Firestone (6 page)

“
There’s no shame in
having me there,” Rodney said. “I can stay with you until Dionne
comes.”

Yvonne smiled at him.

“
I’d bet we could come up
with something to do,” Rodney grinned.

Yvonne leaned over to kiss him.

“
I’ve got this,” Yvonne
said. “I can do it. It’s a good test to see how my memory is doing.
There’s no down side. If I forget, Dionne will be right there to
remind me. If I remember, I will know that my memory is really
better.”

“
Fair enough,” Rodney
said. “What are you supposed to do?”

“
What do you mean?” Yvonne
looked confused. “About what?”

“
You’re going to the
apartment to . . .” Rodney started. He glanced at
her. By her look, she was teasing him.

“
I am going to meet the
IRS man or woman and give them the keys to the apartment,” Yvonne
nodded. “I don’t even have to go in. I just have to give them the
keys.”

“
Why isn’t Jeraine doing
this?” Rodney asked.

“
Jeraine is working,”
Yvonne said. “Somebody famous . . . Did he ever tell
us who?”

“
One of those naked women
singers,” Rodney said. “I saw her saunter into the
house.”

“
Oh . . .
Do you think . . .?” Yvonne started.

“
I think that Fin
terrified Jeraine into lifelong fidelity,” Rodney said.

Yvonne laughed.

“
You ready?” Rodney asked.
“’Cuz I can always come in with you. No shame in that.”

“
I got this,” Yvonne said.
“You go on. You’re due out at Limon for dinner with one of your
young men. That boy needs help and hope.”

Rodney gawked at her. Yvonne nodded.

“
How
did . . .?” Rodney started.

“
Wrote it on my hand,”
said Yvonne.

She held up her hand for Rodney to see. He
laughed. She opened her door and leaned back to him.

“
Love you, Rodney.” Yvonne
kissed him.

“
You know, I
could . . .”

Laughing, Yvonne got out of the car and
closed the door. She waved as he drove off. She checked her watch
before walking across the street. She had twenty minutes before
Dionne came to pick her up. She, Dionne, and Maresol were going to
meet Delphie’s niece, Anna-Marie, or as she liked to be called Ivy.
Smiling, Yvonne stepped into the underground parking garage. She
stopped walking for a moment to get her bearings in the cool, dark
of the garage.

“
The elevator is on your
left.”

Jeraine’s voice in her head told her where
to go. She smiled at her memory. She walked past a line of
expensive cars before turning toward the elevator. She saw what
looked like a pile of clothing sitting next to the elevator.
Jeraine had said there was sometimes weird stuff there and to just
ignore it.

She pressed the elevator button before
remembering that the problem was that the elevator code had already
been changed. Jeraine didn’t have the code, and the IRS didn’t have
the keys. She nodded to herself. That’s why Yvonne was standing
here today. She glanced around the area. No one was around. She
looked down at her jeans. No one was going to care if she sat down
next to this wall while she waited.

She went around the blob of clothing and sat
down a couple feet away. She was there only a minute when she heard
a small voice.

“
Hello.”

After the last few days, Yvonne expected a
fairy or something equally other worldly. She looked over at what
she thought was a blob of clothing. A tiny brown forehead and eyes
peered out at her from under a thick coat. Surprised, Yvonne
blinked.

“
Hello,” Yvonne
said.

She wondered why this child was here. Never
having been around rich people, she reasoned that maybe he was
waiting for his limousine or nanny or something very posh.

“
What are you doing here?”
the child asked.

“
Waiting,” Yvonne said.
“What are you doing here?”

“
I’m waiting too,” the
child said.

Yvonne nodded because she figured as much.
She’d heard that rich people didn’t really care for their children.
Just another thing to own. It was just a shame.

“
Would you mind if I wait
with you?” the child asked.

Yvonne heard his southern accent.

“
I don’t mind,” Yvonne
said. “You look cold.”

“
I’ve been here a long
time,” the child said.

Yvonne held her arm out and the child
scooted over to her. The child had a grocery bag with tattered
clothing in it. When he got close, Yvonne could smell his dirty
diaper. She looked down at the child.

“
I’m sorry,” the child
whispered. “I smell.”

Yvonne was angry, no furious. Who would
leave a child sitting in its own filth?

“
How long have you been
here?” Yvonne asked.

“
Well . . .” the child said. “The taxi dropped
me off . . . and it was dark. I took the red eye to
Denver from Atlanta.”

The boy nodded as if his words told her
exactly what she’d asked. Yvonne didn’t really know what he meant.
She just knew he’d been there a long, long time.

“
I tried the elevator but
it doesn’t work. I just waited.”

“
Why are you here?” Yvonne
asked.

“
I’m ’sposed to stay with
my daddy now,” the child said.

“
And who is your daddy?”
Yvonne asked. Furious, she began to think of all the ways she was
going to torture this father.

“
J’raine,” the child
said.

“
He used to be a big
star,” the child said. “But now he’s just a broke-ass negro. He
married some nappy-haired whore who destroyed his life. That’s what
my mommy says.”

Yvonne reeled back with surprise. The brown
eyes blinked at her.

“
It’s true.” The brown
eyes nodded. “My mommy’s on TV. She said as long as he wasn’t gonna
pay for me, she was moving on. She told the TV I had to go. The TV
people went to the airport with my mommy and me.”

Even though she was really angry, Yvonne
gave the child a sweet smile. The elevator dinged and slid open.
Surprised, they both turned to look at the elevator. When no one
came out, Yvonne decided it must have been one of Abi’s
“interventions” in her life.

“
Let’s go upstairs and
warm up,” Yvonne said.

