Chapter 130
Norman, Oklahoma, 1951
The car headed south at a pretty good clip, and neither one of the boys said anything at all, only continued holding onto each other, waiting for some sort of an explanation. After about twenty minutes, the woman pulled over into a diner parking lot and turned to face them. “Like hamburgers?”
Elliott’s mouth immediately started watering as his head bobbed up and down. Within seconds, he was out of the car, Jimmy left to fend for himself.
Over the biggest cheeseburger he’d ever seen in his life, and a platter of fries to match, Elliott stared at the smiling faces of the couple across from him. The man had his arm around the woman in a way Elliott had never seen people sit before except for once at the movies when he’d snuck in during the last few minutes of a matinee. Even though his mom probably had a dozen men over in the last five years, they never wrapped their arms around her shoulders like that, like they wanted to protect her from the world.
Grease dripped down his chin, and the lady handed him a napkin. “Thanks Ms…?”
“Oh, my goodness. We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet, have we?” she asked, looking at the fellow next to her. “I’m so sorry. You two boys should’ve asked sooner.”
“We’re too busy eating cheeseburgers,” Jimmy giggled, and Elliott watched in shock as his twig of a brother inhaled the sandwich.
“Well, that is a very good reason,” she laughed. “My name is Janette Findley. And this is my husband, Jordan.”
Husband. The word would’ve been foreign to him if he didn’t have friends with complete families. Elliott’s eyes flickered to the man’s—Mr. Findley’s--hand and saw a ring there. It was a fascinating concept to him.
“It’s very nice to finally meet you two,” Mr. Findley said with a smile. “We’ve been wanting to meet you for so long.”
Elliott was surprised to hear that. He set his burger down, even though there was at least a quarter of it left, and wiped his hands on his napkin. “What do you mean?”
They exchanged glances again before she said, “Well, you see, we found out a few years ago that the two of you weren’t being taken care of very well, not up to our standards, anyway, and while we wanted for you to be able to stay in Oklahoma City with your mother….”
“It is best, now, if the two of you are removed from the situation,” Mr. Findley finished.
Swallowing hard, Elliott tried to take in what had just been stated to him. Had he made the right decision taking his baby brother out of their home to leave town with two strangers? He glanced over at Jimmy, who was eating a french fry the length of a carrot, dripping with ketchup, happy as a lark. “How do you know our mother?”
“It’s sort of a long story, but we work for an organization that has been around for many years. And your great-grandmother, your Grandpa Stewart’s mother, used to work there,” Mrs. Findley explained. Elliott had never heard anything at all about Grandpa’s mom. “We tend to keep a close eye on the families of our employees.”
“So you knew Mom wasn’t treatin’ us right?” Elliott asked, finally returning to his burger.
“We did,” Mr. Findley nodded. “So we contacted your mother many times in the last few years, even offering to give her money to buy better food, better clothes for you two. Any money we gave her didn’t quite end up in the right place, though.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine what he was speaking about. Alcohol and cigarettes, no doubt. “So now we’re gonna live with you?” Elliott’s question had Jimmy looking up expectantly as well, his curly hair, slightly lighter than his older brothers, flopping as he did so.
“Not with us,” Mrs. Findley clarified, “but with someone we know. Someone we trust.”
He did remember there being some mention of another person involved in all of this. “Who is it, Mrs. Findley?” he asked.
“Please, call me Janette,” she said with a warm smile. “I know that might seem odd to you since I’m an adult and you’re still children, but I’m not used to being addressed so formally.”
“Okay, Ms. Janette,” Elliott said with a shrug. “Who is this person?”
“She’s a distant relation of mine. Her name is Peggy Smithstone, and she and her husband live on a farm in Norman. She has horses and cows, all sorts of livestock. I think you’ll really like it out there.”
“Wow!” Jimmy’s expression said it all. “Do you think I can have a dog?”
“I’m not sure,” Janette said with a shrug, “but I know Peggy has a few dogs already.”
“Dogs?” Jimmy repeated. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day!”
While Elliott was tempted to mention they hadn’t gotten much good news that day, not if one thought about their mother neglecting them so much that strangers felt it necessary to intervene on their behalf and remove them, the look on his brother’s face was not to be spoiled. He imagined it might be nice to have a dog. Even though he’d fake cried about losing a cat, he had an idea dogs were better.
“You’ll have lots of land to run and play on, and there’s a school as well, though it’s not as big as your city school. You might want to try out for the football team, Elliott,” Jordan said with a smile.
“You callin’ me husky?” he asked, but he had a grin on his face.
“No,” Jordan said quickly. “I was implying that you look like a strong young man, and I bet you could make an impression on the other team.” He had a gleam in his eye that made Elliott think trying out for football might not be a half-bad idea.
“Peggy and Frank don’t have any children of their own, but they’ve always wanted them. She still works for our company, but we will give her some time off so that she can make sure the two of you are all settled.” Janette smiled reassuringly, but the news made Elliott uneasy. Once again, he glanced at his brother, thinking the last thing he wanted was to have to take care of his brother again.
As if reading his mind, Jordan added, “Peggy’s financial situation is different than what you’re used to. We assure you, should she ever be called away on business, it won’t be for long. Frank will be there. He works there, taking care of the animals, but should it be necessary, I assure you she will be able to provide proper care.”
“You mean a babysitter?” Jimmy asked. They’d heard of such an idea before but had never experienced it.
“Precisely,” Janette nodded. “Now, who wants some ice cream?”
Elliott didn’t need to be asked twice, and once he and Jimmy had eaten their fill of ice cream sundaes and drank enough soda to have a sugar rush for a week and a half, they loaded back into the car and continued their way out into the countryside.
