A Million Miles From Boston (14 page)

“Sad, mostly. I think about her every day.”

I dropped my eyes. I didn’t think about my mom every day. At the same time, I had this feeling that I was
always
thinking about her.

We were quiet. But my heart raced and my skin tingled and every inch of me was awake, paying attention. “How did she die?”

“Car accident. I was in school and the principal got me out of class. I knew, before he told me, that something had happened to my mom. Isn’t that odd? I just knew.”

I’d known, too. But how could that be? When Mom died, I’d been at a birthday party with balloons tied to the fence and a big blue slide.

“How did your mom die?” Mrs. Richards asked.

“Glioblastoma, stage four.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“It’s an astrocytoma,” I said. “A malignant brain tumor.”

The door opened, and Allison rushed in. “Where’s my cell phone?”

Mrs. Richards sat up straight. “I haven’t seen it.”

Allison didn’t look at me as she opened and shut drawers.

“I’m going to be late for work.” She turned to her mom. “Why aren’t you helping me? You
never
, ever help me!”

Mrs. Richards stood, clasping her hands. “Okay, where did you have it last?”

“If I knew that, I’d know where it is!” Allison yelled.

I slid off the stool. I thought I’d better look, too.

Mr. Richards opened the door. “We were all the way there when she realized she didn’t have her phone. Now I’m going to be late picking up Ian from camp.”

Mrs. Richards said, “Ian’s phone is still broken. He won’t know what happened. And I don’t want him waiting, all alone.”

“I’ll try the camp office.” Mr. Richards flipped through his phone.

“What could
possibly
happen to him, waiting in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere?” Allison asked. “Let him figure it out! That’s what you’d do if
I
was stuck there.”

“Well,” Mrs. Richards said. “You always seem to know what to do.”

“No answer.” Mr. Richards tried another number.

“You treat him like such a baby!” Allison stomped down the hall.

I stared at my iced tea. I thought maybe I should leave.

Allison walked back into the kitchen, smiling, and held up her phone.

“I knew you’d find it.” Mrs. Richards clapped. “Where was it?”

“Under my bed,” Allison said. “No clue how it got there. Probably Ian.”

“Ian?” Mrs. Richards asked.

“Kidding.” Allison laughed, turning to me. “Why are you here? Looking for me?”

“I invited her for iced tea,” Mrs. Richards said.

“Super. You taking a break from the kiddos? Lucy, super-woman babysitter!”

Everyone laughed. Allison was president of her family.

Mr. Richards looked at Mrs. Richards. “Liz, come with us.”

I started for the door. “Thanks for the iced tea.”

Mrs. Richards walked me out and leaned close. “We’ll finish our conversation sometime soon. Okay?” She kissed me on the cheek.

Superior and I walked down the road.

Mr. and Mrs. Richards waved as they drove past. Allison turned and stared at me through the back window. I felt something flicker in my chest, same as when you know the scary part in the movie is about to happen.

Just as they turned the corner, I waved. I should stay on her good side.

O
n Wednesday, two days later, I dropped my bag of juice boxes on the porch. Ian sat on the swing, near the kids. Was sailing camp over already?

Mr. Richards pulled up next to the Big House in his truck.

I walked over to him. “Have you found what’s wrong?”

He shut his truck door. “The support beams under the porch are rotten. We’re going to check and see how far back the damage goes.”

I nodded. “I saw the plans you made.”

“Bet I know the one
you
liked. The swimming pool! You don’t think you want one and then you see the plans and think about how nice it’ll be. Happens every time.”

I crossed my arms. “I want the Big House to stay the way it is.”

“Ah, you’re one of those, huh? Nostalgic. But if we don’t do something, the whole porch could cave in.” He walked to the shed and opened the door. “Hey, Lucy!”

Tools were spread on the ground just inside the door.

He picked up a drill. “What’s this doing on the floor? It’s jammed. Were your kids here, messing with this?”

I remembered Ian pointing the drill at Charlie. “I don’t think so. We were at the beach on Monday. Besides, everyone knows to stay out of the shed.”

Except Ian.

Mr. Richards stared at me, face tight. “Let’s make sure.”

I followed him to the swing. The kids stopped talking and looked at us.

“I’ve been keeping my tools in the shed and I just found my drill on the floor, jammed.” His voice was stern. “Does anyone know about this?”

Everyone shook their heads and said no.

Ian stared at his feet. Was he not going to say anything?

“The shed is off limits,” Becca said.

“I really don’t think the kids did it.” I made my voice firm.

“Somebody broke it.” He stared at me. “I sure didn’t leave it on the shed floor.”

I crossed my arms and stared back. He didn’t believe me. Well, Ian was a big coward!

Mr. Richards sighed. “I’ll take my tools with me. Just promise that you’ll stay away from the porch area. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt. Okay?”

“Yes!” everyone said as he walked back to the shed.

I glared at Ian. How dare he let us take the blame for this!

“Who broke it?” Lauren asked.

If I stared at Ian long enough, would he confess?

“Well, I didn’t do it,” Henry said. “Come on, I wanna play chase.”

“It’s hot,” Becca said. “Can we go swimming?”

They all talked over each other about what they wanted to do.

“Craft, craft, craft!” Lauren and Olivia chanted.

“I don’t wanna do a craft,” Peter yelled. “And my mom says I don’t have to stay here if I don’t want to.”

