Chapter Seven: Andy-free
Meggie wasn't sure how long the nothingness lasted. At one point, her head swam back into the point where she existed. She felt her body, but didn't know her position, if anything was touching her, and she couldn't move. She struggled to lift her eyelids. She felt her ears break through the ice that covered her, and at first there was only ringing. Then she heard talking. She was still too unfocused and delirious to try to comprehend who was talking, or to even think about it; she only listened.
"Are you sure we turn left?"
"Positive."
"But, what about the map?"
"The map is wrong."
"Why would the map be wrong?"
"Just trust me."
There was probably movement, more talking, but suddenly Meggie's mind wandered away from the conversation. She wanted to cry out and make herself stay awake, but suddenly she was faintly aware of how exhausted she was. She tried to sigh, tried to move, tried to lift her eyes—it was all in vain. Her mind was blank, forgetting all movement, words, talking, which movements controlled which muscles. All that was left was confusion and puzzlement.
"Jesus, Silvertongue; you'd rather trust a map than me?"
Meggie's senses flared into life as the conversation came back. Her eyelids seemed almost capable of opening.
"You haven't even been where we're going!"
Now Meggie recognized that Dustfinger and Mo were talking. Using her newly rediscovered sense, she figured that they must be in the car. Feebly, she opened her eyes. Yes, they were in the van; now she felt the steady bumps from the jagged, rocky road. She tried to lick her lips as she thought the name of her favorite ice cream, Rocky Road, but she was allowed no more movement from her brain; not yet.
All she could do was flicker her eyes around, watching Mo driving with Dustfinger in the passenger seat, and listening to their quarrel. Neither of them bothered to glance over their shoulder to see her looking.
"Fine, Silvertongue, do it your way," Dustfinger hissed. "If we get lost, you'll owe me an apology."
"If we don't, you'll owe me one," Mo replied simply. As Meggie gained more and more of her senses and thinking skills, she realized that Mo was no longer loopy, like in the hosp—
The hospital! Meggie blinked; it was all she could do. Andy! She's gone now! She would have turned her head around the van, just to make sure, but her neck had trouble moving. But it seemed her lips could move, now.
"Mo?" Her voice was faint, cracked, barely audible or understandable. No response came to her; her father did not turn. "Wha…" she carried on, as if Mo could hear her. Still, neither Mo nor Dustfinger turned to look. She coughed feebly with the effort to speak. Then, exhausted, she slipped into darkness once again.
A hiss awoke Meggie. She started, flinching and snapping her eyes open. She found herself staring into Sunshine's black, curious eyes. The ferret sniffed her face, and it made her smile.
Quickly, her hand flew up to her lips. She could move them! And her hand, she realized. Startled, Sunshine retreated and hopped off of her, onto the floor of the van. Feeling bad for scaring him with her sudden movement, Meggie tried to coax him back to her, when she became uncomfortably aware of eyes burning into her.
She looked up at Dustfinger. He was staring at her, amused. Only then did she notice that the van was not moving, and Mo was not in.
"You woke up, at last," Dustfinger murmured. Meggie was glad her short hair fell into her face at that moment, to cover her blush.
"Where's Mo?" she asked, trying to avoid his gaze.
"Getting food. We're at a restaurant, and he's getting takeout. We figured that you would wake soon, and didn't want you to find an empty car." Dustfinger glanced at Sunshine, who scurried up to him. Gwin poked his head sleepily out of Dustfinger's backpack, blinking his beady eyes.
"What happened?" Meggie was suddenly aware of her throbbing head, shoulder, and leg. As she moved her other arm to push her hair behind her ear, she winced and abruptly dropped it to her side.
"Don't you remember the fight?" Dustfinger asked curiously.
"Yes, I remember that part," Meggie muttered. "What happened after?" She coughed, wishing her body didn't hurt so much.
"You'd lost a lot of blood," Dustfinger explained. "You passed out after you drove Andy off…" He seemed uneasy when he mentioned Andy's name. "The doctors looked at you, and you woke up, but you were a complete lunatic." He chuckled quietly.
"What?" Meggie's head snapped up, and she felt her neck crack with satisfaction. "What was I saying?"
"Well, you screamed that Andy was a bitch, and…other things."
Panic filled Meggie. What had she said?
"Fine. Don't tell me," she sighed. "After that?"
"The doctors sedated you, and said it would be awhile before you woke up. It's morning, now." Then she noticed the dawning sky.
"Oh." Meggie sat up and rubbed her eyes, wincing as she used her arm to hoist herself into sitting position. "Did Andy get fired?"
"I think so."
