Title: Mockingbirds Beside the Pecan Tree
Chapter 3: How Very Hard Hearts Can Be
She showed up at the motel at nine the next morning and greeted him looking pissed.
"Momma wants me to take ya sightseein'," she stated, resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands as she watched him eat Fruit Loops.
"You don't look too happy about it, Marie," he commented.
She raised her eyebrows at him. "Ya know Bobby," she said awkwardly. "You can just call me Rogue."
"Nah," he said, smirking. "I like the name Marie."
Seeing that he was finished with his bowl of multi-colored milk, she stood up and crossed her arms. As they walked out the door, he heard her mutter, "Fine. Be that way, Robert."
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They spent the morning touring a small zoo, feeding handfuls of pellets to ducks and observing a monkey that scratched its armpits fanatically.
"Kinda reminds me of Pete," Bobby remarked drolly. "Though I bet the monkey smells better."
For the first time since he arrived, she started laughing and she dragged him away before he could make anymore comments about the monkey or Pete.
They went to see the elephant next and there, she turned to him and opened her mouth to say, "Bobby, I think we should talk about ---"
"Hi Marie!"
A girl, maybe ten years old, had run up to them.
"Heya Natalie," Marie said, smiling and pulling the girl into a hug. " How are ya?"
"Good," Natalie said cheerfully and then asked, "Where have ya been, Marie? Ah haven't see ya for three years and my mama hired that old Mrs. Abbott as my babysitter instead."
"Natalie!"
An older woman was hurrying toward them, her thin lips pressed into a frigid line and Bobby could only assume that it was the girl's mother. Snatching Natalie's hand, the woman bent down, her wide eyes scanning her daughter's face anxiously.
"Come on darling," the woman muttered, leading her daughter away and giving one last fearful look at Marie. As they walked off, Bobby heard the woman say, "Ah told ya not to go near her!"
Marie's smile had faded. She stared after the girl and her mother for a long time before clearing her throat and saying,
"Ah used to babysit Natalie. Known her since she was just a baby. Then of course, her momma an'the whole neighborhood saw what Ah did to David. They all stayed a clear distance away from me after that."
She started walking briskly, her hands digging into her pockets, clenching and unclenching.
"David's mother called me after the ambulance came," Marie continued. "Told me that Ah was a murderer and a devil's spawn."
She laughed mirthlessly as they exited the zoo.
"An'Ah believed her," Marie said under her breath, climbing into her car's driver seat. "Ah think Ah still do."
Bobby was silent. All he could think about was Natalie's childishly puzzled face, Rogue looking down at her hands, his own mother staring horrified at a frozen teacup, and Ronny dialing for the police.
Marie inserted the keys and started up the car, but she didn't start driving. Her lashes fluttered violently and she bit her lip, but the tears came anyway and he put his arm around her, wishing he could protect her from society even when he couldn't protect himself.