was supposed to have a vacation,
not time to face hard truths about the justice system.
It was my new friend Perry’s battle
and I was grateful for the chance to help, but the whole affair was very
different from my expectations. At first, though, I was enjoying a little
Midwestern hospitality with my mentor and business partner Tommy Merrigan and
his family. For a desert-dweller such as myself, it felt novel, if a little
sticky, to be outside drinking a frosty beer on the Fourth of July instead of
inside praying for the continued health of my air conditioner. Since I’d lived in the same Phoenix condo for
five years and only known one of my neighbors, it took me aback that people
waved at me after less than a week, but I recognized the young and vaguely
stork-like man and waved back. I thought he was old-school and carrying a fanny
pack, but he’d rigged a baby sling out of a towel and carried a doll in it. A
woman who could only be his mother, despite being ripe where he was scrawny,
and brunette where he was blond, panted a greeting and then said
“When I say ‘Wait up’ what does that mean,
Perry?”
“Give you a chance to catch up,”
Perry replied, bored with the whole topic.
“If you know that, why didn’t you?”
The mother said, irritated for the moment. Then, she spotted the little
passenger still clinging to her son’s mid-section. Now that he had stopped moving, even though
he seemed boyish, I could see that he was older than I’d figured: twenty or so.
I guessed he was past the age when even special-needs mothers think it’s
cute to play with baby dolls in public, but I still felt for him that she said
“I thought we agreed you’d leave that home.”
Perry knitted his eyebrows. “I’m not playing with it. It’s for practice. Me and Tammy might have
one.”
“It’s ‘Tammy and I’ and you better
not. I’ll tell you the same as I told
your brother and your sister. I’ve raised my kids. “This statement might have
had more authority if she hadn’t been spilling out of a tube top, but what did
I know? My nurturing skills seemed to have peaked with putting kibble down for
my cat and nagging my friends to take their vitamins. It was looking like I’d never be anyone’s
mother…much less, and this part of the thought spilled out before I could stop
it, someone like that. Yes, even
though my own wheelchair made me “someone like that” to a lot of people.
Maybe the judgmental thought made
me work harder to get to know Perry. I really did feel for his mother, too, but
maybe she should learn to let things ride more often. The jazz band playing the Independence Day
festival had gone on break and Tommy went to stand in the watermelon line. We were alone; I had to say something.” So…Is
your girlfriend here tonight?” It felt like a cheap come-on, but I didn’t think
Perry heard it that way, whether because he was out of the game, or because he
hadn’t learned that people mean more than they say, I couldn’t be sure, but
talking to him was as restful as the best parts of being nine.
“No. She’s visiting her grandma
that had a heart attack. She should be back late tonight, though.”
“Oh,” I said. “You must miss her.”
“Me and Tammy kiss on the lips.” He
offered, then looked sadly at my wheelchair, as if thinking I might get more
lip-kissing without it. I couldn’t blame
him--’d thought that before myself. He showed me his phone. “here’s her picture.” Tammy was tiny and
pretty, with a ready smile and only a slight vagueness around her big brown
eyes. I nodded my approval, suddenly not trusting myself not to sound like an
old lady and tell Perry how great it was that “you could hardly tell” that
anything was different about cute little Tammy.
“Great.” I said. “It’s nice to care about someone.” It crossed
my mind to wonder if he knew, as magical as a make-out session could be, that
it wasn’t magic that made babies. I had
a discreet question on the tip of my tongue, then decided I didn’t need to be
quite that groovy hanging out on the
fairgrounds.
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