Free No Defense by Rangeley Wallace

the twins and Jessie and all.”
    “I’ll have your brother-in-law bring Jolene
to help you,” Daddy said. “And I’ll wire you a thousand dollars.
That should make the move a little less painful.”
    Jolene Wilson had taken care of me since the
day I was born she was only sixteen at the time she started working
for us-and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have sit for the
twins and Jessie. She was steady, loving, not a critical bone in
her body, and very physical, using hugs where most people used
words. She had been at the apartment for two days when Eddie
brought the twins and me home from the hospital. When we arrived
Jolene and Jessie were sitting on the front steps waiting for us,
Jessie’s head resting on Jolene’s shoulder.
    Jessie ran down the steps to greet us. She
was dressed up in a flowered purple and white spring dress Jane had
sent while I was in the hospital and the patent-leather shoes she’d
worn to the courthouse dedication. I thought the shoes had been
ruined that day, but Jolene had worked some miracle on them and
they looked good as new. A purple ribbon kept Jessie’s hair out of
her face. She looked like an angel.
    Jolene was right behind Jessie, her worn-out
work shoes old loafers with the heels stomped in so they looked
like bedroom slippers--slapping against each step and her
washed-out barely still green uniform stretched taut across her
chest and hips. Only four of the original six or seven buttons held
the uniform closed, providing triangular glimpses of the blue jeans
and madras blouse underneath. Except for her weight, which had
increased steadily over the years, she always looked the same to
me. Her chocolate-brown skin never seemed to age.
    “Get away from there ‘til it stops,” Jolene
warned Jessie as the car rolled in. Jolene held Jessie’s hand and
gently pulled her back a few feet. As soon as I opened the car
door, Jolene released Jessie and she ran to hug me. Jolene was
close behind her, obviously desperate to get her hands on Will and
Hank. As far as she was concerned, babies made the world go
round.
    “LuAnn!” she screamed. “You’re a sight,
girl, a sight! Them babies! Look at them! Give ‘em to me!”
    Jolene opened the back door and took Will
out of his car seat. He scrunched his face up and began to cry. She
rested him on her chest and patted his back. He cried louder.
    “He’s a crier,” Eddie said. He was busy
unloading the trunk: my overnight bag, two potted plants, and a bag
of all the stuff the hospital had given us for the babies-Pampers,
formula, instruction manuals, certificates of birth bearing the
babies’ footprints, and presealed glucose-water bottles. “He eats
and cries.”
    “Well, he ain’t old enough to talk, bless
his heart,” Jolene said.
    “Here,” I said, taking Will from her. “Why
don’t you get Hank out.”
    Jolene removed Hank from his car seat. He
didn’t even open his eyes. She cradled him in her arms and
stared.
    “He’s a sleeper,” Eddie said over his
shoulder from the front steps.
    “They is something else,” Jolene said. “Both
of ‘em looks like you, LuAnn. But Jessie, you was the best-looking
and acting baby I ever saw.”
    Jessie grinned. I knew Jolene would one day
tell each of the boys that they were the best too, but right now
what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
    I took off my flats, using my right foot to
remove my left shoe and vice versa, and left the shoes next to the
pile of stuff Eddie was to bring into the house. The grass under my
feet and toes was cool and fine. With my free hand I picked one of
the enormous lilac chinaberry blossoms from the front-yard
tree.
    “Our new house has two of these trees,
Jessie.” I handed her the fragrant flower. “Look, it goes with your
dress.”
    She tucked the flower into her sash and
smiled.
    Over the front door a piece of posterboard
hung from the trim. “Welcome Home” was written on it in red magic
marker. Several figures-one large, two