That again.
The other day when I asked about Aunt Sarah, Beulah told me that Dad had been lying. âAunt Sarah doesnât exist,â she said. âWe looked.â
This is not how I imagined things going. Dad wasnât supposed to sign those papers. He was supposed to fight for me; get a lawyer; make us a family again. Iâd stay atKids Place until the state came to some kind of settlement and heâd have litter duty or something. Whatever those white-collar criminals get. Even Martha Stewart got to go home and plant potatoes. Okay. After nine months in jail. But still, nine months is nothing. Anybody can hold out for nine months.
âWhat about contact with my dad? Can I talk to him?â Iâm sure Iâll want to. Sometime. When the anger goes away.
I wonder if it will go away.
It never has for my mom.
But heâs all Iâve had all these years. Itâs not as easy as signing a piece of paper for me.
Donovan shakes his head. âNow that Iâm your interim guardian, I think it would be best for you not to see him.â
âExcuse me?â
âYour dad is in federal prison. Outside Elko.â
No more Carson City minimum security jail for Dad.
My stomach flip-flops. Itâs okay not to talk to him when I donât want to, but when somebody else mandates that, itâs not.
Donovan continues, âYou need to be steered away from those kinds of peopleâaway from the influence of such a sinful man.â
And into the arms of the creepiest family in Reno.
Jess wasnât kidding about foster homes. No wonder Nicole runs away.
âHeâs my dad,â I finally manage to say. So he signed a piece of paper. Maybe he was forced to. Maybe. I think of a hypothesis that would work with that scenario. There are too many maybes, but none of them take me where I need to go. I feel like Iâm hitting dead ends in my lab rat maze.
I scan the faces sitting at the table and can feel the gastric fluids bubbling in my intestines. Itâs as if they all got together and decided that there was a right kind of dad, and mine wasnât it.
âEvolve!â I want to shout. But Cherry probably thinks she comes from a rib and the word evolution is blasphemous.
âRight now, your father is just another man in prison.â He does that annoying quote thing with his fingers when he says âfather.â Donovan has cold eyes. Cherry blushes again.
I cross my arms and look away.
He mutters something under his breath, then half smiles. âSo weâll be back on Wednesday to take you home.â They get up and embrace Beulah. Iâm afraid theyâll wrinkle her, but she springs back, her suit as pressed as before.
They move toward me, but I shove my hands into my pockets and turn away.
I fight back tears. October drizzle blurs the window-pane. I watch as they pile into a two-tone station wagon plastered with bumper stickers: a glowing Guadalupe; WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB ?; THIS fi SH WONâT FRY. WILL YOU ?; ARE YOU FOLLOWING JESUS THIS CLOSE ?; and, my personal favorite, DARWIN IS DEAD . JESUS IS ALIVE . WHICH ONE DO YOU TRUST WITH YOUR ETERNAL SOUL ?
Itâs Monday. I have two days.
I lay my head in my arms and cry.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
P urpose : Find Aunt Sarah.
Hypothesis: If I can find Aunt Sarah, I can avoid being sent to the Holy Rollersâ house.
Materials: Momâs box, a backpack, any cash I can find in the house that I mightâve missed, a couple changes of clothes, Pepto-Bismol, food, water, me
Procedure:
1) Get a Citifare Bus schedule
2) Sneak out of Kids Place
3) Take the bus and get to our old house
4) Look for the spare key under the address stone in the garden and get into the house
5) Get Momâs box
6) Pack a backpack of things
7) Search the box for clues to find Aunt Sarah
8) Never look back
Variables: Time: I have two days. So I need to go. Today. Dad: Does Aunt Sarah really exist or is she a figment of
The other day when I asked about Aunt Sarah, Beulah told me that Dad had been lying. âAunt Sarah doesnât exist,â she said. âWe looked.â
This is not how I imagined things going. Dad wasnât supposed to sign those papers. He was supposed to fight for me; get a lawyer; make us a family again. Iâd stay atKids Place until the state came to some kind of settlement and heâd have litter duty or something. Whatever those white-collar criminals get. Even Martha Stewart got to go home and plant potatoes. Okay. After nine months in jail. But still, nine months is nothing. Anybody can hold out for nine months.
âWhat about contact with my dad? Can I talk to him?â Iâm sure Iâll want to. Sometime. When the anger goes away.
I wonder if it will go away.
It never has for my mom.
But heâs all Iâve had all these years. Itâs not as easy as signing a piece of paper for me.
Donovan shakes his head. âNow that Iâm your interim guardian, I think it would be best for you not to see him.â
âExcuse me?â
âYour dad is in federal prison. Outside Elko.â
No more Carson City minimum security jail for Dad.
My stomach flip-flops. Itâs okay not to talk to him when I donât want to, but when somebody else mandates that, itâs not.
Donovan continues, âYou need to be steered away from those kinds of peopleâaway from the influence of such a sinful man.â
And into the arms of the creepiest family in Reno.
Jess wasnât kidding about foster homes. No wonder Nicole runs away.
âHeâs my dad,â I finally manage to say. So he signed a piece of paper. Maybe he was forced to. Maybe. I think of a hypothesis that would work with that scenario. There are too many maybes, but none of them take me where I need to go. I feel like Iâm hitting dead ends in my lab rat maze.
I scan the faces sitting at the table and can feel the gastric fluids bubbling in my intestines. Itâs as if they all got together and decided that there was a right kind of dad, and mine wasnât it.
âEvolve!â I want to shout. But Cherry probably thinks she comes from a rib and the word evolution is blasphemous.
âRight now, your father is just another man in prison.â He does that annoying quote thing with his fingers when he says âfather.â Donovan has cold eyes. Cherry blushes again.
I cross my arms and look away.
He mutters something under his breath, then half smiles. âSo weâll be back on Wednesday to take you home.â They get up and embrace Beulah. Iâm afraid theyâll wrinkle her, but she springs back, her suit as pressed as before.
They move toward me, but I shove my hands into my pockets and turn away.
I fight back tears. October drizzle blurs the window-pane. I watch as they pile into a two-tone station wagon plastered with bumper stickers: a glowing Guadalupe; WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB ?; THIS fi SH WONâT FRY. WILL YOU ?; ARE YOU FOLLOWING JESUS THIS CLOSE ?; and, my personal favorite, DARWIN IS DEAD . JESUS IS ALIVE . WHICH ONE DO YOU TRUST WITH YOUR ETERNAL SOUL ?
Itâs Monday. I have two days.
I lay my head in my arms and cry.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
P urpose : Find Aunt Sarah.
Hypothesis: If I can find Aunt Sarah, I can avoid being sent to the Holy Rollersâ house.
Materials: Momâs box, a backpack, any cash I can find in the house that I mightâve missed, a couple changes of clothes, Pepto-Bismol, food, water, me
Procedure:
1) Get a Citifare Bus schedule
2) Sneak out of Kids Place
3) Take the bus and get to our old house
4) Look for the spare key under the address stone in the garden and get into the house
5) Get Momâs box
6) Pack a backpack of things
7) Search the box for clues to find Aunt Sarah
8) Never look back
Variables: Time: I have two days. So I need to go. Today. Dad: Does Aunt Sarah really exist or is she a figment of
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