Nov 16 2008
There’s No Mystery About Jack
This is a short story I entered in a contest. It was to be written for the preteen age group. Well, I only got 19 out of 55. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Any critiquing is appreciated.
There’s No Mystery About Jack
When Jetta’s grandfather moved into the Pine Cove Retirement Facility, she was only eleven. They were putting him in a locked area called the memory care unit, which meant his Alzheimer had gotten so he couldn’t take care of himself. Jetta thought they were joking when they told her he could no longer take care of her either. She’d been taking care of both of them for the last two years, plus.
We’re going to try and find a nice family for you to live with until we can locate your relatives, they’d told her. There were no relatives. Her mother left when she was just a baby. It’s hard to miss someone you don’t remember, so then why did she miss having a mother so much? A foster home, that’s what they were talking about. She was smart enough to know they may not find a foster home and she might end up in one of those buildings that looked like prison. Would it feel like jail, she wondered.
“I can take care of myself, Jetta grumbled as she rummaged through the bakery’s throw-aways from the day before.
The alley was dark this time of night, but she’d made her food rounds ever since she started the fifth grade. First, she hit Watson’s Grocer’s dumpster. That’s where she found most of the good stuff, boxes of cereal with the current month’s expiration date, fruits and vegetables, dented canned goods too. She was afraid to take meat or milk, knowing it could be spoiled and make her and her grandfather sick. Second, she’d head over to the back of Chancy’s Café where sometimes she’d get lucky with unopened packets of crackers or jelly, but mostly it was just the food off of peoples dishes they’d scraped into plastic bags. Not very appetizing. At the Northern Star Bakery she sometimes hit the jackpot with left over bagels, cookies and bread.
At first, her grandfather asked where she got all the food she brought home. But, he stopped asking soon after. His meager social security check didn’t spread far enough to meet their needs.
Jetta stuck the two dry rolls into her tote bag and started to head towards her new home. She’d found the back door of an empty store front unlocked her first night out. It had a bathroom with running water and a place out of the night cold. What more could a girl want.
“Mmm, Mmm.”
Jetta turned toward the low whine. It was coming from the back door of the bakery, but she didn’t see anything but a group of pumpkins and their shadows.
“Mmm, Mmm.” Again she heard the whine.
Upon closer inspection, in the center of the group of pumpkins, Jetta saw a shivering pup. It was the ugliest thing she’d ever seen. It’s white skin showed through the sparse strands of orange fur. One ear was smaller than the other and laid flat against it’s head while the other ear perked up to her voice.
“Hi there little puppy. Why you’re not a puppy at all. Are you on your own, like me?”
The dog jumped out from behind the pumpkins and danced around Jetta on it’s hind legs.
“Are you doing a trick for me?”
The dog stopped dancing and moved towards Jetta’s tote bag, sniffing.
“Are you hungry little one?” She broke a small piece off one of the rolls and handed it to him.
“You are hungry, aren’t you?” Jetta broke off another piece and laid it on the ground next to the dog.
She turned and took several steps towards her empty store front. She could hear the tap, tap, tap of the dogs nails against the pavement as he followed her.
“Now shoo, little dog. You can’t come with me. Go home.”
He backed away a couple of steps and stopped. Jetta turned and walked. Again she heard the tap, tap, tap of the dog’s nails. Well, if he was going to follow her home for the night, she guessed it was okay. She could use a little company.
Jetta jumped as the back door to the bakery swung open and illuminated the dark alley.
“Oh, high there.” A lady in a white apron, bulging around the tummy and hips, stood at the doorway.
“Hi.” Jetta said and turned to run off with the dog at her heals.
“No, wait. Is that your dog? He’s been hanging around my back door the last couple of days, but he won’t let me get close enough to catch him.”
“Ah, yeah, sure he’s mine.”
“I’ve been calling him Pumpkin, ’cause of his color.”
No dog of hers would be named Pumpkin, Jetta thought.
“No, no his name’s, ah, Jack. Yeah, that’s it, Jack O’Lantern.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Jetta.”
“Jetta O’Lantern? It sounds Irish.” The lady’s lips spread in a wide smile. “Would you like to help me with these pumpkins. I’m painting faces on them for tomorrow’s Halloween celebration.
She tried to resist. Halloween had always been Jetta’s favorite holiday and orange was her favorite color. It saddened her to think she would miss her last year for trick-or-treating. She’d firmly decided that twelve was too old to be knocking on doors in costume, but at eleven it was acceptable.
