Page 42 of Tamiko and the Two Janitors
“The ward.”
“What’s a ward?”
Grandad snorted. “Reaver classification. Hope they’resending a halfway decent one.”
Joe waited, but that’s as much as he was getting. Unsurewhat else to do, he slipped outside to take care of the chores. But even beingoutdoors didn’t ease the tension in his gut. Biddie had thrown the whole worldoff-balance, but the chickens still needed him. And in a couple of hours,they’d have customers. Letting himself into the apple barn, Joe checked theschedule. No school buses, at least.
Back outside, he started his usual routine—feeding,watering, gathering. They’d missed breakfast, and the resulting emptiness wasgetting to him. He picked a couple of apples and kept moving. Maybe if heconcentrated on setting the farm to rights, he’d find his feet.
He heard the car coming. Melissa was driving a little toofast, and that added to his worries.
She knew what was going on, and that worried him, too.
Nobody had outright said it, but Grandad’s scant explanationpointed in one direction. Melissa was some sort of Betweener spy, and she wasbringing a reaver to the farm.
Finding a little girl in the orchard really might have setoff an international incident. And Grandad was turning the kitchen into a warroom.
Melissa hurried over. “Are you all right?”
Joe shrugged and glanced at her companion. He seemed awfullyyoung to be coming to their rescue.
“You must be Joe.” Smiling and offering a hand, he said,“I’m Reaver Foster, but everyone calls me Jiminy.”
Even though his folks would have been shocked by hisrudeness, Joe kept his hands firmly in his pockets and turned toward the house.“Everyone’s in the kitchen.”
Grandad was waiting on the porch. “Classification?” hedemanded.
“Ward, sir,” Jiminy reported.
“Battler, sir,” added Melissa.
Even though Joe had guessed, it still hurt to have hissuspicions confirmed. Their so-called cousin was a reaver. Why had she come?
Grandad actually seemed pleased by Melissa’s revelation,like she’d confirmed his suspicions, but he narrowed his eyes at the ward.“Where do you rank?”
“Bit of a personal question,” said the young man with a laugh.
“This isn’t the time or place for the best intentions ofmiddling whelps. State your digits, or I’ll have to insist on a documentedreplacement.”
Jiminy looked embarrassed. “May I … whisper it?”
Grandad rolled his eyes but waved him forward. Whatever Jiminysaid certainly startled him. “Really?”
“Truly.” Jiminy indicated the house. “May we?”
He waved them past, then met Joe’s gaze. “If he’s tellingthe truth, we’ll be okay, Joey-boy.”
“What about Melissa?”
Grandad patted his shoulder. “Times like this, it’s nice tohave a battler in the family.”
Joe quietly asked, “Are we reavers?”
“We’re Reaversons.”
He was getting frustrated. “What does that mean?”
“It means you have as many reasons to be proud as you havereasons to worry. But you can keep everything you care about if we’re careful.”Grandad squared his shoulders. “Let’s get in there. I’m the only one whounderstands what we have to lose and what we have for leverage.”
