The One Who Ran Away

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jo exited the court room, armed with papers in one hand and her keys in the other. She was a woman on a mission. She entered her car and looked down at the papers in her left hand. She smiled a little bit to herself and deposited them to the next seat. 

Jo shifted into gear and prepared herself for the drive home. She was going to make one last stop. 

At the library, Jo frowned to the woman who told her she needed a library card in order to use the computers. Jo argued with her for a little while, explaining she had a school project due in a few days and she lacked a computer at home. The elderly woman finally took pity on Jo's crushed look and allowed her to use the computer.

"Just this once, mind you," the woman warned Jo. Jo just smiled and got busy.

***

"Ricky! I'm home!" Jo entered the house and left the door open despite the chill. It was breezy and the cold nipped at her nose. She set down the paper bag on the kitchen counter. Ricky came running from wherever he had been and collided into Jo's lower legs. Jo chuckled and reached down to hug him back.

After prying him off, Jo went outside to grab the other two bags. She then shut the front door and coerced Ricky into helping her unpack by playing a game. 

"Hurry, Ricky! I'm gunna beat you!" Jo was racing Ricky to put the food away. She noticed that half the time he didn't know where the food went so she'd have to go back later and fix it, but nevertheless, it got the job done quickly and there was lots of giggling. 

Jo convinced Ricky to go play with his trucks while Jo started to make supper. She had decided on simple and something Ricky had never had before; spaghetti and meatballs. 

While she let the water boil, she went through the papers she had brought home. It was a court order, Ricky was to be turned over to Jo within the month unless Cyrene got her act together. Jo knew it was a done deal. One more month and she and Ricky could be out of town, making their own life. 

The noodles were finally finished boiling and Jo just needed to wait for the sauce to finish. While she waited, she strained the noodles and found a large plate to display them on. Then she put the sauce in a bowl and put a big spoon in it.

"RICKY! Supper's ready!" Thunderous footsteps signaled Ricky's excitement. 

"Zaa?" he asked as he smelled the pizza sauce.

"Nope. It's called spaghetti. Noodles, Ricky," she explained as she lifted him into his high chair. Ricky happily helped by buckling himself in. 

"'Oodles," he cheerily answered. Jo decided to only give him a little bit of sauce to eliminate the amount of mess he could possibly make. For his part, Ricky was having a ball. He had never seen noodles before and he was fascinated by the thin strands. Jo showed him how to slurp them up and Ricky was instantly thrilled and refused to eat them any other way. He also enjoyed the little meatballs that Jo put in the sauce. After supper, Ricky kept saying 'yum' over and over and Jo deduced that to mean that it was his new favorite.  

Jo gave Ricky a bath. He had a minimal amount of  sauce on his stomach but he had somehow managed to get it behind his ears. When he was dressed and ready for bed, he didn't seem sleepy at all and so Jo let him watch a little television. Ricky almost never watched tv and Jo decided to educate him with a little of what she grew up with. However, Jo was not surprised to see that Cyrene wasn't paying extra for more channels. All they were receiving was news stations and infomercials. 

Ricky was very happy to sit and babble along to the infomercials and Jo didn't see any harm in letting him babble. Jo went into her bedroom and set her alarm clock to eight o'clock, when she'd put Ricky to bed. While she waited, she got down to some very neglected homework.