Five: G-Ma & Lottie take Vita and the kids on a tour of the farmland.

 

Late the next morning, upstairs Vita was still asleep. She exhausted from last night. Her cousin’s guest bedroom was so warm and comfortable.

Downstairs, Lottie and G-Ma were looking for disappearing children again. Of course, it was the boys who vanished once again. It seemed to always be the boys in trouble.

“Girls, where did the boy go this time?” Lottie asked. She and G-Ma had just checked the porch outside. None of the boys were out there. It was far too cold for them to be outside with no hats or coats. She watched as G-Ma locked the screen door and the inner door too. She might have to have install slide bolts on both doors that were way above the boys’ reach. She figured soon or later, the boys were going to sneak outside too.

“Where they go?” G-Ma bent down to ask the three girls.

Joy, Rosetta and Rendie pointed to the staircase.

Rendie folded her arms over her chest. “I told ‘em not to do it, G-Ma. AJ and Orlando are too little for stairs. Griffin and TJ never listen to me. Mommy say TJ gots a hard head like his daddy gots. Griffin n’ him always thinking up stuff to make more trouble.”

“AJ, Orlando, Griffin, and TJ, get back down here now!” Lottie yelled, watching the older boys come out of hiding and race up the stairs. She and G-Ma managed to catch the two little boys, AJ and Orlando, who were two-thirds of the Pirelli triplets. They weren’t as fast on the stairs as their older cousin and his best friend were. The two women carried the brothers back downstairs and sat them on the couch with their sister and Joy Ward.

G-Ma leaned down to look in the two brothers’ faces and scowled at them. “You not move or we send home to Daddy. Never come back.” She looked at the little boys’ trembling lips and shook a finger at them. “No cry. Sit. Not move.” Her gaze turned to Joy and Rosetta. “You watch boys. I watch everybody. She plopped down and pointed to her great-granddaughter. “Go. Find boys.”

Rendie nodded at her great-grandmother. “Yes, Ma’am.” She hopped off the couch and raced up the stairs. She skipped down the hallway. She overheard her mother telling her mama how Miss Lottie’s cousin was here for a visit. She hoped to meet her because she worked for the police in the city. She stopped at the first door and tapped on the door then opened it. It was Judith’s pink bedroom. She walked in and looked under the pink and yellow bedspread and in the closet. They were both empty. She repeated the same thing in Carlton’s green room. No bad little boys.

In the next bedroom, Vita woke up when somebody opened her eye with little fingers. “Mmm. Stop it.” She swatted at the disturbance. Loud giggling woke her again. She sat up this time. She rubbed her eyes, discovering a chubby red-haired little boy with a beige complexion and wide sky-blue eyes grinning at her. Next to him stood little another boy who was brown-skinned with navy-blue eyes. He was loudly giggling too. He looked familiar and she wondered why. “Hey? Who are you guys?”

An older little girl marched into the room with her hands on her hips. “You boys are very bad. Miss Lottie gonna toss you in the oven ‘n make little boy burgers. Just like the witch in the book does.”

Vita frowned at the girl. “Hey, hey, little Girlfriend. That’s not very nice. What’s your name?”

“I’m Rendie Riggins-Whitehawk.” Rendie pointed to the boys. “That’s bad old Griffin Day n’ his bad old friend TJ Pirelli. All they do is make trouble, nothing but trouble.” She issued a dramatic, regretful sigh.

Vita sat up and leaned back against the headboard then wiggled a finger at the kids. “C’mere, you three. Miss Rendie, help your little friends get on the bed. Then you get on the bed too.” She watched Rendie help Griffin and TJ climb on the bed, then listened to her fussing at the boys to watch their dirty feet on clean bedcovers.

“Okay, Miss Rendie. First, dirty footprints wash off. It’s not a big deal. That’s why companies make detergent soaps. Next thing, the boys are little and younger than you. Don’t tell them about making boy burgers. Trust and believe, the world is crazy and scary enough without adding your mean words to it. Understand, Sweetie?” Vita asked.

Rendie folded her arms across her chest in stubborn defiance. “Hah! They should behave better then. Boy are so silly.”

Vita chuckled. “They may be. But some of them are decent folks too.” She turned to look down at Griffin Day. “So, Mr. Griffin, I think I met your mom yesterday. She picked me up from the bus station. We ate dinner in her office, then she drove me here to my cousin’s house. Is your mommy’s name Viola Day?”

