The Art of Making Money - Jason Kersten [9]
Over the years Art would scour his memory for clues and explanations for what happened next.
“He gave me a hug, and I asked him if I’d see him again soon,” remembers Art. “He said he loved me and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll see you again.’ ”
It was a perfectly normal farewell, as if the nine months he had spent as a kidnapped child had really been a weekend after all.
IT WAS A ONE-TWO PUNCH that ended Art’s childhood. The first was his father’s leaving; the second blow came about a year afterward. The family had continued to live in Schaumburg after Senior’s departure, and although Malinda found it a struggle to support three kids on her own, things hadn’t gone too badly. The children were overjoyed to be back with their mother, and Art, now free from the constant moving, excelled at his new school, Eisenhower Elementary. He not only achieved the best grades in his class but became a star on the school’s wrestling and baseball teams, his success on the latter no doubt thanks to many an afternoon spent practicing with Larry.
Malinda had gotten back to normal too. She’d had no more breakdowns since leaving the Elgin Mental Health Center, and had even begun taking an interest in her sister’s seven-year-old son, Gregory, who had tragically developed a brain tumor. There was little hope for him, but Malinda did not believe that her sister was responsibly seeing to the boy’s care. Donna had started dating a biker named Bobby, and Malinda was outraged that her sister was engaged in a romance with a leather-clad hooligan while her son was fighting for his life. And as siblings are prone to do, she reported the situation to her mother in Texas, who in turn chastised Donna.
Donna was furious. She showed up at Malinda’s apartment with Bobby in tow. Malinda was out grocery shopping with the kids at the time, but upon their return Donna and Bobby were waiting by his motorcycle. As Malinda emerged from the car carrying bags of groceries, Donna intercepted her, and the two sisters immediately fell into a heated argument. Art was at first excited at watching the two adults fight, but the feeling quickly turned to terror.
Without warning, Donna reached into one of the grocery bags Malinda was carrying, snatched out a bottle of beer, and struck Malinda square in the temple. Malinda dropped as quickly as if she’d been hit by a sniper’s bullet. Art ran to her.
“She wasn’t moving,” he remembers. “I knew it was bad. A neighbor called the paramedics and I could see by the looks on their faces that it was really serious. They tried to rouse her but they couldn’t. They took her away fast.”
Donna was long gone by then. She’d sped off with Bobby as soon as she heard the sirens, and the kids spent that night at the home of the neighbor, a kind woman who lived alone who had called 911. When she called the hospital for an update, she was informed that Malinda was in a coma.
The coma would last one month.
THE NEXT DAY, the neighbor turned the kids over to Child Protection Services. Unable to find a family willing to care for three children, CPS had no choice but to separate them. Wensdae went to a girls’ home, while Jason and Art were sent to live with foster families. For the next three months, none of them would have any idea what was happening with the others, or the condition of their mother.
Art’s foster family already had a real son, and the two boys didn’t get along. He’d later theorize that the other boy was jealous of his arrival, but, in any case, after a month the family sent him back to CPS. He was then sent to a boys’ home, which he ended up liking much better. At the home Art befriended an older boy whose name he no longer remembers, but he became the first in a long line of older males that Art would follow like a duckling chasing bread crumbs. He was ruddy, blond, and tall, and he spent all his free time bent over a sketch pad, drawing pictures of himself behind the wheels of muscle cars, usually accompanied by curvy and admiring women