Chapter 33 – [April 4, 2002]
Sally felt powerless.
3,000 miles west from her daughter, she was unable to do anything but go to work, go through the motions of her day, take care of Mindi and Jen, and act normal. It was agonizing. Poor Jordie was suffering in a hospital bed on the other side of the country and she couldn’t be Momma.
At one point on Wednesday morning during spring break, she had questioned if she should immediately fly out to be with her ailing girl, but Jo had talked her out of it reasoning that Jordan’s illness probably wasn’t all that bad. But when Sally had heard that she was staying overnight in the hospital, her anxiety had hit the roof. She had been on the phone all afternoon with each of the Johns’ giving instructions and asking for updates – the same was true with Thursday.
Luckily (probably because of the way I hounded them, she thought) the couple had chosen to stay in the hospital overnight with her daughter, which took some of the edge of fear off the frightened mother.
As of early Thursday afternoon (Pacific time), the news had been that Jordan was doing very well on the antibiotics and that the hospital was planning on releasing her early on in the evening. The three were scheduled (as originally planned) to fly home the next day, Friday.
When Sally had talked with Jordan early Thursday morning, she seemed short and frustrated, as though something was gnawing at her. When she had asked what it was, the teenager had quickly dismissed it, which made the intuitive mom know for sure that something was up and that her girl just didn’t want to discuss it in front of her present company.
What happened? She wondered. Was her teachers’ discovery of the diapers that bad of a thing? Did Mrs. Johns squeal on me for telling before the trip?
By late Thursday afternoon just before Jordan was to be released, Sally had her answer. The thirteen-year-old had phoned her back apparently once the two teachers had left the room to go on an errand or something. She quickly relayed the entire story about Ted, his job at Hope Seattle, the board vote, Mr. John’s job at the school, the mystery blackmailer, everything. Sally initially had had a similar reaction as Jordan: she felt equally frustrated at the teacher for not following through against her bastard of an estranged husband (although she masked it quite well as she debriefed with her daughter on the phone). Quickly though, she rebuffed her feelings and reminded herself that this story was being relayed by a drug-ridden thirteen-year-old in the hospital and probably needed to be taken with a grain of salt. Before she, the mother, got all hyped up about anything, it needed to be verified. Furthermore, she reasoned to herself, what use would vengeance be in this case anyways? Why would three people losing their jobs bring something good?
“Listen Jordie. I know you’re upset and maybe you have a right to be. But you also are in those people’s debt. They’ve traveled with you all the way across the country, given up their spring break (and they don’t get many as teachers), and it was Mr. Johns that helped you win the competition in the first place. It’s ok to be angry sometimes but you also need to be respectful, alright? I’m sure he has his reasons for whatever he says he did – and I’m sure it was a terribly difficult situation to be in. You know?”
Jordan remained silent.
“I mean. If it all happened like he says, it’d be incredibly hard to willingly give up your job that you love in order to get someone else fired. Right!? That’s a tough sell honey – for anyone. Maybe you need to give him a little break and just try to have an ok time with the rest of your trip? Besides – I’m not sure it would help anything much to have three people without jobs just so one guy who’s admittedly been behaving badly gets what he deserves.”
Jordan begrudgingly huffed an agreement, looking out her hospital window into the cloudy sky, not at all feeling forgiveness or kindness in her heart.
Thrown off by the curve ball of the story, Sally felt uneasy. I guess it was too much to wish or ask that people in the church would just let us deal with this privately. So everyone is talking about it then, huh? I wonder what they’re saying?
It had been the first time she really allowed herself to go fully down the road of social worry and propriety with regards to her divorce. The thought of people judging she and her family in a public forum made her feel nauseated.
Melissa Cooper sat nervously in the office of Harris & Schubert, Attorneys at Law. Brian Harris was Ted’s lawyer and the 27 year-old woman had made her own appointment to see him without her boyfriend’s knowledge. She felt slightly embarrassed about the motive for her visit given that Brian was also a church member. But the jealousy she felt of Sally for Ted was strong enough to overcome it. She knew she could do almost anything to get what she wanted, even something as grotesque as what she was about to provoke.
“Ms. Cooper?” the receptionist behind the dark desk called her name and pointed toward the heavy wood door.
She stood and walked toward it, feeling both fear and ecstasy.
“Hi Ms. Cooper, please come in. Take a seat.” The lawyer smiled, shook her hand, and motioned to an empty chair on the opposite side of his dark walnut colored desk. He looked professional; straight-laced with a full black suit and red tie.
The office was cozy but cheery, looking out toward Queen Ann and South Lake Union from its location in an office building I-5 and the old Paramount theatre. The decor was sparse but attractive: a globe in the corner behind her chair and a painting of what looked to be some ancient war general on horseback behind the man in the suit. Lighted bookcases flanked his sides.
