Chapter 11
C.J.’s Secret
“I hope everyone back at camp is doing okay,” said Cindi worried. “We need to listen for rushing water. It should be in that direction, if my memory serves me correctly,” as she pointed north.
C.J. veered off from the group and bent down to pick up a sharp stick she found just in case she needed protection from something in the wild. Seeing the grass made her think back to the early hours of the morning when she had woken up before everyone else. Drifting back, she remembered lying on her stomach in the patch of lush, green, dew covered grass. She had lain in a tiny spot, but she didn’t care. It was big enough for her. She remembered just lying there, listening to the whispering winds, songs of the birds, and the loud snoring of Jacob and Maria combined and the restless rustling of leaves. Things had seemed so peaceful early in the morning compared to the night before.
C. J. remembered looking at what was left of their camp. The green tents all astray, a water bucket spilled over, and squashed bushes. She thought back to the wild boar that ran rigid with anger after Luna and Cody the night before and how she felt proud that Cindi wanted her, Luna, and Jacob to go with her to find food and water resources. It had been hard to get Jacob and Luna up earlier. C.J. had to shake Luna and Cindi had to call Jacob over and over to get him to wake up.
Luna had been complaining all morning about how her head hurt her. Who wouldn’t have a headache after sleeping on the hard ground? But she couldn’t think about the night before because the group was on an important mission. They had to find food and water. Everyone’s survival depended on it.
She scratched her neck and Jacob said, “Hey C.J. there’s something on your back. What is it?”
“Oh it’s nothing,” she said quickly.
“Nothing? It looks like a tattoo!” Insisted Jacob. “Yes it is!”
Wide-eyed, Luna asked, “Do you have a tattoo, C.J.?” and she pulled down the back of her shirt instantly interested.
As Luna tugged on the shirt, the tattoo became obvious. “Wow, that’s pretty big. It looks like it has branches or something. What is it? Tell us,” insisted Luna.
“Okay, you’re right, I do. If you have to know, I have my family tree tattooed on
my back.”
“Why?” asked Cindi curiously.
“Promise you won’t tell anyone?”
“I don’t know. I guess that all depends,” said Cindi.
“Come on tell us,” said Luna impatiently.
“No, I’m afraid I might get in trouble,” said C.J.
“You mean with your parents, they don’t know you got it?” asked Jacob more determined than ever to hear her story.
“Okay I won’t tell your parents, but you know they will find out sooner or later,” said Cindi.
“It’s not my parents I’m worried about,” replied C.J.
“Oh, do you live with your grandparents or another relative?” asked Cindi.
“No, that’s just it. I don’t live with anyone. I’m homeless. I’ve been homeless for the last two years, and I don’t want to get put in foster care. I just want to find my parents,” said C.J.
“What happened to them?” asked Luna.
“It’s a long story. I’d rather not get into it,” said C.J. evasively.
“You should. What if something happened to you? Who would we contact?” asked Cindi.
“Well, could you at least tell us about the tattoo?” implored Luna who was looking at the old, but very detailed tree. The leaves, trunk, and branches had a gray-green tinge with forest green vines twirling around it. There were names that had a green-gray-red tinge: Sean Lawrence Valentine, Selene Amethyst Valentine, Dale Lawrence Valentine, Christina Janis Valentine, Janice Lela Valentine, Jason Derek Valentine and more. C. J. felt rage go through her and she pulled away. The secrets she guarded for two years were about to come out and destroy her little bubble of protection from outsiders.
“Very good detail. Why do you have it?” Luna asked. C. J. kept her mouth shut.
“Tell us.” Cindi prompted.
“We need to keep moving,” C. J. said evasively. “That’s just it. It’s like I said before I don’t have anybody.”
“We can spare a few minutes.” Luna sighed. “Spill the beans.”
C. J. let out a resigned sigh. “If something happens to me anyone can find out who I am and who my family was. My great grandpa is Jason Valentine, writer of the true story: “Valentine Outlaw: Derk Valentine’s Tales.”
Cindi’s jaw dropped. “You’re his great granddaughter?!”
C. J. nodded. “I’m also related to Calare Knight and Clyde Lovett.”
Luna’s jaw dropped. “Clyde Lovett the famous singer?” “The very same and,” C. J. turned to Jacob. “Jet Zapata.”
Jacob’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “The rock guitar dude?”
“Yes indeed, the number one guitarist in the world. Number one greatest guitar riffs in the world. I have his talent and also Calare Knight’s drawing skills.”
“Who did your tattoo?” Luna asked.
“My brother, Dale,” C. J. answered proudly. “He has Knight’s talent too. He can do a fox for you, or a drawing of one!” She added quickly at the look on Luna’s face.
“I’ll take the drawing.” said Luna.
“How did you end up at Camp Clearwater?” asked Cindi. “How did you come up with the money? You don’t have a criminal record, do you?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Come on, you’ve got to tell us, or you’ll regret it,” challenged Jacob. “Really come on,” he said persuasively.
“Okay, I know it’s weird, but my parents worked in sideshows and traveled all across the United States. My mother was a snake handler, and my dad worked the spot lights. My mom used to get her snakes from this area. We even had an area we got snakes in the woods around Camp Clearwater, and I thought I might find my parents here.”
“When and why did your parents leave?” asked Luna who was full of questions.
