by Rob Edwards
The front door was open. Through the screen door Judith could hear commotion from inside the house. Music was on, rumbles and zaps from a video game were coming from the room off to the left, and a woman, whom Judith assumed was the mother, was barking orders to anyone who would listen. “I need someone to open a can of baked beans and get them in the microwave.”
Judith reached up and rang the doorbell. The mother reacted to the new interruption. “Someone tell whoever it is that suppertime is not the time to be coming around asking for anything.”
A young African American girl wearing blue shorts and a gray t-shirt with the word “Pink” written across it in big white letters, appeared. She spoke through the screen door. “Can I help you?”
Judith smiled at her. “By any chance are you Danna?”
The girl paused for a moment and then asked, “Who wants to know?”
Judith chuckled, embarrassed. “Right. I’m a stranger. Good for you. My name is Judith Higgins and I have a very good friend named Delton Hayes, who is very concerned about his little sister, Danna.”
At the mention of Delton’s name the little girl stepped closer. “You know Delton?”
“Who is it, Danna?” The mother called from the distant kitchen.
Danna looked back toward the kitchen and then back to Judith. She looked nervous.
“Go ahead,” Judith said. “Tell her who I am. The reason I came was to talk to your foster parents.”
Danna looked reluctant, but turned back and called to her foster mother. “It’s a lady who knows my brother.”
“What?” A man’s voice boomed. The video game sounds abruptly stopped, and a young boy complained. “Hold on. I have to take this.”
An African American man appeared in the doorway. He pushed open the screen door and burst onto the porch. Judith had to scurry backward down the steps to avoid him running into her. “You can leave right now. We are not interested in hearing about criminals in this house.”
“Sir, if you’ll just listen…” Judith tried.
“I said leave,” Mr. Fountain pointed to the road.
Judith turned but stopped herself. “No.” She turned back. “I’ll leave once you’ve listened to me, and not act like a bully.”
“Bully?” Reginald stepped off the porch. “All I’m doing is protecting my family.”
Judith backed a couple more steps. “No. All you’re doing is breaking up a family by being bull-headed.”
The mother came out the door rubbing her hands on a towel. Danna and a younger boy followed.
Reginald put his hands on his hips and stuck out his chest. “And just how am I doing that?” His head bounced as he spoke.
Judith put her hands on her hips and stepped toward him. “By keeping Danna and Delton separated.”
Reginald pointed his finger at her. “I don’t know who you are, lady. But I’m doing what’s best for Danna. Delton Hayes is a violent criminal, and I don’t want him around her, or my family. I met the man, and it almost came to blows within mere minutes. So don’t come around here and tell me what a great guy Delton Hayes is.”
“You don’t know shit,” Judith said. “I’ll tell you who I am.” She pulled out her phone, and brought up a picture of Noah. “I’m Judith Higgins,” She held out the phone so Reginald could see it. “And this is my son, Noah. He has autism spectrum disorder. Hasn’t uttered a single word in all seven years of his life. He has worked with professionals and gotten nowhere. But he’s in a special program now, and working with someone who gives him patience, respect, and unconditional love. And now my son has found his voice. He’s spoken his first words ever thanks to Delton Hayes.”
Reginald was quiet. The mother came down the steps and stood next to him.
“That’s right,” Judith said. “The violent criminal you’re protecting your whole family from, has been the best person in the world my baby boy has ever met.”
Danna stepped up and stood next to the mother. “Why did you come here?”
Judith looked down at her. “Because, honey, Delton loves you so much, and the fact that he can’t see you is breaking his heart. And since he has done so much for Noah and me, I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for him.” She looked back at Reginald. “I understand your first meeting didn’t go well with him. I should tell you about mine.” She chuckled and looked at Danna. “Your brother isn’t the best at first impressions.” Looking back up at Reginald she added. “But if you’ll just give him the opportunity to prove himself...”
Reginald glanced down at Danna and then back to his wife. She smiled at him and nodded. He looked back at Judith. “He’s been good to you and your boy?”
“There hasn’t been anybody better for Noah,” Judith said.
Reginald paused a moment and then nodded. “All right. We’ll go see him again.”
Danna ran to Judith and hugged her tight around the waist. “Thank you.”
The mother stepped over, smiled, and touched her arm. “I’m Rosalind. Would you like to come in for a bit?”
“No, but thank you.” Judith said. “I have to get back to my son.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
When Delton saw Judith the next morning, she wore a smirk on her face like she had just pasted a “kick me” sign on his back. “What?” he asked her, but she just smiled and shook her head.
She knelt down and kissed Noah on the top of the head. “Have a good day, honey.” She stood up and winked at him. You have a good weekend.” Then she walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Delton frowned suspiciously. “Thanks.” He looked down at Noah. “What’s up with Ma?”
Noah held out his fist. Delton bumped it and they both yelled, “My man!”
Ushering the boy over to the table, Delton slid some coloring books in front of his chair. “Miss Blossom got you some animal coloring books for today, since we went to the zoo yesterday.”
“What we do?” Noah asked.
