Chapter 26
When Christine brought Lori into the office the next morning, they were both subdued.
I still haven’t learned to ignore women’s moods, so I asked.
“Good morning ladies, why the long faces?”
As usual, wrong question and bad timing.
“You should mind your own business,” Christine snapped.
Ouch, I thought I was minding my own business.
Think again.
“OK, is now a good time for us to talk about planning for Lori’s return to her family. Lori, school starts in a few weeks, and I’ve been talking to your mom and dad about that…..”
“No, John now is not the time to be discussing this,” Christine interrupted, between tightly clenched teeth.
“Right, sorry, I’ll just be in my office if you need me.”
I retreated, with some haste. After all, I’m easily frightened.
I was reading the story in the Tyler paper, about the home invasion in a south Tyler neighborhood, when Christine came in.
“John, I’m sorry I snapped at you. We stayed up pretty late last night, and Lori and I have been arguing this morning.”
I waited.
“Lori’s not sure she wants to go home, or go back to school. After the story on the news last night, she was pretty upset. We sat up and talked about a lot of things. At first it was about how unhappy she was because she had endangered her parents. Then, she talked about how horrible Orlando is, but how he still has some pull on her. She’s been through a lot, John, and she doesn’t feel like a typical high school girl.”
“I understand.”
“No, John, you don’t. You’ve never been a teenage girl, and you’ve never been through what she’s been through.”
I nodded.
“…Fair enough.”
“Lori doesn’t want to have to face her friends, and she’s afraid Orlando could still find her. She feels like she’s more grown up than she actually is. She wants to get her own place and continue to work here.”
“Is that what you were arguing about?” I checked the monitor, which was still showing the view from the camera in the reception area. It looked like Lori was talking on the phone.
“No, we were arguing about Walter.”
“Walter…?”
“She thought he was cute and charming. I told her he was a dangerous jackass. I offended her, and I made her feel little, and….I think I hurt her feelings.”
“She’ll get over it.”
Christine was thoughtful for a moment.
“Anyway,” I said, “She has to go home. She has to go back to school, and she can’t continue to work here.”
“Maybe we could work something out. At least until we know Orlando Cruz can’t come after her. She really can’t go home, until he’s in jail.”
She had a point.
“OK, that part hasn’t changed. If you’re still willing to have her stay with you, we’ll keep her with us, until Orlando is in jail. I’ve been talking with her folks about school. They want to put her into a private school. It could be a new beginning. She’d make new friends and be in a safer environment.”
Christine smiled.
“It’s perfect. I’ll tell her about it.”
“Wait, there’s more. Her folks are thinking about the possibility of moving away from Tyler altogether, maybe to Houston or Austin. They’ll need to be the ones to talk about those things with Lori.”
Christine nodded.
“Probably even better, it really would be a new beginning.”
“Sometimes, we all need a new beginning. The bible says when we are born again, old things are washed away and we are new creations, spiritually re-born as children of God, and no longer slaves to sin.”
“Here we go again!”
“What? I’m just saying Lori has a new life. Is she still reading her bible?”
Christine sighed.
“Yes, she reads it every morning, for all the good it will do her.”
“Do you read it?”
“No, John I don’t. I wouldn’t even know where to start. It’s just a lot of poetry and superstitious blah, blah, blah.”
“And, you know this without ever having read it? You are able to stand on the platform of complete ignorance and deride something you know nothing about?”
She made an annoyed snort. It sounded sort of like “Humph!”
“If you’re willing to at least look at it, I’ll suggest some places to start, and I would love to discuss it with you. You’re a bright, intelligent and literate person. What are you afraid of?”
“Nothing, it just seems pointless.”
“What harm could it do?”
“It could turn me into a right wing, brainwashed, hypocritical, zombie.”
“Is that what you think I am?”
She looked me in the eye.
“No, John, I’m sorry, it just came out wrong.”
“Christine, I love you…Relax, I’m not hitting on you. The point is you must know I love you, as a friend and colleague. I have no desire to ever see you hurt or ‘brainwashed’. Do you believe me?”
She hesitated.
There it was. She had doubts.
“Yes, John, I know you aren’t trying to brainwash me. I’m just not interested in reading the bible.”
“No worries. It was just a thought.”
“How did we get on this subject in the first place?”
“We were talking about new beginnings.”
“We were talking about Lori.”
I nodded.
“So, are you two ladies going to work it out?”
“Of course, but let’s hope Orlando goes away soon, and I mean very soon.”
“Amen, to that.”