Some of them waved as I pulled up, so I knew everything was all right. This wasn't more trouble. But what was it?
I saw my niece, Naomi, and her husband, Seth Taylor, who had come all the way from Durham, North Carolina. Jerome Thurman, Rakeem Powell, and Shawn Moore were standing on the front lawn.
'Hey, Alex, good to see you.' Jerome's deep voice boomed out at me as I passed near him on my way to the porch. I finally set down my travel bag and started shaking hands, giving out hugs, receiving back pats and kisses from all sides.
'We're all here for you.' Naomi said. She came over to me and hugged me tightly. 'We love you so much. But we'll go away if you don't want us here now.'
'No, no. I'm glad you're here, Scootchie.' I said, and kissed my niece on both cheeks. A while back, she'd been abducted in Durham, North Carolina. I had been there for her and so had Sampson. 'It's good that you and Seth are here. It's good to see everybody. You can't imagine how good it is.'
I hugged relatives and friends, my grandmother, my two beautiful kids, and I realized again how lucky I was to have so many good people in my life. Two teachers from the Sojourner Truth School had also come to the house. They were friends of Christine, and they started to cry when they came up to me. They wanted to know if any progress had been made and if there was anything they could do.
I told them that we had a witness to the abduction, and that we were more hopeful than ever. The teachers were buoyed by the news, which wasn't nearly as good as I made it sound. Nothing more had come of the one eyewitness account of the abduction. No one else had seen the white van that took away Christine.
Jannie finally cornered me in the backyard around nine o'clock. I had just spent half an hour with Damon in the basement, talking man to man, shadowboxing a little bit.
Damon had told me that he was having trouble remembering Christine's face, exactly what she looked like. I told him that it happened with people and that it was all right. We finally shared a long hug.
Jannie had patiently waited to talk with me.
'My mum?' she asked.
'Absolutely, sweetheart.'
Jannie then took my hand and pulled me forward into the house. She quietly led me upstairs, not to her room, but to mine.
'If you get lonely in here tonight, you can come to my room. I mean it.' she said as she gently shut the door on the two of us. She is so wise and has such a good perspective on so many things. Both she and Damon are such good kids. Nana says they have 'sound character', and it is building nicely. So far, so good.
'Thank you, sweetie. I will come to your room if it gets bad in here. You're very thoughtful and nice.'
'I am, Daddy. You helped me be this way, and I'm glad of it. Now I have a real serious question for you, Daddy. It's hard, but I have to ask anyway.'
'You go ahead.' I told her, feeling uncomfortable under her serious little gaze. I wasn't completely focused, and I didn't know if I could handle one of Jannie's hard questions. I'm listening, sweetheart.' I said. 'Fire away.'
She had let go of my hand, but she took it up again, held my big hand tightly in both her small ones.
'Daddy, is Christine dead?' she asked me. 'You can tell me if she is. Please tell the truth, though. I want to know.'
I almost lost it, sitting on the edge of the bed with Jannie. I'm sure she had no idea how much her question hurt, or how hard it was to answer.
I was hanging over the edge of a dark abyss, just about gone, but I pulled myself together and took a deep breath. Then I tried to answer my little girl's honest question as best I could.
'I don't know yet.' I told her. 'Thats the truth. We're still hoping to find her, sweetie. We found one witness so far.'
'But she might be dead, Daddy?'
'Let me tell you the best thing I know about dying,' I said to Jannie. 'The very best thing that I know. Just about the only thing, in fact.'
'You go away, and then you're with Jesus forever,' Jannie said. The way she spoke, though, I wasn't sure if she really believed what she was saying. It sounded like one of Nana's 'gospel truths', or maybe she'd heard it in church.
'Yes, that can be a great comfort to know, baby. But I was thinking of something else. Maybe it's the same thing, but a different way to look at it.'
Her intense little eyes held mine, wouldn't let go. 'You can tell me, Daddy. Please. I want to hear it. I'm very interested in this.'
'It's not a bad thing, but it helps me whenever somebody dies. Think about this. We come into life so easily - from somewhere, from the universe, from God. Why should it be any harder when we leave life? We come - from a good place. We leave - and go to a good
place. Does that make any sense to you, Jannie?' She nodded and continued to stare deeply into my eyes.' I understand.' she whispered. 'It's like it's in balance.' She paused a second, thinking it over, then she spoke.
'But Daddy, Christine isn't dead. I just know it. She isn't dead. She hasn't gone to that good place yet. So don't you lose hope.'
Alex Cross 5 - Pop Goes the Weasel
