by Mark Tufo
What is this lady hiding? Officer Tynes thought.
“So you were in bed asleep and you assumed that all of your kids were as well, is that correct?”
Mrs. Templeton nodded.
“How many kids do you have?” he asked.
“There’s my personal flesh and blood Joshie, then there was Levitt...” Her hand went back to her chest. “My darling Sam, my sweetheart Frankie and the new special girl, Callis.”
Officer Tynes felt like he had been struck in the stomach from a particularly big fist. “Callis Rose?” he asked hesitantly.
“I believe that was her last name. She just arrived today. I haven’t had enough time to look over her paperwork.” Jodie knew how bad that would look to the cop, but he seemed uninterested with that part of her answer.
“Can I speak to her?” Officer Tynes asked.
“I don’t see why, she would also have been in bed, she couldn’t possibly know what happened here.”
Oh I think you’re wrong, he thought. “Nonetheless I’m going to need to talk to all your kids…starting with Callis.”
The ambulance pulled away, a crime scene investigative unit was scouring the area for any additional clues whilst also taking enough digital pictures to fill a medium-sized hard drive. Jodie Templeton led Officer Tynes into her house.
“Sorry it’s a little messy right now,” she said as he walked into her immaculately kept house.
More acting, what is her angle? “Can you get Callis please?” he asked as he removed his hat.
“She’s at the end of the hallway on the right, Joshua’s room. I’m going to make some tea. Would you like some?” she asked, but he was already heading down the hallway.
He stepped into the doorway, a sleeping bag was crumpled on the floor and Callis was on the far side of the room holding a smiling baby. Mrs. Templeton came bustling down the hallway. “I was going to get her a bed this weekend, the sleeping bag is just temporary until I can afford it.”
“Mrs. Templeton, could you please take your baby? I just want to talk to Callis for a moment,” Officer Tynes stated.
“She’s okay with the sleeping bag, aren’t you, dear?” Mrs. Templeton asked.
Callis nodded.
“See?”
“Mrs. Templeton, the sleeping bag is fine, I’m not Social Services, I won’t take her away.” Although I feel like I should. And then the answer hit him, without the kids, Jodie Templeton had no income. “Please I would just like to be alone with Callis for the moment,” he said as he turned on the wall switch. Callis’ pallor was not bone white, but it was closer to that shade than her natural hue.
Mrs. Templeton looked at her newest charge questioningly, it would have been impossible to miss that something was amiss here. “I’ll be right outside,” she said as she grabbed the baby.
“On second thought, I would like that tea,” Officer Tynes said.
Jodie sighed heavily as she left, realizing that it was the officer’s way of getting rid of her.
“Hello, Callis,” he said once he was convinced Mrs. Templeton was out of earshot.
“Hello, Officer Tynes,” she said, dropping her eyes.
“Do you know what happened here?” he asked calmly although the quickening pace of his heartbeats let him know his was a false demeanor.
“I was asleep,” she said, looking up to see if her words were having the desired effect.
“Levitt had a knife. Did he threaten you?” Callis’ eyes grew momentarily large as he surprised her with his intuitiveness. Callis was a pretty girl as far as ten year olds going on eleven can be. More so for a troubled fifteen- or sixteen-year-old, he thought, thinking of the boy that was now on his way to the county morgue.
“I was sleeping,” she repeated lamely.
“Callis, look at me. Did the boy threaten to hurt you?”
Callis looked up, her green eyes watering over. She nodded slightly. “He...he wanted me to take my clothes off, said he was going to stab Joshua if I didn’t.”
Tight ship my ass! Officer Tynes thought hotly. “Are you okay?” He moved a step closer but stopped when she flinched and moved back as far as she could. His heart was breaking; the kid had been through so much in just the last few days. “What happened then?”
“I just told him to leave.”
“And he did?” he asked incredulously.
She nodded, “He turned and walked outside, then a car was coming and we heard the crash. Is he alright?”
