by Rob Edwards
“He has, several years ago,” Judith whispered back, “but I’m sure he doesn’t remember it.”
Delton gave Noah a few more seconds to watch the tiger before telling him it was not a lion. Noah moved on down to see the American mountain lions. “Nope,” Delton said. In the last enclosure on that side of the building were three cheetahs. “Still not a lion.”
Noah ran to the other side, where he found a female lion lying on a high rock in the enclosure. He looked through his viewfinder, and Delton raised his arms in triumph. “Yes. You did it, boy. That’s a lion.” He put his fist down and Noah bumped it, smiling proudly. “But it’s only the mama lion, we need to find the papa lion too.”
“I’m sure he’s outside,” Judith said. “Let’s go check him out.”
Judith took Noah’s hand and Delton opened the back door to the cat house to let them out. Standing in the doorway were Rick Simpson, the boy he was caring for, and the mother. She had her stringy hair pulled back in a ponytail, and wore an orange down vest over a black t-shirt. She was in the process of handing Rick a small plastic bag of white powder, very casually, with the hand that was facing the building, so the guards and assistants on the other side of them couldn’t see what was going on. They were in mid-hand-off when Delton opened the door.
The mother looked up at him, clearly rattled. Simpson snatched the bag from her hand and slipped it into his pocket. “What the hell you doin’, Hayes?” He looked at Delton with a scowl. “You got nothin’ better to do than go snoopin’ on other people’s business?”
“Just going to check out the papa lion,” Delton said. Judith and Noah slipped by him. Judith patted the mother’s shoulder as she passed. “How’s it going, Sadie?”
“It’s goin’ good.” Sadie said, and stepped aside to give them room to pass.
Judith and Noah stepped out onto the walkway, followed by Taysha, and then Rena.
“Go ahead, Hayes,” Officer Engels said, and held the door.
Delton walked out to Noah and Judith, every step stared at malevolently by Rick Simpson. “Let’s go find papa lion,” Delton pointed toward the outside viewing area. “This way, Noah.”
Noah dragged at his mother’s hand.
“No, Noah,” Delton said. He reached for their hands and pulled them apart. “You walk on your own here.”
Noah reached for his mother’s hand once more, but Delton took his hand and knelt down to look him in the eye. “Buddy, listen to me. This place is filled with people whose only job is to keep you safe. There isn’t anything or anybody that is going to hurt you here. And if there were, they’d have to hurt me real bad before I ever let them get to you. So you can walk on your own, without holding your mom’s hand all day, okay?”
Noah looked at the ground and nodded. “Okay.”
“That’s my man. Now go find papa lion.”
Delton stood and glanced at Judith, who looked concerned. He smiled at her. “I’m sorry, I probably should’ve talked to you first before I did that.”
“Uh….ya think?” She said.
“But you know he’s going to be all right…right?”
She nodded, begrudgingly.
Noah turned and walked a few steps, stopping every now and then to look back and make sure that Mom was following along. Delton chuckled. “We’re right behind you, buddy. Lead the way.”
Making their way around the front of the enclosure, they saw a structure, created to look like a rocky outcropping on a mountain. Up at the top was the male lion, lying in all his glory, sunning himself and looking down on the world below, as if it were his kingdom. Noah brought up the viewfinder and looked through it.
“Nice job,” Delton said.
They took Noah around other areas of the zoo and had him locate penguins and peacocks, monkeys and meerkats.
They walked into the bird house for about a minute. As soon as they entered, Noah dropped his viewfinder and covered his ears with his hands. The place was very noisy and Noah couldn’t handle it. He started his pre-meltdown whining and they rushed him out the door quickly. Delton realized then that he didn’t have his blanket with him and Noah would have to be totally restrained in order to stop his meltdown. Delton would hate to see that have to happen.
