Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (20 page)

Before Sandy could say another thing, the
woman closed the door. Sandy and Sissy stood in the doorway for a
moment. Sandy turned to leave when Sissy knocked on the door. The
woman opened the door.

“
My Sandy’s dead,” the
woman said.

“
I’m right here,” Sandy
said.

The woman leaned forward. The tips of her
fingers caressed Sandy’s face before she dropped her hands in a
gesture of hopelessness. She nodded to the tiny stain near Sandy’s
left breast.

“
You’ve had a child,” she
whispered.

“
Rachel Ann,” Sandy
whispered back. “Your granddaughter.”

“
She smiles just like
you,” Sissy said.

The woman’s hand went to her heart. For a
moment, she seemed to breathe in the idea of having a
granddaughter. When she opened her eyes, tears slipped down her
face.

“
Go.” She wiped her face
in a way to make sure they didn’t leave a mark.

“
No, I won’t leave you,”
Sandy said.

“
I didn’t live without you
for all this time so you could be killed now,” she whispered. “You
have to leave. Forget you’ve ever been here.”

“
No,” Sandy said. “I just
found you. I’m not going to…”

“
You must,” she whispered.
“Take the stairs to the parking lot. Don’t go out the
front.”

“
Who is it?” a man’s voice
came from inside the room.

“
They let another fan up,”
the woman said. “I don’t know how many times we have to tell
them.”

“
Tell them they have to
go,” the man’s voice said.

“
Of course, of course,”
the woman leaned forward. “Now that you have a child, you’ll
understand. Some love requires great sacrifice.”

She closed the door once more. Standing next
to the door, they heard the man ask a few more questions and the
woman laugh. Sandy grabbed Sissy’s arm and they trotted to the
stairs next to the elevator. Running as fast as they could, they
were in the parking lot in seconds. From where they were standing,
they saw two men come out of the entrance and circle Aden’s
SAAB.

Grabbing Sissy’s arm, Sandy went around the
other side of the building to the street. They jogged to catch the
31 bus on Federal Boulevard. Sandy paid their fare from the change
in her purse. They found a seat near the back of the bus. At
Colfax, Sandy silently negotiated their way onto the 15 eastbound
bus. An hour or so after meeting Andy Mendy, they stepped off the
bus on the corner of Race and Colfax. Still wound up, Sandy and
Sissy jogged down Race Street to the Castle. Sandy didn’t take a
full breath until the side door closed and they were standing in
the living room.

Sissy clutched at Sandy. They stood hugging
each other until they were able to calm down. When Sandy looked up
again, she saw Delphie standing near them. Ava was standing in the
doorway to the kitchen.

“
I was worried so I called
Ava,” Delphie said.

“
I called my friend
Angie,” Ava stepped aside and FBI Agent Angie appeared.

“
What happened?” Agent
Angie asked.

