by Rob Edwards
“So how does that explain you being here tonight?” Neil asked.
Judith set her glass down and twirled it some more, thinking on the question. “I don’t know if it’s jealously or obligation, but I realized I couldn’t be the only one who isn’t growing. I needed to get out of the cell I had crawled into and start living life again.”
Neil nodded and smiled. “You’ve honored me with a great responsibility. I need to be the cloud.”
“The cloud?” Judith asked.
“Yes. You see I’m very much enjoying this evening with you, and the last thing I want is for you to see your shadow and climb back into your hole for who-knows-how-long.”
Judith laughed. Neil chuckled. “So I’m happy to be the cloud.”
They clinked glasses and drank again. The remainder of the evening was less intense. It was light conversation about good books to read, movies and music they liked, and concerts they had been to in their youth. Before either of them realized it, two and a half hours had gone by. They were finally interrupted by Judith’s phone ringing.
“I’m so sorry,” Darlene said. “But I don’t know what to do. Noah won’t go to bed. He just keeps calling for Dellon over and over again.”
“No problem,” Judith said. “I’ll be home soon.”
When she flipped her phone closed, Neil smiled at her. “Duty calls?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
Neil reached over and touched her hand. “Don‘t be sorry. I don’t remember an evening, in the last ten or more years, that I’ve enjoyed this much.”
“You said you’ve only been divorced for four years.”
“I have,” Neil said with a big smile.
Judith caught herself blushing again.
Neil paid for the check and walked her out to her car. “Do you remember the scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen asked to get the kiss out of the way first thing?”
“I do,” Judith said. She had been wondering how this night was going to end.
“Well, I’m not Woody Allen,” he said. “And I’m taking the kiss off the table. I like you Judith, and more than that, I respect you and your feelings. This is the first night out of your hole and I very much want there to be a second one. But I’m giving notice right now, I will be kissing you then.”
Judith stopped him, spun him around and kissed him long and deeply. When she pulled back, he looked down at her and took a deep breath. She smiled up at him. “Now you’ll have to figure out something else to do on the second date.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Delton was tired of the powdered eggs, and the bacon-like product they put on each man’s plate every morning. On a good day it was hard to swallow, but this morning it seemed even worse. It wasn’t that it was improperly prepared. As powdered eggs go, he was sure it was exceptional fare. He surmised it was the company with whom he was sharing his morning meal. For whatever reason, Rick Simpson felt he needed to shadow Delton as much as he possibly could.
“And so’s I told that son of a bitch,” Simpson said, pieces of egg dropping from his mouth. “Mister, if you think I’m gonna pay that much, then I expect you’re gonna at least lick my balls too.” Rick burst into loud throaty laughter along with the other four assholes sitting around him, who seemed to hang on every word he said.
Either Rick thought they had the chance to be real good friends, and Delton couldn’t imagine how he could have ever gotten that signal, or he felt he needed to keep an eye on Delton after he saw the drug exchange at the zoo. It didn’t matter which, Delton couldn’t take his brand of humor, and his smell, that of wet dog, made it hard for him to breathe, let alone digest his food.
Rick picked up his toast and took a bite. He looked over at Delton. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you all the time, Hayes. It’s like you got a permanent stick up your ass or something.”
Delton said nothing, he simply tried to continue to chew. When he reached for his coffee, Rick nudged him hard, and he spilled it.
“Come on, Hayes. Show some sign of life.”
Delton looked down at the plate of eggs, now floating in coffee. “Dammit, man!” He whirled on Rick.
“Hayes!” A guard called.
Delton looked over.
“You got visitors,” the guard said. “Come on. They’re waiting.”
Delton glared at Rick, then stood and walked away.
“Hey, Hayes,” Rick called after him. “If it’s your sister again, tell her I’m very interested.” He heard the gang of assholes laugh again. He gritted his teeth and walked to the guard.
“Do not let him get under your skin,” The guard said.
“Who’s here?” Delton asked.
The guard shrugged. “Don’t know. They just called and said to get you.”
When they let Delton into the visitor’s room, he looked around, and his eye caught Danna as she stood up from a table full of people. She smiled shyly when she saw him. “Danna,” he whispered and took a step toward her.
A man at the table, who had his back to him, turned and Delton recognized Reggie Fountain. He stopped, but Reginald smiled, stood, and held out his hand. “I want to apologize to you, Delton. I judged you harshly and you didn’t deserve it.”
Delton looked over to Danna. When she smiled and nodded, he shook the man’s hand. “Thanks.”
Reginald chuckled, smacked him on the shoulder and gestured to his sister. “There’s someone here who really wants to see you.”
Danna threw her arms around Delton. “I missed you so much.”
“Me too,” Delton said and held her tight for several moments…like they were afraid to let go in case they didn’t get this chance again.
Reginald tapped Delton on the shoulder. “Delton, I’d like to introduce my wife, Rosalind.”
Delton released his sister, and turned to see an attractive woman with a bright, pleasant smile. “It’s good to finally meet you, Delton.”
Delton shook her hand and gave her an awkward smile back. “Likewise.”