"You think, or you hope?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Meggie bit her tongue. Why had she said that? She sort of wanted to know if Dusty was still fond of her, but she hadn't planned on asking like that.
But Dustfinger smiled that odd smile of his. "Both." He turned in front again, and didn't look back at her.
Meggie spotted Gwin again, nosing his way out of Dustfinger's backpack. She smiled. "So, you saved Gwin and Sunshine from the car crash, eh, Dusty?" she joked, realizing she had forgotten about the rodents during the stay at the hospital.
"Would you kindly stop calling me that?" Meggie seemed to realize she had now put Dustfinger out of his good mood.
"Okay!" She smiled broadly. "I'll call you Dusteh!"
"What?" He looked back at her, confused. "Dusteh?"
"No, you have to say it like this," Meggie corrected. "DUSTEHH!"
Dustfinger looked as if he was about to say something, but suddenly the car door bounced open, and Mo climbed inside. "Meggie, you're finally up!" He smiled. He was holding three doggy bags in his hands. "I got Chinese food for us." He carelessly passed the food to Dustfinger, who stared at it.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Just hold it for a second!" Mo growled. Meggie noticed that she had made Dusteh mad, and he had made Mo mad as well. Chain reaction, much! she thought.
"Stop arguing," she scolded them. "The last thing I need right now is to listen to you two bickering the whole car ride."
"Excuse me?" Mo hissed. Meggie flinched; since Mo had become normal again, it was hard for her to get out of the habit of taking charge of things.
"Sorry," she mumbled. There was no way to explain it, for she didn't think that Mo remembered being loopy.
Dustfinger saved her from further discipline. "Meggie's right, you know," he added. "We shouldn't fight—"
He was interrupted by a squeal. Meggie jumped off the seat, despite her injuries, and turned the volume of the radio up to the point where ear damage was possible. "If everyone cared, and nobody cried!" she screamed. "If everyone loved, and nobody lied!" She liked this song.
"Jesus, Meggie!" Mo turned down the volume to a normal level. Before he could continue, Meggie carried on, listening to the next song,
"Somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like the girlfriend that I had in February of last year!" she shrieked, wondering if that was really how the lyrics went. "Heaven ain't close in a place like this!" she added, a few seconds later. She shook her booty and danced, waving her hands in the air and laughing.
"MEGGIE!" Mo pushed her back to her seat and pointed his finger threateningly in her direction. "Stop that! You can party all we want when we—" He broke off. "Never mind. Elinor would never stand that."
"Er, Mo?" Dustfinger asked.
"Not now, Dustfinger! I'm scolding Meggie!" Mo snapped. He turned to Meggie again. Meggie was aware this was the first time Dusteh had not called Mo "Silvertongue."
Meggie hung her head low and whispered, to go along with the radio, "It's really good to hear your voice saying my name, it sounds so sweet…"
As she heard the radio rumble, "With the lips of an angel," she looked up, wistfully, at her father.
"MO?" Dustfinger said, louder.
"What?" Mo snapped, turning.
"It's vibrating!" Dusteh shoved Mo's rumbling cell phone in his face. As Mo flipped it open and put it to his ear, before he could turn the radio volume down, Meggie shot her hand forward and covered the volume dial. She smiled broadly and, not able to help herself, jumped to her feet.
"G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah!" she sang, dancing again. She pulled off the Shakira dance pretty well for a twelve-year-old, flicking her hips around and doing a sexy jig. She hoped Dustfinger noticed.
Mo looked ready to burst with anger, but only quietly turned the volume down. Meggie let him, sitting down on her seat with a sigh.
Mo cleared his throat. "Yes, yes, I know. We've had a little delay, Elinor. What happened, you ask? Well, erm, I'd rather not discuss it right now…It's a long story…Yes, we're all still here…Well, what would you like me to do about that, Elinor?…No, sorry, I don't…Alright. I'm terribly, terribly sorry…It's not as if your books will collapse this minute! …Fine…I'll be there as soon as I can." Growling, he snapped the phone shut and reached for the volume dial, knowing what Meggie wanted.
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies!" Meggie yelled. A few seconds later: "Hear the drum pounding out of time!" Later: "Can I get another amen?" and so on.
"ON HOLIDAY!!" she shrieked.
"The representatives from California has the floor," she whispered.
"Because…because we're outlaws! YEAH!" She smiled broadly.
After that was over, another song came on. The parking lot was filled with screams of, "IT'S NOT OVER!!" and the other lyrics of the song.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Mo screamed at one point,
just as that song ended, and Meggie was about to chant, "Sweet
escape! Sweet escape!"
