New Beginnings

Chapter 3

The time for the adoption to come up before the court was drawing near and I was growing more and more nervous. Uncle Jon didn't seem nervous about it, he seemed cheerful. His friends were happy about it too. I had met Uncle Jon's circle of friends from the CHP and they were nice. All of the officers were very nice to me. Even Sergeant Joe Getraer, Uncle Jon's superior, had welcomed me into the group.

Uncle Jon had gotten my motorcycle back from Mrs. Keelly and he had discovered that the carburetor was not working well. I had defended it, begging him to not worry about it, but he had given it to the CHP mechanic, Harlan Arliss. Harlan had taken it in disgust and had spent several days working on it. When he returned it, the bike ran like it had never ran before, and the sickening scent of gasoline that it used to emit was gone. I was so happy. Although I couldn't ride it unless I was with Uncle Jon. Until the adoption, I was still living at the orphan's home.

Things at school were taking a turn for the worse. Somehow, Rivas had found out that I was going to be adopted by a cop, and he was making trouble for me. He and his friends were afraid that I would tell what I knew about them and their dealings with Andy Macedon, a big-time crook. I hadn't planned on saying anything. If they wanted to steal motorcycles and go to jail for a felony, that was their business, not mine. And I told them that, but it didn't make much difference. The closer it got to the adoption, the worse things got, and the more nervous I got.

Finally, the day came. Mrs. Keelly arrived early to pick me up from the orphan's home and she drove me to the courthouse. Uncle Jon was waiting there and he greeted us, smiling. He didn't seem nervous at all and his confidence made me feel better. A few minutes before we were supposed to go in, several people entered the waiting chamber. When I looked up, I saw that it was several of the officers from Uncle's Jon's shift. Uncle Jon stood up to meet them. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, we knew that you would be here and we thought we'd stop by," Sergeant Getraer told him with a smug grin.

Bonnie Clark came over and sat down by me. "Are you ready, honey?"

I laughed nervously. "I was ready for this to be over yesterday.

Bonnie smiled. "Well, it won't be long now."

"Yeah."

Poncherello came and sat in a chair next to me. "Hey, after this thing is all over, you and Jon are comin' over to my place to celebrate," he said. "How does that sound?"

I was about to reply when the court reporter came out and announced that it was our turn. I stood and up and followed Uncle Jon toward the inner chamber. My heart was pounding as we took our seats before the judge. Sergeant Getraer and the others filed in quietly and sat in the gallery to watch.