A Child Left Behind

“Beth, I have to talk to you about something important.” The head administrator for Ocean Vista Day Care Center hovered by the entrance to Beth’s classroom, but she did not want to enter. Clara was not a vampire that needed to be invited in; time and twinkies had gotten the best of her body. She needed a private conversation outside of the earshot of the two children still in the classroom.

“Sure. What is it?” Beth looked confused as she answered Clara. Clara continued to motion her towards the doorway with her hands as Beth walked away from the block building construction that two students were completing. The parents of the two girls were running late, which was a common occurrence among several of the parents. Beth did not mind staying late to entertain waiting children, but it had already been fifteen minutes. Beth was only paid to wait for an additional fifteen minutes, and she assumed that Clara was here to plead for a few more minutes of supervision before the children were picked up.

“Beth, I just got a call from the packing plant that employs Mariola’s parents. Noone is coming to pick her up today.”

“What’s happened?”

“Mariola and her parents are illegal immigrants. Immigration agents conducted a raid where they work. They are both in custody.”

“No! How soon can they be released?”

Clara looked to the ground and then released a dramatic sigh. Beth realized that her question was stupid, but she was speaking without thinking. The shock had undone the rational clasps that held her brain together. Beth resented the condescending show that Clara was performing to enlighten her ignorance.

“Beth,” followed by an unnecessary dramatic pause, “they won’t be released. They’re going to be deported.” Clara then provided a blank stare to ensure that Beth could understand this statement. “I’m afraid it’s worse. U.S. Immigration agents will be arriving shortly to take Mariola.”

“Oh my God!” Beth was still speaking without thinking.

“I know. We’re all in shock. She’ll be taken care of though. I’ve received assurances. They will all be reunited soon.”

“How soon? I’ve heard those detention centers are like prisons with less regulations. Children get abused and molested in there, Clara. Do you watch the news? How can you say she’ll be taken care of?” Beth realized that she should not have taken this tone, but she was still fuming over the way Clara had spoken to her. How could she stand there and lie to her about how everything was going to be OK when she didn’t know that? Beth had wanted her to know who was really ignorant about this situation.

“Calm down. I just got off the phone with a very professional and very kind agent from U.S. Immigration. He assured me that everything would be fine. An agent will be here shortly to pick Mariola up. We’re going to wait in my office. I came over here to let you know and pick-up Mariola.”

“What about Amelia?”

“Could you please watch her for now? I’ll be back soon.” Clara had asked a question but given an order. She turned her head in the direction of the two children before waiting for Beth’s response. “Mariola, we need you for a second.” Clara then began to waive over Mariola in the same manner that she beckoned Beth to the doorway.

Mariola stood up and ran to the doorway. Beth could never understand where these four-year-olds got all their energy from and what had happened to her energy levels. She was only twenty-three, but she doubted she could run like that without a bear chasing her from behind.

“Hi, Mariola. How are you?” Clara bent over to greet the small child with a smile.

“Fine!” Mariola answered with excitement despite the plainness of the word.

“I need you to come to my office with me? Would you take a walk with me?”

Mariola opened her eyes wide and looked to Beth for approval. Could she tell that something was wrong?

“It’s OK,” Beth lied. She even smiled.

Mariola took Clara’s outstretched hand, and the two began to walk down the hallway.

“I’ll be back soon,” Clara announced over her shoulder as she continued to walk.

Beth stood there momentarily as she tried to make sense of everything. Was the Immigration agent already in Clara’s office? How did Clara know that she would be back soon?

Poor Amelia! That was the thought that chilled Beth’s face as she brought her hands up to warm it. Amelia continued to play with blocks on the floor, unaware of what had just happened to her friend. She was also unaware of what was to happen to her. Amelia’s mother worked at the same packing plant as Mariola’s parents. The mothers of the girls usually came in together to pick both of the girls up. Did Clara not know this? Was Amelia going to go into Clara’s office for processing and capture next? The back of Beth’s neck tightened as she walked over to the little girl playing with blocks.

“Amelia, that building is very impressive! I think your dad would be very impressed. Does your dad build things?

“I don’t know.” Amelia looked up from her blocks only briefly to answer the question.

“Do you know anything about your dad’s job? When does he usually get home?”

“I don’t know where my dad is. It’s just me and my mom,” Amelia said. Young children can be like computers. There is no delay to assess motives, feel embarrassed, or resent prying actions. Information is provided without any emotion. Beth felt Amelia’s answer satisfactorily confirmed that no one would be coming to pick her up.