After a couple hours of walking around the zoo, they decided to stop for a snack. The hot dog vendors were open for business so Delton turned to Rena to get them some hot dogs and drinks. Rena pulled an envelope out of her purse and grabbed a twenty. She started to walk to the hot dog stand when Taysha grabbed the twenty out of her hand. “If a man is taking a mom and her son out for the day, he needs to feel like he is the one taking care of them. That means he pays for the food, and serves it to them.” Taysha walked over and handed the twenty-dollar bill to Delton. “You take care of them, young man.”
Delton smiled at her. “Thank you.” He turned back to Judith and pointed at a table. “Go have a seat, and I’ll bring everything to you.”
Judith smiled back. “Mustard only.”
“Of course,” Delton said, and walked to the hot dog stand.
“Get a receipt,” Rena called to him.
Delton purchased the food, and brought the tray over to the table. “Since I had my own money, I got everyone a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.”
Rena stepped up and held her fingers in the air pinched together. “Receipt?”
“Oh, I forgot that,” Delton said. “I’m sorry.”
Rena spun around and ran back to the hot dog stand.
Delton unwrapped Noah’s hot dog for him, and put a straw in his orange drink.
Judith smiled. “You look pretty natural at that.”
“At what?” Delton asked, and took a bite of his hot dog.
“Taking care of a kid. You do it very well.”
Delton shrugged and took a drink of his Coke. “I tried to take care of my little sister and failed at that. I think your boy is the first person I’ve ever had an impact on.”
“Tell me about your little sister,” Judith said, washing her hot dog down with a sip of Coke.
“Truth. I don’t think I could love a kid more if she were my own daughter. She’s eight years younger than me and she’s had it rough every day of her life. Our mom was strung out most of the time, and didn’t really take care of her. I dropped out of high school to make money in a gang, but when my best friend got capped right in front of me, I decided that wasn’t gonna be my future.”
“Oh my God,” Judith said. “That’s awful.”
“It was.” Delton crunched a chip to give himself a moment before continuing. “I got a job at Vinnie G’s Italian Restaurant doing dishes, but it didn’t pay much, and mom usually stole the money from me anyway.”
“Is that what led to the robbery?” Judith asked. Delton visibly winced, looking as if he’d been struck with something. “I’m sorry,” Judith said. “I shouldn’t have even brought that up.”
“Naw, man.” Delton shook his head. “It ain’t you. It was just a plain stupid decision.” He crunched on a chip and looked away.
Judith looked down at Noah, who would take a bite from his hot dog, and then set it down gently and stare at it while he chewed, as if the thing might run away if he didn’t keep his eye on it.
“One night, mom was there but not there, you know what I’m saying, cause of the drugs and all,” Delton said, looking off at a peacock that was roaming the grounds. “Danna had just turned ten, and she hadn’t had nothin’ for dinner. I’d given mom everything I had, to get food that day, but she came back wasted instead. So Danna was lying in bed so hungry she was crying.”
“Oh Delton, I’m so sorry.” Judith put her hand over her mouth.
“Well, I was pissed, and decided to do somethin’ about it. I went out and started going through a dumpster by our building. I didn’t find anything to eat, but I did find an old gun that was broken. It was empty and it didn’t have a trigger but I thought I could at least scare somebody with it. So I went a couple blocks over to
a quick store that I never go into and loaded up the pocket of my hoodie with soda, SpaghettiOs, packages of cookies…crap like that. Then I started to walk out. The guy behind the counter started yelling at me so I pulled the gun out of my pants pocket. Only problem was, a cop was walking in right at that moment.”
Judith’s hand went from her mouth to her eyes. “You’re kidding me.”
Delton chuckled under his breath. “Stupid, right?”
Judith shook her head. “No. Tragic.” She moved her hand and looked at him. “So what happened to Danna?”
“Well, mom got busted for drug use, and neither me or Danna heard from her again. Danna got taken by social services and has had a couple of foster families so far. She used to come see me every week, but the latest family won’t let me even talk to her on the phone.”
“What? Why not? You’re her brother.”
