Chiquitita
"Honey, are you okay?"
Distracted, Cal glanced across the table and Ryo and faked a smile. "Fine. Everything's great." She took a bite for emphasis.
"Spill it." Dee glanced up from his own plate, swallowing a mouthful of pasta whole. "You've barely said a word all evening."
The young woman bit her lip, a sure sign that something was wrong. But like Bikky, she didn't wear her heart on her sleeve, prefering to handle her problems privately.
"A new case?" Ryo prompted gently. "Tough one?"
Cal nodded. "Really bad this time." She sighed. "Sometimes I don't know if I'm cut out to handle this job."
"How old is the kid?" Dee asked.
"Two of them. Five and four." She laid down her fork. "Sure you want to hear this when you're eating?"
"We are cops." Dee was amused. "I think we can handle it."
Cal leaned back in the chair and shut her eyes. "Miguel and Fernando Rodriguez. Their parents were killed a car wreck last year. They were sent to live with their maternal grandmother. They've been with her about six months." She paused for a breath. "Four days ago an exterminator went into their apartment. The grandmother wasn't home, just the boys. They were both covered, and I do mean covered, in cigarette burns. The recent ones hadn't started to heal yet. There were some that looked like they'd been there for a lot longer."
"Jesus Christ." Dee whispered.
"The exterminator immediately called us. They're both in the hospital now being treated." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep from crying. "Neither of them speak very much English, but we can't get Miguel to say a word in any language. Fernando is a little chatterbox, though. He says that his grandmother burned them for being too loud. If they said a word, she covered their mouths and put her cigarette on their skin. The people in the apartment below always had the stereo on loud. No one ever heard them scream."
Ryo had his own head bent forward now. "Those poor babies."
"What's going to happen to them?" Dee asked, put his hand on Cal's.
"That's a problem." The young woman shrugged helplessly. "Our options are pretty limited. We were able to locate a cousin who said she'd take Fernando, but the child psychologist says it would destroy them to be separated. Fernando may be younger, but he's extremely protective of Miguel and Miguel clings to him. Even if this is New York, foster parents still only seem to want healthy white kids, preferably babies."
She glanced at her watch. "Speaking of them, I'm on my way to the hospital now to see them. I promised Fernando I'd bring him McDonalds." She finally smiled for real. "He's one of the brightest kids his age I think I've ever met. When I think about how someone. his own grandmother." She trailed off.
She studied the men for a moment, her eyes unreadable. "Do you want to come along and meet them?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I swear." The nurse was rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue. "I am going to tape that child to his bed."
Cal knew the woman was joking, but the comment bothered her anyway. She put on her best professional look. "He's probably anxious to be released. I've brought some things to keep him busy." She added "For six months now he hasn't been allowed to play at all. I think we can make some allowances."
The nurse nodded. "He goes into other rooms, talks to other patients. He told Mr. Trael he was a doctor and that Mr. Trael was going to have a baby! But they all love him. They just don't have to go chasing him down."
Dee burst out laughing. "Where's Mr. Trael's room? We should send a card."
Another nurse came panting up. "He's out again. He slipped out while I was giving Miguel his medicine. That way." She pointed down the long hall. "Took the rails off his bed. I told them it wouldn't keep him in."
Cal was trying hard not to laugh, and Dee was still doubled over. Ryo was trying to look serious, and failing as much as Cal was. "Come on. He can't be far."
They moved down the hall, looking rooms, but no one had seen the child. One elderly woman knew him though, and tried to give them candy to take to him. "My grandkids brought it. I can't eat it. The baby will like it."
"He doesn't need more sugar!" The nurse muttered, but Cal accepted the candy anyway and put it in the McDonald's bag.
Back out in the hall, something caught Dee's eye and he looked down.
Under a laundry cart, two very dark brown eyes were peeking out, under a fall of almost black hair.
Dee dropped to his knees. "Hi there."
The boy grinned at him.
"Fernando?" Dee asked. Remembering what Cal had said, he asked the boy in Spanish "Are you Fernando?" It wasn't needed. The boy's arms and legs were covered in small bandages, and Dee felt a surge of pure anger.
The boy shook his head no, and pointed to a towel around his neck that the man hadn't noticed before.
"Ahhh." Dee nodded, noticing he had a big audience by this time. "Are you Batman?" He was still speaking in Spanish.
"No."
"Superman."
"No."
"I give up." Dee held up his hands. "You've stumped me."
"Nandoman!" The boy crawled out from under the cart and put his hands on his hips in a superhero pose. His hospital gown was too big for him, and the superhero's bare bottom was sticking out. He tried to take off again but Cal stopped him by holding out the McDonald's bag.
