But she hadn’t won yet. As the other kids worked on the science assignments she gave them, Mark sat doodling on his paper. She told herself that she wasn’t going to hover over him, and she wasn’t going to let him draw her into another argument. He had to learn that there were consequences for failing to get his work done.
She sat at the computer and sent an SOS e-mail to Sylvia, telling her how this first day was turning out. But before she sent it, she erased it. She didn’t need to say negative things about a child who had been placed in her care. She wouldn’t want Cathy talking about Daniel behind her back. She was above this, she thought. She could handle a little aggravation, and concentrate on the positives. Joseph was slowly returning to health, her other kids were able to get their education at home, and she had money coming in without having to work at night. Mark was worth the trouble.
After a while, she got up and went around to check her children’s work. When she got to Mark, she saw that he had done absolutely nothing. She pulled out a chair and sat down at his table, getting face-to-face with him. “Mark, what have you been doing this whole time?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Well, I asked you to do this assignment.” Her voice was calm, unperturbed. She could do this, she told herself. She would not let her children see him get under her skin. “Can you tell me why you didn’t do it?”
“I didn’t understand it,” he said.
“What’s to understand? I very clearly told you to read that chapter and answer the questions at the end of it.”
“But it didn’t make any sense to me. Why can’t we go on a field trip or something? Mom told me that was why homeschooling was so cool, that instead of reading books we did things.”
“We do go on field trips. We go on them all the time,” she said, “but right now we’ve got to get a basis for what we’re learning, because field trips don’t do any good if you don’t know what you’re seeing.” Her voice was rising and she checked herself.
This boy was no different from Daniel, she thought. He was just a little misguided, a little less disciplined, but he had a long way to go before she would give up hope.
“Look, Mark, why don’t you and Daniel work together?” She winked at Daniel as he looked up at her. “Daniel, maybe you can help Mark understand exactly what he’s supposed to do. Show him how you take notes when you read.”
“Sure, Mama.” Daniel came to sit beside Mark, and the two boys grinned conspiratorially. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach again.
She sent them to a table in the corner of the room while she went around and checked Leah and Rachel and Joseph’s work. She was standing over Joseph explaining rock formations and the crust of the earth when she heard something crash. She swung around and saw Daniel and Mark horsing around, giggling and pretending to fight.
“Daniel!” she shouted. Daniel let Mark go and backed away. He looked up at her with a startled look on his face. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I will not tolerate this!” Her voice was getting loud. “Now if you can’t behave, then you can go back to school.”
“I’ll behave,” Daniel said quickly. “I’m sorry, Mama.”
Mark shot Daniel a look that said he was crazy. “Man, if I had the chance to go back to school, I’d do it in a second. In a heartbeat. Why do you want to be here?”
Brenda wanted to grab Mark and throttle him. “Mark, so help me, you’re testing my patience, and I’ve been told I have more than most people.” Her eyes stung, and she began to tremble. She didn’t think her children had ever seen her lose control, but Mark was pushing her to the edge of her ability to endure.
She counted to ten in her mind, tried to take a few deep breaths, closed her eyes. A few moments of explosive silence ticked by as her children waited to see what she would do. She opened her eyes and saw that Mark was the only one who wasn’t concerned with her reaction.
What was it she always tried to do in cases like this? Oh, yes, positive reinforcement. There hadn’t been many negatives in her repertoire…at least not until today.
“All right, kids,” she said. “I’ll tell you what. If you’ll get your science work done in the next half hour, then I’ll take us all on a field trip tomorrow. It’ll be sort of a back-to-homeschool party and we’ll go to the park at Lake Brianne. I know it doesn’t have much to do with what we’re studying right now, but somehow we’ll figure out a way to tie it in.” She forced a grin, and the kids began to smile.
Mark was the only one who seemed unimpressed.
“Mark, if you get your work done, you’ll get to go to the park with us.” She looked around at the other kids, knowing they would all have their work done. “But anyone who doesn’t have it done will have to stay behind.”
“Stay behind?” Mark asked. “And do what?”
“Help Mr. David in his workshop,” she said. “You won’t be alone and you’ll still be learning, but you won’t get the privilege everybody else gets unless you do your work.”
She drew in a deep breath and checked her watch. “I’m giving you thirty more minutes. Everybody get busy.” With that, she left the room and hurried out to David’s workshop.
David was busy with his power drill when she stepped inside his workshop. It was sweet refuge, and she shut the door hard behind her. David looked up and pulled off his goggles. “What is it?”
She slid onto a stool. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”
A slow grin traveled across David’s face. “My Brenda doesn’t know how much more she can take? Brenda, you’ve been through heart disease with Joseph. I think you can take a lot.”
“I don’t know if I can take Mark,” she said. “I’m about to pull my hair out. I think maybe I’ve made a terrible mistake. Maybe telemarketing wasn’t really so bad.”
His smile faded, as he realized she was serious. “Brenda, you don’t mean that.”
“I do mean it,” she said, “but I can’t get out of this now because I’ve committed. Cathy’s counting on me.”