“Come on over, Isaiah,” Reginald said, waving over a boy, still sitting at the table. The boy slowly slid out of his chair and walked around. “This is Danna’s foster brother, Isaiah.”
“Good to meet you, man,” Delton said, and fist-pumped the boy.
“Let’s all sit down,” Reginald said. “We can talk a bit.”
They took their seats. Delton sat next to Danna and Reginald sat on her other side. “I’m happy to see you all,” Delton said. “But….” He didn’t know how to ask the simple question.
“What the hell are we doing here?” Reginald laughed. Rosalind smiled sheepishly. “Mr. Hayes,” Reginald continued. “You have a very good lobbyist.”
“A what?”
“The other day, we were getting ready for dinner and the doorbell rang,” Reginald explained. “It was a white woman who started talking about you.”
“Me?” Delton asked, wondering for a moment who it could be.
“Yes, you.” Reginald said, as if he were telling the most hard-to-believe thing in history. “I asked her to leave, but she pulled out her phone and brought up pictures of her son. Said he couldn’t speak until he met Delton Hayes. And that Delton Hayes was the reason the sun rises over Two Rivers, and on and on…” Reginald laughed.
“You’re kidding me,” Delton said. He looked over at Danna.
She smiled and nodded. “It’s true. I heard it. And I was so proud of you.”
“Of course we were very surprised by this,” Rosalind said. “But she was tenacious and persistent. And we all agreed, at dinner that night, that we would come down here as a family and meet you, and tell you how sorry we were for how we’ve acted.”
All eyes were on Delton as he tried to sort out his feelings as quickly as he could. There was a strain of anger running through him, like a rope being dragged up through a pool of mud. It was grinding at him. He had harsh things to say to the man who judged him, and ripped his sister from his life. How dare that man just si
t and smile at him now.
But somehow, Delton could feel Taysha’s hand smack him on the side of his head again. Her voice, all high pitched and screechy like it does when she’s pissed off, was ripping through his ears. “Delton Hayes, don’t you dare say a bad word to this man who came to you with his tail between his legs. You show him how tall you can stand, and be forgiving. Let him see exactly how wrong he was.”
“It’s okay,” Delton said. “I’m glad you’re here now, and I appreciate being able to see my sister again.”
Everyone at the table smiled. Delton made a note to thank Taysha for the words she never said.
From that moment, the awkwardness was over. The Fountains treated Delton as one of their own. They asked him all about the experiment and his time with Noah. He told them of his first two disastrous days, but he left out the part about he and Judith arguing so badly they were almost out of the program. They wanted to hear about how Noah started speaking and Delton described the moment, and all the studying he had done on his own up to that point. Reginald seemed particularly proud of that.
Then it was Delton’s turn to ask questions. Reginald was a technical engineer at a software company, and Danna was now going to a decent school. She admitted that she wasn’t as interested in it as she should be, but she had been seeing a tutor twice a week, and her grades were getting better as the semester went on.
The visitation period was over far too quickly. They all hugged Delton and promised they would be back each week until he was out. With promises to keep him in their prayers they left.
The following Monday, Judith brought Noah in.
“My man,” Noah said with his usual fist bump. Then Delton walked over to Judith and hugged her tight. She hugged back.
“Nobody has ever done anything like that for me,” He said. “Ever.”
“It’s not even close to what you deserve for what you’ve done for Noah.” She pulled back. “When you told me about how they thought you weren’t fit to be around your own sister, I felt it was my duty to tell them how wrong they were.”
They both heard Dr. Fitzpatrick’s shoe squeaking before he entered the room. “Ah, Miss Higgins,” he said. “I didn’t miss you. I’m glad I have you both here.” He squeak-stepped over. “I wanted to let you both know that this coming Thursday, I have all the clearances set for the pairs to go to a Two Rivers Pirates baseball game.”
“You do?” Delton was sure he sounded too excited.
“Yes,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said. He turned to Judith. “But this time we are only having the pairs go. We want them to have the responsibility of being in charge of the little ones in a public venue.”
Judith turned to Delton. “Are you up for that?”
“Hell yeah,” Delton said. He threw his hand over his mouth and glanced over at Noah. “I mean, heck yeah,” he said through his fingers.
Excerpts from the transcript of the GINfo (Global Information Network) interview between Brooke Winthrop and Dr. Warren Fitzpatrick.
Dr. F: I’d like to make it clear right from the start, I’m not at all happy to be here. And the only reason I’m with you today is because the board ordered me here.
Off Camera: I’m rolling, Gloria.
Brooke: I’m sorry you feel that way, Doctor. Can you tell me why?
Dr. F: Certainly. It’s because I have no interest in being placed in the position of having to defend my research projects…especially to the media. The board has also asked me to write a journal article discussing the fallout, months before I have even sifted through all the data, for no other reason than to defend my work, and save the college a black eye.
Brooke: Well, Dr. Fitzpatrick, let me put your mind at ease. I have no intention of putting you in such a position. You are here simply as a content expert. We want to report on the Delton Hayes, and Noah and Judith Higgins situation, and we’re talking to you because it was your project they were involved in. Is that correct?
