A Thousand Tomorrows / Just Beyond the Clouds

  So maybe he wouldn’t ask his parents to pull Carl Joseph from the class after watching for just a day. Maybe he’d come every day this week and prove to Elle Dalton that he wasn’t an irrational, irate, overly protective older brother. He would earn her trust, and then they could sit down and talk about the reality of what she was trying to pull off. Especially with a sick student like Carl Joseph. She was an idealistic teacher. She hadn’t spent her life with a Down Syndrome sibling. Cody settled back in his chair and tried not to notice the way Elle walked or the way her face lit up when one of her students made her laugh. Yes, he would come every day that week. He would come for the simple reason that he needed to invest time at the center in order to gain Elle Dalton’s trust. Not for any other reason.

  Even if at times that morning it took all his strength to focus on anyone or anything in the classroom but her.

  Chapter Ten

  Elle could barely concentrate on the coursework that day. Having Cody Gunner watching her from his seat near the door was a distraction that rivaled any she’d ever had. Not because of his dark good looks. He was married, after all. No, he was a distraction because of the threat he represented. If Cody convinced his family to pull Carl Joseph from the center, Daisy would be devastated. So would every one of her students.

  Carl Joseph’s departure would raise countless questions, fears, and anxieties for them. No doubt they would figure out the reason he left. The truth that his family no longer supported his plans to be independent would be glaringly obvious. And that could quite possibly start a chain reaction of events that would undermine everything the center stood for. Everything she was passionate about.

  Elle maintained her composure until break time. It was nice outside again, not a cloud in the sky. She dismissed them to the outdoors, and then, without a glance at Cody Gunner, she retreated to the break room.

  And there she fell back on the one life skill she couldn’t live without. She poured herself a cup of coffee, held the warm mug close against her chest, and closed her eyes. God… what’s happening? Who is this Cody Gunner and why did he have to come home in the first place? She kept her eyes closed and thought about that. The timing was all wrong. If Cody had come home six months from now, he could’ve seen for himself how independent Carl Joseph had become. They would have a plan to manage his heart disease and his epilepsy.

  Instead Cody could see only the early stages of progress.

  Lord, I’m up against a wall here. Help me show Carl Joseph’s brother that it’s possible, that even sick people with Down Syndrome can lead independent lives. Please, Father.

  She opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. “Mr. Gunner!”

  “Sorry.” He was leaning in the doorway, watching her. “I was a little harsh earlier. You have a way with your students.” He studied her. “I’m impressed, Elle Dalton.”

  She flashed proud eyes at him. “Is that why you’re standing there? To tell me that?”

  Regret colored his expression. “I don’t want to be enemies.”

  She waited, suspicious. “You’re opposed to what I’m doing here, Mr. Gunner. That much is obvious.”

  “I am. For my brother.” He straightened. “But I’m willing to hear you out, willing to see what the program’s all about.” He sighed, and the conflict in his heart was obvious. “I love my brother, that’s all. I want what’s best for him. What’s safest.”

  “I understand.” Her tone softened. Still, she wasn’t sure where he was headed with this. “What are you saying, exactly? That you’ll stay around the rest of the day without making a judgment?”

  “I’ll stay all week.” He took a step back. “If that’s okay. But at the end of the week, let’s talk about whether this”—he looked back at the class space—“all of this is really good for Carl Joseph.”

  She narrowed her eyes. What had Carl Joseph said? That his brother was hurt, that he’d been injured in bull riding, right? Whether the bull riding was true or not, maybe the guy had been injured somehow. Maybe that’s why Cody didn’t want to see anything happen to Carl Joseph. Because he understood that one injury could change everything. “You’ve spent all your life protecting your brother, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.” He held her gaze for a long moment.

  Elle took a sip of her coffee, but she never took her eyes off him. Behind his brash approach and bitter words, Cody Gunner cared. “There were times”—he caught her eye again—“when Carl Joseph was the only person who kept me going, when everyone else felt like a stranger.” A steely look came over him, and his eyes penetrated to her soul. Not with anger, the way they had before class started, but with a passion that caught her off guard. Each word was measured, full of intensity. “I can’t let anything happen to him. Do you understand that, Ms. Dalton?”

