Fifteen Years (11 page)

Josiah nodded his head like his friend could see him. “Once I get on 75, I’ll pretty much be in the center of Atlanta. It’s just a matter of finding what I’m looking for after that.”

“I still can’t believe you didn’t fly,” Craig said. “Ain’t no way I would’ve driven seven hours when I could have flown.”

“It’s six hours, and I’m making good time. The traffic and the weather are perfect, so I’ll easily shave thirty or forty minutes off of what the GPS estimated at the start of the trip.”

Craig laughed. “Traffic and weather nothing. You’re probably driving like somebody crazy, and that’s why you’re making good time.”

“That too.” Glancing at the speedometer, Josiah laughed with him, and at the same time checked his side and rearview mirrors for any signs of police cars sneaking up from behind. Since the economy took a nosedive, they seemed to have a greater presence on the highway. Probably needed to write more tickets, to bring in more money, and help save their precinct from having to downsize.

“That’s still too long of a drive, if you ask me,” Craig said.

“I didn’t ask you,” Josiah replied in sarcasm. “Like I told you before, I’m driving because I don’t know how long or how short my stay will be. I would have had to purchase a one-way ticket to fly to Atlanta, and then another one-way ticket to fly back home.”

“And?” Craig challenged. “It’s not like you can’t afford it.”

Josiah rolled his eyes. “That’s not the point. I’m gonna need a car to get around while I’m in Atlanta anyway.”

“That’s what places like Avis, Hertz, and Enterprise are for. You’ve been sleep deprived for weeks. Driving probably wasn’t the safest choice.”

“I slept just fine last night, and why rent a car when I have a perfectly good one that I can drive?” Josiah asked. He wasn’t at all fooled by Craig’s feigned concern. “You just wanted me to leave my car at home so you could drive it while I’m away.”

“Don’t see it as me driving it,” Craig said. “I would have been babysitting it until you returned.”

Josiah laughed.

“Come on, man,” Craig pressed. “Everybody can’t make the kind of dough that pays for an Audi. Not an R8 anyway. Have mercy on a brotha.”

Josiah laughed harder. “You’re a nut. It’s not like it’s a half-million dollar set of wheels. A hundred ten can put you behind the wheel of one of these, one fifty if you get the additional perks that I have.”

“Are you trying to make me cuss?” Craig blurted. “I teach high school, JT. Granted, dealing with knuckleheaded children that have only been half raised
ought
to pay enough for me to ride pretty like that without it being a weight on my wallet, but it doesn’t. Teaching is a job you do for love, not for money. Compared to you, I pretty much work pro bono. A hundred fifty thousand dollars on a car? Man, you must be on crack if you …”

Josiah inhaled and tightened his jaws as he heard Craig’s voice trail. Even before Craig said anything, Josiah knew he hadn’t meant it in a cruel way, but simple things like that were tender spots with him.

“Sorry,” Craig said. “You know I wasn’t trying to make a joke about your—”

“I know,” Josiah said, exhaling. Why did his mother have to be a crackhead? Why did she have to be a prostitute? Why did she have to make his life so complicated? Why did she have to die?

A brief silence lapsed before Craig changed the subject entirely “So were you able to get any clues as to where your foster folks live?”

The song that was streaming from his speakers now was one that Josiah didn’t particularly care for, so he turned off the radio. Then lending Craig his full attention once again, he answered, “No. But once I get into the city, I’ll map my way to Decatur; that was the area where they were when I lived with them. I figure that if I can find my way to the old house, I stand a chance of talking to the current tenants, or maybe some of the neighbors. It’s been a long time, but I’m sure everybody hasn’t moved out of the neighborhood. Somebody there should know where my parents … I mean, the Smiths moved to.”

“Well, keep me up to date on what’s what,” Craig requested. “Me and Dani have a date to scout out some florists this afternoon.
Seems kind of early to be picking out flowers to me, but she says it’s not.”

