Cracks in the Sidewalk (28 page)

A Man of Defiance

O
n the second Sunday of scheduled visitation, Jeffrey brought Christian but claimed the other two had the sniffles. When Jeffrey arrived an hour and forty-five minutes late, Elizabeth’s father opened the door and growled, “You’re supposed to be here at nine o’clock, and you’re supposed to bring all three children!”

“You ought to be glad I’m here with this one,” Jeffrey answered and shoved the squirming baby into his grandfather’s arms.

“Where’re David and Kimberly?”

“They’re home sick, and I’m not going to drag them out in this weather so they can get worse colds.”

“They’ve both got colds? Like Christian had a cold last week?”

“Yeah. Just like that.” Jeffrey started down the walkway. “I’ll be back at noon.”

“Don’t bother,” Charlie said. “Liz has three hours visiting time, so I’m not answering this door until one-forty-five!”

~ ~ ~

C
harlie parked Christian on Elizabeth’s lap, then called Dudley. “He got here late again,” Charlie said. “I did as you suggested.”

“Good,” Dudley answered. “Was there any problem?”

“Not yet, but I’m betting there will be.”

“I’ll be there within the hour,” Dudley said.

~ ~ ~

W
hen Charlie returned to the living room, Elizabeth was on the floor with Christian.

“Good grief!” Charlie exclaimed. “What happened?” He bent to help Elizabeth up.

“No, no,” she said happily. “I want to stay here. We’re building a tower.”

With her back braced against the sofa, she handed the baby another bright red block as he squealed with delight. “Go ahead,” she said, guiding his chubby little hand. “Put it right here on top of the yellow one.” He waved his hand back and forth eventually bouncing himself into the stack of blocks, which sent it tumbling and caused Christian to burst into giggles.

“How’d you get down there?” Charlie asked.

“Mom helped me.”

Claire gave a guilty shrug and smiled.

A look of concern appeared on Charlie’s face. “Do you think she should be doing this?” he asked Claire.

“I think it’s the best medicine in the world,” Claire whispered back. “Look how happy she is.”

Elizabeth smiled and laughed as she had not done in many months. Every time the baby laughed or squealed, her smile grew brighter. And if Claire watched closely, every so often she could see a slight bit of lift on the left side of Elizabeth’s face.

Charlie lowered himself into a chair and watched as the baby scampered back and forth across Elizabeth’s legs retrieving blocks, stacking them, and then happily squealing when they tumbled.

“Give the block to Mama,” Elizabeth coached. “Give it to Mama.”

“Eeeeeeeee,” Christian answered and handed the yellow block to Liz.

“Ma-ma,” she repeated. “Say Ma-ma.”

“Liz, just look at how he’s taken to you,” Charlie said. “He already knows you’re his mama.”

After almost an hour of stacking and tumbling, Christian crawled into Elizabeth’s lap. He leaned his head against her stomach and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

“Somebody’s sleepy,” she said. With her right hand she began to rub his back in tiny little circles using the same motion she’d used when Christian was still inside of her. Minutes later he fell asleep.

“Are you comfortable?” Charlie asked.

“Very.” Elizabeth smiled and continued to rub the baby’s back. They remained that way for a long while until the chime of the doorbell woke Christian and he started crying.

~ ~ ~

“A
m I in time?” Dudley asked.

Charlie nodded. “He’s not back yet.” Just then Charlie spotted Jeffrey’s car turning the corner. “That’s him now.”

“You go back in,” Dudley said. “I’ll take it from here.”

Charlie returned to the living room and snapped on the television. “Maybe,” he said with a forced joviality, “Christian would like to see some cartoons!” He began flipping the channels until he finally came upon a trio of dancing pigs. “This looks good. Want to see this, Christian?”

“Eeeeeeeeee,” the baby squealed.

~ ~ ~

JT
stood a good head taller than Dudley, but Dudley made up for the difference by sheer determination.

“See this?” he said, waving a copy of the court order in front of Jeffrey. “This says you’re to be here at nine a.m.! It means nine o’clock sharp! It also states that Elizabeth is to have three hours of visitation with her children. Children, not child!”

“Get that thing out of my face,” JT snarled.

Dudley told JT he’d find himself back in court if he didn’t wise up. “You’ve already had five instances of defying this court order. One more, and that’s it!”

“
Five
? What are you—”

“The first was last Sunday when you came late. The second was when you brought two children instead of three. The third was when you removed the children without allowing Elizabeth the specified three-hour visitation. The fourth was when you arrived late again today, and the fifth was when you showed up with just the baby instead of all three children.”

“That’s a load of crap!”

“No, those are documented instances of your failure to abide by the court-ordered visitation schedule. And I haven’t even started on the number of times you failed to allow Elizabeth her telephone calls. Let’s see now, that was—”

“Okay, okay. So what are you looking for?”

“First, leave here, and don’t come back until Elizabeth has spent three hours with the baby. Next, make certain she receives three telephone calls from the kids every week. Not every week you feel like doing it, but every single week. Lastly, make damn certain you’re here on time every Sunday and that you’ve got all three children. Not one, not two, but all three!”

“And what if they’re sick?”

“I don’t care if you’ve got to bring them in an ambulance, bring them!”

“What if there’s some perfectly logical reason for—”

“Don’t even go there. The next time you fail to adhere to the court-ordered visitation schedule, I go back to Judge Brill with a petition for sanctions.”

“Big deal.”

“Maybe it’s no big deal to you,” Dudley answered. “But it would be to someone who doesn’t want to spend time in jail.”

