Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (5 page)

“
We are very rich,” Aden
said.

“
Well…” Sandy said. “I
wanted to use them to make a foundation to help other kids who are
like me.”

Aden smiled.

“
What?” Sandy
asked.

“
Pete told me you wanted
to form a foundation,” Aden said. “I wondered if you’d given up the
idea or…”

“
Jeez,” Sandy said. “My
plate’s been a little full!”

Aden laughed and pulled into the resort.
They drove in silence until he parked in their spot.

“
How are we going to tell
Sissy and Charlie?” Sandy asked.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY-NINE

Love her

Saturday afternoon – 12:45 P.M.

City Park, Denver

“
Mr. Colin?” Katy asked to
Paddie’s Dad.

They had spent the morning
playing at the City Park playground and were headed over to
H
₂
O
Odyssey, the splash fountain, to cool off. Katy held Paddie’s Daddy
Colin’s hand and Paddie held his other hand.

“
Yes Katy?” Colin asked.
“Do you want any more sandwich?”

Katy shook her head. They walked along the
asphalt path for a few more minutes.

“
Mr. Colin?” Katy asked
again.

“
Yes Katy?” Realizing this
was the second time she’d tried to get his attention, Colin knelt
down to the small child. “What’s going on?”

“
You remember when you
told me to tell you if anyone was following us?” Katy asked. She
leaned into him to whisper. “Someone is following us right
now.”

“
I asked some of my
friends to keep an eye on us,” Colin ruffled Katy’s hair and stood
up. They walked up the big hill near the box canyon of the DeBoer
waterway.

“
Daddy?” Paddy said when
they reached the edge of the grass. The laughter and screams from
the children playing in the splash fountain echoed off Museum of
Nature and Science’s glass wall and through the grassy bowl where
they were standing. Colin’s eyes scanned the activity.

“
Daddy?” Paddie tugged
Colin’s hand to get his attention. Colin looked down at him. “Katy
knows your friends.”

Colin’s eyes blinked for a minute before he
realized what Paddie was saying. Colin’s head jerked to Katy. Katy
nodded.

“
You’re saying someone
else is following us,” Colin said.

Katy nodded.

“
Who?” Colin’s head turned
around to look from adult to adult. Not seeing anything suspicious,
he looked down at Katy. She pointed to a man standing behind the
glass at the Museum of Nature and Science. “Anyone
else?”

Katy nodded. She held up her hand to
indicate there were five other people following them.

“
What’s their plan?” Colin
asked.

“
They are going to try to
take us at the water feature,” Paddie said. “We’re going to fight
them off.”

“
You know about this?”
Colin asked Paddie.

“
Katy told me last night,”
Paddie gave his father a sweet smile.

“
Where was I?” Colin asked
under his breath.

“
Don’t worry, Daddy,”
Paddie said. “We’re prepared.”

Colin looked down at his brave four year old
son and shook his head ruefully. Little Paddie and his psychic
friend Katy were a force to be reckoned with. What was the world
going to do when they got even a little bit older? What was he
going to do? He smiled to himself.

“
Can we go now?” Paddie
asked.

“
You have to make your
phone calls anyway,” Katy smiled at him.

“
You know where…” Colin
started. “Oh never mind. You know everything anyway. Be
careful.”

Paddie held out his hand for Katy. Katy
grabbed his hand. In a way their mothers would never have allowed,
they ran into the fountain wearing all of their clothing.

“
Wait!” Colin yelled.
“Your clothes!”

They were already sopping wet. Paddie danced
into the middle and dared Katy to join him. Screeching with joy,
she danced through the jets to him. With his eyes focused on their
antics, his voice turned to steel while he called in
reinforcements.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday afternoon – 1:45 P.M.

Tucson, Arizona

“
Are you disappointed we
can’t go to a fancy lunch?” Valerie asked Sissy.

