Save Me - Lisa Scottoline [19]
“Mom?” said a voice from the bed, and Rose turned.
“Melly!”
Leo got up and hit the POWER button on the TV, willing the screen into blackness.
Chapter Twelve
Rose lay in darkness, cuddling with Melly in her hospital bed, by now accustomed to the smoky smell in her hair. Leo had left at the end of visiting hours, gotten John from the sitter, and taken him home. Melly had been quiet during the evening, drowsy as a result of the drugs.
“You sleepy, honey?” Rose asked, and Melly looked over, resting her head on Rose’s left arm.
“A little. Are you going to sleep here?”
“I sure am. Want more water, or Jell-O?”
“No.”
“How’s your head?”
“Okay.
“Mom?” Melly’s voice sounded raspy, from the irritation. “When I was in the bathroom, the floor felt like an earthquake.”
Rose thought back. “Yes, it did.”
“Why?”
“Because of the explosion in the kitchen.” Rose and Leo had explained to Melly generally what had happened, but she wasn’t ready to hear about the deaths yet, or Amanda.
“Was it a bomb? It sounded like a bomb.”
“They don’t know for sure. Whatever it was, the fire is already out, and they’ll make it safe to go back.”
“Is it from a terrorist?”
“I doubt that very much.” Rose cursed modern times. When she was little, the only bombs she saw were in cartoons, round black bowling balls with wiggly cotton strings.
“It was a big noise.”
“Sure was. Did it scare you?”
“Yes. I didn’t come out of the bathroom.”
“I know. Is that why?”
“No. Remember Fire Safety Week?”
“Not really.” Rose remembered nothing, and Melly remembered everything.
“At our old school, we went to the firehouse on Fire Safety Week. You came, and we climbed on top of the firetruck, and they gave me a green sticker for my bedroom window and for Googie. It says, Save Our Dog.”
“Okay.”
“They said, don’t open the door if it’s hot. The bathroom door was hot, so I didn’t open it, then I couldn’t breathe. I hit the door and hollered so people would know I was inside, but nobody came to get me.”
Rose felt a pang. “Well, it’s all right now.”
“How did I get out?”
“I got you out.”
“Is that how you hurt your hand?”
“No,” Rose lied. She’d burned it when she’d picked up the burning stud. “It got burned in the cafeteria, but it’s nothing.”
“Remember when Quirrell gets burned by Harry’s scar? He gets burned on his hands, too.”
“This wasn’t that bad.” Rose flashed on the mothers making fun of Melly’s love of Harry Potter, then put it out of her mind. She and Melly had read the Potter books aloud before bedtime, and it was easy to see why Melly identified with a kid with a scar on his face.
“I’m sorry I ran to the bathroom, Mom.”
Rose felt a twinge. Sometimes she thought motherhood was full of twinges. “It’s okay, I understand why you’d be upset. Does Amanda tease you like that a lot?”
Melly fell silent.
“Huh, Mel? Does she?”
Melly didn’t answer. She wasn’t a whiner. She hadn’t complained about any of the teasing at their old school because she thought if they did anything about it, it would get worse, and she’d been right.
“Mel, I won’t do anything, I promise. I just want to know.” Rose looked over, but she could barely make out Melly’s profile in the dark. “What does Amanda do?”
“Yesterday we were finger-painting with Ms. Canton.”
“Okay,” Rose said, keeping her tone drama-free. Melly, Amanda, and two other children in Mrs. Nuru’s class were in the gifted program, spending an hour in the afternoons with Kristen Canton, twice a week.
“I was painting a picture of Dumbledore, and Amanda put poster paint on with her finger and painted on her cheek, like with the jelly. Ms. Canton told her it’s not funny or caring, and how we’re a community. I love Ms. Canton.”
“Me, too,” Rose said, hearing Melly’s voice warm.
“Her favorite Harry Potter is The Sorcerer’s Stone, and she has a cat named Hedwig and a Hermione wand. She