Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 14: Questions and Questions
The Holcomb Children's Home was a wide, single story, brick building sitting on a ten-acre plot of land on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The interior of the building contained twenty double occupancy bedrooms, two large bath and restroom facilities, a cafeteria, a large living-room, two classrooms, a laundry room and a large kitchen. The administrative section of the home was almost a smaller separate building in the front connected by a short corridor. Despite the age of the building, nearly fifty years, it was well maintained and looked modern in its design.
The area where the home was situated was isolated. The building was half a mile distant from its neighbor in either direction down a single winding road. Behind the home were a basketball court and a dual-purpose baseball and soccer field. At the front of the building, outside of the lobby and administrative offices, was a twenty-car parking lot. On a sunny afternoon, First Lieutenant Ryan Kawecki drove his rental car into this area and parked it. In full uniform with satchel in hand, he walked up to the front entrance of the home and entered the building.
Just inside the front door was a small but attractively furnished lobby. A reception counter was built into the wall on the opposite side of the room from the front entrance and to the left of the front entrance. To the right of the reception counter was a corridor that led through the administrative section of the home and into the housing area. To the right of the entrance was an area closed off from the lobby by a glass wall. A plate on the door read, Meeting Room. The room was furnished with six sofa chairs, an equal number of end tables and coffee table. Behind the reception counter was a small secretarial area. Two desks with chairs were situated in here, face to face. Only one of the chairs was occupied. A moderately attractive lady promptly got up from her seat behind the desk on the right and went to the counter window.
"Hi, can I help you?" The receptionist asked pleasantly.
"Yes," Ryan responded staidly. "I called earlier today. I believe Ms. Simkins is expecting me."
"May I have your name?" The receptionist asked in turn.
"Lieutenant Kawecki."
"I'll let her know that you're here."
The receptionist went to the office door at the left end of the secretarial area. The title Administrator was etched on a nameplate attached there. She gently knocked three times on the door, opened it and then walked two steps into the office. Several seconds later, she came out of the office, leaving the entryway open. She then opened the door to the lobby just opposite the office door.
"Mrs. Simkins will see you now," the receptionist announced with a smile from just inside the doorway.
Lieutenant Kawecki promptly walked through the secretarial area and into the office on the other side. The receptionist closed the door behind him. The office was small, not much bigger than the secretarial area in front of it. There was a second door along the right wall that opened out into the corridor that ran down the center of the administrative section of the home. Sitting behind a desk, along the wall opposite the doorway, was a large woman with proportionally large breasts. She looked to be in her mid to late sixties. Her hair was dyed brunette to conceal the gray. A pair of granny glasses, with a beaded necklace chain attached, was situated atop the end of her nose. She wore a flowery patterned yellow and brown dress. The top of her desk had two thin piles of paper sitting on top of it. A nameplate at the head of desk read, Ivonne Simkins, Administrator.
"Won't you have a seat?" Ivonne proffered with a gesture of her hand and a smile.
Ryan took a seat in the chair in front of her desk with a "thank you" and a smile.
"So, it's Lieutenant Kawecki," Ivonne asked with a ruffled brow?
"Yes," Ryan affirmed.
"How can I help you today?"
"I'm here regarding your predecessor, Jill Hytner," Ryan explained concisely.
"Oh yeah," Ivonne reacted back before Ryan could continue. "You called about Jill. I did fill out that obituary questionnaire that the Air Force sent me. Didn't you get that?"
"Yes, we did," Ryan acknowledge with a nod. "However, we're seeing some incongruities between the way she led her life and the person that she was when she was in the Air Force."
"Well, I'll try to help you. But I have to tell, Jill Hytner was a mystery to me," Ivonne countered with a smile and a shrug.
"Was there anyone here who knew her well?" Ryan inquired with a stern look.
"Nobody that I know of," Ivonne answered with near to a laugh. "I think I knew her as well anyone here. And I know I knew her longer than anyone here."
