The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [87]
“That’s it!” Sophie said, reaching for the green-and-salmon seed pod. She kissed it and put it beneath her pillow, and Zoe smiled. The child really was quite adorable.
“Do you think you’ll be able to take a nap right after breakfast?” Zoe asked. “You’ve already slept so long.”
“I think so,” Sophie said. “And maybe it will work if I just lie down on it awhile without sleeping.”
“Come on,” Zoe said. “I’ll walk you to the outhouse.”
Sophie stepped off the bed, yelping when her bandaged left foot hit the floor. She lifted the foot up instantly, as though she’d stepped on a bee, and Zoe could see that it was swollen, the skin puffy around the gauze. Damn. How would she ever be able to walk through the woods with her foot in such terrible shape?
“You and I will have to put our heads together and come up with a creative solution to this problem,” Zoe said. “We’ll have to be cobblers. Shoemakers.”
“I know what a cobbler is.” Sophie looked insulted that Zoe had felt it necessary to define the word for her.
“Well, let’s figure out the solution over breakfast,” she said. “Your clothes are probably dry by now. I’ll get them for you, and I’ll give you a pair of my underwear to put on. They’ll be way too big for you, but better than nothing.”
“Do you know where my penknife is?” Sophie asked.
“It was in the pocket of your shorts,” Zoe said. “I put it on the front porch.”
Zoe walked into the living room, where she picked up a box of instant oatmeal from the shelf she’d formed from crates and rotting wood. Outside, she started a fire in the fire pit, then gathered up Sophie’s clothes and her penknife from the porch and carried them back into the bedroom.
Outside again, she cooked the oatmeal over the fire, and after a moment, Sophie hobbled out of the shanty and joined her on the flat rocks. Zoe scooped some of the oatmeal into a bowl and handed it to the little girl, along with a spoon.
“Are your parents divorced, Sophie?” she asked as they ate. “You said Lucas is your mom’s boyfriend.”
Sophie nodded. “Yup. My mom’s boyfriend is Lucas. He lives in a tree house—”
“No!” Zoe said.
“Yes, he really does. He has a regular house in front of it, but he hardly ever uses it. And my dad has a friend named Paula, but she’s not an actual girlfriend.”
“Do you get along with them? Lucas and Paula?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah. They’re really nice to me.”
“And what’s your mom like?”
“Oh.” Sophie dipped her spoon into the oatmeal. “She’s nice, and she takes good care of me when I’m sick. She used to fly a helicopter when I was little, but now she just stays home with me.”
A good mom, Zoe thought. Not the sort of mother she had been.
“And your daddy?”
“He’s an accountant. He handles money.”
Zoe had to smile at her again. She sounded so grown-up. “What grade are you in?” she asked.
“Second. Since I’ve been getting Herbalina, I’ve been able to go to school. Before that, this lady—a home teacher—would come and help me do my schoolwork at home.”
Sophie must have been very seriously ill, Zoe realized. Perhaps she still was, since she still had that catheter coming out of her stomach. “How long have you been sick?” she asked.
“Since I was three, but I started getting really sick when I was five. So, I never got to go to school for more than a couple of weeks, anyway.”
“It must have been hard to make friends, then.”
“Oh, I had friends in the hospital. And I have friends at Dr. Schaefer’s office, and in my Brownie troop.” Her face darkened, and tears filled her eyes. “I think Holly is really, truly dead,” she said, and Zoe struggled to remember who Holly was.
“You mean the other little girl in the car with you?”
Sophie nodded, swallowing hard. “I don’t know how I got out and she didn’t. She must’ve been scared when she was burning up.”
Zoe moved next to her, putting an arm around her. “I’m glad you got out, Sophie,” she said. “You were very lucky. And very, very brave to survive in the forest. And I’ll get you home, honey, by hook or crook.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It’s just an expression.”