They were walking down the hall to Aden and
Sandy’s big suite where Delphie and Anjelika were taking care of
Rachel. Noelle walked just ahead of them. Jill, Heather and Tanesha
were following behind. Honey was at her room door. She was going to
change for the pool and meet them in the suite.

“
Not really,” Sissy said.
“I mean a fancy lunch with a
movie
star
would be fun but those photographers
are…”

Sissy flared her nose in disgust.

“
Crazy,” Valerie said. “I
know. They’re hoping I’ll have the baby right there so they can
film the whole thing.”

Sissy laughed.

“
What did
that man
mean by asking
if the baby was Wes’s baby?” Noelle asked. “Who’s Wes?”

“
A jerk,” Valerie said.
“He says crazy things to get attention and to make Mike mad. He’s
had three girlfriends since we broke up and all he talks about is
me.”

“
Talk about crazy!” Sissy
rolled her eyes.

“
I
know
!” Noelle said.

Valerie smiled. There was nothing more
refreshing than the insanity and drama of these two girls. Their
mood swings made Hollywood’s drama seem sedate. Sissy gasped and
put her hand over her mouth.

“
Is Mr. Mike mad?” Sissy’s
eyes filled with horror.

“
No,” Valerie laughed. “He
was there when we got pregnant. He knows who her father
is.”

“
Oh,” Sissy blushed.
“Right.”

Giggling, Noelle opened the door to the
suite and held it for the other women. Delphie was sitting on the
couch feeding Rachel. Anjelika was setting up lunch. The women had
ordered a feast of fresh fruit, salad, and tasty breads. Noelle ran
to check out the festival of chocolate with chocolate covered
strawberries, chocolate cake, chocolate cream pie and even a cooler
of chocolate ice cream. Sissy joined Noelle to admire the
desserts.

“
We should have lunch
first,” Sissy said trying to be the older sister.

“
Why?” Noelle
asked.

“
Go ahead girls,” Anjelika
said. “We can always get more.”

“
See!” Noelle said. “We
can
always
get
more!”

Sissy hugged Noelle with joy and Anjelika
laughed.

“
Can I hold Rachel?” Sissy
asked.

“
Do you know how to feed
her?” Delphie asked.

“
Oh,” Sissy blushed.
“No.”

“
I’ll show you,” Delphie
patted the couch next to where she was sitting. Sissy sat down.
“You hold her like this. Right. Hold her neck.”

Rachel looked up at Sissy with her lovely
eyes. Sissy felt a rush of love for the little creature in her
arms. Wanting her bottle, Rachel fussed. Delphie put the bottle in
her mouth and put her hand on the bottle.

“
She’s a little too young
to hold the bottle,” Delphie said. “But we want her to
learn.”

Rachel gave a little cry and tears formed in
Sissy’s eyes.

“
I can’t do it,” Sissy
said. “I’m not any kind of Mom. Look at my
own
Mom!”

“
She just wants her Mom,”
Delphie said. “We’ll never be a substitute for Sandy.”

“
You can do it Sissy,”
Jill said.

“
Just relax,” Heather
touched the back of Sissy’s head. “Don’t try so hard. She’s
reacting to you trying too hard.”

“
Millions of mothers,
right at this moment, feel just like you do, Sissy,” Tanesha said.
“You’re not alone.”

“
Millions of mother’s
don’t have a broken mother,” Sissy grumbled.

“
I do,” Noelle
said.

“
I do,” Honey said as she
rolled to the couch.

“
I did,” Delphie
said.

“
My Mom is still a crack
whore,” Tanesha said. “My gram raised me.”

“
We’re not our mothers,”
Jill said. “My Mom is awesome, but I’m not my Mom.”

“
I could never be as
awesome as my mom,” Valerie said.

“
Try again, Sissy,”
Delphie said. “Think positive thoughts and relax. Like we do when
we’re looking at the bees.”

Sissy looked up at Delphie. Every Saturday
afternoon, she and Noelle helped Delphie with her beehives. Delphie
taught them that when you think angry thoughts, the bees get angry.
When you think loving thoughts, they’re calm. They’d even tried it
and it really worked.