Griffin shrugged. “Nope. Her name is Mommy. My other mommy name is Mama.”

“TJ, I think I know your mommy’s name too. It’s Marsha Sharpe, right?”

TJ shrugged. “Her name Mommy. My daddy is Daddy.”

Lottie stood at the door, listening and chuckling. She finally came in the room. “Rendie, take the boys downstairs to G-Ma.”

Lottie waited until the children left to speak. “I’m sorry if they woke you, Vita. They usually don’t get this far upstairs. You were right about Griffin. You met his mother, Viola, yesterday. TJ’s mother isn’t Marsha, or Sharpie, as we call her. That would be AJ’s mother. TJ’s mom is the town’s vet … animal doctor, Dr. Lulu Crow-Pirelli. His father Tony works for Dutch. Tony’s brother Angelo works for Dutch too. He’s the one with the triplets. His wife is Sharpie, the FBI special agent. Viola tells me you know Sharpie’s office manager, or is she her executive assistant, Alice Brewster.”

Vita sighed. “Yes, I did. Both literally and figuratively. That was a long, long time ago, thank God. Folks change too.”

“Speaking of folks, are you hungry?”

Vita grinned at her cousin. “Of course, I am.”

Lottie nodded. “Come on down whenever you’re ready.” At the door, she turned around. “I almost forgot. Viola said I should remind you of two things. Dinner at her place tonight. And morning runs with her in two days.”

“Should I bring wine and flowers for dinner with Viola?”

“Hmm, I haven’t had anybody do that in years. I bet she’d appreciate it as much as I would if I had guests for dinner.”

“Tell me what kind of flowers and wine you like. I’ll buy ‘em for you, Cousin,” Vita remarked as she rose from the bed and grabbed her robe. “In the meantime, write down Viola’s favorite wines and flowers and where to buy them.”

“Will do.” Lottie nodded her approval. “When you come down, the kids will be asleep for morning naps. All except Rendie because she doesn’t believe in morning snoozing.”

“She’s quite something. She’s Dutch’s kid, huh?”

“And G-Ma’s great-grandchild, which makes her quite a combination. You haven’t even met the older kids and your third cousins.”

“There’s more kids?” Vita watched Lottie nod. “I had no idea this many kids lived here.”

“It’s seven households and almost two kids per home except for Angelo and Sharpie, who have three. Naddie and Viola have one kid apiece. Rendie’s mom is secretly pregnant again. She hasn’t told Dutch or Rendie yet, so please don’t mention it.” Lottie sighed. “That’s about a dozen kids. Plus, there’s Judge McKay’s grandbaby whenever Nicole and Dutch’s other cousin Sanchez Pettibone drops by for a visit. He’s G-Ma’s lover.”

“You mean Roy McKay lives here too?”

“Yes, he has the ranch across the way. You know him?”

“Yes, I’ve been in his courtroom picking or delivering paperwork and officers.” Vita shrugged. “After his wife died, he just sort of disappeared. I wondered what happened to him.”

“He seems to be enjoying life here in Wickwire.”

“That’s good. I’m happy for him.”

“Come downstairs when you’re ready.” Lottie studied her cousin for a long moment. Vita looked healthy, but something was off. She could feel it. “We can talk about why you’re really here, whenever you’re ready.”

“What do you mean? Can’t I visit my favorite cousin without having an agenda?”

Lottie walked back into the room and gave Vita a hug and rubbed her back. “While you look healthy, something is off with you.”

Vita sighed. “I never could hide anything from you. Let me get showered and dressed. We can talk after that.”

 

 

Lottie and G-Ma watched Vita eat two outsize pancakes with fake bacon and plenty of syrup. She rubbed her belly and asked for two more pancakes.

“You said two more, Little Cousin?” Lottie asked in a voice showing her amazement. She eyed the breakfast paunch forming across Vita’s abdomen. “Unless you have a hollow leg that I don’t know about, where are you going to put that second meal?”

“I’ll eat the two pancakes. Then you’ll take me and the kids for a walk to burn it off. I’d love a tour of the homes in the daylight hours. If anybody’s home, I’d love to meet them and see the homes’ interiors too.”

Lottie shrugged. “Viola’s place you’ll see tonight. Neither she nor Dora are home. That’s why Griffin is here with me today. Rendie’s house … G-Ma can show you. The Pirelli wives are working too. Ozzie and Zerlena are in the city with Dutch. You’d love their home with all its electronics. The kids are staying here with me until their parents return. Naddie and Charlie are at work too.”

