Chapter 37 – A Mother's Touch

"I think I know where he is," Amanda said as she met Lee at the front door.

"Where?" Lee asked.

"Well you know how when you do laundry you sometimes mix your darks and whites up and don't realize it until it is too late and the next thing you know, your underwear is all red. Well I got to thinking about how Angelo hasn't done laundry since he arrived. I mean I sent out a few things to that drycleaner, but since it turned out he was just an agency guy, which of course I didn't know, and not a real drycleaner so that didn't really count. Meanwhile, Angelo came with only a few things to wear. I was trying to explain to him how American Laundromats work and he was very interested. Then I tried to explain to him how to sort clothes, but he seemed very lost. We had to keep going over the same laundry rules and he said that it didn't make sense. He told me that he thought that his ESP theories made more sense than sorting laundry did. Anyway, I think he was actually relieved when Eva showed up because she could do his laundry from now on. He told me that she had done his laundry for the past two years and before that, he had a maid that took care of all of those things," Amanda finally stopped for a second so she could take a breath.

"So you think he is at the nearby Laundromat?" Lee surmised from all of that.

"No," Amanda answered.

"So let's head….wait, no? What do you mean no?" Lee asked puzzled as he thought he had finally understood Amanda's logic for a change.

"No, I think he is at the discount clothing store that I showed him. He hated the idea of doing laundry and said he would rather buy some new clothes for now. I think he went to go get some before he tries to leave. I think if we hurry, we might still be able to catch him there," Amanda said as she walked past Lee to get into his car.

Lee stood for a few seconds with a dumbfounded look at his face and then shook his head as he turned to follow her.

Amanda instructed him on driving to the discount clothing store. As they drove up, Angelo was just walking out of the store. His hands were full of shopping bags and he had his head down as he began walking in the opposite direction of his house. Lee jumped out of the car and ran up to him.

"Come on Angelo, where are you going to go? You know it isn't safe to be out on the streets yet. We don't know for sure they won't send someone else. Come back to the house with Amanda and me so we can talk, okay?" Lee pleaded.

"Just leave me alone Lee. Can't you people just leave me alone?" Angelo demanded.

"Where are you going to go? It isn't like you have any place safe to stay. Look, if you want, the agency will buy a different house for you. We realize that maybe this one might not be right for you. We will even let you pick out the one you want. What do you say?" Lee continued to plead as he walked alongside Angelo.

Amanda had gotten out of the car and followed them. She could tell that Angelo was barely listening to Lee. As Lee continued to try to reason with him, Amanda decided it was time she took action.

"Angelo Spinelli, I want you to stop right now!" She ordered sternly.

The tone of Amanda's voice caused Angelo to stop dead in his tracks. He whipped his head around so he could see her and realized by the expression on her face that she meant business.

"Now, I know you are upset. I understand that. We all do but taking off and refusing the protection that is being offered to you is dumb. Just dumb! Now I want you to march yourself to the car and get in and come back to the house with us. We need to talk about all of this as adults," Amanda continued with a voice of authority.

Angelo hesitated and Amanda exclaimed, "Now!" She was relieved when he began to move toward the car. She didn't know if acting like a mother would backfire on her or not, but Lee sure wasn't getting anywhere. She hadn't taken time to worry about what happened if her plan didn't work.

"Fine, we'll go back and talk," Angelo agreed in resignation. "I won't promise that I will agree to anything though."

"No one is asking you to. But don't you think we deserve at least the courtesy for you to hear us out?" Amanda asked as she took his bags and put them in the back. She then gestured for him to sit in the front seat while she sat behind him in the backseat.

Meanwhile, Lee again found himself looking dumbfounded as he watched Angelo turn around like a scolded child and head for the car. He couldn't help but chuckle because if Amanda spoke to him in that tone, he probably would have gotten into the car too.

At the very least, she bought them some time. Hopefully the two of them could convince him to stay now.

TBC