I didn’t get the hint at first, though as soon as I did I knew how obvious the indication had been. Jessica sat on the carpet only a few feet from us making circles on paper that she’d already drawn pictures on. We were running out of paper that wasn’t frozen and, at Mrs. Snowburn’s request, the kids had agreed to ration the pages until they would eventually run out. It was an interesting talk they had had, Mrs. Snowburn exampled the definition or ‘ration’ and some of the common, politically correct, places the word was found. Before I realized that was what she was doing I almost had opened my mouth and mentioned the rations soldiers use for food. I’m glad I kept my mouth shut, when I mentioned the idea to her later Mrs. Sowburn gave me a stern look that clearly stated ‘if you so much as think about talking to children about war I will do something I may regret, something that you certainly will regret yourself.’
It didn’t take me long to realize Tim’s relationship to Jessica mind you, I just should have picked up on it quicker. “You-You’re Jessica’s-?” I let the question drop to try and make sure Jessica didn’t pick up on the conversation, but of course I said her name which caught her interest.
She was at my bed almost before Tim could warn me. “I heard my name, what do you want?” I took another good look at her as she stood next to my bed with wide blue eyes that sparkled in the light. She was pale and the only thing that could have possibly signaled an African heritage was her hair. When I first saw her I thought it had been dirty blond, and if I hadn’t been looking closely now I’d have thought continued to think that. The hair behind the ribbon had a lot of tiny strands of fiber that extended down the length of her hair. The fibers were mostly made up of yellow and silver strands that blended with her hair’s real color, black. The only part of her head that showed only he real hair color was in front of the red bow.
I reached out and touched it slightly. “This is a very pretty bow you have Jessica? Where’d you get it?”
She brushed my hand away and unfastened some pins that were keeping it in her hair. “This? I got it when I went to Mandy’s birthday party. She’s rich and she had a beauty salon come to her party. We all got makeup and nail polish and lipstick-” As she pulled the ribbon off her head the silver and yellow strings worked their way out of her hair. “-and these headbands. We got to choose what colors went into the headbands, I wanted silver and yellow because they made my hair look like everyone else’s.” I could see, now that the headband had been removed, that Jessica’s real hair color wasn’t a dirty blond but instead a deep raven black. “Mommy says that, with the headband on, I look like I have daddy’s hair color.”
It made sense I guess. She was a child who, outside of her hair, looked exactly like the other children, namely: white. From what little I’d seen she grew up in a world where the white people were everywhere and where difference was a virtue only when chosen. She hadn’t chosen her black hair and, though I thought it was very beautiful, it was an involuntary difference. As she fixed the bow back into her hair I looked at Tim who was busying himself with his cards.
For whatever reason he didn’t want to make himself known to Jessica, I would find out that the why was because Jessica’s parents didn’t wanted to give her up. They had more money and more influence with the city than Tim did and, without the paperwork that had been lost at the hospital and the paper trial that got Jessica to her current foster parents, there was no way Tim could prove his relationship. So he stood back, got a job at the school that Jessica would pass through, and stayed as close to her as he could in that way. I could tell that he was proud of her, she was doing things that eh could never dream of and doing it despite the fact that she’d come from a poor family and who never knew nay of her family. I was happy he got his wish to see his grandchild, but I was disheartened that there would be no table covered in food.
***
It was at this point that Harold decided to make the world tough. He woke, saw that Mrs. Snowfield was asleep, and woke up Dan. Tim argued the fact that Dan needed his sleep and threatened to wake up Mrs. Snowburn. “I heard everything you just said old man. Know that if you wake up Mrs. Snowburn I will get you fired and kicked out of the state.” Tim froze. I could see that he wanted to tell the man off and wake Mrs. Snowburn out of spite but didn’t want to be kicked out the state and away from his granddaughter so soon after finding her. “Good luck finding your granddaughter after that.” At least he wasn’t the smartest apple on the tree.
What Tim wouldn’t do I would and, better yet, so would Jessica. Even before I got out of bed to shake Mrs. Snowburn awake, Jessica was already pushing on her shoulder. “What’s the matter sweetie? Do you need something?”
