Saving Little Amy (An Age Play Romance) (3 page)

“Well, if it isn’t the shoplifter of the century.”  A gravely voice caught me in my tracks as I walked with my hands stuffed into my jacket and my head down.

“You…”  I blinked a couple of times when I lifted my head.  It was the officer that arrested me.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not stalking you.  They moved me to the homicide division after I caught you.  I guess in a way, I should thank you.  I finally got the promotion I deserved years ago.”  He let out a wry grin as he dropped his cigarette and stepped on it.

“I’m glad destroying my life worked out so well for you.”  My brow came together in an angry scowl.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic, Amy.  Come on; let me buy you a cup of coffee.  I’ll pay for it so you don’t have to steal it.”  His sarcastic smile made me angry, but I really did want to get out of the cold.

“Fine…”  We walked a short distance to a coffee shop and he ordered two large cups, but let me choose what went in mine.  His was filled with sugar and cream.  Mine was filled with an artificial sweetener and a fat-free alternative to his sludge.

Behind the badge and the stone cold demeanor was a kind and compassionate man it seemed.  While we walked to the coffee shop, he kept me entertained with jokes that forced a smile and a laugh from my normally silent, thin-lined lips.  Smiles and laughter were rare, even before I went to jail.  I forced them sometimes, but there was hardly a time when I wore the expression of happiness by choice.  When we got to the coffee shop and took our place in line, he stopped throwing out quips about my thievery, which I was thankful for.  Standing a few feet behind him in line allowed me to get a decent look at him for the first time.  I certainly had seen him at the mall and his face was forever emblazoned in my mind, but that quick exchange didn’t give me time to notice the broad shoulders, biceps pressing against the arms of his suit, and chiseled muscles along the underside of his jaw that forced him to keep his top button unbuttoned underneath the tie.  He was older than me by some years; I figured he was old enough to be my father.  When his hands reached for the coffees and extended one to me, I noticed that both of his hands were fairly calloused, but what I noticed most of all was the wedding band on his left hand.  In a way that brought a little sense of relief, because a part of me feared he was interested in more than coffee.

“So tell me Amy, have you been a good law abiding citizen since you got out?”  He pulled my chair out before taking his own and striking up conversation.

“I’ve done the best I could.  I lost my apartment while I was locked up, but one of my old neighbors is letting me stay with her.  She’s a sweet old lady, but I don’t think her family likes the fact I’m shacked up with their elderly relative.”  I shrugged my shoulders and sipped the warm liquid.

“I’ve got a daughter about your age.  It broke my heart to arrest you, but you made those choices for yourself.”  His tone was very matter-of-fact.

“Yes, I’m aware of that.  I screwed up.”  I sighed and shook my head.

“Where are your parents?”  He lifted his cup up and took a sip.

“I don’t even have a clue where my father is.  My mother passed away.”  I fiddled with the edge of the logo on the coffee cup.  I didn’t like talking about my family.

“I’m sorry to hear that.  You were raised by a single mother?  I see…”  He let his words trail off. 

“She did the best she could.  It wasn’t her fault she was forced to take care of me by herself.”  I felt my eyebrows coming together.  I loved my mother and even though she had her faults, I didn’t believe any of what I did was on her.

“I’m sure she did, but only having one parent meant there was only one set of eyes on you, which is hardly enough for a child, much less a teenager.”  He spoke like a man who had plenty of experience in the area.

“So I guess you and your wife kept your daughter from becoming a criminal?”  I motioned to the wedding band on the hand wrapped around the cup of coffee.

“Ah, yes.”  He pulled his hand back and rolled it around his finger with his thumb.  “I wear it more as a tribute now than as a symbol of what it once stood for.  My wife passed.”  His face grew a little dark and he swallowed hard.  “Cancer…”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”  I could feel the color draining from my face.  “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“No, it isn’t your fault.  However, to answer your question, I think we did alright.  Our little girl is across the country siphoning every penny I make into her college education.  She wants to be a veterinarian, which isn’t cheap…”  He shook his head back and forth while he stared directly into his cup.

“It sounds like you did a great job.”  I was jealous in a way.  I wasn’t given those opportunities.

