Angelina's Oak

by Jesse Reiss

Chapter 17

  After they had thrown together an overnight bag they followed Lee in his police car over to Los Feliz. By this time the sun had set and the city lights had come to life. Shortly before Los Feliz Boulevard crosses over the Interstate 5 and heads into Glendale, they took a left up into a residential mountainside drive, passing homes of various sorts and sizes that had been built on either side of the road. The road curved this way and that as it climbed and the higher they got, the more elegant the houses were. The police car pulled over in front of what appeared to be a small brown house hanging on the mountain edge with a terra cotta tiled roof.

  Lee got out and motioned for them to drive into the garage that was mechanically opening. The empty garage had space for two cars. After they pulled their few bags out, they thanked Jacqueline profusely for helping them and for being such a good friend. She told Paula to take it easy on Sunday, promising to pick her up on Monday morning. She backed out, taking Paula’s car home with her.

  When they walked into the house they were surprised to find it more spacious than the outside appeared. The garage entrance led into the top level, which had two floors below that and a basement. They walked into the first floor and were met with a lounge with tan sofas, a large flat-screen TV and packed bookshelves lining the walls. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls covered the far side that looked out over the 5 and 134 Freeway connections far below and the city of Glendale in the distance.

  Angelina loved it. Their house in the Hollywood Hills provided no view like this. She had to go up into the park to look out over the city and rarely had been up there at night to be able to witness such a sight as this. She dropped her bags and went through the glass door out onto the porch that overlooked everything. Looking over the railing she could see the next houses far below. On the porch itself were several large recliners and glass side tables. She thought it was like having a home on the clouds. For the first time all day she felt herself start to settle down.

  “You guys have the guest room, which is on the next floor down,” Lee said calmly, walking down the staircase with their bags in his hands.

  He pointed out the three bedrooms on the floor, two that he and his son occupied.

  “Don’t you get worried about your house falling off the side of the hill in an earthquake?” Angelina asked.

  He laughed. “You’re not the first to ask me that question. No, this house has a basement that is dug into the mountainside and has steel beams that connect from there to the roof. The entire mountainside would have to give way before the house went anywhere.”

  Paula noticed family pictures on the walls through the house, but didn’t pay them close attention, not wanting to intrude. She did notice at a glance that some family portraits had white and black people together, which she found interesting.

  “My son is away for a few days in Arizona and won’t be back until later tonight. That’s his room there. This is my room behind that door and this room here is where you can stay. He opened the door to reveal a medium size room, moderately furnished with a queen size bed and dressers. A window with its curtains drawn back revealed the distant city lights. “’The guest bathroom is the one down the hall there. Go ahead and make it your own as we each have our own bathrooms inside our rooms.”

  “Thank you very much,” Paula said softly. She meant it. This home felt secure and far away from danger. “You’ve been too kind to us.”

  “Just want to…” he didn’t know what he wanted to say, fumbling for the right words. “Um, to help you out,” he finished lamely. It was out of the ordinary, he knew, to be so kind to people in his work, but something felt right about it. They were good people and if he didn’t want to help there would be no reason for him to become a police officer. It isn’t a light decision to throw yourself in harm’s way every day to keep peace and order in a city like Los Angeles.

  “I’ve got to go back to the office and complete some paperwork and turn in a report on today. Haven’t seen this much activity in weeks. You make yourself at home. There is food in the kitchen upstairs you’re welcome to help yourself to whatever you like. Sorry its not the best setup as we don’t go fancy on meals around here and I’m usually working long shifts so Neil — that’s my son — usually fixes himself something simple.”

  “Thank you again,” Paula said. “We’re dog tired from today. We’ll probably eat something light and head to bed. I feel like I could sleep for six days straight.”

  Lee said goodbye and closed the door.

  Angelina and Paula unpacked their bags and headed upstairs to the kitchen. The house was dead quiet except for the noises they made. A single piece of silverware hitting a dish seemed to reverberate everywhere. To Angelina it felt strange and enthralling to be given license to walk around another’s house. Paula felt like an intruder, not wanting to upset anything. They didn’t turn on any large lights or the TV or radio. Like doing so would in some way be rude or jeopardize the welcome they had been given. They found some herbal tea and fixed themselves bowls of canned soup with Ritz crackers. They sat on stools around the kitchen table with the single lamplight above.

  “I never want to experience a day like today ever again,” Paula said, looking at her daughter with relief on her face.

  “Of course not, it was terrifying,” Angelina said, dipping a cracker in her soup. “I hope they arrest that disgusting man and I never see or hear of him again.”

  Paula decided they had had enough discussion of today’s terrifying events and changed the subject. “Honey, I’m thinking of selling my business.”

  “Why? It’s doing so well.”

  “Yeah, but the last week has made me realize something about the whole industry and I can’t see myself doing it to the end of my days. Gold, gems, diamonds and all these things — they’re so aesthetic and entrancing and that’s why I got into the business, but that’s also what’s so wrong with it. These people were willing to take another’s life for a piece of metal that has no industrial use to man other than to replace lost teeth. It is something pretty to look at. That’s really its only value.” She raised her hands and shrugged. “While sitting on that subway with James I realized that when something material like this becomes more important than someone’s life, a line has seriously been crossed somewhere.”