Nando grabbed for the bag, but Cal held it back. "Back to your room, Nandoman. You can eat there."
Nando took Dee's hand in his own as they went back down the hall, chattering. "Superheros have to eat lots of McDonalds or they can't fly." He explained. "They fall off buildings and land on taxis. SPLAT!" He pounded a little fist into his palm.
Dee had been fluent in Spanish by the time he was six, but Ryo's grasp of the language was mostly from high school and college classes. Still he knew enough to understand the little boy and he was enchanted by him.
"My brother can fly too." Nando was saying as they neared his room. "He flies around all the time. I say "Miguel, you're going to hit the wall" and he does. I don't laugh though." He added. "What's your name?" He looked up at Dee.
"I'm Dee. This is Ryo." He pointed to the other man.
"Are you superheroes too?" Nando wanted to know.
"No. We're police officers. Detectives." Ryo explained.
"They're superheroes to me." Cal put in. "They fight crime, Nando, just Superman does."
"Wow." Nando's jaw was open. "Real superheroes." Without warning he threw his arms around Dee's waist and hugged him. He let him go and hurried into the room. "Miguel!" He called over to the occupied bed. "Miguel, wake up. I've got Mcdonalds! And Superheroes! Dee and Ryo fly around like Superman."
The other boy said up in the bed, and Dee felt a small jolt at the resemblence to Nando. They looked like indentical twins, down to their home- done hair-cuts.
But unlike Nando, who's eyes were full of life and mischief, Miguel gave them an emotionless glance, and then turned his attention back to his brother.
"Here." Nando was handing Miguel a burger as Cal put down the tray in front of the older boy and helped him sit up straighter. He neither resisted or helped. Once he was settled Nando climbed up on the bed with him and began devouring the food. Miguel ate his own share in silence as Nando continued to talk, this time a story about flying into birds once.
"He's got quite an imagination." Ryo whispered to Cal.
"I know." Cal grinned. "He's a superhero today. Yesterday he was a frog prince. He'll probably be an alien tomorrow."
"What about Miguel?" Dee asked, watching the other boy with a heavy heart.
"They hope. they hope that with enough therapy Miguel can heal. But they're not sure. They said maybe he's so damaged he'll never be okay. It's not just speaking. He hasn't shown any emotion at all."
"Come on, it's only been a few days." Dee protested. "And he's been stuck in this hospital with this ugly wallpaper. Once he gets into a home, he'll be flying into birds too."
"If we can find him one." Cal replied, rubbing her hands on her jeans. "They're being released tomorrow. For now we can keep them at the center, but if we can't find placement together, we'll have to split them up and let Fernando's cousin take him. And if that happens." Her eyes rested on Miguel, who was watching Nando make french fries battleships crash into each other.
Finishing the war, Nando climbed out of the bed again and walked over to Dee. "Can I see your gun?"
"I'm not wearing it right now." Dee apologized. "And even if I was, I can only take it out when bad guys are around."
Nando looked disappointed but understanding. "I only take my gun out for bad guys too. It's invisible, so you can't see it." He pointed to his hip.
Dee knelt on the floor again. "We're a family of superheroes you know."
"Really?"
"Really. Ryo and I stop bad guys. We have a son who's going to school now to learn to fight bad guys too. And your friend Cal is a superheroine. She goes around and rescues little boys and girls from people who hurt them."
"You didn't tell me!" Nando gave Cal an indignant look.
"Sorry, slipped my mind." The woman chuckled.
Ryo sat down next to Dee. "You know, you can't have too many heroes in a family though." He said thoughtfully.
"Never too many." Dee agreed, glancing at his partner, and seeing complete understanding. Some things didn't need to be discussed or agreed upon outloud.
"Would you and Miguel like to come stay at our headquarters?" Dee asked.
"Do you have a Batcave?"
"No. Batcaves stand out. We have an apartment, and it looks so normal no one suspects at all that it's really a top-secret base."
"Do you have a dog?"
"Sorry, no dogs."
"Good. Miguel sneezes around dogs. Achoo. Achoo. He sneezes at cats too. I don't think he sneezes at horses though." He added. "So we can have a pet horse. Or a hippo. I don't think hippos make Miguel sneeze."
Dee was unable to stop the image from popping into his head of a large hippo lumbering around their apartment and knocking things over. It replaced the mental image already there of McDonalds-deprived crime- fighters crash-landing on bright yellow cabs.
"Miguel is pretty lucky to have a brother like you looking out for him." Ryo looked back at the other boy, who was listening intently to their conversation.
