Half a World Away (4 page)

Chapter Nine

W
hen their flight was finally announced, Jaden was still alert. Penni had fallen asleep leaning against Jaden's shoulder. They trudged to the plane, a small one. Penni sat with him on one side of the plane, and Steve sat across the aisle. The plane had propellers, which made Jaden nervous. He slipped his sunglasses back on. He didn't see anyone on the flight who looked like they might be American. He was reminded again that only a small number of Americans had ever adopted from Kyzylorda, according to Penni. She'd been keeping in touch with the last woman who'd traveled there to adopt. That woman had come home without a baby, saying the orphanage had shown her only “brain-dead” children. Penni and Steve absolutely did not want a special-needs child. Jaden knew that was because he was all they could handle. But, in general, the staff at Kyzylorda baby house were known to take good care of its babies, and the process was usually smooth.

Penni and Jaden played gin rummy while Steve snored. Steve kept snoring all during the landing. Penni had to shake him awake after the plane taxied to the gate. When they got off the plane, her face was lit up with excitement. It was the same face she'd greeted Jaden with at the Chicago airport when he first came to America.

Because Penni and Steve hadn't actually traveled to Romania, his adoption was somehow less legitimate to Jaden. He couldn't remember the Romanian guy's name who'd brought him over on the plane. All he remembered was that a number of times during the flight the man had yelled at him.

“We're here!” Steve suddenly announced, as if he were telling them something they didn't know.

Jaden took off his sunglasses at last and could feel his pulse speed up as they made their way through the airport. He'd studied a bit of Russian with a CD in preparation for their trip. The conversations overheard on the plane sounded like both Russian and what he assumed was Kazakh. Kyzylorda was about 70 percent Kazakh; the Kazakhs were Central Asian. Jaden had never been in the racial minority before. He was surprised how different it made him feel, like maybe people wouldn't be nice to him. He also worried that people wouldn't be nice to him when they found out he was adopted, so he was glad he looked like he could possibly be the biological son of Steve and Penni. His hazel eyes were the same color as Penni's, and they both had wavy brown hair. He wondered how that lady in the airport had known he was adopted.

The Kyzylorda airport was small—like, maybe four or five times the size of their house—and it had only one runway. They got their baggage in the luggage dump room and stepped outside. “There's no one here,” Steve finally said, though it was obvious.

The wind was blowing hard. A few weeks ago Steve had gotten in touch with a Peace Corps worker who was stationed in Kyzylorda, and that guy had said the wind blew constantly here. The day was hot and bright. Dust pinged on Jaden's face.

“Now what should we do?” Penni asked Steve worriedly. Jaden couldn't see a single person.

Then suddenly a car was parking, and a woman got out and started running toward them. She cried out, “Kincaid! Kincaid!”

She was holding a sign with their last name on it, except spelled “Kencaid.” An old man limped after her. “I am sorry we were late,” she said. “Hello, nice to meet you. I am Akerke, and that is your driver, Sam. He is Turkish but speaks many languages.” She gestured toward the man, who had not yet caught up to her. “I am very good with the English, and Sam also speaks.” Sam finally caught up with her, and she smiled brightly at him. “Sam learned English in Michigan, did I say that right?” Actually, she pronounced it “Meesheegon.”

“I have been to America,” Sam said grumpily. “I have nephew there. He got married. I went to wedding. In America, if you have guest, you watch TV together. In Kazakhstan, if you have guest, you talk to him. Huh!”

“He is very good driver,” Akerke said happily. “First let me give you this.” She took out an old bulky cell phone and handed it to Steve. “This you must carry at all times so I may reach you and you may reach me. My number is listed in phone already. Come. We will take your luggage.” Then she added, “Please hurry,” as if they were the ones who were late.

Sam stared at the three giant suitcases. He grasped two of them and began rolling them away while muttering, “Even the child has a big luggage. What does a child need with a big luggage?”

“A child has many items he will need,” Akerke said, as if rebuking him. She put her arm around Jaden. “I understand fully well. You are Daniel, are you not?”

“Jaden.”

“Yes,” said Akerke. “As I meant. I was thinking of the man in the Peace Corps. His name is Daniel. He said he knows you?”

“We've communicated with him,” Steve said. “Indeed, we've communicated more with him than with our adoption agency.”

Akerke smiled maternally at Jaden. “And when will you get married?”

“Well,” Jaden said. “Well, I don't know. I'm twelve years old.”

“Is good age,” Akerke said approvingly, adding, “I will sit in back to talk to your parents.”

The car was an old, bright-red Mercedes. Jaden felt like a grown-up sitting in front. Then Sam squealed out of the parking lot. Even though at home in Illinois Jaden would sit only in the middle in back, now he didn't care where he sat. None of the rules from back home mattered here in Kazakhstan.

“I will come get you at your apartment this evening, and you will choose your baby. The baby house director will stay late just for you.”

