Janet Nye - The Littlest Boss

“Lizard Man’s a real thing,” Malik said. Lena’s eyes caught him in the rearview mirror. He shrugged. “Seriously. He lurks around in the swamps and tidal creeks, occasionally stumbles upon family picnics and hilarity ensues. What? You guys never saw that TV ad?”

Lena smirked. “Lurks,” she said, tasting the word. “Sounds like one of the charmers my family tried to hook me up with last year.”

DeShawn looked out the window and whistled. Lena laughed. “Relax,” she said. “It’s not far now.”

And she was right. They kept motoring down the big roads for a while longer, then took an exit to a smaller road, then turned off again. Farm houses with single grain silos, sun-faded barns. Another turn, this time onto a bumpy winding road where they drove past small houses ringed by clusters of mobile homes. Finally, they found themselves on a small-town main street. It was almost as if it was secreted away in the green, one of those Southern towns that had once been part of something—farming, textiles, trade—but were left behind and forgotten about in the wake of the great global industrial machine. Lena pulled into a small lot next to a neat red brick building, with only the words County School above the door.

“This is where Henry arranged for the meeting,” Lena said as they got out of the car. The lawn was brown and patchy beneath their feet in the relative cold of the South Carolina winter. DeShawn noticed that the paint was peeling and cracked. As they made their way inside, he had a strange feeling of déjà vu. The floor was clean but old. The ceiling tiles were sagging in places. The desks in the classrooms they passed looked like they were left over from the sixties.

He shook his head. “Damn.”

“I know, right?” Malik said. “You’d think they’d have fixed this by now.”

“Reminds me of my elementary school,” Lena said.

“Me too,” DeShawn echoed.

Lena stopped in the doorway to the library. She looked in and he saw her shoulders slump. “When I got to high school,” she said slowly, “we were in a better school district. It was such a shock. They had computers and books in the library. I mean, you know that schools aren’t going to be exactly equal, but...until you see it, until you really see it, you don’t understand. You don’t get how wide that gap really is.”

When she stepped back, he leaned in through the door. The library was no bigger than a classroom. Many of the shelves were empty. It was dim, sad, smelling faintly of mildew and old paper.

“Yeah,” DeShawn said. “I was in the top in my high school class but still barely scored well enough on my SATs to get into college. Had to do the first two years at a community college to get caught up.”

The look on her face made him take a step back. He knew her well enough to know she was a powerfully determined woman. What Lena wanted, Lena got. She looked at them. “This is bullshit,” she said in a voice much quieter than the anger in her eyes. “Let’s try to fix something here.”

“Damn straight,” he said.

“Hey!” a voice called out. “I’m down here.”

A man stood in the hall outside a classroom. “Henry Gardner,” he introduced himself as he shook Lena’s hand.

“I remember you, Henry,” Lena said with a smile.

“And I you. Your visits to the Cleaning Crew office were a source of awe and fear.”

Her mouth fell open and the three men laughed. “What? Why?”

“Ahem. Well, you do have a certain sense of...determination about you,” Malik said diplomatically.

“Come on,” Henry said with a motion toward the door. “Let’s sit down.”

As they pulled chairs into a small circle, Henry looked at Lena. “I’m surprised to see you here, Lena. Are you funding this?”

She shot him a look. Quizzical with a touch of do-you-want-to-die. “I grew up in a trailer park. I am one of your students.”

“Perfect,” Henry said smoothly. “We have a good percentage of Hispanic students so your input would be more than welcome.” He looked at DeShawn. “What’s the plan?”

“The plan is to try to provide what you need,” DeShawn replied. “What do the kids need? Besides role models?”

Henry’s laugh echoed around the small empty classroom. “Need? Books. Computers. Internet access.”

“Wait,” Lena said. “The school doesn’t have internet?”

Henry shook his head. “The public library does, usually. It’s slow, but it’s there. Most of my kids don’t have it at home at all.”

DeShawn looked at Malik and shook his head. Same old story. Different generation. “I’d guess that the best way to start would be getting the kids’ trust,” he said. “I’m trying to recruit more people. We could start with a series of class visits for people to tell their stories.”

“Definitely,” Henry said. “I can tell them they can do it all day long, but in the end, I’m just a white guy from suburbia. They like me, but they don’t identify with me. They need to hear it from people who’ve lived it.”

“We can help you with that,” Malik said with a grin.

They spent the next hour learning about the kids. As they spoke, DeShawn began to get a better idea of just how large the need was out here in the rural, almost forgotten places. The kids needed more than role models. They needed mentors. They needed to see the world outside this crossroads town.

CHAPTER FIVE

SOMETIME DURING THE NIGHT, Lily had crept into bed with her. Tiana rolled over and pulled Lily close to her, snuggling down into the warm blankets. This was heaven, right here. A lazy, easy Sunday morning. Nowhere to be, no work, no school, no lunches to be packed. Maybe she would make bacon and French toast later. She was drifting into a light doze when there was a single sharp rap on the door. Groaning, Tiana opened her eyes. She knew that knock. It was her mother’s patented get-your-ass-out-of-bed knock.

“Is Lily with you?”

“Yes, Mom,” Tiana replied. She pulled an arm out from beneath the covers to grab her phone. Eight in the morning? Woman’s gone crazy.

“Well, get up. I’ll get breakfast going. Don’t want to be late.”

Lily stirred beside her. Tiana sat up, shivering in the cool air, her skin missing the heat of the blankets. “Late for what?”

“Church.”

Church? What church? Tiana hadn’t even started looking for a home church yet. Flopping back on the pillows, she sighed. No use to argue. She’d not won an argument with her mother ever in her entire life.

“What’s wrong, Momma?” Lily asked.

“Nothing. We need to get up. Granny wants to go to church.”

“She doesn’t like to be called Granny.”

“I know.”

“You don’t like church?”

“I like church just fine. I don’t like to get out of bed when it’s cold.”

“Me either. Maybe we can have church under the covers.”

Lily squirmed down under the blanket. Laughing, Tiana pulled the covers over her head and scooted down. “Now what?” she asked.

Lily put her hands together in prayer and Tiana copied her. “Dear Jesus,” Lily said in her clear, sweet voice. “Thank you for saving us. We really appreciate it. But it’s cold so Mommy and I are going to stay in bed if that’s okay. Amen.”

“Amen,” Tiana echoed. She smiled at her daughter. How’d she gotten such an amazing child, she didn’t know. Funny, smart, sassy.

Lily grinned back, a gap-toothed grin. She was so innocent it made Tiana’s heart hurt a little to know it wouldn’t last. The door to the room opened. Lily put a finger against her lips.

“What are you two up to under there?” Vivian asked.

“We went to church under the covers,” Lily said.

There was a moment of silence. Then a huff of irritation. “Both of you get up. I need someone to stir those grits while I tend to the bacon.”