AN: For anyone still reading this i intend to finish this, its about 1/3 done and the rest of the fosters will be coming into play in the 5th chapter.
I followed after joey dreading what i would find inside.
I tried to put on an attitude, to be a little hard, not to give a damn. And so i plowed forward head averted walking quickly until i slammed into this weedy looking kid wearing a hipster beret. He must of weighed less than me, even though he was three or four inches taller. The impact bounced him forward against a wall. Using one hand to brace himself he managed to stay upright, keeping the banjo he cradled safe with his other. "Wooo" He burbled a laugh, and then pirouetted away. I had been expecting drunk linebackers, and what I got was a wood elf wearing keds and whispy mustache.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw joey look at the kid and then at me, she had this sour look on her face. I wasn't sure whether it was judging me or the kid, who by this time had gone into the main room, joining a small cluster of musicians who were sitting in a tight circle. There were two or three other similar clusters of musicians in the room. Each one playing blue grass music. I saw mostly guitars but also fiddles and penny whistles. The he high pitched ringing sound of a few mandolins cut through the general cacophony, but I couldn't see where it was.
The room was large maybe 40 feet long. Oversized intricate tapestries covered the high walls. At the far end of the room, a big open fireplace with a large stone chimney was partially obscured by a long shiny black grand piano with its lid propped open. Two people were playing it an older man and a younger guy sitting to his left. Standing to the side of the piano a tall fat guy with huge long beard energetically played an acoustic bass making a low soft rumble.
On the other side of the piano, two women danced, twirling around each other with their skirts floating up over their knees in a puff of fabric. It was a free for all really. By a picture window near the front, a couple were in a clinch looking as if they were trying swallow each other. I noticed them, i don't think anyone else did.
I hurried after joey, wanting to say something, but she seemed determined to get somewhere and not much interested in conversation. It was as if all this stuff meant nothing to her or was at most an inconvenience. She more or less ignored the whole room and stepped quickly through the short entrance hall not bothering to take off her coat.
We entered into a brightly lit kitchen that was larger than the Fosters and in its own way just as appealing and homey. The floor was made of stone, and the counter of butcher block wood. There were big wide windows behind the sink and stove, and off to the right of the stove another bank of windows hidden by what looked like layers of sheets that had been imprinted with mountain scenes with light pinks greens and blues for an impressionistic sky. They may have been home made, but it was hard to take my eyes off them. At the back side of the kitchen there was a doorless archway through which I could see more musicians sitting on stools or leaning against the wall.
Joey finally seemed to find what she was searching for, cornering a short older guy. He was so thick and solid he reminded me of a fire hydrant, well a fire hydrant that someone had stuck a curly grey wig on and decorated with two large chocolate brown eyes. He stood near the food table holding a long neck beer, watching the people buzzing around him. His feet planted like he was cemented in place.
"Really Wish," She took off her hat and started to unbutton her coat, shaking out her matted sandy grey hair, as she approached.
"Joey!" He smiled and startled me when he shifted his feet moving slightly to hug her.
She gave a humph, but opened her arms returning a quick embrace. He looked at her, as she backed away,
"Most of them will be gone by morning," he said it flat, sort of like, the way someone might tell someone there was coffee on the stove.
She nodded, in acknowledgement, and some of the steam that had been moving in her since we arrived seemed to leak out.
She turned and bent over to the big wooden table which was laden with food, and bottles, mostly empty, and took a bowl and started ladling food into it.
She pointed at me with the ladle and, motioned at a crock pot, "the venison chille's good." She paused looking me up and down, "I'm sure there is some vegan stuff, if that's what you want."
She turned back to Wish,
"So when did this happen." She said it mildly.
"Cos and I."
"Cosmo?" she said disbelief coloring her voice.
"Yeah, Cosmo" he said evenly.
She seemed to deflate for a second, but then regrouped.
"Morning huh?"
He nodded,
" Sooner if you kill the vibe,"
She gave him a brief smile, though I thought she might add "fuck you" but she didn't,
He looked at me, and smiled,
"She drag you here?"
Before I could respond
Joey laughed, and held up her hand in acknowledgement
"Sorry," she said to Wish, taking time to swallow some chilli then wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist, she turned to me,
Callie meet Wish, Wish meet Callie
He extended his hand, it was a lot like hers, hard and callused the nails cut all the way back. It was strong grip, but he didn't try and crunch my hand or anything. He started to say something but
Joey broke in.
"Two of those yahoo's were shooting the 306 into god knows where, when we drove up."
He didn't say anything. Just looked at her
"They could put a hole through some of your irrigation stuff, or into your windows. I don't see Babs here, or all your woofers… Hell,we could have been hit driving on the road."
I could see her winding herself-up, and I guess she had a point. Wish, for his part, stood there looking directly at her, his mouth flat, his big chocolatey eyes, taking it in. I couldn't guess at what he was thinking, I wondered if she could. He was listening but her fury didn't seem to touch him.
Her rant stopped almost as quick as it started and she then looked down at her chilli , shuffling it around in her bowl. After a beat she looked up and wanly smiled.
"You got a job here, for Cookie," it was almost like she was asking him if he had any salt.
He glanced at me with surprise
"Cookie," he said without taking his eyes of Joey, "looks to be about 15 or 16."
Joey shrugged "She can handle herself."
"She can huh?" "Yeah," She nodded, "Sure."
"What am I missing here Joey."
