Come Fall

by A. C. E. Bauer

  She turned toward town. Pretty soon, she began passing businesses. Because there were no sidewalks, she kept to the far side of the breakdown lane by the curb, crossing into parking lots when they edged up. She shivered. Her hat was soaked. Rain had begun seeping into the shoulders of her jacket. She couldn’t feel her toes. But she kept walking.

  She passed the Quick Stop and the PharmAid drugstore that Dad sometimes drove to. She placed one foot in front of the other, clutching her arms for warmth.

  The water on her glasses blurred her vision, so she peered over them.

  She reached the FillStar gas station, and her teeth were chattering so hard she couldn’t keep her head still. She needed a place to stop. A place to sit. A place that was dry.

  She lurched over to the building. It didn’t have an entrance, only a booth where motorists paid through a thick window. She saw the attendant sitting in the light, reading something, bored. She knocked on his window. He looked up.

  “Let … me … in … please.”

  The attendant shook his head and pointed to a sign. NO ADMITTANCE. EMPLOYEES ONLY. He looked back down at his paper.

  No admittance. She wasn’t an employee. She walked farther.

  She passed a stand of trees. Everything was so gray, as if she were walking through unending twilight. Traffic whizzed by.

  She passed a car dealership. Passed a small shopping mall. She’d have to turn into it to find a building—the parking lot was so wide. She needed to get to town. She continued, straight ahead. A light. An office building. A grocery store recessed behind another huge parking lot. One foot. Then another.

  Then, almost as if it were a miracle, she saw a bus shelter: a bench surrounded on three sides by Plexiglas. It was empty. She stumbled in, huddled in the farthest corner, where the glass curved forward, giving extra shelter. The bench was dry. She lifted her legs, bent her knees, and hugged them to her chest. The walls blocked the wind.

  Just a minute, she thought. She’d stay here just a minute. Just long enough for the shivering to stop.

  She shut her eyes.

  Just a minute.

  33—Blos Pease

  Something had happened to Lu

  Blos felt queasy all afternoon.

  Salman was gone. And he had seen Lu leave, too. Right after lunch. He was alone, in a building full of kids who avoided him or whom he needed to avoid.

  Blos missed an entire minute of Mr. Loengredl’s lecture because of his worry. An entire minute! He left a blank line. But taking notes did not stop the gnawing in his belly.

  As soon as the bus dropped him off at the end of the day, he ran to find the phone book.

  Zimmer. Only one listed in Springfalls. Must be Lu’s number. He called.

  “Hello?” a boy answered.

  “Can I please speak to Lu?”

  “She’s not in.”

  She had gone to find Salman. Blos knew.

  “She is not back?” he said.

  “Uh … no. Who is this?”

  She was not in. It had been hours since lunch.

  “Are you sure she is not back?” Blos said.

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  His queasiness grew. Something had happened to Lu.

  “Hello? Are you still there?” The voice on the other end sounded different. Was it worried? Blos was.

  “Yes,” Blos said.

  “Who are you?”

  “Blos Pease.”

  “Lu hasn’t called. Do you know where she is?”

  “Yes.”

  Pause. Silence. He knew. He knew.

  “Well, aren’t you going to tell me?”

  “She is at Salman’s.”

  “The kid who she’s d.b.-ing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s okay.”

  No, it was not. Blos knew that, too.

  “She needs help,” Blos said.

  He had to get her help. Lu needed Blos’s help.

  “Help for what?”

  The new tone had become stronger.

  “I do not know,” Blos said.

  A pause.

  “Listen, I’m going to call my father. How can we reach you?”

  “You can phone me.”

  “Where?”

  Blos’s queasiness had begun to take over. He croaked his phone number and hung up. How was he going to help Lu?

  His mother was at work—she would be home in another hour. He was not supposed to call her unless he had an emergency. Was this an emergency?

  He did not know what to do. The street was deep gray. The wind was blowing branches. The rain fell almost sideways. Then the phone rang.

