Phillip understood that she needed help, and that she was acting out. She hadn’t had the easiest life. Rochelle was just like his mother, a strung-out stripper that cared more about her next fix than her child. Phillip got out of the situation early, but Claire wasn’t that lucky. Not that Phillip hadn’t tried. He tried plenty of times to get Rochelle to clean up, to let him take Claire until she was, but like they said, you can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped. So instead, Claire went through hell, and he hated that. That’s why he was driving around trying to find her. He couldn’t just give up or turn his cheek the other way, not like his mom had when he was growing up. He’d be damned if the only piece left of his sister would run around alone.
Something needed to be done; Phillip wouldn’t let Claire live the life his sister had. He hadn’t been close to Rochelle, but that was more her fault than his. She was ten years older than he was, and she resented him because he got his life under control, and didn’t follow in the path that she did. The only time they talked was when she needed money, and even though he knew she would just spend it on drugs, he sent it to her, for Claire, but it soon got old fast. Deciding that he wasn’t going to help again until she got help, he didn’t send the money she needed. The next thing he knew, he was receiving a phone call saying his sister was found raped and killed in an alley.
Even though everyone said it wasn’t his fault, he still blamed himself. He should have just sent the money, gave her what she needed. Not only for her but for Claire, too. Because of his stubbornness, his sister was dead, and now he had his hands full with a teenage hellion. Wasn’t the ideal situation for him, but it was his reality. As he took a turn onto Lyndale Avenue, because Alice said that Claire liked going to the Sculpture Garden, Phillip shook his head. This was insane. It was snowing so hard that he couldn’t see the road. It was colder than a witch’s tit, and he was cranky. He knew his life was about to change drastically, and it scared the living shit out of him. How was this going to work?
Deciding he would figure that out later, Phillip looked out the windshield, wishing it wasn’t snowing. He loved downtown Minneapolis. He had grown up there, and even though the apartment he lived in with his mom and sister never had heat and there was never enough food, he still loved his life outside of the apartment. He, too, loved going to the Sculpture Garden. There was a great pond out beside it that he used to play hockey on with his greatly used hockey stick and pads. That was where he learned to play, and it was also the place that Howie Dranning saw him play a pick-up game with a couple of kids. Howie saw something in Phillip, something that Phillip didn’t even know he had in him.
The next thing he knew, Howie was convincing Phillip’s mom that she needed to let him live with him so that he could train him. Phillip smiled at the memory of his mom freaking out and saying no, but somehow, Howie convinced her. Soon, Phillip was living in a big, three-story house with heat and food. He was surrounded by a good family and playing the greatest game ever. He had fallen in love with Howie’s daughter and life was good but, unfortunately, he fucked it up, losing the only family he ever had.
Shaking his head to get rid of those memories, Phillip pulled his rental truck into a parking spot, his eyes scanning the park for a sign of Claire. He didn’t see her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there. Hopping out of the truck, he locked it up and bundled up in his jacket as he trekked through the snow. He entered the first exhibit, but didn’t see anything. When he came back out, he heard faint music playing. It was nine o’clock at night, and the park was deserted except for the occasional bum here and there, so he knew it had to be her.
On any other day, he would have liked to enjoy the artwork, but he was so cold that he kept walking down the slick walkway, checking each exhibit for Claire, but he found no sign of her. With each step he took, the music got louder, and he picked up speed until he reached the end of the path. He could have gone left or right, but when he looked out into the open field where the Spoonbridge and Cherry sat, he could have sworn he saw something pink moving.