Punishment Magic

Chapter 7

“This is my son Bill.” She introduced, “And this is Madeline Litton.”
“Good for her.” He grumbled, before receiving a smack on the back of the head.
He was walking now, which was strange because the last time I had a clear memory of him he’d still been in a wheelchair. You could kind of see it in his gait, awkward and jaunty.
His hair was cut much closer than I remembered, and his cheeks were drastically concave to match his withered frame.
I waited for him to recognize me from behind his large sunglasses, but when my eyes fell to what he was holding, I knew he wouldn’t.
He was holding a long white stick, tapping it gently along the floor as he moved.
He couldn’t see me.
“He’s a bit of a grump.” Ms. Callahan apologized to me as she guided him to the chair across from me.
Even if I’d been able to talk I would have been speechless.
He was in my house, close enough to touch, and yet so far out of reach.
“I could have stayed in the car, it’s not like I’m much help.” He said.
“I’m not leaving you in the car, now stop you’re being rude.”
“Oh come on  don’t tell me that putting a blind and deaf person in the same room isn’t some kind of cruel joke.”
He didn’t even know the half of it.
“Hush.” She said to him as she took a seat in the chair between us, “She’s being nice enough to let us come in and answer some questions about Renée.”
“Yes, accidental death really brings out the best in people.”
I couldn’t think of what to do, or how to communicate to him who I was. He was right there.
Ms. Callahan glared at him for a second before turning to me and giving me a warm smile, “Did you know Renée?”
There was a legal pad already at the table, but I didn’t need it to answer that question.
I just shook my head.
“Do you have any, any idea of why she was here?”
I shook my head.
She paused for a moment, trying to think of a better approach.
“I adopted Renée maybe a year ago. She was a bit of an odd girl, she had a rough life and we were working on helping her deal with her issues. But a few weeks ago she ran away, and well, now we know where she ended up.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. I didn’t know the girl, or why she did the things she did.
But for the sake of decency I just wrote a short apology on the paper.
“Thank you, but, you really don’t know why? No history with foster care, never spent much time with the homeless youths in Anchorage or Fairbanks?”
I shook my head.
She frowned.
“This might be out of line for me to ask, but why no cops?”
I shrugged.
She looked at me like she was waiting for the punchline, “You don’t know?”
I shook my head.
“This is your house.”
I just shrugged again.
“Who was the one who handled everything then?”
Shrug.
She clearly thought I was lying, but was way too polite to say so, “You have no idea what’s going on?”
I shook my head.
“Who’s taking care of you?”
I thought for a moment and just wrote family. Hopefully that would be enough of an explanation for her.
She sighed, as if something just struck her, “You have no idea what’s going on do you?”
I gave her a half smile and a long shrug.
I might have been able to make up some random details for her had I not been so thrown. Really I just wanted her to shut up and leave. I just wanted to be with him, a piece of my real life and my real home. He just didn’t know it yet.
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the front door opening.
“Mads?” Craig called as he walked towards the kitchen. I felt the corners of my mouth lift. He could help me. Maybe he could distract Ms. Callahan while I tried to communicate with Bill.
He walked in and froze, hackles instantly raised.