Miles to Go (26 page)

“That must have been frightening,” I said.

“It was. I mean, the policeman was nice and all. He asked me what radio station I liked. But I was still really scared.
I thought I was going to jail. Instead he drove me up into the mountains where there were two other cars parked. A tall, redheaded woman came out of one. She was my caseworker. Then a woman and her daughter came out of the other. Lois and Mabel Thompson. They were my first foster home. I was like their twentieth kid, so they knew what they were doing. They were really nice.

“After a year and a half the state sent me back to my mom. The courts made her take classes about how to be a decent mother and she was all honey and sugar when they brought me back. That lasted for about two hours, then she went back to her old self. Just before I went to bed, she smacked me in the head and told me she had gotten into all kinds of trouble because of me and I was going to pay for it.

“The next day her husband took me out to the garage and made me take my pants off, then he whipped me with his belt. A neighbor heard me scream and called the police. They came and got me right away. They took me to this place called Children’s Village. I was there for a few months, except when I was sent to a mental hospital.”

“Why were you sent to a mental hospital?” I asked.

“Because I sent a letter to my judge that said if he sent me back to my mother I would commit suicide. He didn’t like that very much.”

I looked at her gravely. “Would you have?”

“Maybe. I was thinking about it. After the mental hospital they sent me to live with this couple named David and Karlynne. They were nice. I was the first foster child they’d ever had, so everything was kind of harder for them. Karlynne had a job and had to travel a lot, which meant I had to be home alone with her husband. David
never did anything bad to me, but I didn’t really trust men, so I told her that I was afraid of being left alone with him for a week. But she had to work, so she left, and the second day I freaked out and called my caseworker and they came and got me.”

“You don’t seem uncomfortable with me,” I said.

“You’re different.”

“How am I different?”

“I don’t know. I just like you.”

“I like you too,” I said. “So what happened next?”

“After that they changed my caseworker. My new caseworker was awful. She didn’t believe that my mother was as bad as I told everyone, so she filed to have me sent back home. I told her that I would commit suicide and she just said I was manipulative and knew how to work the system. I didn’t like her at all. I called her supervisor and they changed her.”

I asked, “How old were you then?”

“It wasn’t too long ago. Maybe six months. While the state was trying to decide what to do with me, my mother gave up all her custodial rights to me. The weird thing is, she died a week later.” She looked at me. “True story.”

“What did she die from?”

“I don’t know. She was really fat and had diabetes and high blood pressure, so they just said natural causes. But honestly, I think her husband killed her. No one knows—there wasn’t one of those things they do to see why you died.”

“An autopsy?”

“Yeah,” she said. “An autopsy.” She put her hands in her pockets. “They put me back at the group home for a while. Then they sent me to a new foster family, the Brysons. But they were really strict and negative and I just
couldn’t do it, so one day while Mrs. Bryson was grocery shopping I ran away. I’ve been on the streets ever since.”

“Which brings you to where I met you,” I said.

She nodded. “Pretty unbelievable life, huh?”

“What’s unbelievable to me is how you’ve managed to remain so positive. I’ve been with you for more than a week, and you haven’t complained once.”

She smiled. “I heard someone say, ‘There’s no problem so big that whining won’t make it worse.’”

I laughed.

“The way I see it,” she said, “everyone has problems. It’s how you choose to deal with them. Some people choose to be whiners, some choose to be winners. Some choose to be victims, some choose to be victors.”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re the type who thinks of the glass as being half full instead of half empty.”

“No,” she said, “I’m just grateful for the glass.”

I smiled. “Out of the mouth of babes,” I said, “out of the mouth of babes.”

Two days later we walked into Butte, Montana, which has the coolest city sign I’d ever seen—an old mining rig strung with white lights.

Butte’s a first-rate town, with movie theaters and shopping malls and at least a dozen hotels to choose from. I chose the Hampton Inn, and at the recommendation of the hotel clerk, Kailamai and I ate dinner at a nearby steakhouse called the Montana Club.

We were waiting for our main entrées when I was struck by a flash of genius. It must have shown on my face because Kailamai gave me a puzzled look. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was just thinking,” I said vaguely. “So let me ask you something. If you could suddenly have any life at all, what would it look like?”

“You mean, like, if I could be queen of the world or Britney Spears?”

I grinned. “I was thinking of something a little more realistic.”

She thought about my question. “Well, since this is fantasy and I could have anything, I’d live in a nice home near a college where I could go to school to be a lawyer. The home doesn’t need to be a mansion, just a nice place that smells good.

“I wouldn’t want to be treated like a foster child anymore, but I’d still want to live with someone who was a little older so she could teach me things that people with normal lives already know. But she would still be fun and joke and stuff and not bust my chops all the time. Someone like you.”

“I’m no fun,” I said.

“See, you’re always joking,” she replied. “And we’d go
to a movie now and then or bowling or hiking. And I’d go to school and work a job and also I would help out around the house, because I wouldn’t want my roommate to think I was a freeloader.”

“Are you sure that’s really what you want?” I asked.

“That would be heaven.”

“What if I could make it happen?”

She looked at me curiously. “Then I’d say you were an angel or something.”

“An angel, huh?” I got up from the table. “I need to make a call.”

We slept in the next morning, a rare luxury. We showered and dressed, then went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast.

“Yellowstone awaits,” Kailamai said, spreading cream cheese over a bagel. “Ready to hit the road?”

“No. Not today.”

“No?”

