Chapter 8
The trip to Disneyland was a lie.
That was okay with Cindy though. She really didn’t want to go anywhere with her grandparents. Her grandfather always seemed to get too close, rub against her, and somehow find ways to accidentally touch her in private areas when no one was looking.
Spending the morning by herself in the backyard was fine by her. Even though there was no playground or toys outside, it was better than inside the house. The yard was empty except for several logs that had never been hauled away after Grandpa cut down the only four trees that had been there.
She sat on one of the logs beside the solid wooden fence that separated this property from the Enerds’ backyard. Considering climbing the white fence and running away, she felt better.
She didn’t want to see her parents again.
Sharon had lied to her. Sharon had told her that she wouldn’t have to go back with them just yet, that they were still working on becoming better parents. Well, they were coming over in just a few hours, coming to pick up their daughter, whether parenting classes and therapy had helped them or not.
A multicolored snake slithered under the fence from the Enerds’ yard. Cindy moved back on the log, and it spotted her and stretched its head up to flick the air with its tongue. After seeing its scrawny little legs, she realized it was only a lizard and scooted closer.
It wriggled its body through the grass, coming to the log.
She jumped when a man with flaming red hair popped his head over the fence. His hair stood six inches straight up on his head, and Cindy had never seen anything like it before.
“Hello,” he greeted.
The man was Black, which didn’t matter to Cindy, although her parents would have been mortified. Cindy’s family talked bad about Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and Asians. She was curious because she rarely got to speak with Black people, but she was also a little concerned because no neighbor of her grandparents would ever be African-American. They would never live in a neighborhood that had even one such family in it. So this man must be a stranger. She remembered a Black family once was considering buying a house on this street, and her parents drove by, gave the family dirty looks, sneezed and spat at them. That family never came back.
“Do you have a voice?” he asked. “Or did Fred steal it?”
“Fred?”
The lizard inched closer to her, his tongue darting in the air.
The Black man with red hair said, “Fred, my gecko.”
“He’s yours?”
“Well ... I wouldn’t call him mine. He probably wouldn’t like that. He likes to think he’s independent. I play along to keep him happy.”
She smiled. “What’re you doing in Mrs. Enerd’s backyard?”
“I’ve brought you a gift.” He raised his arm over the fence and held out a small wooden box.
Cindy backed up a few steps. Sharon had always told her not to accept candy or gifts from strangers. Strangers could be dangerous. Strangers may hurt you. They could pull you into their cars and take you away from your family. But in Cindy’s life, strangers never hurt her. It was always her family who did that. To Cindy, strangers had been nice, caring, and friendly.
“Don’t be afraid.” He dropped the box onto the grass and disappeared behind the fence. “Fred,” he called.
The gecko scampered back underneath the fence and disappeared.
She heard soft footsteps on grass, getting softer as they became further away. The man was leaving.
A box …
Green blades of grass stretched half-way up it.
A gift, no wrapping paper, just a wooden box the size of a baseball was hers to have. Beautiful designs were carved on its sides. A glittering brass latch held the lid closed.
Cindy just stood there. Although he gave it to her, she felt odd about taking something that wasn’t hers. She wondered whether her grandparents would approve of this gift. Of course they wouldn't, especially from a Black man. They would make her throw it away immediately. If she was going to keep it, she wouldn’t tell them.
She was hesitant about opening it. Who knows what could be inside? The man had a gecko. Maybe he also collected spiders, or millipedes, or deadly mosquitoes with malaria virus. The box seemed harmless enough, but perhaps not what was inside.
She hesitantly walked over and picked it up.