Jose’s plane landed at Sarasota Airport late in the morning. He was anxious to surprise Abby, but worried about her insistence that he go home to Sussex and wait for her there. He fully intended to get to the bottom of her bizarre behavior. Only then could he have Mama Diaz and the girls move down to Florida with them. This overriding goal pressured him to quickly reunite what was left of his adopted family. This insistence they go to Sussex was nothing short of bizarre, yet Abby had refused to discuss the issue on her cell.
Grabbing a cab after he got off the plane, he gave the cabbie his address. Sitting back, he realized his anger about the whole thing with Abby still hovered under the surface. He thought back two weeks ago when he had left for New Jersey, hoping he would be returning victoriously to Florida.
It hadn’t taken very long to find them. The excellent investigators had finally produced results. Scotty had driven to the Short Hills tenement as soon as he had obtained the address. Mama Diaz burst out crying as soon as she opened the door to find him there. He took her in his arms trying to kiss her tears away, observing how her formerly thick chestnut hair felt thin and was shot heavily with gray, her laugh lines now etched deep and permanent. Pulling him into the apartment, she insisted on making him tea while they caught up on family news.
While Mama Diaz made the tea, he looked around the tiny one-bedroom apartment. The girls shared the bedroom and Mama Diaz slept on the sad, ugly sofa in their combination living room/kitchen. As he stood on the chipped linoleum floor, he took note of the bars on the one window in the apartment. The kitchen boasted a substandard-sized refrigerator, a white stove and a scratched white enamel sink built into appalling chipboard cabinets and linoleum countertop. Set on the wall over the kitchen table, Mama Diaz’s own crucifix from Lily Pond Road proudly graced the wall. He hoped her religion provided her with great comfort because she sure wasn’t getting it from the dump they lived in. His blood boiled when he thought about the house waiting for her and the girls in Florida.
Mama Diaz set the tea down on the table. Jose pulled out a rickety chair for her, urging her to sit.
“Mama, I need to know. Why did you move to Short Hills? I don’t understand.”
“Jose, you’re such a good boy. I couldn’t have Bonnie and Emma live in the pigsty my Tomas took us to. He knew better. Something was definitely not right with my Tomas. I think he just wanted us out of the way.” She shook her head, pain etched in her weary eyes.
“And there’s this Armoni. Did you know about Kelly’s brother? The man is hideous. I couldn’t have him around the girls. It boggles the mind that my boy took us there. I did think about coming back home but Tomas said we had to leave you alone. He said Abby was glad to get her house back. I couldn’t barge in on you kids. The very next day he brought us here. It’s better than being at Kelly’s house. Tomas paid for the first month’s rent and the security. He took us to the grocery store, and then we never saw him again. He just left us here.
“I found a job at a grocery store fifteen blocks from here. I got the girls into a school with some decent teachers. They seem to be as happy as can be expected under the circumstances. Emma has a part-time job in the nursing home a few blocks away. She works on weekends. I applied for public assistance last week. I should hear soon. It will be such a big help.”
The tears slipped silently from Jose’s eyes. He put his arms around his adopted mother. They cried together.
“It’s over, I’m here now. We found you. You’ll come to live with us.” Jose held her as he told her of their new life. He told her about everything except their isolation and the secrecy.
After having tea, Mama Diaz and Jose went to the grocery store to buy treats for a surprise celebratory dinner. They bought fresh meat and vegetables, as well as bacon—an unheard-of treat—not to mention cupcakes and ice cream. Their giddiness and excitement about the future allowed Mama Diaz to laugh and exclaim over the sinful extravagances. Jose had so much fun showering Mama Diaz with goodies that everyone in the store watched them enviously. Such a sign of prosperity was very unusual in their neighborhood.
Loading their purchases in Jose’s rental car, they talked about the upcoming science project at Emma’s school.
“She is very proud of her work, an elaborate diorama of the creatures which the planet has lost through extinction in the last one hundred years. Emma is very artistic. She did all the drawing and models herself. Her project won’t be presented for another week. I think it would mean a lot to her if we could wait until she presented her project before we leave. Do you think we can wait that long?” Mama Diaz looked anxious as she unpacked the luxuries from the market.
“Mama, we can wait as long as you guys need. We’ve waited this long. What’s another week?”
When the girls came home from school, he winced at how ragged they looked. It took him awhile to realize it was exactly how they had all looked when they lived together on Lily Pond Road. They lived so differently in Sarasota that the contrast was painful.
