It was a Saturday, barely a week after the paint incident, that Reed ran into Elijah in the Dorms. Winter was beginning to loosen its grip on Nature’s throat, and the earliest forerunners of spring were appearing on the Hill. Tiny flowers of timid purple and yellow peered out of the dead turf, and early buds sprinkled a few of the trees. Though the cold still held the upper hand, the early afternoon had warmed to a milder temperature than normal. Reed was outside catching a little sun when he spied the other boy.
Elijah was alone, taking the sidewalk that cut through the center of the Dorms, dressed in jeans and a navy hoodie. Reed had never seen him outside the straight-from-work setting at the apartments. It was a rare opportunity, perhaps the chance to get some answers to the many questions Reed had about him.
“Hey!” he called, quickening his pace. “Mind if I walk with you?”
Elijah turned and smiled. “No, not at all.”
Reed caught up and fell in step beside him. “What’re you up to?”
“I was going to visit friends outside the city. You’re welcome to come if you want.”
Reed had been hoping he would ask. He had nothing else to do, and he’d been looking for an opportunity to find out more about Elijah. They had never spent time together apart from the rest of the group.
He looked out over the valley and pursed his lips as if weighing his choices.
“Sure,” he said at last. “Why not? If you don’t mind, I mean.”
“Not a bit.” Elijah slid his hands into the stitched front pockets of his hoodie. “I hope you don’t mind walking. It’s a pretty good ways.”
Reed didn’t mind.
They turned onto an adjoining sidewalk that ran north and east off the Hill and out of the city. But, before they were even out from between the Dorms, someone called out behind them.
“Yo, ’Lijah!”
Reed recognized the voice immediately, and a soft groan escaped his lips. He didn’t want to turn around, but he did, only because Elijah did first. Sam was coming toward them, trying to look nonchalant and failing miserably.
“Hi, Sam.” Elijah smiled. “How’s it going?”
Reed was a little surprised these two knew each other. He wondered how Elijah could sound so genuinely pleased to see the other boy.
“Oh, ya know, I’m hanging.” Sam shrugged. He was trying to sound cool. Reed didn’t think it went so well. “I haven’t seen you in a while. I guess we’ve both been busy.” He reached them and pretended to notice Reed for the first time. “Oh, and it’s Reed, too! This is quite a crowd.”
“Two’s company,” said Reed dryly.
“Whatchya guys up to?” Sam hung a pair of bug-eyed sunglasses on the front of his striped shirt, apparently missing Reed’s remark. Reed felt slightly disappointed.
“We were just headed off the Hill to visit some friends,” Elijah explained, half unzipping his hoodie and pushing up his sleeves. “How about you? You got something planned?”
“Oh,” Sam waved a hand, “nothing much. I’ll probably work on a special assignment my boss gave me. He said nobody could do it like I could. After that, I’ll probably just hang with the rest of the cool peeps. I got asked to go to the Boulevard later with some of them. Did you, Reed?”
Reed blinked, stung. “No, actually,” he said. “I thought I’d stay here and graffiti the floor with the other losers.”
The jab was unmistakable. Reed felt Elijah’s eyes on him, but he chose to avoid them. Sam, however, grinned.
“Really? I might be able to give you a painting lesson sometime. Ya know, Michael said mine would have been pretty good if it hadn’t been painted on the floor. Maybe I’ll do it on the wall next time. Anywho, I’ve got places to be. See ya.”
“Sure, Sam,” Elijah answered. “Take care.”
Sam swaggered off, and Reed and Elijah turned back onto their original course. They walked in silence. Reed was beginning to wish he hadn’t made that comment in front of Elijah. Reagan and his friends would have thought it was hilarious, but it seemed out of place now. He watched his feet and tried not to step on the cracks in the concrete.
Elijah finally spoke. “That wasn’t very nice, Reed.”
Reed kicked at the sidewalk. “I know. But he kinda started it. And besides, he’s just Sam.”
“You think he was insulting you? I think he genuinely hoped you were going to be there. He admires you, Reed. It’s really obvious.”
“Sam? Me?” Reed was taken back at the suggestion and stepped on a crack by mistake. “You mustn’t know him! Did you hear what he was saying? Everything was all about hisself and how cool he is.”
His grammar always slipped when he got worked up or very uncomfortable.
