“So, I’m at a crossroads,” she continued.“I’d lose histrust if I told his mom, and I need his trust.But his mom needs to know.Ihave him back now, and I can work on him.And I just have to see where thatleads me.”
“So, you’re the village,” he stated.
She tipped her head to the side in a silent,What?
“Any of the parents pay you guys for looking after theirkids?”
“That’s the point.They have mouths to feed, roofs to keepover heads, and that’s hard enough.They needed to make decisions that noparent should make.And this lightens the load, sometimes just the worry,because most of the kids were looking out for themselves.But for the others,it lightens it financially and that’s significant.”
Oh, he got it.
“You got all these people to look after their own,” heexplained.“You’re the village.”
She was quiet a second.
Then she said, “Everything is monetized, even stuff thatshouldn’t be.At least not to the extent it is.Healthcare, childcare.And it’sno skin off my nose to have those kids hang with me for a couple of hoursbetween school and their parents being home.Occasionally, there’s a headache.Martin brought the flu in once, everyone got it, and that was a drag.But whenI moved here, I moved into a community.For the most part, folks looked aftereach other already, but it wasn’t as organized.Now it’s tighter.And it’sappreciated.I can’t say Mal’s mom is a good friend of mine.I can say she sawme and Elijah fighting and she came over that night with a bottle and we hungout and bitched about family stuff.I needed that but didn’t think to reach outto anyone to ask for it.So…”
She was done talking because she said no more.
He wanted to get into her fighting with Elijah.
But they both had days to get on with and they were alreadyinto something deep and he suspected that’d only take them deeper.
So Jag stuck with the subject.
“How do you not have problems with a bunch of middleschoolers?”
She surprisingly had a ready answer.
“Because kids know things.You can’t protect them.Theyknow.Every one of them knows they’re either alone in their house and their momand/or dad is worried about them the entire time.Or they feel like a drainbecause their folks have to pay someone to watch them and they don’t have themeans to do that without everyone feeling it.I can’t say they’re angelstwenty-four seven.They’re humans.They have moods.They can act like dicks.Ithink it was a shock, in the beginning, that they had someone who understoodthat and didn’t get up in their shit about it.The road was bumpy starting out.Then respect formed.So mostly, now we all get on with it.”
“You do know how fucking cool this is, right?”
Those pretty black eyes shifted to his shoulder.
“No.I know that I had a dad who was clueless, a brother whowas pissed off at the world and I needed to step up when I should have beenable to be a kid.I don’t blame either of them.It was what it was.But did Iwant to be doing laundry and cooking food and vacuuming and runninginterference and making sure my big brother did his homework?No.I wished Ihad someone to step in and let me be a kid.So these kids get to be kids atschool.And they get to be kids after school.And they know someone gives a shit.And then they get to go home and be part of a family.I didn’t have that.Noone stepped in for me.I didn’t feel like a part of a family.I felt like I wasthe only thing holding my family together.It’s not like I’m Mother Teresa.I’mjust a good neighbor.”
Oh yeah.
They had a lot to go over when they had more time.
“Right, well, whether you get it or not, it’s fucking cool.And just saying, that’s what my Club is about.We look out for each other.Wedo all right now, money is good, no one is hurting.But there were times, andwhen those times came, the brothers and their old ladies had each other’sbacks.”He took a sip of his coffee and reiterated, “Itisreallycool, Archie.More people should think like you.No, not just think like you.Think like you and do something about it.”
She sidestepped the compliment again, and said, “So theuniverse as we know it is what we think it to be, and things work out with us,I’m gonna be your ‘old lady’?”
“Yup.”
Her lips tipped up, her eyes went hooded and that was howshe shared her approval of that before she sipped more coffee.
“Now, back to the subject, the Harris brothers,” heprompted.
She gave a nod.
“Their parents suck.I’m no counselor, I don’t have yearsunder my belt dealing with kids, but I talked with Freya and I tried a numberof different ways to get through to them, and nothing worked.I’m not going togo so far as say they’re bad seeds.Especially Allan, he’s mostly a good kid,but he sticks to Aaron like glue, to his detriment.But dealing with them isbeyond my scope.”
“I hear you,” he said when she paused.
So she kept going.
