Young Squatters (10 page)

Derek shook his head, interrupting Nick’s near-mad thoughts, snapping him back to reality.  “Don’t do anything stupid, Nick.  You run around chasing them with a baseball bat and they can sic the cops on
you
for assault and battery.  Add a gun into the mix and you’re looking at ‘with a deadly weapon’ on top of it, assuming no one gets hurt or killed.  Then it
is
a criminal matter and the cops will get involved, but
you’ll
be the one in the defendant’s chair.

“If you can’t prove they haven’t got a right to be there and you can’t prove imminent danger to yourself, your family, or your property, you’re going to get a-nickel-to-a-dime in the state pen,
minimum
.  You follow the news, you saw what happened to that guy who shot those kids because their music was too loud.  Self-defense didn’t save him.  It’s a crap shoot with a case like that.  You don’t so much as raise your voice at them, you understand.  Just don’t talk to them at all.  You’ve got a right to remain silent: exercise it.”

Nick was outraged.  What the hell was wrong with this country anyhow?  “Isn’t the law supposed to protect people like me?  I pay my taxes, I pay my mortgage, I even own my own damned business.  We give to charity, for cripes sake!  Nora and Clara are down at that damn soup-kitchen the first Sunday of every month helping those hobos out!  This is the thanks we get?”

Nick looked at Derek with a feeling of hate toward him.  He had thought he could come here and Derek would be able to resolve this situation straight away.  Instead he just kept shaking his head to every suggestion he made.

Derek shook his head again.  “The law is supposed to protect
all
the people, Nick.  Not just people like you.  What if these kids did get scammed, what if they’re innocent in all this?  You want to beat an innocent kid’s brains out?  The law’s there to keep people from going off half-cocked.”  Derek stood up.  “Look, Nick, I’m on your side.  Really. I’ve known you guys for a long time and if there is anything I can do outside of my profession, my wife or I would be happy to help.  I’ll keep looking into this, and I’ll start the paperwork for the unlawful detainer suit.  But I’m not going to lie to you; it’s going to take time.  You just have to make the best of it and hang in there as best you can, alright?”

“But how the hell are we supposed to live there with those two in the house?” Nick asked, tired, so tired.  “Nora’s already scared they’re going to rape her in her sleep.  The kids can’t live at their aunt’s forever.”

He knew he was asking the wrong person for advice in this matter.  Derek was ready to get him out of his office; that much was for sure.  He had stood up, and walked toward the door, pretending to examine the view outside.

Derek turned toward him slightly, and shrugged yet again.  “Padlock the door from the inside.  Lock the windows.  Inventory all your belongings.”

“We’re supposed to make ourselves prisoners in our own home?”

Nick could imagine Nora’s reaction at him telling her they had to continue to padlock themselves in their own bedroom, and he wouldn’t blame her either.

The whole situation was getting completely out of control.

Derek shrugged at him again.  How could he just sit there shrugging his shoulders without coming up with a solution to getting the two kids out of his home?

Fucking lawyers.
Nick fumed.  Easy for him to say all this, he didn’t have to
live
there with them.  He didn’t have to live with his wife.  Nora was going to have a fit, and he didn’t know what she would do or say to him after he told her that nothing could be done with the situation yet.

“I’m sorry, Nick,” Derek said, striding over to the door, fingers playing across the handle.  He looked guilty—or was that some semblance of compassion?  Nick couldn’t tell.  “I have another client waiting.  Like I said, I’ll get the paperwork started and I’ll keep looking into it.  You just have to be patient.  There’s no way the court won’t give you the eviction order for the other party, and they’re usually pretty quick about evictions.  It’s just gonna take a little time.  You can live with that, can’t you?”

A little time
, Nick thought to himself.  Time was one thing he didn’t have, especially with Nora breathing down his neck about getting this resolved immediately.  He grabbed his briefcase and coat, slinging it over his shoulder with a sigh.  He had to get out of here, out of this perfect office with its perfect furniture and very imperfect employees.  He didn’t trust people very easily as it was, but he had thought Derek a true and honorable friend.  Well, apparently he had been wrong.

