Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar Read Free Page B

I own has that sort of beer smell to it.”
    “Please step out of the vehicle.”
    His words weren’t merely a suggestion.
    Red regretted her hasty departure from home now. Running around town without underwear was a definite no-no. Even if she was completely covered with jeans and T-shirt, she felt indecent, which made her behave guiltily, which, reasonably, made the gate guards suspicious of her.
    “What’s your purpose here today?” he asked her.
    “I’m picking up my grandchildren.”
    Red didn’t see any perceptible rise of the young soldier’s eyebrow, but she felt it.
    “My daughter is overseas and…”
    Her explanation was much longer and more detailed than she wanted it to be. Red just couldn’t stop expounding, clarifying, justifying. She heard herself talking, but she couldn’t shut herself up. She was out of place. Intent on a task unsuited to her. It was as if she needed to convince both of them that she belonged here.
    The soldier directed her to an office. Inside, phone calls were made and her business there was verified. After only a few minutes she was given a paper pass that she carried back to the guard.
    “Get that sticker up-to-date before you come in next time,” the young man told her.
    Red hoped that, if she was lucky, she’d never have to come back here again.
    After wandering through her directions and missing the turn twice, she finally parked in front of the Family Assistance Center. Flipping down the visor mirror, she gazed at herself in dismay. She combed through her wild hair with her fingers and pinched her cheeks to give them a little color. Then, taking a deep breath and placing what she hoped was a confident smile on her face, she walked inside.
    The office was a square in pale neutral colors. Light poured in from the windows through utilitarian blinds. A large African-American woman was seated behind a desk, chatting on the phone. Red saw the children as soon as she walked through the door. They were sitting together in a secluded area visible from the main room, but separated from it. It was full of colorful furniture and toys that were being completely ignored. Daniel was stretched out on the chairs, his dark, curly head in the lap of his big sister. Olivia looked up and Red saw recognition in the young girl’s eyes, but she offered no greeting.
    Red smiled at her and waved.
    When there was no response from the children, Red turned to the woman at the desk. She mouthed, “Hi,” and then waited patiently until she’d hung up the phone.
    “May I help you?”
    “I’m Staff Sergeant Lujan’s mother. I’m here to pick up her children.”
    The boy raised his head when he head her words. He eyed Red suspiciously and then said something to his sister.
    “Uh-huh,” the woman responded, and began sorting through the papers on her desk. “We tried to get you last night, but nobody answered and the children weren’t sure of your address.”
    “I work nights,” Red explained simply. Her attention wasstill on the two youngsters whispering together across the room.
    “I need to see your driver’s license.”
    Red managed to fish it out of her purse again. At least this time it wasn’t stuck to anything. She was nervous, jittery. She bit her lip to keep herself from going on an explaining jag like she had at the gate. She would only answer questions that were asked. And she would only give as much information as was needed. That’s the way Bridge would have handled it.
    Red’s comment to her daughter that she didn’t know anything about kids was more true than any outsider might imagine. Red had been a single, teenage mother, alone, scared and basically clueless. It seemed, in retrospect, that Bridge had raised herself. Everything she was, everything she’d achieved, she had managed all on her own. Her daughter’s childhood was a mysterious blur. Looking back, it seemed as if Bridge had always been a grown-up, responsible, dependable, unflappable. One minute Red was