“So what are you going to do? Break him. like a wild horse?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to break him, I just want to redirect him a little. He’s such an angry kid. And he has a way of making the adults around him just as angry.”
“Well, maybe that has to do with growing up in a house without a father.”
“But he has a relationship with his father,” she said.
“Every other weekend?” David asked. “Come on. That’s not a relationship.”
“Well, whatever the reason, he can’t go on like this. Not if I’m going to teach him. And you’re probably going to hate me. But I need your help again, David. Remember, I’m doing this to help supplement our income.”
He grinned and looked up at the ceiling, as if he could find some patience there. “What do I have to do this time?”
“I’ve given him an ultimatum,” she said. “If he doesn’t get his work done in the next thirty minutes, he’s not going on the field trip with us tomorrow.”
“Field trip?” David asked. “You just started school!”
“I know, but it just hit me that maybe I could give him some positive incentive, maybe something to look forward to and work toward.”
“Do you think he’ll do it?”
She clutched the roots of her hair. “I hope so. But I don’t know, and if he doesn’t, I can’t let him catch me in a bluff. I’m going to have to leave him here with you.”
He moaned. “Brenda, I can’t get any work done when he’s here. He spends the whole time roaming around picking up machinery that could cut his hand off.”
“Well, maybe you could teach him what everything does so he won’t do that.”
“Or maybe he’ll get his work done,” he said, putting his goggles back on.
She sighed. “Maybe.”
He started drilling again, his face grim. “If I could just get more work done, I’d make more money and you wouldn’t have to do stuff like this,” he shoute
d over the noise of the drill.
She felt even worse. Reaching over, she tapped him, and he shut off the drill. “David, this is not a big deal. I can do it, okay? Don’t start feeling bad about yourself. We just have some financial obstacles right now, but it’s not our fault. We couldn’t have anticipated all these medical bills.”
“Yeah, but if I had a better job with insurance…”
“David, this is what we chose.” She grabbed his hand, pulled him close. He grinned like a little boy and took the goggles off again. “I like having you here,” she said. “I need your help. I like the flexibility. I like that you’re your own boss.”
“It’s a good thing I am.” He leaned over and kissed her, then pressing his forehead against hers, said, “Well, I guess we’re in this homeschooling thing together, aren’t we? Sure, you can leave him with me if you have to.”
She hugged him, so thankful that they could work as a team in this. It would do Mark good to be around a man who wielded a certain amount of authority.
Brenda braced herself as she went back in. She checked Joseph’s work and saw that he had done everything he was supposed to do and more, just as he always did. She kissed his forehead and told him she was proud of him.
She checked Leah’s and Rachel’s papers, saw that they, too, had gone beyond the call of duty. They loved to learn and knew that the more they learned this first run-through, the more they could do when their mother started working with them on projects and examples.
Then she made it over to Daniel, who still sat beside Mark. Daniel was just finishing the last problem. She knew he would have been finished fifteen minutes ago if Mark hadn’t slowed him. She glanced down at Mark’s paper. He had written one sentence but had failed to do any of the rest of the work. She wondered how he had passed the time while she was gone. Her heart rate sped up, and her palms began to sweat. She swallowed and commanded herself to stay calm. “Mark, why didn’t you do what I told you?”
“Well, I read it. I’ve got it up here,” he said, tapping his head. “I didn’t need to write any of it down.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So you’re telling me that you did the assignment in your head, but that I don’t need to see it on paper?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, it’s going to be a fun trip to the park tomorrow,” she said, turning back to the other children. “I was thinking maybe we could stop by Kentucky Fried Chicken and pick up a bucket of chicken and have a picnic.” Leah and Rachel and Joseph all began to cheer. Daniel was more reticent, though, as he looked up at his mother, as though wondering what she was up to. “Joseph, we’ll take a wheelchair in case you get tired, but you don’t have to use it unless you want to.”
“Okay,” he said.
“We’ll ride the train that goes around the lake, and maybe we can do some fishing.” Joseph hadn’t been away from home in a while, except to go to church. His round face beamed with excitement.
She turned back to Mark. “Mark, I’m sure Mr. David will be able to keep you busy all day.”
His expression crashed. “What?”
“You’ll be helping him tomorrow,” she said. “You should learn a lot from him.”
His mouth dropped open. “You’re leaving me here?”
“Well, sure,” she said. “I told you how it was going to be and you didn’t do your work so…”
“I’m telling my mom,” he spouted. “She’s paying you good money.”
“She’s paying me to teach you,” Brenda said, “and I’m trying to.” She looked at her watch and realized the school day was over. Cathy had told her to send Mark home when it got to be three o’clock. “Mark, you’re welcome to go home now. I’m not going to give you any homework today, but I would like for you to finish that science assignment tonight.”
“If I do, do I get to go to the park?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I warned you about that and you made your choice, but if you do your science assignment tonight and turn it in tomorrow morning, when we start back on our studies Wednesday, you’ll be able to help on the project we’re going to do. And if you have any trouble doing it tonight,” she said, “I could certainly explain everything to your mother.”