“Yeah. Thanks for nothing, Derek.”  He’d have to call another lawyer, that’s all there was to it.  Nick hadn’t realized how spineless Derek really was.  It’s easy enough to be a lawyer when all you have to do is read contracts all day, but when Nick really needed him to show some backbone, this was all Derek could come up with?  That was it?  Then he’d just have to find another lawyer.  Then Derek would be sorry.  Nick would take that hefty retainer he paid Derek’s firm somewhere else, and he’d shove that fancy mahogany desk up Derek’s ass.

Nick drove up his driveway to find the strange BMW blocking his usual parking spot.  He settled for a spot down the driveway a ways, near Nora’s parked car.  As he neared it, he saw something move inside.  Nora?

She ran a hand through her hair.  He rolled down his window, and she followed his example.

“Honey? What are you doing?” he asked, confused.

Her lipstick had smudged a little to the right of her face.  She didn’t seem to notice the slight imperfection.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?  I got home from work and they’re still here.  I’m not going in the house with those two in there.  I would have thought the police would have come by now,” she snapped.

“I’m going to look for another lawyer in the morning, I’m sure someone else will get this resolved, so calm yourself down.”

“Someone else? What happened to Derek?” she said, her voice raising a pitch.

He rubbed his temples, weary from the day’s events.  He had hardly been able to work all day, and they had lost the big deal.

“Derek is useless.  He told me we can’t do much right now, that it’s going to take time,” he scoffed.  “I’ll look for another lawyer in the morning,” he repeated.

Nora sat listening to her husband and couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“The amount of money you have given that man and you can sit there calmly saying you will look for another lawyer in the morning?” Her entire body trembled.  “You expect me to spend another night in my own home with those two kids here, and there is nothing you can do about it?”

He can’t handle his own
, Nora’s mind told her, as it had all day.  Her parents had been right.  She’d been a fool.  Nick had been good to her and the kids, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t do anything.  Nora was livid, and what irritated her even more was her husband didn’t appear to be fazed about the situation at all.

Nick could not hold his anger back anymore.

“Do you know what, Nora?  I am angry about the situation and was livid in the meeting with Derek this morning.  I threatened him and said I would change the locks and kick those two kids out.  But nothing worked, and if we don’t handle this situation calmly with the advice of experts, we will be the ones facing the wrath of the law.  Is that what you want, for me to get myself locked up?

As Nora watched her husband, she realized how angry he was and felt a sense of shame come over her.  She tried to compose herself, taking a peek in the rear view mirror to find that her makeup was in disarray and her hair had gone into tangles after taking a nap in the car while she had waited, in vain, for the authorities to arrive.  She dabbed at the lipstick that had stained her cheek.  She could hardly recognize herself, this wide-eyed, fearful creature.  She had to be strong, dammit.

She looked over at Nick.  Dark lines had etched themselves beneath his eyes, and the grey lines in his hair seemed to have gotten thicker, more pronounced.  She had never seen him look so stressed or so old.

“I am sorry, Nick,” she said.  I know how hard this must be for you, too.  I am sure the new lawyer you find will be able to resolve the problem and we won’t have to put up with those kids living here for much longer.”

She didn’t know if she quite believed her own words, but she didn’t want Nick to give up, either.  If anything, they had to be a team throughout this process, even if it took time, as Derek had said it would.

Nick was relieved Nora had settled down.  He had enough grief at work and in trying to sort this mess out without coming home to a confrontation every night.

“You think the kids will be able to stay with Ben and Belinda for the next couple of nights?  That should be enough time to figure everything out,” Nick said, playing with his window control.

“I’ve been talking with Ben a lot this afternoon,” she said, trying to give him a smile, but failing miserably.  “He said they’re welcome to stay as long as they want.  They seemed to be doing okay when I picked them up this afternoon.  I dropped some more of their stuff off at Belinda’s after I got out of work today, too.”

“Good,” Nick said.  “I’m about ready to hit the hay, honey.”  He literally did look like he was about to pass out.  “Can we just call it an early night, and forget all about this situation until tomorrow?”

