When we got into the car, I turned laser eyes on Uncle Clarence. "So spill it," I said. "Momz nixed this Angel Tree party, no?"
"Well, the party is this Saturday, only a week before you leave for Mexico. I think your Momz said Seth is going to take you shopping that day. That way you can buy presents and swim trunks, sandals, jeans, that kind of stuff."
"Of course, how convenient. Like I wouldn't give up some new threads so I could spend a day with Popz."
Uncle Clarence pulled into Sonic. "Aren't you going to open your present?"
"Maybe I'm gonna wait and open it in front of Momz,. I gave him my best evil grin. "That'll get her."
"Don't let anger spoil your Christmas surprise." Clarence waved his phone. "Your Dad wants me to take pictures and send them to him. Look happy, for him."
I took a deep breath and focused my mind on Popz. I took the wallet he made me out of my back pocket. I had taken his picture to Wally's World and got a wallet photo made. I looked at the picture. I was about to put it back in my pocket when I noticed that where the bills went, the leather was loose. I hadn't put any cash in the wallet yet. I pulled up the leather. A piece of paper was secreted behind it. It said, "I love you. Save up your money. Maybe when I'm out of here we can share a pad for a while. Dad." A tear dropped onto my hand. I reached up and wiped my eyes.
I showed the paper to Uncle Clarence. "I'll be 28 when he gets out."
Uncle Clarence's eye were wide and he was grinning. "Probably not. He earns goodtime. He might be out on probation before you graduate."
"Why didn't I know that?" I shook my head. "Never, mind. I know. Momz." I took a deep breath. "But I'm not going to think about her. I'm going to focus on Popz, like you said."
I took the belt off of the package. The square of wood with my name was at the bottom of a carved loop that fit on the belt. I looked up with a grin. "This is so cool. I can take my initials off and put them on any belt!" I was grinning from ear to ear. Uncle Clarence was snapping pictures like this was a model shoot.
"Cut it out," I said, before ripping the paper off the box like an excited two year old. Inside was a box with more wrapped presents in it. There was a card on top. There was a picture of a boy standing on top of a bunch of stacked boxes taking wrapped presents off of a high closet shelf and shaking them.
I opened the card and read aloud, "Remember when we promised you that if you didn't look for your presents ahead of time, we'd have the six days of Christmas. Each of your relatives got a day. Mawmaw and Pawpaw were day one and two. They never sent just one present. Uncle Clarence was day three, Aunt Glory got day four. Day five was Christmas eve and you got our gifts. Christmas morning, when Santa came, was day six. Since you can't be here, I want to give you six days of Christmas. Open the gifts by number, one for each day of the week. The belt was day one, so no more until tomorrow, when you can start with number two. The people at Angel Tree bought a bunch of gifts. I got to pick out what to send. I made part of day six, though. But don't open it early. In fact, I'd like for you to open it on Christmas Eve, if you can."
I didn't even notice that Uncle Clarence was taking pictures of me while I read and looked at packages. I took every package out and shook it, just like the kid in the picture. The package for day six felt sort of like a book. Finally I turned to Uncle Clarence, "You got pictures of day one," I said. "I guess Dad will just have to imagine the other five days, unless Momz takes endless pictures on Christmas Eve. I'm gonna take 6 to Mexico."
"There are always selfies," he said. "And I think Paul would like it if you opened the last gift with your Momz and grandparents there."
I grinned. "Stick it to 'em, huh."
"No." His eyes looked sober as he shook his head. "Maybe it'll help them realize how much he's changed."
"Whatever." I grinned. "I'm gonna rub it in Momz face by opening it with everyone watching."
"We'd better order," he said. "We've been holding down the sidewalk for 30 minutes."
"Okay, get me a burger, fries and some cheddar peppers." After he quit talking into the speaker, I asked, "Is there any way you can get a present to Dad? I made the letter P using his scroll saw. I sanded it and stained it and everything."
"Sorry, Bud. I told you I can't take in anything but food."
"Not even at Christmas?"
