When Jude got to the house he found the same boy playing basketball out front. He walked up to the opposite curb and sat down, watching. To Jude he looked like a professional the way he ran all over the place, dribbling the ball and shooting from every angle. He only missed a few baskets but he kept trying. Then suddenly he threw the ball so hard that it hit the backboard and bounced backwards across the road right to Jude.
"Toss it back." The boy said to Jude and Jude stood up, the ball in his hands and threw it but it barely made it even five feet across the road. "Come on kid, put a little more elbow into it." The big kid said as the ball rolled back towards Jude.
Jude picked it up again and tossed it harder this time and it just barely reached across the road. He smiled widely, proud of himself for his throw.
"Come here, I'll teach you." Jesus said and began showing Jude how to stand and throw the ball. It took Jude forty minutes and over a hundred misses before he finally got the hang of it.
"What's all the cheering?" A voice asked as a car drove up and a dark woman got out.
"Just teaching my new friend here my secrets." Jesus said as he wrapped his arm around the nine year old. "Jude, this is my mom Lena and my sister Mariana." Jesus introduced.
"Nice to meet you Jude." Lena smiled, slightly surprised that her fourteen year old was playing with a little kid.
"Hi." Jude smiled shyly, feeling pleased with himself at the same time.
"You boys look like you could used some lemonade, what do you say?" Lena asked, receiving a vigorous nod from her son and a shy smile from the stranger.
Soon the four of them were sitting around the kitchen table asking Jude about himself and telling him about their family.
"It's just my mom, my sister and me." Jude explained, just like he'd done countless times before. Callie had drilled the same story into his mind and as a result there weren't any cracks or flaws. "My dad took off when I was two and my mom works two jobs and my sister watches me until she gets home."
"How old is your sister." Mariana questioned, wondering what kid would spend her days watching her little brother.
"Seventeen." Jude lied like he always did.
"So you're like eight years apart? Wow." Jesus commented, it was the largest gap between siblings he'd ever heard of.
"She has a different daddy and my mom says she had her way too young, but she doesn't regret a day of it." Jude replied easily.
Callie had taught him just what to say in order to keep people from getting too suspicious. A teen pregnancy definitely didn't sound impossible and it accounted for a large age gap and saying that Callie was seventeen was more believable than trying to pass her off as an adult. She barely looked seventeen as it is and saying that she was eighteen was just too obvious. Seventeen was just old enough to be in charge of her brother without raising any red flags and as long as they kept their heads down and no one would doubt her for admitting she was technically underage.
"Wow, I don't think I could handle a kid." Mariana commented.
"Good." Lena teased as she placed a plate of sandwiches on the table. "Help yourself Jude, just don't ruin your dinner please, I don't want your mother upset with me before I've even had a chance to meet her."
Jude waited as Jesus and Mariana took some sandwiches and then timidly reached out for a turkey one himself. He couldn't believe the variety Lena had laid in front of them - there were plain cheese, ham and cheese, turkey and chicken salami.
"Our mom had us pretty young too." Mariana began as she ate her cheese sandwich. "But she was a druggie and had no idea how to raise two kids."
"Mariana." Lena chastised gently. This wasn't the type of conversation to have at the kitchen table with a guest; a nine year old one at that.
"I'm just saying; you're lucky your mom works hard for you guys." Mariana clarified. "I don't know what our lives would have been had we not found this home."
A silence fell over the table as each one thought about what Mariana had said. Even Jude, as young as he was, seemed to understand her. Though no one knew just how much he wished for a home like this as well.
Callie was frantic when she got home an hour and a half earlier than expected and found the house empty. She walked down to the corner store and used their phone to call Debbie who nonchalantly stated that her plans had changed and that Jude said he would be okay alone. Callie slammed the phone down in frustration wondering just where her brother had disappeared to. It wasn't like him to just take off like that and if at all he did then he would probably head down to the store, just two blocks from where they lived.
Callie searched up and down the streets for any sign of her little brother but she couldn't see him anywhere. She asked a few people she knew if they had seen him but no one seemed to have any idea where he was. Callie walked back to the store hoping that Jude had showed up there and they had just missed each other but no one had seen him there either but promised to hang on to him if he did show up.
A very worried Callie then walked back towards their apartment as she tried to figure out just what to do. She had never truly considered using the number on the macaroni box but maybe now was the time to change those plans. Just as she was contemplating the danger of involving the cops a small figure suddenly caught her eye.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Callie yelled as she grabbed Jude by his backpack and yanked him towards her.
Jude was too shocked to respond. Callie had never looked this angry before and she never yelled at him like this either. He hadn't even been expecting her for another hour at least.
"Do you know how worried I've been?" Callie continued when Jude remained silent. "I've been looking for you for like half an hour now."
"Sorry, I just got bored." Jude mumbled, still a bit taken aback by his sister's behavior.
"Where were you?" Callie demanded fiercely as she marched them back to their apartment, her hold on his backpack unwavering.
"I went to that house." Jude answered softly.
"What house?" Callie questioned in confusion.
"The one from yesterday, with the kid playing basketball." Jude responded, expecting his sister not to care much.
But Callie stopped in her tracked and pulled on Jude's backpack until he was facing her again. "You did WHAT?" She asked in fiery surprise.
"Just to look." Jude defended.
"Jude, you can't go back there okay." Callie said firmly. It was one thing for her to cling to a cop but it was entirely different for a little kid to do that without raising red flags. "Promise me." Callie demanded.
"I promise." Jude mumbled, completely bewildered by this entire incident.
Callie seemed somewhat satisfied and continued their walk but stopped once again when Jude made his next statement.
"They were really nice though." He commented casually.
"You talked to them?" Callie asked in wide-eyed surprise.
"Yeah." Jude smiled slightly. "Jesus was teaching me basketball and then Lena and Mariana came home and Lena made us sandwiches and lemonade and Mariana taught me how to hold my sandwich so that all the filling did fall out."
"Wait, you went inside?" Callie confirmed, unsure of how she felt about all of this.
"Yeah." Jude answered, unsure of how she would react. "They invited me. And I told them about you and mom and the jobs and that you're seventeen." He added, hoping that would calm her down slightly.
"Was there anyone else there? A blond woman?" Callie questioned, nervous but anxious at the same time.
"No." Jude shrugged. "Just Lena and the twins."
Callie thought for a moment wondering if maybe she'd gotten her facts wrong. Maybe this wasn't where Stef lived and maybe Lena and her were both the girl's moms but maybe one of them was a step mother or something. Maybe the family she had created in her head was nothing but her imagination. But whoever they were, they were obviously nice.
"You said they gave you sandwiches?" Callie confirmed, now curious about Jude's experiences.
"Yeah." Jude said with a wide smile. "They sent back leftovers too." He added, pointing to his backpack where they were kept. "They're delicious."