Chapter 7: The Last of the Fireflies

"Eat up, Clem. We need to be at the school in ten minutes."

Clementine shoveled another spoonful of Cheerios into her mouth as Lee poured hot coffee into his thermos. He had taken the morning off from work to get Clementine registered at the elementary school and hoped the transferring process wasn't nearly as complicated as registering to be a foster parent was—that had been a nightmare and a half.

"When's the first day of school?" Clementine asked. She didn't look particularly cheerful.

"You start in two days, so Monday."

"Do I have to?"

"You don't like school?" he asked teasingly.

She wrinkled her little nose in response.

The last few days had certainly been an adjustment period, but Clementine finally seemed to be opening up more. She talked at the table during meals, colored at her desk, and had even gone out to play with Duck. The two drew flowers and dragons on the sidewalk with a bucket of colored chalk Lee had picked up at Save Lots. Even though Duck pressed down too hard and ground up the chalk into powder, Clementine said she'd gotten even by putting a beetle down his shirt. She seemed to be having a good time living here, and before bed, Lee was always sure to read her another chapter of Harry Potter. It was the perfect way to end their days.

Lee filled up Clementine's glass with more orange juice and watched as she moodily tapped her spoon against the table.

"I don't want to go to school on a weekend," she said.

"Well, count yourself lucky you're not a teacher," said Lee, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Why?"

"Then you'd have to go to school in the Summer."

Clementine looked genuinely sorry.

"And since you're tough enough to go to school on a weekend, I have something for you." Lee opened the kitchen drawer and pulled out a page of stickers spattered with colorful leaves, bugs, and an assortment of flowers. Carly, the journalism professor at the college, gave them to him for Clementine to have.

"I got these for my students," Carly had said, "But I think your girl will appreciate them more."

Lee handed Clementine the colorful page and watched her eyes widen. "Why don't you take out your walkie?" he said. "I thought you'd might like to decorate it."

"At the table?" she asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yes."

Clementine took the stickers, eyes alight. "Thank you!" she said, and came around the table to hug him.

He smiled. A truce.

Later when the two made it to Lane Elementary School, Lee caught a glimpse of Clem's walkie as she slipped it back into her book bag. It was decorated with pink and yellow flowers.

xxx

Lee had never in his life enrolled a second-grade child into a school district, and didn't think it would take more than an hour. But the news of his recent release from prison raised a few eyebrows from the staff, and earned him a few interviews with security, the secretary, and the principal herself. They had him bust out his paperwork, his letters of recommendation, proof of employment, and the note from his probation officer saying that Lee was not dangerous.

"It says here you were incarcerated recently," said the sour-looking principal, adjusting her glasses so she could squint down at the paperwork.

"Recently released," Lee corrected.

"For assault?" the principal pressed.

"Yes."

"And how did you end up being her foster parent? Must have been an ordeal."

Lee was glad Clementine was holding his hand at that moment. It helped keep his breathing under control.

"With all due respect, ma'am," he said, "I'd rather talk about Clementine's registration."

He thought the principal would argue or give him a snide look that said, "Well I'd rather talk about the horrible things you'd rather leave behind." That's how Larry did it. But to Lee's surprise, the principal shrugged as if she was only curious.

After four hours of running from one interrogation to the next, Lee deemed Lane Elementary a Pain in His Ass, but at least he had passed every test of character it had thrown at him.

Lee and Clementine's final visit was to the nurse's office, which consisted of two white rooms, a desk, and a measuring stick on the wall shaped like a giraffe. The nurse checked Clementine's height on this, and Clem was excited to see that she had grown a whole inch in the last year. For Lee, it was just nice to sit for a moment without being drilled about his personal criminal history.

"Everything looks good," said the nurse after checking Clementine's heartbeat. She pulled a lollipop from the bear-shaped jar on her desk and handed it to Clementine. "If I hadn't run out of clementine flavor, I would have given you that! But I bet you hear that all the time, don't you?"

Clementine rolled her eyes a tiny bit but politely thanked the nurse for the lollipop anyway.

The nurse then turned to Lee, who instinctively braced himself. "Do you have Clementine's medical records on hand, Mr. Everett?" she asked in her sugary-sweet tone.

Lee handed her the files Christa had given him, and the nurse looked at them for less than a second before sealing his fate with, "These look a little out of date."

Lee sighed. Of course they were.

