Tabitha insisted that Eleanor return to school the next day.
“Act like everything’s fine,” she said. “Those girls will leave you alone and if they don’t, just walk away.”
Eleanor shook her head. “Why now?”
“You weren’t ready for it. You’re taking chances with David. You’re stepping out of the shadows. Maybe you should let it rest for a while.”
“No,” she said. “He needs my help.”
“Okay,” Tabitha said heavily. “But you’ve got to be more careful, cupcake.”
Tabitha rocked the shaking girl in her arms for a long time.
When she’d calmed down, Tabitha said, “I bet you’re hungry.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Get those steaks out,” she said. “You need protein.”
The steaks were old, left over from her Nebraska trip. She thawed two, knowing that Tabitha wouldn’t have any. Lately her stomach rebelled against anything but the blandest food.
After dinner, the two played cards on the kitchen table. Eleanor could see that Tabitha was tired, but she insisted on the game.
“You know, sweetie, I’m not always going to be here,” said Tabitha, putting down a two.
“Don’t talk that way,” Eleanor said, drawing a card.
“Even without cancer, parents go before their kids. It’s okay.”
Eleanor put down a jack. Tabitha took it.
“We’ve got to think about it, cupcake. You still have three years of school.”
“I don’t need school,” she said.
“Yes, you do,” she said. “I’ve been thinking that it’s a good thing for you to stretch out a little and interact more with the other kids. I know you’re scared and suspicious, and you should be. But you need to learn about them so you can be among them the rest of your life.”
Eleanor drew another card. She pretended to concentrate on her options and then finally laid down a seven.
“You’re a fine girl,” Tabitha said. “You’ll be a fine woman. You can be anything you want to be.”
Eleanor shot her mother a look. When it dawned on Tabitha, they both broke out laughing.
“Do you want the seven?” asked Eleanor.
“No.” Tabitha drew a card.
“Momma, I don’t want to think about it. We’re okay now. That’s all that matters. When things change, we’ll see where we are then, okay? Plans just lead to disappointment.”
“That’s not true, Eleanor,” said Tabitha. “We should have a plan. Just in case.”
“Not tonight, Momma,” Eleanor said.
“Okay, cupcake. Gin.”
The school was abuzz with Eleanor’s yap. If there was any doubt where the sound had come from before, Barbara, Crystal, and Penelope had made sure everyone knew that Eleanor had gone feral after being teased. She heard the talk in the halls before she was even in the school. She felt the stares and noted how the others stepped out of her way when she moved to her locker.
Her mother had told her to act like nothing had happened, and if that wasn’t possible, to act like she’d been in a fight and won it. “Wear it like a trophy,” she’d told her.
She was trying. In English class she stared down Barbara and Penelope by retreating deep into her own skull, imagining her eyes to be medieval arrow slits in a fortress wall. Safe behind yards of stone, she froze her expression with an unnatural stillness that finally made all the gawkers look away.
David tried to communicate sympathy and curiosity in a single look that Eleanor acknowledged with only a twitch of her lip, a brief chink in the wall, a smile of thanks.
“Friday there will be no school, as you know,” said Mrs. Hart. “It’s the Fall School Rodeo at the Center and I expect everyone to be there to support our Cowboys. I won’t be taking roll, but I will notice if anyone isn’t there.”
Mrs. Hart looked quizzically at the class, perhaps sensing something she didn’t know.
“Let’s discuss Room 101,” she said picking up her copy of 1984. She’d promised to be done with the book by Halloween next week.
“Russell Liddle,” Mrs. Hart said, making the boy jerk up from his doodling. “What does Room 101 say about the state’s omniscience?”
“Um,” he said. “That it wants some?”
A couple of students laughed, including David. Russell spun to face him.
“What are you laughing at, dick-weed?” he said.
“Mr. Liddle,” warned Mrs. Hart.
David looked right at Russell. The class fell silent. Even Mrs. Hart paused.
“It’s just hilarious that Mrs. Hart would ask you about omniscience,” he said. “Talk about a trick question.”
Snickers and titters broke the stillness.
Russell struggled for a comeback. He finally said, “What do you know?”
“Much more than you,” David said. “But of course I have an advantage. I can read.”
“That’s enough, you two,” Mrs. Hart broke in before it got ugly. Russell was fuming. David ignored Russell’s hate-filled stares and spoke instead to Mrs. Hart.
“It’s one of the most frightening things about the state,” he said. “Through its spies and tricks, the state knows every secret. It can turn its knowledge against anyone by discovering their deepest fear and making them face it.”