“Well,” Delton flipped through a couple of pages in the book. “We decide what animals we liked at the zoo.” He pointed at a few of the line drawings of lions, ferrets, and rhinos. “And when we see one we like, we color it with these crayons.” He went over and sat down, leaving the book with Noah.
Noah slowly and awkwardly turned the next page, tearing it slightly. He moaned his distress.
“Ain’t no thing,” Delton said. “The pages can be torn right out if you want. It makes them easier to frame if you’re really happy with the job you done.”
Noah turned the next page slowly and carefully. A drawing of two foxes were on the page, one lying down, and the other standing behind it looking off into the distance. “Doggies!” Noah cried out, and he started to clap.
“Them’s foxes,” Delton said. He opened the box of crayons and turned it to face the boy. “Now you pick out the crayons you want to use and color them in.”
Noah picked out a bright green crayon, and awkwardly scrawled across the page. When a bright green line went outside the closed lines of the foxes, Noah whined and pointed at it.
“It’s all good, Noah,” Delton said. “You can’t go wrong here. Nothing has to be inside the lines. Mommies love it when you go outside the lines. Trust me.”
Noah calmed instantly, and seemed to take Delton’s words to heart. He sat in the chair, concentrated harder and scribbled in and around the fox that was standing.
Delton watched him work. The boy was remarkably intent on what he was doing, but at the same time, had a distance to him—like his mind was working hard on the project at hand, but also drifting off into another time zone too. Often wondering what was going through his head, Delton thought about the fact that he’d never tried to converse with the boy. He’d gotten him to speak, to share a quick feeling, or verbalize a desire, but nothing more. Delton wanted to know about Noah’s heart. What did a boy like that wish for? Did he have dreams, goals, aspirations?” “Did you like going to the zoo yesterday, Noah?” He asked.
&nb
sp; “Uh huh.” Noah said, not taking an ounce of concentration off the fox.
“Why’s that?”
“Like animals.” Noah said. He lifted his head and stared off to the wall. “Don’t laugh at me, or yell at me.” Then he started coloring again.
“What?” Delton asked. “Who yells at you and laughs at you?”
“Kids,”
“What kids?”
“School,” Noah said. “They’re not fun.” He set the green crayon aside and selected a blue crayon from the box. Then he set to work on the fox lying down.
“Why would they do that?”
But Noah didn’t answer. He pulled out a blue crayon, sniffed it, then began to color the grass.
Delton could feel his face flush. He knew why the kids did it. Because Noah was different. And they always tear down someone who’s different—kids and adults. “Do you like people at all?”
“Uh huh,” Noah said. “Love Mommy, Aunt Darlene, and Dellon.”
Sitting back in his chair, Delton was astonished the boy expressed love for him. Had he truly made that much of an impact? He searched his own feelings and had to admit. “Delton loves you too.”
Noah looked over at the opposite wall. “But, I make mommy sad.”
“What?” Delton said. “Who told you that?”
“See her sad all the time.”
Delton shook his head. “Noah, you got it all wrong.”
Noah looked back down and scribbled blue onto the fox again.
“Mommy isn’t sad because you make her sad.” Delton wanted to get down, force the boy to look into his eyes so he was sure the message would sink in. But he knew that wouldn’t work. The boy would react to being touched like that. He decided to just speak plainly and hope it sunk in. “Mommy is sad because she thinks you’re sad. She wants you to be happy. She wants that more than anything in the whole world.”
Noah continued to scribble for the next moment before acknowledging. “Okay.”
Delton sat back and watched Noah color, stunned at how he perceived people’s feelings. People either didn’t like him or he made them sad. In either case he was the impetus of it all. He didn’t have an understanding of the world beyond his involvement in it. He couldn’t relate to the fact that his mother worried, and kids could be just plain assholes. Delton wondered if he should let Judith know about the conversation he’d just had. He decided not to. There wasn’t anything she would be able to do about it, and it would just give her more to stress over. All he could do was take care of things on this end, and reassure the boy. “Noah, Mommy loves you very much.”
Noah finished with the blue fox. “Okay,” he said, dropping the crayon. He picked out a purple crayon and went to work on the grass.
“I love you too, Noah,” Delton said.
Noah scribbled away at the grass. After several seconds, he said, “Okay.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Judith stopped walking before she reached the large front window of Francisco’s. She looked up at the glowing red neon sign. It was by far the best Italian restaurant for 50 miles in any direction, and she remembered the last time she was here. It was a business lunch with her team at Danser, and it was a time in her past she has since tried to forget. Now she was headed in to meet her blind date, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was a bad omen to try and start a new relationship here or not.
She gulped in a breath. Her breathing wasn’t coming as easily as it should. In fact, she felt that her breathing hadn’t been coming easily since the moment her brother-in-law called her and said the date was all set up. It had been years since she’d been involved with a man; it didn’t go so well then. She didn’t even know if she had what it took to carry on a real conversation with someone other than her sister and her father. But her father’s voice rung in her ears now. “Will it kill you?” she could hear him say as clearly as if he were standing right next to her. Admitting to herself that she would indeed survive the night, that was if her heavily beating heart didn’t give out before then, she gritted her teeth and walked into the restaurant.
