Home > Seth(6)

Seth(6)
Author: Kathryn Shay

When they were little, he remembered her mother Celia saying, Of course you can sleep upstairs with Julianne in her tent.

Celia telling her husband when they were in high school…Hush, Herb. They’re fine down in the basement. If they’re going to do something, they’re together so much they can do it anywhere.

And later, in college, again her mother smiling at him…You don’t have to knock, Seth. Our casa your casa…

Everybody thought they were perfect together. And they had been. “Still are,” he said aloud.

He wandered around the living room. The pictures of him and Julianne that had graced the tables and shelves were gone now, replaced by prints on the wall and photos of her mother and father on a cruise ship, right before Herb Ford died of cancer. Ones of her and her mother in Florida, where Celia Ford moved to live with her sister.

Also missing were any pictures of Julianne with Jordan, her mysterious beau. He wondered if those were in the bedroom, which led to wondering what guys had been up there. “Fuck!” he said out loud.

“Who are you swearing at?” she asked when she came down. Dressed in simple white capris and a yellow blouse, her hair brushed back in a ponytail, she looked…wonderful. Pieces of his heart chipped away a little bit more every time he saw her and was reminded of what he’d lost.

“I was swearing at myself.”

“Do I dare ask why?”

“No.” He grinned. “You look cute.”

“Let’s go,” she responded, ignoring the compliment.

He followed her out, and got in her bright red mustang. She liked cars and had bought snazzy ones since they broke up. Soon, they were on their way to see a boy/man whose parents and society had forgotten.

 

* * *

 

“We’re close to the house, Julianne. Sorry it’s taking so long.”

The driving distance didn’t matter. The slow traffic was tolerable. But being with Seth in such close quarters played havoc with her nerve endings. His scent, too familiar, filled her head and his shoulders nearly touched hers in the confines of the front seat. Still, she said, calmly, “No worries. Can you share with me where we’re going? You just said you had to do something for work.”

“Yeah, I can tell you. There’s a young man who needs help in getting foster care for two of his former neighbors. The kids spent all their time at his house for almost two years, then they were put in a foster home when their parents overdosed. John turned twenty-one and wants those kids back.”

“They weren’t adopted?”

“Both have a bad case of asthma and need supervision and medicine for attacks.”

“People don’t know how serious asthma can be.” She shook her head. “I have a student with it. Since music includes breathing, the parents thought I could help with his condition.”

“Are you helping him?”

“I think I am. He’s a sweetie.”

“Good for you, Jules.”

He glanced down at his phone. “The house is right up here. I hope it passes the standards OCFS has in place.”

“Me, too.”

She swerved over to the curb in front of 5523 Lincoln Street. The house loomed before them, up three stories, gray, shingled and sturdy. She was sorry to say, “The paint’s peeling a bit.”

“That won’t count much.” A sidewalk separated the house from the street. “Thankfully the walkway and stoop are in good shape. So many of these older houses have cracked concrete, which would work against future fostering because they’d be dangerous to kids.”

“Shall I wait out here?” she asked.

“This is a pretty safe neighborhood, but I’ll be at least an hour, and I don’t want you alone.”

She’d warned the man thousand times since they were teens not to make decisions for her. “Seth…”

“Sorry. You decide. But I’d prefer you come in with me.”

“All right. I will.”

“And if you see things that are…I don’t know, iffy, keep it in mind to tell me later.”

Seconds after he used the heavy knocker, the door opened. Before him stood a young man, dressed in khaki shorts and a collared shirt, dark hair combed back, and wary eyes. He greeted them. “Hey, I’m Johnny. Seth, right?”

“Yeah and this is a coworker, Julianne.”

After Julianne said hello, the boy stepped aside. Both walked into a large foyer, with hardwood flooring, worn some, but not hazardous. Johnny jammed his hands into his pockets. “So, how do we do this?”

“I’d like to ask you the standard questions used at Legal Aid before we take a case, then talk to your grandmother, then take a tour of your house.”

“Does everything have to be…perfect? Sometimes, Grandma isn’t very neat.”

“No, of course not.”

Julianne didn’t know if she was supposed to speak, but that didn’t stop her. “My grandma wasn’t either, Johnny. It’s common among the elderly.”

They sat in the dining room at a big scarred oak table. Seth asked the standard queries: Did the household income qualify for Legal Aid and fostering? Who would take care of the kids when Johnny worked at his job on the docks? And more.

“I think that’s enough for me. You passed.” Seth stood. “Let’s go talk to Grandma.”

Johnny pumped his fist. “Yes!”

They walked through an older but neat kitchen, to where a door led to a screened-in back porch. “Grandma, these are the people I told you about.”

Grandma smiled up at them from where she sat in a recliner. The application said she was sixty-seven and spry enough to watch the kids. Her purple shirt complemented her white hair and alert eyes.

“Hello, I’m Dorothy Cordello.”

Seth introduced himself and Jules, and when they took chairs, Dorothy came to the edge of hers. “Would you like some lemonade?”

“Thank you,” Seth said.

“I’d love some.”

The older woman started to get up.

“No, please—” Julianne began.

Johnny intervened. “Let her get up. She’s supposed to move, every hour.”

Dorothy stood easily, went into the kitchen and returned with lemonade for everybody. She was steady and sure on her feet. They chatted with her, and found she was totally onboard with Johnny’s foster care. She spoke briefly about her son and daughter who’d kicked Johnny out. Her eyes clouded and her words were critical. “How they could do that to my boy is beyond me. And they told me he’d run away. I had no idea he was in a group home. When I found out, I brought him here.” She gave Johnny a squeeze on his arm and smiled at him.

They spoke of her ability to take care of the kids. She’d been an elementary school teacher and retired at sixty-two.

Then Johnny took Seth and Julianne on a tour of the house. Some furniture was worn, like the floors, but neat and clean. Three bedrooms upstairs, and yes, Johnny told them, Grandma could climb them easily since her hip surgery. Then they returned to the porch.

“Do we pass muster?” Dorothy asked.

“From my vantage point, you passed with flying colors.”

“My Joseph used to use that phrase.”

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