“No,” he said, “she’ll go ballistic.”
“She might,” Brenda said. “I’d really like for her to have a good feeling about the way today went.”
He stood up and got his books together, and shot her a look that said he couldn’t believe he was being treated this way. Then without saying good-bye to any of them, he headed out the door and across the street.
CHAPTER Thirty-Eight
For the first time in weeks, Tory couldn’t wait for Barry to get home so she could tell him about the school and what she had seen, and plead with him to go back there with her. If he could see these babies, understand the hope for them, the potential, the joy they could bring to their families’ lives, she knew it would change his heart.
She cooked a big meal and tried to make their home comfortable with scented candles and a fire in the fireplace, hut when suppertime came, Barry was still not home.
“Where’s Daddy?” Brittany asked. “Is he working late again?”
“He’s not coming,” Spencer said. “Let’s eat without him.”
Tory realized that Spencer was probably right. Disappointed, she started to set the table.
“He’s always in a bad mood,” Spencer said. “He comes home and he doesn’t want to talk or play. What’s he so mad about, anyway?”
Tory searched her brain for an explanation her children could understand. “He’s got a lot of stress at work, honey.”
“Well, he should get glad in the same pants he got mad in,” Spencer said.
Tory’s mouth fell open. “Spencer, where did you hear that?”
“School,” he said, reaching around her for a roll. “Teacher says it.”
They should teach four-year-olds calculus, she thought. They retained everything.
“You don’t have school,” Brittany chided. “That’s Mommy’s Morning Out.”
“Is too school,” Spencer threw back. “Huh, Mommy?”
“We can call it that. But Spencer, please don’t say that glad-mad-pants thing again. It’s not very respectful. Besides, Daddy’s not mad at you.”
“Is he mad at you?” Brittany asked.
“Maybe a little,” Tory admitted. “I’ve been kind of grouchy lately.”
“Just because of all that puking,” Spencer said.
“Well, when Daddy gets home tonight, how about if we all try to be really good? I won’t be grouchy, and you two won’t beg him to read you books. We’ll just let him relax, okay?”
Brittany gave her a long, pensive look. “You promise you won’t throw up?”
“I can promise to try. I’m feeling okay right now.”
“You’re prob’ly well,” Spencer said. “Thank goodness.” He took a big drink of milk, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You could call Daddy at work and tell him we’re waitin’ for him to eat.”
“So could you,” Tory said, not quite ready to take that big a step. “How about I dial the number and you talk to him?”
“Okay,” Spencer said. She dialed and handed Spencer the phone.
“Daddy, this is Spencer,” he said, as if Barry wouldn’t recognize his own child. “We’re waiting for you. Mommy made a good supper.” He paused. Tory wished she had put him on the speaker phone so she could hear. “Why not? Well, when will you? Well, why do you have to stay there?” His tone deteriorated into a whine. “You’re never here. I know, but…Will you come after? Will you bring us ice cream? All right,” he said. “Okay, bye.”
He hung up and flashed a victory sign to his sister. “Yes! He’s bringing ice cream.”
Tory tried not to look too anxious. “When?”
“Later. He said to eat. He has work to do.”
Tory tried not to betray her fierc
e disappointment as she finished setting the table. She was quiet as the children chattered about what kind of ice cream he might bring. As they argued about the merits of chocolate over strawberry, she mentally rehearsed the speech she would make when Barry got home. There wasn’t time for anger. She had to make him understand about the school, about the hope they could have for their child, about the mothers she had met.
It was eight o’clock before Barry got home, carrying a bag of Blizzards for all of them.
As the children took theirs out to the picnic table to avoid a mess, she and Barry sat down on the patio. She could see the stress and fatigue in his body, and in the lines on his face. He had nothing to say to her, and expected nothing in return. She watched him lean forward and set his elbows on his knees as he gazed out at the children.
“Barry, Saturday, at the grocery store, I met someone,” she said.
He looked over at her. She knew it surprised him that she had initiated a conversation, when she’d spent weeks avoiding him. “Oh, yeah? Who?”
“A woman who had a child with Down’s Syndrome.”
He turned his head away then, as if he didn’t want to engage in this conversation.
“Her child was a teenager, and he was really sweet. He was feeling all the produce.”
He set his jaw and said nothing.
“She gave me the name of her son’s school and…I went by there today.”
He didn’t look at her, and she knew he didn’t want to hear.
“It just showed me how much potential these kids have. They’re not invalids; they’re not helpless. They even had a couple of them working in the office. Paid employees.”
He started shaking his head before she had even finished her sentence. “You can’t tell me anything about the education of retarded children, Tory. I have Nathan, remember?”
“I know,” she said, “but Nathan’s autistic. Our baby will have different needs and different potential.”
“That school is something that tries to make the best of a bad situation,” he said. “There are better ways to do it.”
She knew he was talking about abortion again, and all her promises to herself not to get angry fled. “Not better ways, Barry. Your ways are not better.”
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