Nora nodded sympathetically.  She still had plenty of sleeping medication left, and she was more than willing to not have any contact with those slimy kids who hadn’t left the house all day.

***

“Why do you think Dad hasn’t sorted this problem out yet?” Clara asked her older brother when they were alone in Aunt Belinda’s living room.

Isaac sat in the corner.  They had been elected to babysit while Ben and Belinda took a “much needed” night out on the town.  Belinda liked to go out a lot; Ben, not so much, but he wasn’t about to argue with his over-zealous wife about it.  Colin didn’t understand how the two of them had ever got together.  Ben was a quiet, reserved individual, while Belinda verged on obnoxious and had always gotten what she wanted.  He had never even heard them call each other “honey” or “love” like his parents did.  Maybe his parents’ relationship wasn’t in such a bad state, after all.  That was one positive thing he had realized through this whole nightmare.

“I’m sure Dad is doing everything he can, Sis.  You know he has been going to see Derek to see what can be done.  I’m sure the two of them will be gone from our home soon.”

As he reassured his sister, he didn’t feel as confident as he sounded.  From what he had heard when his mom was shouting the other night, he knew something wasn’t right.  When she had picked them up like usual after school today, she hadn’t tried to make much conversation with them.  She had looked tired, and scared, unusually thin and pale and dressed in the wrong color shoes.  They all were scared, he supposed, except Clara.  Colin kept reassuring her that everything was going to be okay, and she seemed to accept his judgment as law.  He wished he had someone he could look up to like that, someone who could save the day and tell him with absolute certainty that this whole thing wasn’t his fault; that it would be cleared up soon.

His dad had always been the one he had gone to when something was wrong.  He had never thought there would be any problem his dad wouldn’t be able to solve.  This whole thing had totally thrown him and he didn’t like seeing his dad, or his mom, so stressed with the situation.

He felt sorry for his mom too; she had become a shadow of herself being jumpy and on edge the whole time.  He would have a word with his mates at school if things didn’t get sorted out.  He was sure they could scare the kid, Bradford, out of their house.  Bradford and his girlfriend, both. Colin felt heat surge up in him, starting in his belly and flowing through his limbs.  He recognized it as adrenaline, having experienced it to an extent in his soccer championships, but this time he felt it to a whole new level, one that consumed his entire being.

Fight or flight response, his psychology teacher, would have said.  He could fight for his house, or he could flee from the conflict.  He hoped his dad wasn’t going to flee; their house was their house, and they shouldn’t have to give it up to anyone, especially a liar like Bradford.  Colin knew that he wasn’t one to flee.  He would have to stand and fight, but how?

“Thanks, you’ve put my mind at rest.  You are the best brother, and I know Dad will get everything fixed like you said,” Clara said.  “Do you think you can handle Isaac?  I’m really tired, for some reason.”

Colin felt tired, too, but he knew that if he went to bed, he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, anyway.  A seed of a plan was forming in his head, and he wanted to help it grow, to hold onto it until he knew how to proceed.

“Sure thing. Go get some rest,” he told her.

Isaac, at three years old, gurgled in his little corner, playing with some rubber ducks.  Rubber ducks were his favorite toys, for whatever reason.  Belinda had bought him every shape, size, and color of duck available. 

“Lookie!” Isaac said, holding up his favorite pink duck. 

Colin couldn’t help but to grin, standing up and walking over to his little cousin, making a face at him.

“Very nice.”

“Lookie!” Isaac repeated, holding up a blue duck with his other chubby hand, fingers grasped around the neck.

“Yep,” Colin said.  “Blue duck and pink duck.”

“Yeah!” Isaac exclaimed biting on the head of the blue one.

Colin picked up a yellow duck from the pile, squeezing it so it squeaked.  Isaac squealed with delight, giggling.

“You like that?” Colin asked, squeaking the duck again.  Isaac giggled uncontrollably.  Colin smiled.  “Yep. Squeaky duck.”

