Becoming a mother figure at sixteen hadn’t been on my to-do list, yet when Grace and Quinn were dropped in my lap, I, unlike Keith, had stepped up to the challenge. What was the alternative – let them starve, both physically and emotionally? Quinn and Grace were like baby birds that had been booted from the nest too soon. Someone had to teach themtofly.
I tried to fill the void left by my parents’ abandonment, but I was a piss poor substitute. The amazing thing about children, I found, was that they were resilient; adapting as a way of survival, I supposed. And so they acclimated to my way of doing things with very little resistance. Perhaps they were just happy someone was doingsomething.
The phone rang, and I gently moved Quinn in order to reach the cordless receiver. “Hello?”
“Emma? It’s me,Keith.”
Well, what do you know; maybe we were telepathicafterall.
“I need your help. Can you pick me up at Hawthorne Park, bythepond?”
“I’m watching the kids. Where’syourcar?”
“I’mnotsure.”
“You’renotsure?”
“I’m not sure, Emma. What do you want metosay?”
“Okay, that’s…weird,” I mumbled under my breath. Who forgot where their car was parked? “What’s going on,Keith?”
“I just… I need you. Can you come?” he asked, his voiceshaking.
Something wasn’t right. I didn’t need to be clairvoyant toknowthat.
“Of courseI’llcome.”
Keith was sittingon a bench by the pond. I could see him looking out over the water as I pulled up. With his shoulders hunched over and his hands folded into his lap, Keith was the loneliest of figures. I turned off the engine and stared at him. If only I could get through to him. Would he even listen? My body shook, and the familiar prickling of unbearable sadness began weighing me down once more. When all was said and done, I wondered if I’d have anybrothersleft.
Slowly, I crossed the grass and took a seat beside Keith. He lifted his head, and I gasped in shock when I got a full view of his beaten face. The skin around his right eye was purple and swollen to twice its size. I barely recognized him under all the bruises and driedblood.
“What happened?” I asked, touching his cheek as I tried to get abetterlook.
“Life.”
“Keith?” He owed me something moreconcrete.
“I had an outstandingbalance.”
“Yourdealer?”
“What do youthink?”
There was an edge to his voice that pissed me off. He’d asked me to come, so he didn’t have the right to those condescendingreplies.
“How much doyouowe?”
“Enough that this is going to happen again in three days if I don’t come up withthecash.”
“Howmuch?”
“$400.”
“Do they haveyourcar?”
“I don’t think so. I was out of it last night. I left it somewhere, but I can’t rememberwhere.”
Not knowing how to reply, I just sat quietly looking out over the water. A pair of ducks happily floated by, and I closed my eyes to imagine the feeling of being so content and carefree. It had been a verylongtime.
