“Well you sure as hell better do something about this right away, or I’m going to get you fired!” she said, though the threat didn’t seem very scary.
“Okay, okay, listen,” the cop said, clearly trying to appease her and keep her calm. “I’m gonna call my dispatcher and see what my lieutenant thinks. Just stay calm, alright?”
“Stay calm? Stay calm?” she asked, her voice reaching a pitch higher. “I come home to find two kids have moved themselves into my home, and you tell me there is nothing you can do. How can you stand there telling me to stay calm? Don’t you know what is at stake, here? Your job, for one.”
Nora was hysterical, shouting at the policeman who kept glancing at Harper through the window. Harper tried to give him a sympathetic look. Bradford sidled up near her, grabbing her waist and holding her close as they listened.
“I understand your frustration, madam, but I have to follow the letters of the law and there is nothing here to show a crime has been committed. There is nothing I can do,” the policeman explained calmly to Nora, continuing a speech about her rights and what he was going to do.
Harper held her breath, turning around slightly to look at Bradford and her new home. She did really like this house. It was the kind of place she’d always dreamed of, the kind of place she’d seen in those Real Estate magazines at the gas station. Four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, finished basement, big kitchen, lots of light. She knew every nook and cranny of the house; they’d gotten a blueprint of it from the time it had been featured in a magazine as the “State’s Most Beautiful House.” The yard was amazing, and the swimming pool with the hot tub—well, she just didn’t have words for it. It was awesome.
She and Bradford would never have been able to afford this house, not on his student loans and her unpaid internship. But Bradford’s dad had made a comfortable living for himself, and he was unemployed and a drunk. Why couldn’t they do it, too? Why didn’t they deserve to have a nice house like this?
And she really did want a nice house again. She and her mom had lived in a nice house like this once a long time ago, before her father had left when she was just four years old. After that, her mom had to sell the house, and she didn’t want another one. Not that she couldn’t afford it. Harper knew her mom had made out alright in the divorce. She hadn’t seen her father in years, but she’d seen the alimony and child support checks, and they were huge. But her mom didn’t want all the work of keeping up a house, so they’d settled in a little two-bedroom condo out by the ski slopes. That condo had turned into a mess, as mom’s new boyfriends just kept coming in and wrecking it with their sloppiness and beer cans and, in a few instances, marijuana joints. Bradford would never do something like that to her; he would never trash this beautiful house, she knew that.
Harper missed her old house, and she wanted another one just like it, but even bigger and better. She and Bradford had dreamed about such a house. A house just like this one, with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and a finished basement. It was like her dream come true, and now she was living her dream.
It took a while, but finally the police officer said he couldn’t do anything. If they’d rented the place to these kids and now they didn’t want to, then they’d better get a lawyer and start eviction proceedings; it was the best advice he could give her. Then he got in his police car and left.
Holy crap. Relief rushed through Harper, and she felt like she could breathe again for the first time in hours. Holy crap. It really worked.
Bradford had let go of her and gone outside to listen to the policeman. He came back into the house. “See? Told you.”
He smiled, so handsome and proud of himself. Harper loved him so much, and she ran to him as all of the day’s emotions welled up inside of her. He took her in his strong, warm arms and held her tight, and she felt safe. “Come on now. Didn’t I tell you, baby? Who’s the man?”
“You are the man, you are my man, and I love you so much,” Harper replied and the tears started to roll down her cheeks.
“Don’t go getting yourself upset baby, come on, wipe those tears away,” he said, grinning at her. “I told you everything would be okay and the police would not be able to do anything, didn’t I? Now why don’t you go and run yourself a nice hot bath and pamper yourself while I finish the unpacking?”
When Bradford handed Harper a tissue she wiped her eyes and told him how happy she was. “Thanks, babe, I do need a bit of pampering, now that you mention it.”
Harper gave Bradford a kiss on the lips before making her way upstairs to the bathroom and running herself a nice hot bath.
***
Nora sat outside in her car; she didn’t want to enter the house by herself while those two kids were inside. There was no telling what they would do to her, and she didn’t want to put herself in a vulnerable position. Honestly, she didn’t even know if she was allowed to enter her own house. The policeman’s instructions were a blur in her muddled mind. She had been hysterical, despite her resolution to stay calm. Her cell phone had remained unmercifully silent. Nick didn’t even care about her enough to find out what was going on. She could have been in a deathly car accident with their children and he wouldn’t want to know about it until after he was done with his petty job meetings.
She couldn’t help it as the tears escaped from her eyes. She drove out of her own driveway with a sense of dread. What could she do? She didn’t know the legalities of things, or how to make the police help them. She took out her phone again and dialed her sister’s number. Her sister didn’t believe in cell phones, so Nora had to dial their home phone.
“Walker residence,” a familiar voice on the other line greeted.
“Ben,” she breathed, shivering at the sound of his voice. To hear someone familiar and friendly after all this time was a relief. She tried to make her voice sound a little less stuffy, a little more calm.
“Nora, is that you?” Ben asked.
“Yes, Ben, is Belinda there?”