Everyone looked at me. I almost said,
Fine, leave!
But I didn’t want him to leave, especially unhappy. “We’re going to the marina to watch the boats.”

Henry and Bucky cheered. Peter’s face brightened. “Can Ian come?”

Everyone looked at me again. I clenched my teeth. “Fine.”

The woods were cool and fragrant. The sun slanted through the treetops onto the ground and bushes and I started to relax.

If Mr. Richards had kept accusing the kids, I’d have told him what I’d seen. But it wasn’t right, telling on Ian in front of everyone, especially when I wasn’t completely sure.

Ian walked with his head down. Everyone was quiet.

Lauren reached for my hand. I squeezed hers. Years from now, would she remember this summer? I wanted
all
of them to remember every single thing.

As we came out of the woods at the marina, we saw a lobster boat at the dock. We ran across the parking lot and down
the stairs to the water. A lobsterman pulled a lobster out of a cage, fixed rubber bands around the claws and tossed it into a barrel of water. He smiled and shot a rubber band at us. Peter grabbed it.

“I want one,” Henry said. The man drew a bunch out of his pocket and threw them onto the dock. Everyone scrambled and began shooting them at each other.

“Let’s see who can shoot one the farthest,” Ian said.

“Wait!” I said. “Be careful!”

Becca shot her rubber band at Henry, who ducked. Peter grabbed Bucky’s rubber band, but Bucky held on and when Peter pushed him, he nearly fell into the water. “Stop!” I yelled. The boys and Becca kept shooting at each other. The little girls covered their heads, shrieking. Superior paced the dock, barking at the waves.

Ian hit me in the thigh with a rubber band and I yelled, “You’re making it worse!”

He shrugged. “I just want to see who can shoot the farthest.”

Then Henry shot a rubber band at Lauren, who screamed, held her cheek and buried her head into my side, crying. I screamed at Ian. “You
always
cause so much trouble! Just leave!”

“I wanna Band-Aid,” Lauren whimpered.

“Okay.” I squeezed her shoulder and we all walked up the stairs.

Outside the marina store, I pulled back Lauren’s hand.
A tiny red welt glowed on her cheek. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Nobody move. We’ll be right back.”

Kiki and Allison were inside.

“Hey, guys,” Kiki said to us, then turned back to Allison. “Perfect! Jake’ll never suspect if we do it on the night before his birthday. We’ll get someone to lure him to the Big House.”

Allison grinned at me, then glanced at Lauren and put her finger to her lips. I nodded, though I had no idea what they were talking about.

Lauren raised her hand to her cheek. Kiki leaned across the counter. “Oh, no, what happened?”

“She got hit with a rubber band,” I said. “Can we have a Band-Aid?”

“I’ll fix you up,” Kiki said. “Come with me.”

Lauren followed Kiki to the back room. I looked out the window at the waiting kids. Lauren’s mom would be mad. I was supposed to keep everyone safe and happy.

“Who did it?” Allison started cleaning the windows.

“Ouch!” Lauren cried from the back room.

“Everyone was playing.” I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over the deli case into the back room. I sighed. “Kiki probably thinks I’m an awful camp director.”

“You take that camp so seriously!” She laughed. “Listen, Kiki thinks you’re awesome. We were just talking about you this morning.”

“Really?” I came down from my tiptoes.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” she said. “Kiki’s planning a surprise birthday party for Jake. Maybe you could be the one to get him to the Big House for us.”

I smiled. “Sure. I’ll help!”

“Want me to talk to Kiki about it?”

“Thanks.”

“Did Ian shoot the rubber band?” Allison asked.

“No. But …”

“But what? Did he do something else?”

“Well, I think he broke …” A voice in my head told me to stop because I didn’t know for sure if Ian had broken the drill.

“The rope swing?” Allison waved her hand at me. “That’s old news. Ian told us all about it, how you both jumped on it and the rope snapped.”

“What?”
I clenched my fists. “Ian broke that himself. I didn’t do it!”

No wonder Mr. Richards didn’t believe me about his drill.

Allison laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. No one’s mad anymore, right? And now you can enjoy a beautiful, brand-new swing. Everyone’s happy.”

“Ian lied!” I was so angry that I felt as if my head were going to explode. “And know what else he did? He broke your dad’s drill and let me take the blame for it!”

I told her what had happened.

Allison whistled. “My dad was mad, huh?”

“He thought one of the kids did it.”

“Count on Ian to make trouble.” She shook her head.

Kiki and Lauren appeared. Lauren had a small bandage on her cheek, a cup of ice in her hand.

I put my arm around Lauren. “Thanks, Kiki.”

“No problem.”

“I was just telling Lucy how awesome her camp is,” Allison said.

“I was never mature enough to run a camp like you do!” Kiki smiled at me.

Outside, Ian was gone. I made Henry apologize to Lauren; then we walked back through the woods. Only this time the light wasn’t shining in such wonderful slants and the air felt humid. Ian wasn’t at the Big House.

I showed Lauren’s welt to Mrs. Dennis, who said, “Oh, accidents will happen.”

After everyone left, Superior and I walked home.

I was still angry with Ian, but something started to not make sense. When I talked to Mr. Ramsey about the swing, he knew that Ian had broken it, not me. So maybe Ian had blamed it on me to his family and they hadn’t told anyone?

Or maybe Allison had lied to me.

t lunch the next day, Bucky, Henry and Dad were talking about World War II. Back in Boston Dad and Bucky watched war shows on the History Channel for hours.