Cascade (12 page)

Seth held out ten tickets to the Denver
Zoolights.

“
Let the girls take the kids to
the Zoolights,” Seth said. “You can tell him while they are
out.”

Sandy took the tickets and got out of the
car.

“
Love you, Sandy,” Seth said.
“I’ve done everything I can to make this go away. I’ll do anything
now to make it…”

“
Better,” Sandy said. “I know.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time to stop running and face it. I
can’t allow another little girl to go through what he did to
me.”

“
That’s my Sandy,” Seth said.
“I’ll be in touch.”

Sandy closed the passenger door to his car. On
autopilot, she made it to her condo and through her shower. Looking
into the mirror, she barely recognized herself.

A half hour ago, she’d been happy. The girl in
the gym mirrors laughed, smiled and giggled. That girl stole kisses
behind the machines. But the girl who looked back at her now was
weighed down by something awful. She nodded to herself. It was time
to put this ghost to rest.

Closing the door to her condo, she dialed
Aden.

“
Hey honey,” Aden said.

“
How about a date on Friday
night?” Sandy asked. “Seth gave me tickets to the Zoolights. I
thought we could get Heather and Tanesha to take the kids and have
a little grown up time.”

“
Yes! Yes! Yes! I’m
in!”

“
We can work out the details
tomorrow morning,” Sandy said.

“
Oh honey, you’ve made my day!
Love you Sandy.”

“
Yeah, love you too.”

Sandy closed her phone and walked into her
salon. Looking into the mirror, her reflection looked a tiny bit
less haunted. She smiled at herself. For the first time in a long
time, she felt brave.