“Exactly,” said Elijah calmly. “He wants to make you think he’s cooler than he is. He talks big about himself because he feels inferior and scared. He wants to impress you.”
Reed wasn’t sure how to respond to this idea and even less sure that he liked it. He pulled at his ear in agitation. “But it’s not just me. He’s so annoying to everybody! He’s always doing the stupidest stuff, and he sucks up to somebody different every day.”
“That’s because he’s looking for affirmation.” There was something sympathetic and sad in Elijah’s voice. He was looking away at the ring of misty blue hills surrounding the valley. “It’s all a front. He wants to fit in so badly that he tries all these different ways to get attention. He gets it, all right, but it’s not the kind he wants.” The blue eyes turned to Reed’s face. “Reed, he’s so unhappy. People like him always are. Whenever somebody’s rattling and making that much noise, it means there’s something broken on the inside.”
Now Reed really wasn’t sure how to respond. He tugged at his ear again. “But why me? Why doesn’t he go after Reagan or somebody like that?”
“Maybe he just wants to be your friend. Maybe he thought you were different. Everybody else ridicules and scorns him, and perhaps he thought you wouldn’t.”
Reed kept his eyes down.
Elijah added softly, “Just because everybody else is doing something doesn’t mean you have to do it, too.”
Reed stuffed his hands into his pockets. “But he didn’t seem to care about what I said,” he tried.
“He’s been cut down so many times that he’s learned to hide his feelings. He didn’t look like it, maybe, but he cared. Words always go deep, especially cruel ones from people we don’t expect.”
Reed bit the inside of his cheek and looked away. He was starting to see the point. Suppose Elijah was right. What if Sam actually had hoped Reed would be in that group tonight? To get a thrust like that from a supposed friend... He looked at the ground. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s good, but it’s not me you need to say that to.”
“I know.” That was all he said, but Elijah seemed to understand.
By now, the Hill and the city had fallen behind them, and they were walking a gravel country road instead of a concrete street. Bare woods lined the way, broken by stretches of brown field and white board fence. An occasional house dotted the landscape, but they were few and far off the road. The two were alone with the early spring.
Elijah inhaled deeply and broke off a twig from a nearby tree. “It’s wonderful to be out of the city, isn’t it?”
Reed dared to glance at him for the first time. “Sure,” he replied.
After a few more minutes of silent walking, they turned up a white rock driveway thickly overhung with trees.
“So exactly who are we visiting?” Reed had neglected to ask this before.
“It’s a family we met in our first few weeks here,” Elijah answered, flicking the twig from between his fingers. “They have a small farm and, well, not much else. All of us in the group come out here whenever we can ’cause they need help around the place and we need to get out of the smog.”
They emerged from the tree-lined driveway into a spacious yard, brown but sprinkled with tiny white flowers. A wall of woods blocked out the rest of the world on three sides. In the center sat a little gabled house—low, brick, and simple. Behind it lay a farm, mostly sloping fields and tree-lined fencerows. Not far from the house, a weather-stained barn and white board fence presided over a large pond. It was a pleasant place.
“Yijah!” cried an excited voice.
A small figure shot around the corner of the house and bounded across the yard toward them. Without a word, Elijah dropped to his knees and threw open his arms. A boy, perhaps three or four years old, flung himself upon the teen, throwing his arms around Elijah’s neck. “I knew you woulds come,” he said in a lisp. “Mommy said you mightn’t.”
“Of course I would!” Elijah loosened the boy’s arms so he could breathe. “How are you? Have you been a good boy?”
The child pulled back and looked him gravely in the face. “I twying,” he said somberly. “But… but I not always. Mommy says I been a good boy today, though.”
Elijah’s expression matched the boy’s in solemnity. “Well, that’s good. You just keep working at it till you grow up.”
The little boy pondered this, and a look of shy sweetness stole over his face. “When I grows up,” he lisped, “I wants to be just yike you.” He tightened his grip and buried his face in Elijah’s shoulder.
Elijah grinned and wrapped both his arms around the boy. “Aww… that’s so nice! But, when you grow up, I want you to be just like Jesus.”
The little boy nodded, his face still buried in the navy hoodie. “Him, too.”