Dr. F: Yes. That is correct.
Brooke: And correct me if I’m wrong— the project was to put special needs children into the care of convicted criminals.
Dr. F.: Very clever. You say you’re not going to put me on the defensive, and then you start in on me right away.
Brooke: Doctor, I asked you to correct me if I’m wrong. Please do so.
Dr. F.: It doesn’t really matter what I say does it? You are going to portray it however you want anyway. You’ll just say he threw helpless kids in with dangerous criminals just to sensationalize it, and that will be that.
Brooke: I apologize, Doctor. I’m truly not trying to mock you or your work in any way. But you have to admit, when you say it out loud, it does sound…reckless.
Dr. F.: Well the idea didn’t just come to me when I was drinking heavily one night. It has an actual established precedent in reality, and a very successful reality at that. Just look at the Puppies Behind Bars program, and the remarkable results from that project. There are a great many success stories that have come from it, both in terms of well-trained helpful animals, and interred men who have had the chance to do something positive with their life. But you don’t see PETA running around campaigning for the poor puppies, do you?
Brooke: You make a great point. So here’s what I would like to do. Rather than me paraphrasing what your project is all about, what if you were to describe it for the viewers, in your own words. That will keep me from misconstruing any of the facts.
Dr. F.: Thank you very much. I can both embrace and appreciate that strategy. Well…It’s quite simple, really. The idea was to pair a special needs child with a person in a correctional facility, with the hope of having positive responses on both sides of the equation. The children would get special attention like they’ve never had before, and the inmates would be able to make a substantial difference for good in someone’s life, and have the ability to test for certification in the areas in which they garnered the expertise. The hope was, that positive gains would be measured on both sides of the table.
Brooke: That’s it?
Dr. F.: That’s it. Succinct and to the point. I want to leave as little room for interpretation as possible.
Brooke: Okay, then. May I ask you a few questions regarding Delton Hayes?
Chapter Thirty-Five
The bus arrived at the stadium long before the game was supposed to start. Delton noticed the guards were agitated about this trip. Obviously, they weren’t excited about having to deal with security in a crowd as large as that at a baseball game. The zoo was easy, since their group was the only people allowed in. But they weren’t going to tell the rest of the fans they couldn’t come into a baseball stadium and cheer on the team because six convicts had decided to be there.
The guards ushered them off the bus, single file into the stadium. Delton looked at his tickets and saw they had assigned seats dispersed in one section, along the third base line. Each of the inmate’s seats was positioned at least five seats down a row, which would prohibit them from getting up and running anywhere quickly. And they had an armed guard positioned directly behind each of them. There were also armed guards positioned at the top of the stands and the bottom in case of support. Two rows behind Delton was Ken Miller, and three rows and to the right in front of Delton, sat Rick Simpson.
Delton was impressed by the strategic placement, but he didn’t know how they managed to swing getting ten armed men into the stadium.
Once they were seated, the gates opened. The rest of the crowd filed in, and the atmosphere was upbeat. The Two Rivers Pirates were two games behind first and coming off a three-win road trip.
Delton watched the families stroll in. He saw two boys smacking each other on the back of the head until the father said, “You’ll stop that now, unless you want me to play that game too.” They stopped and sat down.
Another mother was dealing with her little girl, who was crying because she spilled her popcorn. The mother was obviously losing her patience, but Delton couldn’t help but chuckle at this.
After dealing with Noah’s meltdowns, this woman didn’t know how bad things could really be. The mother looked up and caught him. “What are you looking at?” she yelled.
Delton smiled and waved to her. “Nothing ma'am. Just happy to be here.”
It was only about five minutes more and Judith showed up, leading Noah through the crowd by the hand. She had taken precautions, and gotten a comically large sound-deadening ear protection headset for him, which wobbled back and forth on his head with each step. He didn’t act like the sound bothered him, but his right hand flapped furiously. He was obviously shaken by the large number of people. She led Noah down the aisle to sit next to Delton. Once he reached his seat, Noah buried his face in Delton’s arm—another first. He had never done this with anyone but Judith before.
“Good luck,” she said. “I know we aren’t supposed to be here today, but I got myself a ticket anyway. If he gets overwhelmed, I don’t want you to have to deal with a meltdown in the middle of all this. I’ll swoop in and get him out of here.”
Delton nodded. “That’s a great idea. Thank you.”
“No problem. Have fun.” She reached down and pushed Noah’s face up, and waved. He pulled his head back and buried it in Delton’s arm again.
She waved at Delton and scooted back out the row and off into the next section over to the left. Delton let Noah hide his face for a while. He didn’t want to move, gratified by the fact that he had created a bond and a trust with the boy. The fact that Noah felt comfortable in this position was a testament to everything Delton had worked for. He sat back and watched all the other Marmont kids delivered to their caretakers. Sadie Hanson brought young Eddie and let him walk down the row himself. Eddie was excited to be there and put one arm around Rick in a quick hug, but Simpson pushed him off and pointed to the seat. Rick waved to Sadie and she winked back before wandering off.