For the first time I could sense a little impatience in the guy.
"What?'' she said, it with a smile, as if this was a game they had played before.
"Oh C'mon, you waltz in here a day early at 1 am, dragging a 15 year old kid, who I've never seen or even heard of before and tell me I should give her a job,….cause she can handle herself?"
Weirdly I felt myself liking the guy, he was quiet and reasonable, and I guess I liked the way he interacted with Joey, he listened to her. And he wasn't so hard to pin down. But they were discussing me, almost like I wasn't there. So I jumped-in, trying to give a simple clear answer.
"I'm out of foster care," I said, "And I'm trying to do something for myself on my own. Joey and I met down in Albuquerque and she thought there might be something here for me." I looked straight at him, surprised at how calm I was, like I was talking about another person
Joey smiled at me encouragingly.
"Wish, You hire lots of kids," she spoke with her whole body shrugging her shoulders and moving her hands to emphasize a point.
He sighed, "They're young adults, most with a couple years of college, not sixteen year olds" it was like he was explaining something simple to a recalcitrant student.
"So… help out a bit till she gets on her feet."
He paused to consider that, and moved to the table putting down the empty beer bottle and carefully pouring himself a glass of water out of a pitcher on the table. We stood there quietly watching him till he came back to us
He took a slow very deliberate sip, and looked at Joey, "Why not drop her at Santa Fe at Cocoon house? Call Meggy. She specializes in this stuff."
Joey looked to me. And I was glad we had talked in the car, and I had thought some of this out.
"I want out of the system." I could feel my skin getting tight and blood and adrenaline rushing all over my body. I felt very exposed and at his mercy.
"I want to control my life," Although i had started out simply running away. there was a lot of truth in what i said
"It sucks to depend on other People," I added meaning every word, "Or living on handouts from agencies. Besides, I'm going to age out and then what?" I paused looking at him, wondering if he had answer for that, because i didn't . "Better for me to start to make my own way, when I have the opportunity."
He took another sip of water, and then looked up at me.
"I'm not sure siting up in the mountains helping a yahoo with a subsistence farm, and old lady selling trinkets, is much of an opportunity for a kid."
In the background as he talked the tunings and disparate noodling on banjo and guitar coalesced into a clear blue grass tune. A fiddler started vamping and you could hear people cheering, it on.
I looked at him, he was wearing clean dungarees, his boots were pretty new and the shirt was pressed. They at least cleaned up nicely, and I got the sense it was more than that. If selling trinkets and subsistence farming produced this type of life, I would deal with it.
I smiled, "Music, friends," I pointed my spoon at the table "Good food. I could do a whole lot worse."
Joey glanced at Wish. We stood in silence, the music playing sweetly behind us.
He frowned and looked up at me. His bushy eyebrows cater pillaring across his receding forehead
"So uhm, foster care, huh?" His tone was neutral, like we were discussing someone's trip back east.
I nodded.
"How long?"
"Seven years."
"And just left?"
"It was a long time coming."
Joey broke-in
" C'mon Wish you really find it surprising, that a 16 year old girl could be uncomfortable in foster care?"
He sighed and looked at me this time like a man a praising a horse
"You not pregnant." It was a statement not a question.
He must have seen the shook on my face, because for a brief moment he smiled, I guessed pleased that he was right. He turned to Joey
"It's a lot to take on board Joey," He shook his head his curly hear flopping from side to side. "I mean you could wake up tomorrow to a house on fire? Hell she could claim you kidnapped her. "
Joey lowered her head and glared at him.
"Really, that's what you're going with."
He sighed, "It's your call."
He turned to me,
"Do you play chess?"
"Uh yeah," I said surprised at the question. It seemed a little random and i wondered if he was just trying to change the topic.
"I mean a bit, nothing special. One of the kids I lived with taught me." He kept looking at me.
"I like guitar though, and uhm, I'm use to looking after kids," I paused trying to think of what I could do that would be useful. "At most places I lived I did that and cooked and cleaned.
I looked at Joey, wondering where this was going.
Both of them were silent. Wish looked at Joey, and Joey looked back at Wish.
She broke the silence.
"You interested in helping out an elderly gentleman who doesn't get along so good anymore?"
"Uhm, Yeah, sure." I said. It actually sounded more up my alley than farming.
She looked back at wish, "Let's see how it goes. Its late now, so lets figure out the details in the morning." And for the first time all night she seemed anything but 100% sure of herself,
"Cos will love her!" said Wish.
She sighed, in the bright overhead light of the kitchen, she looked pale, tired, you could clearly see how cracked and wrinkled her skin was. Deep dark bags below her eyes seemed to weigh the face down, making her look slow and very old.
He turned to me
For the first I could read his face and I could see a type of sadness there too
" Cos is a great guy ."
I nodded, acting like I was sure I could handle anything that came my way. And maybe it was true. After all I had manage to shepherd and protect a 5 year old boy through seven years of foster care. That is not nothing.
And I may have left Jude in the lurch, but if you look at it another way, I had put him in the hands of people who were committed to taking care of him, and would likely do so better than I could. He had reached the promised land, right.
I had survived rape, court and a stint in Juvie. And maybe briefly actually been in love. That was a lot – for someone who was just 16. Steph had told me I was worth something, and then truly acted like that, fighting for me, helping me. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen, maybe I could make her proud.
"Well, that's good," I said looking directly at Wish, " I' d love to help."