"Especially not at Christmas. There are tons of visitors at Christmas. Everyone has to be searched when they go in and anything they bring in has to be searched, too, even the food." He gestured wildly. "You wouldn't believe the number of people who try to smuggle drugs into a prison."
"Oh, I didn't think about that. Who would be so dumb?"
"Lots of people, evidently even some of the staff. Paul said there was an officer arrested last week for smuggling in weed. Evidently that's why it's hard to break an addiction, even in prison. When he first went to prison, Paul bought black market weed. He didn't get caught with the weed, but the urine test got him, several times."
"Yeah, he told me in his letter." I sort of screwed up my face. "So, can I mail it to him?"
"Nada. They can only get packages from bona-fide retail businesses."
"So if I found a wood carving business that was willing to send it to Dad, they'd give it to him?"
"They should, but where are you going to find a wood carving business?'
I held up my phone.
He laughed. "You can always try. If you get someone to send it, I'll let Paul know where it originated."
The next day when I got home from school, Seth's car was in the driveway. A van was parked behind it. The logo on the side said "Livecam."
I knew Seth was going to be there. Jake had already texted me and told me to let them know when the coast was clear. He hadn't said anything about the van, though.
Inside the house, Seth was in the study. He was looking over the shoulder of a man at a computer. "That's a good view," he said.
The man at the computer said into a blue tooth, "That's where he wants it."
"Whassup?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.
"We decided to install a camera system," he said. "That way, we can monitor the house while we're in Mexico."
I frowned. "Don't worry," he said. "We didn't invade your space. Your room is camera free."
"I'm going out to F2," I said.
When I got outside, I walked around my crib, checking for any new wires leading into the shed. Inside, I looked around and made sure there weren't any hidden cameras. Not that I didn't trust Seth, but he had said, "Your room is camera free." That didn't mean my crib was camera free, even if he did say they "didn't invade my space."
I'd learned all about semantics in history. President Clinton's voice from the news clip my teacher showed echoed through my mind, "I didn't have sexual relations with that woman."
"Like a blow job wasn't sexual relations," I thought.
When I heard the van pull out, I went back inside and asked Seth, "Can I see the setup on the computer?" I wanted to see for myself that there were no pictures of "my space."
"Sure." He pulled up a screen on the computer. It had a bunch of little boxes. He clicked on one and the kitchen and dining area came into view. Another showed the living room. One showed the den. I could tell that the rest were going to be outside.
"Well, at least you didn't put any in the bedrooms and bathrooms." My relief was evident in my voice.
"No." He laughed. "If you're gonna have access, we sure weren't putting our bedroom on camera."
"Sit here," he motioned to the desk. "I'll show you how to access the camera system." He looked at his watch. "You can look at the outside cams on your own. I've got a late appointment." He backed out of the system and showed me how to get in, password and all. I felt relieved. I guess I was just being paranoid, thinking of it as a spy cam.
After Seth left, I clicked on each of the outside cameras. One showed the front porch, with a good view of the front door. It would be easy to check and see who was at the door before answering. One showed the back door and the area around it. One was evidently on the fence and focused on the patio, but to the left it was easy to see The Funk. There wasn't a close up, but my space wasn't exactly free of surveillance. Sneaking out my window wasn't going to be possible. There was one focused on the back gate. There was a wide-angle lens that showed most of the fence along the backyard and another that showed most of the front yard, including the front of my crib and the windows along the side. The back windows of F2 weren't in any of the shots, but access to them was. The wide-angle cameras must have been secured to the house, somewhere. The last one showed the street in front of the house including the mailbox.
After I looked carefully at all of the boxes, I went outside. I walked around the house, looking for the cameras. They were small, but easy to spot. They looked sort of like traffic cameras, only they were round, not square. The lenses were protected by thick glass. The wide-angle cameras were inside a plastic bubble. The one on the front of the house was on a column on the porch. The one in the back was on the house itself, near the corner. The street cam was on a tree. There were no wires anywhere. "A wireless system," I thought. "Maybe I'd better check my crib again."
