Chapter 15

About five minutes later, Rhyll and Julie came out and the three of us piled into the back seats that face each other. It was a feature I’d forgotten when it stopped being offered but was great for being able to sit and talk to each other. Two loveseat-sized seats that folded up in the cargo area. Rhyll insisted on sitting beside me, which left Julie sitting across from us. But it was a good way to get to know Julie.

Mom looked in the rearview mirror. “Where to next, Harrison?”

It was almost lunchtime, so I made a suggestion. “I need to go by the bank and get some of my paycheck. Then let’s go get lunch before going to the grocery store. How’s that sound?”

“Good plan. Always go shopping on a full stomach. It keeps you from impulsively buying everything in sight. But don’t forget, we need to get you enrolled over at the college as well.”

I nodded. “Right, Let’s do that and then go to the bank and then lunch.”

Registering at the college took almost no time as I had the note from Mrs. Morris and they put me in the classes that they insisted all first-year students take. Then we headed straight to the bank.

So we drove over to my dad’s work. I hoped to get in the bank and out again without having to see him. After what I’d heard Chief Hammer say, I knew Dad would be in a foul mood. After all, Dad may be the Savings and Loan branch manager, but the president of the institution and chairman of the board of directors was none other than Mayor Buckley. When we got there, I had to go inside to make a withdrawal, since my account was a savings account, not a checking account.

That was when the first nasty surprise of the day came. The teller informed me that the account I was trying to withdraw funds from had been closed by the adult signer of the account first thing that morning. Dad had taken my money and closed my account. When I went to his office to confront him, his secretary informed me he refused to see me. “Honey, I’m sorry, but he said he doesn’t have a son. Are you two arguing?”

“What the hell?” I thought, “That was my money. I worked hard for most of it and the rest came from my birthday money.” There had been one hundred and ten dollars in that account. Granted, not a landfall, but it would have let me take everyone out to lunch and get some of the healthy foodstuffs I’d wanted.

I asked if I could use the phone and called Joseph’s office and told him what happened and asked if Dad could legally take my money. After double-checking with Joseph, I found out I had been right. Because he was the main signer on the account and I was a minor who had to have an adult as the main signer, then he had every legal right to withdraw the funds and close the account. There was nothing I could do.

I stormed out of the building and went back to the car. Mom took one look at my face and knew I was beyond mad. “What happened? Why are you angry?”

“That fucking bastard closed my account and took my money. I went to confront him and he refused to see me. He told Shelly that he didn’t have a son.”

Mom’s face went almost as red as mine. “Language, young man. No matter how angry you are, I don’t want to hear you using that kind of language. How much was in the account?”

I handed her my passbook. “Mom, I had one hundred and ten dollars. I made seventy-five dollars from paper delivery last week and I had kept some of my birthday money.”

She shook her head. “He’s gone too far this time. I’ll take this up with him tonight. For now, get in the car. There is more than one way to get you your money.”

I got in the car and Mom pulled out her checkbook and wrote out a check for one hundred and ten dollars to ‘Cash.’ Then she drove around to the drive-in window and gave it to the teller. The same one that had waited on me. She took the check and then sighed. “Mrs. Parker, I can’t cash this check. There is a notice on this account that states all checks made out to cash, or you, require two signatures. I can see if Mr. Parker will sign it, but I think we both know that he won’t.”

“So, do I have to have him sign all my checks now or just the ones made out to me or cash?” Mom asked through gritted teeth.

“The note on the account just says made out to you or cash.”

“I see. Can I have that check back?”

“Yes ma’am, I’m sorry.” The woman put the check back in the drawer and opened it for Mom to retrieve.

“Oh, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

Mom drove off and for the first time in my life, I heard my mom muttering the same curse words I’d just been using.

*****

12:30 August 26, 1983

Lunch and Shopping

Mom drove to the strip mall where the grocery store was on one end and a family diner on the other. But right in the middle was her destination. ACE Check Cashing and Payday loans. The ACE brothers had opened that store a couple of years ago. They cashed checks for a fee of 20% of the amount of the check. It was mainly a way for those without a bank account to cash personal and payroll checks. “You kids go to the diner and get us a booth. I’ll be right there.”

Then she went into ACE and we went to Sharlotte’s Diner. I wondered if this was Sharlotte, who was Ms. Polly’s assistant on her T.V. show? If so, maybe I could get her to teach me to cook without having to be on TV.

A very nice, older African-American woman in a waitress uniform came up to us. “You kids here to eat?

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am, my mother had to run an errand but told us to get a booth. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you got here when you did. It won’t be long now; in about five minutes, the textile Mill’s whistle will blow and this place will fill with hungry workers.”

She grabbed four menus and walked toward a booth. “Excuse me, ma’am? Would it be possible to have that corner booth?”

She looked at me. “Sure Honey, but wouldn’t you prefer one in front of a window?”

Glancing at the expansive storefront windows, I trembled. I may be fifteen again, but the thought of sitting in the open with an immense window beside me and people seated on the other three sides made my skin crawl. I needed a solid wall at my back and an unobstructed view of the whole dining room. “No ma’am. I know this is silly, but I like to see everything. That corner booth is perfect.”

“All right then, to each their own, I always say. If you want the corner booth, then you get the corner booth.”

I helped Amaryllis into the far side of the booth against the wall and sat beside her. Julie climbed in on the other side and slid against the wall as well. “Now what can I get you kids to drink while we wait on your Mom?”

I ordered a glass of milk and asked if I could also have a glass of water with three lemon wedges in it. The waitress nodded but said. “You realize we have sodas and house-made lemonade, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, but I’m trying to eat healthy, so I’ll stick to the milk and water. Thank you.”