“Dan’s dad is being mean to Tim.” Mrs. Snowburn immediately turned over and looked at the three of us. “He was also going to wake Dan up, but I think he should sleep more. He looks colder than Justin.” I had to hand it to her, Jessica did everything I would have done but without the fear of retribution. That had a little to do with the fact that she didn’t really have anything to lose if Harold decided he didn’t like the way she acted, or at least nothing that she knew she could lose. Tim and I, on the other had, were limited because of inter-politics. He already had something to wave in front of Tim to keep him in line and I knew that, if he tried, he could find something to wave in front of me. I was curious to see if he had something on Mrs. Snowburn to keep her out his hair.
From the look on his face I couldn’t tell if he actually did or only wished he did. “Harold, what are you doing? Dan needs his sleep. You and your wife almost froze him to death when you stormed off like that.” Harold stepped forward and grabbed Dan’s blankets. “Don’t you dare wake him up.”
Even with her warnings he went ahead and shook Dan once, enough to get him out of a deep sleep at the very least. I could tell by watching him that his breathing was quicker and shallower, Harold’s plan, whatever it was, had worked. “He is my son and I will wake him up if that it my wish.” Each word was pronounced and quick to ensure that Mrs. Snowburn understood what the rules were with Dan. He looked around the room quickly and turned back to Tim. “Where is my wife?”
Tim, of course had no idea. None of us knew where Diana had run off to. Mrs. Snowburn sat up in her bed and carefully flattened the hairs back onto head, it didn’t really work, but it was an attempt. Besides that it kept her hands busy, it was clear from the expression on her face that Mrs. Snowburn wanted nothing more than to strangle the little man. “Harold. We do not know where your wife has gone. She disappeared without anyone noticing while you and Dan slept, recovering from your decision to spend time outside the room that was heated.” A single blink was all it took to remove any signs of sleep from her face and then she was up and checking on Dan to make sure he wasn’t feverish or anything. “As I have seen that your actions have put your own son in danger I am going to as that I take care of him in my own fashion.” Harold opened his mouth to argue. “For now at least I will take care of Dan while you look for your wife. If she is still in the school she may need help, if she has left the school…well then you can decide whether or not you stay with your son or look for her. Either way he is staying here and I will take care of him in your absence. If you find that Diana has left or refuses to return to this room for whatever reason you may return and we will discuss Dan and how best to take care of him.” Harold thought about it a bit and I thought he was going to argue some more, but eventually he nodded and headed for the door. “On a last note, though you are his father, I am not against forcing you to leave in the future. If I find that you continue to put your son in danger I will ask you to leave him in my care, let me rephrase that, I will demand that Dan’s health be put into my care.” That was simply too much for Harold and he turned on Mrs. Snowburn. I watched as Tim decide it was best for Jessica and himself to head back to the makeshift rink, leaving me alone with a sleeping child and two arguing adults. I kept my mouth shut.
Pointing a finger at Mrs. Snowburn he stepped up to the woman, who never once moved. “Now you see here. You may be one of his teachers and you may know what’s best for him when neither Diana nor I are around. But when I am here with him you listen to what I say in regards to what he does and when he does it. Do you understand me?” I was impressed, the last time I’d seen him he looked like a weasel that tried to avoid confrontation whenever possible. Now he was asking for it.
Though that never means he knows he’s asking for trouble. “You may be Dan’s father Harold.” Mrs. Snowburn was so calm she almost looked sad. She slowly placed her palm on Harold’s hand and pushed his arm down. “You may have his ear and he may trust you with his life and that is all well and good, but from what I have seen in this school makes me sick. You have put your own safety over the safety of others and when that attempt was denied outright you retreated and took your family to a part of this building that placed them in danger. When you returned you returned with Dan who was half frozen and Diana who was perfectly fine, she looked comfortable in fact.” The insinuation was not lost on Harold and his entire face went white. “When you returned you placed yourself and your son in my care. I have done all that I can to ensure that both of you have remained healthy and I will continue to do so to the best of my abilities. For you, Harold, because you are a grown adult that means until you have shown yourself capable of taking care of yourself. You have just demonstrated that to me and so I return your own care to you, you may do as you wish. However, you previous actions and your actions right now have not convinced me that you can safely take care of your son. I would not interfere under normal circumstances, but you have given his care to me and under my care he will stay. If you prove to me otherwise that you can take of your own son then I will rethink this decision. Until that time I ask that you leave this room and look for your wife, she has been missing for some time and, despite personal opinions, I am in fact worried about her.” That was all that she needed to say, and it was exactly what she needed to say to get Harold off her back and looking for Diana. He didn’t say another word as he walked out of the room; head hung low in defeat from a battle I didn’t know existed at the time.
***
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