Sissy nodded to Delphie. She closed her eyes
for a moment to focus her kind thought and gave Rachel the bottle
again. Rachel sighed and began to nurse. Sissy beamed with joy.
Noelle clapped. If the women ate or chatted, Sissy had no idea. Her
entire focus was on the tiny bundle in her arms. When Rachel
finished her bottle, Delphie showed Sissy how to burp her. Rachel
spit up only a tiny bit. Anjelika took her from Sissy to put her
down.

“
We waited to eat
chocolate until you were done,” Noelle beamed. “You
ready?”

“
Go for it!” Sissy said.
“But don’t eat too much!”

“
Why?” Noelle
asked.

“
Because I’m your
roommate,” Sissy laughed. “I don’t want to deal with you being
sick.”

Laughing, Noelle picked up a plate and began
picking one thing from every chocolate item. While the other women
talked and laughed over the chocolate, Sissy got some lunch and
settled in on the couch. Delphie fixed a plate of lunch for herself
and sat next to Sissy.

“
You know why it’s taking
so long,” Delphie said in soft soothing tones.

“
Mom doesn’t want us,”
Sissy said with her mouth full.

“
Sandy and Aden are
fighting for you,” Delphie said. “I don’t think we should make
Sandy tell you. Do you?”

“
I already know,” Sissy
said. “I was just hoping…”

“
I was wondering what you
really want,” Delphie said.

“
I want Mom to love me. I
want to live as a family,” Sissy said.

Sissy’s eyes were round and sad. Seeing
Sissy’s pain, Noelle set down her precious chocolate plate and sat
down next to Sissy. She put her arms around Sissy’s neck. Sissy
took another bite of her salad.

“
When you think about what
you want…” Delphie’s voice was kind but firm. “Are you really
thinking that you want your Mom to join your family with
Sandy?”

Sissy turned to look at Delphie. She looked
up to see Sandy’s girlfriends, Jill, Heather and Tanesha, watching
her closely. She looked back at Delphie.

“
I guess so,” Sissy said.
“I want Mom to love me.”

“
I know,” Delphie said.
“And somewhere inside you know she can’t.”

“
But Sandy paid for all
this treatment,” Sissy said. “Treatment really helped me
and
Charlie! Why can’t
it help her?”

She looked into Delphie’s kind face.
Somehow, just looking at Delphie, Sissy understood.

“
Mom can’t,” Sissy said.
“She’s broken.”

“
Yes dear,” Delphie said.
“My mother allowed my father to use me to win at gambling. When he
lost me to a monster, she never came for me. All I wanted was for
my Mom to come rescue me.”

“
That’s horrible,” Sissy
said.

“
I felt very bad about it
for a long time,” Delphie said. “One day I was working at Herbs and
Arts when my Mom came in for a free one-card reading. She didn’t
recognize me and she didn’t really have any money. She told me she
was dying. She wanted to know if she’d go to hell for the mistakes
she’d made in her life.”

“
Meaning you?” Sissy
asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she felt the women in the room
transfixed by Delphie’s story. Delphie usually said she ‘saw’ her
mother once. She had never gone into this kind of
detail.

“
Meaning would she go to
hell,” Delphie shrugged. “She was worried about her immortal soul,
not me.”

“
That’s terrible,” Sissy
said.

“
It’s terrible if you know
someone like Celia or Sandy or any of the amazing loving women in
this room,” Delphie said. “But for my mother? It was as close as
she would ever come to assessing her life in any real
way.”

“
What did you do?” Sissy
asked.

“
I told her that I was
giving free readings that day and God must have sent her in to see
me,” Delphie smiled. “I did a full reading for her. You should have
seen her, she was incredibly wane and thin as paper. She had deep
wrinkles on her face, her eyes were clouded. Her hair was thin and
gray. She was younger than I am now.”

“
And? What did you say?”
Honey blurted out.

Delphie looked up to see everyone looking at
her. She blushed at their attention.