Jondy the Abandoner four: Streaming Freedom Video
Chapter Seven: Happy Birthday!
March 2, 2020
Zack was coming today, and even Jondy was excited. She lay on an old mattress in the damp basement she now shared with Charlene Andersen, a women she and Aldrea met their first day in the city. Once the rain had subsided a bit, Aldrea had insisted they go to a park. Here the girl had immediately found a friend in seven year old Amy, who, as it turned out was the daughter of Charlene, a kind woman looking for a new roommate.
"Aldrea, come on over here," Jondy shouted. Aldrea was playing on the swings and had been for about an hour, but now Jondy was getting hungry, and she was sure Aldrea was too. It was time to end the excursion to the park.
Gleefully, Aldrea ran over the picnic table where Jondy sat. A girl followed her. "Mom this is Amy, she's my new friend from Seattle," Aldrea explained. Amy was a short girl, about an inch and a half shorter than Aldrea. Amy had a round face and slightly chubby cheeks. She wasn't chubby herself, she just hadn't lost her baby fat yet. A light smattering of freckles covered her nose and cheeks. Her round brown eyes were framed by dark brown bangs, her hair curled all around her face.
"Hi Amy," Jondy said kindly, but her hunger was starting to make her loose patience. "It's nice to meet you. Aldrea, are you getting hungry?"
"Yes I am," Aldrea replied.
"You should meet my mom though!" Amy suggested cheerfully.
"I don't really think-" Jondy started, but the two girls were already halfway across the lumpy lawn of the park.
Jondy rolled over and looked out through the gap in the door of her tiny room. She missed their old apartment. Sure, it wasn't ever very clean, and the couch was a bit moldy, but here everything was a bit moldy. It was a basement of what used to be an office building, and Charlene and Amy were squatters. Now Jondy and Aldrea were too. Charlene needed Jondy's help to pay off the cops, but Jondy didn't have a job yet.
Which was why she was going to be so glad to see Zack. She had been sitting around uselessly in Charlene's basement for four days, and he brought her the promise of a new ID. Eloise Strat was not a name that was going to fly anymore. She had told Charlene that she was Rachel Madison, the alias she had used when she lived in Colorado, and that Manticore never knew about. Zack had her old ID from that time, and he just needed to get it updated for her with his source in Canada.
Aldrea swung open Rachel's door too quickly, causing it to bounce off the sheetrock behind it. "Guess what day it is?" Aldrea beamed.
"Hmm, your first day at you new school?" guessed Rachel.
"Well yah, but-"
"Happy Birthday Kiddo," Rachel smiled, sitting up and pulling Aldrea into her lap. "Big hugs for your first day!" And she kissed Aldrea on her forehead.
"And Zack is going to come, right?"
"That's what he says. Maybe he'll have a present for you too," Rachel smiled bleakly. She had left her present for Aldrea back in California, and she knew for a fact that Brian had the huge unicorn set Aldrea had been pining over for months, hidden in his closet.
"Okay Aldrea, time to go!" Charlene shouted from the kitchen. Charlene was a squat looking woman, a bit on the heavy side, and somehow very severe looking even though she had a caring disposition. She had a head fully of bright orange curls, and light brown eyes.
Aldrea wriggled from her mother's arms. "I'll see you after school Mom!"
"Bye Kiddo."
Charlene walked Amy to school everyday before she went to work across the street, so it only followed that she would walk Aldrea as well. Technically Jondy should have come with on the first day, to meet Aldrea's teacher, but since Zack was coming today, she had to wait.
"Hi Amy," Ms. Herman greeted, as the group entered the cheerful classroom. "Who's this?"
"This is Aldrea Madison," Charlene explained. "She and her mother have just moved here, I brought her because they're our new roommates."
Ms. Herman crouched down to Aldrea's level, "and are you in the first grade like Amy?" she asked.
"No, I'm in second."
Charlene looked at Aldrea scornfully, "Aldrea, now let's not tell lies. It's her sixth birthday today," she explained to Ms. Herman. "She's in Kindergarten."
"No I'm not!" Aldrea protested. "I was in Kindergarten last year! But they put me in first grade after a week! Now I'm in second grade!"
"Okay, well, I'll take you to Mrs. Silver's classroom and we can get everything sorted out. Have a good day Charlene," Ms. Herman called after Charlene, as Charlene waved goodbye. Ms. Herman led Aldrea to another classroom, even more cheerful, and filled with all sorts of colorful toys, but after talking quietly to the other teacher, she had to leave to go back to her own class.
Mrs. Silver was a kindly looking lady in her late fifties. She wore a long, colorful skirt and hiking boots. She had a sweater of deep purple, and round spectacles that covered shining green eyes. Crouching down she held Aldrea by the shoulders, "and you must be little Aldrea," she said. "I've heard that you are very smart. In second grade?"