“Amelia, do you want to go for a walk outside?”

“No, I like playing here.”

“That’s too bad. I have a surprise for you, but you would have to come with me.”

“A surprise! OK.” Amelia jumped up and was ready to follow Beth wherever she led.

“Here, take this coloring book and crayons.” Beth said as she held out a farm animal coloring book and a set of oversized crayons. She would need a distraction for Amelia.

“OK,” Amelia said.

Beth took Amelia by the hand, which helped to calm her heart a little. What was she doing? She was helping Amelia. What did her boss know? Clara was content to have both Mariola and Amelia rounded up and tossed into some horrible detention center. She would be returning to the classroom soon, probably with an U.S. Immigration agent. Beth knew she was probably making a mistake. She wondered if what she was feeling as she walked down the hallway was a sensation shared by death row inmates when they finally walked away from a prison block for the last time.

What was she doing? The thought constantly turned over in her mind. Beth just wanted to save that little girl from the illegal immigrant detention center. She would find a way to have Amelia reunited with her mother, but it might cost her this job. Beth had wanted a more fulfilling job for months now. She had earned a university degree. That degree entitled her to a fulfilling and lucrative job, even if that degree had been earned with average grades and heavily plagiarized papers from various internet sources.

“Amelia, I need you to wait here while I go outside for a second. I need to check on the surprise.”

“OK.”

Beth left Amelia waiting inside the front doors to the Ocean Vista Day Care Center. She could see a man and a woman talking in the parking lot, but she didn’t recognize either of them. She was more worried about a government van. The time to move was now. She re-entered the building.

“We need to go,” Beth said to Amelia. Amelia looked up from the ground and blankly stared at Beth. This child had no business going to a detention center.

“Come on. We need to go to my car. It’s part of the surprise.” Beth regretted having to lie like this to the little girl, but she was doing this for her sake. This technically was a surprise as well, which is how she rationalized any deception of Amelia. Beth believed she was sacrificing herself for Amelia. There was no need to feel guilt or apologize to anyone.

Beth led the way to her car. Her hurried gait betrayed the nonchalant presence she was trying to project. Amelia was being dragged like a heavy sled more so than walking with Beth.

“Beth! Hello.”

“Oh. Hi, Mr. Anderson,” Beth said. This was one of the last things she wanted to deal with. Despite being a good twenty years older than her, Mr. Anderson had no apprehension about trying to flirt with Beth. Beth wondered why he was still in the parking lot. He could have had an unexpected business call that kept him from driving home. She didn’t know what he did, but he often had his cell phone glued to his ear when he came to pick up his son.

“Bryan can’t stop singing that song you taught the kids today.” He tried to start a conversation.

“Well, I hope you like it. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Beth didn’t know if that was true at this point. She smiled to make up for the rudeness. It was a mixed signal that she did not want to send, but she did not have time for parking lot pleasantries. She left for the car.

“Wait. What’s the rush?” he said, but Beth did not turn around.

As she rushed to her car, Beth kept her head on a swivel, looking out for further distractions or federal agents. It was warm for April, but the sweat beads around her hairline were the result of stress. She feared how suspicious she had seemed to Bryan’s father.

“Get in the front seat, Amelia.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to the surprise.”

“I need to wait for my mom. I can’t go.”

“Your mom is not coming.” Beth realized she should not have said that as soon the statement escaped her mouth. “We will meet your mom later. It’s all part of the surprise. Now, would you please get into the car?” Beth really did not want to have a scene in the parking lot. She could feel her face getting hot. The screws tightening against her head caused her temples to throb.

“Where’s the car seat?”

“This is your safest option for now. Do you think you can ride without a car seat? It will be OK if we do it just this once.” Beth was attempting to reassure herself in the process of convincing Amelia. She was successful enough on both accounts.

“OK.”

Beth peeled out of the parking lot like a drag racer with something to prove. If she had not appeared suspicious before, she had just done a fine job of drawing attention to herself. Every car she saw on the road made the back of her neck contract in pain. Did immigration agents drive cars or vans? Were they black or white? She had no idea, and she prayed that she never found out.

“How are you doing Amelia?”

“Alright. Where are we going?”

“It’s going to be a long ride. Why don’t you do some coloring?” Beth found that Amelia was very susceptible to the power of suggestion. Amelia began to distract herself by looping green circles in her coloring book.

Beth took a moment to analyze everything. She had been planning to take Amelia to her apartment, but she now thought that was a bad idea. When her roommate got home later, she would need an explanation for having a four-year-old on the couch. Could she hide Amelia in her room? No.