“It wasn’t easy, trust me.  My daughter had to spend a lot of time over my knee learning right from wrong.”  The left side of his mouth turned into a half smile as he shrugged.  “She would probably say she had a horrible childhood.”

“Well that is…”   I struggled to find a word or phrase that didn’t sound horrible.  “…Old fashioned.”

“I guess I’m an old fashioned kind of guy.”  He almost cackled and seemed pleased with the comparison.

We finished our coffee over small talk and then we departed.  Detective Solomon Crane, Sol as he was known to his friends, had shown me a little bit of kindness and I appreciated it.  There had been a lack of it in my life since my mother passed.  Unfortunately, kindness wasn’t going to be plentiful that day. 

***

When I arrived back to Ms. Randolph’s apartment, her family was still there.  They were all sitting in the living room and they grew silent when I got there.  They asked me to sit down and then one by one, they told me why they weren’t comfortable with me staying with her.  It was like some kind of intervention for something I didn’t do, or at least something I didn’t plan to do.  When they were all done, I realized the intervention was for Ms. Randolph.

“We just don’t feel comfortable with you living here with our mother.”  Her daughter said with a snotty attitude.

“I would never do anything to hurt your mother.  I love her…  Mrs. Randolph…”  She looked away from me as I tried to plead my case.

 They had convinced her to kick me out.  She seemed saddened by the idea, but she followed along with what they said and gave me one of her old suitcases to pack the few things I managed to accumulate, along with the things she saved for me.  I had never been kicked out of anywhere before.  Right before the hammer fell, she walked into the hallway and told me she was sorry.  I understood, even if I didn’t like it.  She palmed me a hundred dollar bill and kissed me on the cheek before sending me into the world all alone.  I knew a hundred dollars was a lot of money for her, and normally I would have refused, but the reality of what I was facing kept me grounded.  I took it and walked away.  There was nothing else I could do.

“Goodbye, Mrs. Randolph…”  I said sadly as I looked over my shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”  She mouthed as she closed the door.

I didn’t want to sleep on the sidewalk, but I knew I would need the money I had for food, so I chose a homeless shelter nearby to stay the evening.  They didn’t ask a lot of questions and luckily they had a few cots open.  It was filled with the dredge of humanity, the kind that we know exist, but like to pretend do not.  It wasn’t the best place to stay, because there were plenty of drug dealers and rapists sleeping nearby.  I woke up during the night to find a man standing by my cot just watching me.  He made me feel so uncomfortable that I pulled my cot near the office in an effort to dissuade his stare. There was at least someone in the office who was tasked with keeping an eye on the place after hours. 

“Don’t go, girl.  I’d take good care of you.”  The man licked his lips.

“Stay away from me!”  I turned over in my bed and prayed he would go away as tears formed in my eyes.

One day turned into two and then that turned into a week.  I did what I could to keep myself clean, but my appearance decayed every single day.  I tried to find a job during the day, using the money sparingly, but there really wasn’t anything out there for a homeless girl who only had a couple of changes of clothes.  One night, I got back to the shelter and found a commotion.  The police were there and they were arresting one of the residents.  I didn’t know him very well, but I figured out what he had done when the man walking out with him in handcuffs was Detective Crane.  He seemed surprised to see me there, but he only gave me a nod of recognition as he continued marching his suspect towards the car.  A few hours later, he walked in the front door again, and as the residents scattered at the sight of him, he walked straight to my cot.

“I thought you had a place to stay.”  He glared at me and I thought he was almost angry.

“I did…”  I shrugged my shoulders.  “But, my past was too much for her family to handle.  They threw me out.”

“Well you can’t stay here.  This place is filled with real criminals, Amy.”  He put his hands on his hips.

“Then I guess I’m among my people.”  I pulled the blanket around me.  “In the end we get what we deserve, don’t we?  My penance must not be completely paid.”

“Don’t be so fucking dramatic.  Come on…”  He yanked me up by my arm.

“What the hell?  Leave me alone!”  I said angrily.

“Shut up, you’re coming home with me.”  Before I really knew what was happening, he was marching me to his car.