"Why was she such a mystery?" Ryan pushed for an explanation. "Was she a private person or secretive?"
"Jill was intense," Ivonne explained with an introspective look across her face. "She was extremely dedicated to the home, but at times it seemed like she wasn't equally dedicated to the children."
"What does that mean," Ryan quickly pushed for more.
"Don't get me wrong," Ivonne qualified. "She was good to the children. But her primary concern seemed to be keeping the home solvent. She worked tirelessly to raise money to keep this place open."
"Do you think she could have been skimming money?" Ryan tossed out with no real conviction.
"Oh no, never," Ivonne quickly disputed. "Jill was devoted to Holcomb. I don't think she would have taken a salary if she didn't need to."
"I don't understand then," Ryan confessed with a perplexed stare. "Why was she so passionate about Holcomb? What was so special about this place?"
"I asked myself that question more than once," Ivonne answered back with a shake of her head. "But I can confirm that Holcomb was her life."
"Did she have any interests outside of Holcomb?" Ryan questioned after a couple of seconds of thought.
"None that I knew of," Ivonne reported with a nonchalant shake of her head.
Ivonne looked away for a moment to reconsider the question. Ryan noted the introspection and decided to wait on its results.
"She did take an unusual interest in some children that came through here once," Ivonne reported that even as she continued to study the memory.
"Unusual?" Ryan queried back for more.
"Unusual for her," Ivonne clarified with a shrug.
Ryan took a moment to give Ivonne a studied look. Shortly he decided to push Ivonne for even more about this unusual interest.
"So, was she mean to them?"
"Oh no," Ivonne quickly retorted. "Just the opposite, she managed everything herself."
"And that was unusual how?" Ryan questioned with a perplexed expression.
"She was the administrator," Ivonne explained with an almost shocked expression. "The staff takes care of the children. She wouldn't let anyone go near those kids."
Ivonne took a moment to study the memory a little more. Ryan elected to wait on the outcome of that analysis. After a few seconds she mused out the product of her rumination.
"Now that I remember it, the children were pretty unusual too."
"Explain," Ryan quickly challenged with a word.
"They were all eerily quiet," Ivonne continued to muse out. "They wouldn't speak to anyone. I don't think they ever spoke to Jill. They all had this blank vacant expression. They would occasionally cry like any normal child. But beyond that, they were emotionless."
"How many kids are we talking about," Ryan asked inquisitively.
"Fourteen," Ivonne promptly answered back. "Seven girls and seven boys, that I remember. They couldn't have been much more than two years of age. They just started appearing, two at a time, over a six-to-eight-month period."
"Do you recall where these children came from?" Ryan casually inquired.
"I'm telling you; these kids were a complete mystery. No one, except Jill, knew where they came from. She just started coming to work every two or three weeks with a child in each arm."
"Didn't anyone ask her about them?" Ryan questioned with a hint of incredulity.
"I did, once," Ivonne replied with a straightforward delivery. "She told me it was none of my affair and to keep out of it. We all thought it was some hush, hush deal that she had going. Jill was always about the money."
Ryan grew very intrigued with this story. It was the first anecdote about Jill Hytner that suggested something was motivating her actions. He quickly pulled a writing tablet out of his satchel and a pen from out of his breast pocket.
"Can you give me the names of the children?"
"We were never allowed to know," Ivonne answered back with a shake of her head.
Ryan was instantly confused by that answer and promptly expressed the nature of same with a brusque inquiry.
"Well, can't you look it up?"
"No, I can't," Ivonne retorted with a hint of dismay. "I'm telling you, Jill managed everything with regards to those children. I have never been able to find any records concerning them, or the people who adopted them. Jill managed it all and she took the information to her grave."
Ryan was suddenly more intrigued with the life of Jill Hytner than he had ever been before. But he knew that the only thing that he acquired from out of this tantalizing narrative was more questions that needed to be answered.