“My dad worked long hours and if the truth be told, my dad didn’t leave us, we left. He worked hours on end until he got arrested.” C.J. gazed down.
“Why did he get arrested?” asked Cindi.
“Because he left us alone to go to work. My brother Dale and I got put in a foster home, and then we got separated because our foster mother couldn’t keep both of us. My dad, brother, and I all made a plan that if we ever got separated, we would meet near Camp Clearwater. The worst thing that could happen happened. C.P.S. got involved.” C.J. explained.
“My mom was a snake handler like I said and someone reported her when I was younger because they said it wasn’t a good environment for me to be in and it was too dangerous for me to live with a bunch of snakes. When she left, it was my dad, my brother, and me.” C.J. sighed.
“Where is your brother?” asked Cindi.
“I don’t know. My dad was upset after my mom left. He said he was going to find a job and a place for us to stay.”
“How did you and Dale survive?” asked Luna.
“We stayed in shelters, under bridges, and in cardboard boxes with a bunch of other homeless people until they started asking too many questions. We would panhandle and also play the guitar and sing on the street corners. That gave us enough for food and all the necessities.” C.J looked down in embarrassment.
“That still doesn’t explain the tattoo on your back,” said Luna who hadn’t forgotten about it.
“Oh, I got that put on in case anything happened to me, so people could figure out who I was. Dale learned how to tattoo and worked in a little tattoo parlor. He has tattoos all over him. They are pretty awesome,” said C.J.
“Okay if you say so,” said Luna, a little surprised by all the new information. “But I still don’t understand how you got here, and why you wanted to come.”
“It’s like I was saying. I’m homeless and I was hoping I could find the area where my parents would g
et the snakes from. I was praying my brother or father would be there.”
“You really don’t know where your brother is?” asked Cindi.
“I’m hoping he’s close by. He decided to go look for the area. He gave me all the money he had and I got the rest singing on street corners in downtown Ft. Worth. I had planned to leave the rest of the campers once I got here and go off on my own but then all this trouble started and so now here I am. You won’t tell the authorities will you, Cindi?” asked C.J. concerned
“No, but I’m concerned for your safety. It’s really dangerous for a fourteen year old girl to be totally by herself. You’re lucky nothing bad happened to you.”
“I’m very cautious and independent. Dale was good at protecting me.”
“Where exactly is the snake ground?” asked Jacob.
“I’m not exactly sure.” C.J said looking around
“Does your brother have a cell phone or a number where you could call him?” asked Cindi concerned.
“No, but we worked it all out. I know he is around here somewhere. We agreed to meet here. I’m sure I will find him soon,” said C.J.
“What does he look like?” asked Jacob.
“He’s fifteen, but he looks like he’s eighteen. He has scorpion tattoos on both his arms, dark shaggy hair; he’s almost six feet tall and he’s skinny. His face is kind of angular. He has a square jaw. Girls tell me he’s handsome, but he’s my brother, so I wouldn’t know about that,” said C.J.
“Okay well, I hope we find him soon,” said Luna.
“Yeah, me too. I miss him so much. This is the longest we have been separated since I was born.”
“How long ago did you say he left? How was he going to get to Red River from Ft. Worth? That’s about a twelve hour drive,” questioned Cindi.
“He was going to hitch-hike. He said that would be too dangerous for me, so we got the money together and signed me up for this camp.”
“How did you find out about the camp?” asked Cindi.
“We’ve spent lots of time at the library researching everything about Red River and that’s when we found out that the camp was near the snake area. We thought it would be a safe place, and I liked the idea of being part of a family again. It’s been hard to be on my own,” confessed C.J.
“When did were you separated from your parents?” asked Cindi.
“My mother was taken away two years ago.”
“When you were only twelve?” asked Luna doing the math.
“Yes, if fact I wasn’t even quite twelve. I was only eleven. She was taken away two weeks before my birthday. I thought she would surely come back, but she didn’t. My dad didn’t like her getting taken away too well and got angry a lot. He tried to do the best he could for us, but I know it was hard. He said being on the road wasn’t any life for kids, so we stayed with the sideshow until we got to Ft. Worth, and then he quit. That’s when he got arrested, and we never saw him again.”
“It was a bad thing his getting arrested.” said Cindi.
“I know it sound like he’s terrible but he’s really not. He’s a good dad. He was just trying to find a better life for us,” said C. J.
“But parents can’t just up and leave their kids,” said Cindi.
“I know. It wasn’t like him to do that. He told Dale and me he would be back by the weekend and that was over a year ago, and so we’ve done whatever we had to do to avoid trouble. The only thing we could think of was that he was here in the area close to Red River and that we needed to come here to look for him.”
“How old is he?” asked Cindi.
“I think around thirty or so.”
“Wow that’s really young.”
“Yeah, he was really young when my brother was born. Then I was born a year later.”
“Do you have any idea where the snake region is?” asked Cindi.
“No, not really. I went there one time and I was hoping once I got here I might remember something.”
“Does anything look familiar?” asked Cindi.
“No.” C.J said looking around at everything again.
“It’s getting late. We need to find some sort of shelter before it gets dark,” said Cindi.
“I’m hungry,” complained Jacob.
“Me too,” said Luna and C.J.
“I know we all are. I know there is a river around here. We will find it in the morning and maybe catch some fish. Look there are some tall rocks over there. Let’s go over there and rest. We can look for some broken branches to cover us,” said Cindi. They all agreed.
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