“But they consider me a bad influence.”
Judith looked like she was ready to jump out of her seat. “That pisses me off.”
Delton looked away. Just talking about it, he could feel his heart beating faster. “Nothing I can do about it.” He sighed. “Thank God for Taysha. She has kept me focused on what I can do… and that’s work with Noah.” He patted Noah on the back. “And thank God for you, little guy, because you have given me a goal in life.”
“Delton, I feel like such an idiot,” Judith said. “All those times you were distracted and moody, I never thought you were actually going through something too.”
Delton shrugged. “S’okay. All those times you were distracted and moody I never thought that you were dealing with stuff too.” He took a drink and watched Noah concentrate intently on picking up his hot dog and taking a bite of it. “So what’s up with Noah’s dad?” He looked at Judith. “Why’s he making you do all this alone?”
Judith stopped chewing, surprised at the question.
“Oh, sorry,” Delton said. “I get it’s none of my business.”
“No,” Judith said, holding her hand over her mouth and swallowing. “It’s just that nobody ever asks me that.” She took a drink and then whispered. “I decided to have a baby on my own. Noah came as a withdrawal from a certain kind of bank.”
Delton nodded and let the matter drop. He actually had a great many questions, like ‘did they give her bad sperm?’ and ‘why they aren’t being held responsible for Noah’s autism?’ but he assumed there was some no-money-back clause, and she’d probably already looked into all that. He’d probably just end up upsetting her.
They finished their hot dogs and cookies in silence, mulling over what they had learned about each other. Delton felt that a new understanding had been established between them—and perhaps they’d reached a level of mutual respect.
Finishing their morning at the zoo, they passed by the other six groups at least once. In each case everybody smiled and was friendly. In the case of Rick Simpson and Sadie Hanson, there was an awkward silence. Judith smiled and waved at them, but they said nothing back. Rick gave Delton an angry stare all the way past.
“That was weird,” Judith said, when they had cleared them by a good distance. “Something must’ve happened between them.”
They had Noah find foxes, buffalo, otters, and even a rhino, before Engels told them it was time to head back to the entrance.
Once the entire group had congregated, Dr. Fitzpatrick thanked the zoo again, and the officers for their support with the outing. He eluded to the fact that since it went so smoothly, it opened the door to other outing opportunities. The inmates clapped the loudest at this news, then they got back on the bus and everyone drove off.
Simpson sat in the seat directly behind Delton. The bus pulled out and was on route for five minutes before Delton heard Rick’s voice talking quietly in his ear. “I’m thinking you’re smart enough to mind your own fucking business, if you know what’s good for you.”
Delton spun around so quickly, it startled Simpson and he jerked back in his seat. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t do anything like that again, and take a chance at screwing up this program. It’s important to everyone but you. And if you ever threaten me again, I will bust you up, fast.”
“Hayes,” Officer Johnson barked. “Everything all right?”
Delton turned back around. “Copacetic.”
“Keep your eyes forward,” He said, pointing to his eyes with two fingers. “Simpson, shut your damn mouth.”
There was not another word from Simpson the rest of the way back. And one thing was made clear, the camaraderie the officers and inmates felt this morning had just been ended. Nobody spoke another word for the duration of the drive.
Chapter Thirty-One
Judith walked Noah into the room, watched him bump fists with Delton, waved and closed the door. Rena and Taysha were back in their usual positions at the window.
“Did the zoo tire him out yesterday?” Taysha said.
“Yes, it did, but I need to talk to you.” Judith took a chair at the counter next to Taysha. “Delton opened up to me a little bit about his sister.”
Taysha’s jaw dropped open. “He did?”
“Yes. And I want to do something.”
Taysha shook her head. “Honey, it is truly something that boy said anything to you about this. And I love the fact that you want to help. But you would have to go through Social Services, and that is the proverbial brick wall. They ain’t going to tell you anything about his sister. You can’t just go in there and say, I’d like you to give me the location of a child under your care, and them say, ‘Oh, hold on a minute while I look up the address.’”