Jaden whipped around, saw Penni and Steve looking at each other in alarm. “But . . . we were already sent a referral for a baby. A specific baby,” Steve said.

Akerke opened her mouth and even moved her lips, but no words came out.

“We were sent a referral,” Steve said again. “The boy's name is Bahytzhan. Here, I have a picture.” He took out his wallet and showed Akerke the photo.

“Bahytzhan,” Akerke said. “I have met him. He has been adopted by German family. But we will find for you even more beautiful baby.”

The trip was already a disaster. Jaden had to admit that even he had kind of gotten used to the picture of the baby. In Bahytzhan's picture, his little forehead was wrinkled with worry. Jaden knew just how he felt: Bahytzhan didn't have a mother, and he was worried about it.

Penni's and Steve's mouths were both hanging open. “Bahytzhan is gone?” Penni asked. “But he was offered to us. We accepted his referral. We were expecting him to be our son.” Then she said with the assertiveness she occasionally pulled out of a hat, “I'm
still
expecting it.”

“We will get you very nice baby,” Akerke replied. “Better than Bahytzhan.”

“You don't understand what we're saying. We came all the way here just for Bahytzhan,” Steve said.

“We were told it was all set,” Penni added, again assertively. “He's the baby I came for, and he's the baby I want.”

Apropos of nothing, Sam said to Jaden, “Everything in America is practical. For instance, there are no potholes.”

“Actually, a lot of potholes are formed in the United States every year from the weather,” Jaden said. “We get them where we live too.”

“What does a young boy know of potholes?”

“We visit government offices once in a while for field trips at school, so I know about potholes that way,” Jaden said, studying Sam's profile. He had wrinkled, dark skin. A lot of his wrinkles were smile lines, which seemed like a good thing.

“Your school teaches you about potholes instead of arithmetic?”

“No, we learn that, too.”

“Potholes and arithmetic. What is the world coming to?” Sam shook his head, as if determined to be unhappy.

“Jaden,” said Akerke, “Sam has many opinions. But later you will like it to talk to him. He reminds me of my uncle.”

“Hold on a second,” Steve said. Jaden could hear his voice getting tense. He was used to that voice. “How did Bahytzhan get adopted? We came here to adopt him. That's what we came for, and only that. We didn't come to choose a baby.”

“You must accept another beautiful baby,” Akerke said patiently. “Bahytzhan was beautiful baby, yes, but he was not
most
beautiful. There are others. You will see. Bahytzhan cried many times. Once he spent two hours crying during bonding period. Beautiful, yes, but he was difficult baby.”

Penni was sitting with her mouth hanging open again, stunned. She always had so much faith that everything would work out if you were just a good person, and now she looked completely defeated. “It's impossible,” Penni said at last. “Difficult or not, we came for him. How can someone else have adopted him? Why did you let that happen?”

“Is baby house director who decides this.” Akerke took a big breath. “I do not know everything how this happened. But I tell you that Bahytzhan is gone. He is gone.” Her expression grew worried. “Just the same, we will need to go forward.”

Jaden waited to see how Penni and Steve would react.

Out of nowhere Sam mused, “Americans have a lot of money, but I once had much more. I had so much money, it reached the ceiling in my home.” He jerked his head sharply at Jaden. “Do you believe me?”

“Sure,” Jaden said.

“It is true!” Sam cried out, as if Jaden had said he didn't believe it.

Outside the car, the landscape was barren—brown dirt, faded plants, and gray-green bushes and trees. Occasionally Jaden saw a shepherd and sheep. One time they passed a shepherd with several double-hump camels ambling close to the road. Jaden had never seen a camel outside a zoo. He opened his window. The warm air blew into his face, but he also felt those little pings from the dust. He raised the window and let his mind wander.

Chapter Ten

T
he vast steppes were mesmerizing; Jaden lost track of time. He'd read the definition of “steppe” in the dictionary before they left. It meant “a large area of flat, unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia.”

Closer to the city, some half-built buildings blended into the landscape. Soon, Sam turned down an unpaved road. A camel rummaged through a garbage bin, and a pack of dogs scampered across an empty lot. There was row after row of similar buildings. Penni had told Jaden they would be staying in housing left over from when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union.

Some of the roads Sam drove down were paved; huge sinkholes marred the asphalt. All over the roads were patches of white, but it wasn't cold enough for snow. “Where does the white stuff come from?” Jaden asked.

“Is salt from the Aral Sea,” Akerke said eagerly, as if happy not to be talking about the adoption.

There was also broken glass everywhere. Some homes had missing walls, some had makeshift tin roofs. Even though everything Jaden could see was ugly, he felt that it was exciting somehow, a little bit magical, like anything could happen here, unlike in America, where every day was the same.

Then they passed a couple of Kazakh people with piles of watermelons on blankets. He wondered how much the watermelons cost. A good watermelon could pretty much make your day.

