The Secret Garden Of Martha Grim
By Richard A. Lopez
(c) 1992
PAGE 21




John walked down the street, a dejected man. His wife had lied in the divorce, made him out to be a bad husband and father, taken his house, his son and according to Melvin Sharpleton, Attorney at Law, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it except "be a good boy!"
Meanwhile, that bastard, Willie Cole was shacked up in John's house, doing his wife, and probably mistreating his kid. Yeah, life was really fair...but he wasn't going to get anywhere moping about it.
To hell with Melvin Sharpleton! John was going to find out what the hell was going on, his son was miserable, and he knew Cole was at the root of it all. "Ann dammit!" he said aloud, not caring who heard him, didn't she care about the welfare of her own son? Was she really that selfish? John had to do something, this was his son, goddammit! If she didn't care, then the hell with her. He and Tommy would just leave. Take off. There were lots of places they could go.
"Yeah moron, you'd get 10 miles out of town, before the State Police caught you and then what? Tommy ends up in foster homes, and you end up the bitch of some big guy named Vinnie..." That last thought almost made him laugh, if he weren't so worried about Tommy. Something just had to be done.

Walking down the street, lost in his thoughts, John almost didn't hear someone that was calling to him. Turning, he saw Carmine Infano waving frantically from the front of his store.
John had known Carmine from the first day he moved to Porters Crossing. He had come to know and trust him and his son Rudy as very good friends, and occasionally played poker with them on Friday nights. What he seemed to want must be urgent, because Carmine always had a smile for him and Tommy, and today he wasn't smiling.

"Carmine, what's going on? you like someone slapped your best friend." John said with a smile, trying to mask his own worries.

"They did my friend, the did..Come into the store, I have something to tell you and it concerns you.." Carmine said, ushering John into the store, and right up to the counter.

John could smell the sawdust on the floor, and the bags of mulch. The plant foods and fertilizers ,flowers and animal feeds. All the aromas mixing with the smells of woods and oils. Everything a country hardware store should smell like. But there was something that wasn't right. Carmine's manner was off. He was not the jovial man that John had seen everyday that he came into the store. No, today he was serious, and it worried him.
"OK Carmine, what's so important that you had to pull me in off the street? Beckmans have a new rod and reel combo coming out, and you got in the new prototype?" John said, half kidding.

" This is not funny, John.." Carmine admonished him, "this is serious, it involves your little Tommy, Rudy.." before he could finish, John cut him off..

"Tommy! What about Tommy? What's happened? what do you know? Tell me, Carmine!" The fear in John's voice was audible and Carmine understood it, but did his best to calm him.

"Now, now John, take it easy, Tommy is alright, he's with Rudy. They're on their way here, now. Tommy said he needed to see you..said it was very important. Now John, I'm going to tell you something, you're not going to like it, but for Tommy's sake, you have to remain calm. Can you do that for me?"

John wasn't sure what he was hearing but if it was what he thought, there was no way in hell he would be able to remain calm.
"That bastard hit my boy, didn't he, Carmine.." it wasn't a question...
"That's what Rudy told me..I don't know the whole story, that's why I'm waiting for the boys to get here. Like Rudy is always telling me, we can't jump to...what is the word? Contusions?" Carmine said, mispronouncing the word.

"It's conclusions, I know..but if that's what it is, Carmine, I swear, I'll kill that bastard!"

"John, if you do, where would that leave Tommy? With her, for good! Do you really want that?"

John thought hard...no. He didn't want that, but he wasn't going to let that bastard get away with mistreating his son. "OK, OK...Damn lawyer wanted proof, now we got it. Now I'll get Tommy out of there. Now they have to give me custody." he said.

"Yes, and then you raise him to be a fine man, like his papa. who knows, maybe you meet a nice woman, treat you and your son real good. Make a real good mama for him, good wife for you." Carmine said with a smile.

"Don't know about that, Carmine."

"Never say nev..." Carmine stopped in mid-sentence and John looked to where his gaze had trailed off to.
In the doorway stood a very pretty woman standing in the doorway. John had seen her before. She lived down the street from his house, or what used to be his house. McDeal, Callie McDeal. He had seen her a few times, even spoke to her, she was a kind woman, very pretty, lived in the home across the way from Martha Grim. He had helped her with a flat tire once, he remembered, because it pissed off Ann. She even went as far as accusing him of seeing her on a few occasions. Not that he wouldn't mind now, but then, he had told her she was being ridiculous which pissed her off even more.
Now the woman stood there in very becoming summer dress, which did not hide her figure one bit. Her shoulder length blond hair, blew slightly in the breeze, and even in sneakers he could tell she was at least five foot seven. The two men stared, speechless for a few seconds. When finally she spoke, it was not for flower seeds, or plant mix. What she said stunned the both of them.
"Are they here? They have to be here...they left before I did. John, where's your son?"

Panic filled his heart....