Meggie planted her hands over her ears
as Mo broke into a scream-fest, yelling his head off, his face red
with rage.
"I miss the retarded, crazy Mo!" Meggie screamed in Mo's face when he was done shouting. "I HATE this mean bastard-y one! Go to HELL!" Meggie finished in a rage. Then she ran into the built-in-bathroom, and slammed the door.
"Wow. She's mad," Dustfinger said looking at Mo's angry face.
"She's pissing me off," Mo growled, his hands clutching the steering wheel. He jerked the car forward with a sudden motion, and Meggie screamed from the bathroom.
She had just been putting her mascara on, sniffling, trying to cover up her reddish eyes. Suddenly the car flung her against the wall, shrieking. "I hate you!" she shouted, her throat aching. "I hate you, Mo!" she added, not wanting Dustfinger to think she was mad at him.
"Well she might have pissed you off, but you are seriously pissing her off," Dustfinger said looking towards the bathroom where Meggie was still putting on her make-up to cover up her blotchy face and puffed out eyes. Mo jerked to another stop. From the bathroom Meggie screamed, "Mo! I swear if you do that one more time I am going to come out there and beat the firkin crap out of you. You JERK!"
"Don't talk to me like that, missy!" Mo snapped.
"I'll talk to you however I want!" Meggie sneered back, stomping out of the bathroom with her mascara finally intact. "Let me have my radio on, please, Mo?" she asked, lowering her voice.
"Fine!" Mo gave in, stepping on the gas pedal and finally starting to drive out of the parking lot. Meggie trudged over and turned the volume up.
Hearing the song, she turned and beamed at Dustfinger, trying to make it like she wasn't really singing about him but still doing it.
"Hey hey, you you, I don't like your girlfriend!" she screeched.
"Um… I don't have a girlfriend."
"I see the way you look at me and even when you look away I know you still think of me!" Meggie said in Dustfinger's face.
"Um…okay. Mo, how long until we reach this Elinor's house?" Dustfinger said looking away from Meggie.
Meggie frowned, interrupting whatever Mo's response would be with, "So come over here and tell me what I wanna hear! Better yet, make your girlfriend disappear!"
"I don't have a girlfriend!" Dustfinger snapped. "Are you flirting with me?" He raised one eyebrow.
"I don't want to hear you say her name ever again!" Meggie said giving him a flirtatious wink. She nudged him in the stomach and then said, "You get what I'm saying?" Then she mouthed the word Andy. He groaned then looked away from her.
"You get me?" She nudged him again.
"Why do you care, anyway?" Dustfinger groaned, shaking her arm away. "Me and Andy didn't work out."
"I can see why she was so sad," Meggie murmured, looking at her hands on her lap but giving him furtive glances from the corner of her eyes.
"Oh, yeah?" He turned around. Meggie noticed that Mo was wearing headphones, so he couldn't hear them. "Why is that?" Dustfinger asked.
"Um…er…" Meggie fidgeted uncomfortably. "No special reason…"
"Right," Dustfinger snorted disbelievingly.
"Well, um… have you looked in a mirror lately?" Meggie said looking at her push-up-bra-pink toenails.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, um…er…I don't know…"
"I think you do. Tell me!"
"No! NEVER!"
"C'mon Meggie. Just tell me."
"Step one you say we need to talk. He walks you say it's just a talk," Meggie said going off topic as the new song cam on the radio.
Dustfinger raised one eyebrow, and she stared at him because he looked very sexy when he did that. "Meggie?"
"What?" she snapped.
"Tell me, please?"
"Fine, fine!" she growled, clenching her teeth. She lowered her voice. With a quick glance at Mo to make sure he was completely absorbed in his music-listening, she continued, "Well…you are kind of hott." There was a long pause. "That's what Andy said! She told me!" Dustfinger raised both eyebrows this time.
"Hmm…Okay. Whatever," Dustfinger looked out the window and seemed to soon forget Meggie and their conversation. Or, he probably just wants to forget.
"Hi, Mo," Meggie said suddenly.
"Hello, Meggie. Do you still think I am a jerk?" Mo looked at Meggie as they were at a red light.
"No, I don't. Sorry," she murmured. Maybe her discussion with Dustfinger had put her in a better mood.
"That's okay," Mo replied, ruffling her hair lightly. She pouted and patted it back down, not wanting to look crappy.
"Are we almost at Elinor's?" she asked, restating what Dustfinger had tried to ask before, before she had interrupted him.
"Sort of." Mo veered the car sharply to the left, and Meggie stifled a scream of surprise.