Officer Tynes took note of the ‘we’ but figured she was talking about the baby. “He’s dead, Callis.”
“I didn’t mean for him to be,” she said, her bottom lip was quivering. “He was going to hurt Josh and me and I told him to leave.”
“You did nothing wrong, you have every right to defend yourself.” I just wish I knew how you did it. “Can you tell me anything else?”
“About what?” she asked honestly.
“Do you want me to have the men from the ambulance look you over?”
Callis looked at him with a questioning stare.
“Your other eye, it seems to have busted a blood vessel as well.”
“I’m okay,” she told him, allowing her head to drop so he could not look her in the eyes.
“I have that tea!” Mrs. Templeton said loudly, running back to see what she may have missed. “Did she say anything about the sleeping bag? Kids are such scamps.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Officer Tynes said, putting his hat back on and walking out of the room and the house.
“What did you tell him?” Mrs. Templeton said swinging her ire towards the girl.
“Nothing, I swear. I was asleep.”
Mrs. Templeton looked the girl up and down for any signs of deceit. When she was convinced there was none she spoke. “The baby needs changing, go take care of it.” Mrs. Templeton was sorry to see the five hundred that Levitt represented gone, but not the boy himself. She’d seen something in his eyes that made her uneasy, not uneasy enough to ask for him to get transferred mind you…but uneasy all the same.
Social Services showed up the following week to see how Mrs. Templeton was holding up and when she might be ready for another foster.
“I think having another child will help me with the grieving process,” Mrs. Templeton had said as she sat on the couch with an unused tissue in her hand.
The children were allowed to play out in the backyard during the planned visit, and since it was such a rare occasion, they did not waste it. Screams and squeals of delight could be heard from their merriment.
“It seems that they are doing alright,” Mrs. Hendrix noted. She jotted down a few things in her organizer.
“Kids.” Mrs. Templeton hoped the one word answer would suffice.
“Yes, they are a resilient bunch aren’t they?” Mrs. Hendrix answered never looking up.
“How is your newest one, what’s her name…Cawlis?”
“Callis,” Mrs. Templeton corrected. “Well she’s just the apple of my eye. She and Joshua have bonded so well that they have to sleep in the same room.”
Now Mrs. Hendrix did pause and look up. “Is that wise?”
“Umm, yes. I just feel that it helps Callis get over her loss.” She had no idea if she had said the right thing, she had never read Callis’ file.
Mrs. Hendrix thought for a moment. “Well I guess it could at that,” she said, writing furiously in her pad again.
“So when do you think I may be ready for another child?” Jodie asked, doing her best to not sound greedy, but the wringing of her hands – had Mrs. Hendrix noticed – would have given her away.
“We don’t have any in the pipeline at the moment, but you know how quickly that changes,” Mrs. Hendrix said.
“Yes,” Jodie said, doing her best to sound forlorn.
“When we have one, we’ll call. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Templeton.”
“Jodie,” She corrected as she stood and shook the other woman’s hand.
Jodie wat
ched as the woman’s twelve-year-old Ford Taurus went down the street and was out of sight before she headed back into the house and out the back door.
“Get the rakes and bags, this yard isn’t going to clean itself,” she said, watching with a small measure of satisfaction as their faces fell.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sam said, speaking for the group.
“Callis, you need to get in here and make some sandwiches.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
And that’s how it went for a few months. Callis would never look back on this time and say she was happy, but she had found a fair measure of contentedness. She loved Josh with all her heart and never once found caring for him to be anything but the most fulfilling thing she had ever done, even the time when he had contracted croup and was up for nearly three days straight. She had been more than happy to be home-schooled while she lived in the Templeton household, it kept her closer to Josh and further from people she did not trust.
