FOSTER

Part 3

           

A month had passed by since Cady got here. It was mid-December and the snow had gone thicker than it used to. The home's been warm enough although I had to admit that the strong cold killed my senses sometimes. I couldn't feel my fingers or smell my cooking. Sometimes I believed I went deaf as well that one time Tom had to tap me on the back to make me turn around. Oh, how the winter could be so manipulative.

"There's a pretty good amount of snow outside," Tom raised his voice high enough for us to hear from the kitchen. "Maybe we should go out to the frozen pond? What do you guys say?"

The frozen pond, eh? Sounds good to me.

We had just finished our breakfast and I was putting the plates back into the cupboard. I turned to see Cady who was wiping off the table. "What do you think, Cady? Shall we go to the frozen pond?"

No answer. She didn't even glance at me. She just stared onto the surface of the table as she kept on wiping.

"Cady?"

She stopped. She raised her head to look at me. "Wait, please," she said and then she continued wiping.

I leaned back against the counter. I made a progress of not getting any shock anymore from the way Cady responded to me. It's just the usual quiet short sentences. I figured I shouldn't be forcing to say much more than she desired to. Forcing was never a good thing to pull on a child.

She finally lifted the cloth off of the table. She walked to the drawer and returned the cloth inside it. She looked at me, "let's go."

Sometimes I felt like Cady had matured way too soon for her age. Maybe they weren't short sentences after all. They're just effective responses. Straightforward and clear.

The three of us – and Bindi – changed into our winter outwear. Cady, for some reasons, changed on her own. She went straight to her room and went back down once she's all settled. Tom and I had to just wait for her by the front door. I gave Cady Bindi's leash before going out. The two bounced onto the street as Tom and I followed.

"Still no holding hands," I mumbled.

Tom snickered, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "She's been a good girl, still. And she's safe. She'll come around when she'll come around."

I silently stared at Cady, who was still bouncing with Bindi ahead of us.

"I know... But, she needs to know that we are not like her biological parents."

"Oh, she knows. She's got nothing to worry about. Neither do we."

I groaned. I stopped myself and faced my husband. "Tom, it's unsettling. She seems to be keeping things to herself. She's not telling us about her parents either. You know that we don't know much about them."

"Yeah, that's true. But it has only been a month. She needs time adjusting."

"Don't you see that she's adjusted? She can already follow the house rules. She knows what to touch and not to touch. She even cares for Bindi yet she doesn't even seem to consider us."

"Jen, please. It's not about us. It's about Cady, okay? She's not interacting much with us doesn't mean she doesn't consider us. Cady matters the most now."

"She's not even speaking to us!"

"AAAAAAH!"

A sharp child-like scream broke through the silence in the neighborhood. It broke through the argument. Tom and I exchanged glance in shock before rushing to the source: Cady. It was her voice and we were in such agony that we could only run, coming after her. Our only lead was Bindi's loud bark. The closer we were to the bark, the clearer the sound of water splashing was.

It was the pond. The surface broke down while Cady was on it, leaving cracks around the hole where she fell. Her head could be seen emerging and sinking in into the cold water. Her small hands were frantically swinging under the water. Tom stood for a second, scanning the condition around the pond. There's a chance that he'd fall if he stepped on the wrong surface, but he knew he had to go.

"Fuck it." He said, stripping down to his boxer. He ran carefully crossing the pond. Right before he got to where Cady was, the ground beneath him crumbled and Tom sunk into the water. By then, Cady also disappeared from the surface.

"TOM!! CADY!!" I screamed in horror. I shifted to the front but stopped right away when I heard the soft cracking sound right under my feet. I backed away, locking my eyes on the water that started to turn calmer. My throat felt dry as my eyes began to water. My whole body felt numb even when heat started to crawl up my back.

Bindi shifted all over the place, as impatient as I was. He kept sniffing the ground as he slowly walked closer to where Tom had fallen. He barked twice, circling the area and continued sniffing. He then jerked his head up and barked again, loud and firm. His tail wagged excitedly as he kept barking. I leaned forward to take a good look at the water. It started to make a soft wave before it abruptly broke with a splash as Tom pulled himself up with Cady in his arm. Her head flung down; she was unconscious.

He threw Cady onto the surface where Bindi quickly pulled her to the solid ground. I collected Tom's outerwear before making a quick maneuver to the other end without cracking any more holes. Tom crawled up and freed himself from the icy water. He shuffled to Cady with all the consciousness he had. We both knelt down the moment we reached her. Tom was cold. His body was trembling and his teeth were gritting loudly. I wrapped Tom's coat around him, hugging it tight to him while he was taking off Cady's clothes. I took off my coat and scarf, preparing to wrap them around Cady.

"Cady, sweetie... Stay with us, baby." I pleaded under my chilling breath. I wrapped my scarf around her head like a towel. I rubbed them together to shake off the water. Her face was white and stiff. I rubbed my hands against each other and cupped them on Cady's ears.

"Jen..." Tom grabbed my wrist.

I looked at him in frustration. "Let go! We need to keep her warm! Why are you stopping!?"

Tom lowered his eyes and I followed his gaze.

"Oh God..." I couldn't believe my eyes.

Beneath her wet clothes were traces of scars – old and new. Her right shoulder carried a vertical wound that seemed to have ­grown with her. Now that I noticed it, her shoulders weren't even on the same level. The right one was now visibly lower than the left one. Scars from scratches painted over her upper chest and her waist. Her tiny arms were discolored here and there from what seemed to be cigarette burns. But all of those were old. The new ones were the scars on her thighs. Few even looked fresh, red and open.

"What are these!?" I glared at Tom.

Tom didn't respond. He just grabbed my coat and wrapped it around Cady's petite body, lifting her up from the cold ground and walked off.