Emma had finally found a growth spurt, and was now a spirited yet serious young lady. Bonnie, still very young, her short curly brown hair framing her round impish face had yet to lose her baby fat even though she stood to finish her freshman year of high school soon. As much as he missed Abby, with Mama and the girls he felt surrounded by a feeling of home. And it wasn’t because he was back in New Jersey. It was because this was a vital and missing part of his life. He didn’t get this feeling in Sarasota. He needed it. They all needed it. It just made him more anxious to get everyone safely back to Florida.
Not surprisingly, the description of Jose, Abby and Scotty’s new life shocked them all. The girls went wild, excited over the possibilities. Jose knew, though, that he would have some questions to answer. And they came soon enough.
They finally finished the first meat-filled dinner the girls had seen since they had moved; the apartment was filled with the warmth of savory roasting juices. No longer would they be forced to subsist on cheap beans for their protein. Hilarity and horseplay between Jose, Emma and Bonnie escalated just like old times.
“Jose, why don’t you take those silly glasses off? You wear them all the time. Don’t you get sick of them?” Bonnie tried to swat them off as she teased him. Jose ducked, eluding her flying arms.
“Bonnie, please behave, Jose didn’t come all this way to put up with your bad manners.” Mama Diaz got up to give Bonnie a swat. The girls quickly settled back down under the watchful eyes of their exasperated mother, enjoying their unexpected dinner. Bonnie and Emma rose to clear the table, not needing any prompting from their mother. As the girls worked, Mama Diaz placed her hands atop Jose’s.
“My boy, you are so good to us and we love you for it. But I must ask. Where is all your good fortune coming from? How can you afford to live in such homes in Florida and do all of this for us?” Jose looked deep into her confused trusting eyes. He reflected on the unwavering loving support that had saved him as a young boy, knowing no English, traumatized by the tragic deaths of his parents and being wrenched from the only home he had known in Costa Rica. It was through her efforts that part of the hole in his soul had healed. She deserved every drop of comfort his good fortune could bring to her and the girls.
“Mama, I have something important to try to explain to you. Emma . . . Bonnie, could you both come sit down?” The girls looked somber at his unexpected tone. They sat, looking at him expectantly.
“I don’t know how to tell you this.” Jose put his hands on top of his head in frustration and fear. “I need to tell you that I love you all very much. I would never do anything to hurt you. Do you believe me?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Of course.”
“My boy, what is it?” They all looked curious. Not scared yet, but he knew it would come.
“You didn’t rob a bank, did you?” Emma and Bonnie cracked up, rolling their eyes comically. Jose sat silently, not knowing how to start, his tongue a leaden slab in his mouth. They stared at him with anticipation, breathless for what would clearly be a bombshell.
“You did, didn’t you?” Emma whispered the accusation.
“Oh my God. He did.” Bonnie clapped her hands over her mouth, amazement lighting up her face.
“No, I told you. It’s not that.” He took a deep breath and reached up to remove his sunglasses. Mama and the girls looked as if they had been slapped.
“Holy shit. What happened to your eyes?”
“Emma, watch your mouth in this house. Oh, my poor boy. What happened?” Mama, first wringing her hands and making the sign of the cross, searched her pockets for her rosaries. The brilliance of his eyes reflected into the room. He tried to remember how shocking this must look. Should I go any further? Can they handle the whole truth? How can I avoid telling them? Overwhelmed, he put his head down on the table, his arms burying the glow from his eyes.
“Abby and Scotty have it, too.” His voice sounded hollow from inside the shelter of his arms. Mama got up from her seat to put her arms around Jose.
“My boy, does this have anything to do with your new wealth? Please tell us, Son. We’re going to support you, no matter what. You know that. We’re family.” Her gentle supportive words felt like a balm on his young soul. He wanted desperately to lift the burden of secrecy off his inexperienced shoulders. He broke down, telling them everything. Exhaustion defeated him as he finished most of the unbelievable story. Mama got up hurriedly, putting on the teakettle. The girls looked at him with renewed interest.
“When can we meet Echo? Can we see the gold? Can I have a diamond?” The questions and silliness kept coming until Mama put an end to it.
“Girls, Jose is not on display for your pleasure. We are trying to finish our tea. Now take the ice cream out of the freezer and serve it, please.”
