“I got her to the edge and laid her out there and tried CPR. I knew how to help a grown man, but someone that small . . .” Johnson’s chest heaved as he talked.
Preston shook his head. The radio was squawking again, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying and at the moment he didn’t care. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his thinning hair.
“I don’t think I’ve ever prayed so hard in my life. I just kept saying, ‘Please, God, please, God, help me, help me,’ and not ten minutes earlier I was cursing at him for not being there in the war. I kept asking him to bring her back, and I’d push on her little chest and blow into her lips, and after a while I thought I’d lost her.” He looked at Preston. “I almost gave up. I think that’s what haunts me the most. I almost sat back and let her go.”
“But you didn’t,” Preston said.
“No, sir. She came around. That first cough was the best sound I’ve ever heard. Just water gurgling up, and then I turned her on her side and all that water gushed out. I picked her up and held her. She was so cold and wet. And she started crying and calling out for her mama. I’d never held a child in my life, and giving comfort to someone so innocent did something inside.”
Preston just took in the information. His mind ran to the legal implications of what happened next. “So you pulled her out, brought her back to life, and then what?”
For the first time, Johnson looked a little scared. “I didn’t know what to do. I took her back to the RV and wrapped her in a blanket and sat there thinking it through. If her mama had been part of this, with that friend, I didn’t want her going back there. And if I took her to the authorities, that’s exactly where she’d go. My sense was that whoever had done this thought they did their job, that she was gone. So I figured I could take her and find a place for her. Out of reach of the people who wanted to hurt her.”
“So you took off.”
“I drove out right then and didn’t stop until we got into Pennsylvania. She slept the whole night and woke up wet in the morning, and I knew I had to find her diapers. I swear, if I didn’t have Walmart, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“Why didn’t you give her to someone in some other state?”
Johnson laughed. “You’ve never met June Bug. You have to, Sheriff. I guarantee you, one conversation with her and there’s no way . . .” He looked away for a moment. “No way you could let anybody else take her. She puts a spell on you.”
“So if you’re attached, why come back here? It has to be more than just what’s buried here.”
Johnson nodded. “Part of it was the fellow who’s accused. I couldn’t stand the thought of somebody going to jail for killing someone who wasn’t dead. From what I saw, I have a feeling he didn’t even know she was there.”
“He’s going away but not because of the girl.”
“Fair enough. The other reason was the news reports. When I saw you’d found the car, I knew it was only a matter of time until somebody discovered the truth. And then I saw that grandmother and all the pain she’d been through and how much she believed her little grandbaby was alive. It tore at me the whole way here. The final straw was June Bug herself. She needs more than I can give her now. I know that in my head, but in my heart . . . I guess I know it’s time to do the right thing.”
Preston thought through his next words carefully. “You know I can’t just look the other way on this. But if what you say is corroborated by the girl and the family doesn’t have a problem . . .” He shook his head. “But then there’s the mother.”
“I can’t have her going to someone who’s going to hurt her,” Johnson said.
“I understand. You gave her life back to her.”
“Yeah, and she gave it right back to me.”
“It’d be a shame to go through all you’ve gone through and then have something happen to her. And then there’s the media to deal with.”
“You couldn’t pay me enough to do your job, Sheriff.”
The radio squawked again and Preston stood. “I need to answer that.”
“I’ll keep digging, if that’s okay.”
Preston hurried back to the car. “Sheriff Preston, go ahead.”
The dispatcher sounded agitated. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you, Sheriff. Leason Edwards called. They’ve found the girl. She’s alive. Can you believe it? She’s alive!”
Preston glanced at the man working on the parking lot. “Yeah, I believe it.”
30
The grandmother liked to hug the stuffing out of me. It felt good to know I had grandparents. He wasn’t as touchy as the grandmother was, though he did stand there grinning a lot and looking at me like I was some kind of china doll from outer space.
The grandmother bandaged up my arm and sprayed some stuff on my legs that were scraped, and I thought it was going to hurt but it didn’t. Then she went off and phoned somebody while the grandfather asked if I wanted anything to eat, which I did, and he started a pan to heating on this old stove and was going to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. But when the grandmother saw what he was doing, she shooed him out like he was an old fly and took over and made the most toasty and cheesiest sandwich I have ever had. It was like she had been waiting all her life to make me a sandwich and she wasn’t going to have anybody else do it. The grandfather just smiled through it all like this had happened a hundred times.
“How’s the sandwich?” she said.
“Great,” I said, but my mouth was full and they laughed their heads off.
That’s when the grandmother started crying again. She would cry one minute and laugh the next. It was the weirdest thing. And then the grandfather came over and put his hand on her, and I didn’t know what to do except keep eating. Dad says some people cry because of what’s happened and others cry because of what’s not happened, but I figured it was a little bit of both for her.
“How did you find us?” she said after she wiped her face with a paper towel and blew her nose.
I told her about seeing my face on the wall at Walmart. “And when my dad was taking a trip, I thought maybe he’d be coming here, so I hid in the RV, and he didn’t find me until we got to Kansas or Arkansas. I can’t remember which.”
They stared at me and finally the grandmother said, “You have a father?”
“Yeah, we’ve traveled around so many places, the beach and out west and to Civil War battlefields and all kinds of places.”
The grandfather rubbed the back of his neck and turned around.
The grandmother leaned down with a serious look. “Did your dad ever . . . hurt you?”
