Fort Lupton (3 page)

Jabari mouthed “Jabari the fierce.” After a
moment, he nodded as if he liked the moniker.

“
What do you want to
know?” Abi asked.

Abi righted a drinking cup-car and leaned
against it.

“
Does my mommy know I’m
here?” Jabari asked.

“
She does,” Abi said. “She
and her mommy, Ms. Yvonne, are getting on a plane to come here
right now.”

“
And my daddy?” Jabari
asked.

“
He’s with them,” Abi
said.

“
Is Mr. Rodney coming with
them?” Jabari asked.

“
He’s staying behind this
time,” Abi said.

“
Because he hates
me?”

“
He doesn’t hate you,” Abi
said.

“
Yes he does,” Jabari
said. “I killed Mr. Chesterfield so Mr. Rodney hates
me.”

“
You did not kill Mr.
Chesterfield,” Abi said.

“
They told me if I wasn’t
quiet, they would kill Mr. Chesterfield,” Jabari said. “I tried to
be quiet but then they were taking me and
I . . .”

Jabari’s big eyes filled with tears.

“
Mr. Chesterfield didn’t
want me to go,” Jabari said. “He bit a guy and the
guy . . . and I . . .”

Jabari started crying in earnest. He was
crying so hard that the nurse came in to check on him. The nurse
cuddled Jabari for a while until he stopped crying. She
straightened the child’s covers and set the stuffed elephant and
Jabari’s his cup-cars on the counter. When the nurse had gone, Abi
flew out from behind the cups and onto the bed.

Jabari looked longingly at his elephant so
Abi flew back for it. Jabari took the elephant from her and rubbed
it against his face. He looked the elephant over to make sure that,
in the brief time they’d been a part, no one had injured his
stuffed friend.

“
I’m going to call him
‘Toto,’” Jabari said.

“
It’s a good name,” Abi
said. “I think Toto loves you, Jabari.”

The boy looked up from the elephant at
Abi.

“
So does your mommy, Ms.
Yvonne, Mr. Rodney, your daddy — gosh, everybody I know,” Abi
said.

Jabari’s eyes went back to look at Toto the
elephant. His head went up and down.

“
Do you really have a
queen?” Jabari asked.

“
I am Abi the fairy, at
your service. I’m a loyal servant of Queen Fand, the queen of the
fairies,” Abi curtsied. “Pleased to meet you.”

“
I don’t think I’d like
having a queen,” Jabari said. “My daddy said he wouldn’t
either.”

Abi smiled at the child.

“
Did you fix Mr.
Chesterfield?” Jabari asked.

“
No,” Abi said. “The human
animal doctor fixed Mr. Chesterfield. Now, he has to sleep and take
his medicine. Soon he’ll be all better. Know anyone like
that?”

Without looking up from the elephant, Jabari
touched his chest.

“
Do you think Mr.
Chesterfield will still be my friend?” Jabari asked. “Even though I
got him hurt?”

“
I’ll tell you,” Abi said.
“I happen to have an in with Mr. Chesterfield.”

“
You do?”

“
I do,” Abi said. “Mr.
Chesterfield told me specifically that you did not get him
hurt.”

“
I didn’t?”

“
Nope,” Abi said. “Mr.
Chesterfield sent me all this way to make sure that you knew that
he is most certainly your friend.”

“
Mr. Chesterfield sent
you?” Jabari asked.

“
He did,” Abi said. “But
I’ll tell you what.”

“
What?”

“
He is not going to be
friends with the mean man who hurt him.”

“
Oh, that was Annette,”
Jabari said.

Before she could stop herself, Abi snorted
with indignation.

“
She’s not very nice,”
Jabari said.

Abi nodded. Jabari kept his eyes on the
elephant and didn’t look up.

“
You think Mr.
Chesterfield is going to be okay?” Jabari asked.

“
I do,” Abi
said.

“
You think I’m going to be
okay?” Jabari asked.

“
I do,” Abi said. “But I
do think you should get some rest.”