Crossing his leg and leaning back in his leather chair, Mr. Harris said, “So how can I help you today Ms. Cooper?”
“Thank you for seeing me today Mr. Harris. I’m here to talk about Ted’s divorce.”
His brow immediately furrowed and he moved his weight forward on his chair, planting both feet on the ground, “Well. I’m sorry Ms. Cooper, but you’re not exactly a party to that. I know you seem to have an interest but it technically doesn’t concern you. Ted is my client with whom I share attorney-client privileges.”
“Oh I understand that,” answered Melissa expecting the objection, “I didn’t come hoping to ask for advice or get information from you about it. I came to offer you some information of my own that I think you’d find very interesting.”
“Oh? I have to say Ms. Cooper, this is very strang—”
She interrupted him “I have credible reasons to believe that Sally Reynolds is abusing her oldest daughter. I think she’s an unfit mother. From many things that I’ve witnessed in taking care of her children over the past several months, I have lost a great deal of respect for that woman. I’ve been alarmed at the psychological and emotional condition they’ve showed up at my doorstep week after week and I’ve been taxed…” at this she began a feigned weep, “…by all the support and counseling I’ve had to offer.” She delicately flicked a tear from her lower eyelash with the edge of her pointer finger.
“That’s quite an accusation Ms. Cooper. But still, it’s not for me to interject or decid—”
Interrupting once again, and this time not relinquishing the floor for over thirty minutes, the young Auburn haired woman continued. She discussed in as vivid and shocking of detail and with as verbose of language as she could muster, everything she knew about Jordan’s bedwetting – namely Sally’s mystifying twice-daily perineal care of the teenager. She included innuendos of brainwashing, malnourishment, emotional abuse, and potentially even sexual abuse. She told the lawyer that she believed forcing a teenager to submit to the humiliation of being forced into diapers on a nightly basis – and having to submit to an adult putting them on, was analogous to rape. At several points during her stories and descriptions, she broke down into fits of supposed empathetic tears for the girl whom she, in truth, could not stand. When she recounted her own experience of being ‘forced’ to help Jordan with the nightly routine, she described feeling shocked and dirty about it and did everything she could to get out of the task; saying that she still hadn’t forgiven Ted for his requirement.
“Well this is a rather…amazing…story Ms. Cooper.” The lawyer uttered when she had finally finished.
“Well of course it is amazing. Why d’you think I came to all this trouble? That woman is a numbskull and she’s destroying her daughters.” Melissa looked at the lawyer, begging him to show more emotion and snap to action on her behalf.
“Listen Ms. Cooper. The Law works very methodically and very carefully. And like I said, you’re not a party to these proceedings. I have to admit that your story has piqued a little curiosity in me and I might try to get some of Jordan’s medical history subpoenaed into the court record as evidence. This will allow any concerns or observations in doctor’s notes to come to light.” He said calmly.
“Is that all Mr. Harris?” she said with exasperation.
“Ms. Cooper. I’m not sure what else you expected here today but my taking any action at all behind Teds’ back (and I’m assuming he doesn’t know you’re here today right?) is really outside the bounds of what might be considered reasonable.”
“Well what about calling CPS! Isn’t that OBVIOUS?” She looked at him with outrage and a little condescension through her green eyes.
“Ms. Cooper this is a pretty sensitive thing you’ve just done. It’s a pretty big deal to report these kinds of things unnecessarily. I’m not mandatorily required to report something like this because of client-attorney privilege… And now, technically, you’re my client of another sort by default. Besides, I’m not convinced that any abuse has even taken place at all.”
The young woman felt herself getting angry. Why am I wasting my time here talking to you then Mr. Harris? “So who do I need to talk with to get something into action? Can’t I just tell you you’re fee to talk?” She asked with an edge of attitude and a sneer on her face.
“Listen Ms. Cooper. You need to cool it. The law works very methodically and sometimes slowly. This information may just be relevant and it might be useful. But nothing is going to happen this afternoon with it. Ok?” He fired right back with darts in his own eyes.
“If you really want to do something right now, I suppose you could call CPS yourself if you feel so strongly about it. And in addition, you could write out everything you’ve just told me and sign an affidavit saying it’s true. That’ll make it admissible in court if it somehow becomes necessary. Otherwise, it’s completely useless to the actual divorce proceeding; and it probably isn’t going to be relevant anyways. Ok?”
“Sure. Fine. I can do that.”
In silence, she stood up, shook his hand, and walked out.
In the end, Brian Harris, attorney at law, while skeptical of the weasely woman who had sat before him, also thought that perhaps this information might just afford his client a way out of child support – and a way to get custody of his children for himself.
I’m gonna need to request a continuance for our court date scheduled for next week. He thought to himself.
Melissa called and filed her report with the Child Protective agency that very evening. The lawyer, while conflicted about what to do, chose to hold off on his own report until seeing the medical records in his hands.
