Kate knew she was telling the truth. She had done her homework.
“What do you think?” she asked Christopher.
“It’s the nicest place I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“Then, let’s make an offer,” she said.
Mrs. Soroka clapped her hands.
“You’re doing the right thing! And do you want to know something? I haven’t even shown you the best part!”
Mrs. Soroka walked across Christopher’s bedroom to the large bay window. She threw open the curtains and let in the view. Right under Christopher’s bedroom was a big backyard with a tree and a tire swing and a jungle gym and a sandbox. It was every boy’s dream. Flat and well manicured. Perfect for football. Perfect for anything.
“Just think,” Mrs. Soroka said. “You get that backyard, and then take a look right behind it.”
It was the Mission Street Woods.
Christopher may have forgotten the six days he was lost in them, but Kate never would.
“I don’t want to live near those woods,” she said.
Mrs. Soroka nodded, as if remembering Christopher’s picture in the newspaper when he went missing.
“Look, me, you, and the wall…Mr. Collins is planning a new housing development a stone’s throw from here.”
“I know,” Kate said.
Mrs. Soroka nodded, then dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Yes, but did you know that he hired my boss to sell those houses? And he’s going to build a road to connect both sides of town? In six months, you will have a house in the hottest neighborhood in Mill Grove that will be worth a hundred thousand dollars more than you paid for it. I like you, Kate. And I’m a mother, too. So, I don’t want you to miss this opportunity. Two words…Ker ching.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me. Those woods will be gone by Christmas.”
Chapter 18
They moved the day after Halloween.
Christopher and his mom were on their knees as they packed their lives in boxes. They were used to moving by now. Michigan was only a couple of months ago. But this was not running away in the middle of the night to get away from Jerry. It wasn’t escaping a town where every signpost reminded her of her late husband.
This was her own home.
This was her new life.
Kate packed up the old hot plate and dishes. She was so excited with thoughts of her new kitchen that she almost accidentally wrapped the cereal bowls with Christopher’s picture from the newspaper.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had run the story about him. Kate didn’t want her picture in the paper, but she wanted her son to have the glory. So, he went to the jungle gym at recess for the photo with his teacher Ms. Lasko. The photographer, an aspiring filmmaker, took the snap. And on Sunday, Kate proudly got every single copy at the Giant Eagle where she bought the lottery ticket.
Boy’s Test Wins Lottery
She looked at her seven-year-old son dragging his Bad Cat sleeping bag into the small pile of boxes near the door. There wasn’t a lot from the old life. Just a few things she was able to sneak into the trunk of the old land shark to get ready to run from Jerry. And a few new things to mark the beginning of this era.
The posse arrived shortly after. Kate was actually rather proud that they were able to make so many friends in so little time. Special Ed and his mother Betty brought her husband to help them move. Big Eddie had a heart almost as big as his man boobs. He spent the afternoon entertaining everyone with stories about how he put himself through college working for a moving company.
“Back then, I was ripped,” he kept saying.
“You’re ripped now, baby,” Betty said, blinded by love.
The M&M’s pitched in, too, with the help of their two moms. A quiet lady named Sage. And a not-so-quiet lady named Virginia. One a vegan from Connecticut. The other a carnivore from Texas. They were made for each other.
Little by little, the gang sweated and muscled their belongings into a small truck, generously supplied by Big Eddie’s Hardware Stores.
When it was all packed, Christopher and his mom went back to look for anything they might have left behind. When they realized the only things left in the motel room were memories, they said their goodbyes to their old life.
“I will never pay rent again,” Kate said and closed the door.
When the new land shark pulled up to 295 Monterey Drive at the end of the cul-de-sac, Kate and her son were given a special treat. Special Ed’s mom and dad (“I said call us Betty and Eddie, for Christ’s sake!”) had bribed Mrs. Soroka with a bottle of Chardonnay for the keys to the garage. Two of Big Eddie’s finest employees had set up the automatic garage door. And when Christopher’s mom was about to get out of the car to open it manually, Betty hit the button. Eddie pretended it was a ghost, much to everyone’s delight, and then everyone went inside to begin unpacking.
It didn’t take long, considering how little they had. The trips to the truck became even shorter once the sheriff came to help after his shift had ended. He and Kate had kept in touch since Christopher had left the hospital. When his deputies found nothing in the woods, the sheriff made sure to call her. And before she put the offer in on the house, she made sure to call him. Christopher’s safety came first. The sheriff did his due diligence, and after combing the last decade of police reports, he assured her that the house was safe. The neighborhood was safer. But if she’d like, he’d walk the area with her to make triple sure.
“Not necessary,” she said, much to his disappointment. “But if you want to come on moving day, I’m buying the pizza.”
Deal.
All day, Kate watched Christopher and his friends try to act like real men. When the sheriff helped her carry in the new furniture (from the outlet mall), the four boys were there to volunteer. When Big Eddie stopped to have his beer, they stopped to have their lemonade. And when the house was done, and Big Eddie fired up the grill to cook his famous “pancake dogs” to “wash down” the pizza, the boys studied his technique with a trained eye and listened to him talk to the sheriff and nodded along as they pretended to be grown men.
After all, Eddie was the only father any of them had known in a couple of years.
And the sheriff was the sheriff.
When their feast was over, the family of friends said their good-nights. Sage and Virginia promised to swing by that week to help Kate clean. Betty promised to swing by to help her drink and watch them clean. Big Eddie said that if she ever needed any hardware to fix the usual first-month-in-a-new-house pain-in-the-ass problems, he’d help out. And Christopher told his friends he’d see them all Monday.
The sheriff was the last to go.
“It was nice of you to come and help, Sheriff,” she said, shaking his hand.
The sheriff nodded, then turned his eyes to the floor. He shuffled his feet like a middle school kid, and his words suddenly sounded as if his chest was beating like a ball in a racquetball court.
“Yeah, well. I know what it’s like to move to a new place and have no one pitch in. I only came from the Hill District a year ago.”
She nodded. And he swallowed. And he tried.
“Mrs. Reese…have you been to Primanti Brothers yet? It’s a real Pittsburgh institution.”