Andrea nodded. “I know that the police raided the back of the park today, and I saw you bring home a man and a boy who had obviously been living rough. Like I said, you’re doing a good thing.” Andrea patted him on the shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything else.” She headed to the backyard, and Jameson returned inside, leaving the clothes just inside the bedroom door.
The water ran for a long time, and then the pipes quieted. Jameson waited with Cindy in the living room for Todd and Kenny to emerge. The clothes he’d gotten for Todd hung on him. The pants were cinched, but at least the T-shirt wasn’t too big. Kenny’s clothes seemed to fit better, and both of them looked more content. Todd sat on the sofa, with Kenny next to him, Todd’s arms around him.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Todd shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. I was in college, and I was keeping my head above water. I mean, I tried, but I don’t think it was for me. But then I met Kenny’s mom. She was interested in me, and I wasn’t ready to admit things about myself, so we dated for a while. She got pregnant, and I askedher to marry me because that was the right thing to do. But she didn’t want to be a mother and was going to terminate the pregnancy.” He looked down at the floor. “That thought nearly killed me. But she was the mother, and there was only so much I could do. But then she kept putting it off, and eventually it was too late. I had a good job at Everly Freight, so after she had the baby, I took Kenny, and she left town. She was never happy here, and I think she thought this was her chance. She’d met someone new, and they wanted a different life.” He held him closer, Kenny’s eyes drooping.
“It sounds like you had a plan and things were working out, though?”
“Oh, everything was good. My mom helped by watching Kenny while I was at work. I took care of him otherwise. But then at two he got real sick, and I missed a lot of work. When they downsized, I was laid off. I tried for other jobs and found work for a while. Mom passed away when he was three. I had a good job again, and we did well for two years. I had savings, Kenny was in preschool, things were pretty good for us, but with a kid and all the costs, we were doing okay. Then the business went bankrupt. I got my final pay and that was it. No notice. They closed, I was out of a paycheck, and within six weeks, we had no place to live. That was March, and we’ve been living in our tent ever since. I keep trying to get a job or some sort of work, but I don’t have an address. I do have my important papers and stuff hidden so they are safe. At least I have copies of those, but everything else is gone. There was no place for me to keep my stuff, so I sold what I could, and the rest….” He lowered his head.
God, what the hell was wrong with the world they lived in? He knew that there were stories about people becoming homeless all over the news, but this was just too much for him to stand. “Why don’t you take Kenny into the bedroom and liedown for a while? I suspect you haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in all that time.” What the hell else could he do?
“Thanks, Jameson. Kenny and I will be out of your hair as soon as we can. He just needs a chance to rest up and eat a little.” He gathered Kenny, and the two of them went into the bedroom. Jameson followed. Todd got Kenny settled on the bed, and Cindy jumped up with him. “That was the first hot meal that we’ve had in weeks. Whatever money I could scrounge went to get Kenny things he needed. I ate what I could find, and you don’t want to know where I got it. But I did my best to protect Kenny.” He sat down on the bed, his head in his hands, shaking. “This is not the life I want for my son.”
Todd’s shoulders shook, and Jameson knew he was crying. “You didn’t do anything to make this happen. This isn’t what you chose.”
“No. Maybe not, but it’s what happened, and now I don’t know what to do to make it stop. Kenny deserves a better life than this. Maybe he’d be better off if he went into care. At least then he’d get enough food and wouldn’t be sleeping in a tent with nothing.”
Kenny seemedto be resting so they left the bedroom, returning to the living room. “You know that you have the ability to pull yourself up and figure out a way forward. That’s what you need to do for him. You can use my house as an address and start applying for jobs. I know that a number of the distribution centers are looking for workers, including Amazon. They always need people.” He would do what he could to help Todd through this rough patch. The man was scared and worried, he knew that.
“What do you do?” Todd asked.
“I’m an assistant professor at Dickinson. I teach American studies and critical reasoning. So, I work a lot. I publish two to three times a year and teach a number of classes. After a couple more years, I’ll be able to go for tenure, but until then, I have to publish and work extra hard so I can make a name for myself.”
“You went on with college?”
Jameson smiled. “I went all the way. I like to teach, and I like the research that I do. I think my talent in that area is to make my students part of it.” He got up and took over an old laptop. It still worked, but he had gotten a new one that would handle more of the dynamic processes his research required. “You can use this if you want to get online and apply for jobs and stuff. I know it seems hard, but you have to figure a way to keep going forward.”