Sam was shuffled off to another foster home a few weeks after Levitt had died. Mrs. Templeton was nearly unbearable with the additional loss of income…at least until Becky Forsythe arrived. She was much closer to Frankie’s age and Callis was happy for it. Frankie wouldn’t leave Callis alone whenever she had a moment free. She would incessantly talk her ear off or ask her a myriad of inane questions. With the coming of Becky, Callis had nearly been forgotten.
Josh had just turned ten months old the day Callis’ life would change again. The day was warm and bright; Frankie and Becky were in the back playing with some old dolls on one of the rare days Jodie let the kids play. Callis was with Josh in his room. He had been crawling all over the place like a speed demon, grabbing different toys to place in his mouth. Occasionally he would look up and babble; mostly while he looked at a giraffe lamp he had on a small table.
“You want the giraffe, Josh? You can’t have that, it’s not a toy,” Callis told him smiling.
The baby was adamant, actually crawling into the table. She figured he might actually even be trying to knock it over.
“Joshie, you have five toys on the ground, the lamp is dangerous,” she told him. But Josh was like the vast majority of humans in the world; it wasn’t about what you had, but rather what you didn’t. His lower lip was beginning to quiver in frustration, Callis knew he was moments away from a good bawling and Mrs. Templeton had just taken her afternoon nap. She was not a joyous person if she was awoken early.
“Okay, okay, you should check the lamp out for yourself.” Callis hadn’t ever consciously done what she was about to attempt. For months she had tried to deny it to herself…that it was impossible, but the more she replayed the events in her life, the more she realized her part in it.
“How do I get started?” she asked, looking at the baby.
Mrs. Templeton had indeed gotten up early from her nap because she had been thinking about the ice cream bars in the freezer. She was doing her precursory check on the little bastards to make sure that they weren’t into anything they weren’t supposed to be. She had padded silently up to Josh’s room and was about to ask what Callis was trying to ‘start’. She figured she’d wait and find out for herself.
She could only see the back of the girl’s head, but she could tell by the way she was staying still that she was concentrating. She almost gasped when Josh stuck his hand out and gripped the table. His small legs shook as he began to pull himself up, his face, which should have exertion written all over it, was as blank as if he were asleep. He touched the lamp for a moment and when he seemed content with that he spun around letting go of his only balancing point.
His first small step was tentative, the next was much more sure-footed, then he began to spin slowly arms outstretched, almost like he was dancing.
Jodie was snapped out of her reverie as Josh collapsed in Callis’ arms. “You did it!” Callis squealed.
“Grrr!” he purred, pointing past Callis shoulder, Callis turned to see the shocked expression on Mrs. Templeton’s face.
“What are you?” Jodie asked. “Give me my baby!” Jodie yelled, not stepping further into the room. “What have you done to him!”
“I haven’t done anything to him, I love him,” Callis pleaded.
“You’re possessed or something, I watched a show on it not too long ago!” She was shrieking now, loudly enough that she had caught the attention of Frankie and Becky who were now at the end of the hallway – close enough to watch what was happening, but far enough to stay out of harm’s way. “Give me my baby!” She was all out screaming now.
“Mrs. Templeton, please—”
“Shut up, demon, I will not listen to your lies!”
Callis stood with Josh in her arms. He was all smiles and burps, although the screaming crazy lady was beginning to make his tummy hurt. As Callis approached, Jodie would back up.
“Put him down and step away,” Jodie said as she pointed at Callis.
“Mrs. Templeton, please...you don’t understand.”
“Says the serpent! Do you have an apple to offer?”
Callis cocked her head to the side trying to ascertain exactly what Mrs. Templeton was talking about. She did as she was told, placing Josh on the ground, who immediately outstretched his hands looking for his ride to pick him back up.
“Now back away!”
“Mrs. Templeton I would never hurt Josh, I love him.”
“Like a hawk loves a squirrel, move back further!” Jodie swooped in grabbing Josh, nearly driving his head into the wall as she did so.