Nando motioned for Ryo to lean closer and whispered into his ear. "Miguel can't fly any more. So I have to hold his hand."
"Maybe we can teach him to fly again." Ryo offered.
"My Mama flies with angels." Nando went on, not whispering now. "Someday, I'm going to fly up and say 'Hi, Mama! It's Nando!' but I can't fly that high yet. My Papa, he'll be so happy when he sees how good I fly. But Miguel must fly too, so he can be with us." The boy said firmly. "Yes, I'll show him how again."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "You set them up."
Cal reclined on her bed, the phone receiver against her ear, grinning although no one could see. "Prove it."
"You knew they'd take one look at those kids and want them."
"I did not go there for anything but dinner. If an idea happened to come to me at the end of dinner."
"You're sneaky." A long silence. "Did I ever tell you that's one of the things I love about you?"
"I'm flattered. I think this will be good for everyone. The boys will have a home, and Ryo and Dee will have someone to take care of again. Dee's starting to get a beer gut. Nando can help run it off of him."
"Cal, I just don't know." He sounded serious. "I mean, it sounds like the younger one is okay, just hyper. But the older ones has some pretty heavy- duty damage going on from what you've said."
"Sweetheart, if they raised you they can raise anyone. You know, you got lucky."
He'd heard this before from her but listened anyway. "Do you know how hard it is to place older kids? Especially biracial older kids with a juvenile record? You would have ended up in a juvenile detention center if Ryo hadn't taken you in."
"I know. You never let me forget it. But I was just one kid. I'm worried they're biting off more than they can chew here, that's all."
"I'm not saying it's going to be easy on them. But there's no one else I'd trust with these kids. How's class going?"
"Not bad. I'm loving it."
She heard a voice in the background call out "HI BIK'S GIRLFRIEND!"
"Tell Gunther I said hi back." She laughed
There was the sound of a scuffle. "HE'S MEAN TO ME, CAL!" Gunther yelled into the phone. "Get OFF me!" Bikky was saying. "Give me that phone back! Cal, are you still there?"
"I'm here. I'll let you go play with your friend." She said in the kind of voice she'd use with a toddler.
"Thank God I don't have to put up with him much. ouch! Longer! I can't believe they haven't thrown him out yet! Look, I've got to run. Our pizza is here. Love you."
"You too."
"Honey, are you okay?"
Distracted, Cal glanced across the table and Ryo and faked a smile. "Fine. Everything's great." She took a bite for emphasis.
"Spill it." Dee glanced up from his own plate, swallowing a mouthful of pasta whole. "You've barely said a word all evening."
The young woman bit her lip, a sure sign that something was wrong. But like Bikky, she didn't wear her heart on her sleeve, prefering to handle her problems privately.
"A new case?" Ryo prompted gently. "Tough one?"
Cal nodded. "Really bad this time." She sighed. "Sometimes I don't know if I'm cut out to handle this job."
"How old is the kid?" Dee asked.
"Two of them. Five and four." She laid down her fork. "Sure you want to hear this when you're eating?"
"We are cops." Dee was amused. "I think we can handle it."
Cal leaned back in the chair and shut her eyes. "Miguel and Fernando Rodriguez. Their parents were killed a car wreck last year. They were sent to live with their maternal grandmother. They've been with her about six months." She paused for a breath. "Four days ago an exterminator went into their apartment. The grandmother wasn't home, just the boys. They were both covered, and I do mean covered, in cigarette burns. The recent ones hadn't started to heal yet. There were some that looked like they'd been there for a lot longer."
"Jesus Christ." Dee whispered.
"The exterminator immediately called us. They're both in the hospital now being treated." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep from crying. "Neither of them speak very much English, but we can't get Miguel to say a word in any language. Fernando is a little chatterbox, though. He says that his grandmother burned them for being too loud. If they said a word, she covered their mouths and put her cigarette on their skin. The people in the apartment below always had the stereo on loud. No one ever heard them scream."
Ryo had his own head bent forward now. "Those poor babies."
"What's going to happen to them?" Dee asked, put his hand on Cal's.
"That's a problem." The young woman shrugged helplessly. "Our options are pretty limited. We were able to locate a cousin who said she'd take Fernando, but the child psychologist says it would destroy them to be separated. Fernando may be younger, but he's extremely protective of Miguel and Miguel clings to him. Even if this is New York, foster parents still only seem to want healthy white kids, preferably babies."
She glanced at her watch. "Speaking of them, I'm on my way to the hospital now to see them. I promised Fernando I'd bring him McDonalds." She finally smiled for real. "He's one of the brightest kids his age I think I've ever met. When I think about how someone. his own grandmother." She trailed off.