“I really should be getting home, my parents are waiting for me.” Jetta scuffed her shoe at an invisible stone.
“Ruff, ruff, ruff.”
They both looked at Jack.
“Well, maybe I could paint just one pumpkin.”
“You can call your parents on my phone. By the way, my name’s Madison Campbell, but you can call me Miss Maddy, everyone does.”
“No, it’ll be okay, but can Jack come too.”
“Oh, I’m sorry hon, but dogs aren’t allowed in the bakery. How about if we tie him to this post out here and I’ll make him some dinner with the fresh cornbread I just took out of the oven, honey and a bit of milk. We can bring it out here for him?”
Jetta licked her lips.
“And, we’ll snack on some ourselves while we work. Oh, I pay a dollar for each painted pumpkin. So, this is really a business deal between us, of course.”
Jetta’s eyes grew wide. “A dollar a pumpkin, you’ll pay me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Miss Maddy reached down and grabbed a pumpkin stem in each hand.
Jetta’s stomach rumbled, from the delectable bakery smells, as she followed Miss Maddy through the kitchen and into the front of the shop. One of the small round tables, covered in newspaper, was set up with an assortment of paints, brushes, container of water and paper towels. All the other tables were covered in orange plastic table cloths with a giant jack-o-lantern face in the center. There was black and orange streamers curled and hung from the center of the room outwards, then pinned to the walls.
“What is this for, a party?” Jetta asked.
“Oh, yes. I put on a party every Halloween night for the older kids. We have all kinds of goodies to eat. I make Cherry Orchard Punch with floating green hands.”
“Floating green hands?”
“It’s nothing. I fill up a couple of rubber gloves with green tinted water and stick them in the freezer. Just before the party starts, I pull them out, cut off the gloves and stick the green hands in the punch. The kids love it.”
Miss Maddy plopped the two pumpkins on the table and motioned for Jetta to sit.
“You get started on these two and I’ll fix Jack’s dinner.”
By the time Miss Maddy returned with a piece of cornbread and glass of milk for Jetta, she had finished painting the two pumpkins.
“Now, you run into the kitchen and wash your hands, while I get the two dollars I owe you. Then you can have your cornbread.”
Jetta did as she was told and washed up in record time. That piece of cornbread was calling her name. When she returned Miss Maddy sat at one of the tables with the orange table clothes, along with the cornbread and milk. Jetta sat across from her and started eating.
“Slow down young lady. You’ll get indigestion eating that fast. That reminds me of when I was around your age. I had a terrible time. It was just my mom and me. She came down with a terrible sickness. At the time, I don’t think I realized how bad it was.”
“What was wrong with her?”
“She had cancer. A year later I was all alone in the world. At first I was scared, but it turned out my foster mom was the best person in the world. I helped out in her bakery. She taught me everything I know. She even helped with the money when I opened this place.”
“Wow, I wish I had a mom like that. I mean, of course, if I didn’t already have the best mom in the world.”
Miss Maddy looked deep into Jetta’s eyes. “Don’t you think it’s about time we got you a mom like that? When I saw you come out of the Stevenson building a little earlier, I knew something was up.”
Jetta sat silent, just staring at Miss Maddy. Words were stuck in her throat, but she didn’t know what they would say even if she could get them out. She just knew she’d been found out and there was no where to run.
“Would you be my mom?” Well, the words popped out alright. She was surprised by them. By the look on Miss Maddy’s face she knew she was surprised also.
“Oh, I guess Mr. Maddy wouldn’t have any use for a kid like me.”
Miss Maddy’s face softened. “There’s no Mr. Maddy, I mean I’ve never been married. But, I’ve always loved kids. I just never thought I’d have the opportunity to have any of my own. But maybe… I can’t make any promises, but if you will let me call someone to take you to a home tonight, I’ll see about becoming a foster parent.”
Jetta was leery, but she couldn’t stay in that empty building, now that she’d been discovered.
“Could I come to the Halloween party?”
“I’ll see what I can do?”
Miss Maddy walked into the kitchen, leaving the door open. She kept an eye on Jetta the whole time she was talking. When she got off the phone she came back to the table.
“I lied about Jack. He’s not my dog.”
“I had a feeling about that. However, there‘s no mystery about Jack. I believe everything in life happens for a reason. He found a way to bring you and me together. All three of us needed a family and Jack made it happen.