The hostess at the front counter who looked like she wasn’t old enough to be home without a babysitter, flashed her a bright smile. “Can I help you?”
“I’m meeting Neil Keating,” Judith said.
“Oh, sure,” The hostess, who’s name badge read Mikayla, said. “Mr. Keating is waiting for you. Follow me.”
A huge lump formed in Judith’s stomach. This was really happening. A distant voice told her it would be a good idea to head out the door and keep on walking, but Judith didn’t listen to that voice anymore. Though her feet felt heavy all of a sudden, she followed young Mikayla into the dining room and right up to the table of her date.
Neil Keating stood to greet her. A handsome man, with charcoal-colored hair graying at the temples, he stood tall and straight, with a bit of a belly, but not so much that he was overweight. He had a warm pleasant smile, and all of his teeth. So far this was going well. “Hi, Judith,” he said, holding out his hand as if they were getting ready to conduct a business meeting. “I’m Neil Keating. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Judith took the hand and shook it firmly. “Hi, Neil. It’s nice to meet you too.”
They took a seat and Mikayla let them know that their server, Dezi, would be with them soon.
“I was going to order us a bottle of wine,” Neil said. “But then I realized I don’t know what kind of wine you like, or even if you drink at all.”
“Oh, I drink,” Judith said. “But I am very picky about my wine. It has to be made with grapes or I’m not going to touch it.”
Neil looked confused for a moment, but then seemed to realize it was a joke and laughed politely.
Another extremely young woman stepped up with a small dish of olive oil and a basket of warm bread. “Hi, I’m Dezi. Can I get you started with anything to drink?” She had a pepper grinder under her arm and gave a few turns of fresh ground pepper into the oil.
“I think we’ll have a bottle of the house red.” Neil said.
“Okay, I’ll be right back with that.”
“Neil, I need to tell you something,” Judith said when Dezi had left. “I have a son who’s autistic.”
Neil nodded. “I know. Jim mentioned that. I have a niece who’s on the spectrum too.”
“You do?”
Neil nodded. “Yes. She’s in a special school, and she’s delightful.”
“Okay,” Judith realized he didn’t have the real story. “My son, Noah, is profoundly autistic.”
Neil picked up the basket of bread and offered it to her. “Yes. Jim said that he hasn’t been able to speak until very recently.”
Judith waved off the bread. He set the basket back down and took a piece for himself. She watched him, trying her best to gauge his intent. Was he really okay with this or was this night out just a quick fling for him—something to do to get him out of the house? How could he, in his right mind, plan to develop a relationship with a woman who brought in so much…baggage?
Dezi came with two wine glasses and poured a small amount in Neil’s glass. He made the proper show of tasting it and nodding. She then poured glasses for them both. She asked about their order but Neil told her to come back in a bit. When she left he held up his glass. “To new beginnings.”
That was a tasteful, politically correct toast. She smiled and clinked his glass and then took a, probably too large, drink of the wine. When she swallowed, she decided to ask the elephant in the room question. “So what made you decide to go on a blind date?”
Neil smiled, like he knew the question would eventually be asked and he was glad to have it over. “It was time. I’ve been divorced for over four years now from a woman who loved her pain meds more than she ever loved me. It was a terrible divorce and I was gun-shy for a long time. I moved here from Pittsburgh to get a fresh start. I really like Jim, so I trusted him when he said he had someone great for me to meet.” He smiled at her and raised his
glass again. “So far he’s proven to be spot on.”
Judith felt herself blush.
Neil took a drink and set his glass down. “Okay. Your turn.”
“I don’t know,” Judith said. “I guess I’m growing up.”
Neil snickered. “From what I understand, you are a great mother who handles the challenges of raising an autistic boy well. It sounds to me like you’re all grown up already.”
“Except I think I was hiding behind my son,” Judith said. “Yes, he can be a challenge, but it’s a known commodity. I know what my responsibilities are each and every day, and that doesn’t change. It can be hard work at times but it’s safe.” She looked down at her wine glass and twirled it on the table by its stem. “My father always said that nobody can live free in a comfort zone. Once they’ve become comfortable they’ve stopped growing, and that was like creating their own prison cell to live their remaining days in.”
“Your father sounds like a wise man,” Neil said.
Judith smiled. “He’s very wise. But it took my son to prove it to me. I’ve got Noah involved in this crazy program.”
“Jim’s been telling me about it. An inmate care-taking program through Marmont State.”
“Yes,” Judith took a small drink. “It sounds insane when you say it out loud, and it has definitely been outside the comfort zone. But Noah has thrived in this program beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings. And Delton, the young man who’s working with Noah, he was way outside his comfort zone too. And I’ve sat back and watched him become capable and confident. It’s been an amazing journey to witness.”
Neil raised his glass. “Here’s to Noah and Delton.”
Judith smiled and clinked her glass and they took another drink.