Chastised by Mama, and not understanding the significance of Jose’s revelation, the girls let up, returning to the chatter about their schoolmates and what their new house would look like. The respite allowed Jose to escape frightening the girls with any further disclosures. But he could tell Mama would not be put off so easily. Glancing at her pensive wise face, he knew she would wait for the right time to broach the subject again.
As the evening came to a close, the girls kissed him goodbye and retired to their bedroom to get ready for bed. Jose finished wiping the last dish for Mama. Folding the wet dishtowel on the rim of the sink, he announced he should be getting back to his hotel.
“I’ll call Abby tonight to give her the good news. I’d like to do some shopping tomorrow if you’re up to it, Mama.”
“Jose, I must go to work tomorrow.”
“You’re never working again.” Jose laughed, putting some large bills in her hands. “Call your boss, Mama, I’m taking you shopping tomorrow.” She looked flustered, a big excited smile on her face.
“I can’t believe our good luck.” She stopped suddenly. Smoothing back the curls that fell across his forehead, Mama glanced sideways at his glowing eyes and whispered, “I hope you can find an extra minute for me tomorrow. You know you need to tell me the whole story.”
Kissing her on the check, he nodded his head. “Of course, Mama, I didn’t want to say any more in front of the girls. Tomorrow.”
Giving her a final hug, they parted at the door. Jose skipped the dismal confining elevator, descending the stairwell down the six flights to the street. He listened to the metal thump of his shoes against the worn treads of the echoing stairwell, the walls marked with the graffiti of the current generation. He knew life in this environment gave birth to violence, drugs, various racial hatreds, rapes and casual murders. He cringed every time he thought of Abby and Scotty trying to survive in this environment as children. He hardened his determination to get Emma and Bonnie out as soon as possible.
He emerged into the sunlight, the local homies holding court on their appropriated turf at the front of the building giving him the stink eye. A few made catcalls. He thought of Mama and the girls running that gauntlet every day and he made up his mind. He would move them into his hotel for the rest of the week until they were ready to accompany him to Florida.
Hurrying back to his hotel—the same one they had stayed in when they were in Norristown, he asked to be moved into the penthouse. Short Hills was only a twenty-minute drive away. He could take the girls to school and pick them up afterwards. He began to relax, thinking the worst remained behind him.
That night Abby called, turning his plans upside down. The conversation was tight and upsetting as Jose learned she wanted him to take Mama and the girls back to Lily Pond Road. She further surprised him, confessing she knew he continued to pay the lease on the house. It wasn’t that he thought that they would ever need the house again, he just didn’t want there to be any unexplained discoveries when new tenants moved in. Continuing the lease prevented that. He didn’t want anything unusual to be traced back to them. Just a precaution.
He fired a million questions at Abby. The fact that Abby had exposed herself to the Cobbys came as a shock. How could she risk our security without discussing it with me? He hadn’t even known she trusted Captain Cobby enough to confide in him. When he left to find Mama and the girls, the biggest problem had been Scotty and Kane. When did that resolve itself? And just when exactly did Abby get so chummy with Captain Cobby? His young imagination burned with the thought of Abby spending time with the handsome Italian. What the heck’s going on? Her unsatisfying answers left him full of doubts.
He sat in his hotel stewing over this change of events, wanting desperately to be in Sarasota to understand what Abby and Scotty were up to. He mulled over his bitter thoughts, angry about how they threatened to derail his plans for Mama Diaz and the girls. He should be celebrating, not moping around depressed about what Abby was up to.
He weighed his options. Abby wanted him to trust her and blindly ask no questions. He railed at being treated like a child. In the long run, he still had to spend time with Mama and the girls. He wanted to take them all shopping and Emma needed to complete her presentation on world extinction. She really wanted him to attend and he would. After he got them settled in Lily Pond Road again, he would hop a plane back to Florida and see for himself just what was going on.
But how to tell the girls they weren’t going straight to Florida? Abby claimed she planned to bring others with her, but she wouldn’t tell him why. Very ominous. He thought the emotional reveal to Mama Diaz would have to wait, the distraction in Sarasota weighing heavily on his mind.
*
Before he knew it, Jose’s mind snapped back to the cab in Sarasota as it pulled into the driveway at Mango Lane. Paying the cab, he ran up to the front door and rang the bell. No answer. He searched his pockets for his key, slipping it into the lock. To his surprise the door popped open, unlocked all along. Odd.
He stepped into the foyer, his feet sounding a hollow tone never before noticed, as if the house didn’t recognize his footstep.
