Fort Lupton (34 page)

“
Who are you?” Charlie
asked again.

“
Oh, sorry,” the young man
said. “I’m Dale. I live here with O’Malley and Maresol.”

“
You do?” Charlie
asked.

“
We’ve met before,” Dale
said.

“
We have?”

“
Sure,” Dale said. “I used
to live with Ava. I moved in here when . . . you
know.”

“
Saint Jude,” Charlie said
almost in a whisper.

Dale nodded. Charlie mimicked his nod.

“
Ow,” Charlie
said.

“
I bet that hurt,” Dale
said.

Charlie grinned.

“
What?” Dale
asked.

“
No, ‘Are you okay?’ or
‘Sorry about that’?” Charlie said with a grin.

“
Do you need that crap?”
Dale asked.

“
No,” Charlie
said.

“
That’s what I thought,”
Dale said. “I’m supposed to help you stand.”

“
Stand?” Charlie’s voice
cracked with anxiety.

“
Just to see how you do,”
Dale said. “You’re supposed to put weight on the breaks to help
them heal. Plus, don’t you want to pee on your own?”

“
Where’s Maresol?”
Charlie’s voice betrayed his unease. Dale laughed. “No really,
where is she?”

“
She goes to the market on
Mondays,” Dale said. “She asked me to see if I could get you to
stand.”

“
Oh,” Charlie said. “And
yeah, I do.”

“
You do what?”

“
I want to pee on my own,”
Charlie said.

“
Good,” Dale said. “Then,
we play.”

“
Play what?” Charlie
asked.

“
Halo 4
,” Dale said.

“
In 3-D?” Charlie’s voice
caught with excitement. “But . . .”

He held up his broken hands.

“
I knew you’d have some
weak excuse,” Dale sneered at him.

The sneer was so foreign to the handsome
young man’s face that Charlie smiled.

“
How old are you?” Charlie
asked.

“
How old are you?” Dale
asked.

“
Sixteen,” Charlie said.
“Almost seventeen.”

“
Twenty-three,” Dale said.
“No, twenty-two. Ava’s twenty-three.”

Charlie smiled.

“
Where’s Honey?” Charlie
asked to cover his smile.

“
Turns out you’re not the
center of her life,” Dale said.

“
Maggie?” Charlie
asked.

“
MJ went to New York to
guard Noelle,” Dale said. “Maggie needs her shots.”

“
Poor Maggie.”

“
Well, poor you in a
minute,” Dale said. “You ready?”

“
Give me a sec.” Charlie
took a few deep breaths to get ready.

“
Why’d you smile a minute
ago?” Dale asked. “I’m about to cause you terrific pain and then
kick your ass at
Halo
.”

“
Just a feeling.” Charlie
shrugged.

“
Like you met your best
friend?” Dale asked.

“
How’d you know?” Charlie
asked.

“
I thought the same thing
when I came in here,” Dale said. “Maresol said that Delphie told
her to put us together. I guess we’ve been friends
before.”

“
Oh yeah, I remember,”
Charlie said. “You cleaned out my chamber pot.”

Dale laughed.

“
Now.” Dale stood next to
the bed. “Get out of bed.”

Charlie screamed.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 12:15 p.m.

“
I mean, really, what are
you doing?” Jill asked.

Heather shrugged her shoulders. “I’m helping
Blane and taking care of the girls and Mack and
. . .”

“
Worrying,” Jill
said.

“
So?” Heather
said.

Heather’s voice was so peevish that she even
noticed. Jill grinned, and Heather shrugged.

“
There’s Sandy,” Jill said
when their friend came into the coffee shop.

Jill waved, and Sandy came over to their
table at Starbucks. They got up to hug each other in greeting.
Sandy set her tea down and went off to get some water.

“
Well?” Jill asked Heather
as Sandy returned.

“
Well what?” Sandy asked.
She took off her outer coat and sat down.

“
I offered Heather a job,”
Jill said.

“
You did?” Heather
asked.

“
Didn’t I?” Jill
asked.

“
No, you asked if I would
help you with the Marlowe School remodel,” Heather said. “You
didn’t say it was a job.”

“
What else would it be?”
Jill asked.

“
Oh.” Heather looked down
at her cocoa and tried to think it through. Finally, she
shrugged.

“
But first
. . .” Jill looked at Sandy, who gave her an encouraging
nod. “We want to know . . . I mean
. . .”

“
What?” Heather
asked.

“
Were you laughing at me
when I was reading you that stuff from Wikipedia about Hedone and
. . .” Jill leaned forward. Her voice dropped to a
whisper, “ . . . everything?”

“
I wasn’t laughing at
you,” Heather said. “I’d never laugh at you.”

“
But you knew what I was
saying,” Jill said.

Heather nodded and looked away.

“
Why didn’t you just tell
me?” Jill asked.

“
Embarrassed, mostly,”
Heather said.

“
Why?” Sandy
asked.

“
Because it seems so
crazy,” Heather said. “Stupid, and . . .”

“
But you told us already
that your mom might take you . . .” Sandy
said.

“
We just thought it was
some place like Alaska,” Jill said.

Heather nodded.

“
Why would it matter to us
you were a goddess?” Sandy whispered

“
Half,” Heather said
automatically.

“
Like that matters,” Jill
said.

Heather sighed.

“
Yes?” Sandy
asked.

“
I’ve never really had
friends,” Heather said. “Lovers, children, husbands, that kind of
thing.”

“
What about the
Charities?” Jill asked.

“
They’re sisters,” Heather
said. “They are a unit. I usually just hang around
them.”

“
Like the statues,” Sandy
said.

