Samantha's Talent (25 page)

"That sounds great, Jesha. Hey, I thought of something else. How about if I--" He was interrupted by the ringing of Meriweather's phone.

The CPS Director picked up the receiver irritably. She answered the call just as irritably as she felt at being interrupted. "Meriweather. CPS," she said in a tone that brooked no nonsense. Her side of the conversation deteriorated very quickly from there and was terminated a minute later.

Hoover saw the expression on her face and knew it spelled trouble. "What is it, Jesha? Anything I can help you with?"

"No, not a damned thing, Mr. Hoover. That was Judge Edmonson. He just informed me that he is planning on rescinding his order for CPS to take custody of the Douglas girl. Not only that, but he told me flatly not to interfere in their lives in any form or fashion again or he would have
me
thrown in jail for malfeasance in office! Goddamnit, how could they
do
this to me?"

"Can't you fight it? I could--"

"You could get out of my office and quit bothering me, that's what you can do. And don't you dare write another word about CPS involvement with that brat."

"But Jesha... "

"Don't but me, Hoover. Just get your ass out of here before I have you thrown out!"

Hoover saw the obvious and departed without another word, leaving Jesha Meriweather sitting at her desk and wondering spitefully who held enough power to give a sitting judge orders such as she had just been subjected to. She doubted desolately that she would ever find out.Thomas Hoover decided that it might be best to find something else to write about besides Samantha Douglas. It appeared that she had some powerful friends somewhere up the line and he had no desire at all to tangle with them.

***

"
Jennie? This is Anton McCallister."

"Yes, sir?"

"You're still seeing the Douglas girl on a regular basis, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"We're going to have to get her moved before something bad happens to her. I need you to talk to the parents and try to gently steer them to a real estate agent I'll tell you about. She has a listing for some places they might like which are rather isolated. Could you do that?"

"Certainly, sir. But... well, if you don't mind me suggesting it, wouldn't she and her family be safer if they were brought into the agency? We have some vacant units, don't we?"

"Yes, and she probably would be safer here, but the consensus among the scientists is that she needs to grow up as normally as possible while still exercising her talent."

"She's that important?" Jennie knew she shouldn't have asked that question but it had burst from her mouth before she could call it back.

Anton hesitated for a moment then said, "We really have no idea. It's possible that she will become important but then again, perhaps not. In any event, our possible use for her is still several years away, or so we believe."

Again Jennie couldn't help herself. "That sounds so... so cold and impersonal. She's a very sweet girl, sir. I hate to think of us using her like... like a weapon or something."

His voice was gentle. "It's not that way at all, Jennie. Or it won't be, if we use her at all. I'm sorry I can't tell you more."

"I shouldn't have asked. Just give me the name of the real estate company and the agent you want them to use and I'll try working it into a conversation with her parents as soon as I can."

"Thank you. Here's her name and her office number. She'll be expecting them to call or drop by or maybe just contact her by email." He gave her the information and they disconnected.

Jennie wasn't much use for anything else the rest of the day but she recovered after remembering how she had heard the gentleness in Anton McAllister's voice, even through the distortion of the encrypted conversation.

"Any luck, dear?" Elaine asked her husband when he arrived home an hour after she had taken Samantha to Betty's house again, just about the only friend she was allowed to visit now.

"Yes, but let me tell you the good news first. It's not final yet but Steve told me he heard from one of his contacts at the courthouse that Judge Edmonson is going to rescind his order to take Sammie away from us."

"Oh, wonderful!" Elaine hugged her husband so hard he gasped."And the way Steve described it, Meriweather is going to be told to leave us alone in the future. It's not official yet, so Steve told us not to mention it to anyone."

"That's even better," she said, wiping at incipient tears of happiness with a tissue. Despite Steve's assurances, she had been having nightmares of the CPS in the form of an evil-faced Meriweather barging into their home with a squad of police and grabbing Sammie. Sometimes they took only her. Other nightmares had them taking her and Shufus and locking them both in an animal control van together, where they cried and howled in misery.

"I think that new agent Jennie told you about yesterday found us a good place away from here. It's not ideal but maybe the people out there will accept Sammie for what she is and not try to make her into some kind of devil or angel."

"Speaking of the devil... " she went on to tell him about the new demonstrations outside the house that morning after he'd gone to work. Again, they were bearing placards naming Samantha a demon, a devil or worse. Again, she'd had to call the police in order to force them to move away. Twice they'd reformed as soon as the patrol cars were out of sight but each time a number of them had been arrested. Finally their diminishing numbers had dispersed for good, or at least for the day. They had already both agreed that there wasn't much choice but to move again.

"I guess it's just as well we're leaving then. As long as we, or Sammie rather, is accessible we'll never have any peace." He shook his head. "At least none of those kooks tried to get the animal control people to impound Shufus, thinking he has rabies."

"That's ridiculous. He was just protecting Sammie and a good thing, too, or she might have been the one who was hurt. As is, she got scratches all over her body the day they first showed up, and they actually pulled some of her hair out."

"Damn it, maybe we ought to try to have
those
nuts checked for rabies!"

Elaine smiled grimly. "That might be enough to keep the animal control people away from us. While I'm making us some coffee, tell me about the place you said might work."

Ronald followed his wife into the kitchen and talked while she put the coffee on. "It's out west, not the desert part but the area where there are some forests, in the foothills of the Rockies. It's a wild animal sanctuary that provides a place for unwanted exotic animals. You know, the kind that people buy when they're just babies, then get so big they can't keep them anymore. Those kind, and then others where people have gone bankrupt or had their homes foreclosed and had to get rid of their pets. There are also injured animals that are brought to them by kindly souls."