  Blos jumped. He listened to the phone ring a second time.

  Pick it up, he told himself.

  A third ring.

  “Hello?” he said.

  “Hi. Is this Blos Pease?”

  A man’s voice. On the other end of the line. A man Blos did not know.

  “Yes.”

  “This is Tony Zimmer, Lu’s father. My son Jack just called. He said you thought Lu needed help.”

  “Yes,” Blos said.

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you tell me?”

  “Salman’s house.”

  “Where is it?”

  “I can show you.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Five-zero-three Penny Lane.”

  “I’ll be right over.”

  Blos sat in the living room, staring out the front window. Minutes crept by. A red van with its lights on slowly inched down the road. Lu’s family’s car! He had seen it before. Blos grabbed his coat to run outside.

  He stopped at the threshold. He had forgotten to leave a note for Mom. She had told him that he should leave her a note if he went somewhere different than he usually did. But he had been to Salman’s before. And the van was approaching. It might miss him if he did not wave. He needed it to find Lu.

  Blos ran to the curb. The van pulled up. A window rolled down. A man, tall in his seat, with dark hair and wire glasses, leaned over.

  “Are you Blos?”

  Blos nodded.

  “I’m Tony Zimmer. Hop in.”

  Blos opened the door. A strange car. His queasiness was powerful. He had trouble climbing in.

  “Okay, Blos. Where are we going?”

  Blos could not speak. His throat was all tied up. His hands shook.

  “It’s okay,” Mr. Zimmer said. “Just point which way.”

  Blos pointed to the end of his street. Mr. Zimmer furrowed his brow.

  “That’s a dead end. Is she at the end of your street?”

  Blos shook his head. He had to explain. Lu needed him to explain.

  “In the woods,” Blos said. “At the edge of the stream.”

  “She’s in the woods?” Mr. Zimmer said.

  Blos had to be clearer. He gripped the side handle on the door, steadying himself.

  “No. The trailer is at the edge of the stream. The trucking property stream. On the town line.”

  “She’s at a place on the edge of the trucking terminal property, you’re saying, on the town line?”

  Blos nodded. Mr. Zimmer pulled out a map and turned on the dome light.

  “The trucking property covers hundreds of acres, Blos. Can you be a little more specific?”

  “I can walk there in fifteen minutes,” Blos said, opening the door.

  Mr. Zimmer put a hand on Blos’s other arm. Blos froze.

  “Hold on, Blos. I think this map will help us.”

  Blos hesitated, then shut the door. Mr. Zimmer pointed to a large, irregular shape on the map.

  “The property is here. Your street is here. And the town line is here.”

  Mr. Zimmer looked up and smiled.

  “There’s only one road that will fit the bill.”

  Mr. Zimmer drove down side streets. They turned onto Route 51 and took another right onto another street lined with trees—forests, it seemed to Blos
.

  “What does the house look like?” Mr. Zimmer said.

  “It is a trailer.”

  Mr. Zimmer drove slowly. They passed a mud driveway. That was it!

  “There!” Blos said.

  Mr. Zimmer backed up and pulled into the driveway. Blos’s queasiness was so strong, it took all of his concentration to breathe.

  “Come on, Blos,” Mr. Zimmer said. “Let’s see if Lu’s here.”

  They walked up to the front door, Mr. Zimmer leading. He knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened with the chain still on.

  “Who is it?” a woman asked.

  “I’m Tony Zimmer. I’m looking for my daughter, Lu. This young man thinks Lu might be here.”

  “She a skinny thing with glasses?” the woman said.

  “That’s one way to describe her,” Mr. Zimmer said.

  “Hold on.” The woman shut the door, then immediately reopened it without the chain. “Come in,” she said.

  The place felt steamy. It smelled of cigarettes and alcohol. A man in front of the TV with his leg in a cast frowned at them.

  “I’m sorry to bother you,” Mr. Zimmer said, “but we’re wondering if…” He turned to Blos. “What’s the name of her friend?”

  “Salman Page,” Blos croaked.