At last they came to a row of tan five-story apartment buildings that stretched as far as Jaden could see. All the same. Many of the curtains were blue. Antennas and satellite dishes sprouted from the tops of the buildings.

There were no doors that Jaden could see. The main vegetation was weeds.

Sam turned down an alley and pulled to a stop in front of a blue door with a big crack making its way up the center. “This will be your apartment,” Akerke said.

They all got out, and Sam opened the trunk, again taking two of the suitcases and leaving the last for Akerke.

“Let me take that,” Steve said.

Akerke waved him off. “Is my job.”

“Why do Americans have such big luggages?” Sam asked. “They must own many things. Give me a toothbrush and three shirts and I am ready to go anywhere.” He shot a glance at Jaden—he seemed to have glommed on to Jaden. “Huh?”

“We have gifts and baby things, and I brought some granola,” Jaden explained.

“What is this?”

“Excuse me?” asked Jaden.

“What is this? You just said it.”

“Granola?”

“Yes.”

“It's nuts and grains and honey. You eat it with milk.”

Sam nodded knowingly. “Ah, cereal. Leave it to an American to bring cereal to Kazakhstan.”

“What do you mean?” Jaden asked.

“Americans like to bring America with them wherever they go. Why not eat Kazakh cereal, eh? Tell me that.”

“Granola is kind of special cereal.”

Sam looked interested. “Eh?”

Several numbered push buttons were on the foyer door. Akerke punched in the code and said, “One, six, three, two. Do not forget or all will be lost.”

Penni said, “One, six, three, two. One, six, three, two. One, six, three, two. Got it.”

Sam grunted and lifted the two suitcases up the crumbling steps. At one point one of the wheels got stuck in a hole.

“I can help, Sam,” Steve said.

“Do not insult me.”

“Seriously,” Steve answered, “let me take them.”

“You must not insult me, though you pay my salary,” Sam replied.

When they reached the fifth floor, Sam rested his hands on his knees and breathed deeply several times. “Ah,” he said. “Ahhhh. Cereal. Thrilling cereal.”

“Special cereal,” Jaden corrected him.

Akerke jiggled a key in the lock for a minute. Then she opened the door. Right away there was another door, less than a foot from the first one. Sam stayed at the threshold while the rest of them wandered from room to room. The apartment had two bedrooms, with a queen-size bed in one and a twin bed in the other; a large living room; a bathroom; and a large kitchen with a table and chairs.

Out the window in the room with the twin bed, Jaden was happy to see that you could view the steppe way beyond the alley.

“Is fine?” Akerke asked.

“It's perfect,” Penni said.

“Is very nice,” Akerke said happily. She was just about the happiest person Jaden had ever met. “Is very modern,” she continued. “In my country many people still eat and sleep on floor, but here you may eat and sleep as you do in America.” She smiled widely, truly happy. “You have cable and may watch all the television. Many stations.” She gave a quick, smiling nod of her head after she said that. “And there are dishes for eating.” Another happy nod of her head. “Is very much okay, I think.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Penni said. “Absolutely.”

“Quite acceptable,” Steve said. “We were expecting worse.”

“And why is this?” Akerke asked. She seemed a little insulted.

“We'd read up on the poverty here,” Steve said.

“It's fine,” Penni added quickly. “Absolutely.”

“Absolutely,” Akerke repeated. “I have always liked that word. The Americans have many fine words. Now, can you be waiting downstairs at seven?”

“Yes, of course,” Steve said.

Akerke and Sam left, and Steve took Penni in his arms. “Don't worry, we'll ask again about Bahytzhan. Maybe there's some kind of mistake,” he said.

“In my heart he's already ours.” She was pressing her cheek into Steve's shoulder.

“I know. I know. We'll get everything straightened out when we go to the baby house.”

Jaden decided to take a nap while Penni and Steve went grocery shopping. First of all, he hadn't gotten his twelve hours of sleep, and second of all, he'd been with Penni and Steve for thirty-five straight hours, and that was more than enough. “If we don't find a store, I guess we're having watermelon for dinner,” Steve said.

“I saw a market on the way here,” Penni said. “I think we can find it.”

After Penni and Steve left, Jaden took off his shoes and collapsed onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling for about ten seconds, then decided to catch up with Penni and Steve. He wanted to see what kind of food they had here, so he could choose his own groceries. He tied his sneakers back up, grabbed a Russian-English dictionary, and dashed out the front door. He'd thought about bringing a Kazakh dictionary, but though most Kazakhs spoke their language, some did not. Plus, 30 percent of the people in Kyzylorda weren't Kazakh. And Penni had told him that virtually everyone here spoke Russian.

He made his way slowly down the crumbly steps. When he was almost at the bottom, a step crumbled under his foot, and he almost fell. Boy, in America that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Once outside, he glanced both ways. Penni and Steve weren't anywhere. Where had they gone so quickly? Their building was in the middle of the block, so he had to choose right or left. He chose right and started jogging down the alley, in the same direction they'd driven here from.