“You’re actually going to help me?”
“I can try. I don’t know what the exact steps are, but I think I can also try to get you and Kenny some help. I honestly don’t know what’s available.” He placed his hand on Todd’s shoulder. “You and I knew each other back in high school, so I’ll see what I can do. But you have to do your part too… for Kenny. And maybe tomorrow we can check at the post office to see if there is any mail that’s been coming to your last address.” Jameson was more than willing to help, but Todd had to be willing to help himself. Jameson only hoped that turned out to be the reality of the situation.
ChapterTwo
Fear—itruled just about everything in Todd Morris’s life. Fear that Kenny would be hurt, fear that he would be taken away. The fear that today would be another day with very little to eat. And let’s not forget the fear that the person near you could turn on you and bring all the other fears into stark relief. But above it all was the fear that as bad as things seemed at the moment, they would get worse, because there was almost nothing at all that was within your control. Todd lived with fear every day, and he knew the cost of it. The problem was that he wasn’t able to stare it down and keep it at bay. And maybe it wasn’t possible because it snuck into every nook and cranny of his life.
The worst thing about it was that Todd wasn’t sure he could get past it.
When the police had come to remove everyone from the woods at the back of the park, everyone else had simply taken what they could and left. Todd had pulled Kenny to him and hidden. He hadn’t been able to move, so he kept out of sight. Not that he had any reason to stay; he’d just been too scared to move. What startled him the most was when he’d stepped from behind the tree to let Jameson see him. Todd wished he knew why he’d done that in the first place.
“Todd,” Jameson said, finally pulling him out of his dark spiral. “We need to get your license and identification papers and things. Whatever you have that proves who you and Kenny are. Do you remember where you kept them? Are they still there?”
“Yes, I remember, and I’m pretty sure they’re still where I put them.” He closed his eyes for a second. All he wanted was to sleep. It was quiet. When you were with other people in thepark or the woods, things were never quiet. There were always people talking. Some of them crazy and frightening, but there was always noise.
“Okay.” Jameson sat back on the sofa. “I have to tell you that I don’t know what to do. I mean, I know we need to try to get you some sort of employment, but then we need someone to watch Kenny. In the fall, he’ll need to start school.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Todd smiled to himself because Jameson had always done that when he was presented with a situation where he didn’t know the answer.
“It’s remarkably easy for things to fall apart and hard as hell to put them back together. I’ve been trying for months. There are people who came out, brought food, and tried to help. They meant well, but I don’t know if anyone is going to be able to help me pick up the pieces because I’m not even sure what some of the pieces are or where they are.”
“You know what… I don’t either. But I do know people who might be able to help.”
Jameson felt the fear taking over once more. “No. You can’t call in a whole bunch of people. What if they try to take Kenny away? They’ll say I was hurting him and not caring for him properly, and then they’ll put him in foster care, and I’ll never see him again.” He was already on his feet, heading for where Kenny was sleeping. Maybe this was a bad idea, and they should just get out of here.
“Hey,” Jameson said powerfully without raising his voice. “Donald isn’t like that. He works with kids and families all the time. And he has one of his own, so he knows how hard it is to be a parent. If there are resources that he has that can help you, then we have to try.” Jameson took his hands. “Don’t you see. You can’t get on your feet alone. It’s going to take people who know how to do this. And he does. We don’t have to meethim here if you don’t want. I could probably ask him to meet us somewhere more public if that would make you feel better.”
Todd could feel his insides shaking, and it took a few minutes for the fear to settle down. “I’ll talk to him.” He needed to start somewhere, and Jameson was trying to help. In a way, he had reached out to Jameson, and it was coming to the point where he had to trust someone. He and Kenny couldn’t stay out like this forever. They were approaching summer now, but winter was going to pose challenges that Todd didn’t think he was up for.
“Okay,” Jameson said. “Let me call him and see what I can arrange. I’m not going to tell him any more than I have to.” He pulled out his phone and set it on the table. Then he used his phone to look up the number and dialed it, putting the call on speaker. Instead of getting Donald directly, it went to voice mail, and Jameson left a message before ending the call. “He’ll call us back,” Jameson told him.