  “Yes.” She considered him. “I hope at the end of the week you’ll see that I feel the same way. I would never put your brother in danger. Not for anything.”

  “Okay.” Cody gave her a polite nod. “I’ll be in the classroom, then.” He hesitated. “No hard feelings about my attitude earlier?”

  “None.” She didn’t smile, but she did feel more relaxed. The rest of the day went smoothly. Cody stayed glued to the action as she went over the bus route again, and then directed the students to move into the kitchen.

  “We’re making shortcake today.” She found an apron in a drawer and tied it around her waist. “Who remembers why we make shortcake?”

  Daisy shot her hand in the air. She grinned at Carl Joseph and then at Elle. “Because people at Disneyland like shortcake.”

  “Disneyland is good for shortcake.” Carl Joseph held his hands toward the other students, looking for their approval.

  A chorus of nods and affirmations came from the crowd.

  Elle smiled. “Okay, yes. There’s a little restaurant in Disneyland that makes the best strawberry shortcake.” She thought she caught Cody grinning at the back of the room. “But that’s not why we make shortcake. Anyone remember why?”

  Sid made an exaggerated sigh. “I know.” He raised his hand. “Pick me, Teacher.”

  “Sid, why do we make shortcake?”

  “So we can entertain.”

  “Right. Very good.” Elle held up a laminated oversized card with a photo of shortcake. “Shortcake is a dessert, and it can be used in many ways when you entertain.”

  This time she saw Cody shift his position. She could read his mind, even midstream in front of her class. What was the point of teaching people with Down Syndrome how to entertain? That’s what he was thinking. She tried not to let the negativity she felt from him ruin her mood. She’d been looking forward to this cooking assignment since last week when they’d learned how to prepare broccoli.

  “Shortcake is very attractive.” Tammy swung her braids and smiled. “Very attractive.”

  “I think I could entertain twelve people if I had shortcake.” Gus looked around at the others.

  Carl Joseph reached back and patted Gus on the knee. “I would come to your party if you had shortcake, Gus.”

  “Okay, then.” Elle regained control. She moved to the long countertop area that separated her from the students. “First let’s take a look at our ingredients.”

  “I brought flour and vanilla, Teacher.” Carl Joseph stood up. He slid his glasses back up his nose and then grinned at Daisy. “Flour and vanilla.”

  Before a landslide of comments followed, Elle motioned to Carl Joseph. “Could you get nine mixing bowls from the supply cupboard? Then place them in a row along this counter, okay?”

  Carl Joseph looked as if he’d won the lottery. He jumped up and hurried to an oversized cupboard. He was the newest of her students, and even he knew where everything was kept. Elle continued explaining the ingredients, but she kept watch on Carl Joseph. Clearly his brother would be scrutinizing this assignment, seeing whether Carl Joseph could follow multiple orders without needing help.

  Sure enough, he took the mixing bowls o
ut one at a time and set them in two stacks. Then he counted them again, just to be sure, and distributed them along the counter. The counter area had been built so that a team of two people could stand facing each other and work on a recipe together. Elle had nine copies of the shortcake recipe. “Okay, find a partner and station yourselves near one of the mixing bowls.”

  Daisy danced her way over to Carl Joseph. She stood opposite him and laughed a few times. “Is this spot taken?”

  “No, madam.” He hunched over, giving her his shyest giggle. “Not unless Mickey Mouse shows up.”

  Daisy laughed at that as if it were the wittiest thing she’d ever heard. “Mickey Mouse! CJ, you’re funny.”

  Over the next hour, with Elle and her aide overseeing the project, each team of two students followed the shortcake recipe and created a bowl full of batter. At one point, Cody stood and circled the work area from a distance.

  As he walked near Carl Joseph and Daisy, Elle expected her sister to get excited again and say something about Cody smelling like a bull rider. But this time the laughter that had marked their work time faded as Cody came closer. Carl Joseph gave Daisy a secretive look, and she nodded in a way that wasn’t quite subtle.

