Chapter 5
Squatted down, Shadow thinks about the last few days of observing her mother’s home, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
“That is a professional no-no. Where do I pick that up at? No-no?” she thinks to herself.
In the last few days that she’s been watching her mother’s home, some fascinating things had been discovered. Her mother seems to be in good health, remarried and a housewife, to what appears to be a good man. Shadow spent two full days following him, without him knowing. He works as a banker and was a pleasant man, he even stopped several times to call his wife. He didn’t even laugh or talk-down to the pretty lady who had no clue about getting a loan, any credit history, or even a social security number, not even after the lady left the bank. Betty knows because she was the lady and had planted a bug on his desk.
The biggest discovery that brings a smile to Shadow’s face, as she dips her hand into a bucket of soapy water, is that she had a little brother.
“Well, half-brother, but who cares, I have a little brother,” she thinks, “And from the way the husband talks about him, he seems really bright.”
Shadow hasn’t dared to enter the house because her mother is almost always there. Sometimes she leaves to the store, but that is only for an hour at the most. Big Betty grins because she has figured out the day they will meet and how she’s going to do it. Tomorrow is the day.
Spot enters the room first, immediately followed by Mike. Spot stops, “What is it, Spot? asks Mike.
Shadow still smiling, smiles some more.
“He is blind for sure,” she thinks as Mike is facing her only several feet away.
“It’s me, Betty,” her energy is evident.
“Wow, what are you doing up so early? And is that a smile I detect?” grins Mike.
Shadow stops smiling and answers only the first question, “I’m cleaning up my mess,” referring to the remains of the abused cake.
“Oh dear, didn’t me and Spot get all of it up?”
Shadow looks at the dry icing and smashed crumbs. They did a decent job of cleaning up but it was clear that the man was blind and the dog’s idea of cleaning was eating the spilled cake.
“You two missed a few spots.”
Mike's smile disappears, “I was afraid of that. And that brings me to something I will eventually have to do. You see, I’m not getting any younger and I stopped cleaning up the cake because of back pain.”
He appears to be looking down at Spot, “I know you like your privacy, but I’m thinking of hiring a house keeper part-time.”
Shadow was expecting something bigger, something of significance, not a housekeeper.
“What does that have to do with me? I just won’t come into the office as much,” she thinks but then she realizes that’s what he all ready figured out. Their conversations, which they both enjoyed would have to cease or drop dramatically because of her paranoia.
Shadow feels a little depressed, but she’s getting tired of all this emotional weakness, “Not a problem, understandable. Have you chosen one yet?” she asks dryly.
“No. I was going to start looking in on it today.”
She finishes cleaning, then heads into the kitchen area and dumps the water, while Mikes takes a seat in his rocker with Spot next to him.
Mike is the first one to break the awkward silence, “So, you never told me why you’re so happy today.”
Her smile reappears, “What the hell, he’s my friend... wow, he is my friend!”
She thinks as the realization makes her smile grow brighter. She has a friend and tomorrow her and her mother will talk for the first time as adults.
“I'm going to see my mother for the first time, Ford. Since I, well in a very long time,” she tells Mike.
“Your mother? You never talked about her before, but I’ll assume that seeing her is good news. Especially if it can make you so happy.”
“Yes, it is very good news.”
“So does this have anything to do with yesterday?”
“Not really.”
“You want to talk about it yet?”
“No,” she answers plainly.
Mike displays a huge grin, “That’s fine. So what are you going to wear? Something special? I can just imagine it now, since that’s all I can do,” he laughs.
She never thought about that before. “I can’t wear what I’ve been beating up muggers in and I can’t wear my outfit. Damn it! And where do I get “special” clothes? What are “special” clothes anyways? He must mean better clothes, but how do I know what better clothes are these days? It’s been so long since I even gave that a thought. Mark was choosing my clothes.” For a brief moment, she wishes he still was, but that starts building anger again toward Mark.
Before the anger toward Mark can build too much, Mike asks, “Well dear? Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it?”
Her pause is a good enough “Yes” answer to him. “Why don’t you just go buy something?” subjects Mike.
“That’s easier said than done,” she thinks, but unfortunately that’s the only solution because these newly surfacing emotions won’t even allow her to think about wearing stolen clothes to see her mother. That’s funny, she thinks, her emotional system hasn’t developed to the point where using stolen money to buy clothes is wrong.
“That settles it. Tonight I’ll go get some more money just in case better clothes cost a lot, and tomorrow I’ll go shopping before I see my mother,” is what she thinks but she tells Mike, “Yes, Ford, that is what I’ll do. Would you like me to pick you up something?”
Both Mike and Shadow are shocked by that question, “Um...no dear, I can’t think of anything right now, but thank you for asking.”
“Well, I’m gone,” she announces out loud, “To get some sleep for the big night and day ahead,” she thinks, as she’s exhausted because she hasn’t slept in three days.
Shadow in the jogging style outfit, which she wore days ago when she beat up the two muggers, walks through the park with pep in her step. She can’t recall being so excited for anything. She doesn’t even notice she’s been walking around aimlessly for almost an hour or the fact that someone has been fatefully following her from a distance and hiding from bush to bush.
As she crosses as the basketball courts, some men drinking forty ounces of beer and talking loud, take notice of her. After hollering at her to no avail, the three men give chase. One man has his arm in his jacket, Shadow believes it’s a weapon, more likely a gun. Once the men have caught up to a reasonable distance, one yells, “Don’t make us chase after you bitch! Just give up your good, and no one gets hurt!”
Usually this kind of comment would spark her eternal anger but not tonight, tonight was different. She turns to face the men. As they approach her in the dim light, she’s poised ready to attack, when one of the men, the one with his arm in his jacket yells, “Hey, that’s the bitch that robbed us! The fucking cunt broke my arm!”
Shadow never kept track of their faces, why should she? They were scum, but must be believable scum because whatever he told his partners in crime about her, they believed as they turned and high-tailed the opposite direction of the woman.
“Oh no you don’t!” she says as she starts to give chase, but only after two steps, a dark figure drops from hiding in a tree along the path blocking her pursuit.
This person , dressed in all black with a black-tiger like mask, says as he stands in front of her, “Oh no, you don’t!”
Shadow readies herself to attack, the man stands ready to defend.