Through Another's Eyes

Child Protective Services in Drake County was a much bigger building than what Cassidy expected it to be. She learned later that it also acted as an orphanage for all the children that weren’t in foster care. Apparently it was a large number.
“I’m sure you’d like an explanation as to why your niece and nephew are here Ms. Treymane,” Doris said, offering Cassidy a chair as she took a seat behind her own desk.
Cassidy was in no mood for dumb-ass questions. Her radar detector had failed her as she was speeding up the road and the cop had been everything but pleasant, making her a half an hour late to her two o’clock appointment. Cassidy had never been a fan of the police force; a rude cop was just reinforcing her beliefs that they were all out to ruin people’s days and lives. Already she was convinced that the children were here because of the fault of a police officer. As a teenager, she would have snapped back at the social worker with some smart-ass comment. Now she just nodded, waiting for the woman to proceed.
“Last night the Sheriff’s Office was called out to an apartment complex on the outskirts of the county on a disturbance call from a neighbor. They had heard screaming and other suspicious noises coming from the apartment above them. When they reached the apartment they were greeted by a man who was very obviously under the influence of controlled substances. When they asked to enter the apartment, the man attempted to physically assault one of the officers. He was taken into custody. The officers obtained a search warrant and returned an hour later. Shannon Leeman was found unconscious in the apartment. She was rushed to the hospital and was discovered that she had consumed a lethal amount of cocaine. We believe that she consumed everything that was in the apartment in order to hide it from the police. This seems to have become a popular practice in the past couple of years. The autopsy should confirm the cause-“
“Autopsy?” Cassidy exclaimed.
Doris looked at Cassidy, her expression one of horror. “Oh my! I thought the Sheriff’s Office notified you! I’m so sorry-!”
“It’s okay,” Cassidy said, her clenched fists and pursed lips the only indicator of any emotion. “Can you just tell me how the kids ended up here? Obviously there was no one to look out for them.”
“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. The living conditions were deplorable. There was nearly no food in the apartment, most of the plumbing and electric fixtures were not up-to-code. The landlord will of course be fined for this. Also, Adrian Leeman had suffered a black eye and cut lip along with several bruises on his arms. Neither child will talk about the incident.”
Cassidy swallowed, clenching her teeth, determined to keep her emotions in check. She’d done the same thing seventeen years ago when Shannon had started accusing her…now Shannon was dead and none of that stupid fight mattered. Now she had two battered kids and funeral arrangements to worry about. She’d have to call the whole damn family and give them the bad news…
“I know this is a lot for you to take in at once Ms. Treymane. But the children have no other place to go. Do you know any other relatives that would be willing to take them in?”
Cassidy barely had to think about that. Her mother was in a nursing home, her father was ten years in the ground, her one sibling she’d once been so close to was dead of a drug overdose, and all her other relatives were so distant that she only remembered when she got Christmas cards from them.
“No, there’s no one else.”
“From their father’s side either…” Doris began listing what other options the children had.
“What do you mean foster care? I can take them if there isn’t anyone else,” Cassidy said.
“Oh, I thought you’d said you didn’t want to take them in.”
“Without knowing anything about them no,” Cassidy corrected. Leave it to someone with a government agency to hear only what they wanted to. “I mean, I don’t have any kids of my own but they can’t be that hard to take care of…”
“Oh but they are Ms. Treymane. These children are going to need a solid home life and therapy. They won’t even say what happened to them. If problems from their childhood are left unresolved they could have problems with relationships, schoolwork, and countless other things later in life.”
Freudian, Cassidy thought sarcastically.
“I can get them into therapy if they need it. I minored in Psychology in college.”
Doris’ attitude seemed to change. Her nose lifted a fraction of an inch and her eyes narrowed a little. “Just because you took a few classes in college, doesn’t mean you’re qualified to make assumptions to the children’s mental health or to give them the therapy they need.”
Cassidy would have argued that in fact, she was qualified but she sensed that the other woman was very closed minded about mental health matters. Most Freudians were. She wouldn’t accept that Cassidy helped plenty of people through mental health issues using a different type of therapy.
“I can call a therapist and set up an appointment if the kids need it.”
“We only pay for psychologists we provide. This brings us to another matter. Will you be able to financially support these children? I went through your records and found no evidence that you’ve received any kind of payment from any company in the last seven years. What do you do for a living?”
Of course they’d gone through her records. They probably knew what brand of tampon she bought too. She clamped down on her sarcasm and gave the woman the most basic answer to her question: “I’m self-employed.”
Doris’ look said she wanted more information.
Cassidy smiled tightly. “I work with horses.”
“Horses?” From the social worker’s tone the animals might have been Jack the Ripper.
“Yes, horses. You know the big animals that walk on four hooves with manes and tails. Make the ‘neigh’ sound?” Cassidy hadn’t been able to hold in her sarcasm that time. It was her personal curse. Normally she was good at holding back her remarks, but this woman was beginning to annoy her.
“I know what horses are Ms. Treymane. But they are very dangerous animals. Do you have any where the children would be staying?”
Yes because I keep horses in the house, she thought sarcastically. “On the property yes. I own over a hundred acres and have about fifty horses on the property, half of which belong to me.”