She picked up the child and he leaned into
her. The child was slight and small. She was sure he wasn’t much
older than three years, which just made her angrier. She carried
the child onto the elevator. She smiled when she noticed that the
button to Jeraine’s floor had already been pushed. Closing her
eyes, she said a silent thank you to Abi and to whomever else had
intervened on her behalf. In a few minutes, they were standing in
Jeraine’s old, empty apartment.

“
But . . .
but . . . where’s my daddy?” The child’s voice rose
with hysteria. “He’s not here! What am I going to do
now?”

“
Your daddy is my friend,”
Yvonne said. “He’s a good man, who’s trying to take back his
life.”

“
He is?” The child’s voice
filled with wonder. Then the child scowled. “Are you one of his
whores?”

Yvonne laughed.

“
I’m more like one of his
mothers,” Yvonne said. “Now, let’s turn up the heat and get you
warmed up. I’ve stayed here before . . . Let’s see.
The thermostat is over here.”

Smiling at her recovering memory, Yvonne
turned the heat up to eighty degrees.

“
And the bathroom’s in
here,” Yvonne said.

Yvonne carried him to the master
bathroom.

“
Do you want some help?”
Yvonne asked.

“
If you’re one of my
daddy’s mothers then that means you’re my grandmother,” the child
said.

Yvonne flipped back the hood of the child’s
jacket to see a slight boy’s face. His eyes held a kind of depth of
soul that came from being very lost and very alone.

“
Would
you . . . I mean . . .” The boy’s
eyes filled with tears.

“
I’d love to help,” Yvonne
said. “I haven’t had a baby in a long, long time. Would you do me
the honor of letting me help you clean up a bit?”

“
If you want to,” the
boy’s voice was vague, clearly imitating something he’d heard. He
gave a vigorous nod.

“
I do want to,” Yvonne
said.

She went to the tub and turned on the water.
She noticed a worn scrap of soap sitting in the soap dish. There
weren’t any towels, but she figured that would be all right. She
helped the boy peel off filthy layers of clothing. When the tub was
partially full, she set the grimy child in the water and partially
opened the drain. She left the warm water on while she scrubbed him
down with a handkerchief from her purse.

This child hadn’t been clean in a long time.
He didn’t say a word. His eyes were like tiny soldiers watching
over the fort of his body while she worked. When his skin was
tinged pink and glowing, she drained the dirty water, rinsed off
the tub and the boy, and turned the warm water on to fill the tub.
She dropped in a few drops of lavender oil from the bottle Delphie
had given her the previous night.

She sat down on the toilet and called
Dionne.

“
Can you stop for
diapers?” Yvonne asked. She turned to the boy. “How old are
you?”

“
Four and a half,” the boy
said. “But I don’t need diapers. Just at night.”

“
Good to know,” Yvonne
said. “Why don’t we get some just in case?”

“
Okay,” The boy
nodded.

“
Diapers for a small
four-year-old boy,” Yvonne said. “And bring some bath
towels?”

“
What’s going on?” Dionne
asked. “You okay?”

“
You wouldn’t believe me
if I told you,” Yvonne said.

“
We have Pull Ups here at
the clinic,” Dionne said. Yvonne heard her friend closing cabinets.
“I’m on my way.”

“
Did you call my daddy?”
the boy asked.

“
I called your
grandmother,” Yvonne said.

“
Oh,” the boy said. “Is
she the prostitute?”

“
No, that was me,” Yvonne
said.

“
You’re the filthy
prostitute?”

“
Yep,” Yvonne said. “Just
like you were the filthy boy. We both got cleaned up.”

The boy seemed to like that idea. He
splashed the water, and Yvonne laughed. She ran to the elevator and
sent it down to the bottom for Dionne.

“
Now hush,” Yvonne said.
“I have to make an important call.”

The boy nodded. Yvonne called Tannie’s best
friend Heather’s house.

“
Mrs. Smith!” Heather
said. “Are you on your way to get Keenan?”

“
Are we picking up Keenan
too?” Yvonne asked.

“
Risa’s here to facilitate
his transition to the Castle,” Heather said.

“
Risa is your social
worker?” Yvonne asked. “The one who works with the state and isn’t
too stupid?”

“
Right,” Heather said.
“Good remembering.”

“
I was wondering if Risa
could come over,” Yvonne said.

“
What happened?” Heather
asked.

“
Just another lost boy
coming home,” Yvonne said. The little boy watched her with intent
interest.

“
Where are you?” Heather
asked.

“
At Jer’s old house,”
Yvonne said.

“
The condo?” Heather
asked. Yvonne heard Heather say something in the background. “We’ll
be right over. Risa has to call the police.”

“
You’re coming too?”
Yvonne asked.

“
I’m an emergency
placement,” Heather said with pride in her voice. Yvonne smiled.
“If you’ve found a lost boy, then I will probably get to have him
here until everything is settled. You’re about five minutes away.
Do you need Blane? Otherwise, he can stay here with the
kids.”

“
The child seems healthy,”
Yvonne said. “Just hungry.”

“
I’ll bring something,”
Heather said. “We’ll be right there. Send the elevator
down.”

Yvonne smiled and hung up the phone. She
nodded to the little boy.

“
What?” the boy
asked.

“
Everything’s working out
perfectly,” Yvonne said.

“
For who?” The boy’s sour
tone made Yvonne give him a long look.

“
You,” Yvonne
said.

“
You sure?”

“
I am,” Yvonne
said.

The boy gave her his first real smile.

“
Now settle back and
rest,” Yvonne said.

The boy nodded and lay back in the tub. He
sat up again.

“
What?” Yvonne
asked.

“
I just want to see you,”
the boy said. “You’re the angel who saved me.”