Books and banter by W.H.Manke

Now he saw Deborah walking from the school building.  She was one of the first to come through the front door.  Hurriedly he left his vehicle.  It only took him a few seconds to reach her.  “Hi, Deborah,” he said smiling at her.  “Your Auntie Lois sent me to pick you up.  She wanted to be here herself, but got held up by her work.  She couldn’t make it on time.  So she asked me to fetch you and take you to her.  Wanna come along?  My car is right over there, see?”

Deborah hesitated for a moment.  Then she said, “I thought I was to take the school bus today?” 

“Your Auntie Lois sent me.  That’s all I know.  She wanted me to bring you to her, because she wanted to do a bit of shopping with you.”  He suddenly became frightened.  What do I do now, if she doesn’t believe me and won’t come, he thought.  I can’t very well grab her and run to the car.  It’ll draw a crowd.  My plan and I’ll be history.  “But suit yourself,” he continued.  “I have to hurry back to work.  I’ll tell her you had wanted to take the bus.”  He felt as if he had already drawn enough attention to himself and began to slowly walk away, even though he felt like running to his car.

Deborah suddenly ran after him.  His words had sounded genuine to her.  “All right,” she said catching up to him, “take me to Auntie Lois.  I love going shopping with her.  What’s your name, anyway?  Auntie Lois has never mentioned you.”

“I’ve only started to work there a couple weeks ago.  You can call me Jack.”  He breathed a silent sigh of relief.  Quickly, he opened the back door of his car and closed it again for her as soon as she had seated herself.  Then he got into the car and forced himself to pull away slowly.  He hoped not to draw more attention to his departure.

Once the car started to move Deborah asked, “Where are the seat belts?”

He chuckled looking into the rearview mirror.  “There aren’t any.  This car is older than seatbelts.  I guess you’re  not used to riding in old cars.”

“My dad has an old truck with no seatbelts,” she replied.  Deborah thought it was strange that her aunt would be working with a fellow with such an old car who dressed not at all in the way she had observed people who worked in offices dressed, but she remained silent for the moment.  She saw him take a small item and spray something in his mouth that smelled of mint.  “Have you been drinking?’ she asked innocently.

He turned around for a second and laughed at her.  “Now, aren’t you being nosy?  So what if I had a couple?”

“You could crash up and hurt us and somebody else.  My dad said it’s sad that some people hurt so much that they have to drink to forget their troubles, and when they drive after drinking they just heap more troubles on themselves and on others.  My dad and I and the boys and everybody in our family are hurting right now too, but we’re not going to start drinking.”

Jack was taken back for a moment by what she had said.  “How old are you anyway, seeing you know so much?”

“I’m a big girl now.  Now that my mommy has gone to heaven, I have to help look after my little brothers.  I’m seven.”

Jack was shocked.  He slowed the car down.  “Your mom went to heaven?” he asked softly.  “When did she do that?”

“She died just a little while ago.  I miss her a lot.  I’m just glad I have my dad, my Auntie Lois and my grandma and grandpa at home.  My little brothers help too.”

Jack choked back feelings of empathy that started to come over him.  “I’m sorry,” he said, drove on and thought, I can’t let this bother me.  I’ve come too far.

Deborah continued to talk to Jack as if he was a friend.  It was not until she noticed that they were driving away from where her aunt worked that she became alarmed.  “Hey, where are you going?” she asked loudly.  “This isn’t the way to where my auntie works.  You let me out right now, or I’ll jump out.”

He grinned.  Go ahead.  You’ll be able to do magic if you can open those back doors from the inside.”  He emphasized magic and began to whistle a tune.

Deborah argued and pleaded with him without stopping until they reached the cabin.  Jack had laughed and sometimes had come close to tears listening to her.  He was glad to reach the cabin where he hoped he would get some rest from her barrage of words.  He led her to the back room.  “Why are you putting me in here?” she asked with surprise.

“That’s so you won’t get any funny ideas and try to run away?”

“How can I run away?”  We’re in a place I don’t know and far away from where I live.  How can I run away?  You’re funny.  Besides, this place is a mess.  I can clean it up for you, if I can stay out here.”

He thought about what she said and knew she had figured it out right.  “All right, if you behave yourself and don’t drive me crazy with all your talk, I’ll let you come out and do some cleaning tomorrow morning.  It’ll be dark soon and you won’t see enough by the little oil lamp to clean up.”

But I have to change into my play clothes in the morning, and I don’t have them with me?  How can I wear this outfit all the time?”

Jack scratched his head.  He hadn’t thought far enough ahead to worry about her clothes.  “We’ll figure something out,” he said.  The kid’s bright; he thought and realized that he had already grown to like her.  As much as her continual chatter had annoyed him at first he knew he had missed talking and listening to others.  “I’ll bring you something to eat in a little while, and don’t be scared.  I won’t bite you.”

Deborah had noticed the decks of cards on the table.  “What are those?” she asked pointing to them.

“They’re playing cards.  I play with them to keep me company when I’m here alone.” 

“I feel sorry for you.  Everybody should have a mother and father and brothers and aunties and grandparents and friends like Brenda and Brittany and Carmen.  Carmen takes me horseback riding and my friends all play with me.  Want me to play a game or two with you?”

“What do you know about playing cards?”

“My grandpa taught me to play a card game called Dutch Blitz and Twenty-one.  We could play twenty-one.  I’m real good at Twenty-one.”

“How do you play that?”

“You know!  You get two cards and if they don’t add up to twenty-one you can ask for another one.  The person who gets twenty-one or is closest to it wins the game, but you lose if you go over twenty-one.  I’ll teach you, if you like.”

Her grandfather taught her a type of poker game, he thought grinning.  What else are grandfathers for?  He looked at Deborah and said silently, “What do I do with her?  I’ll have to get more food into the house, and I never thought about her clothes.  She’s a neat kid.  I hope I haven’t frightened her too much.”  Out loud he said, “All right we’ll play a few games, but don’t you feel bad if I win every game. I hate to lose, and I’ve played cards for a long time. Sometimes I’ve won a lot of money at playing cards.  And remember not to be scared.  I won’t hurt you.”

They played for half an hour and except for two hands she had beaten him every time.  He laughed.  “I should have you with me when I go on tour.  You’re a card shark.  But away you go.  Get ready to go to sleep.  I’ll make something to eat for us.”

The panic Douglas, Ruth and Henry felt was great when the school bus did not stop in front of their driveway to let Deborah get off the bus.  “I’ll call the school.  Henry you or Ruth please telephone Lois on your cell to see if she’s picked Debbie up,” he said anxiously.  His hand shook.