“But Delton told me they think he’s a bad influence on his sister.” She looked through the window and saw Delton handing Noah stuffed animals to throw. Her son was laughing again. She pointed to him. “Look at that. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Taysha put a hand on Judith’s shoulder. “Sweety, you are a good person, and you have an open mind. Others don’t. They don’t bother to look at a situation and try to find any facts in it. They make snap judgments based on something they think they know and go with those decisions, believing they are doing the right thing.”
“I know,” Judith said. She threw her purse down on the counter and folded her arms. “I was that person you’re talking about. This program has been as good for me as it has for them.”
“Then you have to understand that people need to be able to come to their own conclusions.” She nodded toward Delton. “He’s had some real struggles with all of this. Wanted to put a chair through a cement wall one day. But I told him to calm down and concentrate on what he could do. So he’s done that, and your son has blossomed since.”
Judith looked over at Taysha, “Thank you for being there for him.”
“It’s been my privilege to be a part of this whole thing.” Taysha said with a smile. “What you need to understand is that it’s the storms in life that make things bloom the brightest. Often they aren’t the things we want to bloom at the time, but if you can get part of your garden going great, then there’s a good chance that green thumb will bleed into the area that you’ve been having trouble with. You know, get a new perspective on how to deal with things.”
Judith thought for a moment. She looked back at Taysha and smiled. “My God, you’ve got your head on straight.”
Taysha sat back. “Besides, what would you even say to Reginald Fountain if you had the chance?”
“What?”
Taysha looked back at her. “What.”
“Did you say Reginald Fountain?”
Taysha put her hand to her chin. “Reginald Fountain? Why does that name sound familiar?” She shrugged. “Hmph.” Then she sat back in her chair.
Judith laughed, leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You are the strangest counselor I’ve ever met. And that probably makes you the best.” She grabbed her purse, said bye to Rena, and rushed out.
Once she was in her car driving down the road she called Darlene
.
“Hey, Jude, what’s…”
“Dar, I need a favor.”
“What do you need?”
“Can you Google Reginald Fountain and see if you can come up with an address around here?”
“Sure, give me a sec.” Judith heard shuffling on the other end of the line. After a few seconds she heard the familiar click of a keyboard. “Got a White pages address for Reginald Fountain.”
“Great. What is it?”
“752 Lenore Lane, over in Whitewater.”
“Ugh,” Judith said. “That’s thirty minutes the other way.”
“Who is this guy?” Darlene asked.
“He’s kind of holding Delton’s sister hostage.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to talk to him.”
“Jude, are you doing something you shouldn’t?”
“No. I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. But it will have to wait until after work. Can you stay with Noah for just a little longer today?”
“Sure. If you promise not to get into trouble.”
Judith chuckled. “I’ll do my best. Now I know I’m asking a lot, but I need one more thing from you.”
“Okay. What now?”
“Set it up,” Judith said. “It’s time.”
“What’s time?”
“Dar, I had a great day at the zoo with Noah and Delton, yesterday. Things are going great. It’s time for me to work on a different area of my garden.”
“Jude what the hell are you….holy shit, are you talking about going on a date?”
“I am.” Judith heard screams and then a large clunking sound.
“Shit, I dropped the phone. Are you still there?”
Judith laughed. “Yes. Set it up.”
“I will. I’m gonna call Jim right….” Judith tapped off the call and tossed the phone onto the seat next to her.
Turning down Lenore Lane, Judith checked the address numbers on the houses on both sides of the street. Creeping her car slowly along, she realized that all the even numbers were on the right side of the road. Eventually reaching 752, she stopped out front and put the car in park. Getting out of the car, she walked up the driveway and was impressed with the exterior of the house—a two-story, craftsman style, with charcoal-colored siding and white trim. Flowerpots hung from the porch, with lush white and red petunias streaming down. Judith had to admit it was a beautiful place.