She could hear a baby softly crying in the background. She hadn’t had help when she had raised Clara and Colin, so she did so virtually by herself. Belinda, an executive at one of the largest accounting firms in the state, had a nanny to take care of her little boy, Isaac. Ben stayed at home as a SEO strategist.
“Still at work,” Ben answered. The crying had stopped. “Nora, are you okay?”
“Oh my God,” Nora blurted. “No, Ben, I’m not okay,”
The floodgates had opened, there was no stopping them. Ben listened, appropriately “ooh”ing and “ahh”ing in the right spots. Nora felt like this was just what she needed. At least someone was there, listening to her.
“Are you sure the police can’t do anything, anything at all?” Ben asked. His concern sounded genuine.
“I don’t know,” Nora cried, pulling over to the side of the street so she could wipe her eyes. “I can’t get hold of Nick or anyone! He won’t answer my calls, or texts, or anything!”
“Nora, you just sit tight. I’m going to come and find you,” Ben said. She could hear shuffling in the background as he searched for his coat. “We won’t let them get away with this, don’t worry.”
Nora froze. The kids. The kids would need to be picked up from school soon, and she couldn’t imagine what they would make of all this.
“Ben, the kids. I have to pick up the kids.”
“We’ll pick them up and go out for some food,” Ben said. Nora hadn’t ever thought Ben had it in him to take charge like he did, but she was all too willing to listen, lost at what to do to fix the problem. “Then we’ll find Nick. Sound good?”
She nodded, clenching her phone tightly. It was her only lifeline to help.
“Nora?”
She realized with a start that he couldn’t see her nodding.
“Yes,” she said, “Oh, yes, Ben. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Nora hoped Nick would be home by the time they finished their meal and would be able to sort out this whole situation.
Nora didn’t know what her husband was doing, she knew he didn’t always answer his cell phone, but she had thought he would see and hear the urgency in her voice and have called her back at least.
“Nora, it’s going to be okay,” Ben said, saying the words she most needed to hear. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“I hope so,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.
***
“Mom what’s going on? Why did you just drive past our turn?”
Colin was confused. His mom hadn’t said a word when she picked them up, and he thought she looked like she had been crying, her eye makeup in disarray and her hair uncharacteristically lying limply on her shoulders. Uncle Ben sat in the passenger seat. Colin noticed that he kept stealing glances over at his mom, probably aware that she had been crying, too. He had never seen Uncle Ben without Aunt Belinda. The man somehow looked taller, more manly, without her by his side, answering for him and ordering him around like a puppy. He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses as usual. What a nerd. Colin had always viewed Uncle Ben as a nerd. It didn’t help that he worked from home, always on his computer as an SEO strategist for other people.
“We’re not going straight home. I thought we could go for pizza. It will be a nice treat for you both, won’t that be nice for you both?” Nora asked.
As Nora looked in the mirror, she saw her daughter Clara had a beaming smile on her face and nodded her head before saying, “Thanks Mom, that will be great.”
Colin, however, looked less happy about the situation.
“Yes, that sounds good Mom, but I don’t understand, you’ve always said how bad junk food is for you, yet here you are taking us for pizza.”
Nora knew Colin was not as easily fooled as his sister was. Nora had always been proud of Colin for being so bright, although in this instance she wished he hadn’t been.
“Look, love, your mom is allowed to give you kids a treat sometimes, isn’t she? Without you being so suspicious of me?”
Colin apologized and said it would be great, and started arguing with Clara over what toppings they wanted to have on their pizzas.
She could hear Ben expel a short breath. She, too, felt relieved that the kids had bought the story. She glanced over at him, and he caught her eyes, giving her a reassuring smile. In his hand was her mobile phone. He was texting Nick. She felt comfort knowing he was there, helping to take care of her and the children. She had never known Ben for anything other than Belinda’s husband, but his calm matched her hysteria and encouraged her to keep her head on her shoulders.
She just hoped by the time they had finished and were home, Nick would have turned up and cleared out those trashy kids.
***
As Nick left the office and walked to the Land Rover, he decided to take out his mobile phone and check his messages.
Twenty missed calls and ten text messages. He would have to have words with Nora when he got home. Twenty messages in one afternoon was ridiculous even by Nora’s standards, who had only called that many times once, when the Parkers had accidentally given out the wrong address on their invitations to an open house. She had been fuming when he had gotten home after the fact.
Nick thought he had better listen to them before he went home to have an idea of what apparent emergency there was.
As Nick started to listen to the messages he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It had been a long day, meeting after meeting, and all he really wanted to do was go home and go to bed, instead of having the guaranteed long conversation with Nora about how he never answered his phone.
“Nick, why are you not home yet? Have you listened to any of my messages? Two kids have moved in and taken over our home! Do you not care? Are you not going to come home and sort out this mess? Call me as soon as you get this message.”
Nick listened to three more messages before he started the engine and quickly made his way home. All sorts of thoughts were going through his mind; surely there had to be a simple explanation. His wife must have got it wrong. Anyone couldn’t just get into their house, or into their neighborhood.