The girls both ordered grape sodas, and I ordered Mom a cola. Just as the waitress left to fill our drink order, there came a sharp, long whistle blast. Then a few minutes later, just as she’d predicted, a bunch of hungry factory workers filled every available seat in the diner. The other three waitresses were busy taking orders while the three of us looked over the menu and waited for Mom, who arrived just as the drinks did.

Mom thanked our waitress and asked for a few moments to look at the menu. The woman nodded and said. “That’ll let me get some of the worker’s orders in since they only get an hour for lunch. Most of them will get the blue plate special, which is baked chicken quarters and two veggies, or a sandwich. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”

Mom smiled at her. “Take your time and take care of these hungry men first. We aren’t in a rush. Just going to the grocery store when we’re done. No one has any place to be until four o’clock besides that, right?”

I nodded. “What time are we supposed to take Julie back to the school?”

“She’s not going back to school. Her Mother called Wilma to see if it was alright for her to spend the night with Amaryllis if she wanted. She’s taking us by their house if she wants to stay and get clean clothes and her toothbrush.”

The two girls squealed and said. “Sleepover!” Causing several of the workers to look our way. I could tell which ones were fathers by the amused looks on their faces. But the table directly across from us seemed to pay us all too much attention. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I subtly moved closer to the edge of the booth with one foot in the aisle so I could get up and move if the need arose. Rule one might end up in play here.

I tried to pay attention to the girls and Mom as they all talked, but half my attention was on the conversation going on at the table that was too focused on us. “Henry, that’s definitely him, I’m telling you. I couldn’t see his face too well on the news because he was holding the girl, and that is certainly the girl he was holding, in the corner.”

“You’re sure that’s them?”

“I’m positive. Ask him. I’m sure he’ll tell you if he isn’t.”

“I wouldn’t want to bother them.”

“Look Henry, I’m telling you that the boy’s lawyer is looking for others that those boys have hurt. This might be your chance to get justice for your girl.”

I looked at Mom. “I’ll be right back. If our waitress comes, please order me the blue plate special, the chicken quarter with spinach and carrots.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to speak to the guys at the table beside us. Don’t worry, I think it will be a good thing.”

Mom looked over and then nodded. “Just try not to cause any trouble, please.”

“No trouble Mom, but maybe I can help someone not as lucky as Amaryllis get justice.”

“Which rule is this one about?”

I smiled at her. “Rule four for certain, and maybe two as well. Leave things better than you found them. Be a positive force for positive change. That one applies for certain and maybe rule seven.”

Mom frowns. “I thought there were only five.”

“Well, rule six applies too. Do right even if the stars fall. Rule seven, I just added. Help those that need it. You never know when you might need help yourself.”

“You’re making these up as you go along, aren’t you?”

I grinned. “It’s possible that I am, but not just to have more rules. I add to them when I see the need for them.”

I stood and walked over to the table. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Might I have a seat for a moment? I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

The older one nodded. “Sure, take a load off. I was right, wasn’t I? You’re that kid the news said put that Buckley boy and his friends in the hospital yesterday.”

I nodded. “I’m Harrison Parker. and the girl sitting in the corner there is Amaryllis, the girl they were going to hurt. Now, did I hear you say that Henry might have a story my lawyer would want to hear?”

Henry shook his head. “Won’t make a difference. We tried to tell them when it happened. No one wanted to hear it then. What good would it do to drag it up again?”

“Well, let me tell you what I was told this morning, Henry. The new lady D.A. is looking into a bunch of old cases where other young women weren’t as lucky as Amaryllis. My lawyer is helping her find still others that didn’t file a police report against their attacker or attackers. Why don’t you tell me what happened and if it is something like what the D.A. is looking for, maybe we can bring some justice your way.”

He nodded. “Alright, I have a daughter. She’s going into the tenth grade this year. This happened at homecoming last year. Craig Jenkins, one of the star football players, asked her to the dance. I said no, she wasn’t old enough to date. She was only fifteen. But her Mom and she both started pushing for me to let her go to the dance with him. After all, he was an upstanding member of the community. Friends with the Mayor’s son and a football player. They’d meet at the dance and I could even drop her off and pick her up. So I agreed. I shouldn’t have.”

“My daughter, Tabitha, looked lovely in her dress and so grown up. I took her to the game and handed her off to Craig for the dance. I planned to pick her up at eleven when the dance was supposed to end. But that wasn’t what happened.”

“Around ten, I got a phone call from the school. My daughter was sobbing on the phone and begging me to come get her. She informed me she was hiding in the guidance office because of being hurt by some guys and that she needed to go to the hospital. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yes Sir. They did to her what they were going to do to Amaryllis.”

“Exactly. When I got there, she was under the front desk in the dark, crying. It took me several minutes to get her to come out and when she did, what I saw made me sick. Her beautiful dress had been torn almost completely off of her body. She was bleeding on what they left of it and covered in ... Well, you know what they covered her in.”

“I had to carry her to the car. She was so hurt she couldn’t even walk. The hospital took swabs and scraped under her nails and put everything in these little evidence bags. They called the police. A patrol officer in uniform came and started taking her statement. She’d gone to the bathroom, she told him, and when she came out five boys were waiting for her, including her date. They told her they were going to have a party with her and she refused. This big guy, Deshawn Pearson, grabbed her from behind and put his hand over her mouth.”

“Then the Buckley kid told her she was going to party with them no matter what, so she should just give in and enjoy herself. She kicked and screamed into the boy’s hand, trying to get attention and get away. Instead, they dragged her into an empty room, beat her, tore her dress off and..., well, we all know what they did to her over and over until they were done. When they left, she was covered in their mess and her own blood.”