The first thing I did in F2 was to go on the Internet and looked up Livecam. The 10-camera plug and play system was on sale for Christmas. Momz was all about savings. I had found 10 cameras. I didn't need to worry about checking out F2, my room and the Funk again. Seth was evidently on the up and up.
I went into the kitchen to get a snack. There was a note taped to the pantry door. "Slow your roll with the junk food. I'm not restocking until after Mexico."
I went into the pantry and found my snack shelves pretty bare. I took a couple of moon pies. I didn't remember eating all that much, but then Momz had figured out I didn't do the cafeteria and had been putting chips and stuff in my backpack. She said I could eat poorly at lunch as long as I ate a decent breakfast (usually fruit and cereal) and a healthy supper.
I sent Jake and Marlow a text. "mmMcD's. 30."(meet me at McDonalds)
I got a reply. "mmF2 otw." (Meet me at F2. On the way.)
"No! McDs!" I texted. "otw"
I got the McDs before the guys. I ordered burgers, fries and drinks for everyone. Shortly, they slid into our corner booth.
"Whassup?" Marlow asked around a bite of burger. "If Wicked's shrink is gone, why're we here."
"Seth had a camera system installed today."
"No way," Jake said.
"I thought you would have seen the van. It was parked behind Seth's car."
"We cruised by earlier. Thought we'd check and see if you'd left the window unlocked, but Seth's car was there."
Jake waved at my phone. "So, do you have remote access?"
"Not yet. I have access to the system on the home computer, though. There are 10 cameras and very few blind spots."
Marlow looked at Jake, making eye contact for a minute. "Told ya," he said. "I knew Wicked was suspicious."
"Suspicious of what?" I asked.
"We've been holing up in your crib some," Jake said. "We sneak in after Wicked's lights are out and lay low until she leaves."
"But I lock up every night."
"I told you getting in was a piece of cake," Jake said.
"But that was with the windows unlocked."
"We got our ways," Jake said. "Besides, we only been doing it since it turned cold."
"You couldn't even tell we were there, could you?" Marlow asked.
I thought about it. I had noticed a stronger smell of cigarette smoke on the recliner, but I had chalked it up to my letting the guys hang after Momz went to work. Other than that, I hadn't really cottoned to anything.
"The only thing I noticed was the cig smell," I said. "I figured that was because you've been there after Momz left for work. You guys don't vent too good."
"Are there cameras inside F2?" Jake asked.
"No, but the side windows and doors show up on the wide-angle cameras," I said. "The back windows can't be seen but access can."
"It's a good thing," Marlow started. Jake kicked him and shook his head. Marlow glared and shook his back before finishing, "that you gave us the whiskey the last time we were there."
"What was all that body language about?"
Jake sighed and then said, "I thought he was going to tell you it was a good thing we raided your Momz pantry yesterday. I wasn't sure you'd want to hear that."
"You went into my house?" My voice went up a couple of descibles.
"Yeah. When Unk picked you up, we made the block and helped ourselves to a few eats, you know chips, ding dongs, and stuff like that," he said. "I noticed you didn't go in and set the alarm."
"I told you to text me 'nne' if you needed food and I'd provide." I could feel my face heating up. "Are you guys trying to get me grounded?"
"No, way. We've used 'nne' a few times, but you're going to Mexico. We only took stuff that Wicked buys for you. We figured she'd just think you'd pigged out a lot."
"Yeah, I guess." I bit down on the inside of my lip. "She left a note on the pantry door this morning telling me to go easy on the junk. She's not restocking until we get back from Mexico."
When Momz got home at eleven, I was in F2. I had all the lights on. As soon as she tuned into the driveway, I turned Mario up really loud.
I heard Momz car stop and the door slam. A loud rap on the door signaled Momz entrance. She busted in, a frown on her face.
"Turn that thing down before Sue Sue Maya calls the police." Her voice was low, in that I'm about to blow range. "I'm surprised she hasn't already done so."
I hit the mute button. Almost immediately Momz phone dinged. She looked down at her phone.