When Nick pulled up outside the house, he saw Ben standing in the garage alongside Nora, who had her arms folded and looked furious. He stopped the car, not pulling it into the garage. Something was seriously wrong.
“Ben?” he said, stepping out of the car. “What are you doing here?”
“There you are!” Nora interrupted, stepping in front of Ben. Nick had never quite seen her look like she did. Her hair in disarray, her makeup smearing across her face—he’d only ever seen her like this when her mother had died a few years back. “Why on earth did you not come home sooner? Do you know how long the kids and I have been waiting for you to come home to sort this mess out?”
“Look, Nora, I had a conference meeting all afternoon and have only just heard all of your messages, and to be honest none of this makes any sense. What on earth has happened?” he asked, confused.
Nora was livid, and none of it made sense to Nick. Then again, nothing she was livid about ever really made sense to him.
“I came home to find a moving van with two ratty kids inside our home moving items in, saying it was their home,” Nora said, her voice shaking a little. He recognized the tone; it was verging on hysteria. “I had to call Ben, of all people, to come and help me, because my own husband can’t answer his damn phone!”
Ben stepped forward, trying to talk some sense into Nora. Nick assumed the kids were in her car, which was parked a ways from the house.
Nick thought he would sort this problem out immediately, and took his mobile out to call the police.
“What are you doing with your mobile, aren’t you going to let me finish telling you what has happened?”
“It’s quite simple, love; I’m going to call the police to send someone over who’ll get this problem sorted out in no time.”
As Nora watched her husband talking, she began to feel livid. He thought that he could call the police and they would sort this mess out so easily, when she had spent the afternoon with the police arguing about the problem but had gotten nowhere. She looked at Ben, pleading him to step in.
“Nick,” he began, getting her cue. “I think what Nora is trying to say....”
She interrupted him, ready to slap Nick’s phone out of his hands. She had spent hours trying to get the situation resolved, and he thought he could simply ignore what she had to say? Not this time.
“Well, if you think it’s that easy to get this problem resolved, I am all ears. Tell me how exactly are you going to make the police get those two kids out of our home when I spent the afternoon trying to get them to do just that, but got nowhere?” she spat, as he brought the phone up to his ear. “I spoke with the police all afternoon, Nicholas! Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”
Nick didn’t want to antagonize his wife; he could see how angry she was already and he didn’t want to add fuel to that. He tried to keep his voice calm as the phone rang. He had dialed a non-emergency number, so they didn’t pick up right away. Nora’s eyes glazed over with tears as she turned away from him, back toward Ben. He couldn’t believe she had called on Ben to help her. Where was Belinda when he needed her? He didn’t need good ol’ Uncle Ben coming in and trying to analyze his relationship with his wife, especially with the information he’d given Ben in the past about his and Nora’s differences.
“I realize the police were here earlier, love, but let’s see what they say when I threaten them with our solicitor issuing a complaint to the commissioner if they don’t do something,” he said. He had read somewhere that keeping calm in the midst of crisis made others around you calm, so he added, “I appreciate that you tried your best, but sometimes you have to show these cops you mean business.”
Nora didn’t retaliate, she wanted this to be sorted out tonight, and if her husband was able to get the police to do something, she would stand back and let him get on with it.
Nick began chatting to the police. Nora turne
d toward Ben. He gave her a crooked smile, a gesture that was supposed to be comforting.
“I’m sorry about all this, Ben,” she apologized, putting her hands up in an act of submission. “I don’t know what he’s going to do that I haven’t already tried with them. He’s so stubborn...”
She stopped herself from saying anymore. She didn’t want Ben, or Belinda, to know about Nick and her problems as husband and wife. People like them simply didn’t talk about those things.
“It’s okay,” Ben said, understanding. “I’m glad you called me, Nora. I hope I’m at least helping in some way.”
Nora nodded, sincerely. “Yes, Ben, you’ve been a saint. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
Ben looked down, clearly embarrassed by the compliments.
***
“What do you think Dad will do?” Clara asked her older brother while they sat in her bedroom.
The police had come, and Clara and Colin waited in Clara’s bedroom as Mom, Uncle Ben, and Dad talked with them. They had seen the two intruders on their way up the stairs, and Colin had never been more furious in his life. Clara had never been so afraid in her life. Who were these people?
“I’m sure he will come in and solve this problem right away. You don’t need to worry; you know how good Dad is at sorting out any problems, so those two will be gone from here tonight. You’ll see.”
Clara felt comfort at Colin’s words and was happy her dad was finally home. It had been a nightmare when they had returned from getting pizza and Mom turned around to tell them of the situation at their house. She had made them wait in the car until Dad pulled up, and then had begun yelling at him as Uncle Ben tried to calm her down. From a distance, their house had looked foreign, unattainable. The solar lights around the flowers had lit up as darkness approached, and almost every light in the house was turned on, casting an eerie glow about the entire place.
Bad people, Mom had said, bad people were in their house. They weren’t killers, or anything like that, but they wanted to steal the house. The pizza they had eaten gurgled in their stomachs as their organs flipped flopped at the notion. Who would do such a crazy thing, especially in this neighborhood?
Young Squatters Page 5