Over the course of the next 3 months Crystal Goodbody brought that young boy down out of the mountains. Then they all lived happily ever after. Which has never happened in the history of the world. I couldn't possibly list all of the things that went bad. For me, but especially for her. Much of it to do with the semi-legal half official situation she and I were in. Strictly speaking she was far too young to foster. Shit, she was too young to drink alcohol. There were all kinds of regulations that weren't being followed. Because regulations take no account of reality and no account of nuance. There were all the hoops she had to jump through to remain on their unofficial list of foster carers. The two of us were in a twilight world.
I've already mentioned how Crystal's home was on the good end of bad. Bright sunshine on one side of us. Eternal darkness on the other. That's a pessimistic evaluation. Based on that real world thing. No one really cares about the poor. They provide a valuable source of cheap unskilled labor. Then you can bring in immigrants to keep the wages down. An disproportionate number of those poor, were the very same immigrants. Looking for the American Dream they found themselves in the American Nightmare. Either beneath the poverty line or so close to it a seemingly minor expense could tip them into it. A car breaking down. The kids shoes wearing out. An injury that prevented them from working. Personally I think the situation was actually made worse because many of them had never had it better.
The places they'd fled from were mostly far worse than what they ended up in. But they could see, right over there, a lot of people who had it much better. In some this evoked a fierce drive to strive for a better life. In others it evoked hate and envy. Most simply got along as best they could. Trying to keep their heads above water and taking their solace wherever it could be had. It's a major flaw in humanity that everyone else's problems were always much smaller than your own. Most of the time. Because when you've got that problem it takes up all of your attention, sucking it out of you until it seems much larger.
Now I couldn't tell you whether this is all due to twenty twenty hindsight, or if I was aware of it at the time. I believe that it's only when you look back at your life that you can truly understand it. You're always far too busy to do this while you're living it. Some things don't make sense when they are happening. Many truths and lessons are only learned long after the fact. When they mysteriously fall into place, for no known reason.
She and I fitted together in a way. Though there were thousand differences between us, we'd both been forced to grow up very quickly. Back then that's all I could see we had in common. Thrown into adulthood before our time. Her self appointed task was to bring back the child I'd once been. She took it on without a murmur of complaint. Though she'd been forced to do so. Oh she had her beefs with child services. Ones she mostly kept to herself. They being the only means to her end. Whatever they threw at her she sucked it up. Until they ended up using me as their missile of last resort. The nuclear option if you like.
Perhaps I'm overestimating my evil powers. Later events lead me to the conclusion I'm not. After the lost child was brought back from the mountain all it did was move in with the thing which had already escaped. I'm not malevolent, but neither is a hungry polar bear. It will eat you to survive, no malice involved. A person doing something bad doesn't make them a bad person, so they say. It does leave a justifiable element of doubt though.
The long discussion with the therapist over, it was time to address certain issues. Issue number one was of course me going to school. It was on that list of things to do. I'd attended at least half a dozen different schools in several countries. Like I've already stated, I was mostly homeschooled, by my mom. As a result of this I had one of those accents you couldn't really place. To an American I sounded English, to the English I sounded American. It is what they inaccurately name a Mid- Atlantic accent. It marked me down as different. As if there weren't already enough differences.
There were two middle schools within walking distance. One was St Michael's Roman Catholic Middle School and the other East Middle School. Though St Michael's was closer I was enrolled in the other. Basically because I was an unknown and, as yet, unmeasured student and the other school didn't have any vacancies. It was a popular school, one parents did everything they could to get their kids into. East on the other hand was what was left over after you'd given up all hope of having an education. I'm exaggerating there, it wasn't awful. It was underfunded and had wide variety of intake. That went all the way down to that petrochemical plant. One had a uniform, the other a dress code.