Reed stood off to the side and watched this little scene, feeling awkward. He didn’t like kids, and he wished Elijah wouldn’t make a big deal about this one, even if he was fairly cute. Dark hair set off a pair of wide brown eyes, and his features were adorably serious. He and Elijah made quite a pair. Watching them, Reed felt the familiar sensation stealing over him that he was locked outside a bright window, looking in.
The little boy at last lifted his face away from Elijah’s shoulder and caught sight of Reed for the first time. He blinked, mouth slightly ajar, at the unfamiliar figure.
Elijah suddenly remembered his guest and turned back to him. “Reed, I want you to meet my friend, Ethan. Ethan, Reed came to help us today.”
“Hello,” Reed said obligingly.
The little boy put two fingers in his mouth and looked down.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” prompted Elijah. Ethan shook his head and hid his face again.
“Well, fine then,” Elijah laughed, and he hoisted the boy up in his arms.
As he did, a slender silver chain dropped out of the collar of his white t-shirt. It had been invisible, hidden under the material, but the movement swung it out in plain sight. A pendant of some sort dangled down in the V of Elijah’s unzipped hoodie. It caught Reed’s eye immediately; Elijah didn’t seem like the necklace-wearing type. The pendant was an odd shape, too, unrecognizable at first glance.
Before Reed could look closer, Elijah slipped it back inside his shirt with one swift movement. Reed’s gaze shifted up to meet his. The other boy looked back at him steadily with no anxiety or shame, but offered no excuse.
Before they could say anything, two girls rounded the corner of the house, carrying a large basket between them. They stopped at the sight of the three on the driveway.
“Why, Reed!” exclaimed one. “What are you doing here?”
It took Reed a moment to recognize Lucy. She wasn’t the professional office girl he was used to seeing. Her golden hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and the sleeves of her faded blouse had been rolled up past her elbows. Judging by the flush of her cheeks and the water splashed on her apron, she’d just finished washing something. Funny. Professional or not, she still looked very pretty.
“Oh, hi!” said Elijah, shifting the squirming Ethan over to his back. “I just ran into him on the way out here. He came along to help out.”
“How nice!” Lucy came forward with a radiant smile. The second girl followed, obliged to go where the basket went, but she eyed Reed with obvious doubt. Lucy turned to her. “Marielle, this is Reed, the one you’ve heard us talk about. Reed, this is Marielle, Ethan’s sister.”
The girl smiled politely and murmured some greeting, but she shifted her weight and shot both Lucy and Elijah uncertain glances. She was younger than they were, perhaps fourteen or fifteen, with a slender, pointed face. Her straight hair, dark like her brother’s, fell past her narrow shoulders.
“I wish you had been here a little earlier to help us hang out the laundry,” Lucy continued gaily, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It appears somebody ran off with all our clothespins.”
Ethan peered over Elijah’s shoulder. “Oops. Sorry. But Yijah got here!”
“And you just couldn’t wait.” Lucy patted him on the cheek. “But maybe now you can make up for it and help ’Lijah while he works.”
The little boy nodded, bouncing up and down on Elijah’s back.
“Then we’ll finish fixing the barn roof from last week,” Elijah said over his shoulder. “You can hand me my tools. Anything else?”
“Mother wondered if somebody could work on the back door,” Marielle informed him, taking the empty basket from Lucy. “The knob won’t turn again.”
Elijah nodded. “All right, we’ll start with that, won’t we?”
“Yeth!” Ethan swung his feet gleefully.
“Reed can help on the roof when you’re done with that,” Lucy added. “We’ll find something to do until then.”
Marielle led Elijah and his eager charge toward the back of the house. Lucy and Reed came behind at a slower pace.
“How did you get hooked up with these people?” he asked her when the other three were out of earshot. “I mean, why did they pick you guys out of all the kids on the Hill?”
“They didn’t pick us. We asked to help them,” she replied, rolling down her left sleeve. “We met their family through the church not long after we got here and offered to do what we could.”
“You went to a church here? I thought they were all government-controlled.”
“Most are, but not ours. It’s…” she stopped and stared at him, eyes wide. “It’s… underground. But don’t mention that to anybody, not even that it exists. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I can keep secrets. I’m getting kinda used to it.”