She studied the men for a moment, her eyes unreadable. "Do you want to come along and meet them?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I swear." The nurse was rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue. "I am going to tape that child to his bed."
Cal knew the woman was joking, but the comment bothered her anyway. She put on her best professional look. "He's probably anxious to be released. I've brought some things to keep him busy." She added "For six months now he hasn't been allowed to play at all. I think we can make some allowances."
The nurse nodded. "He goes into other rooms, talks to other patients. He told Mr. Trael he was a doctor and that Mr. Trael was going to have a baby! But they all love him. They just don't have to go chasing him down."
Dee burst out laughing. "Where's Mr. Trael's room? We should send a card."
Another nurse came panting up. "He's out again. He slipped out while I was giving Miguel his medicine. That way." She pointed down the long hall. "Took the rails off his bed. I told them it wouldn't keep him in."
Cal was trying hard not to laugh, and Dee was still doubled over. Ryo was trying to look serious, and failing as much as Cal was. "Come on. He can't be far."
They moved down the hall, looking rooms, but no one had seen the child. One elderly woman knew him though, and tried to give them candy to take to him. "My grandkids brought it. I can't eat it. The baby will like it."
"He doesn't need more sugar!" The nurse muttered, but Cal accepted the candy anyway and put it in the McDonald's bag.
Back out in the hall, something caught Dee's eye and he looked down.
Under a laundry cart, two very dark brown eyes were peeking out, under a fall of almost black hair.
Dee dropped to his knees. "Hi there."
The boy grinned at him.
"Fernando?" Dee asked. Remembering what Cal had said, he asked the boy in Spanish "Are you Fernando?" It wasn't needed. The boy's arms and legs were covered in small bandages, and Dee felt a surge of pure anger.
The boy shook his head no, and pointed to a towel around his neck that the man hadn't noticed before.
"Ahhh." Dee nodded, noticing he had a big audience by this time. "Are you Batman?" He was still speaking in Spanish.
"No."
"Superman."
"No."
"I give up." Dee held up his hands. "You've stumped me."
"Nandoman!" The boy crawled out from under the cart and put his hands on his hips in a superhero pose. His hospital gown was too big for him, and the superhero's bare bottom was sticking out. He tried to take off again but Cal stopped him by holding out the McDonald's bag.
Nando grabbed for the bag, but Cal held it back. "Back to your room, Nandoman. You can eat there."
Nando took Dee's hand in his own as they went back down the hall, chattering. "Superheros have to eat lots of McDonalds or they can't fly." He explained. "They fall off buildings and land on taxis. SPLAT!" He pounded a little fist into his palm.
Dee had been fluent in Spanish by the time he was six, but Ryo's grasp of the language was mostly from high school and college classes. Still he knew enough to understand the little boy and he was enchanted by him.
"My brother can fly too." Nando was saying as they neared his room. "He flies around all the time. I say "Miguel, you're going to hit the wall" and he does. I don't laugh though." He added. "What's your name?" He looked up at Dee.
"I'm Dee. This is Ryo." He pointed to the other man.
"Are you superheroes too?" Nando wanted to know.
"No. We're police officers. Detectives." Ryo explained.
"They're superheroes to me." Cal put in. "They fight crime, Nando, just Superman does."
"Wow." Nando's jaw was open. "Real superheroes." Without warning he threw his arms around Dee's waist and hugged him. He let him go and hurried into the room. "Miguel!" He called over to the occupied bed. "Miguel, wake up. I've got Mcdonalds! And Superheroes! Dee and Ryo fly around like Superman."
The other boy said up in the bed, and Dee felt a small jolt at the resemblence to Nando. They looked like indentical twins, down to their home- done hair-cuts.
But unlike Nando, who's eyes were full of life and mischief, Miguel gave them an emotionless glance, and then turned his attention back to his brother.
"Here." Nando was handing Miguel a burger as Cal put down the tray in front of the older boy and helped him sit up straighter. He neither resisted or helped. Once he was settled Nando climbed up on the bed with him and began devouring the food. Miguel ate his own share in silence as Nando continued to talk, this time a story about flying into birds once.
"He's got quite an imagination." Ryo whispered to Cal.
"I know." Cal grinned. "He's a superhero today. Yesterday he was a frog prince. He'll probably be an alien tomorrow."
"What about Miguel?" Dee asked, watching the other boy with a heavy heart.
"They hope. they hope that with enough therapy Miguel can heal. But they're not sure. They said maybe he's so damaged he'll never be okay. It's not just speaking. He hasn't shown any emotion at all."