“Squeeeeeeeeak!” Isaac repeated.  He held up the slobbery blue duck.  “Friend!” he said.

Colin took the blue duck from Isaac, avoiding the drooled-on head.  “Yep, he’s got lots of friends.”

Friends. Yes.  Colin suddenly had an idea about how he would be able to fight back Bradford.  He texted Connor, and told him to forward the text to the entire school.  Technology might have created this mess, but Colin thought he could just as easily fix it with his new plan.  Isaac seemed to read his thoughts, giggling again.

Bradford would show up in town or at school sooner or later.

When he did, they’d be waiting for him.

***

Two more weeks passed, and Nick talked to five more lawyers.  They all sang the same song.  Eviction proceedings, color of title, no justifiable self-defense claim, and all the rest of it. 
Fucking lawyers.
He kept Derek’s firm on retainer, and the eviction proceedings began, a slow but hopefully sure way to making some progress.

“Mr. Donnelly, I’m so sorry, but I can’t do this anymore,” Sarah had told him, grabbing onto his sleeve before he could walk out the door that morning.  Her green eyes filled with tears as she stared up at him.  “I can’t work for you if that boy is going to be in the house.  I know he is Peter, that boy who got my son in trouble.  I simply can’t be around him this much; just seeing him makes me want to kill him.  And what he’s doing to your family, it’s just so wrong...So wrong--”  she trailed off, shaking her head.

Nick sincerely wished she would simply kill the boy.  He didn’t say that, though.

“I’m sorry for your trouble, Sarah.  Here.”  He handed her two hundred dollars out of his wallet.  That was the last of his cash; the rest was in his bank account.  He thought he should probably get his savings out of there, too, in case those kids had somehow found a way to hack into his bank account.

“Oh, Mr. Donnelly, I couldn’t possibly take...”

“Just take it,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

He was tired, so tired.  He’d had enough of the legalities, of the troubles.  He just wanted it all to be over.  He wanted his kids back in the house; he wanted his wife to speak to him again.  She hardly did that, now.  She would hardly even look at him.  He knew she kept thinking about why she had married him, why he couldn’t set things right.  It was his fault and she expected him to fix everything; he had perpetuated that expectation by constantly caring for them all in matters like this, legal and business.  They were a team; she took care of the home, the finances, and he took care of the rough shit like this.

Rough shit, yeah. This was more than a rough patch, though.  He knew that every time Bradford would greet him as he came down the stairs.  This was an endless patch of hardship.  Nora’s behavior didn’t help matters at all.  She would spend long hours on the phone with Be--with
Ben
, Mr. I’m-an-introvert-leave-me-alone-please, of all people--and God only knew what they talked about, day after day.  Last night she had screamed at him, her husband and number one partner, screamed at the top of her lungs.  She’d even thrown a hairdryer at him, knocking over her favorite lamp, which she had then cried about.  She was a wreck, but could he blame her?  She had been sleeping in a house with strangers for a couple weeks now, and her children were still staying with Belinda, God help them all.

He felt like a wreck himself, half the time.

“Thank you, Mr. Donnelly,” Sarah said, holding the money to her chest, compassion flowing out of her very being.

He didn’t know if she was faking it, trying to be appreciative for this last huge tip, but he didn’t care.  No woman had ever looked as pretty as she did at that moment.  It had been so long since a woman looked at him like that, full of caring, understanding, her eyes just saying, “You’re doing the right thing, honey.”  Nora never, ever looked at him like that.  Maybe once in their marriage had she ever looked at him with those eyes, but even then it had been for something minor, insignificant.

He gave her a grin, and hugged her close.  He felt her stiffen, then relax.  Her warmth felt good against his.  He felt less self-conscious now that he had lost weight, from the stress.  His potbelly had shrunk significantly.  He had to wear a belt with pants that had once been nearly too tight.  She knew he was a broken man, a man whose life had been ruined by a couple of no-good people.  Fate had decreed itself upon his life.  He wouldn’t have wished his situation on his worst enemy.

As they parted, she blushed furiously.  He didn’t mind.  He let her out the door, watching her walk away.