  “Good job, Buddy.” Cody peered over his brother’s shoulder at the bowl. “I bet your shortcake is best of all.”

  “Yeah… thanks.” Carl Joseph didn’t look up. He kept his eyes moving between the batter and Daisy. Then he looked at Cody. “I don’t need help, Brother. Thanks, but I don’t need help.”

  “Okay.” Cody angled his head and glanced across the room at Elle. “I’ll try to stay out of the way.”

  “Yeah, ’cause then it’ll be a surprise.” Carl Joseph waved at his brother. “Go back to the chair and thanks anyway.”

  Cody raised his brow and chuckled, clearly not sure how to take the gentle rebuffing from Carl Joseph. One at a time, Elle directed the teams of students to spoon their batter into greased pans and place their shortcake in one of the center’s two ovens. The hardest task, the one that would matter most when they were living on their own, was to work against their short-term memory problems and remember the shortcake after it was in the oven.

  Elle and the aide oversaw the project, but neither of them would rescue the students. Sure enough, the first two teams forgot about their shortcake. Elle waited until the cake was burned but not on fire before reminding the teams. “Gus’s team and Tammy’s team, do you smell something burning?”

  All four students lurched into panic mode. They ran into each other, and then across the room into the kitchen, all of them talking at once. Elle stood with her arms crossed. “You’ll need potholders.”

  “Potholders.” Gus raced to the right drawer and found one for each of them.

  “What next?” Elle could feel Cody watching, disapproving. If she hadn’t reminded them about the shortcakes, they eventually would’ve caught fire. But this was part of learning. If Cody didn’t understand that, then maybe by the end of the week he would. “What next, people?”

  “Turn off the ovens.” Tammy had an oven mitt on her hand. She stared at the oven and did a nervous little dance in place. “We should turn off the ovens.”

  “Yes, do that.” Elle kept any frustration from her voice.

  Gus and Tammy each reached for the controls on their separate ovens and turned them off. Elle felt a ripple of satisfaction. At least here, even in a time of panic, they remembered how to turn off the ovens. She moved in closer. “What next?”

  “Take out the shortcake!” Gus looked at his baking partner and swallowed hard. “I’ll do it, okay?”

  The other young man nodded. “I’ll get the hot pad.”

  Gus pulled a blackened shortcake from the oven, while a few feet away Tammy did the same thing with hers. They set the burned desserts on the hotpads, stepped back, and stared at them dismally. Gus looked at Elle. “No entertaining tonight.”

  “No.” Elle smiled. “But we learned something.”

  All four students stared at her, mouths open, as if they weren’t sure what they’d learned by burning their shortcake. Then Gus gasped and his hand shot straight in the air. “We learned not to forget.” He pointed back at the oven. “We could use a timer.”

  Elle felt her heart soar. “Exactly.” She hadn’t mentioned that to any of them, because the timer was something all of them should’ve known by now. The other students gathered around to gawk at the blackened shortcake.

  “Gus, you can have some of mine,” Daisy said.

  “Yeah, mine, too.” Carl Joseph tapped his fingers on the counter near the burned dessert. “ ’Cause yeah, a timer would be better.” He turned to Daisy. “They use timers at Disneyland.”

  It was a victory. Without her prompting, Gus had remembered that a timer would’ve saved the shortcake from burning. Carl Joseph and Daisy were one of the teams to use the ovens next, and Carl Joseph raised his hand. “We’d like a timer, Teacher. If that’s okay.”

  She laughed. “Yes. Go right ahead.”

  With textbook precision, Carl Joseph and Daisy worked to get their dessert into the oven. Carl Joseph checked the oven while Daisy set the timer. Then, using a potholder, Carl Joseph placed their pan of shortcake batter onto the hot rack and Daisy shut the oven door.

  Elle wanted to hug them both, but she couldn’t overreact. This was the sort of thing that would have to come easily for them before they could celebrate Goal Day. Thirty minutes later, when the timer went off, all four students promptly and calmly found their oven mitts and potholders, turned off their ovens, and removed their shortcakes. Both were a light golden color on top, cooked perfectly.