“
Nothing nice,” Sandy
said.

~~~~~~~~
Friday afternoon—2:20 P.M.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably in the
passenger seat of Honey’s van. He knew he should ask her about life
and fairness, but he wasn’t sure how. Honey had suffered so much in
her life. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked out of the
window.

“
You may as well spit it
out,” Honey said.

“
What?” Charlie
asked.

“
Whatever it is that’s got
you digesting the inside of your lip,” Honey said.

“
Oh. That.” Charlie
blushed. “I didn’t know you were psychic.”

“
I’m not,” Honey said. “I
just know the look. You better spit it out soon because we’re
almost at the site.”

“
Anjelika assigned me to
ask people why they think life isn’t fair,” Charlie
said.

“
Why would she assign
that?” Honey asked.

“
It’s dumb.”

“
Try me.”

“
I was upset because I
can’t go to high school next year.”

“
Why can’t you go to high
school?” Honey asked.

“
Because my reading’s not
good enough,” Charlie said. “I can’t read because I can’t see and I
haven’t had glasses since my Dad died, really, and I was living on
the streets and a whole bunch of other reasons.”

“
Hmmm,” Honey said. “I
didn’t know how to read until my Dad adopted me when I was nine.
Dad got me a tutor and stuff, but it was hard to catch
up.”

“
It’s really hard,”
Charlie said. “I feel…”

“
Stupid, different,” Honey
said. “It’s like everyone else is in this club that you aren’t
quite good enough to be in.”

“
Right,” Charlie said.
“So, do you mind answering my question?”

“
Why are you worried about
asking me?” Honey asked.

“
Because compared to you,
my suffering is pretty small,” Charlie said.

“
Why compared to me?”
Honey asked. “My family was messed up. Your family’s messed up. My
birth father was a criminal who went to prison; your Dad was a cop
and a vet who died. And between you and me? Cops and criminals are
two sides of the same coin.”

“
You’re right there,”
Charlie said.

“
Plus, my Mom is a passive
wispy creature and your Mom is a psycho. If anything Charlie, we
have a lot in common.”

“
I have a better sister
than you do,” Charlie said.

“
Bree and Becky are still
just babies,” Honey said. “You’ve met them, haven’t
you?”

“
They stay with Sam and
Delphie every other weekend,” Charlie said. “They’re
cute.”

“
One bad sister out of
three doesn’t seem like awful odds,” Honey said. “Plus, Valerie is
my sister now. Jill too. MJ’s little sister is my sister-in-law.
And the wives from his team have this kind of sister thing going
on.”

“
The odds get better and
better,” Charlie said.

“
Plus I think my Mom’s met
someone special,” Honey said. “Sam says she has. I asked Mom and
she hemmed and hawed which means she’s pretty serious. If she gets
married again, she’ll have more kids. She’s not that old and she
does like babies.”

Unsure of what to say, Charlie nodded.

“
So you see, my young
friend, my awful sister odds continue to improve,” Honey laughed.
“Oof. The baby just kicked.”

“
Please don’t have the
baby now,” Charlie said. “I get freaked out just thinking about
it.”

“
I’m not due for a while.
Valerie will have her baby before me,” Honey said. “Plus with all
the metal in my back, she’s not coming naturally.”

“
She?” Charlie
asked.

“
Or he,” Honey said. “We
didn’t find out. I tease MJ by saying she or he
randomly.”

Honey smiled. They drove in silence for a
while.

“
You were going to ask me
something,” Honey said.

“
Oh, right,” Charlie said.
“Why do you think life isn’t fair?”

“
What did everyone else
say?” Honey asked.

“
I haven’t asked
everyone,” Charlie said. “I asked Aden and he said life was just
life. Like the mountains, life isn’t good or bad it just is. Or
something like that.”

“
Sounds like
Aden.”

“
Sam told me that he
didn’t worry so much about
why
life wasn’t fair, but
what he could do
to even the balance
sheet.”

“
Sounds like Sam,” Honey
said. “That’s all you’ve asked so far.”

“
Yeah,” Charlie said.
“What do you think?”

“
Honestly, Charlie, I
don’t think about it a lot,” Honey said. “I mean, I felt sorry for
myself after I was paralyzed. Really sorry for myself. You can ask
MJ.”

“
You’ve never felt like
your life wasn’t fair?” Charlie asked.

“
I feel kind of dumb now
that you ask me, but I haven’t really thought about it,” Honey
said. “I don’t compare myself to other people. I think it’s a
survival thing.”

“
I don’t really know what
you mean.”

“
Well, we were living in a
motel, right?” Honey asked. “My Mom married Dad, you know Sam? We
were able to get out of that life when I was about nine years old.
But there were lots of kids who never got out. They probably grew
up to have kids who live in motels and… I mean fairness is kind of
a mind fuck.”

“
I don’t really know what
you mean,” Charlie repeated.

“
Was it fair for me to get
out and those other kids not to get out?” Honey asked. “My sister
feels like it’s really unfair that she’s in prison and I live this
great life.”

“
She tried to kill you,”
Charlie said.

“
And I’m mostly paralyzed,
I know,” Honey said. “But the way she looks at the world, my life
is really great. I’m married to a man who adores me. I live at the
Castle. I have a great job and all the money I want. I get to go to
college. All of that’s true. I have a really great life. She lives
in prison by herself and will for the rest of her life. I don’t
think even Mom goes to visit her anymore.”

“
I don’t understand,”
Charlie said.

“
Right, I guess I don’t
understand either,” Honey said. “When I couldn’t read and I had a
chance to go to school? I didn’t care about fairness. I just tried
as hard as I could to learn to read. That’s what I do, Charlie. I
leave the fairness and unfairness to people who have time to think
on it. I spend my time and my life trying to live the best as I
know how.”

“
Seize the day kind of
thing,” Charlie said.

“
I guess so,” Honey said.
“It’s worked really well for me. Like going to college. I don’t
have to go. MJ’s in the Marines. He has to support me and the baby
whether we’re married or not. That’s just how the military
works.”

“
So why do you go?”
Charlie asked.

“
Because I want to learn,”
Honey said. “I want to be the best person I know how to be and
college is a step in that direction. When I’m done with college, I
might decide to go to medical school like Tanesha or dental school
or whatever. Maybe I’ll get an MBA like Aden and become one of the
bosses.”

Honey pulled into the job site. She waved to
Aden. Charlie moved to get out of the van and stopped.

“
I guess I don’t really
understand,” Charlie said.

“
Life is short and
precious,” Honey said. “I don’t know how much time I have. But I’ll
tell you Charlie, I don’t have time to waste thinking about whether
life is fair or not. I can’t get that time back and it doesn’t get
me anywhere.”

Charlie nodded.

“
Does that make more
sense?” Honey asked.

“
Do you think you feel
that way because you almost died?” Charlie asked.

Honey’s face went still. Her light blue eyes
moved over Charlie’s face.

“
What?” Charlie
asked.

“
I know where you’ve
been,” Honey said. “I’ve been in many of the same dark places.
You’ve seen death on a daily basis. You’ve seen evil. You’ve even
see the worst human curse – despair – and what it does to good
people. I think you’re asking the wrong question.”

“
Oh yeah?” The sullen
sneering teenager came out in Charlie’s tone.

“
Yeah,” Honey matched his
sullen sneer with her tough girl voice.

“
What question should I be
asking?” Charlie asked.

“
Why am I wasting my
precious time wondering why life is fair?” Honey asked. “Why aren’t
I just getting on with it? What’s it going to take for me to get my
life in gear? Life waits for no one. If you wait, you’ll miss
everything.”

Charlie nodded.

“
Think about it,” Honey
said. “I give you those questions as an assignment. When we talk
next, you’ll give me an answer.”

“
Are you mad?”

“
Not at all,” Honey said.
“Come on. Aden’s waiting. He might be your step-dad, but he’s my
boss. At least right now.”

“
Do you need help getting
out?”

“
Not really,” Honey said.
“But I’m learning not to turn it down. That was my New Year’s
resolution.”

Smiling, Charlie grabbed Honey’s wheelchair
and helped her into it. He hopped out of the van and went around to
help her with the lift. She smiled her thanks, brushed her hair,
and went forward. Charlie stopped for a moment to watch her go.

“
Are you coming?” Honey
asked.

Smiling, Charlie jogged to catch up.

~~~~~~~~
Friday evening—5:45 P.M. PDT

“
You’re sure about the
women,” Schmidty said.

With the help of the limousine driver,
Schmidty was able to get Seth into the back seat. They were on
their way to the Malibu beach front house that the studio had
rented for Seth.