It was worse than she realized, and her roommate was probably not the worst problem with her place. Immigration agents would probably go to her home tonight. Clara would give away her address, if she had not already. Beth could not go home. She reached for her cell phone while navigating the road with one hand. Breaking laws and acting dangerously had become second nature at this point in her mission.

“Jack? Are you there?”

“Yeah. I’m a little busy at work. What do you need?”

“I need to stay at your place tonight. Is that OK?” Beth decided she would tell her boyfriend about Amelia later. She had a key to his place, but she did not feel comfortable going over unannounced. Jack wouldn’t mind; he had asked her to move in with him, but she needed to keep some space.

“Sure. That’s fine. I probably won’t be back from the office until 7:00.”

“Thanks, Jack. I’ll see you then. I know you need to go, but I have to talk to you about something tonight.”

“We need to talk?” Jack questioned with equal parts shock and disappointment. “OK. We’ll deal with whatever it is tonight.”

“Oh. It’s nothing bad. Don’t worry, Jack. I just need to talk to you about something.” Beth knew that was not true, but there was no need to worry Jack that there was something wrong between the two of them.

“Good! You had me worried for a second. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Jack.”

After hanging up, Beth turned the phone off. Clara was bound to call her. She was surprised that no one had thought to call her yet. Beth relaxed, but she still did not have a plan. She did not know the amount of time that Amelia’s mother would be held in a detention center, and she was not sure how she would get in contact with her. Beth had a cell phone number and e-mail address for all her students in the daycare class. The cell phone would be confiscated, she reasoned. Beth decided that she would need to send an e-mail to Amelia’s mother. Amelia’s mother would be frantic about her child, but she would thank Beth for what she had done.

“Amelia, do you have any family around here?”

“No.”

“When’s the last time you saw your grandparents or an aunt or an uncle?”

“I saw my Aunt Rosa last weekend.”

“Really? Did she visit you or did you visit her?” Beth asked while checking the rear view mirror for a potential U.S. Immigration van or car or scooter.

“We drove to her place. She lives really far away?”

“How far away?”

“It took like an hour to drive there. I really had to go to the bathroom.”

Beth did not want to get her hopes up, but this sounded like it could be a solution. She would get as much information from Amelia as possible, and she would then do a search on the internet. A friend with an overzealous ex-boyfriend had let her know how easy it was to track down people online. Beth’s paranoia about being tracked down by an Immigration official intensified after having that thought.

“We’re here.” Beth pulled into a parking spot in the back of her boyfriend’s condo parking lot.

“Yay! Surprise time.”

“That’s right. Let’s go.” Remembering to breath was becoming more difficult than lying to Amelia.

“Yay!”

Beth opened the passenger door for Amelia. After scanning the parking lot, she was satisfied that they would not be ambushed. There was a woman walking her dog, but there was no one else.

“Come on.” Beth once again took Amelia by the hand and walked toward a door on the first floor. The two-story building formed a giant horseshoe around the parking lot. Beth led Amelia past the stairway to the second story unit above her boyfriend’s condo and searched for the keys. Beth hated the locks. There was one lock on the door knob, and two above it, but there were only two keys. There were at least seven different combinations that could be made from the different keys and locks, probably more. Beth had tried at least seven times to open the door the last time she had come here without Jack.

“Excuse me. Is that your green sedan?” The woman walking the dog interrupted Beth’s third attempt to open the door.

“Yes, it is, but I don’t have time to talk. Goodbye.” The third attempt had been lucky, and Beth had all the locks open. She brought Amelia into the condo and shut the door before the woman with the dog could further investigate. She did not have the patience to talk to one of the tenants about parking in the wrong spot. There were always more than enough spots there, but Beth could never remember which spots belonged to empty units. The owner of the spot she had parked in would have to find another spot.

“Where’s the surprise?” Amelia asked. She was relentless.

“Listen, Amelia,” Beth paused and realized that the truth could wait. She was no longer conflicted over the appropriateness of deceiving this little girl. Beth was now tired, and she had grown frustrated with having to reassure Amelia. Beth still needed Amelia’s help, so the lie needed to continue. It was easier. “We’re going to have to be patient for the surprise to arrive. We’re going to need your mom.”

“When do I get to see the surprise?”

“Later. Much later. But you need to stop asking about it. When it’s time, you’ll definitely know it. Anyway, a real surprise needs to be surprising.”