And absolutely terrified.

~~~~~~~~
Wednesday afternoon — 2:30 P.M.

.

“
Paddie is going to be so
jealous,” Katy said.

“
How come?” Delphie set her down
on the kitchen counter.

“’
Cuz I get to lick the bowl!”
Katy grinned. “Do I get to lick the bowl?”

“
You’ll have to fight me for
it.”

Valerie came in wearing her winter workout
gear. She had a knit hat pulled down over her dark hair and was
carrying her jacket.

“
I’m good at fighting,” Katy said.
“I’ve been practicing. Wanna see?”

Valerie laughed. She kissed Katy’s
cheek.

“
I’m off for a run,” Valerie said.
“It’s warmed up a bit. I have five miles I need to get in
today.”

“
We’ll have brownies when you get
back,” Delphie said.

“
That’s the kind of inspiration I
need,” Valerie said. She kissed Katy’s cheek again then hugged
Delphie. “See you in a bit.”

Delphie started getting out the ingredients
for brownies.

“
How is it to be four?” Delphie
asked.

“
I’ve been
four
for two days. It’s pretty great. But
so was being three. And some day I’ll be as old as you! How is it
to be old?”

“
Good,” Delphie said. “I don’t
feel very old.”

“
I don’t feel very old
either!”

Delphie chuckled. She set the chocolate and
butter in the double boiler to melt. She set out the eggs for Katy
to crack.

“
I saw that man.” Katy tapped an
egg against the bowl. “The one who scares you.”

“
What man?” Horrified, Delphie’s
voice shifted a pitch.

“
He looks like a man but is a
monster inside.” Katy gave Delphie the egg shell. “Can I use the
mixer?”

“
Of course.” Delphie got out the
electric mixer and set the blades. “You remember…”

“
Don’t touch while they are
moving,” Katy and Delphie said together.

Delphie kissed Katy’s forehead.

“
Be careful,” Delphie said. “Where
did you see him?”

“
He was talking to Daddy at my
birthday party.”

Katy held her hands out to hold the mixer.
Delphie put her arm around Katy so they could blend the eggs
together.

“
But that’s not the first time I
saw him,” Katy said. “I saw him in a dream first.”

“
You did?”

“
Uh huh,” Katy said.

“
What did you see?”

“
I saw that man put a trap around
your brain,” Katy said. “I didn’t understand it but it was like he
put his hands on your brain. If you left or did something he didn’t
like, he would squish your brain.”

“
He did it with his mind, Katy. It
was awful.”

“
Daddy says the bad man can’t do
that now,” Katy said.

“
Oh?”

“
No, he can’t do it to you because
Daddy fixed your head,” Katy said. “He can only do it to a child
now. Like me or maybe Paddie. But he won’t do it to us.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because my Mommy will kill him,”
Katy said.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:45
P.M.

“
I want to get this straight,”
Aden said.

The Assistant Principal’s office was at least
a hundred degrees. Nash had stripped to his T-shirt but Aden wanted
to appear professional. He was melting in his suit and tie. This
beady-eyed administrator looked something between the Stay Puft
Marshmallow Man and a blow fish. The man reeked of sweat and fried
food. Dark sweat stains formed half moons under his arm pits. His
dark eyes darted back and forth between Nash and Aden.

“
You’re saying that even though the boys were bigger than
Nash and even though your witnesses say that the other boys
antagonize Nash every day
and
started this
fight, Nash is responsible for the fight.”

“
That’s correct.”

The Assistant Principal began cleaning his
glasses with his rumpled, food encrusted shirt. Aden watched in
almost hypnotic silence as he blew on one lens of the glasses and
wiped it with the shirt. He blew on the other lens and wiped the
lens. The Assistant Principal held the glasses up to look through
them. Discovering them still dirty, he began the ritual of breath
and wipe again. Aden shook his head.

“
This is not making sense to me,”
Aden said. “Help me here. How is Nash responsible for the
fight?”

“
Nash was defending your…” the
Assistant Principal sniffed. “Girlfriend. The boys were merely
stating the facts. Your girlfriend is a prostitute. And your son
went nuts.”

Nash shifted in his chair. Aden put his hand
on Nash to keep him calm.

“
She’s a hairdresser,” Aden said.
“I could call her at her work right now.”

“
That’s what you say,” the
Assistant Principal pushed his glasses closer onto his face with
one puffy hand. “The other boys say she’s in a pornographic movie
they own.”

“
Have you seen this
movie?”

“
That is neither here nor there,
Mr. Norsen. The point is that your son takes martial arts courses.
According to witnesses, he put up quite a fight. In fact, one boy
is bruised.”

“
One boy who weighs a hundred
pounds more than Nash.”

“
We don’t discriminate here, Mr.
Norsen.” The Assistant Principal began working on his smudged
glasses again.

Aden stopped himself from saying ‘What?’
again. He felt like he had landed in quick sand. With every
movement, he sunk deeper into the sand.

Time to get out of here.

“
What do we need to do to resolve
this issue?” Aden asked.

“
Nash will be allowed to return to
school tomorrow. I’m barring your…” Slipping on his glasses, the
sneering Assistant Principal looked Aden up and down. Aden felt as
if the man had stuck out his greasy tongue and licked him from head
to toe. “Girlfriend from the grounds. She’s… disruptive to young
people.”

“
That’s fine,” Aden said. “Will
there be anything else?”

“
His homework will have to be up
to date,” the Assistant Principal said.

“
I’ve completed everything for
this week,” Nash said.

“
Sass. You’re just a sassy little
kid.” The Assistant Principal raised a pudgy finger to Nash. “You
won’t get a second chance. This is it. Another fight and you’re on
the streets. You, sir, need to punish this child. He is too
independent for his own good.”

“
I’ll consider it, sir,” Aden
said.

“
Where’s your sass now? Huh?” the
Assistant Principal asked.

Aden put his arm on Nash’s shoulder to hold
him in his chair.

“
Thank you, sir,” Aden said. “I’ll
take care of this at home.”

Aden grabbed Nash by the shoulder and pushed
him out of the room. With his arm over the boy’s shoulder, he
negotiated the boy through the school to his car. He locked the car
doors so Nash couldn’t escape while he went around to the driver’s
side.

“
That was unpleasant,” Aden
said.

“
IT’S TOTALLY UNFAIR!” Nash
yelled. “I didn’t do anything. Sandy didn’t do anything. I’m
responsible for the fight! That’s going in my permanent record.
That’s what he said. I’ll never get into college now
and…”

Aden laughed.

“
No one cares about your permanent
Junior High record.” Aden pulled out of the parking lot. “At least
no one cared about mine.”

“
Oh,” Nash said. “Do I have to go
back?”

“
You have to go back,” Aden said.
“Life isn’t fair sometimes. Everyone gets the shaft sometimes. It’s
good to learn not to let it get you down.”

“
But do I have to go
back?”

Aden laughed.

“
I mean really, Dad,” Nash said.
“It’s not the best environment for my mental and emotional
development.”

“
Talking to Mrs. Helen from the
Marlowe school?” Aden asked.

“
She came into the office while I
was stamping envelopes for Blane,” Nash said. “How did you
know?”

“
She called,” Aden
said.

“
Are you mad at Sandy? Because I
don’t think…”

“
Mad at Sandy? Because of that
toad?” Aden laughed. “Everyone has a past, Nash. I don’t know what
they’re talking about and I don’t really care.”

“
Even if she was in a
movie?”

“
What’s it to me? I know it’s
confusing. Your age is all about ego – how cool or not cool you
are, what you listen to, how you dress.” Aden laughed.

“
Mr. Colin talks a lot about
ego.”

“
I bet he does,” Aden
said.

Nash was quiet for a while.

“
Really, Nash, think about it,”
Aden said. “I know she’s been with other people. So have I. I don’t
need to own her. Why should I care if she was in a
movie?”

“
You’re not
embarrassed?”

“
I’m not embarrassed.” Aden
laughed. “I’m not embarrassed of you and I’m not embarrassed of
her. I love you both.”

“
But doesn’t that make her a
whore?” Unable to let it go, Nash pressed on. “You’d want to date a
whore?”

“
Think of it this way,” Aden said.
“If you were going to pick someone to play soccer with you, would
you pick the person with some experience or the person who’d never
played before?”

“
Oh,” Nash said. “Why is it such a
big deal then?”

“
Because no one you know has had
sex,” Aden laughed. “If some girl has had sex, there must be
something wrong with her. Or worse. She’s not having sex with
them.”

“
But it’s different for
boys?”

“
Most of the time, yes,” Aden said. “Now
that’s
unfair.”

“
I like Sandy, Dad,” Nash said. “I
don’t think she’s a whore.”

“
I love Sandy,” Aden said. “Let’s
pick up Noelle and go to Liks for malts.”

“
Aren’t you rewarding me for poor
behavior? My independence?”

“
I hope so,” Aden said.

Nash laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday night — 11:50
P.M.

“
I should go,” Mike said. “I want
to go.”

With her legs wrapped around his hips, he
carried Valerie into the kitchen. To help build muscle, she had to
drink protein shakes every four hours, including one at midnight.
For the last month, he’d carried her down to the kitchen.
Sometimes, they were dressed like tonight – he in his boxer briefs
and she in a tank top and tiny lace panties. Frequently, they were
naked. They never saw anyone on their midnight protein
feeding.

“
You’ll be so bored,” Valerie
said. “Fourteen days in the Czech republic? With me working sixteen
hour days?”