The Chaplain's Daughter (6 page)

“That’s for you to work out.  Ask your friend John.  He sounds like a good man.”

Toby and Wanda walked back to the house in silence.  Toby knocked on the front door and heard John’s faint “Come in”.  Toby stood back and let his mother enter first.  John and DeeDee were seated in the living room with the Sunday paper scattered about.  Alyssa was nowhere to be seen.

“I want to thank you for breakfast, Mr. and Ms. Boylan,” Wanda said.  “I appreciate what you done for my boy.  I’m going now.”

If John was surprised by Wanda’s abrupt (and solitary) departure he didn’t let on.  He stood up and walked to where Wanda stood by the front door.

“It was a pleasure to have you to our home for breakfast.  We’ll surely do it again.”

DeeDee Boylan joined her husband at the door.  She gave Wanda a quick hug.  Wanda hugged her back with a fierceness that belied the short time that the two had known each other.  As they hugged Wanda whispered, “Thank you, and I’m sorry.  I gotta go.”

DeeDee opened the door and let Wanda and Toby out so Toby could walk his mother to her Datsun.  They walked closely together, but without touching until they arrived at the curb.  Then Wanda turned to hug her son, and Toby could see the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.  He reached for his mother to give her a hug.  Wanda swallowed a sob.

“Be a good boy, Toby.  Please be a good boy.”

“I’ll try Mama.  And I will.  You’ll see.”

“Call me.”

“I will.”

With those final words and a quick farewell hug, Wanda started her car.  Blue smoke belched out of the back and the gears ground as Wanda put it in second.  First gear had died a few months earlier.  She drove away without a wave or a look in the rear view mirror.

Toby walked slowly up the walk and back to the Boylan’s home.  He walked in and saw John and DeeDee back on the couch and loveseat.  The Sunday papers had been discarded, though.  John pointed to an empty spot on the couch and said, “Sit down, son.  It looks like you have to decide a few things.  I’d like to help.”

The rest of the morning passed with Toby and the Boylan’s trying to brainstorm about what was to become of the young man in the immediate future.  Toby said that he thought that he might be able to stay with Amos, who had been released from Pierce County Jail a month earlier.  Amos’ judge had been a touch more lenient than had Toby’s.  John told Toby that, though it might be okay as a very temporary move, moving in with an old friend was no way to start finding new acquaintances toward a better life.  Finally, when the conversation started to lag, John asked Toby if he would mind stepping outside for a bit so John could talk over a few things with his family.  Toby said that he would walk to a convenience store that he had spotted while in the car earlier.

As soon as Toby closed the door behind him, John and DeeDee heard their daughter coming down the steps with a load of mad on board.

“Daddy, don’t you DARE invite him to stay here!  Don’t you DARE!  You’ve never done ANYTHING like this before and I WON’T HAVE IT NOW!”

John heard his daughter out, and then said “Please sit down Alyssa.”

Alyssa sat down on the chair that faced her parents on the couch.  Truth told “sat down” doesn’t begin to say how Alyssa went from on her feet to on the chair.  She threw herself into the chair with tremendous gusto, groaning all the while.  Only after she accomplished the sitting down maneuver with great theatricality did John resume speaking.

“Your Mother and I haven’t discussed any of this yet, but I would like to.  Alyssa, I know your position on the matter.  Now I would like to hear what my wife has to say.”

Though DeeDee put her hand on her husband’s forearm as she began to speak, her words were clearly directed at Alyssa.  “I think it would be fine to let Toby stay here while he tries to get his life in order.  It won’t be forever, or even very long I imagine.  He seems so lost.  Alyssa, we will expect your cooperation, if not your endorsement of the idea.”

Alyssa was used to getting her way with her parents.  Particularly her Dad had always been a touch that she could usually bend to her will.  Once in a while, though, blue steel showed out from behind John Boylan’s glasses.  This was one of those times.  Alyssa knew when she was beaten.

“I’ll help you clean out the guest room, but I don’t have to like him.”

DeeDee smiled just a bit.  “No, honey, indeed you don’t.”

