Small as an Elephant - Jennifer Richard Jacobson [24]
He clicked on his own YouPage. A message would say so much — that she’d been thinking about him, that she knew he’d be smart enough to get to a computer. It might even tell him what she was thinking or, at the very least, what he should do next.
Nothing. Jack’s throat dried up. He took a swig of water from the bottle he was carrying, hoping he wouldn’t get in trouble for drinking in the library.
Maybe it was better that his mom hadn’t written. Leaving a note would mean that she wasn’t spinning, but was rational and making decisions. Decisions like, I’ll write Jack a note. Decisions like, I’m going to leave Jack in Maine.
Don’t be stupid, he said to himself. She wouldn’t decide that.
It was like the elephant he stole yesterday. Right now, it was sitting on the box back in the barn. He had no intention of leaving it there — that elephant was special. It was like it was meant to belong to him. But something could happen, right? Something could prevent him from going back to get it. Mrs. Olson could discover his things and call the police, who would arrest him when he returned. Or maybe the woman from the gift shop would be standing right there on the sidewalk when he walked out of the library, and she’d grab him. Then Jack would have to leave the elephant. These things happened.
Thinking about the elephant, his elephant, made him feel anxious. He wished he had put it in his pocket when he woke up.
A message screen popped up on his YouPage. It was Nina!
Nina: How come ur not in school?
Jack: How come UR not in school?
Nina: I am! I’m hanging out in the computer lab.
Jack: Bingham will kill u if he sees u on UPage
Nina: First day of school. He’ll go easy. Answer my question.
Jack: Long story
Nina: Once upon a time . . .
Jack laughed. He was always saying long story, and she was always getting him to talk. But this time he didn’t know what to say. He began tentatively.
Jack: We decided to stay awhile longer
Nina: Your mom’s letting u skip again?
Jack: Yeah, u know her
Nina: So everything’s OK?
More than anything, he wished he could tell Nina — could get her to help him figure things out. But he couldn’t tell anyone this time. Not even his best friend.
Jack: Course
Nina: Hey! Did you see the elephant?
Nina had been with Jack when he discovered that there was actually an elephant in Maine — an elephant right off the Maine Pike, the road they’d taken north. The elephant’s name was Lydia. It was what he and his mother had argued about.
Jack: Nah. My mom wasn’t feeling well —
That summed up a lot, and was probably true.
Nina: Is your mom with you now?
Jack: Affirmative
Nina: She isn’t, is she?
Jack: Gotta run. TTYS
Jack closed the screen before Nina could say anything else.
Thinking of her hanging out in the computer lab just frustrated him more. He typed in the Curley Middle School address and read the welcome-back message from his principal and a note about the upcoming Fall Fling. The Fling was a blast last year, and he wanted to be back there, back there with Nina. At least at home, he knew how to do things. He knew if he needed to, he could go over to Nina’s house for dinner. Or he could walk to Ten Tables restaurant, where the owner was a friend of his mother’s. There he’d be pulled into the kitchen and fed something yummy. Here in Bar Harbor, there was no one to help him.
Another woman came into the room. She walked behind Jack and sat at a computer at the far end of the table. The mom next to him greeted her. “Hey there. Was work crazy this weekend?”
“You know it! You wouldn’t believe what happened yesterday,” said the woman.
Jack recognized that voice — it was the woman from Sherman’s! The one who had seen him steal the elephant! The one who knew his name.
Jack huddled closer to the computer, turning his back toward both women. “I’m glad summer is over,” the woman continued. “I’m tired of the crowds.”
He held his breath. Would she mention a boy who had shoplifted? And if she did, would the mother suddenly look over, wonder who this kid