Mrs. Templeton backed down the hallway never taking her eyes off of Callis as if she expected her to sprout wings, fangs, and horns and breathing fire might not be entirely out of the realm of possibilities. When she was clear of the end of the hallway she spoke again. “Get out of my house! Go sit on the front porch and don’t EVER think of coming in here again!”
“Where will I go, Mrs. Templeton?” Callis was on the verge of tears.
“Back to hell I would imagine, but I’ll let the state figure it out. Get out!” She was yelling so loudly Josh began to cry. “See you’ve already hurt him!” she said as she clutched him tightly to her breast. “Girls, when the demon leaves, I want you to pack her stuff and throw it outside. Don’t get too close, though.”
The girls tittered; it was a nervous chattering.
“We don’t need her kind around here! Right?”
The two girls nodded.
“Frankie we’re friends,” Callis begged.
Frankie thought for a moment, she liked it here, she now had a best friend. Mrs. Templeton was leaps and bounds better than some of the foster homes she had been placed in, and since Levitt had been killed, she almost wanted to call this place home. In short, she knew which side of her toast was buttered.
“I’ve never really liked you,” Frankie said, turning away from the hurt in Callis’ face to the beaming in Mrs. Templeton who had discovered a new ally. “Yeah I always thought you were a little strange,” she said heaping it on.
Callis hung her head low as she walked down the hallway. All she left was a trail of tears. The heavy door slammed shut behind. A dark shroud enveloped her heart as she sat there, a sliver of hope poked through as the door opened. Maybe Mrs. Templeton realizes I wasn’t hurting the baby.
Her hopes were immediately dashed as she saw Frankie tossing out her meager belongings in the same small suitcase she had arrived in.
“I’m sorry,” was all Frankie could muster in defense of her betrayal, the door once again shutting tight.
She sat there for hours, long enough for her tears to dry up and be taken over by hunger cramps. The sun had long since passed its apex, and night was threatening to take hold when finally Social Services arrived. A familiar face alit from the van.
“Hey, kiddo,” Danny said. He never asked how she was doing; that was pretty obvious. “Why don’t you hop in the van, I’ll be right back,” he told her, then he waited for her to shut the door. He noted that she never looked back a
t him. He knocked on the front door.
The door cracked open. When Mrs. Templeton saw it was Social Services she donned her fake expression. Danny had seen the mask of fear behind it and wondered what could have caused it.
“Hello, Mrs. Templeton, may I come in?” he asked her.
“Where’s the girl?” Mrs. Templeton asked, looking around.
“She’s in the van.”
“Then by all means,” she said as she pushed the screen door open.
“May I ask why you are so adamant about Callis leaving?” Danny asked, pulling out a small notepad.
“Oh, I’ve just gotten to the point in my life where raising a baby and three foster kids is too much.”
Danny looked at her. He was no fool, he knew why she was a foster parent, and it had nothing to do with the kindness in her heart. In fact, he would have been amazed if she could even locate the little dried up husk of what remained of her kindness.
“So you’re saying you want us to take you off of the max allotment list?” he asked looking for any clues.
She licked her lips nervously; she was cutting her own throat to spite herself. She had lost Levitt and was now going to lose a live-in babysitter and a combined thousand dollars a month in income. “That’s what I’m saying.” She gulped hard.
“Mrs. Templeton, you said this was an emergency when you called my department. I understand the stress of fostering, and perhaps this decision has been being waged for weeks in your mind, but that still doesn’t explain why you essentially ‘kicked her out’ according to your call.”
“Well, you know Callis is eleven now, I think all those hormones have gone to her head. She’s just gone wild. Perhaps if I had a couple of foster boys, it wouldn’t be so difficult around here. You know…not all the estrogen and drama.” Jodie half laughed with no real mirth. She was peering intently at Danny to see if he was buying any of what she was selling.
“Didn’t you just have a boy...” He stopped to look through his notes. “Yes…Levitt Ventine,…just die on you?”