  “Carl Joseph.” Elle walked up and whispered to him. “I think maybe when it cools, your brother would like a piece.”

  “Yeah.” Carl Joseph’s eyes sparkled. “Brother should get a piece.”

  An hour later, when Carl Joseph brought a piece of shortcake to his brother, Cody thanked him and complimented him. And as he took his first bite, he raised his fork in Elle’s direction. She gave him a sly smile and then turned back to her students. Maybe they would find common ground yet.

  The day wore on, and by the time her students left, Elle was exhausted. It was twice as hard, teaching and trying to make things work well for Cody Gunner all at the same time.

  “You look tired, Teacher.” Daisy came up, her backpack slung onto her shoulder. She twisted her head upside down and stared at Elle. Then she straightened and laughed at her own silliness. “Are you tired?”

  “School’s over, Daisy.” She gave her a knowing look. “You call me Elle now, remember?”

  “I know.” She laughed again. “Elle… Elle… Elle.” She set her backpack on the floor, unzipped it, and peered inside. “The shortcake’s in there.”

  “Yes.” All the students took home a large piece of shortcake. “We can entertain tonight. You and Mom and me.” She jumped into the air and came down in a perfect ballet first position. “And we can dance for fun.”

  “First we need to go to the market.” Elle had none of her usual energy. It had been draining being watched by Cody all day. He was giving her a week to prove that the students were learning skills that would one day make them capable of living on their own. One week. She sighed and grabbed her bag. “You ready to go to the store?”

  “Yes.” She stuck out her tongue and curled it up over her lip, something she did when she was concentrating intently. She looked through her backpack, rummaging around and finally pulling out a calculator. She grinned and held the calculator straight up over her head. “I’ll keep the budget.”

  Daisy had been at the center longer than most of the students. That she was thinking about staying on a budget at the mere mention of grocery shopping was further proof that she was almost ready. Depending on how the next few months went, she could have her Goal Day before the holidays.

  A sense of bittersweet joy came over Elle. Letting go of a sibling with Down Syndrome would never be easy. There would
always be risks, but then life for able-bodied people held risks, too. She was proof.

  “Okay, Daisy.” They linked arms and headed out toward the parking lot. Elle turned off the lights and locked up on the way. “You keep the budget. Let’s make sure we don’t spend more than a hundred dollars today, all right?”

  Daisy did a few short laughs. “Wow, Elle. A whole hundred dollars.”

  For the rest of the ride to the market and even after they parked and were heading inside, Daisy kept a running dialogue about what they might be able to buy with a hundred dollars. When she’d hit just about every combination of groceries, Elle thought of a way to change the subject. “Daisy.”

  “And peanut butter and mayonnaise and string cheese and—”

  “Daisy.” Elle’s frustration rose a notch.

  Her sister fell silent. She pulled out a cart and opened her eyes wide at Elle. “I was making a budget.”

  “I know, but I have a question.”

  Daisy pushed the cart into the store and they walked toward the produce section. She looked a little put out, but she turned her attention to Elle anyway. “What question?”

  Elle wanted to know more about whatever exchange had happened between her sister and Carl Joseph while they were making the shortcake batter. It was the first time Daisy hadn’t acted thrilled about Cody Gunner. “About Carl Joseph’s brother.”

  As soon as Elle said the words, Daisy’s expression closed. She lifted her chin, pride having its way with her. “I don’t like CJ’s brother. Not anymore.”

  “I thought he smelled good and he was a world-famous bull rider.”

  Daisy allowed the hint of a smile. “He does smell good.” Her smile fell off. “But I don’t like him anymore.”

  “Why?”

  “CJ’s brother doesn’t want him at the center.” She looked straight ahead and stopped at a display of bananas. “He doesn’t want him there because he doesn’t like us.”

  Elle took a bunch of bananas and weighed them. “Three pounds, Daisy. Let’s start with that.”