  Angelina nodded several times in agreement. “Maybe you should find a religion and some spiritual calling.” Paula and she had discussed religion before and didn’t really take it very far. Angelina was strongly influenced by her Catholic school and seemed to be taking up aspects of the faith, but Paula shied away from most anything serious about religion, preferring to fall back on her Native American heritage as her only resemblance to a spiritual calling.

  “I’m taking it one thing at a time right now,” Paula answered.

  “You know that James guy asked me out once?”

  “He did? You should have told me. I would have fired him instantly.”

  “Well, it wasn’t that serious. Well, maybe it was, but I didn’t take him seriously. I could tell already the guy was so gross,” she said with a fake shudder.

  “Still,” Paula said, sipping her tea. She looked up, a thought on her face. “Why do you think Officer Stanley is being so nice to us?”


  “Duh, Mom! He likes you. That’s obvious.”

  “But he hardly knows me. I’m this crying mother who can’t seem to hold her life together.”

  “No, you are not. You braved going down to the subway by yourself and meeting these people. No one else would have the guts to do that. You run your own business and you’ve managed to put your life back together after Dad left. Tell me who else could do that?”

  Paula blew lightly over her tea and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if I’m ready to start dating again though. Seems too soon.”

  “Ten months isn’t too soon Mom. You need to find a man, maybe one like Officer Stanley. I need you to find one.”

  Paula smiled and let out a short laugh. It was the first ti
me she had laughed all day and it felt good. “Why am I being lectured on men by my own daughter?”

  “Because I liked having a dad and because I’ll be going to Stanford in two years and I don’t like the idea of you living alone.”

  Paula went serious, thinking about what her daughter had said. She felt the statement’s painful truth. She wasn’t sure if the pain was from the loss of her husband or the emptiness she felt that would someday have to be filled by someone. “You’re right Honey, you need a Dad and I should get you one. God it sure did feel good when he found me at the Metro and started issuing orders and stuff.”

  “He probably knows a lot more about you than you realize. I bet he’s got your credit history, your tax filings, your public records and probably knows all about Dad too.”

  “Why would he know all that?”

  “Because he’s a cop and they have access to everything, don’t they? I mean, if I were him and I came across a single mother as beautiful as you, that’s what I’d do.”

  “We’ll you better not give him any ideas.”

  “Oh no. The ball’s in your court.”

  Paula smiled. Her daughter was growing up so fast. She talked like a grown woman, confident and assured and even after a day of pure hell. She was making her mother proud.

  They figured out how to get the shower working and each took a long one. Paula re-fixed the bandages on a couple of Angelina’s scratches and assured her no scarring would be visible after everything healed. They tucked into bed, asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

  ◊

  Around one o’clock in the morning Angelina woke up needing to use the restroom. The strange room reminded her of the previous day and it took her a moment to remember how they ended up there. She got out of bed and looked around for a bathrobe or something to put over her and realized they hadn’t brought anything. Damn. She had a thin blue nightgown on that came down to her upper thighs. She thought about getting fully dressed, but that would be such a nuisance to travel twenty feet down a hallway.

  She opened the door a crack and looked out. The single hallway nightlight was on and all was quiet. She waited a few seconds and hearing nothing, tiptoed from the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

  When she was done she opened the door slowly and confirmed no one was there. She began to walk quietly down the hallway and halfway there a body came around the corner, bumping right into her. Both jumped back in fright, unharmed.

  It was a young man with brown hair and blue eyes. He stood approximately four inches taller than Angelina and looked just a little older. He was dressed in faded jeans and a T-shirt that accentuated his lean body. He had a backpack on and his hands were filled with books.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I hope I didn’t wake you up,” he said in a hushed voice and with a worried look.

  Angelina instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, embarrassed to be running into a guy in her nightgown with her hair in a mess, bandages on her arms and no make-up on. “No, that’s fine. I was using the restroom. I assume you live here?”

  “Yeah, Dad texted me that he had put some people up in the guest room.”

  “Dad?”

  “Yeah. I’m Neil Stanley, Lee’s son.” He balanced the books on his left forearm and extended his right hand for her to shake.

  She released her right arm, keeping her left firmly in place and shook his hand. “Pleasure. Angelina.”

  “That’s a nice name.”

  “Thanks.” She felt her embarrassment rise even higher and was sure he would soon start to feel the heat radiating from her face. She nodded and looked away, taking the final steps to the guest room at a quick pace.

  She closed the door and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Climbing onto the bed on her knees, she lightly shook Paula and spoke in a hushed voice, “Mom!”

  “Mmmm …”

  “Mom!”

  Her eyes didn’t open. “What?”

  “He’s white!”

  “What’s white Honey?”

  “Neil! He’s white!”

  That seemed to register with her a little and one eye opened to a squint. “So?”

  “What do you mean — ‘so’?”

  “Well, is he good looking?” she mumbled.

  Drop-dead-handsome, Angelina thought wistfully. “I guess,” she answered nonchalantly, as if the thought had just occurred to her.

  “Then he’s allowed to be white,” Paula said and turned over.

  It took Angelina half an hour before she fell back to sleep.