"Well, how long until we get there? I am in need for a good SHOWER!" Meggie said. Mo laughed and ruffled her hair again.
"Do you know why Dustfinger is so quiet?" Mo asked about thirty minutes later.
"No. Why do you ask?" Meggie said looking around. Dustfinger seemed like he wasn't paying attention, even though he was barely more than a foot away from them.
"I was just wondering," Mo replied.
"I'm right here, you know," Dustfinger muttered, still not looking at them.
"Ah, it speaks," Mo sneered. Meggie ruffled his hair, wondering how he liked it. To her surprise, her father did nothing to maintain his good-hair appearance.
"Why are you so quiet?" Meggie asked him. Dustfinger turned and gave her a hard stare, obviously wanting to say something, but being cautious about Mo. She understood and nodded, mouthing, Wait.
"Mo, how come you don't have your headphones on?" she asked coolly, trying not to make it seem like she was really into the question.
"Oh! I forgot!" Her father snatched his headphones and put them back on again like some big crisis would break out if he didn't.
"So…?" Meggie looked at Dustfinger.
"Nothing."
"Ha! Now it's my turn to bug you!" She poked him. "Tell me!"
"It's nothing, Meggie. Just forget it!"
"No. NEVER!"
"Fine. I'll tell you." Dustfinger dropped his voice to a whisper and whispered something.
"I didn't hear a single word you said! Tell me!"
"I already told you. So, there!"
"Please! Tell me! Just this time can you say it in a normal tone? I am a human so I need a human hearable tone!" Meggie said giving him the puppy dog look.
He looked away, but seemed to give in. "Okay, okay. It's nothing really important."
"Why are you quiet?" Meggie pressed.
"You told me I was hott!" Dustfinger protested. "What am I supposed to say to that? Especially coming from a twelve-year-old!"
Meggie shrugged. "I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you insult me like that," she said fiercely. "Just because I'm a twelve-year-old doesn't mean I don't have good taste!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to slap herself. He must think I'm a total pervert! She moaned aloud. And now he knows it wasn't Andy who said that to me!
"Um…you can pretend I didn't even say that. Like um… okay then I am just going to go over there and look at my magazine! Adam Brody is on this week! He is a total HOTTIE!!" Meggie said going over to where she kept her books and magazines. She picked up a magazine with Adam Brody on it and began to read the article called How to get your man: ten ways to make him want you! Dustfinger just shook his head and went back to looking out the window.
Meggie grinned after a bit and tapped Dustfinger on the shoulder.
"What?" he asked, without turning.
She tapped again. He turned, giving her an inquiring look. She batted her eyelashes numerous times, flipped her hair, and put on this totally flirtatious look. "Nothing special."
"Um, are you okay?" Dustfinger asked slowly, obviously wondering if she had mental problems.
"I'm fine!" She tried to sound nonchalant, like the magazine said—to no success. She was struggling to keep herself from going totally overboard; the magazine had mentioned that, too.
"Could you do me a favor?" Dustfinger glared at her.
"Depends. What is it?"
"Could you kindly leave me alone?"
Meggie pouted. "That hurt in my heart," she said sincerely, even though the magazine had clearly stated: Don't let him know if he says something to hurt you; just say something hurtful back! "It did."
"You're annoying me, all the same!" Dustfinger growled. Time to hurt him back!
"Well your MOM! Oh, oh what now, sonny? So you better shut that trap of yours and stop making rude comments to me, you rude three-scarred face! Oh, burn!"
"And you say I'm mean?" Dustfinger said before turning back to the window. "And thanks so much for reminding me about my scars!"
"Not like you could forget them!" Meggie retorted. "They make you look like a murderer, gangster person! Like in the Mafia, only you're skinny and you don't have an Italian accent!"
"Um…" Dustfinger glanced around awkwardly. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"It is whatever you take it as, young one," Meggie stated solemnly, twining her hands together in the sleeves in a Chinese fashion and dipping her head slowly.
Dustfinger looked like he was still struggling about how to react to that when Mo piped up.
"At this rate, we should be at Elinor's by morning!" he said excitedly, smiling broadly at Meggie. He frowned and snatched the Chinese food from Dustfinger's hands. "Don't steal our food!"
Once again Dustfinger was speechless, looking incredulously at the food, Mo, and back to the food again.
"Come on, Meggie, dig in," Mo swept on, tossing Meggie two boxes. Clumsily, she caught them and placed them down on the seat beside her. One was filled with rice, while the other had spareribs and broccoli.
"Thanks, Mo." Eagerly, she picked up the boneless ribs with her plastic fork and bit into them, letting the savory juices fill her taste buds with pleasure.
