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“Yeah, the girls love her. I’m calling because I need to put the girls into the after- school program. Their mother is doing some stupid shit and she has not been on time to pick them up from school. The school that they attend now is not going for it. I don’t want to have to fight their mother and DCFS over my girls, so I’m hoping you have two slots available for them?”
“For Fee and Skye? Of course, I have two openings. Would you also need before school care?”
“Can I add on the before care if it becomes necessary? Right now, I think I’m good, but there may be days where I need to get to the office a little earlier.”
“Sure, you’re family. I can email over the paperwork. It will list all the necessary documents they need to be enrolled, most of which we already have on file since they are in the dance class but bring it all just in case. They can start on Monday,” Keeva said.
“Key, you are a lifesaver! I will fill out the paperwork and get it back to you.”
“No problem. It’s hard being a single parent, huh?”
“Man look, I thought law school was hard. It ain’t got nothing on caring for two little girls!” I laughed.
“I know. Like I said, don’t ever hesitate to ask me for anything for the girls,” Keeva responded.
“I appreciate that.”
* * *
“Okay, the next word is unanimous.”
“Unanimous. U-n-a-n-i-m-o-u-s.”
“Correct.”
“Daddy, I told you I know all of these words,” Skye said.
“It doesn’t hurt to go over them before the test, Skye. The last one is fascinate.”
“Fascinate. P-h…”
I looked up from the homemade flashcard to see a grinning Skye.
“Just kidding!” She snickered. “F-a-s-c-i-n-a-t-e. The look on your face was priceless, Daddy! I told you I know these words.”
“Alright, so I should see a one hundred on your spelling test tomorrow?”
“Nope, more than a hundred cause I'mma spell the bonus words right too!”
“That’s what’s up!” I said while we high fived.
I watched her collect her flashcards and leave my office. I tried to quiz the girls on their vocabulary words at least twice a week. I studied with one while the other one took her bath.
It had been a month since the no-show from their mother, and I hadn’t heard anything from her. I’d called her phone several times, but it wasn’t even ringing anymore, it was going straight to voicemail.
I checked the county and city lock-up to see if she had been processed into one of those facilities, but she had not. I reached out to some of her people who told me that they hadn’t heard from her but then assured me that she was alright. That’s when I figured out she was somewhere doing something, probably with her boyfriend, Tony, that she didn’t want me to know about. I didn’t stress about it after that. I decided that she would pop back up when she was ready.
The afterschool program was working out well. I didn’t have as much time to prepare for my clients as I did when I knew the girls would be away with their mother for a couple of days, but I’d adjusted to lots of late nights and early mornings.
“Daddy!” Fee said as she burst through my office door. “I’m ready for you to look at my homework.”
“Fee! What did you do to your hair?”
Before she went into the bathroom, her two ponytails that took me fifteen minutes to achieve were straight and twisted. She stood before me in her unicorn pajamas, with a head full of curly, natural hair, devoid of the middle part or rubber bands.
“It got wet when I laid down in the tub. I was trying to see how long I could hold my breath,” she explained.
“Why, Fee?”
