The next day was a Tuesday, and I was busy making plans in my head, thinking, and plotting. I tried to rouse myself at school
to pay attention in classes. I worked extra hard in study hall, instead of talking so much with the other kids like I usually do. I figured I needed to do as much at school as possible. When I handed in my biology quiz, I knew that I'd Aced it, or if not that, for sure it would be a high B.
I didn't allow to myself to focus on all those plans in my head. At least until after school, when Guthrie and I were riding home
together after school.
I was looking out the window as we drove along, not really seeing anything that we passed by, but deep in thought.
"Hey!" Guthrie said, loudly, and I snapped to attention, turning to look at him.
"What?" I demanded.
"I've said your name like a hundred times," he informed me.
"Oh, a hundred, huh?"
"Yeah. You're off in another world somewhere."
"Just have a lot to think about," I said.
Guthrie gave me a sympathetic look. "Want some gum?" he offered, holding out a pack of Juicy Fruit.
I shook my head in refusal.
"Oh, come on," he persisted.
"Fine," I said shortly, and took a stick of gum from the pack. "You know, contrary to what you seem to think, gum doesn't
cure the world's problems."
"Yeah. Well, it helps," Guthrie said, and grinned at me.
"Oh, okay," I said, dryly, and tossed my gum wrapper onto the floor of the truck.
"Wanna talk about it?" he offered then.
I briefly considered it, but then I knew I shouldn't. It was better than Guthrie knew nothing beforehand about what I planned to
do.
"No," I said, and then, realizing that I'd sounded a little short with him, I added, "Thanks, though."
"Okay," he said, and turned up the radio.
I went back to looking out my window, planning.
7
I did my chores when we got home, after I'd changed my clothes. When I was done with the goats and helping Hannah gather in the clothes
off the clothesline, I went to look for Adam or Brian.
They were both together, standing near the back of the barn, and surveying the field to the west.
"It would take time," Brian was saying.
"We don't have the time," Adam said.
"You're gettin' impatient in your old age," Brian told him.
I wondered, just for an instant, what they were talking about. But I just didn't have the energy or the interest, right then, to really find out.
I waited there quiet, for a couple of minutes, leaning against the side of the barn, while they kept talking. Finally, they both stopped and looked at me.
"What's up, buttercup?" Brian asked me.
I shrugged. "Not much."
"How was school?" Adam asked.
"Alright," I said, non-committingly.
"Nothing exciting, huh?" Brian asked.
"Nope."
"Just as boring as when I was in school," Brian said, with a guffaw.
"Did you need somethin', sugar?" Adam asked me.
"I've got my chores done. I just wondered if you had anything else for me to do."
Adam looked at Brian and then said, "I don't think so, right now. You can help Hannah or start your homework."
"Okay." I hesitated a moment. "I was wanting to ask you something."
"What is it?" Adam asked.
"Tomorrow night, before my night class, I was wondering if I could stay around town."
Adam looked at me dubiously. "While you're grounded?" he asked me. "I don't think hanging around the Dari Kurl with your friends is gonna help you get your grades up."
"I didn't mean so I could hang around the Dari Kurl," I told him.
"What then?" he asked. "Library?"
I licked my lips, choosing my words with care. If I could, I didn't want to lie anymore than absolutely necessary to accomplish my goals.
"It would help to go to the library, for sure," I said. I paused, and then said, "I've got a lot of homework and research to do."
I waited. Adam, and Brian, too, were going to assume exactly what I wanted them to assume. That being, that I planned to inhabit the library between the close of school and the beginning of night class.
"What about supper?" Adam asked me then.
"I'll pack something and take."
They were both watching me, looking thoughtful.
"Something nutritious," I tossed in.
"It's alright with me," Adam said. "You better ask Crane, though."
"Oh, why?" I protested.
"You know why," Adam told me.
"Okay," I said, not wanting to waste time arguing about it.
I started to walk away, towards the house, but Brian reached out to catch my wrist.
"You haven't driven your truck for a while, have you?" he asked.
"Not for a week or so-"
"You have a full tank of gas?" he asked.
"Close to it, I think," I told him, though in honesty, I had no idea at all.
"I'll check the oil and everything," Brian said then. "I don't want you out in it alone after dark if there's anything that needs doin'."
That made me stop a minute in my frantic thoughts. I looked up into his face, and then gave him an impulsive hard hug around his waist.
"Thanks, Bri," I said.
Just as quickly, I let him go, and did the same to Adam, pressing my cheek into the middle of his chest.
Adam hugged me, too, and patted my back.
"Thank you, too, Adam," I said.
"What'd I do?" Adam asked me, looking down at me with a halfway grin.
I stepped back a little, looking at them both. I got ahold of my emotions as tight as I could, remembering their conversation on the front
porch the night before. The conversation that they believed had been private. The one they had no idea that I'd overheard. I would have told them I'd been listening, but I didn't really want them to know I'd been eavesdropping. Besides, I figured they'd be embarrassed that I'd heard them in all that emotion. They are both definitely the he-man type.
So instead I said, "You do a lot. All the time. And I appreciate it."
"Well, thanks, sugar," Adam said, looking surprised.
"You both do so much," I said, including Brian in my look. "And I want you to know that I don't want it to be one-sided. I want to take care of you guys, too."
"That's sweet, peach," Brian said. "But Adam and I can take care of ourselves." He was smiling a little, and I knew that neither one of them had any idea what I really meant by my statement.
"Right," Adam agreed. "But if you want to make me some molasses cookies sometime, I'd be glad to accept that kind of help."
He was teasing me now, and I knew it.
I just nodded, and said, "Okay. Molasses cookies. Got it."
I started walking backwards for a few steps. "But I am going to take care of you both," I said again, in a firm voice. "Nobody's going
to hurt either one of you."