John and DeeDee put their heads together for a while to talk about what they would say to the young man upon his return.  Alyssa sulked, but had the grace to do it quietly.  About a half hour after he had left, Toby came back into the house with a bag of Skittles and a Mountain Dew.  He had been nervous enough to try to get away with buying, and downing, a beer, but refrained.  He had just poured a half bag of Skittles into his mouth when he arrived back at the Boylan’s.  Upon entering the living room he saw John and DeeDee looking expectantly at him from the couch.  Alyssa was looking out the window while sprawled across the chair with her legs over the arms.  Toby took a seat on the carpeted floor with his back against the hearth.

John said, “Son, we would like to offer you a place to stay for a while.”

Toby felt his eyes start to well up but held his emotions in check.  “Thank you,” was all that he could say.

DeeDee spoke next, “We are going to clean out the guest bedroom.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

John laid out the ground rules.  He and DeeDee had been married long enough that they had arrived at Toby’s conditions for staying with them quite easily.  The Boylan’s had always been able to communicate efficiently when the need arose.

“You can take today and tomorrow to get settled, but Tuesday morning I will expect you to ride with me when I go into work.  You will go to Harbor Lights and talk to James Drake.  He will give you a work schedule.  You can ride the bus to and from work when the schedules allow, or you can take the bike with you on the Pierce Transit bus to work and ride it home.  If the bus doesn’t run at all when you work, and I’m not available, you will ride the bike both ways.  It’s right at 32 miles, one way.  You’ll get in shape before you know it.  DeeDee and I will loan you the money to get a bus pass, but we will expect you to pay us back out of your very first paycheck.  I know that you have some restitution to pay the state as a part of your sentence.  We expect that you will pay on that with a portion of each check as well.  In addition, we will want you to pay $50.00 a week for room and board while you are here.”

DeeDee spoke up, “Between the bus pass, restitution, and rent your first check is already spent.  After that, though, we will want you to put some money away every week toward a place of your own when the time is right.  In addition we will ask you to help around the house or with some yard work.  Are these conditions agreeable?”

Toby nodded.  It wasn’t going to be a soft or easy existence, but underneath the rules and regulations he could feel the care that the older couple felt for him.  Unfortunately, Toby felt something as well from Alyssa.  It was neither compassion nor care.  He spoke to her.

“Um, I don’t mean to mess anything up for you, and I won’t get in your way if I can help it.”

Alyssa tossed her hair and snapped her reply.  “No problem.  Between school and work for me and the things that you have to do, we’ll barely see each other.  That’s probably for the best.”

5

Toby had worked hard at his previous kitchen job (that is, when he had shown up for work).  Nothing, though, had prepared him for the pace at Harbor Lights.  As one of Tacoma’s most popular eateries the seafood restaurant’s small size was belied by the line out the door almost from the time that the door was unlocked at 11:00 a.m.  Toby barely had time to grab a quick ice water from the server’s area between tubs of dirty plates and bowls being thrust on him by bus boys on the run.  Toby earned a dime over minimum wage for a shift that started at 6:00 at night and lasted until about 12:30 a.m. four nights a week.  He worked Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights.  Occasionally he was called in on Sunday as well, but that shift tended to be noon to seven.

Luckily the bus from the Boylan’s Olympia home ran at times that he could catch a ride to work every day.  It was a long dark slog back at night, however.  Toby had every intention of staying on the straight and narrow, but it wouldn’t have mattered much if he hadn’t.  On the days that he worked Toby fell into bed and into a dead sleep as soon as he got back from work.

Two weeks after Toby started work he was sweeping off the parking lot at Harbor Lights when he heard a familiar voice, “Hey!  Tobe!”

Amos hadn’t been in touch at all up until now.  Toby acknowledged him and kept working.  Amos hopped over a parking barrier and joined Toby in the lot.

“Where you been, my man?” Amos said, throwing his arm around Toby’s shoulder.

“I been around.  I got a job working here.”

Amos squinted a little as he looked, first at Harbor Lights and then at Toby’s stained apron.

“So I see.  What are you doin’ here?  I got some ideas about how we can make some quick money.”

Toby glanced quickly at the door that went into the kitchen from the parking lot.  He didn’t want to be rude to Amos but he also didn’t want to be seen leaning on a broom by his boss.  He spoke in a low voice to Amos while continuing to sweep.

“Whatchu got in mind.  I don’ want no trouble.”  Toby realized that he had fallen into the slang and lingo of the inner city.  It made sense since that is where he knew Amos.

