Fragile Hearts

5: Candid Camera

I follow the map Tyce has drawn and locate the house where Kathleen Ventura lives. It's not a regular house—it's one of those expensive mansions not far from campus that's been restored. I want to turn around and forget tutoring, but because I promised to do this, I push the intercom button at the gate. I may have issues, but keeping my word isn't one of them. I have to push the button three times before a young girl's voice says, "Are you the tutor?"

"I am."

"What's your name?"

"Morgan Weston."

The girl says, "I don't think you'll have a problem getting your wheelchair to the front door."

"How do you know I'm in a wheelchair?" I wonder how much Tyce has told her about me.

"Candid camera. Look up."

I look up at a surveillance camera. Before I can respond, the gate clicks and the girl says, "Just push the gate open. The walkway leads to the front door. I'll be waiting for you."

I want to ask the girl where her parents are. I decide to ask her later.

I follow the flagstone walkway past beautiful landscaping of a variety of trees, vines, ground cover, and colorful flowerbeds. The house is set back from the street and surrounded by the lush foliage. I reach a portico and the front door is thrown open. The door is tall and elaborate, with carvings of birds and vines. The girl standing in the entrance looks miniscule compared to the size of the opening. Her hair is short, blond, and corkscrew curly; and her expressive green eyes seem like they should be in a much older person. Two descriptive words pop into my mind for this child, "sprite" and "pixie."

She says curtly, "My name is Kathleen, but don't call me that; I hate it. Call me Kaylee. Follow me." She holds the door open while I roll inside. The foyer is probably as large as my parents' living and dining rooms combined. It's got all the elegance one associates with fabulously rich people.

I pause inside the entrance and call to the girl's retreating back, "Where are your parents?"

She turns and shrugs, "Yachting somewhere is my best guess."

"Isn't there someone here to take care of you?"

"Of course. But Julie, my governess, is either on the phone with her boyfriend or swimming laps. Those are her two passions in life besides driving me crazy. If you want to know where the housekeeper, gardener, cook, and the mess of other people keeping this mausoleum intact are, they're all playing poker in the game room. Don't you know...when the cats are away, the mice will play. Anymore questions?"

I shake my head. Is this a grownup in a child's body?

I follow the girl down a central hallway to a room that is obviously the library. The huge area is lined with books from floor to ceiling and even has one of those rolling ladders. The room is at the back of the house with towering windows overlooking a massive yard. A profusion of colorful plants interspersed with thick grass, covers every square inch. To the right of the library windows, cascading fuchsia clings to a low fence enclosing a large oval swimming pool with a woman swimming laps.

"I'm impressed," I admit aloud.

Kaylee points to a massive desk positioned in front of the windows, facing inward. "You can use the desk," she says, and hurries around it to push the office chair aside and make room for my wheelchair.

I hesitate because I don't want to sit at someone else's desk. It seems disrespectful. Kaylee notices my reticence and says, "It's okay. That's where Tyce always sits. My dad doesn't even use this room. He has an office upstairs."