“You’re about seven months out now,” Josiah observed. “I’m pretty sure she’s on track. Brides probably know these things. She’s probably going by some book that tells her when to do what. Time flies, Craig. It’ll be December before you know it.”

“I know.” Josiah could tell Craig was smiling. “My dad told me to just roll with it, so that’s what I’m doing. The wedding day is her day, so I’m gonna let her have it. Whatever it takes to get to the honeymoon.”

Josiah chuckled. “So the day is hers, but the night is yours?”

“There you go.”

Josiah laughed some more. He could always count on Craig for a good humor break. “I’m gonna feel like a third wheel once you guys tie the knot.” It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about how their friendship might change. Life decisions like marriage had a tendency to do that. “I’d better start getting used to not hanging with you so much, huh?”

“Nonsense,” Craig declared. “You’re my boy, and that’s not gonna change. Besides, who’s to say that you won’t be hooking up with somebody soon? Me and Dani would love to have another saved couple to hang out with.”

“Now you’re talking crazy,” Josiah said. “It’s not that simple to find Miss Right.”

“Women are a dime a dozen, JT.”

“If what I wanted were twelve women who, all total, didn’t equal to more than ten cents, you’d be right. But who wants a ‘dime a dozen’ woman? If that was all I required, I could have been hitched a long time ago. Between church and work, the crop is plentiful, but you were an eligible bachelor right along with me for a while. You know how hard it can be to find somebody special.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Craig said.

Josiah continued. “You were fortunate to find the right one. She’s got those three ingredients that we always talk about. Beautiful, brilliant, and Bible-believing. Danielle is a triple B, and that’s not easy to find. All the intriguing women I’ve been meeting lately have two out of three, and the one that they’re missing isn’t one that I’m willing to negotiate on.” He thought of Ana when he said that last part.

“Well, look on the bright side,” Craig responded. “You’re on your way to Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve never been there, but I hear that it’s about the churchiest city in the south. Dani’s cousin lives there, and he says there’s a church on every other corner, and the women there are in a class by themselves. They don’t call it
Hotlanta
for nothing. So if you can find beautiful, brilliant, and Bible-believing anywhere, you should be able to find it there.”

Josiah smiled. “Maybe. But I’m not gonna be down here long enough for all of that. I’m headed to
Hotlanta
to find my foster parents, not a woman.” He sighed. “I suppose when God is ready for me to settle down, He’ll lead me to her. In the meantime, I just need Him to lead me to Thomas and Joanne Smith.”

“So what’s your plan?” Craig asked. “I know you have one. You always do. You gonna try and drive straight to their old neighborhood once you’re in town?”

Josiah moved over one lane to allow a car that was too close on his bumper for comfort to pass. “I booked a room at the Hampton Inn in Stone Mountain, so I’m going to get checked in and get a little rest before doing anything else. I figured that since I didn’t know how long I’d be staying, I’d find nice, quiet accommodations that weren’t too pricey.”

“I’ll say it again,” Craig interjected. “It’s not like you can’t afford it.”

Josiah scowled. “Just because I have a few dollars doesn’t mean I’m gonna spend them unnecessarily.”

“Apparently,” Craig mumbled.

“Did you or did you not take the same Faithful Financial Fitness class that I took at the church? Didn’t you hear anything that was being said? We can have income today and don’t have an idea of our outcome tomorrow. God requires us to be good stewards and He—”

“Okay, JT, I hear you. I took the six-week-long class and have a certificate to prove it. I don’t need a refresher course from you. Fine … so you got a room at a Hampton Inn in Stone Mountain.”

Josiah shook his head from side to side. If Craig had ever been as poor as he had been at one time, maybe he’d understand why he was so careful with his money. “The area of Stone Mountain where I’ll be lodging is very near Decatur. I figured it would be convenient for me to do my searching during the day and get back to the hotel without any problem.”

“What are you gonna do if you find them?”