“What do you do with them?” Doris asked with a trace of disgust.
“This and that,” Cassidy said, not wanting to get into details with a woman who obviously didn’t appreciate the horses or what could be done with them. “I make a good enough living.”
“We’ve already checked your bank records. You seem overly endowed financially.”
“Then why the hell did you ask about my financial situation?” Cassidy asked. She grappled with her temper and managed to check it.
“Most of the money in your accounts came from private individuals. There are several businesses that deal with private individuals, most of them less than desirable forms of income.”
Cassidy counted backwards from ten…slowly. “Do you require a drug test as well? You can do a thirty-two year test on me and find nothing but ibuprofen and whatever doctors have given me, and very little of that.”
“No but we will have to come out and inspect where the children will be staying. Do you have adequate living arrangements for them?”
“I have a five bedroom farm house with a kitchen, living room, finished basement, office and fenced yard for my dogs, even though the dogs normally come down to the barn with me.”
“Dogs? What kind of dogs?”
“A Shepherd and a mutt.”
“German Shepherds can be known as a bully breed. They account for half of all dog attacks on humans.”
“Look if you’re going to tell me I can’t take care of these kids because of a dog I rescued then maybe you should find a “more suitable” home for them to stay in. In my opinion my having two very healthy, happy dogs should be an indicator that I can take care of a living thing. I also have one of those five cent goldfish I won at the fair that’s been alive for two years: you know how fragile they are.”
“Pet ownership and guardianship are two very important things.”
“I’m aware,” Cassidy said through clenched teeth. “What else do I need to do? You said these kids needed a place to stay and someone to look after them. Right now it seems like I’m your only option and you’re being pretty hard on me.”
“This is a special case and you’re right: we’re desperate to place theses children. Would you be able to take them home today? I can come out tomorrow and assess the home.”
“Sure.” Anything to get away from this woman if only for a day.
“Let’s go meet them shall we?” Doris rose and led the way out of the office.
As they were walking down the hall, Cassidy began asking herself why she was doing this. She had worked with kids before, but not had them actually living under her roof. She didn’t know anything about them and she would have to deal with the Social Worker from hell. But these kids were her own flesh and blood, the only family she really had left…she couldn’t just abandon them.

“If you don’t want to get picked on then put him under your pillow until you go to sleep,” Adrian told Delany. Delany was sitting on one of the bunk beds, cuddling her teddy bear to her small chest. She was wearing new donated clothes as was Adrian, but her arms were still grubby and her dirty face still had the tear tracks running down them.
The only thing she’d taken from the apartment was the damnable teddy bear that was already getting her in trouble. The boys her age were starting to pick on her, calling her a big baby and creating more tear tracks. The boys had ceased their teasing when Adrian had threatened them; it probably had something to do with being the oldest boy in the large room filled with bunk beds. But he knew that as soon as he turned his back the teasing would resume.
He also knew that they were stuck here until they could be placed somewhere else. Neither of his parents had ever talked about relatives except for the mystery aunt that he was sure didn’t exist.
Just then one of the social workers came up to their bunk bed. “Come on you two, there’s someone Mrs. Walker wants you to meet.”
Adrian followed the other woman. He wished that she was his social worker instead of Mrs. Walker; he had taken an instant disliking to the woman and she to him.
Delany followed and they were led down several corridors to reach Mrs. Walker’s office. The social worker knocked at the door and Mrs. Walker called, “come in,” from the other side.
The door opened and the first thing Adrian saw was the back of a head full of short reddish-brown hair. The head turned around and forget-me-not blue eyes studied him. The woman stood and smiled hesitantly. She was shorter than him by a few inches and her slight body and short hair made her look like a boy. Freckles danced across her cheek bones, barely visible against her tanned skin that no tanning booth could perfect.
Her white teeth sparkled as she looked up into his eyes. Her eyelids flinched once when she saw his black eye but she didn’t mention it, just said, “You must be Adrian.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Who are you?”
The smiled wavered but stayed. “I’m your aunt Cassidy. Your mother’s sister.”
The aunt he was sure didn’t exist? “I don’t have an aunt.”
The smile fell. “I didn’t think I had a nephew and a niece, but apparently I do.”
“Adrian, you’ll be going to stay with you aunt until we can find something more permanent,” Mrs. Walker said from behind her desk.
“My house can be permanent if they need it,” Cassidy said tightly. “I’d love to stay and chat more, but I have to get back to work. What do I need to sign?” On a second thought, she looked back at Adrian. “Do you want to come home with me?” She looked down at Delany for the first time. She squatted down so that she had to look up at the girl. “And what about you Delany? Do you want to come and stay with me?”
Delany didn’t say a word, just stared wide-eyed at the woman and clutched her teddy bear tightly.
“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” Adrian said.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Cassidy said, standing slowly.
“I’ll need you to sign…” Mrs. Walker started rambling off a whole list of things for Cassidy to sign. Adrian watched his aunt. Maybe he should have said no. What if his mother’s heavy drinking and drugs were hereditary? Mrs. Walker had already-none too sensitively-informed him that his mother was dead and his father in prison. What if Cassidy was just like his parents?