“All right. Let’s just look at the exteriors of the homes.”

G-Ma studied Vita’s face. “We see homes. Then see dream lodge. We go to cave later.”

Vita’s eyes widened in surprise as she returned G-Ma’s curious look. “You have caves here? What’s a dream lodge, Ma’am?”

G-Ma’s dark eyes twinkled at Vita. “You see inside when you need to see. Today, see outside. No go inside. See?”

Vita nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Tanya come. Look for you. Take time. But she come. Mama need her now.”

Vita dropped her fork against the porcelain dinner plate with a ping. “What did you just say, Old Woman!”

“She said a woman named Tanya would be coming here for you. Not right away because of mother trouble. She would be coming.” Lottie cleared her throat as she folded her arms across her chest. She gave her younger cousin a hard side eye. “You’d better call her Miss G-Ma or plain old G-Ma. Do not call her Old Woman. Vita, you know better and it’s rude too!”

Vita inhaled deeply then exhaled and hung her head. She was embarrassed for what erupted out of her mouth just now. She rubbed the back of her neck as she looked up to study the older woman. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.” She paused to turn to look at her cousin. “Lottie, she caught me by surprise. I mean, how did she?” She turned to study G-Ma again with stunned eyes. “Viola said you were something else … like a shaman or a griot. Are you that? I never told anybody about her. Not even Lottie knew her name. How did you do that?”

“Woman who see everything, know like I know why you come, Vita Kane. You run away from feelings. You come to rest but heart restless. Mind restless. Soul restless.”

Vita frowned at the older woman. “Ma’am, I don’t mean to be rude, but how about we just stick with showing me the homes on this farmland and talking about the weather or something else safe?”

“That good for today. No good for tomorrow.”

Vita sighed. “Let’s make a deal. We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.” She offered G-Ma a hand to shake. When G-Ma took her hand, something very odd happened. She felt a light electrical charge.

At the same time, she suddenly saw images. One of them looked like Tanya’s mother, the deputy commissioner, who was holding a wailing red-faced infant. The infant wore a blue hat and matching swaddling blanket. The DC was cuddling him and singing to him in low soft alto that quieted him. She saw herself in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. Somebody was lying next to her on the bed, holding her tenderly as she slept. The electric shock was too much for her hand.

She broke contact, dropping her hand then shaking it. “Ouch! That hurt! Hey, what just happened, Ma’am?” She jumped up and rushed over to the sink to run cold water on it. She examined her hand. It felt hot, the way a burn did. She didn’t see any red patches anywhere on her hand. “Whoa! It felt like my hand was burning, but I don’t see anything.”

G-Ma shook a finger at Vita. “You look, but you do not see! I wake children. We see homes. We not go to dream lodge. You not ready. Get coat. We go.”

Lottie noticed her cousin’s struck dumb look and laughed. “You haven’t been here a day and you pissed her off already.”

The two cousins watched G-Ma stomp out of the kitchen.

“I’ve rarely seen her upset like this. Better tiptoe around her today, Little Cousin.”

Vita held out her hand to stare at it again. “Humph! Tell her not to shock the shit out of me, then.”

“Watch your mouth. Be very careful what you say. You’ll be fine.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Vita saluted Lottie.

“Ha, ha. Very funny. Vita, go get your coat. Let’s get on with this tour.”

 

 

Vita pulled on her coat from the hallway closet and hustled outside where she found her cousin and G-Ma waiting. They had their hands full with TJ and Griffin, who decided they were big boys and went off exploring on their own.

“Griffin and TJ, get back here this minute!” Lottie yelled as the boys managed to escape their hands and take off around the front and side of the farmhouse.

G-Ma pointed a wiggling finger at the escaping boys. “Rendie, Vita, bring boys!”

Rosetta, Joy, AJ and Orlando watched the older boys trying to escape. Both Rendie and Vita raced after TJ and Griffin, catching them on the other side of porch. They carried the two squirming, giggling boys back to the side door where everybody else was waiting.

Vita dumped both boys on the ground. Then she squatted down to glare at them. “You two will behave. You will do what Miss Lottie, Miss G-Ma and me tell you or I’ll know the reason why! Got it?” She gave the boys a hard look that shut down many a police officer’s wisecracks. It had the same effects on her PAL kids too. They did whatever she ordered them to do. Today, she discovered it worked quite well on small defiant children too. She watched as the two little boys’ eyes grew large as saucers. They wagged their little heads vigorously like bobble-headed dolls then mumbled okay.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you.” Vita cupped her ear and leaned close to the two boys’ faces.

