Chapter 1: Jason

"Here's our little Di," Tammy said as she tugged the skinny girl over by her arm.

"Hey," Jason said and looked her over.

Di looked like a boy whose hair had been hacked off with a dull knife. Her eyes were the same listless brown as her hair. Thin legs stuck out of the cut off blue jeans and her chest was flat under her dirty red t-shirt. Underneath it all she wore filthy socks pulled up to her knees inside blocky plastic shoes.

"I know she don't look like much, but she's a hard worker."

"I'm sure she is," Jason frowned. The idea was looking worse as he glanced nervously around the yard. Tammy lived in a dirty wooden shack with chickens scratching around the muddy yard. When he glanced back at Tammy and Di, three skinny boys in their early teens ran up to see what was going on.

Tammy was called Grammy by the kids she fostered. She had talked Jason into the foster racket, claiming it was easy money from the state of North Carolina with the added benefit of unpaid labor around the house. She also used her foster kids at the tourist trap ruby mine she owned.

Tourists paid to use her muddy sluice to search buckets of mud and rocks for rubies, sapphires, and garnets in the local, mineral rich soil. The foster kids filled buckets out of the open pit mine behind her place and helped the tourists separate the precious stones from the worthless gravel, allowing Tammy to set on her ass all day.

Tammy seemed to sense his hesitation. "Di was my boyfriend Jerry's grandbaby, you know. Before he died, he'd signed with the state to take her in. Her momma run'd off to God knows where after her daddy, Gerald, ended up in prison for killin' a guy when his meth lab blow'd up. Gerald damn near broke ole Jerry's heart gettin' into drugs, but Di ain't no trouble at all. If she didn't make the boys all jumpy I'd keep her here."

"Jumpy?" Jason asked with another glance at the boys. They all had guilty looks on their faces for some reason and Di's face wore an angry blush.

"You know how boys get with a girl in the house. Restless, ya know? I'll do better stickin' with just boys from here on out." Tammy licked her lips as her eyes shifted around. "Di did her best to help me out. You'll see after you get her home."

Jason shook his head. "I don't know Tammy. Leanne cleaned Pawpaw out and split after he passed. I'm really tight right now. I got my hands full gettin' the garage back into shape and don't have time to babysit a kid. I wanted someone ... older."

"She's older than she looks," Tammy said. "She'll keep the house and let you do your work. Won't ya', girl?"

Di nodded, staring at Jason like he was either her savior or the devil. Jason took a deep breath and considered again. He'd been out of the Army for three months and couldn't seem to get caught up. His two sisters had moved out of Pawpaw's house during his six years in the service, leaving the place empty since Pawpaw died the year before. Getting the house cleaned up and the industrial vehicle garage up and running was wearing him down.

"Get your things," Jason sighed to Di and looked to Tammy while she ran back to the house. "We'll try it out for a week. If it don't work out you gotta take her back, Tammy."

"Ain't nothin' gonna go wrong, mark my words," Tammy said as she cuffed Jason on the arm. "My friend Lola in the social services office just needs you to sign this so she can send you Di's checks instead of me. Oh, she also thought you were hot when she came out for your home study." Tammy gave him a hungry smile. "Want me to set you two up?"

"No, I'm good." The idea of dating a middle-aged social worker at twenty-four made him shiver in disgust. He signed quickly on the hood of his car while Tammy flipped the pages and pointed.

"Di!" Tammy folded the papers with a look of glee in her eyes that made Jason frown. "Come meet your new foster daddy!"

Di came back out of the house wearing a backpack and carrying a box. Her face showed nothing as Jason walked her around to open the passenger door of his ancient truck. After he pulled the seat up, Di placed the box behind it. Then she took off her backpack as she climbed up with a shy look.