“My mom — she’s a good mom, but she drinks too much. She and her boyfriend are always drinking, having these parties. I try to be good, but sometimes I’m bad, and when I’m bad they don’t like it. Especially Daddy Tom. It’ll be ok. I just have to be good. I need to try really, really hard.” His words were soft and broken. He obviously knew more fear than love and kindness.
“How about I wait with you for your mom today?”
“No, no. She’ll be mad if you’re there. She told me not to tell. I promised.” He said in a rush, his voice raised and agitated.
“I promise, I won’t tell her anything we talked about,” I said, desperate to calm him down. I knew that I couldn’t keep that promise in the long run, but I could keep the promise for today.
Once all the other kids were cleared out, I walked with Bobby to the front door. We sat in silence and I watched as he continued to admire his shirt.
“You like pirates?”
“Yes. They’re so cool. How they have all those adventures and all that treasure. I wish I had treasure. If I had gold, I would make my mommy’s life better, so she wouldn’t be so sad and angry all the time. I’m sure if we had treasure like pirates do, she would be happy,” he said wistfully.
I sat in silence, watching him, not really sure what I could say or do to make him feel even a small fraction better. As we sat, I saw an old rusted, beat up truck take the corner a little too sharply. They were obviously speeding, which was a concern since we were a school zone. That asshole could take out a small child. I took out my phone and snapped a picture of the license plate, which I texted to Elliot. Next thing I knew, the truck came to an abrupt stop at the school. A frail woman with stringy, dirty blond hair, stained jeans and a Pink Floyd t-shirt stepped out. In her hand was a beer can, and she staggered toward us, not quite steady on her feet.
“There’s my boy. Get in the truck, Bobby.” She said before her eyes zeroed in on me. “Who the fuck are you?” She slurred, before yanking at Bobby’s small arms, making his body launch forward violently.
“I’m Bobby’s teacher. Who are you?”
She walked to me, pulling Bobby along almost as an afterthought. As she got closer I could smell the stench of sweat and booze reeking off of her. “I’m his mother, bitch,” she said, her dirty finger pointing directly at my face. She turned around, dragging Bobby behind her. I felt my rage escalate, bubbling right at the surface.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you take Bobby in your current state.”
“Try to stop me, whore,” she said, turning around, swinging Bobby in the process. I was so scared that the force of her grip was going to disconnect his shoulder. Just as I was about to punch her in the face, I heard police sirens. We both looked up as Elliot parked his cruiser and unfolded himself from the driver’s side.
“What’s going on here?” he asked in a booming, authoritative voice.
“She’s drunk. She can’t take him home like this,” I said, my eyes not leaving Bobby. I just wanted to hold him.
“Susan. Let go of the boy.”
“Why don’t you shut up and just go and be a recluse, Elliot? I don’t need you to tell me how to raise my boy,” she screamed like a mad woman, throwing her hands in the air, dropping her can of beer on the ground and letting Bobby go. As soon as I saw an opening, I wrapped Bobby in my arms and carried him away from his drunk mother.
“As much as I want to go up to my house, I can’t really leave you be. You’re drunk and you’ve been driving. You see, Susan, that’s against the law. You’re under arrest.”
Chapter 9
Elliot
“Let go of me, Elliot, ya’known me my whole life. This is bullshit and you know it.” I sat her gently at central booking, giving my deputy a nod to take over here.
“You know damn well you’ve been livin’ on borrowed time with that boy. The best thing you can do is get yourself healthy. Bobby will have a roof over his head until that time, I can promise you that.”
She was still simmering mad, fire blazing in her eyes before I turned, stalking back out of the front doors of the station and to my cruiser. I backed out of my parking spot swiftly, then pushed the speed limits the few miles out of town and up to my mountain road.
I was anxious to see how Reese and Bobby were settling in. I didn’t want her left to watch over him, make dinner, and tend the fire in her tiny cabin alone.