17. Custody
17
CUSTODY
Hayden
By the time the squad car had pulled up, I’d regained most of my senses. It didn’t stop the cops from pointing their guns and yelling at me to get down like I was top of “America’s most wanted” list, though. To be fair, I’m a big guy and there was another guy screaming on the floor, covered in blood, next to me. I’d probably expect the worst too.
And yeah, if you’re wondering, I did feel bad. That guy continued to cuss at me through the blood streaming from his nose, but he still didn’t deserve this. Like I told Dana once, sometimes I felt like one of those Army vets, who have to contain everything they were trained for every day of their civilian lives, but there’s always something there in the background waiting to snap. Except that the closest I’d been to Vietnam was a week’s luxury vacation in Thailand. The therapy was supposed to help, but it had made things worse.
I heard Dana’s cold, flat voice in my head, knowing what she’d say to that… It’s not the therapy that made it worse Hayden, it’s you… Most people don’t walk out of here and just st art smashing cars and strangers… You threw a tantrum because you’re scared of facing the truth…
“Hey, easy!” I said as the aggressive little trooper roughly snapped his cuffs on me, while the other stood back, nervously pointing his firearm at me.
By now, there was a small crowd watching on. I guess Dana would’ve come out to see what was going on and I felt her judgment without even needing to see her disapproving face. Please don’t let this make the news, I thought as they bundled me into the back of the squad car.
I had one call at the station. Who made up that damn rule, anyway? What if they didn’t pick up? Or you dialed the wrong number? Or you had an especially large family?
It was an obvious choice, though. I had to get Maiden picked up from soccer practice and somehow let Sarah know I wouldn’t be making it to Freddy’s. So, instead of calling Sarah from a police station– yeah Hayden, a great way to show your kid’s teacher what a responsible role model of a parent you are –I decided I’d call Joyce.
Joyce would pick up Maiden from practice, and I’d also tell her to call Sarah for me and say… Well… I didn’t know yet, but Joyce was resourceful. She’d come up with something , an emergency team meeting, a plumbing issue, saving a kitten from a house fire, a mystery illness that had doctors baffled...
I called on the house phone. Joyce wasn’t the kind to carry around her mobile 24/7, I liked that about her.
“Yeah, hullo?”
Shit. Cara. In all the fuss, I’d forgotten she was there.
“Uh, Cara, can you get Joyce for me?”
“Who is this, please? ”
“You know who it is. Just get Joyce, please.”
“Oh my, is this The Hellraiser ?” she teased, cackling at her own amusement.
“Cara! Christ, just do it!”
“I mean I could. What you gonna do for me?”
“Nothing! This is important Cara, seriously!”
“Ooh, so it’s really worth something. You know you caught me in the middle of looking through the latest Cartier line.”
“Cara, I need Maiden picking up from practice, okay!? You know, your kid!”
“Alright, keep your pants on Hay-Ray. I’ll pick him up. Then I’ll let you know later what you can buy me in return.”
With that, the line went dead before I could say anything else.
I slammed the phone down, ready to scream. Then I remembered Sarah. Shit!
“Oh, hey, I got cut off. I need to try again?” I said to the officer.
“No chance buddy. Let’s go, there’s a line.”
I looked behind me to see one guy, swaying and babbling something about electric trains.
“What line? Him?” I pointed a thumb at the gremlin next to us.
“Don’t get mouthy now. I don’t make the rules.”
Of course you don’t… This day was getting worse by the second…