Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [14]
The Virginia girl, Ella Starkee, was found by a farmer and his border collie. The farmer and the dog had since made the rounds of every morning news show in the country. They posed with Ella for the cover of last weeksPeople magazine. The little girl was all smiles, rosy-cheeked, hair neatly braided.
Rhonda found herself wondering what size beetles the little girl had eatentiny ones or something more like a June bug. Something substantial.
Where were you today, anyway? Rhonda asked Peter. Dont you usually work Mondays?
I took the day off to go hiking, he said.
All of you went? Rhonda asked.
Tock passed the joint to Peter, exhaled, and said, No. He snuck off without us. Suzy and I packed a lunch and drove out to the trailhead to join him, thinking hed be up at Gunners Ridge, but he wasnt there. So we had a little girls-day-out picnic of our own.
I hiked a different route, Peter explained. Over by Sawyers Pond.
I bet the blackflies were god-awful, Rhonda said.
Not too bad, Peter told her, examining his arms. Rhonda didnt see a single bite.
So you said the Florucci girl is a friend of Suzys? Rhonda asked.
Yeah, Tock said. Theyre in the same class. Suzy went to Ernies birthday party back in March. Lives with her mom in a little trailer out on Meckleson Hill Road. Kind of a dump. But Ernies a good kid. Shes been out here to play a few times, right, hon?
Peter nodded.
It could have been Suzy, Rhonda said.
Tock shivered and looked away.
That little girl could be cut into a hundred pieces right now and I could have done something to stop it, Rhonda said. I could have at least remembered the fucking license plate.
Youre too hard on yourself, Ronnie, Peter said, reaching through the water to take her hand and squeeze it. You need to let shit go.
Like I let Ernie go?Rhonda thought to herself. She looked up into Peters watery blue eyes and let her fingers squeeze back.Like you let Daniel and Lizzy go?
MAY 12, 1993
LIZZY AND RHONDAdanced through the woods, hurrying to the stage. Just a month before, theyd chased the rabbit down the same path, but now the snow was gone and the maple trees that were mixed in with the spruce, hemlock, and white pines were just beginning to leaf out. It had rained the day before but now the sun was out and the woods smelled green and loamy.
Lizzy was singing Achy Breaky Heart and getting the words wrong, which cracked Rhonda up.
And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart,
I might throw up on this man
Lizzy spun in a circle, then put her hands on her hips and kicked her right leg up high. The move was more karate than Rockette.
They had just come from Lizzys, where shed changed from school clothes into a leotard, leggings, and turquoise leg warmers, then showed Rhonda the metal bar her father had installed at the top of the closet doorway.
Whats this for? Rhonda had asked.
Lizzyd jumped up, grabbed the bar, and hung.
Its going to stretch me, shed explained. If I hang for fifteen minutes a day, Ill get taller. Guaranteed.
Rhonda figured about the only thing that was going to get stretched out was Lizzys arms, which would leave her looking more like an ape-girl than a Rockette, but Rhonda knew better than to say anything.
And look, Lizzy had said, pulling first one leg, than the other, over the bar and letting go so that she hung upside down in the doorway. Lizzy closed her eyes and hung, focusing, no doubt, on stretching herself taller as her face grew redder and redder.
Easy there, Rocket. Rhonda turned and saw Daniel standing in the doorway to Lizzys bedroom. You dont want to burst anything.
Its Rockette, Daddy, Lizzy said, pulling herself up, then jumping down and straightening her leg warmers. Come on, Ronnie, Peters waiting.
THEY FOUND PETERsitting cross-legged in the center of the stage, puffing