All the Ugly and Wonderful Things(38)

“I was provoked,” Kellen said.

“Provoked how?”

“That son of a bitch in the Mazda hit … her.” The hesitation was because he didn’t know what to call me. A lie? Daughter, sister, niece? Or the truth?

“Is that true, young lady?”

I stepped away from Kellen, closer to the cops and their flashlights. I pushed my hair back to show them my face. I hoped it looked as bad as it felt. From the way the cops frowned, it must have.

“What was I supposed to do?” Kellen said. “Am I supposed to put up with some * punching her?”

“And who exactly is she? She looks a little young to be out this late,” said the deputy.

“I’m taking her home now.”

The patrolman almost laughed, but the deputy frowned.

“Let’s see some ID,” he said.

Kellen got out his, but I didn’t have any.

“And who’s the girl?”

“Wavy Quinn.” I liked my name in Kellen’s mouth.

“Does your mama know you’re out with this guy?” the deputy said.

“Yeah, her folks know she’s out with me.”

The two cops stepped back and whispered to each other for a few minutes.

Then there was so much arguing it hurt my head. The deputy said I couldn’t leave with Kellen. He said, “We need to speak to her mother,” and “We’re going to have to book you anyway, so why don’t we just go down to the station?”

“You’re seriously gonna arrest me for whooping that *? Because look at her, you can see he hit her. I got witnesses. So why are you riding my ass? Why aren’t you out arresting him?”

“Don’t you worry, sir, we’re taking care of him,” the patrolman said.

“How’s that? I don’t see you taking care of him. I see you hassling me over bullshit.”

“We just want to talk to her parents, okay?”

“Okay, fine. They’re gonna tell you what I’m telling you.”

At the police station, when the deputy called the farmhouse, nobody answered. Mama had probably turned off the ringer. Then he called Sandy’s trailer and nobody answered there either. I sat in a chair in the sheriff’s empty office while the deputy took Kellen to charge him for assaulting the guy in the Mazda. It was only a misdemeanor, so Kellen got to post bail right there, but he still had to have his picture and his fingerprints taken.

He came back, wiping ink off his hands and arguing with the deputy. His name tag said Vogel.

“I’m gonna have to call Children’s Protective Services,” Deputy Vogel said.

“What the hell for?” Kellen’s black cloud was back. Bigger.

“Because we got a minor here and not knowing who she is, I can’t let her go with you.”

“How about this? Why don’t I go get her mama? Take me an hour to get there and an hour to get back. Think you can wait to call somebody ’til then?”

“I couldn’t get CPS out here before then anyway. I just don’t want to release her to somebody who doesn’t have any business taking her.”

Kellen’s mouth got hard, but he didn’t say anything to that. He ran his hand over my hair and said, “I’ll be back, Wavy.” He glared at the deputy. “And can you get some ice for her eye?”

After Kellen left, Deputy Vogel brought me a bottle of pop and an ice pack, but I didn’t touch them.

Being in the sheriff’s office was a lot like when Mama got arrested, but at least I was dressed with my boots on. When they arrested Mama, I had to sit in the police station for hours, just in my nightshirt, while strangers walked in and out and talked to me. And tried to touch me.

The deputy didn’t try to touch me, but he sat at the sheriff’s desk, asking me questions.

“So how do you know Mr. Kellen? Or Mr. Barfoot? That’s his legal name.”

I stared through him.

“Where did you two meet?”

I crossed my arms over my chest to let Deputy Vogel know he was wasting his time.

“Not at school, I’m guessing.”

Ha ha ha.

“You know this isn’t his first assault charge?” he said.

I knew. Kellen didn’t get those scars on his knuckles from playing poker or fixing motorcycles. He got them from pulping guys in the face.

“He’s got himself quite a rap sheet. Doesn’t hardly seem like the kind of guy a sweet girl like you should be hanging around.”

I was so sweet. Like a lemon drop.

I stared through the deputy until he had to get up and walk around the station to get away from me.

It was almost five o’clock in the morning when Kellen came back. I recognized the sound of his boots on the tiles outside the sheriff’s office, but it wasn’t Mama with him. Clicky heels, but too slow. I turned and looked out the window blinds. Sandy.

She looked tired but beautiful. A different kind of beautiful than Mama, who was dark. The sun was always shining on Sandy. Her hair was as blond as mine, but big and hair sprayed. She wore lots of makeup, and tight jeans and a tight T-shirt with no bra.

“Hello there, ma’am,” the deputy said. He sounded surprised, and I could tell he thought Sandy was sexy. He kept looking and looking at her. It made me wish I looked older. If I looked more like Sandy, the cops wouldn’t think I was too young to be out with Kellen.