“We’ve been putting in a lot of miles lately. I thought we should take a day off. Have a play day.”

Her face lit with excitement. “Really?”

“I think we deserve it. We should go bowling, have a nice lunch, maybe go shopping.”

Her smile grew. “Sounds awesome.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but a friend of mine’s going to join us.”

“You have a friend in Butte?”

“No, she actually lives in Spokane. She’s driving all the way here.”

“Is she like a girlfriend?”

“No, just a good friend.”

“When is she coming?”

“She should be here any minute.”

I was getting directions from the clerk at the front desk to the nearest bowling alley when Nicole walked into the lobby. She smiled when she saw me. “Alan!”

We embraced. “It’s good to see you,” I said. It had only been eighteen days, but it already felt like a year since I’d left Spokane.

Nicole looked around the hotel lobby. “Where is she?” “Kailamai, come here,” I said, waving her over. “Meet my friend.”

Kailamai had been watching our reunion. She set her pancakes down and walked over.

“This is my friend, Nicole,” I said.

“Hello,” Kailamai said, sounding uncharacteristically formal. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice meeting you too,” Nicole said. “Alan’s told me a lot about you.”

“Good things I hope.”

“All good,” Nicole said. “Do you mind me hanging out with you guys today?”

“No problem.”

Nicole turned to me. “So what’s on the agenda?”

“I think some bowling might be in order,” I said.

Nicole asked Kailamai, “Do you like to bowl?”

“Who doesn’t?” Kailamai said.

“Then let’s go bowling,” Nicole said.

Kailamai looked back and forth between us. “If you two would rather just be alone…”

“Absolutely not,” I said.

Nicole shook her head. “Sorry, you’re stuck with us.”

Kailamai smiled. “Good, sounds fun.”

We climbed into Nicole’s Malibu and drove a few miles to Kingpin Lanes. We were all pretty bad bowlers and our combined scores wouldn’t equal a decent IQ, but that only added to the fun.

After one throw Kailamai said, “What does one of my bowling balls and a drunk have in common?”

“What?” I said.

“Chances are they’ll both end up in the gutter.”

Afterward we walked through a mall, and Nicole and Kailamai went off clothes shopping while I browsed a bookstore and then sat in the courtyard to read a magazine and drink an Orange Julius. An hour later they found me.

“Look what Nicole bought me,” Kailamai said excitedly, holding up a denim jacket with white stitching and rhinestones. “This cool coat.”

“She picked it out,” Nicole said. “She’s got great taste. She helped me find the perfect pair of jeans.”

I smiled. They had already connected. After the mall we headed back over to the Montana Club for lunch.

Nicole got a phone call on our way into the restaurant and stayed out in the restaurant’s lobby while Kailamai and I sat down at our table.

“So what do you think of Nicole?” I asked.

“You two should get married.”

I smiled wryly. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I think she’s really cool. She should go to Yellowstone with us.”

“No, she’s got to get back to school.”

Kailamai looked disappointed.

A few minutes later Nicole entered the dining room and sat down in a chair next to Kailamai, across from me.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“It was my sister,” she said, rolling her eyes. “She calls a lot now.” She turned to Kailamai. “So what’s good?”

“I had the French dip and sweet potato fries last night,” Kailamai said. “They were both awesome. I’m going to try making those fries some day.”

“You can cook?” Nicole asked.

“A few things. I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich and I can make pizza dough. I thought of being a chef once. That or a judge.”

Nicole laughed. “You have diverse tastes.”

“Well, in both cases, you have to make sure things are done right.”

“You’re right,” Nicole said, “you’re absolutely right.”

The waitress came and took our orders and then Kailamai left to use the restroom. When she was gone, I said, “So, what do you think?”

Nicole smiled. “I think she’s great. I think it’s a great idea.”

“What if it doesn’t work out?”

Nicole nodded. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it—if we ever do. But I’m not worried. I have a good feeling about her. It will be nice having company again.”

“Do you want to ask her or should I?” “Maybe you should.”

A few minutes later Kailamai returned. After she sat down, I said to her, “Remember our talk last night, when you told me about your perfect world?”

She put her napkin on her lap. “Yeah.”

“Did you mean it?”

She looked at me quizzically. “Yeah, I mean, it was just
wishful thinking, but I hope that something like that happens someday.”

“Well, someday is today.”

She looked back and forth between us. “What do you mean?”

“Nicole didn’t drive all this way just to go bowling. She came to meet you.”

Kailamai looked at Nicole. “Why would you do that?”

“Because,” I said, “Nicole’s your perfect world. She’s smart and fun, she lives less than a mile from Gonzaga University, and she’s willing to take you in as her roommate, pay for your room, and help you get into school, as long as you get good grades, help out around the house, and are respectful.”

Kailamai’s eyes darted back and forth between both of us. “Are you kidding me?”

“What do you think?” Nicole asked.

After a moment she said, “It’s like a dream come true.” She turned to Nicole. “Why would you do that? You don’t even know me.”

“No, but I know Alan and I trust him.”

Kailamai’s eyes welled up. “I can’t believe this.”

The waiter brought our food. After he was gone, I said, “There is one catch.”

“What’s that?” Kailamai asked.

“You need to leave this afternoon. Nicole’s headed back to Spokane as soon as we finish lunch.”

Kailamai looked surprised. “But… Yellowstone.”

“Yellowstone’s not going anywhere,” I said.

She looked down at her food. “Wow, for once I’m not hungry.”

“So what’s your decision?” Nicole asked.