“
Exactly,” Heather said.
“I’m just a satellite. I don’t think they even like me. I’m just
there because we’re about the same age. And, it’s not like they’ve
missed me while I’ve been here.”

“
I would miss you,” Jill
said.

Sandy nodded.

“
You guys . . .
You’re my first-ever real friends.” Heather nodded. “And Blane is
. . . He really is my soul mate.”

“
You didn’t want to screw
it up,” Jill said.

“
Like I always do,”
Heather said. “You sure you want
me
to help you with anything?”

“
I’m sure,” Jill said.
“With Jake gone, I need the help.”

“
What can I do?” Heather
asked.

“
You can help me manage
the schedule,” Jill said. “Keep the contractors on track. You’re
really good at that.”

“
And talk to the old guys,
the artisans really,” Sandy said. “They’re used to
Jake.”

“
I know what you mean,”
Heather said.

“
You’re good at that.”
Jill nodded.

“
What’s Sandy going to
do?” Heather asked.

“
Help me with colors,”
Jill said. “I had the whole place designed and signed off on. But
since we moved the house, the light is different. I need to go
through and check each color or it will look crappy. And, with Jake
gone, I can’t just focus on colors.”

Heather nodded.

“
Before you make up your
mind, why don’t we go over and take a look?” Jill asked.

“
Where is it?” Heather
asked.

“
It’s right around the
corner,” Jill said.

“
That’s why we’re meeting
here.” Heather nodded. “I wondered.”

Jill nodded. Sandy stood up.

“
We should go,” Sandy
said.

Heather looked up at her.

“
I’m freaked out because
of the kids,” Sandy said.

Jill leaned over as she got up and said,
“Leave it.” Heather smiled.

“
I heard that,” Sandy
said.

She started out the door. Heather and Jill
jogged to catch up with her. They crossed the street and walked a
block and a half. The new Marlowe School and ex-demon-haunted house
loomed over the property. Heather was surprised she hadn’t seen it
when she went into the coffee shop.

“
Wow,” Heather said under
her breath.

Jill nodded. They went up the steps to the
front door. Jill produced a key and they went in.

“
Go, take a look,” Jill
said. “See if you don’t think I need your help.”

Leaving Sandy and Jill at the door, Heather
wandered from room to room. She was down the hallway when she
yelled out, “You know there’s a ghost.”

“
We know,” Jill yelled
back.

When Heather didn’t return right away, Jill
opened her laptop. Sandy and Jill started working on the colors for
each room. Hearing Heather’s footsteps, they looked up.

“
You’re never going to get
this done without my help,” Heather said.

“
That’s what I said!” Jill
smiled.

“
You’ll pay me?” Heather
asked.

“
I will.”

“
Real money?” Heather
asked.

“
Do you want to be a
partner in the business?” Jill asked.

“
I don’t know,” Heather
said. “I’ve never lived a life this long, so I’ve never thought
about stuff like that. Now that I know I’m going to be here awhile,
I need to be a little more serious.”

“
I couldn’t give you part
of the business until Jake comes back,” Jill said.

“
Fair enough,” Heather
said. “I need to talk to Blane anyway.”

“
Talk to Blane,” Jill
said.

“
But you’ll pay me?”
Heather asked.

“
Real money,” Jill
said.

“
I’ll do it!” Heather
smiled. “What’s our first step?”

“
I can walk you through
the design,” Jill said. “Or what I have so far.”

“
Great,” Heather said.
“Can we go fast so I can get back to the girls?”

“
Sure,” Jill
said.

Jill closed up her laptop, stuffed it in her
backpack, and started the tour.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 2:30 p.m.

Jabari bounced up and down. After an hour of
hard begging, his teacher had finally agreed to let them finger
paint. There was just enough time to make a finger painting for Ms.
Yvonne before Mr. Rodney came to pick him up. Jabari missed Ms.
Yvonne terribly and wanted her to know that he loved her. He and
the children at his table followed the teacher to where the
supplies were kept. She gave the boy who sat on the right of Jabari
the paper. The boy took it and ran back to their seats.

“
What do you think,
Jabari?” the teacher asked. “What colors should we use
today?”

“
Blue!” Jabari jumped up
and down.

“
Here you go.” The teacher
gave him a jar of blue poster paint.

Jabari grabbed the paint and ran back to the
table.

“
Miranda? What color, do
you think?” the teacher asked.

The teacher continued to pass out paint
until they had each picked one color.

“
Remember, kids, we share
here at the Marlowe School,” the teacher said.

Jabari set his color in the middle of the
table. The other kids set theirs in the middle of the table.
Miranda, the girl who sat on Jabari’s left side, was a small,
slight creature who struggled with allergies and talked almost
non-stop. Jabari let her reach over him to get what she needed. The
boy on Jabari’s right, Stephen, gave him a big piece of paper.

Jabari set the paper in front of him. While
Jabari gazed off into the distance to contemplate what he should
put on his page, Stephen dove right in. Miranda sneezed and reached
over Jabari’s page to get some paint.

“
Who’s that?” Miranda
asked as she moved back over Jabari’s clean page.

Jabari continued to gaze away.

“
Somebody,” Stephen
said.

Jabari didn’t bother to look. After all, his
picture was for Ms. Yvonne and should be something very
special.

“
Jabari,” Miranda said.
“She’s looking at you.”

Jabari furrowed his brow as an image came
into his mind. Nodding to himself, he reached over his clean page
for the blue paint. His hands were around the blue paint jar when
he realized that the top wasn’t screwed on. He glanced at the
round-faced, red-haired boy across the table from him. Melvin
always forgot to screw on the top. Melvin caught his look and
shrugged. Jabari shrugged too. He was just happy he’d realized the
top was loose so the paint wouldn’t ruin his picture.