Chapter 6 #3
“Think I’ll send Polly over here to stay in the house until you get finished,” she said, and he could see the look of disapproval on her face.
“What? It’s not like she’s going to run off,” he said, wondering what the big deal was.
“If something happened to her and you were out here doing this without someone watching her, do you know what kind of trouble you could get into?”
“If something happened to her? Like what?”
“What if the house caught on fire, Brent? What then?”
Hell, he hadn’t even considered that. “Oh.”
“Oh is right. I’m sure she’s fine, but you should really think about that kind of stuff,” she said. “And by the way, thanks for mowing my grass too,” she added, grinning.
“I figured if I was going to use your mower, it’s the least I could do.”
Anne stopped and smiled. “You know you’re welcome to it any time, even if you don’t want to mow my yard.”
“Thanks, but I might as well. And thanks for, well, you know,” he said, blushing a little. “I’m still new at this daddy thing.”
“You’re fine. I’ll send her over.” With that, Anne disappeared into the house. In a couple of minutes, he saw Polly run across the lawn and she waved at him as she passed.
Thirty minutes later, he was finished. The lawns weren’t big, so it wasn’t hard to do it pretty quickly. He put the mower away, then stepped inside and took his shoes off by the door. “Hey!” he said to Polly when he walked in.
“Finished?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the sofa.
“Yeah. Got a hot date?” he asked her, grinning at her.
“Um, I’m expecting a phone call,” she said, jumping up.
“From a boy?” he asked and watched her blush.
“I’ve gotta go. See you later, Mr.Blue,” she said and sprinted out the front door, leaving Blue standing there laughing in her wake.
In mere seconds he heard a voice―a very, very loud voice. And it sounded angry. Walking over to the front door, he opened it a crack and heard something that infuriated him.
“You and your brother did this, didn’t you?
You come over here and pick this up right now!
” When Blue slung the door open wide, there stood Polly, her face pale and her hands shaking as the neighbor on the other side of Anne’s house, FrankGalloway, railed at her.
“You get this shit out of my yard right now!” he screamed and pointed at the lawn.
There, just across his property line, was a paper cup, shredded by the mower.
It was from a local fast-food place, and Blue guessed that someone had thrown it out a car window.
He hadn’t seen it while he was mowing, but he was pretty sure he’d run over it with the mower and the discharge had sent it onto Galloway’s lawn.
But the way he was screaming at Polly was the thing that infuriated Blue.
He stormed down the front steps and out onto the lawn. “What’s the problem here?”
“This kid threw a paper cup onto my lawn!” Galloway screamed. When Blue turned to Polly, a tear trickled down the side of her nose. “Damn kids! They aren’t good for anything except a mess!”
“Mr.Galloway, I’m pretty sure I accidentally did that while I was mowing. I’ll be glad to―”
“No! I don’t want the likes of you on my property! You stay the hell away from me, you social degenerate! And you!” Galloway shrieked at the top of his lungs as he pointed at Polly, “you get your ass over here and take care of this before I whip you!”
It took Blue just about a nanosecond for his pissed-off to show up and he spun to face Polly. “Honey, go to the house and go inside. I’ll take care of this.”
“No! She has to pick this up!” Galloway screamed.
Polly was rooted to the spot, so Blue told her again, “Polly, go inside now. Now . Go.” Before he could finish, the girl turned and ran toward her house, throwing open the door and slamming it behind her once she was inside.
As soon as she was safe, Blue turned his attention to Galloway.
“Now you look here, that girl had nothing to do with that fucking paper cup. It’s just a paper cup, you asshole.
Why are you out here threatening a little girl? ”
“You shut the hell up, Wallace! This used to be a nice neighborhood before the likes of you moved in!” he yelled at Blue.
“You need to calm down,” Blue told him. “Nobody’s meant you any harm.”
“Yeah, you got out here and mowed because the city got onto you!” Galloway cried out.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Blue told him calmly. “I haven’t heard from the city.”
“Well you will! I’ve complained and complained! Don’t think one mowing will make it all right, because it won’t!” Galloway screamed.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m going to pick up the paper cup and it won’t happen again. I’m sorry. And I plan to keep the grass mowed from now on, okay? Don’t have a fucking stroke,” Blue told him, bending down and reaching for the paper cup.
