Sharlene had decided to save Cody’s fish for breakfast and she made hamburgers for supper. Melissa put together a salad while Sharlene fried the burgers on the campstove.
Supper smelled good, but when it came time to eat, Melissa found it hard to swallow. She played with her food and ended up dumping most of it in the garbage. For the rest of the evening she was torn between telling Sharlene what had happened and keeping her promise to Alice. She caught Sharlene looking at her searchingly a few times, but her mother didn’t ask and Melissa kept quiet.
The rain had turned into a steady downpour and sent everyone to bed early. Melissa lay on her back with her window open, listening to the rain pattering on the roof.
What was Alice doing right now? Austin had ordered Alice to come home to stay with their mother because she was having a bad day. What did that mean? Melissa had a vague picture in her mind of a woman with a sad face lying in a bed in a dark bedroom, the curtains pulled tight. She remembered times when Sharlene had stayed in bed all day, hungover from a party. Melissa had crept around the trailer, trying to keep Cody from making too much noise, preparing meals of tinned spaghetti and crackers. But Sharlene had always gotten up eventually and she had never seemed depressed.
All that felt like a long time ago now, and Melissa realized with surprise that she didn’t think about it that much anymore. Through the thin walls she heard Cody call out something in a distressed voice and she instinctively tensed, ready to go to him. Then came the reassuring murmur of Sharlene’s voice, soft and comforting. Melissa waited a moment and then rolled over on her side and drifted into a deep, exhausted sleep.
It rained on and off for the next two days. Each afternoon a watery sun came out for a couple of hours and Melissa went back to Dar Wynd. Everything was exactly as she had left it. There was no sign of Alice. Melissa’s stomach clenched at the thought that something bad had happened, something awful enough to keep Alice away.
After supper on the second day, while Sharlene went to the store, Melissa helped Cody build a castle out of toilet-paper rolls, old yogurt containers and his blocks. “We’ll call it Dar Wynd,” she said when it was finished. Cody had been filling the courtyard with his plastic animals but he looked up at Melissa and said, “What’s Dar Wynd?”
“It’s a very special place,” said Melissa. “But I’m going to let you borrow the name.”
Sharlene came in with a bag of groceries. She admired the castle and then Melissa got Cody ready for bed. She read him three stories and then came back into the main room. Sharlene was standing by the window, staring outside. She turned around and said, “I heard some very shocking news from Marge at the store. I didn’t want to tell you in front of Cody.”
“What is it?” said Melissa. Her chest tightened. Sharlene had hardly said anything since she got back from the store and now she looked upset. What could have happened?
Sharlene sank onto one end of the couch, and Melissa stared at her. “What is it?” she said again.
“It’s Alice’s mother,” said Sharlene. “Apparently she’s been very ill. Mentally ill. No one in the community knew. And the night before last…” Sharlene’s voice trailed off.
“What happened?” said Melissa.
“She took a whole bunch of pills,” said Sharlene.
An icy chill sank deep into Melissa’s stomach. “What kind of pills?”
“I don’t know,” said Sharlene. “Sleeping pills, maybe. Alice found her, which is awful. It turns out they don’t even have a phone down there. Alice’s father rushed her to the store, and Marge phoned an ambulance but he was afraid to wait for it. It’s two hours to the nearest hospital. Alice’s father raced down the highway and met the ambulance on the way. It’s a wonder he didn’t have an accident. He must have been so frantic.”
Melissa sat down on the couch beside Sharlene. “Is she going to be all right?” she said. Her mouth felt dry.
“She survived the pills,” said Sharlene. “They must have pumped out her stomach. But Marge says they’ll be keeping her in the hospital for quite a while.” Sharlene sighed. “Here she was, this poor woman, a neighbor, and no one had any idea she was so unhappy.”
“I knew,” whispered Melissa. “Alice told me. The last time I saw her. Alice had a little brother called Tristan. He died two years ago of cancer when he was four, and her mother has been like this ever since. Tristan was in Alice’s story.”
Sharlene squeezed Melissa’s hand. “Oh, honey. How sad. No wonder Alice was so drawn to Cody.”
“You’d think it would just make her feel bad being around him,” said Melissa. “He would remind her of Tristan.”
“Alice wouldn’t need any reminding,” said Sharlene gently. “And everyone is different. I think Cody helped Alice escape. In an odd way he might have brought Tristan back.”
A miserable feeling of guilt welled up in Melissa. “If I had told you about her mother, do you think we could have done something?”