Crystal told me I had a few days to settle in. The following Monday I'd have to be there for 08:00. Two advantages of this were me receiving what passed for an education and her being able to return to her job. Jobs weren't a thing I was acquainted with. My dad was a journalist. No office or business hours for him. My mom was a research scientist. Making her living as a visiting lecturer. Which was very well paid, if you looked at the hourly rate. Enough to keep the wolves from the door, if you looked at the hours she did it. Mom lived for the outdoors. The only reason she worked, as a lecturer, was to finance herself. Something to do while dad was off in Lebanon or Nigeria. As I was filling her in on the details of my life, short and sweet as it was so far, it occurred to me I was undermining Crystal. Her reactions to the mini autobiography certainly gave that impression to me.
"I may have bitten off more than I can chew here." She confessed. "No way I can compete with your parents. Jesus kid you could probably teach me. The apple didn't fall far from the tree where you're concerned."
"My mom always told me you should never confuse education with intelligence." I stated, hoping to be reassuring and not patronizing. "You're as smart as her, in some ways a lot smarter."
She gave me the tight smile again. Humoring me with this one?
"No I ain't. Your mom has a doctorate. I haven't even got a high school diploma."
"True. But she's dead and you aren't." She registered shock at that. "Does that seem cold to you? The truth often comes across that way. You're not my mother, you never will be."
"A bit of advice kid. When you get to school you might find lying works out better for you. With the other kids and the teachers. I'm not saying you are, but you come across as feeling you're superior. People don't like that."
"Noted. I'm not sure what I can do about that. I'll try my best though. What you're saying is when a teacher says something that's wrong, I shouldn't point it out to them and the class."
"Something like that. Right now all I can say is I'll be reading a lot of dictionaries. Who knows, maybe you'll educate me better than school did."
"We can both learn a lot from each other?"
Crystal thought about that for a moment.
"Maybe we can. Now how about a quick tour of the neighborhood? I'll show you round what little there is. Let the locals see your face. That way they won't get twitchy when they see you around. Most people round here have guns. I do. A stranger can be a threat."
She was right, there wasn't a lot to see. That's doing the place a huge injustice though. There were ten homes in the cul de sac. The occupants I saw fascinated me. Mr Tanaka was our nearest neighbor. An elderly grey haired gentleman. He had to be at least 70. A caricature of an angry Japanese man, judging by the glare he directed at us. Crystal told me his animosity was aimed only at her. She laughed it off. Deep down he was a lovely guy. His wife had died of lung cancer a couple of years before, she explained. All of his anger was really aimed at that injustice. The street was T shaped. The cross bar curved in both directions. At the end, where it joined the main road, there was a medium sized convenience store. Owned and run by Juan and Edith Ramirez. They had two grown sons who lived with them. One in the senior year at high school and the other working at the plant. Those two had been the youngest in the street until I turned up. The rest of the people were middle aged or elderly.
It took less than half an hour to do the full circuit. When we returned to the house, Ms Goodbody showed me her workshop. I'd spotted it and asked what was in there. She'd exhibited reluctance. So it seemed to me. Once she'd overcome her qualms, there was still a lot of hesitancy on her part. She took her time finding the key. When she'd found it, seconds passed before she inserted it into the lock. Entering first she turned on the lights. Revealing the magnificent interior. My eyes wide open, my mouth agape, she went from shy to happy. Though that's not an accurate description. She was pleasantly surprised to see I loved it. Woodworking tools at one end, including an old lathe. At the other mechanics tools.
They were nothing though. Not compared to what she produced using them. Intricate wooden sculptures of birds, fishes and animals. A mobile made from car parts, next to three dimensional head that became a different person as you walked around it. The skill required for the work was amazing. How the hell had she learned to do this? High school was a waste of time for someone as talented with their hands and mind as she most definitely was. I had a thought.
"Could I buy one of these please?" I asked. "They're beautiful. The more I look round the more surprises I find."
"Thanks for the offer kid. I don't sell them. They're part of me. I don't sell parts of me."
If only I'd understood the full implications of what she'd said. Though I have to say, even from where I am now, I still don't know all of it. Let's just say I was intruding on her personal space. Ladies will know far better what I mean with that. I was the guy standing too close while being overly intimate. This was what was behind the walls in her eyes. It was in a code I didn't yet understand. I never will completely. Even if I spent a lifetime studying.