Chapter Twenty-Three
Marchella
Grandpa came back from giving his sermon, and said he was going to the jail to visit Blaze. I was wearing black dress slacks and a baby-blue shirt I’d borrowed from Gran to wear to the service.
“Uh– Yeah. One second.” I held up a finger and dashed toward my attic bedroom. I changed in a flash and was just putting my shoes on when I heard his truck rolling down the driveway without me.
“What the hell?” I scrambled to get the door open and darted back down the stairs two at a time.
Gran met me at the bottom with both of her wrinkled hands raised in a silent plea.
“Don’t hurt yourself chasing after him, now, dear. All will be well. Let your grandfather handle things.” She smiled.
“I– Gran, I want to see him, too,” I stammered.
“You will. Trust your grandfather, and all will be well. Just like I said.”
I let out a sigh of a laugh. She was so tender-hearted and naive where the law was concerned. How could she not be? She’d never been to jail. Neither of her daughters had ever brought legal trouble and it wasn’t like Grandpa had ever broken the law.
“I don’t think things are going to turn out as pleasantly as you hope. Blaze is in some serious trouble. He violated a house arrest order, and the fence got torn up when he came after me.”
She smiled and patted my shoulder, “Come have some tea, you’ll feel better.”
I did not feel better. I felt like I was going to come out of my skin. I didn’t want warm honeyed tea, I wanted a damn joint. Oh, I’d have paid double for a pre-roll of Grand Daddy Purp.
Just a few blessed puffs to relax me and let my mind soar while my body tingled.
The phone on the wall rang and I leaped out of the dining room chair like we were under fire. It’d been so long since I heard one of those. Everyone has a cell these days!
I stared at the phone and Gran stared at me.
“All is well,” she quietly assured, before going to answer it.
“Winehopper residence,” she formally greeted the caller.
My heart was still doing a jig in my chest. I clutched the table and listened to her side of things.
“Oh, one moment. Let me get a pen so I can take notes for Don.” She did the polite chuckle that old folks sometimes do on the phone and shuffled around until she found something to write with. “Okay, go ahead then.”
She scribbled a while and then read it back, “Owens-Stanford and Yent calling in regard to their receiving an affidavit– I’m sorry, is that like the name, David?”
She laughed nervously and scratched at her paper before clearly correcting, “I see. Thank you. – An affidavit from Mr. Caleb Moore. Denies all culpability and knowledge of age. Very good. Thank you, Sir. I will tell him. Uh-huh. You have a good one then. Okay, bye-bye.”
Her midwestern farewell seemed like it would never end. I was ready to run over and hang up the phone for her, just so I could interrogate. Before I could, the front door opened, and Grandfather’s familiar whistle sounded from the other room.
“Granddad?”
“Oh!” Gran exclaimed into the phone, “He’s right here, Clive, one moment– Don– Don, Clive Owens-Stanford is on the line for you.”
Grandpa came hurrying through, he paused long enough to plant a kiss on my cheek and then scurried to the phone.
“Hey, Clive, it’s Don. How are you?” He gave a hearty laugh, “That’s good. Good news indeed! Grandchildren are always a blessing. You’ll see. Is this first one to be a boy or a girl, or does she know yet?”
I slumped back down in the chair.
“Oh, uh-huh.” Grandpa continued, “Listen, Clive. This is a simple matter really; I’ve already spoken to Harold. We played a sunrise round of golf, and he’s agreeable to Nolle Pros on the mob action, all of the charges relating to the affidavit, as well as the battery against Marchella. My granddaughter wasn’t assaulted by him, they go together, you see. It’s a misunderstanding. Harold thought he was tangled up with those Disciples, he’s not even from here. He’s on his way back to Georgia.”
“Yeah. No, Clive. No, it's not a domestic situation. He’s a good boy, and she’s a bright girl. They'll have a beautiful future together if we can put this behind us.”
He paused and I could hear the murmur of Clive’s voice on the other end, though I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Yes, there will still be charges. He will be charged with the original battery, and eluding, and there is the destruction of the fence, but I’m not too sure that fence isn’t his uncle’s to be honest. I don’t know whether it is Aviston’s property or the nursing home’s. We need to look into that. Either way, Harold says this is his first time with criminal charges, he has some special court for first time offenders the boy can get into. Mhm, he said if he does, and he keeps his nose clean for six months or a year or whatever it is, Harold will see the charges cleaned from his record.”
I covered my mouth not to laugh. There was a slew of charges on his record. No way did my grandfather twitch his nose and have them reduced to two or three.
He hung up the phone. The faint jingle of it snapped me from my thoughts and I sprang from the chair and started toward him.
“Is this real?” I was scared to ask, the words coming faint.
Grandpa gave a huff and a smile, as he pulled me into his arms. He planted a kiss on my head and then stepped back and smoothed my hair.
“I need to go change for tonight’s service and go over my notes. I want you and Grandma to go to the mall in Steelville. You know the one, with the salon inside that is open late. You get yourself a ladies’ day in. Nails. Hair. Get yourself a nice dress. Come tomorrow, we’re going to fetch Blaze from Harold, and we’ll go have a nice lunch. You two will start fresh and everything will be alright.”
I let out a shaky breath and allowed myself to smile and believe it a moment.
“I– I don’t need a dress to pick up Blaze. I have some nice jeans.” I pointed toward the stairs, and he latched onto my arm and forced my finger down in a gentle swoop.
“No! No, no. You’ll get a nice gown and some slippers. Yes, go all out. I want this to be a nice occasion. A new start. You’ll see,” Grandpa lovingly insisted.
I’d never seen him like that before, so I just obliged him with a gentle nod.