17

We slept together on the bare springs that night. Every time Bubber moved I woke up. I heard the trains going by and thought about my mother and my father. Was she better? Was my father closer? Was he home yet? What if he was home and we weren’t there? He’d think we were with my grandmother, but I hadn’t left him a note. McKenzie’s man had come too fast.

In the morning, Bubber found a piece of a Tootsie Roll in his pocket, covered with lint. We sat on the springs, taking turns sucking it. Bubber made loud smacking sucks. “What are you doing?”

“Sucking a lollipop.” He licked his lips.

“What flavor?”

“What flavor is yours, Tolley?”

“Lemon.”

“Mine is lemon, too.”

I yawned. He yawned. I crossed my legs, he crossed his. Why was he copying me? I didn’t want him doing everything I did. My mother was always telling me I had to be a good example to Bubber. I wasn’t that good. I didn’t want to be that good.

“If you could wish anything you wanted, Tolley, what would you wish first?”

“Momma to be out of the hospital.”

“What would be your next wish, Tolley?”

“What’s yours?”

“Bacon and eggs. I’m hungry.”

“You think you’re the only one?” I looked up the dumbwaiter shaft. “Come on, let’s go.”

I sent Bubber up first and then he helped me come up. It was just as hard as it had been the first day. “We need a ladder.”

“Poppa’s got lots of ladders.”

My father kept his ladders chained in the carriage room. He wouldn’t like it if I carried one of his ladders all the way over here.

From the outside, I looked for our window in the cellar room. It was just a small square hole in the wall. You couldn’t even see the chimney hole. We explored through the weeds and the high grass. There were trails crisscrossing through the empty lots. I found a chair with three legs and carried it back. Behind a store by the restaurant we found an open faucet. Bubber put his mouth to it and drank. Then I drank. We played around with the water for a while, piled some rocks near it and made a little pool.

Bubber found wild grapes. The vines were crawling all over. Sour grapes and full of tiny seeds. I put a bunch of grapes in my mouth, ate them, seeds and all.

Bubber stuck out his tongue. “What color is my tongue, Tolley?”

“Green, with white polka dots.”

“Stop it. Your mouth is purple.”

“Let me see your tongue again.”

He stuck it out.

“You need a doctor.”

He spit a seed at me. I spit ten at him. Every time he spit one at me, I spit ten at him. I hate to admit it, but I was enjoying myself.

“Stop it,” he said finally.

“You started it.”

“Who’s the baby now, Tolley?”

All day I thought about going back to our apartment. What if my father was there already? But what if McKenzie’s man was waiting for us? It was safer in the lots, where we could disappear into the high grass or duck back into the cave.

An old Christmas tree with all the branches lopped off was leaning against an apple tree. I climbed it and shook down a bunch of yellow apples. Bubber watched me bite into one. “You just ate a worm, ugh.”

“You want the other half?”

“Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh.” Bubber filled his pockets.

Coming down the tree, I got my brilliant idea.

We carried the Christmas tree back and dropped it down the shaft. Then we climbed down. It made a perfect ladder.

Later it started to rain again, so we stayed inside the cave and ate the rest of the apples.