"I am in second grade. Are you my teacher?"
Ms. Silver smiled. "We'll see. I'm the Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Silver. You can remember my name, because it's the same color as my hair. Right now I'm going to let my friend Mara do some work with you. This way we can see what class to put you in. Does that sound like fun?" Aldrea nodded. She was a bit disappointed; Mrs. Silver seemed like the nicest person she'd met so far in Seattle.
"Can we still be friends after I'm in second grade?" Aldrea asked.
"Well certainly!" said Mrs. Silver. "I teach Kindergarten in the mornings, and I am the school councilor in the afternoon. I will be seeing you again Sweetie."
At this Aldrea smiled and went off with Mara. Mara had a lot of tests for Aldrea, and a lot of questions, but Aldrea knew a lot of them, and it made her feel very smart.
It was just after two in the afternoon when Zack snuck into the now familiar penthouse. He couldn't hear any clicking coming from the computer room, and he wondered if the person he was looking for was home. He silently snuck through the semi-clear paneling until he stood leaning against the shelves surrounding the nook of technology. The man before him remained concentrated on the monitor.
Zack coughed.
The man gasped and his shoulders bounced, all the jump that his paraplegic body would allow. Turning his chair around, he asked, "Zack, what are you doing here?"
"Well you know what they say, you-"
"Shouldn't leave your window open if you don't want visitors," the man finished, rather groggily.
"I was going to say you shouldn't leave your door unlocked, but… whatever. Looks like your auto-immune system has caught up with you, eh, Miracle Boy?"
Logan sighed, he'd left his door unlocked? His head was so messed up lately, he was being careless. But then who cared how careless he was anyway? Even Zack ripping on him wasn't bothering him as much as it should. Logan frowned numbly. "What is it that you're doing here Zack?" he asked again, probably more angrily than he should have been, but he didn't care.
"I need you to make a new ID for me, well not for me, but for someone I know."
"This is for one of the others?"
"Her name is Rachel Madison. This is her old ID," Zack handed Logan the old ID, showing a 13 year old Jondy, and labeling her as a 16 year old. "The age is wrong on that, she's 19 or 20 now."
"Well I guessed that," Logan said irritably. "Don't you think you should be telling Max that you're having me do this?"
"If you tell Max, about this, show her the picture, whatever, it is very likely she will run off and neither of us will ever see her again. Rachel is even more reckless than Max is, and together it just goes up exponentially. If you care about Max, you won't tell her."
Logan stared. This was the most he'd ever heard Zack say all at once. Zack was an overprotective brother, and he often came off as an overprotective brother who wanted benefits, but right now, Logan didn't really care. It's not like he was planning on telling Max about this girl, whoever Rachel was. It wasn't like he was planning on telling Max anything ever again.
He scanned the old ID into the computer. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, displacing his glasses. "I'm assuming that you don't have a more recent picture for me to switch in, and I'll have to age this one."
"Actually," Zack dug in his pocket and pulled out a slightly rumpled bit of photograph paper. It was a picture of Jondy, Aldrea and Zack that Brian had taken. The Golden Gate bridge was in the background. "Rachel is the older girl."
Logan stared at Zack. "Thank you," he said, only slightly sarcastic. He scanned the photograph into the computer as well. "So who is the younger girl?"
"Oh, just some kid we were hanging around with. No one really," Zack looked at his watch. "So how long does this sort of thing usually take?"
"Not long once I get all the information in," Logan was converting all the information from the Colorado learner's permit, onto a Washington driver's license. "I've just got to finish making the image, then print it out. You were hanging out with a kid?"
"She was a pretty cool kid. Where'd you get one of those anyway?" Zack wondered out loud, referring to the license machine.
"Why, you want to steal one for yourself so you can make all the fake IDs you'll ever need?"
"No," Zack replied simply. Logan clicked 'print ID' and the machine started to whir and make disturbing noises.
"Its not… the newest machine in the world or anything," Logan explained, and went to typing in another document on his computer.
"I can tell," said Zack, looking at his watch again. He was planning on picking Aldrea up from school at three, and he was going to be late. Logan clicked 'print' on the other document, and the light hum of the printer was added to the noise of the computer area.
At last Logan pulled the new driver's license from the machine, and the papers from the printer tray. "Here is Rachel's ID and her official documentation, so she should be able to apply for a sector pass," said Logan, and looked away from Zack.
"Wow, you're better than my guy in Canada," Zack commented, seeming vaguely impressed.
"Well thanks," said Logan. "Now if you don't mind, I was trying to get some work done." Logan sub-consciously glanced at his drawer, before turning to glare Zack out of the apartment.