“
Will you stay with me?”
Jabari asked.

“
Me and Toto,” Abi
said.

Jabari put his arm around the stuffed
elephant. Abi pulled the covers up around the little boy. Jabari
smiled at the tiny pink fairy and fell into a deep sleep.

Good lover

Tuesday afternoon — 1:20 p.m. MT

Denver, Colorado

Humming to herself, Jill let herself in the
kitchen door of Yvonne and Rodney’s place. She’d no sooner gotten
the kitchen door open when Akeem looked out from the carriage house
in the back. Jill waved to him. He gave her an odd look and a nod
before going back inside.

Jill closed the kitchen door and waited.
When the young man didn’t come to take a look, she smiled.

She caught a glance of herself in the
mirror. She had Bladen strapped to her front and Tanner to her
back. The twins heads had lolled to their right sides as they
slept. They looked like mirror images of each other. She smiled at
herself in the mirror and got to work.

Rodney was bringing Mr. Chesterfield home in
an hour or so. Tanesha had asked if Jill could come over and clean
up, so that Rodney could focus on Mr. Chesterfield and not the mess
in the house. The police had released the scene. It was time for a
mop and a meddling elf.

Jill was just getting started when there was
a knock at the kitchen door. Jill opened the door to Heather and
Sandy. Heather offered to take a twin, but Jill shook her head.

“
Can you vacuum?” Jill
asked.

“
I will,” Sandy said. “I
love the vacuum.”

Jill grinned at Sandy.

“
Just sucks away all the
dirt and voilà! It’s gone,” Heather repeated what Sandy always
said, and they laughed.

“
I’ll get the bedrooms,”
Heather said. “Don’t forget the dog food.”

“
Got it,” Jill
said.

Heather and Sandy went through the kitchen.
Jill got the broom and started sweeping the kitchen. The police had
tracked in mud and snow from the garden. Mr. Chesterfield’s blood
had splattered all over the kitchen floor and cabinets.

“
Leave the mopping,”
Heather said as she came through with an arm load of sheets. “I’ll
get it.”

Jill nodded. Heather dumped the sheets into
the washing machine.

“
I’ll get that,” Jill
said.

“
I’ll bring the towels,”
Heather said and took the stairs two at a time.

Jill made a bowl of warm water and dish soap
and began cleaning the cabinets. She’d mopped up the worst of it
when Heather returned with the towels. Together, they filled the
washing machine and Jill turned it on. Heather was on her way back
upstairs when the backdoor opened. Akeem stuck his head in.

“
I don’t know why I can’t
help,” Akeem said.

Jill smiled at him.

“
No really, why can’t I
clean this house?” Akeem asked. “I help Miss Yvonne clean almost
every day.”

Jill just smiled at him.

“
You’re not going to tell
me,” Akeem shook his head.

“
There’s nothing to tell,”
Jill said in an exaggerated low voice.

“
You don’t fool me,” Akeem
said. “I’ve seen those babies sleep through anything. Miss Yvonne
says they’re special that way. Your baby-Katy too. So spill
it.”

“
We’re . . . uh . . .” Jill gave
him a long look.

“
You’re what?” Akeem
asked.

“
Healing the house,” Jill
said. “The house has gone through a violent attack. It needs to be
healed, so the people inside the house can heal.”

“
Oh,” Akeem said. “I see.
Can I help with that? You could teach me.”

“
Actually,” Jill said.
“Can you show me where they keep Mr. Chesterfield’s
food?”

“
And after that?” Akeem
asked. He tipped his nose up into the air. “Is that weed? Rodney
will effing freak out.”

“
Sage,” Jill
said.

“
Sage,” Akeem repeated.
“What are you doing?”

“
We’re clearing out the
bad stuff,” Jill said. “Making it a healing place for Rodney and
Mr. Chesterfield.”

“
What about Jabari?” Akeem
stuck his chin in the air. “He’s coming back here,
right?”

Jill nodded.

“
But not for Jabari?”
Akeem asked.

