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By Root 461 0

you have to do. It’s like some kind of natural, antigerm juice in your mouth. Hey, you got anything good in there?” Something smelled good. She sniffed at the bags. Apples. Or maybe bananas. Her stomach was getting that weak, wavy feeling again. And the worst of it was, once she ate anything it would only feel even emptier right after, but she couldn’t help herself. He held his bags close, as if he were sure she was going to grab something. Spooky guy, all he wanted was to do his own thing, same as her. She wasn’t afraid of him like most people were. When he was out in his yard, Inez wouldn’t leave her apartment, and the old lady, Mrs. Jukas, would move from window to window the way she was now, peeking out at him. Last week, when Polie tried to pull her inside the SUV, she told him Gordon was watching out his window. Then, to make it even better, she said Gordon told her to let him know if anyone tried to mess with her. Polie made some dirty remark about her and Gordon, but he’d let her go real fast.

“Here.” He handed her a peach. “They’re small, but they’re really ripe. They’re sweet.”

She ate it so fast, it had no taste. She moved the pit around in her mouth, sucking on it as if it were hard candy.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you.”

“Well, yeah! I mean, it’s suppertime, right?” She took out the pit and nibbled off the stringy bits caught in the grooves, then stopped when she saw how he was looking at her. As if she were disgusting him. She put the pit into her pocket.

“How’s school?”

“It’s school.” She shrugged.

“Do you get good grades?”

She just laughed.

“School’s important, you know that, right?”

“Did you like school?”

“I tried to.” He seemed to be struggling with a thought.

“But there were too many assholes around, right?”

He laughed. “I guess so. Something like that. But I did like it when I was older. I got a lot more out of it then.”

“I had this one teacher, Mr. Cesster, once he gave me all these books to read. And I’d try, but it was like, Little House on the Prairie! Give me a break, will ya? I mean, stuff like that—I can’t get worked up because little Laura forgot to lock the gate and the friggin’ goat gets out. I’m like, yeah? There’s a lot worse things that can happen. How come nobody writes about those?”

“Well, maybe you should. Why don’t you?”

“Yeah, right. Hey, can I have another one?” She tried to eat more slowly. This peach was so delicious it made her ache inside. “Hey, how’s that friend of yours? That lady, the one that helped me with Leonardo.” She wished she hadn’t said anything about her mother being gone, but Delores had been cool about it.

“Delores?”

“Yeah, how’s she doing?” She chewed each little piece.

“Good. She’s doing good.”

“I like her. She’s a nice lady. And she really loves dogs, but where she lives she can’t have one,” she said between tiny bites. “She used to have a dog. When she was the same age as me, but then it bit one of her sisters, so she had to get rid of it. She said her father took it someplace and she cried for two whole weeks, and everyone kept getting mad at her and saying she felt badder about the stupid dog than she did her own sister. Which wasn’t true because she loved her sister. What she really felt bad about was that it wasn’t the dog’s fault in a way.” She held out her hands. “Because he was a dog! You know what I mean?”

“I remember that dog! Everyone was afraid of him.” He smiled yet looked troubled.

“So what’s the story? Are you and her going out?”

“We’re just friends.”

She didn’t believe him. Not with the way Delores looked whenever she said his name. “Next time she comes over, will you let me know? I like talking to her.” She dropped the second pit into her pocket.

Behind her a car door slammed. Gordon’s eyes sank low again. Feaster was getting out of the SUV. Polie was at the wheel. Feaster called for her to come down off the porch. Just for a minute. He had to talk to her. No, she called back, enjoying his anger. She could hear him just fine from up here, she said.

“It’s about your mother!” he shouted.

Thinking he’d seen her mother, she hurried