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“I don’t know his real name. Just some kid. I don’t think he meant to burn me, just scare me a little. It’s just one of those growing-up things, you know?” She often talked to him about “growing-up things.”
She held him at arm’s length now, studying him thoughtfully. He didn’t like the look on her face. This was her best imitation of a lie detector.
“Did you sleep in your clothes?” The dark cloud in her eyes concerned him. “This is the same shirt—these are the same clothes you wore yesterday, for goodness’ sakes!”
As she pieced it together, Fi
“Hands beneath the table, Mom.”
“Fi
“I can’t help it if you didn’t see it.”
“I should have known, with your going to bed so early last night.” She was thinking aloud. “We can’t tell your father.”
He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She eyed his wound, “But this did happen to you last night, didn’t it? After you went to sleep.”
He had no choice but to nod. Being grounded for life was better than continuing to lie to her.
“How late were you out?” she asked, heading for his bedroom window to inspect it like a detective.
“Midnight.” This was the truth.
“How’d you do it? Your father and I were downstairs until eleven or later.”
Fi
Then he remembered the room’s window box. “The fire ladder!” he said. His grandfather had installed a chain fire ladder several years before. In the event of an emergency he was to block the bottom crack of his door with clothes or bedding and wait for instructions from firemen to use the stow-away ladder. He’d promised a long time ago to never use the ladder to sneak out.
“I see,” she said, clearly disappointed in him.
“If you have to ground me, I understand,” Fi
So many questions to answer.
“Show me!” his mother ordered.
“Show you what?”
“The ladder. How you got down there.”
Fi
“You want me to go down the ladder?” He knew she couldn’t possibly want him to do that. It looked like a death wish.
Glancing out the window, she said, “No. It looks dangerous to me.”
“It is dangerous.”
She put her hand down onto the window box’s lid.
He was in big trouble if she opened up the window box. That fire ladder was buried under a pile of unused toys that went back years. Probably dust an inch thick. How would he explain any of that?
He hurried to stop her. “I messed up, Mom! I’m sorry.”
“You’re definitely grounded.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you’re not to use that ladder except in case of an emergency. I need your word on that.”
She added hotly, “And I’ll expect you to keep it.”
“I promise.” He hung his head, feeling a mixture of shame and excitement. He poked at his wound as if it hurt a lot more than it did.
“Now let’s get that cleaned up!” she said.
10
Fi
Where had she come from? Could she read minds?
“What? How?” Surprised by her, he couldn’t get a sentence out.
“Willa,” Amanda repeated.
Fi
“You found her?” he asked, astonished.
“Maitland Middle School.”
“But how—?”
“I have my ways,” she said.
“She’s into some weird kind of sport,” Fi
“Archery.”
“That’s it!”
“Like cupid,” she said. “And swimming.” Amanda had certainly done her homework. “She said you were cute.”
“You’ve spoken to her?”
“She’ll meet you in VMK tonight, like you suggested.”
“You’re amazing.”
“How was it last night when you went to sleep?” she asked curiously. “Did you…you know?”
“What?” asked Dillard Cole from behind them. Dillard’s sweatshirt was big enough to cover a chair.
“Hey, Dill. I’m kinda busy here.”
Dillard looked between the two. His gaze landed on Fi
Fi
Amanda persisted. “Did you end up in the park last night or not?”
“Yeah. Charlene was there. And Philby. And there were…pirates.”
“Pirates?”
“As in Pirates of the Caribbean. The machines—the guys you see in the ship, and stuff. It’s kinda hard to explain, exactly.”
The shock registered on her face, but dissipated just as quickly. “And?”
“It got a little…weird.”
“Define weird,” she said. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know.”
Fi
Her face twisted. “That looks like a cigarette burn.”
“You and my mother,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m grounded. As in, forever. It’s a long story.”
She said, “Maybeck works at Crazy Glaze.”
Fi
“The ceramics shop,” she said. “Over on Kilgore. You decorate mugs and plates and pitchers. Stuff like that. They fire them there, too. It’s his aunt’s store.”
“How do you know all this?” he asked.
She avoided an answer, blushing and staring at her feet. “I’m coming with you,” she a
“What deal?”
“Our deal.”
“Do we have a deal?” he asked.
“We do now.”
“Maybe you missed the part where I told you I was grounded. I gotta get home after school.”
“Did you ride the bus?”
“My bike.”
“Well, there you go,” she said. “Me too. We’ll just happen to stop there on the way home.”
Amanda lifted her head as if she’d heard something. Her hair whipped around as she turned to look down the hall. “Uh-oh,” she said.
All at once, Fi
Amanda caught him as he was going down. Her books spilled. Some kids stepped out of her way.
“Fi
“Cold…” he managed to explain.
She hugged him, trying to warm him. Fi
Amanda pleaded with him. “Fi
Fi