“OK.” Amelia accepted Beth’s explanation with a deflated voice. She sat down with her coloring book and went back to work on her loopy, green masterpiece.

Beth needed to lie down, but she walked over to her boyfriend’s computer instead. She would check her e-mail and see if Clara or anyone else had contacted her about Amelia. Beth had not yet decided if she should e-mail Amelia’s mom now or wait. Would Immigration agents have access to that e-mail address? The answer would be on the internet, but Beth did not have the patience now to sift throw a mountain of hay for a tiny needle. Beth would need to further question Amelia regarding the location of her aunt. Amelia was having a rough day also, but there were worse people that could be interrogating Amelia now.

“Amelia, what is your aunt’s name? The aunt you visited last weekend.”

“Um, Aunt Rosa.”

“Do you know her last name?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does she have the same last name as you?” Beth recognized the blank look on Amelia’s face and decided to go another direction. “Is Aunt Rosa your mom’s sister? Does she look like your mom?”

“Yes. They look really the same.”

Beth began an internet search using Amelia’s last name for Aunt Rosa. Would Aunt Rosa be an illegal alien also? It didn’t matter. She needed to try. Beth was not looking forward to having awkward phone conversations with strangers as she tried to ascertain if the person on the other end of the line was related to Amelia.

Beth had gathered a list of four possible candidates for the real Aunt Rosa. It was already 6:45, and she was expecting Jack to come home soon. Time had flown by since Clara had first come to her classroom door, but these quick hours had also worn down her mind and body. She was jealous of Amelia’s calmness. Beth had to be worried for the both of them. Until now, Beth had hoped to find a solution for Amelia while keeping her job. Even if she found Amelia’s aunt tonight, would Clara believe that Amelia’s aunt picked Amelia up? Beth decided that she could not stand to work with Clara anymore, so the loss of her job was inconsequential.

There was a loud banging on the door. Beth immediately turned while Amelia looked up.

“Beth Stanislaus. We need you to open the door and come out. You know what this is about.” A man’s voice called from outside the door.

“It’s the surprise!” Amelia shouted and ran for the door.

“No! Amelia! Come back!”

Amelia started to open the door and was immediately helped by a man in a police uniform pushing on the other end of the door. He scooped up Amelia and left the room.

“Hey!” Amelia shouted and then screamed. Two additional police officers rushed in. One pulled out a gun.

“Don’t think about moving!”

“Beth Stanilaus, you’re being put under arrest for kidnapping and child endangerment.”

“What? No. You’ve got it wrong.” Beth was genuinely confused. Her eyes began to tear up as she realized the trouble she was in. Beth knew that there was a possibility of being arrested, but she was not prepared for that reality.

“I don’t think so, Miss Stanislaus. We going to put you in handcuffs and take you to the station.” One of the officers had his handcuffs out and was cuffing Beth’s hands behind her back. The other officer had lowered his gun. He wore a disappointed face at the lack of action after storming the door. Beth was surprised at how the Ocean Vista police were being used to capture Amelia and her. She had no idea how federal agencies worked with local police, so she could not say she was shocked that the police were involved.

“I was helping her. She has no business going to a detention center. She’s only four!” Beth shouted with earnest outrage.

“Lady, what are you talking about?”

“She’ll be brought to a detention center. There could be hundreds of illegal immigrants held in tight quarters, especially after a raid. Do you have any idea what happens in those places?” Beth could not believe how ignorant this police officer was. He had no idea what was now going to happen to Amelia. Poor Amelia!

“That girl isn’t going to some detention center. She’s a U.S. citizen. So is her mom. She’s going to be taken to her mom at the police station. She was hysterical when we left.”

“What? No. No, she isn’t. You’re taking her to a detention center. She isn’t here legally.”

“Yeah, she is. She’s a U.S. citizen, and you’re the crazy lady listed on all the amber alert signs by the highway.”

“No!”

“Yes. Your car description has been up on the boards for two hours. We received a phone call ten minutes ago saying that a green sedan with your license plates was parked here. A neighbor told us you stay here sometimes with your boyfriend,” he stopped explaining when he noticed how sick Beth looked. She had turned white and was wobbling like a bowling pin that could not decide if it was going to fall. He then continued, “It’s over now. Let’s go, lady.”

Beth had nothing more to say. She had just wanted to help. She thought she would have received the eternal appreciation of Amelia’s mother, followed by Amelia when she was old enough to understand. Forgiveness was the best she could ever expect from them now. Perhaps they would one day take pity on her for being so ignorant.