Amos realized that he didn’t have Toby’s undivided attention.  “When are you done here?”

“Midnight, 12:30, maybe later.”

“You gotta phone?”

Toby figured that it would be best to get Amos away from his workplace as soon as he could.  “Yeah.  Call me at 360-425-5645,” he said, giving Amos the Boylan’s land line number. What with rent, restitution, bus passes and the like Toby didn’t have a cell phone, and didn’t know when he would be able to get one.

“Gotcha’.  I’ll call you tomorrow.  When are you up?”

Toby shook his head.  “Don’t call me until after noon, man.  I gotta ride my bike home and it’s about ten thousand miles.”

Amos left and Toby didn’t think about him again until the next day.  Just before noon Toby was awakened from a sound sleep by someone banging on his bedroom door and yelling his name.

“TOBY!  PHONE!!!”

It was Alyssa, none too pleased with having to be an answering service for her parent’s delinquent house guest.  “TOBY!  PHONE CALL!”

“Okay, okay.  I’ll be there in a minute.”

Half expecting Alyssa to keep hounding him Toby rubbed his eyes and waited for her to say more. 
“It would be just like her”
he thought.

But Alyssa was already away from the door and on with her day.  She and Toby hadn’t exchanged a dozen words since he had moved in.

Toby got dressed and went into the kitchen where the nearest phone extension hung on the wall.

“H’lo?”

“Tobe, it’s me man.  Can you talk?”

Toby glanced around the corner and didn’t see anyone.  “Sure, I guess.”

“Listen.  Some of us were talkin’ about you.  We don’t want to see you wearin’ dirty aprons and sweepin’ whitey’s parkin’ lot.  Do you work tonight?”

“No.”

“Me and some others will pick you up at 11:00.  We got a plan.”

He knew that he should just hang up on Amos, because Amos’ idea was surely going to be trouble, but Toby didn’t hang up.  The idea of having some ready cash appealed to him.  Toby was still tired from his long shift at work and exhausting ride home.   His legs ached all the time and, while John and DeeDee were great to him they were all he had.  His friends lived in downtown Tacoma, and all Toby saw every day was them and Alyssa, known to Toby as “their snooty-assed daughter,”

“Okay Amos, 11:00.  You don’t know where I live, though.” Toby said.  He quickly gave John and DeeDee’s address to Amos, who hung up without another word.  Toby went back to bed.

What he didn’t realize was that Alyssa had come into the kitchen from behind him, and had heard the end of the phone call.  She hadn’t recognized the voice on the phone when she had answered it, but thought that Toby’s plan to hook up with “Amos” at 11:00 at night was something to note.

Toby slept until 2:00.  When he finally walked into the Boylan’s living room he saw that snow had fallen on the driveway.  DeeDee had asked him to help around the house so he went into the garage to get a sidewalk broom.  He was clearing a path from the driveway to the front door when Alyssa came out on to the porch.  She was carrying two steaming mugs.

“Hey, you want some hot chocolate?”

Toby looked up in surprise.  Alyssa had been anything but welcoming in the days that he had been a guest in her home.  Truth told he was a little suspicious of her offer even now.  The steam rising from the brown ceramic mugs, in concert with the cold air against his face was more than he could resist.

“Sure,” Toby said.  He put the sidewalk broom over his shoulder military style and moved toward the porch.

Alyssa held out the mug and sat down on the porch.  Toby joined her, holding the mug between his hands.  The warmth from the hot chocolate was welcome.  Toby and Alyssa sipped in silence until Alyssa spoke.

“You know I wasn’t much in favor of Mom and Dad letting you stay here, but now that you’re here, how are you doing?  Do you like your job?  What are your plans?”

Toby smiled a little at Alyssa’s admission that she hadn’t been in favor of her parent’s largesse.  Not that she needed to say it.  She was a young lady whose opinions showed on her face like a reader board at a football stadium.  If the hot chocolate and conversation was a form of olive branch, though, Toby wasn’t going to quibble about the past.

“The job’s okay.  The bike rides are a drag, but I guess I’m going to get strong.”

Alyssa glanced down at Toby’s legs.  The heavy winter pants that he was wearing to shovel snow couldn’t completely hide the muscle structure underneath.  She could tell that Toby’s legs were lean, but strong.  Alyssa pulled her eyes back to Toby’s face.  He hadn’t seemed to notice her checking out his legs. 
“I really wasn’t,”
she thought.