"I feel sorry for those people who have to give up their pets."

"I do, too, but at least they know when the animals go to the sanctuary they'll be cared for. It was endowed by someone who loved just about any kind of animals from just about anywhere, so there's no worry about keeping them fed or having someone care for them. They try their best to find homes for all of them, too. "

Elaine noticed a slight hesitancy in his description. "But?"

"But what?"

She smiled wryly. "You haven't told me everything yet, Ron. You've got that look on your face like you used to have when you and Sammie put one over on me."

He chuckled. "Guilty. There's a position open at the sanctuary for an environmental control officer. The catch is that they want a couple, one for environmental control and one for administrative assistant to the Director."

"Why a couple?"

"It's kind of isolated. Wild country and not many living in the area. I got the impression that it's hard to get help and even when they do, it's hard to keep their employees. They apparently think a couple would last longer if both of them are involved."

"I see. I guess I'd have to take that assistant's job, huh?"

"Afraid so. Otherwise it sounds real good. Sammie would have a lot of animals to make friends with and I'd have a pretty well-paying job that I could do in my sleep. But... "

"You're wondering if I want to go back to work, aren't you? Ron, I have a degree I haven't used since Sammie was born. She's getting on toward fourteen now. I wouldn't mind working outside the home again."

He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't say so if I wasn't." She stood on tiptoes and kissed him. "Even if it's not exactly what we'd like, remember that Sammie will be leaving home for college in just a few years, and maybe even sooner the way she eats up those advanced courses she takes online. Maybe we could keep her safe there until she does leave. Now drink your coffee and when you finish you can go pick up Sammie. Oh, one more thing. Is there a school nearby?"

"Most of the kids in the area are either home schooled or were. I believe that the few families with kids in the area have instituted a group school and each family rotates the duty, with all the kids going to one house for a week or two then to another."

"Would she be able to get a decent education that way?"

"According to the director, the kids are ahead of the national standard for their ages by a pretty big margin. That says a lot for them. Sammie would have to take a placement test in several areas of study but we both know she'd have no problem with them. Every time I see her reading something new and ask her about it, she's gotten interested in a new subject. Sometimes I think we've birthed a genius. And besides, they get to go to school activities if they want to, and if they can get transportation that far. It's more than 50 miles from the sanctuary to the nearest school, most of the way on secondary roads."

"Anything would beat what we put up with that first day the crazies arrived on our doorstep! Or all the other days those loony bins have been here for that matter. Tell them we accept!"

Just then Ronald's phone rang. He took it from his pocket and answered distractedly. A moment later a big smile appeared on his face. "Thanks for calling, Steve. And thanks for the help, whatever it was you did." He put his phone away and smiled at his wife then gave her a big hug and kiss.

"Whatever Steve said, it must have been good news!"

"It was. Judge Edmonson not only officially rescinded his order for CPS to take custody of Sammie but told Meriweather he would put her in jail if she bothered us again!"

"There is a God!" Elaine said delightedly.

***

"We're moving again? Really?" Samantha asked, looking back and forth between her mother and father. They were at the supper table that evening, where the prospective move had just been announced by her father.

"Yes, really," Elaine said. "The situation here has gotten completely out of hand. We're not going to have you go through what you did a few days ago. Not ever again if we can help it, and we can. You could have been seriously injured and Shufus could have hurt someone badly."

"I told him to just warn those crazy people until right there at the last. Mom, they were tearing at my hair and clothes and scratching and clawing like wild animals. I was scared to death and I finally told Shufus to get me to the door any way he could. I don't think he bit anyone very bad, though. Mostly he was just trying to scare them away from me."

"We know that, Sammie, but all it would take would be just one of those left-handed wing nuts to complain to the authorities and they'd come get Shufus."

"What would happen then?"

"He would probably have to be isolated for a long time." She didn't mention that in most cases of suspected rabies the animal is euthanized and its brain examined. For cases like that of Shufus, where the animal was clearly protecting its owner, isolation was indicated. The problem was that one of the nuts who had been nipped might claim Shufus was infected with rabies and then the animal control officials would have no choice but to impound him and possibly even put him down.

"Given what's been happening almost every day, it might be a good idea for you two to go on ahead of me," Ronald said. "I have to finish the semester and I still have two weeks to go plus the grading of finals."

"Couldn't you grade them out there and send the results back?"

"I suppose I could. It would save a few days."

"Would there be a place for me and Sammie to stay until we closed on a place?"

"I already have that arranged. The Director, Stanley Thompson, told me we could have one of the cabins until then. It's big enough for all of us, but we'd have to put most of our goods and furniture into storage until we bought or rented a place."

Samantha listened to the back and forth with mixed feelings. She certainly didn't ever want to go through another experience like she'd borne that day when the first of the crazy demonstrations began. Just remembering it send a shiver through her body. A move would hopefully put a stop to that. On the other hand she'd have to leave her friend Betty, the only really close girlfriend she'd ever had. That would be hard. She would have to start in another school, too, but at least they might not have heard of her. Or would they?

"Where would we be going?" she asked.

"It's a wild animal sanctuary out west. Your father would be the environmental director and I'd be working, too."

"You would?" She didn't know how to take that. It sounded... odd, somehow. Her mother had always been at home, and home had always been a place of refuge when the outside world became too tortuous to bear, even when her mother still didn't believe she could talk to animals.

Elaine smiled. "You say that like you think I don't know how to handle a job outside the home. I do have a degree, you know, and I worked before you were born."

Samantha was discomfited enough to blush. She'd just never envisioned her Mom as a career woman. "I guess I wasn't thinking," she finally said.