A Brother's Duty

(For Character Exchange Contest. Character used:  "Jacob" )

A Brother's Duty

Jacob Fox tapped his pencil on his desk at the Lakeside Correctional Facility, growing irritated with the woman standing in front of him.

“Look, miss. Visiting hours are noon to three, Tuesday and Saturday. It’s after 10pm Wednesday, you’ll have to come back in a few days,” Jacob said slowly to the young woman with disheveled light brown hair, who was demanding to see her husband. Despite her attempt to look presentable wearing her waitress uniform, he knew she was a drug addict. Jacob could spot them a mile away, since he saw them every day. 

“But I work! Can’t you just let me in for a few minutes?”, the woman said in slurred words. She almost appeared drunk, and Jacob wondered if he should be calling someone to arrest her for public intoxication. At least it would get her out of his hair for the time being.

“Look, if you don’t leave now, I’m going to have you arrested.”

Those words struck a cord with the woman, and she immediately calmed down, muttering something inaudible as she walked out the door.  Jacob just shook his head and laughed, thinking to himself. Yup, crackhead for sure. Mention arrest and they go running.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, which was usually the case on the night shift. Rarely did anyone have any business in the evening. Jacob was really just there to do paperwork the day shift pushed on him. He didn’t mind it though. It was a safe job, and he liked being by himself.

He clocked out at midnight as he did every weekday, and headed to his one bedroom apartment on the other side of town. Jacob hoped the woman wouldn’t return the next day, but had a feeling she might. For some reason though, she seemed familiar to him. He dismissed the thought quickly, deciding the drug addicts were all starting to look alike.

***

Sure enough, at the same time the next night, the woman showed up looking no different from the night before. Her hair still barely combed, uniform showing new coffee stains. Jacob sighed heavy when he saw her coming, knowing he was about to face another battle.

“Visiting hours haven’t changed, you know,” Jacob said, looking back down at his work, hoping she would just leave if he ignored her.

“I don’t care. I haven’t seen him in five months because they had him somewhere else. He’s close enough I can see him, why won’t you just give me a few minutes?” she paused, watching Jacob attempting to act like she wasn’t even there. Knowing this was a lost cause, she sighed and added “Fine. Would you at least tell him I was here? His name is Carl James, and I’m Pam. Just tell him his wife was here.”

The mention of her name suddenly brought meaning to her familiar face. Jacob knew why she had looked familiar to him. This was his half sister!
“Wait! Pam, wait!” Jacob cried, jumping up from his chair. “It’s me, Jacob.”

She looked him over curiously, searching her memory for recollection. She raised her eye brow at him before speaking, thinking he might be her ticket in.

“Oh yeah, I know who you are. Been a long time since I’ve seen you,” Pam said, giving a devilish smile. “Maybe since I’m family, you can bend the rules a little?”

Jacob looked her over, wondering how she had gotten to this point in her life. How ironic they stood on different sides of the fence, each going down different roads. Most of the undesirable people who came to visit convicted spouses Jacob couldn’t care less about. But it was his own flesh and blood, so he pitied her.

Shaking his head, he stated the rules were firm. Even though he felt the need to reach out to her, he wasn’t about to risk his job. She was still a drug addict, and he kept in mind. Being it was his sister, he had to help her, so asked to get her address.

Pam was not amused by his sudden interest in her, especially after his refusal to her request. Rolling her eyes, she turned to leave, again mumbling words Jacob didn’t understand. Jacob didn’t stop her, knowing she’d probably be back.

***

Monday rolled around, and Jacob had not seen Pam since. He checked the logs to see if maybe she had come during normal visiting hours on Saturday, but found she hadn’t. Thinking he should just forget about the whole experience, he told himself it was none of his business what she did.

One less thing I have to worry about.

Running his fingers through his dusty blond hair, his father came to mind. Jacob’s dad had a huge hand in the way she turned out. Jacob’s father acted like he never had a previous family, leaving Pam’s mother to raise her alone. Sure he paid his child support and sent the occasional birthday present, but he really didn’t have much to do with Pam at all. Jacob and his younger brothers had been his “real” family, yet Jacob didn’t always see eye to eye with his father.

you proud, pop? Your sons are doing just fine, but your daughter is a mess.

Pondering these issues a bit more, Jacob decided it was up to him to clean up his late-father’s messes. Why he hadn’t tried to reach out to her six years ago when their father died, he didn’t know. She wasn’t at the funeral, yet no one questioned it. But he was going to do something now.

Sorting through a few record logs, Jacob found what he was looking for. The mail list, which recorded all the incoming mail over the last few days, displayed Pam’s address. All incoming letters needed return addresses, and he had a hunch she’d sent one in the last few days. Looking around to make sure no other officers were around, he quickly jotted down her address on a piece of paper and tucked it away in his pocket.

