Stranger in Paradise

13.

The small bus was yellow, with school-bus plates. And the usual signage about stopping when the lights were flashing. The driver was a white-haired Hispanic man who spoke too little English to have a conversation. Jesse stood in the exit well beside the driver. Molly sat in back with Nina Pinero. Both Molly and Jesse were in full uniform. Jesse even had on the town-issued chief’s hat with braid on the front. The children’s clothes were spruced and ironed. The children themselves were very quiet. Jesse could see them swallowing nervously. Several of them kept clearing their throats. And though most of them were dark-skinned, Jesse could see that their faces were pale.

The bus went past Paradise Beach. No one paid any attention. The kids looked at the hot-dog stand. The bus moved out onto the causeway with the crowded harbor to the left and the open Atlantic to the right. The kids stared out the window. The silence in the bus was palpable. Jesse made no attempt to reassure the kids. He knew how useless that was. Across the causeway, the bus went straight ahead on Sea Street. Past the Paradise Yacht Club. The bus stopped in front of a fieldstone wall that separated a rolling lawn from the street. Across the street there was a white van with a big antenna. On the side it said ACTION NEWS 3. At the top of the lawn was a huge weathered-shingle house. A wide, white driveway wound from behind the house down across the big lawn to the opening in the stone wall, where it joined the street. In the opening, on the driveway, there were maybe twenty adults in varying hues of seersucker and flowered hats. Among them in an on-air summer dress and a big glamorous hat was Jenn. With her was a cameraman in a safari vest.

Nina Pinero stood and walked down to the front of the bus. Molly stayed in the rear. She stopped beside Jesse. Jesse nodded at the driver and he opened the bus doors. Jesse stepped out. The gathered adults stared at him. Walter Carr stood with Miriam Fiedler. They both had pamphlets ready. Jesse wondered who they planned to hand them out to.

“Hello,” Jesse said. “I’ve come to protect you from the invaders.”

Carr said, “What?”

“I’m here, with Officer Crane, to see that not one of these small savages attacks you or in any way harms your property,” Jesse said.

“There’s no need to be caustic, Chief Stone,” Miriam Fiedler said. “We are simply trying to maintain the integrity of our property and the safety of our streets.”

Jesse nodded at Nina Pinero, and she gently pushed a little boy forward. Jesse took his hand as he stepped from the bus.

“Meet the enemy,” Jesse said.

The boy was wearing sandals and khaki shorts, and a snow-white T-shirt. Jesse could feel the stiffness in his hand when he held it.

“His name,” Jesse said, “is Roberto Valdez. He was five last week.”

Nina gently directed a little girl from the bus. Jesse took her hand as she stepped down. She had on red sneakers with red-and-white striped laces, and white shorts and a white T-shirt.

“This is Isabel Gomez,” Jesse said. “She won’t be five until later this month.”

He could feel Isabel tremble a little as he held her hand.

“Okay, Isabel,” Jesse said. “You stand with Roberto, right here, beside the bus, behind me.”

“Is this really necessary, Chief Stone?” Miriam Fiedler said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jesse said. “It is.”

One by one, the kids emerged from the bus and stood fearfully with Jesse for a moment while he introduced them. Finally they were through. Molly got out of the bus and stood with the kids. Nina Pinero got out and stood beside Jesse.

“Chief Stone,” Austin Carr said, “we do not have any animosity toward these children. We would support them, and I mean financially, if they wished to establish a nice school and summer camp in Marshport.”

At the top of the driveway, several young men and women in shorts and T-shirts came out of the house and stood, waiting.

“Staff is in place,” Nina Pinero said to Jesse.

“Okay,” Jesse said. “Follow me, kids.”

“This is outrageous,” Miriam Fiedler said. “We are not a bunch of rabble to be brushed aside.”

“You’re not?” Jesse said.

With Nina Pinero and Molly herding the children behind him, Jesse walked straight through the seersucker circle and up the driveway. Behind him he heard Miriam Fiedler cry out in pain.

He heard Molly say, “Oh, dear, I’m so sorry. I seem to have stepped on your foot.”

Jesse didn’t turn around to look. But he smiled as he led the kids up the driveway.