“Omniscience means ‘all-knowing,’” Mrs. Hart said as a way of confirming David’s remark and bringing the rest of the class, Russell specifically, along with the discussion.
Mrs. Hart lectured about the book for the remainder of the period, answering her own questions rather than throwing them to the class and risking another altercation.
Russell stalked David for the rest of the day. Eleanor held back from everyone as usual. The school’s earlier interest in her bizarre coyote outbreak was lost in the pageant of David and Russell’s growing feud. Within an hour, the entire tenth grade knew about it, and by the end of the school day, it had seeped into the gossip of the other grades as well.
David skipped lunch that day to complete a final lab assignment ensuring his ability to compete the next day at the rodeo shooting tournament. Eleanor sat alone at her usual table and listened to the talk.
“I’m going to get that son of a bitch,” Russell bragged to his knot of friends huddled around their table. Eleanor looked up when she heard the telltale snick of an automatic knife. Russell covertly lifted it above the table to show the others. “This will get his attention, the jackass,” he said. The others snickered. Eleanor felt the animal stir in her again.
“Just beat him tomorrow,” said Tanner. “He’s always going on about how good a shot he is thanks to his father. Beat him tomorrow and tell him you know why his Dad’s still in the army—he hasn’t passed basic marksmanship yet.”
The others laughed.
“And don’t forget to mention the cheap ammo—it’s all his white trash family can afford,” added another. “Living in that run-down, rat-bait trailer.”
“I live in a trailer,” said Russell.
“I mean,” stammered the boy. “You’ve got land around yours. It’s property. They live in a slum.”
“I’m going to get him,” Russell said. “Maybe today. Break his fingers so he can’t shoot tomorrow.”
“Okay,” said Tanner enthusiastically.
“He’ll tell.”
“The hell he will,” said Russell. “I’ll warn him what’ll happen if he does.”
Eleanor made it to the bathroom before she threw up.
After classes, Eleanor waited for David outside the school.
“Eleanor,” said David. “What are you doing here? Today isn’t a study day.”
“I thought I’d like to meet Wendy finally,” she said quietly.
“Oh, okay. Yeah, that’d be great.”
“We missed the bus,” she said. “Let’s get going.”
Autumn had come to Jamesford. The air was cold and dry. There’d been one half-hearted snowstorm but the sun had driven it away in a day. Eleanor smelled the fall scents blowing from the farms up the canyon, mingling with the earthen fleshy tang of freshly carved pumpkins put out a few days early for the trick-or-treaters. As they crossed into town, the smell of passing traffic and cheeseburgers replaced the rural smells of final cut hay and falling leaves.
“Let’s go this way,” Eleanor said by the Wood Carver’s Gallery. “I want to show you something.”
David followed her behind the studio. Eleanor had heard the bullies following them. She hoped to draw them behind the stores through the maze of hidden paths and ways that Eleanor used to remain unseen, and where she could shepherd David home safely. She’d let them see the detour behind the art gallery, but once out of sight, she grabbed David’s hand and sprinted away through a torn fence and across a vacant lot.
“What are we doing?” David said, laughing. “Slow down. I can hardly keep up.”
She took David behind a rusting car on cinderblocks and pointed the way they’d come.
Russell and his gang came out of the alley they’d just left.
“Oh,” he said.
Crouching low, Eleanor led David around the car and into a half-fenced yard. Careful to avoid the unpicked pumpkins in an unattended vegetable garden, they came out onto a paved street, and then quickly made the last leg to David’s house.
“How did you know they were there?” David asked.
“How did you not know?” said Eleanor.
“I guess I should have expected it,” David said.
“Davie!” called a little girl from the trailer door. She had dark black hair like David but hers fell straight and was tamed. She shared his pale complexion and wide eyes. She smiled with a missing tooth and then retreated behind the threshold when she saw Eleanor.
“Eleanor, this is Wendy,” David said. “Wendy, this is Eleanor.”
“Hi,” she said. “My friends call me Wens sometimes.”
“Hello, Wens,” said Eleanor, making Wendy giggle.
“So this is Eleanor,” said a woman opening the door wide.
“Hello, Mrs. Venn,” said Eleanor. More than years had aged David’s mother. Eleanor remembered the young housewife, still in the glow of a new marriage. Now there was a mother, worried and weary, fastening the last button on her supermarket checker uniform.
“Come in, you two,” she said. “It’s too cold.”
Eleanor followed David up the wooden steps and into the trailer’s front room. The kitchen area was to the right. To the left behind a couch was a narrow hallway that had to lead to the bedrooms
“Wendy is five years old,” David said. “She’s going to be a pony when she grows up.”