“Abby? Scotty?” No one answered. He ran up the staircase to the bedroom, the bed unmade, no Abby. Returning downstairs, he headed toward the kitchen, looking around in vain, seeing no one. The dogs weren’t even here. Scanning the room, he noticed the absence of Penny’s big doggy bed. In its place rested a ragged old afghan, probably something Scotty had picked up for the dogs.
He stared absently at the afghan, annoyed that no one was home. Spoiling for a fight now, his eyes casually rested on the afghan’s pretty turquoise color as he reminded himself they didn’t know of his secret return. They thought he waited in Sussex County.
He abruptly stopped all thought, his eyes refocusing on the afghan. What? Something about the afghan. It drew him, an unfamiliar feeling hitting him in the solar plexus. He bent over, picking it up. Its poor condition testified to the beating it had taken over the years. He recognized the yellow maize design on the body of the afghan as a Mexican, possibly Central American design. Rubbing the afghan between his fingers, he wondered why it disturbed him.
From the front of the house he heard a racket. Stuffing the afghan under his arm, he hurried to the front door to confront an incomprehensible sight. Scotty’s Jeep had pulled into the drive. Abby was out of the car directing a caravan of tractor-trailer trucks across the meticulously maintained front lawn and around the back of the house. The trucks drove over the top of their very expensive flowering bushes. What the fuck? He ran outside trying to flag down Abby. Unable to attract her attention, he turned to the Jeep where he found himself almost knocked over by a desperate hug from Scotty, who was accompanied a beautiful but bored, very pregnant, young black girl.
“Scotty what the heck are you guys up to? And where’s Echo and the dogs?” Scotty gestured to the back of the Jeep.
“Echo’s in my car. The dogs are waiting for us on the boat along with Peter and his girlfriend.”
“Peter has a girlfriend? And why is everyone heading for the boat? You going somewhere?” Scotty looked uncomfortable as Jose questioned him. Feeling a quick elbow in the ribs from Kenya, he offered an introduction.
“Uh, Jose, this is Kenya McCready. She’s here to help with the animals. She worked at the sanctuary.”
“Hey there, chicky, you know where I can sit down?” Inadvertently ignoring the introduction, Jose grabbed Scotty’s shoulders, giving him a shake.
“Sanctuary? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you help me get Abby over here?”
“Sure, uh, what are you doing with Teddy’s blanket?”
“This is Teddy’s? You mean it’s Chloe’s?”
“Yeah, it’s an old baby blanket of hers. Chloe likes to use it for Ted.” Jose handed the afghan to Scotty. Jose watched the blanket in Scotty’s hands, distracted by Scotty directing Kenya down to the boat. Looking across the lawn, he saw Abby making her way across the yard, tears dripping down her face. Running over to Jose, she threw her arms around him, crushing him in her sweaty rumpled embrace.
“Thank God, you’re here. I don’t think I can do this alone anymore.” Her face pressed into his shirt, muffling the sound of her crying and the tears soaking the material. “We have to get out of here.” She looked up into his face, her glasses askew, exposing the fear in her eyes.
“Babe, babe, easy. What the heck’s going on?”
They both turned, seeing Scotty jump into his Jeep and tear off down the road, obviously heading to Chloe’s house. Abby wiped the back of her hand across her face, her words almost incoherent.
“We rescued the animals . . . forced me . . . save them . . . back to the cavern . . . Echo’s help . . . millions will die . . . Cobby’s help . . . didn’t freak . . . to Tampa . . . elude the cops, can’t have them slow us down. Gotta hurry, please Jose, help me.” She looked down the road after the Jeep, swallowing hard, trying to catch her breath. “We have to get Scotty back here. We can’t stay. The neighbors will notice. The cops will come. I need Echo if there’s trouble. She’s still in the back seat of the Jeep.”
“Okay, okay. I still don’t understand what’s happening but I get the urgency. I’ll go get Scotty. When I get back, we need to have a talk, Abby. Understood? You finish up here and get these trucks out of the way. Have the boat on standby. I’ll be back as soon as I can. By the way, what’s the big deal about these animals? What do you have, a bunch of dogs and cats?”
“You could say that,” she muttered softly, her eyes closed shut as if in prayer, but not before Jose glimpsed again her raw fear.
“You okay, Abby?”
She nodded, opening her eyes to give him a solemn fragile smile. “I’m better now. I’ll fill you in with the details later. Just go get Scotty. Hurry.” She kissed him hard on the lips, then ran off around the back of the house.