“Okay!” both TJ and Griffin yelled.

“That’s better. Now behave.” Vita squeezed two little boys’ shoulders hard and then patted their backs too. She stood upright and grabbed both of their hands. She eyed G-Ma first and then her cousin as she bowed. “We are ready too, Ma’am and Cousin.”

G-Ma winked at her while Lottie gave her a satisfied smile.

“Okay, boys and girls, off we go,” Vita remarked. She started to lift her feet and march in place. The boys watched her and giggled then decided to imitate her. They marched in place behind her. The other children giggled and clapped then joined in behind TJ and Griffin. Vita led the parade. Lottie moved to the middle parade while G-Ma and Rendie stayed at the rear to catch any stragglers.

 

 

Lottie was laughing so hard at her little soldiers trying to stay in marching-line, it was difficult to understand what she was describing about each home. Vita finally gave up trying listen and simply stood admiring the homes. Lottie had marched her and the little soldiers around the front as well as the rear of each home so Vita could see their rear yards too. Each home seemed to fit its owners while also merging into the plot of land where it was located. Vita particularly liked the large tinted windows in Dutch’s house that faced the edge of the woods. The way Lottie kept bragging about Zee’s electronic house with its medical bots and service bots, she couldn’t wait to see them.

G-Ma was enjoying the interaction between the two cousins as she stood at the end of tiny soldier parade. They had stopped at the rear Angelo’s home. It was the two-story house that sat behind his brother three-story townhouse. It was cold outside but not so cold anybody was complaining. The three women dressed the children for the cold weather with snowsuits, hats, scarves, gloves and boots.

She decided she liked cousin of Woman-who-see-everything. She wondered if the cousins spoke about Vita’s reason for being here. She sensed the fear in the little cousin. It was fear that shouldn’t be there. She squatted down to look at the little boys and girls. “Stay here. Keep marching. Rendie, you watch.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

G-Ma walked over to the cousins, who were talking softly. They had an unobstructed view of the clearing and the lodge.

Lottie grinned at her best friend beside her wife. “G-Ma, Vita asked me about the dream lodge. She wants to see it and the caves.”

G-Ma studied Vita, staring into her wide brown eyes. “I show. Not today. Later. Tell cousin Lottie about Rookie.” She watched the cousin’s eyes grow large with surprise.

“How did you?” Vita nervously cleared her throat. “I mean, I have no idea what you mean, Miss G-Ma.”

“Tell Cousin Lottie. I know. She must know Rookie too.”

Vita studied the old woman and then her cousin. “How does she know anything like that, Lottie?” she whispered. “I didn’t even tell you or anybody here. Only a dear friend in the city knows about the rookie.”

“Ah, so she’s right. There is a rookie, huh?”

“Of course, there is,” Vita snapped impatiently. “Why do you think I ran up here and didn’t hide in somewhere in the city?”

Lottie studied her cousin’s uneasy face and then she chuckled. “Well, finally, somebody reached you, huh? I definitely want to meet him or her.”

Vita exhaled loudly then looked down to fiddle with her zipper. “It’s a female officer. The rookie is female detective. God, I hadn’t meant to tell you this way.”

“Not tell nothing. Just hide,” G-Ma muttered loud enough for Vita to quickly look up to eye the old woman.

“I’m not deaf. I can hear you, Old Woman!”

“Vita Kane, you apologize right now!”

Vita groaned loudly then drew closer to G-Ma. She reached out to rub G-Ma’s back. She felt a sharp electrical charge. However, she was feeling defiant and kept her hand against the old woman’s back despite the burning in her fingers.

“Head like mule. You strong like ox. I stop before you hurt good,” Vita heard the old woman say without moving her lips. Her finger suddenly stopped burning. “How is it I can hear you talking, but you aren’t moving your mouth?”

Again, the old woman spoke explaining herself. “I in head. Make you hear me. No make you see now.”

Vita rubbed her temples when the old woman finally walked back to the children. “Am I crazy, Lottie? What just happened?”

“Open your ears, Vita. Honey, I believe one of your elders taught you something,” Lottie remarked quietly as she caught G-Ma’s attention with a slight nod.