Josiah had given that probability a lot of thought over the past few days. “I’m hoping that they will welcome me back into their lives. A lot depends on that. I really need this. Bishop Lumpkin was right. Family is the missing link that has me feeling so disconnected and at times, broken. Mama robbed me of family twice. She didn’t mean to, God rest her soul. But she did. The first time was when she had the state take me from the Smiths, and the second was when she went off and got herself killed. I feel so lost. I can’t even explain what it feels like, but I feel lost and incomplete. The only time in my life that I ever felt like I belonged was when I was with the Smiths. I need to find them.”

After a few seconds of quiet, Craig said, “What if you don’t?”

That was a possibility that Josiah had tried not to think about
as he prepared himself for his road trip. If he didn’t find Thomas and Joanne Smith, he didn’t know what he’d do. They were his last hope. Without them, the nightmares would continue, and he would keep being tormented by the dreadful childhood memories that always overshadowed the good ones.

Shifting gears and moving into the far left lane, Josiah’s answer was solemn. “I can’t even allow myself to deal with the possibility of failure. I have to find them. I don’t really have a choice here. God knows that I need to find them, and He’s got to help me do it.”

THE DRIVE HAD left him more fatigued than he’d realized. Josiah turned over in the bed, then darted into a seated position. The numbers that illuminated from the digital clock on the night-stand read 6:22. He’d slept for more than three hours. Thankfully, it didn’t get dark until around nine during this time of year.

Josiah jumped from the bed and removed his clothes. The three-hour nap had ruined them with wrinkles. Upon checking into his king deluxe room, he’d stripped the mattress of its hotel bedding and replaced them with the linen he brought from home. He never slept on hotel sheets … never knew who’d slept on them before or whether or not the hotel
really
laundered them as they claimed. And if they did launder them, how did he know the hands of those who washed the bed linen were clean?

When Josiah lay across the newly made-up bed, his intention was to rest his eyes and body for only a few minutes before beginning his search. Now he rushed to make up for lost time.

Inside of twenty minutes, he had showered, shaved, and put on a fresh pair of blue jeans. He used the ironing board that was hidden in the hotel room’s closet to smooth out the wrinkles of his oversized Claiborne crewneck shirt. Since Josiah had no idea how long this adventure would take, he figured that he’d dress as comfortable as possible. After he had tied the strings of his K-Swiss tennis shoes, Josiah gathered his car keys, his room key, his cell phone, and his wallet before heading to the door. The short elevator ride delivered him to the lobby, and he returned the desk clerk’s friendly wave as he left the building and strutted toward the parking lot.

Once inside his car, Josiah leaned heavily against the leather seats and released a puff of air through slightly parted lips. In all of the rushing, this one seemed like the first breath he’d taken since getting out of the bed. The hands on his watch displayed a time of 6:48, and a combination of ragged nerves and hunger pangs caused his stomach to flip and rumble. But there was no time to think about eating right now, and Josiah certainly couldn’t let anxiety get the best of him. He’d come too far to back out now.

A few touches to the screen of his portable GPS, and Josiah knew just how to get from Stone Mountain to Decatur. The navigation system could be deceitful though. Without a precise address, it would only take him to the center of the city. Where would he go from there? So much about metropolitan Atlanta had changed since Josiah was snatched away a month shy of his fifteenth birthday Roads had been expanded, streets had been closed, bridges had been built, exit numbers had been changed, new condominiums had been erected, and old housing projects had been condemned and torn down. That last scenario brought on a new reason for concern.

“What if my old neighborhood has been demolished?” Josiah asked aloud. The possibility was strong because the homes in that area were pretty old.

If it were standing and unchanged, finding his childhood home with no real direction would be difficult enough. If it had been leveled and replaced with new homes or condos as had many of the older structures in Atlanta, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Virtually impossible.

“What was I thinking?” Josiah pressed his forehead against the steering wheel. A panicky sensation was beginning to creep in. He felt like he was on the verge of hyperventilation. “I can’t do this.”