DANNY
I was miffed about having to have Jan Hastings be our babysitter, but I was glad to have her chauffeur us to the hospital. The hospital was in a six-story building and right here in Monte Vista, only a few miles from school and two miles from our apartment. Jan led the way to a regular room where Mom was resting from all the surgeries she had had. Jan said, “Please go in quietly. Maybe go in one at a time. Who wants to go in first?” Both girls raised their hands, and I played the old do-gooder and let them go first. Jan, wisely I thought, chose Jacque.
“Oh, Jacque, I’m so glad to see you!” Mom did her best to shout, but only groaned a bit as she held out both arms. “Oh, my Jacque, it is so good to see you. Let me hold you.” Jacque moved as close as she could. They both began to cry - out of happiness this time. Mom looked past her five-year-old, saw Susie and me, and waved us in. Susie joined Jacque on the left side of the bed, and I went to her right. I bent over and kissed her on her forehead, and began crying. I muttered, “Oh, Mom, I’m so glad to see you. It’s been over a whole month, Mom. Can you believe it? Are both legs hurting you?”
She let her left hand go of Jacque and reached over and took my right hand, and whispered, “Oh, honey, it has been so long, oh, so long. I kinda hurt all over, but my left leg is the only one in a cast. Do you remember that ace bandage cast you put around that leg?” I nodded, and she went on. She squeezed my hand softly. “I didn’t mention it to anyone before we left Flowers. There wasn’t time. The doctor here said, ‘Who in hell did this to your poor leg? I said, ‘My son. He’s twelve.’ The doctor then said, ‘Well, he did save your leg, but I’m going to have to re-break your leg so it will heal properly. We’ll give you a general anesthetic, so you won’t feel any pain until you wake up. So, thank you, son, for saving my leg. You are a wonderful son. I want you to know that.” I cried some more. Damnit, I hate being a crybaby.
Jan came into the room and introduced herself. “Hi, Mrs. Sherman-Lee. I’m Jan Hastings, and I’ve been asked to be your family’s helper, all day, every day, for a while. Please call me Jan, and may I call you Marge?” Mom looked so worried, and I didn’t know what to tell her about our money problems. Jan helped me out.
“Oh, yes. And Jan, we don’t have any money to pay for your help. I don’t have a living cent. I’m so sorry. I’m sure I’m gonna need all the help I can get. Oh my. My Danny and Susie are very helpful, but oh my, I feel so helpless.”
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“Please don’t worry, Marge, the county will pay me to be helpful to you. That’s why we pay taxes, you know?”
Mom continued to look worried and said in her weak, old lady voice, “But, honey, I don’t pay any taxes. I’ve never paid taxes anywhere, not even in Mississippi. My Bobby, said I was a worthless little…” She put a hand over her mouth and muttered, “…bitch.” and tried to smile. She added, “And, honey, please don’t call me Sherman-Lee. Just Sherman, I hate having Lee added to my name.
Jacque interrupted them, “Mommy, when can you come home? We got a nice new home for you. When can you see it? When, Mommy, when?” Susie tried to shush her, but Jacque continued her questioning. I was told that that was so typical of five-year-olds.
Mom finally told her, “Mommy is still feeling a lot of pain, sweetheart, and I’ll come home as soon as the doctor tells me it is okay, and I can walk again. Will you come visit me every day until I can come home?” Jacque nodded vigorously, and Marge turned toward Susan and asked, “How do you like your new school?”
“I really like it. I have a new friend named Angie. She has a big sister, just like me, named Ella, and she helps her little sister, Angie, just like Susie and Danny help me. Ella is in Danny’s grade, and she really likes Danny a lot.” I kinda liked hearing Jacque say Ella likes me. I already knew it, but it was nice hearing it. “Mommies and daddies were helping the teacher all day long. They were as nice as the teacher.” She seemed to be quite proud of herself as she said, “Their names are Teri, the teacher, Vivian, the mom helper, and Chico, the daddy helper.”
Susan told Mom about her second-grade class and about her cohort and tator, Marie. “And mom, you know everybody likes my Mississippi accent. They call it my Southern drawl. The cohort class is two hours long, and they wanted to know all about my life in Flowers. They even clapped when I finished talking about the FBI in our house and everything. Oh, and one of the students said that my dad sounded like a real ‘asshole’, and the tator and nobody else said anything about me calling daddy an ' a-word’. In my old school, that student would have been sent to the principal’s office.” She smiled, and I thought that if the tator had interrupted Susie’s story, it would have missed what was really important. I was liking our school more every day.”
Mom really looked worried when she said, “Oh, honey, you shouldn’t have told them all about our family like that.”
“Miss Marie said that it was okay and reminded everyone that what was said in our cohort group is con-fee-dent-shel and that we must not tell anyone about another student’s family or story. Two other kids shared secrets about their families, and it was sad, too. I think our family is really brave and good. Everybody thinks you and Danny are really brave.” Susie looked over at me and nodded. I hope she remembers saying that the next time we’re arguing. Mom began to look kinda relaxed, and she softly said, “I guess if you are all happy with school, that’s fine. Miss Jan, are the children being cooperative with you?” Jan said, “Yes, Marge, I just hope they would relax around me a bit more. They’ll be laughing and playing around, and then when I come in the room, they’ll go quiet. Like they’ve been doing something wrong. I really enjoy their laughter. When we leave here, we’re going grocery shopping. Do you have any recommendations?”
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“Just ask Danny and Susan, oh, and mac and cheese is always a winner.” Mom looked like she had to fight to stay awake, so we promised to see her tomorrow afternoon, after school. I was surprised that both Susie and I were more than a little bewildered about what kind of food we should get for all of us. Ratso always did the grocery shopping, and it included lots of soup and hamburger meat. If mom didn’t like whatever it was and complained, he would slap her hard, sometimes even knocking her down. So, we didn’t know much as we followed Jan to the grocery store.
The next day, Tuesday, Jan walked with us to school, and Suzie’s guide met her before the morning jamboree. It was so good that the school planners seemed to think about almost everything to help students feel safe and in good spirits. I hoped to meet Ella’s grandpa, Mark Haloran, someday soon.
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