"She says thanks." Momz waved her phone at me. "She was just getting ready to call the noise police. You know better, Wayne."
"Sorry, Momz," I tried to look contrite as I lied. "I accidentally hit the volume button, and I couldn't stop because I was about to get a bonus. It wasn't up very long... And, it's CW," I added.
"I guess it couldn't have been loud for too long. or I'd have arrived home to blinking reds and blues."
"What's with the camera surveillance?" I changed the subject to the real reason I'd made sure she'd come charging into F2.
"Didn't Seth tell you?" She sighed and sat in the wooden desk chair. "There's a Christmas special. It includes a free month to test it out. It's a portable system, so if it doesn't meet your needs, you can return it at no cost. We thought we'd try it out while we're in Mexico."
"But you put it in kinda early. You trying to check up on me?"
"We put it in early because of the holidays." She looked exasperated. "Give me some credit, CW. Don't be so paranoid. Everything's not always just about you. They're giving us a six week trial."
"You only addressed half of what I said."
"I'm not checking up on you." Her face was turning red and her eyes had a dangerous gleam. "I am checking up on your homies. I've been smelling a lot of cigarette smoke. I figured Jake and Marlow were hanging with you when I was at work, since they don't seem to be around when I'm home. And you've been going through an inordinate amount of snacks."
"Yeah," I admitted. "I invited them over to play games. You told me you didn't want me hanging with them, so I figured it'd be better if they only came when you weren't here."
"I'm not sure that they're being straight with you," She frowned. "I know you think they're your friends, but some strange things have been going on."
"Like what?"
"One time when I went to put the trash out, a dog had pulled over the garbage can. There were at least six empty beer bottles that fell out. A drunk sometimes drops one in the ally, but six? And who picked them up and put them in the trash?"
"Those idiots," I thought. "I told them to take the empties with them."
Momz continued. "The other day I forgot to put a bill in the mailbox. I made the block and pulled up to the box. I thought I heard music or something coming from F2 but the padlock was on, and I was running late for work. I didn't have time to check it out. When I had time at work, I looked up home security on the Internet and found Lifecam. Do you want me to continue?"
"There's more?"
"Not here, per se, but there have been a lot of B&Es in the area. They sort of correspond to your friendship with Jake and Marlow."
"You've got to be kidding me." I raised my voice. "You're blaming my homies for the robberies in this neighborhood?"
"It does look suspicious." She waved her hands. "And they look do kind of look like bums."
"Geez, Momz,. That's a new low, even for you. I thought you asked yourself, 'what would Jesus do?' I'm sure he wouldn't judge two guys who're struggling to finish high school with no support from their families."
She looked a little sheepish. "I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, CW." She nodded decisively. "This camera system can help prove me wrong."
"I suppose," I said. But she had planted a seed of doubt. There was a computer in the trunk of their car. They gave me a tablet for Christmas. I'd even asked Jake if it was hot. But then there was Marlow's face and story. It rang true.
She started to stand. "Wait!"
She sat back down. "What now?"
"Did Angel Tree call you?"
"Yes." She said it so softly I barely caught it.
"So why not let me go to the Christmas shindig?"
"Who said I told them no?"
"Let's see, I believe her name was Ms. Leona." I handed Momz the flyer from the church. "She's the church secretary who gave me my gift when Unk and I went by today."
"I've never talked to a Leona," she said.
"No, but she said that the gifts at the church were the ones for kids whose caregivers wouldn't let them attend the party on Saturday. This Saturday!"
"Oh. I didn't know they would tell you about the party when I told Clarence he could take you to get your gift."
"So you were trying to hide the fact that you've turned down another chance for me to get to know Popz."
"I suppose." She took a deep breath. "We've been doing good. I didn't want you to flash out again. And besides, Seth is supposed to take you shopping on Saturday."
"Oh, there's no flash bang, this time," I said. "I'm just going to treat you the way you're making me treat Popz. From now on you get the silent treatment."
I turned my back on her, picked up my controller and started playing my game.