“You mean spank me? He doesn’t do that because he says all I need is a strong look and I just melt. He’s yelled at me before when I wasn’t looking where I was going in the parking lot.”
The grandfather turned around. “So where’s your daddy now?”
“Over at the reservoir. He had to dig up something and his daddy brought me home.” I jumped up from the table. “I need to tell him where I am.”
“No, no, you sit right there,” the grandmother said. “The sheriff will be here any minute.”
“Sheriff? You called the police?”
“Natalie, it’s important we find out what happened. And who’s responsible for this.”
It was a special thing to hear your real name called and strange at the same time.
“Responsible for what?” I said.
“We’ll talk it through with you later. The important thing now is to get you settled and checked out.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I felt safe, so I didn’t ask more questions.
She got out a glass and poured cold milk in it and cut a slice of cake that looked like it was bigger than me, and we just talked and the grandmother smiled and kept staring at me. It was a perfect meal until there was a commotion outside and the porch was all lit up and the grandfather said a bad word. He looked out and mentioned something about the media.
The grandmother took me into a bedroom down the hall and took my shoes off and told me to snuggle under the covers and stay there. Then she brought me the prettiest doll I have ever seen with a fancy hat and hair that just swirled down the doll’s back. It was a sight; I’ll tell you that.
I listened to the commotion, and a little later a car pulled up with a siren on and there were these lights, blue and white, dancing on the wall across from me. The front door opened and closed, and there were voices low and whispered. I sat up to listen but I couldn’t understand what they were saying, except I did hear the grandmother start into crying again.
Then the floor creaked outside in the hall and the grandmother came in, smiling and trying to hide her red eyes. Behind her was this giant of a man in a uniform. He had his hat in his hand and was looking at me like he had never seen red hair in his life. He just stood there looking.
I glanced from one to the other and said, “What?”
That set them to laughing.
“It’s just so good to see you; that’s all,” the man said. “I’m Sheriff Preston.”
I recognized him from the TV and when he held out a hand I shook it and he seemed surprised at how strong I was. My dad always told me not to hand anybody a dead fish.
“Pleased to meet you,” I said.
“How do you like your new place?” he said.
“What new place?”
“This house. This is where you’re going to be living.”
I sat up in the bed. “What do you mean? What about my dad?”
“He’ll be all right,” the sheriff said. “He’s fine.”
“Do you know where he is?” I said.
“Sure I do. I met him over at the reservoir. Nice fellow. We’re just trying to work this whole thing out.”
I had a queasy feeling in my stomach and I jumped out of the bed and headed for the door, but the sheriff caught me and said I shouldn’t go outside until the media was done with whatever they were going to do.
“I want my dad!”
“Let’s settle down now,” the grandmother said.
“I want my dad!”
“Natalie,” the grandmother said in a stern voice that let me know she meant business.
The sheriff got down on one knee, and I could tell by the way he winced and the thing cracked that it wasn’t the best position for him. He looked me straight in the eyes, and I could see that he was sorry for me.
“I want my dad,” I said, this time the room getting cloudy with tears.
“I know, honey. And he knows too. We’re going to work everything out, okay?”
“Can he stay here?”
The sheriff turned his head and rubbed his chin with a big hand. Then, as if he knew I wanted somebody to look me in the eye, he did. “It’s June Bug, right?”
I nodded.
“June Bug, I’m known as a straight shooter. Do you know what that means?”
“That you don’t beat around the bush with your words?”
“Exactly. And for any other little kid, I would probably pat their head and tell them to get back in bed and stay there. But you’re not just any little kid. You’ve been through a lot. So I’m going to tell you the truth.”
“Okay.”
“Your dad is a good man. It appears he did something when you were little that saved your life, and he’s been taking care of you ever since. Do you know about that?”
I felt my chin puckering and shook my head.
“Well, if what he’s saying is true, you two have had a life together on the road. And it’s been fun. But he knows it’s time for you to be with your real family.” He pointed a thumb at the grandmother. “This lady here has been watching and praying for you for seven years. She never gave up hope.”
The grandmother’s eyes were red again, and she took off her glasses and wiped at them with the paper towel. The grandfather took her in his arms and patted her back, and the old lady just went to bawling.
I couldn’t stop looking the sheriff in the eyes. It seemed to me he was one of those people who knows a lot more than he lets on. “Will I get to see him again?” I said, and one of those lonely tears rolled down my cheek and hung there, like a balloon that’s had most of the helium taken out.
Sheriff Preston reached over with a big hand, all wrinkled and gnarly, and took the tear from me with just a finger. I think that’s about the kindest thing a person can do for another one and it surprised me.
“If your grandmother thinks it’s okay, I think we can work that out. But we have to be quiet about all this. Those media people out there get hold of your dad, and he’ll be gone.”
“When can I see him?”
“June Bug, look at me. I promise you’ll see him again. I can’t tell you right now when that will be. But I promise it will happen, okay?”
I nodded, still looking into his eyes. And then another tear came and my whole face felt like it was going to shrivel up. “But he needs me. And I need him.”
That big old sheriff pulled me close and hugged me, and I got his shirt wet. I could picture my dad out there at the reservoir all alone, digging up that box he was looking for and then wondering where I was. Just walking around calling my name, reaching out a hand. I kept thinking about Colorado and Sheila and all the places we’d been. And then Dad letting me go swimming.
“You promise?” I said into the sheriff’s uniform.
The sheriff patted my head, and I could hear his voice kind of shaking. “I promise, June Bug.”