Toby drained the last of the sweet hot beverage and put the empty mug on the porch as he stood up.

“Gotta finish up, thanks.”

Alyssa picked up Toby’s mug and put it in her left hand along with her own.  She hesitated for a moment and then held out her right hand toward Toby.  “I’m sorry that I got so mad.  I really do hope that everything goes well for you.”

Toby took Alyssa’s hand in his.  Her handshake was firm, belying the softness of her skin.

“Friends?” Toby asked.

Alyssa laughed, “Friends.”

Toby watched Alyssa as she went back into the house.  He couldn’t help but be stirred by her.  Toby had never been with a grown woman.  His “love life”, if you could call it that, consisted of hurried groping and coupling with girls who were proud to call themselves “bitches and ho’s.”  Toby may tell Amos that Alyssa was a snooty assed bitch but even he knew that was a show of bravado.  Alyssa was an intelligent young lady with a real mind.  The body that she was carrying into the house along with Toby’s empty cup wasn’t too bad either.

When Toby had finished out front he went back into the Boylan’s living room.  A fire had been laid in the fireplace and the heat of the blaze was a magnet for Toby’s frost-bitten hands and feet.  Alyssa got up from the couch and stood beside him in front of the hearth.  The two young people stood companionably in silence for a moment.  Toby appreciated the atmospheric thaw that Alyssa exhibited to him that morning.  It made life so much easier if he didn’t feel like she hated him being there.

For Alyssa’s part, she was dealing with a fruit salad of thoughts and emotions.  As evidenced by her impassioned speech during Professor Bakewood’s lecture, she would only too readily have described herself as a “law and order hard-ass,” to this point.  She believed in a strict interpretation of society’s rules and harsh punishment for those who flout said rules.

All of that was well and good in theory, but the recent weeks had put a face on people who broke Alyssa’s precious rules.  She saw in Toby someone who had a strong work ethic and a good heart.  It had been hidden behind what hides the good in so many young men raised in the mean streets.

The dilemma that Alyssa faced that cold winter morning was no small mountain to climb.  If Toby was redeemable, was he the only one?  Alyssa warmed her hands next to Toby and decided to give herself a good internal tongue lashing.

“Get a grip!  You have a good time talking to this guy and give up everything that you’ve always believed.  He’s hot (a point that she decided to stipulate in the courtroom of the mind) and you’re getting all mushy brained about what he’s done.  He’s probably just faking being good so he can stay here with Mom and Dad.”

Toby, of course, had no idea of the inner dialogue that was raging inside Alyssa’s mind.  Nor did he know that what he was about to say was only going to confuse her more.

“I’ve been thinking about my Mom.  I wish that I could talk to her and make her understand.  I’ve disappointed her…”  Toby went on talking but Alyssa had some more internal dialogue to handle.

Oh great!  Now he’s sad about his mother! Pull on my heart a LITTLE HARDER, TOBY!  Maybe bring a puppy or a kitten home and nurse it back to health.  You would do that, wouldn’t you?”

Toby had stopped talking and was looking to Alyssa for a response.  She had no idea what he had said at the end so she went with a noncommittal, “Mmm-hmm.”

Apparently it was sufficient, because Toby continued talking.  “A lot of the people that I went to school and hung with are gone.  A couple went into the Army, a couple are in prison…one is dead.  I could have been one of them too.  Not now, but if I had kept going the way I was.”

Toby looked at Alyssa, and said with deep feeling, “Your Dad may have saved my life, Alyssa.  I really believe that.”

Alyssa looked into Toby’s chocolate brown eyes and didn’t say anything…out loud.

“Unbelievable!  It’s like you’re reading off a script titled, ‘This way to Alyssa.’  You’re sorry, you miss your Mommy, you’re a changed man, and my Dad is the hero that made it all happen for you.  Why don’t I just melt into an easy to carry pile of clothes and we can ride off into the sunset?  I’m going to be some kind of judge.  ‘You!  The one in the handcuffs!  Yes you, with the strong jaw, nice teeth, and winning smile.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past if you’re sorry.  Are you sorry? Great!  Meet me in my chambers.  I’ll be the one in the thong.’  I’m pathetic.”