“
We’ll do another round
when Jabari gets here,” Jill said.

Akeem nodded.

“
Why do you need to see
Mr. Chesterfield’s food?” Akeem asked.

Jill sighed. They had a lot to do and little
time to get it done. She gave Akeem an irritated look, and he
scowled.

“
Where’d you get the
bruise?” Jill walked toward the young man.

“
Rodney,” Akeem touched
the bruise on his jaw. “He didn’t know what he was doing. Crazy
after the dog and . . .”

Jill covered the bruise with her fingertips.
Akeem looked at her.

“
Your heart is broken too,
but this is going to have to do for now,” Jill said.

“
My
heart . . .” Akeem started.

“
Look in the mirror,” Jill
said.

She went back to cleaning the cabinets.
Akeem looked in the amber antique mirror hanging on the wall behind
the kitchen table. He touched the spot where the bruise had been.
His jaw dropped.

“
It’s not there,” Akeem
said. His eyes tracked Jill in the mirror. “Can you teach
me?”

“
Why would you want to
know how?” Jill asked.

“
Because I want to help
heal my people,” Akeem said. “All people. There’s so much pain in
the world and I . . .”

“
I can try,” Jill said. “I
think it’s a genetic thing though.”

“
But you could teach me
how and I could do my best,” Akeem said.

Jill smiled.

“
Good,” Akeem said.
“What’s next?”

“
We need to fortify all of
Mr. Chesterfield’s food so that everything he eats will help him
heal,” Jill said.

“
How ’bout his meds?”
Akeem asked. “I picked them up so they’d be here when Rodney got
home.”

“
Great!” Jill said. “You
get them and I’ll finish cleaning up.”

Sandy came down the stairs with the vacuum
cleaner came down the stairs. Heather thumped after her.

“
What’s left?” Heather
asked.

“
Mopping,” Jill
said.

“
I’ll do it last,” Heather
said. “What else?”

“
Tanesha said there’s some
chili in the freezer,” Jill said. “We can put it on so Rodney will
have something tonight.”

“
And Mr. Chesterfield’s
food?” Heather asked.

Jill pointed to the bag of dog food behind
the washing machine. Heather tugged on the bag to pull it out.

“
Wait,” Akeem said when he
came in the door.

He lifted the heavy bag from behind the
washing machine. Heather laid her hands flat on the big bag.

“
What’s she doing?” Akeem
asked.

“
Loving the food,” Heather
said.

“
Love?” Akeem asked. “I
can do that. I’m a good lover.”

Heather raised her eyebrows. Realizing what
he’d said, Akeem blushed.

“
I
mean . . .” Akeem started, and they laughed. “Will
you show me how?”

Heather nodded. She and Akeem went into the
laundry room. While they were there the wash finished and they
stuffed the sheets into the dryer.

“
The easiest way to do it
is to think of the ingredients in the food,” Heather said. “See,
there’s chicken. I love the chicken in the food.”

“
There’s corn too,” Akeem
pointed to the picture of corn on the bag.

“
Love the corn from kernel
to stalk to . . .” Heather said.

Akeem snorted.

“
What?” Heather
asked.

“
I can see it,” Akeem
said. “And all the people who . . .”

“
Make the food,” Heather
finished his statement.

“
Right!” Akeem
said.

“
You are a good lover,”
Heather said.

Akeem laughed. Heather and Akeem worked on
the food in the laundry room while Jill finished cleaning up the
kitchen. When Sandy came through to vacuum up anything she’d
missed, Jill went to follow up behind Heather and Akeem when they
moved on to the food in the kitchen. Heather took the mop Jill had
gotten out and mopped the floor. Akeem took the mop water and threw
it out.

Together, they made the house whole and
infused with healing and love.

“
What do you think?” Sandy
asked Akeem.

“
It feels different,”
Akeem said.

They heard a car pull up in front.

“
They’re here,” Jill
said.

They went out to help Rodney get Mr.
Chesterfield into the house.