***

It took the whole week for Jacob to work up the nerve to visit Pam’s home on Saturday, his day off. Knowing she would most likely be home around 10:30pm, he pulled up in front of her broken down house and saw lights on inside.

The house didn’t look much better than she did. It was in desperate need of a new coat of paint, as well as major repairs. Dirty toys littered the yard, tipping Jacob off to the fact she had a child. He stepped over them carefully, even though it was apparent other visitors just kicked them aside. Walking up to the door, he rapped on the screen door, which was just a frame without glass, barely hanging on its hinges.

After a few thumps and bangs from inside, Pam came to the door.

Probably hiding her stash, Jacob thought.

“What are YOU doing here?” Pam demanded, her brown eyes covered behind a haze.

“Come to see how you are doing,” Jacob responded. He couldn’t bare to see her in the condition she was in, so averted his gaze to the squeaky boards under his feet.

“Well what the hell for?” Pam muttered, not budging from the door and giving no signs of inviting him in.

Jacob wondered if this was such a great idea after all. Who was he to mettle in the lives of others? His mind raced for an explanation, but only gathered fragments of thoughts.

Our father . . . worthless . . . was an ass.

Knowing he couldn’t spit out the right words, he instead just shook his head and turned to go. This time it was Pam who stopped him.

“Wait. I guess we could talk for a few minutes if you want. It’s just after dad died I . . . ” Her voice trailed off, not quite sure how much of her emotions she wanted to reveal to a brother she barely knew.

As Jacob was thinking of what to say to her, a little girl with dark brown curls appeared in the doorway behind Pam.

“Mommy, what’s going on? Who’s that?”  The small voice said, looking up with haunting brown eyes to her mother. Jacob knew she had a child, but had no idea she would appear this innocent. Even though he practically raised his own brothers, he still wasn’t that fond of children. This one, though, he felt drawn to. Perhaps it’s because she was a family member, or because she was the reason her mother desperately needed his help.

“Nothing, just go back to bed,” Pam told the child in a rather cold voice, waving her in the direction of the bedroom. The sleepy child rubbed her eyes and complied, clutching her ragged doll in her small hands.

The sound of Pam’s emotionless voice toward the child angered Jacob, although he wasn’t sure why. His mind was racing again, barely stopping at one particular thought long enough for him to relay the message into sound. He finally succeeded.

“Your child?” he asked, pointing inside the house. At the very least, he should clarify ownership before blurting out his opinions on the situation.

Pam nodded, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorway, obviously growing impatient with this late night visitor.

Jacob paused for a moment, unable to collect all his thoughts, but finally decided now was not the best time to talk. Especially since her mind had to be on getting back to the drugs. He decided setting up a time and place to talk was much better idea.

“Are you working tomorrow?” Jacob asked, and got a no in response. He continued. “Good, then let’s meet. Coffee shop downtown at 2pm work for you? “

Pam nodded again in agreement.

***

Jacob rehearsed what he would say to Pam in his head again, nervously stirring his coffee. Yawning he wished he had gotten enough sleep last night. He slept all right, but Pam had been on his mind. He hoped his words would have an impact on her.

Pam, I know what our dad did to you. I know what you do, too. Your daughter deserves better. 

Checking his watch again, he realized how late she was. 2:45pm. She wasn’t coming. It was a good thing he knew where she lived though, although he wasn’t happy about having to track her down.

It was a quick drive to her house, no more than 10 minutes. No signs of activity could be seen from the street, but her rusted blue car sat in the driveway as it had the night before. She had to be home.

Knocking on the door a few times got him no response. When he paused to listen to the other side of the door, he could hear faint sobs, so decided to let himself in. What he found was not what he had expected the day to bring.

Pam lay stretched out on the floor. Her empty eyes fixed on the ceiling above her, yet seeing nothing. Her daughter sat huddled on the floor beside her, still clutching the beaten up doll, pleading for her mom to answer her.

Jacob called for paramedics immediately, but already knew it was pointless. Pam was dead. He had been too late. But he wasn’t too late for her daughter.

Sitting down beside the little girl and trying to ignore the dead body beside him, he stuck out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Jacob. What’s your name?” Jacob asked, trying his best to detach the little girl from the situation and keep her calm as possible. He had little experience with children, but this seemed like the best solution.

The little girl reluctantly gave her hand, and said “Molly” in a weak voice.

“Nice to meet you Molly. I called someone to come help your mom, so would you like to talk a walk with me outside? You can show me your toys if you want to.”

Molly looked Jacob up and down, trying to decide if she should trust this stranger or not. After a moment she stood, deciding that playing with toys wasn’t such a bad idea.  Jacob took her small hand in his, walking out of the sad little house.

“You know Molly, I think you and I are going to be very good friends.” 

Word Count: 2,105