"You'll have to see your family doctor and get these updated, preferably before school starts if you can." The nurse flashed another smile and handed back the files.

"Couldn't you sign off on Clem's records?" Lee asked, knowing the answer.

The nurse tilted her head to the side in a pityingly kind of way. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Everett, but I can't. This checkup is mostly a formality. Give me a call once your family doctor has given your girl the updated paperwork."

Lee didn't feel like mentioning that he had no family doctor and had no idea how to get a hold of one. That was one more thing he had to add to his list of things to do before he could be a capable ex-convict parent.

"Are you okay, Lee?" Clementine asked on the car ride back.

Lee hadn't realized he was being so quiet. "I'm fine," he told her, flashing her a reassuring look in the rearview mirror.

xxx

Lee was forced to put his search for a doctor on hold that evening, since Kenny was hosting a barbeque next door as sort of a goodbye to Summer. The scents of burning coals and charred hamburgers drifted over the fence as Lee and Clementine pushed through the gate separating the two backyards. Clementine skipped ahead with a big glass jar Lee had dug out of his Tupperware cabinet for her to catch bugs with. She'd filled the bottom with grass so that "they wouldn't get hungry."

"Why do we call them lightning bugs?" Clementine asked when he had dug out an old mason jar that looked big enough.

"Because they flash like lightning," he'd told her.

"My mom said that they called them 'fireflies' where she grew up," Clementine replied, popping off the lid to stick her nose into the jar. "I think I like that better."

"You know, I think I do too."

Clementine sat at the table with the jar, peeling stickers from her sheet and sticking them on the lid. "How long do they live?"

"Not long."

She frowned. "That's not fair."

Lee had patted the top of her hat. "That's life."

Lee waved to Kenny, who stood at the grill wearing a bright red apron proclaiming "Kiss the Cook" in white letters. Kenny waved back, and coughed as he inhaled a mouthful of grill smoke.

"Evening, neighbor," said Kenny once he had found his voice again. "You want cheese on your burger?"

"Make it a double," said Lee, grunting as he sat heavily on a nearby chair.

"Rough day, huh?"

Lee nodded, and profusely thanked Katjaa as she delivered him an ice-cold beer. Lee took a long sip and watched as Clementine and Duck peeked into bushes and tufts of grass.

"Daddy!" hollered Duck from across the lawn. "Where are the lightning bugs?"

"They're sleeping," Kenny told him. "Just be patient."

Duck let out a long whine and shoved his face back into a bush.

"Clem's good at keeping him in line," said Kenny.

Lee felt himself smile just as Clementine handed Duck the mason jar.

"I'm glad he's got someone to play with," continued Kenny a little quietly, flipping a burger so it hissed.

They watched the kids play for a while as they waited for the final guests to arrive. Earlier that week, Clementine had asked to invite Christa and her husband, so Kenny extended the invitation. "The more the merrier," Katjaa had assured Clem. "We don't have much family around here, so we really appreciate you all keeping us company."

When Christa did arrive, it was probably the most refreshed Lee had ever seen her. She'd always looked like she hadn't slept in days, and with the foster home on her shoulders, Lee couldn't blame her. But tonight, she was almost glowing, a rare smile on her face as she greeted Clem with a tight hug.

"How you doing, sweetie?" Christa asked.

"Good," Clementine replied.

"You excited about school?"

"Not really."

"Is Lee being good?"

"Yup!"

Lee came over, frowning. "Of course I've been good," he said, feigning hurt.

Clementine giggled, and skipped off to continue in her search for fireflies.

Christa's husband, Omid, gave Lee a very firm handshake. He was on the shorter side, but made up for it with a brimming smile and welcoming energy.

"Heard a lot about you!" Omid told Lee. "The ex-convict, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Lee replied awkwardly.

Omid laughed. He had a very contagious laugh. "Don't worry, man. Christa says if we couldn't take Clementine, she's glad you could. Don't tell her I said this or anything, but it's hard to get her to trust anyone, so well done."

"I appreciate that," said Lee.

"It ended up working out, considering we're expecting and everything. I mean, of course we would have taken Clem if you didn't work out, she's such a good kid, but—"

Lee held up one hand, stopping him. "Wait, I'm sorry, did you say you guys were expecting? As in…?"

"Omid!"

Omid flinched as Christa crossed the length of the yard and made a beeline right for him, eyes narrowed.

"Eavesdropper," he muttered.