"Come on, it's only been a few days." Dee protested. "And he's been stuck in this hospital with this ugly wallpaper. Once he gets into a home, he'll be flying into birds too."
"If we can find him one." Cal replied, rubbing her hands on her jeans. "They're being released tomorrow. For now we can keep them at the center, but if we can't find placement together, we'll have to split them up and let Fernando's cousin take him. And if that happens." Her eyes rested on Miguel, who was watching Nando make french fries battleships crash into each other.
Finishing the war, Nando climbed out of the bed again and walked over to Dee. "Can I see your gun?"
"I'm not wearing it right now." Dee apologized. "And even if I was, I can only take it out when bad guys are around."
Nando looked disappointed but understanding. "I only take my gun out for bad guys too. It's invisible, so you can't see it." He pointed to his hip.
Dee knelt on the floor again. "We're a family of superheroes you know."
"Really?"
"Really. Ryo and I stop bad guys. We have a son who's going to school now to learn to fight bad guys too. And your friend Cal is a superheroine. She goes around and rescues little boys and girls from people who hurt them."
"You didn't tell me!" Nando gave Cal an indignant look.
"Sorry, slipped my mind." The woman chuckled.
Ryo sat down next to Dee. "You know, you can't have too many heroes in a family though." He said thoughtfully.
"Never too many." Dee agreed, glancing at his partner, and seeing complete understanding. Some things didn't need to be discussed or agreed upon outloud.
"Would you and Miguel like to come stay at our headquarters?" Dee asked.
"Do you have a Batcave?"
"No. Batcaves stand out. We have an apartment, and it looks so normal no one suspects at all that it's really a top-secret base."
"Do you have a dog?"
"Sorry, no dogs."
"Good. Miguel sneezes around dogs. Achoo. Achoo. He sneezes at cats too. I don't think he sneezes at horses though." He added. "So we can have a pet horse. Or a hippo. I don't think hippos make Miguel sneeze."
Dee was unable to stop the image from popping into his head of a large hippo lumbering around their apartment and knocking things over. It replaced the mental image already there of McDonalds-deprived crime- fighters crash-landing on bright yellow cabs.
"Miguel is pretty lucky to have a brother like you looking out for him." Ryo looked back at the other boy, who was listening intently to their conversation.
Nando motioned for Ryo to lean closer and whispered into his ear. "Miguel can't fly any more. So I have to hold his hand."
"Maybe we can teach him to fly again." Ryo offered.
"My Mama flies with angels." Nando went on, not whispering now. "Someday, I'm going to fly up and say 'Hi, Mama! It's Nando!' but I can't fly that high yet. My Papa, he'll be so happy when he sees how good I fly. But Miguel must fly too, so he can be with us." The boy said firmly. "Yes, I'll show him how again."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "You set them up."
Cal reclined on her bed, the phone receiver against her ear, grinning although no one could see. "Prove it."
"You knew they'd take one look at those kids and want them."
"I did not go there for anything but dinner. If an idea happened to come to me at the end of dinner."
"You're sneaky." A long silence. "Did I ever tell you that's one of the things I love about you?"
"I'm flattered. I think this will be good for everyone. The boys will have a home, and Ryo and Dee will have someone to take care of again. Dee's starting to get a beer gut. Nando can help run it off of him."
"Cal, I just don't know." He sounded serious. "I mean, it sounds like the younger one is okay, just hyper. But the older ones has some pretty heavy- duty damage going on from what you've said."
"Sweetheart, if they raised you they can raise anyone. You know, you got lucky."
He'd heard this before from her but listened anyway. "Do you know how hard it is to place older kids? Especially biracial older kids with a juvenile record? You would have ended up in a juvenile detention center if Ryo hadn't taken you in."
"I know. You never let me forget it. But I was just one kid. I'm worried they're biting off more than they can chew here, that's all."
"I'm not saying it's going to be easy on them. But there's no one else I'd trust with these kids. How's class going?"
"Not bad. I'm loving it."
She heard a voice in the background call out "HI BIK'S GIRLFRIEND!"
"Tell Gunther I said hi back." She laughed
There was the sound of a scuffle. "HE'S MEAN TO ME, CAL!" Gunther yelled into the phone. "Get OFF me!" Bikky was saying. "Give me that phone back! Cal, are you still there?"
"I'm here. I'll let you go play with your friend." She said in the kind of voice she'd use with a toddler.
"Thank God I don't have to put up with him much. ouch! Longer! I can't believe they haven't thrown him out yet! Look, I've got to run. Our pizza is here. Love you."
"You too."