Free Fort Lupton by Claudia Hall Christian Page B

me a symphony that is amazing, according to my
father, who also loves me.”
    Sandy gave a watery smile.
    “ I’d like some coffee,”
she said and stood up.
    “ Not that crappy hospital
coffee,” Jill said.
    She got up and moved out of the pew. Tanesha
and Heather stood up. Sandy slipped out of the pew to stand with
Jill.
    “ That’s right,” Tanesha
said, as she got out of the pew. “ Good coffee.”
    “ And lots of it,” Heather
said.
    Sandy, Jill, and Tanesha gave Heather the
stink eye.
    “ Not for me,” Heather
said. “For you. I’m thinking of you and your enjoyment.”
    They laughed.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Thursday afternoon — 1:50 p.m.
     
    Tanesha jogged across the marble floors to
the couches on the third floor. As she rounded the corner, she knew
her decision to come up had been the right one. That same jerk was
watching the entertainment news from the couch. She skidded to a
stop. The television was playing advertisements.
    “ They said they would play
it next,” the jerk on the couch said.
    Tanesha scowled at him and crossed her
arms.
    “ For what it’s worth, I’m
glad he’s doing better,” the jerk on the couch said.
    Tanesha nodded. The television went blank
for a brief second, and then they were watching a video tape of
Jeraine and Jabari at the Atlanta airport. Jeraine walked with
Jabari on his hip. Jabari was covered in a soft blanket with
elephants on it. His face was pressed into Jeraine’s chest so all
you could see was the back of his head. Jabari’s arms were wrapped
around the stuffed elephant, Toto. Schmidty moved between the
camera man and Jeraine. Bumpy was walking next to Jeraine while
Yvonne and Dionne were slightly ahead.
    “ Whatcha you doing,
Jeraine?” the man taking the video asked. “Where ya
goin’?”
    “ We’re taking my son
home,” Jeraine said.
    “ So you can send him back
again?” a voice yelled from somewhere off to the right of the
video.
    Jeraine shook his head.
    “ Why’s he wearing an eye
patch?” another voice yelled.
    “ Our friend Mr.
Chesterfield’s lost his eye in this . . . incident,”
Jeraine said. Jabari leaned back to look at his father. Jeraine
looked down and gave Jabari a loving smile. He pulled the blanket
around Jabari. “Toto and Jabari wear eye patches in commemoration
of the sacrifice Mr. Chesterfield made trying to keep Jabari
safe.”
    Jabari’s head went up and down. He leaned
back into Jeraine.
    “ Now if you’ll excuse us,”
Jeraine said. “We’re heading home. In case you’re wondering where
that might be, our home is in Denver. We live in Denver. Isn’t that right?”
    Jeraine looked at Jabari, and the child
nodded again. There was a noise, and Jeraine turned to look. Risa,
from Denver Human Services, jogged toward them. Jeraine nodded
toward the video camera. They turned and went into the
terminal.
    “ That was Jeraine Wilson
and his son, Jabari,” the announcer said. “They are heading back to
Denver where the custody battle is sure to continue.”
    “ So you get the child
back,” the jerk on the couch said. “Care to make a
comment?”
    Tanesha squinted and looked down at the
jerk. He was filming her with a handheld video camera.
    “ You’re a reporter?”
Tanesha asked.
    “ Why did you force Jeraine
to send Jabari away?” the reporter asked. “Jealous? Clearly the man
loves the child.”
    Tanesha shook her head. She turned in place
and walked back down the hallway.
    “ You can run, but you
cannot hide,” the reporter yelled after her. “You’re going to talk
to me.”
    Tanesha saw that Fin was waiting for her at
the end of the hallway. She glanced back at the reporter and then
at Fin.
    “ Shit,” the reporter
said.
    Tanesha reached Fin before she turned to
look. The reporter yelped and dropped his smoking video camera. She
gave the reporter a little wave. She and Fin jogged down a flight
of stairs to their next class.
    “ How’d it go?” Fin asked
when they were seated.
    “ They were at