Jeffrey turned and walked away. “Don’t think you scare me, you pompous jerk!” he yelled as he climbed into the car. After he’d gunned the motor several times, JT gave Dudley a dark-eyed stare. Dudley returned it and added the reproachful look of an annoyed parent.

The eye-to-eye threats continued for several minutes before JT floored the gas pedal and rounded the corner with a screech heard seven blocks away.

~ ~ ~

J
effrey didn’t come back at one-forty-five, nor did he come at two or two-thirty. At nearly three o’clock Kelsey rang the doorbell and said, “I’m here to pick up Christian.” 

“Who are you?” Charlie asked.

“JT’s friend.”

Charlie looked beyond the girl and spotted Jeffrey waiting in the car. “Friend or no friend, I’m not giving Christian to anyone other than his father.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Geez. You gotta make this difficult?”

“I suppose so,” Charlie answered, then said they’d get the baby ready while she went to fetch Jeffrey. He closed the door.

“Jeffrey’s here to pick up the baby,” he told Elizabeth.

She sighed. “So soon?”

Claire scooped Christian from the floor and bundled him into his snowsuit. “Tell Mama bye-bye,” she prompted. “Bye-bye, Ma-ma.”

Christian squealed, “Byeeeeee.”

“Ma-ma,” Claire repeated.

“Byeeeeee.”

“Close enough.” Claire handed the baby to Charlie.

As they walked away, Christian looked back at Liz and cried, “Maaaaaaa-ma!”

T
he following Tuesday Elizabeth received a telephone call from David and Kimberly. They were allowed to talk for five minutes but no longer, since their father was supposedly setting supper on the table. David said his cold was all better and Kimberly started to say she didn’t have a cold, but David pinched her and she began to cry.

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth said, comforting her daughter. “I’m sure David was only playing. He didn’t mean to hurt you—”

“Yes he did,” Kimberly sniffed. “He did it ‘cause Daddy said to tell you we was sick, but we wasn’t sick!”

“Well, Kimberly, you’re right, and David is wrong. Children shouldn’t lie, even if somebody else tells them to. It makes Jesus sad when little children tell lies.”

“See, Gooney!” Kimberly called out. “Mommy said we ain’t ‘posed to tell lies!”

“But brothers and sisters aren’t supposed to fight, either.”

“We ain’t fighting,” Kimberly said. “David’s just being mean to me.”

“Okay, then I’ll tell David to stop being mean to you.”

“Could you tell Kelsey not to be mean to me too?”

“Is Kelsey your friend?”

“No. Kelsey’s a grown-up. She’s Daddy’s friend.”

“Oh.” Before Elizabeth could say anything, someone hung up the telephone.              

There were no more telephone calls that week, and Elizabeth’s calls went unanswered. On Sunday, Jeffrey didn’t come at nine o’clock despite Dudley’s warning. By noon, Elizabeth accepted that neither Jeffrey nor the children would come.

At twelve-thirty Charlie got behind the wheel of his car and drove to Jeffrey’s house. He parked in the driveway, walked to the front door, and rang the doorbell. No one answered. He stood there for almost fifteen minutes and then followed Claire’s footsteps and walked around to look in the garage window. Two cars sat parked side by side—Jeffrey’s and a red Nissan.

Charlie returned to the front door and began ringing the bell, this time with a vengeance. Still no answer. Suddenly Charlie could think of nothing but the hurt, the heartache, and the pain his daughter had suffered, and he angrily raised a fist to pound on the door.

Something made him hesitate, and in that split second he realized the foolishness of such an act. It was the very thing Jeffrey was hoping for. Another act of violence, he’d claim, and try to convince the court that it was right to keep Liz’s children from her.

“Not this time,” Charlie grumbled. “Not this time.” He climbed back into his car and returned home.   

Elizabeth spent most of the afternoon in tears. Claire spent most of the afternoon trying to comfort her daughter. Charlie had a lengthy telephone conversation with Dudley.

T
he envelope from Simmons and Grimm waited for Judge Brill when he arrived at the Union County Courthouse on Monday morning. Sam Brill groaned as he slit the envelope open.

“I knew it,” he grumbled as he read the petition for sanctions citing the numerous occasions on which Jeffrey T. Caruthers had deliberately and willfully defied the court.

His first telephone call was to Noreen Sarnoff. “Have you seen this petition yet?” he asked.

“What can I say, he’s an odd duck, that’s for sure.”

“Does he realize that I can have him incarcerated for failure to obey the court order?”

“I’ve explained it any number of times, so either he’s too dense to understand or too contrary to care.”

“Well, Counselor,” Judge Brill said, “I want to see you and your client in chambers tomorrow morning at nine-thirty.”

“Let me call and make sure he’s available.”

“I didn’t say I want you to
try
to be here. If either you or Jeffrey Caruthers fail to show, I’ll send a squad car to bring you in!”

Noreen already regretted her decision to defend JT, but now she was stuck with him. She dialed Jeffrey’s telephone number and listened to it ring for at least five minutes. Then she got in her car and headed for his house.

~ ~ ~

J
effrey had learned to ignore the sound of the doorbell since it was generally somebody looking for money or one of the McDermotts trying to make his life miserable. Bill collectors never waited longer than five minutes. Liz’s parents might stay for twenty. But the person bonging the bell had been there for a half-hour, which is why Jeffrey finally looked out the window and saw Noreen standing on the stoop. He opened the door.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t hear the bell.”