“It’s not that I doubt you.” She began to work on her other sleeve. “But you have to understand that, when our group agreed to let you visit, we chose to take the risk on ourselves. We can’t ask the whole church to do that. It’s made up of old people and young couples and families with little kids.” She stopped for a second, staring at nothing, before she went back to fixing her cuff. “Our Hill kids’ group is just an off-shoot. We’re young enough to risk it. The rest of the church couldn’t without risking whole families.”
“You make it sound pretty big.”
“It’s a fair size.” She finished with her sleeve and laughed. “You didn’t think we were the only Christians in the whole city, did you?”
Reed chuckled uncertainly and changed the subject. “So you met this family, and they needed your help. Why doesn’t their dad do all this stuff?”
Lucy dropped her eyes. “They don’t have a father anymore,” she said quietly.
“Oh.” For a moment, the only sounds were their slow steps on the rock driveway. “Well, at least the kid seems to have hit it off with Elijah.”
Lucy laughed. “Yeah, he has. Ethan’s so adorable it’s hard not to like him, and ’Lijah loves kids.”
They walked in silence for a moment. At last, Reed could contain his curiosity no longer. “Lucy, do you know anything about that chain Elijah wears?”
Her smile vanished. “Why do you ask?”
“I caught a glimpse of it and couldn’t tell what it was. Do you know?”
She looked down and smoothed the front of her apron. “If he hasn’t told you, I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“I didn’t ask him about it, and he doesn’t volunteer a lot about himself, if you know what I mean. Surely you can just tell me what it is.”
She didn’t reply at first. When she did speak, her voice had fallen from its normal, happy pitch. “It’s not my place to tell you. He has reasons for everything he does, and he’ll tell you if he wants to.”
“All right then,” said Reed, a little nettled at her stubbornness. “I’ll ask him.”
She whirled on him in an instant. “Don’t you dare!”
He stepped back, stunned. Her bright face was transformed by a look of sudden fierceness that matched the fury in her voice. She was trembling, and a warning glitter flickered in her eyes… or was it the glistening of tears? Either way, it shocked Reed and left him speechless.
His astonishment must have shown on his face for she spun away, inhaling to bring herself under control. “I’m sorry, Reed.”
He remained silent and let her regain her composure. She turned back after a moment, all ferocity gone, but her face still worked with strong emotion. “I should not have said that like I did. Forgive me.” She sighed. “You have to understand that it’s not for my reasons that I won’t tell you. It’s for his sake. Talking about people behind their backs is never good, but especially not in this situation. That pendant comes from his past, and the story behind it is very personal. Don’t ask him, Reed. Just don’t. He’ll tell you if he wants you to know.” Her eyes sought his.
Reed said nothing for a moment but, at last, he conceded. “All right.”
They resumed their walk. A bird twittered in the woods. Everything else was quiet.
Reed broke the silence. “So do we actually have to do any of these chores or can we just chill for a while and call it a day?”
Lucy laughed suddenly. “Reed! It won’t be all that bad! Have you ever planted a garden before?”
And that was how Reed spent the rest of his Saturday afternoon—slicing potatoes, digging holes, filling them back in, and hammering on top of the barn roof. Lucy and Elijah found plenty to keep them all busy. Reed could think of no excuse to stop while they continued. What did I get myself into?
During his stay, he learned there were four more children in the family, all of whom still lived on the farm and expected him to remember their names. There was a Meagan and a set of twins with “L” names he couldn’t remember for sure. Another boy everybody called Matt seemed to be the oldest, but Reed didn’t care to ask. It was a relief to meet the one and only animal on the farm, a silver gelding by the name of Patton, who didn’t expect anything from him and seemed more laid back than the rest of the rambunctious brood.
At the end of the day, he was introduced to Mrs. Shelly, the matriarch—a kindly, care-worn woman with a slender, patient face and straight dark hair just beginning to gray. She thanked them sincerely for their help and hugged Lucy and Elijah. She refrained in Reed’s case, however, and shook his hand instead.
When the three teens left the farm at last, Reed realized he had completely missed the biggest social day of the Hill’s week. On top of that, he had dirt on the knees of his favorite jeans, a splinter in his right thumb, and a terrible ache in his back. What’s the point? The other two might be satisfied with a hug for all their pains, but what did he get out of it? It wasn’t the afternoon he’d expected. What was Reagan going to say?