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Adrift
(Continued)
Tiffany breaks down in the Jackson County courthouse while waiting for Travis's grandfather to arrive in order to provide bond money so her fiancé could be temporarily released from jail.
The Jackson County Courthouse rose above the low brick buildings of downtown Ripley, West Virginia. Built on an old-fashioned square, it is the most prominent building in the area. Surrounded by family restaurants, a dollar store, and a police station, it buzzes with weekday activity.
Arms wrapped around each other's waists, Travis and his new fiancee, Tiffany, approached the three-story gray building. Shelia trailed behind them. Travis's grandfather bailed him out of jail by putting his home's mortgage up for the bail money. It bought Travis 15 days of freedom before he faced a judge to accept the consequences for breaking his home confinement.
The courthouse was quiet. This time he did not run into any of his old friends while he waited for his case to be called. He and Tiffany stood outside smoking. He leaned against a weathered concrete railing and she pushed into his lap, his hands around her hips. His face rested on her shoulder. They seemed braced for an imminent impact.
Shelia Simmons confronts her son, Travis, after he was released on bond. Travis's grandfather put his home's mortgage up for the bail money required to prevent Travis from returning to jail. "This is the last time," Shelia said. "I'm not coming back here if you get in trouble, no more."
Shelia yelled down the marble stairwell, "Travis, it's your time." She was waiting upstairs, peeking into the bustling courtroom, waiting to see when it was her son's turn to be judged.
"I love you, I'll wait for you forever," Tiffany said, turning to look Travis in the eye before the couple's embraced on last time. They walked up the steps together, neither of them leading. This is not the first time Travis has heard this, and Tiffany is not the first girl to have said it.
Judge Tom Reynolds flipped through a stack of documents before him, the many mistakes of Travis Simmons spelled out in black and white. A mural of the Roman goddess of justice balanced over his head, her acrylic eyes on Travis, who stood before Judge Reynolds waiting to see which way the scale would tip. The decisions he made up until now had brought him here, but his future rested in someone else's hands.
Shelia and Tiffany watched as the Judge handed down his verdict. A guilty man has no time for goodbyes; Steve Anderson led Travis out the side door of the courtroom to a holding cell before being he drove him back to jail. Tiffany cried.
Weeks ago, it's spring again on the river and Patience jumps off of a toy bench swing, leaving her sister Journey still rocking, and runs towards Shelia's calling.
An infant's swing sits unused outside of Travis's parents' camper alongside the Ohio River.
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," she squeals as she bounds up the two steps, over the small front porch and into the camper. Brushing her long, dirty blonde hair from her ear, she grabs the phone from her grandmother.
"How you doing, Daddy?" she says into the receiver. She pauses a beat, and tells him quietly, "I miss you too Daddy."
Patience asks him if he's going to call in the morning. Shelia looks up while she changes Journey's diaper and says loudly enough for Travis to also hear, "No." The phone calls are too expensive for the family to receive more than once a week. Only Wednesdays, when Shelia arranges to be off work so she can watch the kids and have them when he calls.
A familiar electronic voice interrupts their conversation, "60 seconds remaining".
"I found out why the river was flooded," Patience said. Shelia had shown her pictures earlier in the day from when they were forced to move the campers.
"Okay, Love you". She reaches out and holds the phone up to her sister's ear. "Say I love you, Journey."
A loud beep sounds on the line, the fifteen minutes allotted for the call expires and their connection cuts.
"Ma Ma, Daddy says give her a kiss for him."
Shelia pulls both girls in close, hugging and kisses each of them. "From Daddy, Daddy loves you. From Daddy, Daddy loves you."
During Travis's absence a larger responsibility has been placed on his mother, Shelia, to help watch over and care for his children.
Travis Simmons was paroled from Huttonsville Correctional Center on May 24, 2011. He has hopes of getting married and moving out of Jackson County, away from old friends and influences so that he can move on with his life as a sober father and husband.
