Hood Ornaments

For: Victoria D. Watts (My Tori)

I remember back when we were younger. You told me that Grandma Trudy said that if you could look at the sky and see a shade of lavender, there was hope…

***

Dell continued to write until he got tired. Since he wanted the journal to be perfect, poetic even, he knew that he had to be meticulously organized.

He got up and pulled open the nightstand drawer and saw them underneath a bible.

About five notepads which he put in his bag along with the journal.

Just enough for the six hour drive back home.

With that, he took a shower, meditated, and fell off to sleep.

Praying everything would go as planned.

No, he spoke it into existence.

It will go as planned

***

“Dad, did you just tell me that my girlfriend has been arrested for murder, no wait, three counts of murder, and she doesn’t want me to worry?”

Michael stood up and started putting away everything he just put into his bag.

“Son, you need to calm…”

“Calm down?!”

“This isn’t doing anybody any good. I have to get back to the office and take care of some business and get paperwork ready for her.”

“So you’re going to see her today?” Michael asked with anticipation.

Reginald nodded.

“Good, I am coming with you.”

“I can’t bring you to work with me, Michael!”

“So how am I supposed to see her?”

“She is still in holding. I will ask if she wants to call you.”

“Ask? Ok, why wouldn’t she want to talk to me?”

Reginald sighed and started to leave the room.

“Dad?” Can you tell her I love her and to please call me.”

“I will. Get some rest.”

“I’ll try. Then I’ll probably go to the studio.”

“Do that, but don’t talk to anybody. Not even your mother, you hear me?”

Michael nodded, his father walked out the door, and just like that everything he thought he knew, he didn’t.

Things he once worried about didn’t seem important anymore.

Now he had a whole different list of worries.

Even though some things became clear, he still had questions. He cleaned up the mess he had made and laid down on his bed too tired to look for the answers which were evading him. However as his eyes fluttered closed, Michael made up his mind that he was going to find those answers himself.

It was hours later when he woke up, but he didn’t feel refreshed at all.

He felt worse.

Exhausted.

He actually toyed with the idea of going back to sleep, but it was worry and his will fueled his determination. Sluggishly he got ready and headed out to the studio. The campus was eerily quiet.

His stride got him to the studio in no time. He noticed there weren’t students outside lingering about or smoking. Not one soul. He heard footsteps that sounded like they were jogging along with a very strange hissing sound. Michael looked up and tilted his head to one side in confusion as Holmes was running towards him waving gesturing wildly with his hands to go away. Michael couldn’t help but chuckle at him.

“Wipe that grin off your face honey. There’s members of the press along with students I thought dropped out or graduated just waiting for your arrival.”

He ushered Michael into the English building and then unlocked a faculty office door.

“Go, go go before they realize you escaped.”

Holmes shut the door, fluttered behind a desk and sat down. Michael sat on a bench along the wall.

“Are you okay? Are you going to be able to handle all of this? It’s amazing isn’t it.? I haven’t seen anything like this since that semester that sorority was shut down for hazing…”

“Why is the press here? What could they possibly know?”

“They know what I told them.”

“You talked to the press?”

Michael’s leer scared Holmes, and he found himself stammering to find the right words.

“I…just told…them…I have a student at the gallery…who was arrested for…”

“Stop!” Michael said as he stood up. “You weren’t diverting me from the studio for my protection. You did it so I wouldn’t mess up your press statement. Your small time media attention.”

He pulled the door open.

“Victoria, under the circumstances, is holding up well. Thanks for asking.”

He walked out, and the echoes of the slammed door startled those in the building. Michael was livid. He stormed off campus and hailed a cab. It wasn’t until after he saw the cabbie’s eyes in the rearview mirror did he realize how gruff he sounded when he gave him his destination.

“My bad man, it’s been a rough morning.”

His apology was met with silence. After only a few city blocks, the cab pulled over. Michael was embarrassed when he realized he could have walked. He told the cabbie to keep the change and looked at the line that formed to enter the building. He checked the time on his phone and realized he was early.

Good thing too, because the line was getting longer.

But he had to see her.

No matter how uncomfortable it made him.

No matter how long the wait would be.

No matter if the temperature continued to drop.

All that mattered is that he got a chance to see her face.

To tell her he loved her.

That was all that mattered to him.

All that apparently mattered to the lady behind the desk in the reception area was that Michael wasn’t on some sort of list

That the list was only updated once a week.

That it wasn’t a hotel, so Victoria couldn’t be notified of his arrival.

And even if she could, Michael still wasn’t on the list.

His defeated expression awakened the empathy in the guard.

“First time?”

Michael nodded.

“Go stand at the end of the counter. As soon as I check in the people behind you, I’ma try to help you.”

She checked in about a half dozen visitors before the guard walked over to Michael holding a paper. She placed it on the counter in front of him.

“These is a request form to be put on the inmate’s visiting list. At the top, you fill out all of your information, your relationship to the inmate, inmate’s number, and a bunch of other questions they ask about felonies and such.”

She leaned in closer so that no one else could hear her.

“The blank spot down at the bottom you can put a little message to her if you’d like. But I have to look over the form before you do, so no nasty codes or nothing”

“Thank you.”

The guard resumed her normal tone.

“The inmate will be allowed to make one phone call on the city to notify you of approval or denial. If they are unable to contact you, you will eventually receive a postcard in the mail with said decision. Any questions?”

“I don’t have her inmate number?”

“I can fill that in for ya darlin.” She said as she walked off to check in a few late arrivals.

He filled out the form and wrote a small note telling her that he Loved her and to please add him to her list. He then sighed and left the form on the counter. He caught the eye of the guard and mouthed a thank you to her. She nodded her approval.

And he left.

Feeling worse than he did when he arrived.

But at least Victoria would know that he tried to see her.