My mind tried to process what was happening as he sat me in the front seat and slid into the driver’s seat.  Was the man who had been my downfall actually saving me from the brink of despair?  It felt so strange being in the front seat of the very same patrol car that hauled me away the day I was arrested.  At least, I assumed it was.  I didn’t get much of a chance to investigate the nooks and crannies when I was stuffed in the backseat.  I realized as the car bounced us along that I was very tired.  Sleep used to come so easy, but it had become a luxury since I was arrested.  The few decent nights I got in Mrs. Randolph’s apartment were hardly enough to refresh me.  I was fairly certain that my current arrangement was going to be little more than temporary, but I at least had a feeling I would be safe.

“We’re here…”  Detective Crane nudged me and I realized I had dozed off on the way.

“Huh?  Oh…”  I blinked the sleep away and stared at the walls of his carport.

“How about some coffee?”  He asked as he opened the door and walked around to open mine.

“Sure, that would be great.”  I let him take me by the hand and help me out of his patrol car.

He led me inside and started a pot of coffee, lighting up a cigarette as soon as it was gurgling.  I looked around his house, amazed by the attention to detail.  It was clear it hadn’t had a woman’s touch in a while, but there was evidence it was once immaculately designed.  I paused by his fireplace and looked at a picture of his wedding day.  His wife was drop dead gorgeous, and he was incredibly handsome when he was younger.  He hadn’t lost that with age, although his wife’s condition was evident in some of the later pictures.  I looked at pictures of them with his daughter, and it chronicled her life.  She got older, developing into a radiant beauty like his wife, he got older, and his wife deteriorated away.  When I got to the last one, which was just him and his daughter, I felt an incredible twinge of sadness.  In pictures, their family was perfect, but in reality, it had been ended so tragically.

“You can stay in my daughter’s room.”  He walked in and placed a warm cup in my hands.

“Thank you, are you sure she won’t mind?”  I sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace.

“No, she rarely visits and when she does, she usually wants to sleep in the guest room.  I don’t think she likes to remember the little girl she used to be.”  He placed a few logs on the fireplace and stuffed newspaper between them, lighting it up.

“She was lucky…”  I said aimlessly and let the hot coffee warm me up from the inside while the fire warmed the room.

“You wouldn’t convince her of that.”  He sat down in the chair across from me and lit another cigarette as he sipped his coffee.

“I know I was hesitant to come here, but thank you.  I don’t think I could have spent another night in that shelter.”  I still felt sleepy, despite having some coffee coursing through my veins.

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen it a hundred times.  That life won’t lead you anywhere good, and I think you do have some good in you, despite what you were doing when we first met.”  He inhaled and exhaled quickly, then sipped his coffee again.

I sat there and confessed all of my sins, not holding anything back.  It was the first time I had ever opened up to anyone, and it felt nice to have an opportunity to talk about it.  He was a good listener, occasionally chiming in about how he would have handled situations I handled badly.  It was pretty clear that I had no real guidance in my life, and the horrible situations I had created for myself had been my own doing.  A lifetime of horrible things poured out of me until I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.  He filled my coffee cup up again and sat back down while I continued.  I realized as I got the point in my story where I was heading back to the shelter that hours had passed.  I was a blubbering, sobbing mess, but he didn’t chastise or insult me for any of my choice.  He simply listened and nodded most of the time.  When I was done, he walked over and held out his hand.

“You’ve endured a lot of pain, Amy.”  He helped me up and pulled me close, hugging me tightly.  “I’m sorry life has been so cruel.”

He hugged me and caressed my hair as the tears continued to fall.  By the time my tears dried, I was fairly exhausted.  He took me upstairs to his daughter’s room, which looked like someone had vomited the contents of a high school girl’s life all over it.  He said anything I wanted was mine, and I was free to stay as long as I liked.  All I really wanted was a hot shower, so he showed me to the bathroom and walked back downstairs.  I cleaned myself up and dug through his daughter’s closet.  Her clothes were a fairly good fit, although they were a bit tight around my chest and my lower torso.  I found a sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants I could stuff myself into and dried my hair before returning downstairs.  I walked into the living room at sat down.  He casually looked over, and then did a double take, tilting his head to side with a smile.