“A pony?” asked Eleanor.
“Maybe a unicorn,” she said. “I haven’t decided.”
“She’s a big fan of My Little Pony,” David explained.
“Eleanor, you’ve grown up to be a beauty,” said Mrs. Venn, stirring a pot of pasta on the stove. “How’s your mother?”
“Tabitha is still ill,” said Eleanor. “But she says she’s getting better.”
“Tell her hello, for us,” she said.
“I will, Mrs. Venn,” said Eleanor.
“Call me Karen,” she said.
Eleanor nodded and let her hair fall. She glanced at some hanging pictures. David’s father was pictured in many of them.
“My dad’s still overseas,” David said. “He’s in Afghanistan now. Another tour. He might come home for Christmas.”
“Maybe,” corrected his mother.
“Maybe,” said David. There was something in his voice that made Eleanor look at him.
“I made some spaghetti,” Karen said. “As soon as the bread’s out of the oven, we can eat.”
“We eat early so mom can get to work on time,” David said. Whatever Eleanor was looking for was gone as he offered Eleanor a glass of milk.
“You work at Sherman’s Grocery?”
“Yes, I’m a checker. It’s kind of fun. I get to meet everyone in town. It’s like a high school reunion every day.”
“I should call my mom,” Eleanor said.
“Oh, there’s an extension in my bedroom,” said Mrs. Venn. “Last door down the hall.”
Mrs. Venn’s bedroom was sparse. The entire house was. It was neat, clean of dirt and dust, but there was no mistaking the poverty of its furnishings. She noted David’s room, the bathroom, and a small room cluttered with stuffed animals that had to be Wendy’s. She memorized their positions so she could find them in the dark. Then Eleanor called home.
“Be careful,” Tabitha said.
“Always, Mom,” said Eleanor. “Always.”
Eleanor was quiet at dinner. She took the least amount of food she could and then only nibbled at it. She felt like she was stealing from them.
“You never eat much,” David said. “Don’t you get hungry?”
“Sometimes,” Eleanor said. “Sometimes I eat a lot. It depends on what I’ve been doing.”
“Our house burned down,” said Wendy suddenly.
“She means our house burned down in Georgia,” David said.
“That’s why you came back?” asked Eleanor.
“’Surance won’t pay,” said Wendy. “Assholes.”
“Wendy!” said Mrs. Venn. “Mind your mouth, young lady.”
Wendy twisted her forehead rethinking what she said. “Oh, sorry,” she said.
“Yeah, they’re being real dicks about it,” David said. His mother shot him a look.
“How’d it happen?” Eleanor asked.
“Something in the garage,” he said. “They’re still investigating.”
“Oh,” Eleanor said, but she had no idea what it all meant.
“It gave us an opportunity to come back to the country,” Mrs. Venn said. “Fresh air, no traffic jams.”
David rolled his eyes. His mother didn’t see it, but Eleanor did. She spun noodles on her fork.
“I’m glad you’re back,” she said.
Eleanor caught a slight smile cross Mrs. Venn’s lips before she hid it in a piece of garlic bread. “Yeah, well, it’s not all bad,” she said.
“You’re going to win a trophy tomorrow,” Wendy said.
“We’ll see,” said David.
“We’ll all be there and I’ll send photos to your dad,” Karen said.
“Great, Mom. No pressure.”
“You’ll do great,” she said and then, glancing at her watch, stood up. “I’ve got to go. Eleanor, do you need a ride home?”
“No, ma’am.”
“I said call me Karen.”
“Oh, sorry. I don’t need a ride, Karen.”
“Okay. Don’t forget your homework,” she said, collecting her coat and purse.
“Thanks for dinner,” Eleanor said.
“Any time,” she said and blew kisses at her kids before disappearing through the door.
“Let’s play games!” said Wendy. “Do you like Hungry Hungry Hippos?”
“I should go,” said Eleanor. “My mom’s expecting me.”
“You should have had Mom drive you,” said David. “It’s dark now.”
“I see well in the dark,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll walk you home,” he said. “Grab your coat, Wendy. We’re going for a walk.”
“No,” said Eleanor. “I’ll be fine.”
David argued with her for five minutes, but she would not be moved. Wendy found a cartoon on TV and finally yelled, “Quit it! Can’t you see I’m watching TV?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Eleanor said. “I’ll be rooting for you.”
Before he could argue again, Eleanor slipped out the door and disappeared into the night.
In the darkness, she circled the trailer park three times before she was convinced that Russell and his friends weren’t lurking about.