d forgotten completely that Deborah was going to do that when Jason picked him up. “Look, this isn’t really the best time so can I call you—”
“She’s dead.”
Richard fell silent, jaw hanging open. “She’s what?”
Chapter 16
Nichole
Nichole knocked gently on the door. “Kenni? Are you okay?”
There wasn’t a reply. Not right away. She heard movement inside the room, and then the door opened. Kenni had a frown on her face and looked tired.
“What?”
“Do you want anything to eat? I brought you some dinner.”
She held up a plate of food. Kenni stared at it for a long minute, and then accepted it like a peace offering. She opened the door a little further and moved back to her bed.
Nichole followed her inside. The room was clean but littered with dirty clothes. An unused clothes hamper sat in the corner and shirts were covering the bed, floor, and back of her chair.
Kenni sat on the bed and started eating. Nichole cleaned off the desk chair and sat down. It was silent for a few minutes, while Kenni ate. Nichole waited as patiently as she could, then finally started talking:
“How was school?”
“Fine,” Kenni said through bites.
“How was it really?”
Kenni looked up at her, frowning.
“It was fine,” she said.
“You told Rico you didn’t really do much today,” she said.
“We didn’t,” Kenni said. “Most of the classes the teachers don’t even show up.”
“I’m sorry,” Nichole said.
“You always say that.”
“I mean it.”
Kenni shrugged. “After a while it just stops having meaning.”
“I know. I wish your teachers would put more work into the classes.”
“I don’t care anymore,” Kenni replied. She finished eating and handed the plate back to Nichole. “There isn’t any point.”
“Kenni…”
“I don’t even know why you make me go,” she said. She spoke tersely, simmering emotions bubbling under the surface. “You aren’t my Mom.”
Nichole opened her mouth to reply, and then shut it again.
“No,” she said. “You’re right. I’m not your Mom.”
“Then why do you even care?”
“Because you’re my little sister.”
“I know.”
“And I care about you.”
“But there’s nothing you can do to help me,” Kenni said. “I hated Mom when she made me go to Northmont. I hated getting stuck with all of those kids who look at me funny because I’m different. But Mom said I didn’t have a choice, and it would be good for me. And you know what? I dealt with it.
“Then I finally got used to it, and things were working out just fine, and you tell me I can’t keep going? That I have to go back to my old middle school?”
“There wasn’t an alternative,” Nichole said.
“I know!” Kenni shouted. “And where the hell is Mom? Did she leave us? Did she abandon us? She’s the one that set all of this up, and now she isn’t even here. So where is she?”
“I don’t know,” Nichole said.
“Exactly. You don’t know. Rico doesn’t know, I don’t know, no one knows where she is. Why? Why does no one know where she is?”
Nichole hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Then what do you want me to say? That I’m okay with this school? That I’m okay with Mom being gone? That it doesn’t bother me that they sent me away because I’m black? What do you want me to say? I’ll say it, just tell me what you want me to say!”
Nichole took a few deep breaths to fight back her tears. No child should ever have to deal with things like this. Never.
“It’ll get better—”
“No, it won’t,” Kenni said. “Because it’s just how life is, right? It’s just what we have to deal with because our skin is a different color. Nothing will get better, it’ll just keep on going like it is. It won’t get better for me, I just have to get used to it, right?”
Nichole did
n’t know what to say.
“Kenni…”
“What?”
“Your Mom…”
“You aren’t my Mom,” Kenni said, sitting on her bed and folding her arms. She looked down at the floor. “And you can’t help me with anything.”
In that moment, Nichole felt more helpless than any other time in her life. Kenni looked away, signaling that the conversation was over.
Nichole fought down her tears and headed for the door, glancing back one final time at her little sister. Kenni sat on the center of the bed, arms crossed and tense. She looked like a scared little girl, fighting back against the world.
Chapter 17
Richard
“She’s dead,” Jim said.
Richard wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “When?”
“A few months ago. She was taken to a hospital a few towns over with breast cancer. It was really bad, and she didn’t have any identification on her. Didn’t make it through the night.”
“So she was listed as a Jane Doe?”
“They couldn’t find any family. Anyway, they never got around to running her against a missing person’s database and she popped up right away.”
Richard felt a tightness in his chest. “And you’re sure it’s her?”
“She matches the missing person report perfectly. I was about to get in touch with the next of kin, but thought I’d give you a call first.”
“Who is the next of kin?”
“Her son. Kid named Rico. Do you know him?”
“I know his sister,” Richard said. “They’ve been asking what happened to her for a few weeks, and you’re telling me no one bothered to check Jane Doe records in the hospital?”
Jim was silent for a second. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “It’s not my precinct. They might have been busy, or maybe she wasn’t…”
“…a priority?” Richard said. “Maybe she wasn’t white enough?”
Jim let out a long sigh. “I can’t speak for what happened. I just thought maybe you would want to know.”
“I appreciate it,” Richard said.
“I’m going to call the family now,” Jim said. “And let them know.”