Christa reached out and gave Omid a good slap on the arm. "What did you just say?" she growled, shoving him for emphasis.

Omid massaged his shoulder. "Ow! Watch it!"

"Oh, I barely touched you. And we agreed not to tell anyone yet," Christa said.

"I think this counts as spousal abuse," said Omid, cowering slightly behind Lee, who wanted to stay as out of this as possible. "And it was an accident!"

Christa shot Omid an angry glare, but couldn't seem to stay that way for long. She sighed and turned to Lee. The rest of the party had gone quiet to listen. "Um. Well. We're, ah…"

"Pregnant," Omid said.

"Three months," Christa finished.

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Katjaa's excited gasp broke it. Scattered "Congratulations!" floated over the yard, Lee gave Christa a one-armed squeeze, and even Kenny let Omid hug him for a second.

"This is wonderful news!" Katjaa exclaimed, tearing up as she took Christa's hand. "Oh, a brand-new little life. I'm sorry, am I crying?"

"All right, hon," said Kenny tersely. "Don't smother her."

Katjaa ignored her husband and pulled Christa aside to hand her a glass of lemonade and chat by the cooler. Christa looked slightly awkward, but pleased. It was nice to see people who barely knew each other give this kind of support. Lee wasn't used to that.

As the party continued, Lee went to stand beside Kenny at the grill again, hoping this was a good time to ask about parenting.

"Exciting news, huh?" Lee said.

Kenny gave a grunt and nodded, eyes fixed on the sizzling meat and skewers. He flipped a burger that looked more than done, as if he was just looking for something to busy himself with.

Lee cleared his throat. "Hey, ah, would you happen to know of any good family doctors by any chance?"

Kenny turned to look directly at him, expression suddenly hard. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing like that," said Lee. "Just need to update Clementine's medical information for school."

Kenny's shoulders relaxed. "Oh," he said, and went back to flipping burgers. "Sorry. Yeah, we can give you the info for Duck's old doctor, though we've switched to a specialist recently."

Lee wondered if it was his place to pry—he knew how touchy Ken could get. The two turned their attention to the yard where the kids were playing, kicking up their feet in the grass. Soft blinks of gold in the darkness signaled the arrival of the bugs, and Duck let out a shout of victory.

After a full minute, Lee felt brave enough to ask, "Why a specialist?"

He was afraid he wouldn't get an answer for a minute. Then, Ken let out a heavy sigh and in a measured voice said, "Duck's cancer is back."

Lee didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. "Oh," he managed to say, throat tightening. "Shit."

Kenny took a long swig of his beer without taking his eyes off the kids. "Yeah. Shit," he agreed.

"What kind? Do you mind me—?"

"Leukemia. He'd been in remission for a year, almost to the day."

Lee shook his head. He never would have guessed. though he supposed he'd never asked. "He's such a happy kid," Lee said.

They watched as Duck clasped his hands in the air. Golden light flickered between his fingers and landed briefly on his toothy grin. He peeked between his thumbs and shouted, "Got one!" to no one in particular.

Ken visibly softened a bit. "Katjaa wants him to do the chemo again, but I don't know. He really hated being sick all the time."

Lee took another much-needed drink. "Hell, I don't blame you."

"But he's a tough little guy. I have no doubt we can beat this thing again." Ken finished his drink and wiped his mustache with the back of his hand. "Anyway, the doc says Duck's got optimism coming out his ass, so Katjaa and I gotta be the same, right?"

Not knowing what else to do, Lee patted him on the back. "Yeah. And hey, you need anything, you just let me know. Clementine too. We're here for you guys. Okay?"

Kenny cleared his throat gruffly, eyes fixed on the burning coals in the grate, red and dormant. "Yeah."

Once dinner was ready, Duck asked if he could put the jar of fireflies on the table. Kenny allowed it, and the jar glowed softly as they ate burgers and corn and talked about new jobs and new babies and football and Civil War History. Apparently, Omid was a huge fan of the subject, so he and Lee monopolized the conversation for a solid twenty minutes before Christa practically begged them to stop. Duck happily stuffed his face and tried to shove two hot dogs up his nose, and Lee had never seen Kenny laugh so hard.

It wasn't until Lee and Clementine were waving goodbye that Lee realized that he was no closer to finding Clem a doctor, but he decided that it was okay. There were problems out there bigger than him.

xxx