School was out for the day, and Aldrea and Amy were playing on the decrepit asphalt that covered half the school yard. It had basketball hoops missing nets and parts of the backboards, and a few tetherball poles, only one of which still had the ball. Chalk lines outlined places to play four-square and hop-scotch. Aldrea and Amy were playing two-square on one of the four-square sets.
"No, if it lands in the three, it's still in a square so it still counts," said Amy.
"But this is two square!" Aldrea argued. "That was out."
Zack saw Aldrea playing from afar and smiled. Approaching the two girls he said, "I think the birthday girl's got it right. Besides, it is her birthday," he noted, and pulled out a brightly wrapped gift.
An enormous grin spread across Aldrea's face at the sight of Zack with the large, shiny gift in hot pink and neon green wrapping. It had little balloons on it.
"Zack! You made it!" Aldrea yelled running over to him. He braced himself for the little girl, who's fist hit him in the stomach harder than she'd ever hit him before.
"Hey, you've gotten stronger," Zack beamed. "I got you something, Allie," he held out the gift. Aldrea grabbed it and eagerly ripped off the wrapping. Somehow he grin managed to grow even bigger, when she saw what was inside, and she wrapped her arms around Zack's broad shoulders. Her brand new unicorn doll still clutched tightly in her arm.
"It's just what I wanted Zack! How did you know when you haven't even been around forever?"
"Oh, I had a hunch," said Zack, acting like there had been some great sneaking around to get Aldrea that gift. Actually Zack had seen it and knew it was just girly enough to irritate Jondy. Which usually meant Aldrea would love it.
"Who're you?" asked Amy, a bit indignantly.
"This is my uncle Zack," Aldrea introduced. "And Zack, this is my new friend Amy. I met her at the park, and now we live with her and her mom. And guess what Zack! Guess what!"
"What?"
"They've put me in the third grade at this school! They had me do a bunch of tests and stuff to figure out what grade I was in, and they said I was smart enough to be in third! Isn't that great?"
"That's wonderful Aldrea," said Zack, picking her up. "How about a ride home on my motorcycle?"
"Okay, but how will Amy get home?"
"How does she usually get home?"
"My mom usually comes and walks me," said Amy. "She should be coming any minute."
"Okay, well let's go Aldrea. I'm sure Amy won't mind, seeing as how you're the birthday girl and all."
Aldrea grinned, and Zack shoved his helmet on the small girl's head. She looked quite silly as it was several sizes too big and Amy laughed. "That helmet looks great on you Aldrea!"
Aldrea gave a thumbs up and Zack lifted her onto the bike. "Hang onto that unicorn Allie," he said jumping on, "'cause we're going for a ride!" And they zoomed off into the city streets, Aldrea screaming in glee beneath Zack's black and orange helmet.
A few streets later, Zack suddenly saw a familiar face rushing toward him on another motorcycle. Quickly he turned his face away from the approaching bike, which was speeding quite fast. SHHHHJOOOOOOOOMMMM! And it was past, however that had been a close one. It was going to be a bitch keeping his siblings safe under the current circumstances. He hoped that he could handle it.
Rachel Marie Madison. That's what Jondy's new ID read her name to be. She read it over and over again, as she sat alone up on the roof of the old office building she now lived in. She looked out across the city contemplatively and she could see the Space Needle in the distance. A pillar of what the future was supposed to be. And yet… things weren't so bad.
Down below, Zack was playing his favorite party game, Hide and Go Seek, with Aldrea and Amy. They were all full of cake, and Jondy… Make that Rachel, could still taste the sugary frosting on her tongue. A taste that eleven years ago she couldn't even have imagined. Now she couldn't even imagine having not tasted it.
So here she was in Seattle, living it up in this broken world as Rachel Marie Madison. A new name, eleven years after her first new name. A smile slowly curled over her lips, and her large eyes grinned out into the shining Seattle night.
Even though she missed Brian, and Aldrea had to start a new school, and her whole life had started over into something different, Rachel felt that something was just over the horizon waiting for her. Somehow… Life was good, she decided as she got up to go back downstairs to join the birthday party.
Zack had started Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and everyone was laughing at Zack's hilarious drawing of a donkey. It wasn't very donkey-like, and the part of the donkey to which one was to attempt to attach the tails, looked very much like the human version of that area. The result was ridiculous and everyone was having a good time.
Rachel took a handful of chips and sat on a lawn chair that was set up in the living area. Yeah, definitely, things were exactly as they should be. For the moment anyway.
THE END.
Stay tuned, and don't miss the next installment in the Jondy the Abandoner Saga, Jondy the Abandoner five: Dark Angel.