"And you, too," Mo growled reluctantly, plopping two small boxes of food on Dustfinger's lap. It seemed they all had the same thing. "I already ate in the restaurant, so you two eat now."
Meggie glanced at the food again before nodding and opening the rice. She stabbed at the grains with her plastic fork.
"MEGGIE!" shouted Mo as Meggie chomped on her food. "You can't eat rice with a fork! You HAVE to use chop-sticks!" Mo smacked at Meggie's fork with one of his own chopsticks. Dustfinger just sat in the backseat looking at the crazy family he was riding wit.
"Sorry, Mo," Meggie muttered, grabbing her chopsticks and proceeding to eat her meal.
Dustfinger turned around and started to eat, making sure he was using his own chopsticks. The car hit a bump, and Meggie's food sprang into the air. With a shriek, she snatched it out of mid-air, but some of the rice spilled on the car.
Mo clenched his teeth in anger. "I JUST HAD THE CAR WASHED!" Mo outburst. His face was beat red and if you looked very closely you could see steam rising from his head!
Meggie shrank back. "Not my fault. If you didn't go over so many firkin' bumps, it wouldn't have happened, dammit!" She clenched her teeth in a scowl.
Mo gasped. "Meggie." Mo put his hand to his heart and drew back in shock. "That wasn't a nice thing to say. You know that, right?" Mo said getting the portable vacuum cleaner he kept in the van.
"Watch where you're going!" Dustfinger shouted, grabbing the steering wheel and veering sharply to the left. "Do you want to get us in another accident?" he snapped, as the huge truck that was about to hit them rode away.
"Listen we are just gonna pull over for the night, okay?" Dustfinger snapped again. Mo obediently veered into a vacant parking lot.
"No!" Meggie screamed, diving forward to the steering wheel. It was too late. Abruptly, she burst into tears. "No! No, no, no! I can't spend one more night in this wretched car!"
Mo scowled. "Shut up, Meggie. You'll live."
"Mo! Please cant we go somewhere. Like a hotel?" Meggie gave Mo the puppy dog eyes and the puppy look. "No" Mo said and that was that. Meggie stuck up her middle finger to Mo's back then tuned to go to the back of the van.
Dustfinger saw Meggie's finger go up, but naturally he didn't say anything. Meggie wandered to the back of the van, looking for something to do. "Stupid, stupid Mo," she growled inwardly. Louder, though she didn't realize it, she scowled, "Why can't he be a good father, who listens to his poor damn daughter's needs? Jesus, if I go one more night without a hair-dryer, I'll scream!!!"
"Meggie! Enough with your whining!" Mo said turning around. "I don't wanna be in this damned vehicle but I am going to stay here. Ever since we left the hospital all three of us have been acting poopy! So for now on we pretend the hospital thing NEVER existed. Get it. Got it. Good." Mo was starting to sound like the old nice normal Mo now (with the exception of the fact that he had uttered the word "poopy.") Meggie was fine with that.
"How can we pretend it never existed, though?" Meggie asked. "It's easy for you, Mo, seeing as you probably desperately want to forget it. But with Andy in the picture, it seems almost impossible for me and Dusteh." She nudged Dustfinger. "Agree with me!"
"What? Oh, erm, yeah, she's right," Dustfinger mumbled.
"No! You gotta say, 'True dat!'" Meggie corrected.
"Um…true dat?" he said slowly.
"With more emotion! Jeez, you need practice." Meggie shook her head. "True dat!" she explained.
"True dat!" Dustfinger growled.
Mo gasped and whirled around. "Did I just hear Dusty say something gangsta?" He slapped Dustfinger on the back. "It's about time, my friend! Good job!"
Dustfinger, completely oblivious to the understanding of the situation and clearly confused, looked around.
"Looks like we all have a bit of gangsta in us, Mo," Meggie said, mentally making that sentence her Quote of the Day.
"True dat." Mo grinned. "See how easy it is to be gangsta, Dusty?"
Dustfinger sighed and pushed his hair back from his face. Meggie wondered how he managed to keep with his sanity after spending so much time with them.
She leaned forward to whisper in Mo's ear. "Maybe we should be normal for awhile," she told him. "I think Dustfinger is having a hard time coping with our oddness."
"Alright." Although Mo seemed like he meant what he said, he sounded disappointed. He cleared his throat and turned to the front window. "Right, now, let us stop here. And please, Meggie, don't give me a hard time about it. I'm tired and want to go into the bar."
"Fine," Meggie muttered, folding her arms over her chest. Mo opened the car door—and a squirrel fell right on his head.