I turned around and sprinted towards the house.
7
It was while I was setting the table for supper that Crane came into the kitchen, rolling up his shirt sleeves and starting to wash his hands at the kitchen sink.
I paused, holding the bundle of silverware in my hand.
"Crane?"
"What?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, after school, I was hoping that I could stay around town, until night class starts." Again, I chose my next words carefully, saying truth, without implicating myself. "I have plenty of work that I could do at the library."
There. That was truth. There was, indeed, plenty of work that I could do at the library. It just didn't happen to be what I was going to do.
Crane turned from his hand-washing to face me, leaning against the sink, and drying his hands on a towel.
He was looking thoughtful, without answering right away, and I tacked on, "I talked to Adam about it."
"What'd Adam say?" he asked me.
"He said I had to ask you," I told him honestly. "Since you're the one who grounded me."
"Hmm."
"Adam thought it was so I could run around, and hang out with Lori or something. But I told him that wasn't it at all."
There. More truth. I had no intention of hanging out with friends. I had bigger fish to fry, as they say.
"It's alright with me," he said then, and I felt relief, at the same time as I felt sort of depressed, and a knot in my stomach. Contrary to what it seems, I really do NOT like lying to my brothers. Especially to Crane. He's so kind. Sort of like a teddy bear. Only a skinny bear.
"Okay. Thanks," I said.
He was still looking at me, and I tried to meet his eye, but I just couldn't do it. I turned back to my table-setting job.
"I did good on the biology quiz today," I told him.
"Mr. Fornelli hand them back to you already?" he asked.
"No. I just know I did well."
"Good job," he said, sounding approving. And with the warm sound of approval in Crane's voice,
I felt that knot in my stomach get a little harder.
7
The rest of the night I was quieter than normal. I know that I was, because everybody kept commenting on it.
As if it was one of the seven wonders of the world or something.
I was eating my supper, minding my own business, when Hannah asked me twice if I was alright, or was I feeling bad?
Then Clare asked if I'd checked my blood sugar levels. I'd barely gotten the two of them to stop fussing, when Evan
spoke up across the table from me.
"Hey, Rick McRae caught me today in town," Evan said. "He wanted to know if you were still wantin' to sell the El Camino."
I looked up from my forkful of green beans. "I didn't know he wanted to buy it," I said.
"I guess Ford said somethin' to him when he was home one weekend. That you might want to sell it," Evan said, reaching
for another biscuit from the plate in the center of the table.
"Oh." I thought that over for a minute. I hadn't given the El Camino more than a passing bit of thought or attention in a long time. For an
instant, I felt guilty. My brothers had been so excited when they gave it to me for my birthday. And then they'd put in extra time and money trying to fix it up.
I subsided into quiet again, finishing the food on my plate, but refusing when Hannah tried to get me to take more.
I was helping clear the table, waiting for the phone to ring. I'd told Lori exactly what time to call. I was watching the clock
on the kitchen wall. She was late calling. I was startled when Evan gave me a poke in the ribs.
"What's eating you?" he demanded.
"Nothing. Why?"
"You haven't said two words. I've never heard you go so long without talkin'."
I gave Evan a half-hearted shove to get past him. "Maybe I don't have anything to say," I told him.
"Whoo whee," he whistled. "That'll be the day."
"Shut up, Ev," I said, and kept listening for the phone. Finally, I heard it ringing in the living room.
"I'll get it," Guthrie said, taking his half-full glass of milk, and heading that way.
I waited, my heart pounding a little, until Guthrie reappeared at the door of the kitchen. "Lori's on the phone," he told me.
"Okay," I said, and went out to the phone, picking up the receiver. I said hello casually, turning around so that I was facing the room and
could watch the family's coming and goings. Crane came into the room, going to the desk, and sifting thru paperwork.
"Sorry I'm late calling," Lori said. "My dad was using the phone."
"It's okay," I said, watching Crane.
The minute that Crane left the room, I took my opportunity to end my call with Lori, and dial the number I had memorized.
It had begun to ring. Once. Twice. Guthrie came thru the room, his hands full of cookies. By the third ring of the phone, I was wishing he would go.
"The Belmont Hotel. This is Clive," a voice answered.
Guthrie was between the living room and the front porch, and I thought he was far enough away so that I could speak. Though I did it quietly.
"I'd like to talk to Karissa Bonner," I said, in low voice.
"Just a moment. I'll ring her room."
After what seemed like the longest moment, the man came back onto the line.
"Mrs. Bonner's not answering," he said.
"Do you know when she might be back?" I asked.
"I'll see if she left that information."
Again, I waited. Brian chose that moment to wander into the living room. It didn't seem as though he was paying
any particular attention to me, but still, I was wary.
I faced him, keeping the phone pressed to my ear. Just to be convincing, I pretended that Lori was still talking to me.
"Oh, I didn't hear anything about that," I said airily, to the pretend Lori.
"Uh huh," I pretended onward, watching Brian as he went out onto the porch.
"She did not leave any return time information," the professional sounding voice came back onto the line. "Would you care to leave a message?"
I thought fast. There was no way I would be able to call the hotel again later. And I couldn't have Karissa calling here. So I made my mind up quickly.
"Yes. I'd like to leave a message. Would you tell her that Harlie called, and that I need her to meet me tomorrow afternoon, in the parking lot of the high school, at 4:15?"
The man repeated back my message, and then asked, "What high school, miss?"
"She'll know," I said vaguely.
"Fine, miss. I'll be certain that she gets the message."
"Thank you," I said, and hung up. Just in the nick of time, as Hannah and Clare came into the living room, Evan behind them, carrying Isaac.
"How's Lori?" Hannah asked me, with a smile.
"She's fine," I said, without looking directly at her.
7