“No, I don’t,” said Sharlene. “And you mustn’t start thinking like that. Melissa, in the big picture this may not be a bad thing. Maybe now Alice’s mother will get the help she needs.”
“Alice and Austin need help too,” said Melissa.
Sharlene nodded. “And now they have a chance. Families can mend, you know.”
Melissa thought about that for a moment. She thought about a family breaking apart, like a piece of china, and then being stuck back together again.
“Alice lied to me about so many things,” she said with a sigh. “She said she and Austin built the tree house and that he was this great brother, but he wasn’t. He acts like he hates Alice! And it was Alice who stole the stuff from our cabin. She said the window was already broken but I’m not even sure now if that’s true. She probably broke it herself.”
“I suspected it was Alice,” said Sharlene slowly.
“She was supposed to be my friend,” said Melissa. “Friends don’t lie to each other.”
“She was the best friend she could be at this time in her life,” said Sharlene firmly. “Just think, Mel, how Alice must have felt when her little brother died. Helpless. I think all those crazy things she did and even her lying, was her way of trying to have some control over her life.”
“What will happen to Alice now?” said Melissa.
“Marge said that Alice’s aunt has arrived from Toronto,” said Sharlene. “She stopped in at the store and Marge said she seemed extremely sensible and kind. Austin and Alice are going to move to Toronto and live with her for a while.” Sharlene stood up. “I have a feeling Alice is a survivor. She’ll be okay.”
The next day Alice’s aunt brought Alice over to say goodbye. Her aunt, a tall freckled woman called Penny, who reminded Melissa of Jill Templeton, drank iced tea with Sharlene on the porch. Melissa and Alice sat on the end of the dock, dangling their legs in the water.
“I’m almost all packed,” said Alice. “Austin just started packing this morning. He said he wasn’t going to go at first, but he’s changed his mind. Aunty Penny says he can sign up for hockey. Austin used to be really good at hockey, before Tristan died. I get to pick something to do too. I can do swimming or skating or whatever I want.” Alice’s thin face glowed. “I might pick dance.”
A survivor, thought Melissa. Sharlene was right. “I went back to Dar Wynd,” she said. “I put the sleeping bag in a garbage bag so it wouldn’t get wet.”
“Oh, thanks,” said Alice, but she sounded uninterested. Then she frowned. “Did you find my story? Did Austin really rip it up? That’s what he told me.”
Melissa nodded. “I picked up all the pieces. They’re in the binder. I put that in the garbage bag too. You might be able to put the story together.”
Alice shrugged. “It was dumb anyway. And I probably never would have finished it. Oh, and by the way,” she added airily, “you can have Dar Wynd if you want.”
Melissa stiffened. Dar Wynd wasn’t Alice’s to give away. She sighed. She didn’t think she would want to hang out there by herself anyway. One day, when she felt like it, she would go back to Dar Wynd and gather up all the stuff Alice had taken and bring it back to the cabin.
Alice made a face. “When I go to Toronto, I have to go back into grade six. That’s because I haven’t actually done any schoolwork for over a year. But Aunt Penny says her neighbor has a daughter who will be in my class. We’re going to invite her over as soon as I get there.”
Melissa stretched her legs out and watched the water drip off her toes. She imagined Alice peppering this girl with questions. Alice had said that Melissa was her best friend, but she didn’t seem at all sad about leaving her. Melissa tried to sort out her jumbled feelings. She thought she should feel a little bit jealous, but to her surprise she didn’t. She wondered what grade seven was going to be like. There had been a new girl in her class the last month of school who Melissa had thought seemed nice. She made a plan to summon the nerve to ask her over.
When it was time to go, Sharlene gave Alice a big hug. Then Alice hugged Melissa.
“Wait a minute,” said Melissa. She ran into the cabin and got the two twenty-dollar bills off her dresser. The drawing of Elfrida that she had thumbtacked on the wall caught her eye. It was the only thing she had to remind her of Alice, but she didn’t really need it. She would never forget Alice. Melissa hesitated and then took it down. She went outside and gave the money to Alice. “You better give this back to Austin. And here’s your picture.”
Alice took the money quickly and put it in her pocket. She studied the drawing of Elfrida, her face unreadable. “She would have done it, you know. She would have saved Tristan.”
“I know,” said Melissa.
Alice folded the picture carefully. “I’ll keep this forever,” she said.
She climbed into the passenger seat of her aunt’s red car and rolled down the window. “Goodbye, goodbye,” she called.
Aunt Penny turned her car around and, beeping the horn, bounced up the rutted road. The last thing Melissa saw was Alice’s arm waving wildly out the window.