“Get off my property!” Galloway yelled. “Get off my property or I’ll have you charged with trespassing!”
Blue took the shredded cup and turned to the house. When he did, something solid hit him in the back of the head and he turned to see a clod of dirt lying on the grass. “Did you just throw a wad of dirt at me, you old fucker?”
“Yeah, I did! And I’ll do it again if you come back over here!” Galloway called out, leering.
Before he could think, Blue marched right up in his face.
Through gritted teeth he hissed, “Look. I told you I was sorry. I picked it up. And I’m going to keep the grass mowed.
But if you hit me with anything else, I’ll come over here and beat your ass, you got that?
” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted saying them, but damn, the old jackass was pushing all his buttons.
He tried to calm down before he said, “I don’t want to have to do that.
So you just run along. But I’m telling you now, don’t ever threaten one of those kids again.
I mean it. Just don’t.” With that, Blue backed away from Galloway until he was far enough away that the old fart couldn’t throw anything else at him.
His door had no more than closed when his cell started ringing. “Hey!” he said as he answered.
“What the hell happened out there? Polly’s crying her eyes out!” Anne said, her voice laced with anger.
Blue told her the whole story. “And he hit me in the back of the head with a clod of dirt,” Blue said.
“Oh, god! That’s horrible! Are you okay?”
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Is Polly okay?”
“Yeah. She’s fine, just shaken up. Thanks for taking up for her,” Anne told him.
“You’re welcome. Wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s not going to push kids around if I have anything to say about it.” He didn’t tell her he’d threatened to beat Galloway’s ass. That was something he figured he should just try to pretend hadn’t happened.
Blue was elbows deep in an oil change on Monday morning when a voice said, “BrentWallace?”
He rolled out from under the car to find a woman in her early fifties standing there. Her hair was cut short and neatly, and she had a brief case in her hands. “Yes, ma’am. Can I help you?”
“My name is VirginiaParker and I work for the state child protective services office. We got an anonymous tip that you have a baby at your house that’s not yours and was received under suspicious circumstances.”
What the hell? Who would’ve… Oh, shit. Galloway . Blue felt like he was about to pop a gasket. That old fucker had called CPS on him? What the hell? “Yes, ma’am. I do have a baby at my house. She’s my baby, and her mother left her with me.”
“And when did this happen?” Ms.Parker asked.
“Ten days ago,” Blue answered. He remembered something he’d heard on TV once: When someone from the government asks you questions, never tell them more than they ask for. With that in mind, Blue didn’t say another word.
The woman adjusted her glasses before asking, “Yes, well, I see. So have you had a paternity test run to make sure the child is yours?”
Blue felt his heart sinking into his work boots. “No. I don’t have that kind of money.”
“I see. Mr.Wallace, we’ll have to look into this. We’re going to need to interview you, see the child, and do a home study to make sure you’re fit to care for her.”
“Home study? What? Why? She’s my baby! If I’d been there when she was born, you wouldn’t say a word!” Blue blurted out.
“Yes, sir, but you weren’t. The neigh… person who called it in said they saw a basket on your porch. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but―”
“Yes, sir, well, we have to make sure you didn’t kidnap this child from someone else and are posing as a father,” Ms.Parker explained.
“Posing as a father? Why in hell would anybody do anything like that?” Blue asked. That made no sense.
“We’ve actually had cases where a child was kidnapped to be used for sexual assault and―”
“Now see here, Ms.Parker!” Blue almost yelled. “There’s nothing like that going on here! She’s just six months old and―”
“Mr.Wallace! Contain your emotions, please!” the woman snapped at him and Blue fell silent. Dear god, what the hell was happening? Someone like Galloway could just accuse him of something like that with no evidence? “Where is the child now?”
“She stays with my neighbor during the day while I’m at work. My neighbor who’s a nurse ,” Blue added, hoping to impress her.
“I see. We’re going to have to see her, interview you, talk to this neighbor, all of that. Our office will call you to set up the appointment.” Ms.Parker handed him a business card and he checked it. There was her name on the front, along with the seal of the state and a phone number.
“There’s a problem with that. My employer doesn’t let me miss work, and I already missed a day last week taking her to the doctor. So I can’t take off work for something like this.”
The woman glared at him. “Mr.Wallace, I don’t think you understand. We can take the baby from you if need be. It would be in your best interest to comply.”