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Levi
Levi searched his brain for words, words that wouldn’t make him sound insane. “I saw Gamp.” Shoot. That had totally sounded insane.
His mother leaned back in her chair a little. “What?” she said softly.
He tried to shrug, but his shoulders didn’t obey him. “I don’t know if he was real or ...” His voice gave out. He weakly pointed at a pitcher of water on a nearby table, and she leapt up to pour him some. Then she put the straw into his mouth like he was a baby. He would’ve laughed if he wasn’t so focused on the water. It hurt to swallow, but the water felt miraculous sliding down his throat. And he could feel it as it kept going, all the way down through his stomach. It almost tickled. He nodded to let her know that she could take the straw away. “Thank you.” He wiped his mouth on his sheet. “I don’t know if he was real, but I know he wasn’t a ghost. Nothing like that. I think maybe God sent him to me to get me through.”
Her doubtful expression softened. “Levi, you can’t imagine how much I’ve prayed. Prayed and prayed and prayed. I read your Gamp’s Bible as if your location was hidden in its pages.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “I guess, in a way, it was.” She opened her eyes again and looked at him. “So who am I to say that God wouldn’t send your Gamp to help? Who am I to say ...” Her voice drifted off thoughtfully.
“He helped a lot.” Again, Levi struggled to find the right words. “He talked to me about God.”
His mother tipped her head to the side and gazed at him. All this gazing was making him self-conscious. “And I’m betting every word was true. Levi, I think—no, I know—we’ve been wrong about God. I think that, at the end of his life, when Gamp was all God-crazy, and we poked fun at him ...” She sighed. “Well, I think he was right.”
There was a soft knock on the door, and Levi looked too quickly. A sharp pain shot up the side of his neck.
A man Levi had never seen before stepped through the doorway.
“Hi, Pastor,” his mother said.
“Hi, Nora.” He smiled broadly at Levi. “Hi, Levi. You don’t know me, but I feel as though I know you. Welcome home.” He turned his smile to Levi’s mother. “I don’t want to intrude. I just wanted to see if you need anything, any help this morning.”
His mom seemed to be considering it, which surprised Levi. Normally she was so proud and didn’t want to accept charity. “I can’t think of anything, no.”
“That’s probably a good sign. But if you do need anything at any time, please don’t hesitate to call me or the church, okay?” He turned back to Levi. “And in the meantime, we’ll continue to pray for complete healing.” He paused, nodded, and turned toward the door. “You guys have a blessed day.” And he was gone.
Part of Levi wanted to comment on what a weirdo that guy had been, but that weirdo had left him with a good feeling in his gut. He’d felt like he mattered, like he had value. So, Levi said, “He seems nice.”
His mother laughed. “You have no idea. That man doesn’t know us from a hole in the wall, and he organized the whole search.”
He did? Why?
“To think I almost didn’t even go into the church. I only walked in to ask if they’d seen you.”
He wasn’t quite following. “You were out looking for me?”
“I was. And I was all alone. Until I walked onto that property. Then I had more help than I could handle.” She looked him in the eye. “Honey, people came all the way from Mattawooptock.”
He’d heard the name, but he had no idea where Mattawooptock was. It blended in his mind with all the other weird Maine towns: Mattawamkeag, Madawaska, Meddybemps ... He couldn’t remember them all, and his mental list-building was interrupted by another knock on the door.
This time he looked up to see two police officers come through the door.
His chest tightened in fear. He recognized them both.
“They helped with the search too,” his mother whispered.
He relaxed—a little.
“You look a lot better,” one of them said. “That’s great to see. I’m Officer Pettiford, and this is Officer Monnikendam.”
Sounds like a Maine town, Levi thought, and bit the inside of his cheek.
The first one, Pettiford, nodded toward Levi’s mom. “That’s quite a mother you have there. She wasn’t going to let you stay lost for long.”
Levi’s chest swelled with pride. He did have the best mom ever.
Pettiford flipped open a notepad. “Can you tell us what happened that night?”
Levi swallowed hard. He didn’t want to go through all this. “I don’t remember much.”
There was a beat, and then Pettiford said, “Then tell us what you do remember. Shane has already told us quite a bit. We’re just trying to fill in some holes.”
Levi didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to be a rat, but the idea of lying made his skin crawl. And surprisingly, he felt no anger toward Shane or Kendall. He remained shocked that they’d done what they’d done, but somehow he felt like he was past it. He never intended to spend any time with them again, ever, but neither did he want them to get into trouble. So, leaving out the part about the drugs, he told the story, ending with, “I don’t think they meant me harm. I think they were just scared.”
Pettiford studied him for an uncomfortably long time and then jotted something down in his notebook.
“What can you tell me about Kendall’s relationship with his father?”
What? What did that have to do with anything?
Pettiford stared at him, waiting for an answer.
Levi wasn’t sure how to describe Kendall’s father without using words you’re not supposed to use when talking to a cop.
“Have you ever heard or seen anything to indicate someone might have abused Kendall?”
Levi grew distinctly uncomfortable.
Pettiford continued to stare at him.
“Kendall never said much, but he did have an occasional shiner. And he didn’t speak highly of his dad.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” his mother asked.
“Two related cases, ma’am. We’re trying to prevent any more fear and suffering.” He gave her a stoic nod, looked at Levi one more time, and then flipped his notebook shut. “I sure am glad you’re okay, Levi. Let us know if you think of anything else you think we should know.”
Levi gave him a small nod. It was all he could manage.
The policemen left the room, and immediately a harried man in a white lab coat ran in.
Levi looked at his mother wide-eyed. “I have never been this popular.”