  “Is this Salman Page’s house?”

  The woman shook her head.

  “The boy’s gone,” the man at the TV said. “Better that way.”

  Mr. Zimmer glanced at him but addressed the woman.

  “Was Lu here earlier?”

  She nodded.

  “Two, three hours ago.”

  Mr. Zimmer thought that over.

  “How long did Lu stay?”

  “A couple of minutes,” the woman said.

  “I told her to leave,” the man said.

  “Now, Ozzy, the man’s looking for his daughter.”

  Ozzy shrugged and turned back to the TV.

  “Do you know where she went?” Mr. Zimmer asked.

  The woman blinked before answering.

  “No.”

  Mr. Zimmer pulled his fingers through his hair.

  Blos knew there were only two ways out. Through the woods or on the road. He had to ask.

  “Did Lu … did Lu walk?”

  The woman stared at Blos.

  “She did. There was no car.”

  “Do you know which way she went?” Mr. Zimmer said.

  The woman shifted.

  “I heard a crash out back. It made the trailer shake. I ran to the window to see if something had landed on the chicken coop—and I saw your daughter heading back ’round the front of the trailer.”

  “Did you see where she went from there?”

  The woman shook her head.

  “The road …,” Blos said. He darted out of the trailer. Lu had taken the road. And if she followed Route 51, it would be miles longer to get back to her house. Miles. It was not like cutting through the woods. She was walking all the way around. Blos would run after her. He would catch up. Lu needed him. Now.

  Blos had run halfway to Route 51 when the red van pulled alongside him. Mr. Zimmer rolled down the window.

  “Get in, Blos. We’ll be faster this way.”

  Blos hesitated.

  “Two people are better than one,” Mr. Zimmer said.

  Okay, Blos thought. He climbed in.

  Driving slowly, Mr. Zimmer came to the side street they had come out of on their way to the trailer. He turned on his signal light to show that he was going to turn.

  That was wrong, Blos thought. Wrong.

  “No!” he yelled.

  Mr. Zimmer jumped.

  “No, what, Blos?”

  “Not that way.”

  Mr. Zimmer stared at him. Blos pointed down Route 51. “That way.”

  “But this is faster, Blos.”

  “Lu does not know that way.”

  Mr. Zimmer stared down the side street and up Route 51.

  “You’re right.”

  He turned off the turn signal and drove slowly along Route 51.

  Blos stared hard. He did not see too well in the gloom. And there were cars. Lots of cars. Lots of cars not moving too fast because of the traffic and the wind and the rain and the gray.

  Blos leaned forward, clutching the dashboard. They had been driving for minutes, but to Blos it felt like an hour. He craned his neck this way and that. They passed a car dealership, office buildings, a bus shelter.

  “Stop!” Blos yelled.

  Mr. Zimmer jolted to a stop. Blos jumped out of the van. The bus shelter! He ran back to it. There was someone in there. In the corner. Huddled.

  “Lu! … Lu! … Lu! …”

  He began shaking her. She was pale and shivering. She opened her eyes.

  “Blos?”

  A few seconds later, Mr. Zimmer ran up. “Omigod.”

  He swooped her up, as if she were a little kid, and ran back with her to the van. Blos hesitated. But only for a split second. He no longer felt queasy. He had found Lu.

  Now she was going home.

  34—Lu-Ellen Zimmer

  A good friend

  Exposure had worsened whatever cold Lu had. She developed a fever that spiked and made her delirious.

  “Something about a crow attacking you,” Ron later told her.

  “Dad almost took you to the hospital,” Ricky added. “But then the Tylenol kicked in and you went back to sleep.”

  When Lu was finally well enough to sit up and pay attention to what was going on, Mom sat at her bedside, a bowl of soup in her hands.

  “Eat some of this, dear. It’ll help.”

  “Mom?”

  “That’s me.”

  “You’re home!”

  “Been here since the day before yesterday.”

  “But you’ll catch my cold!”

  Mom shook her head.

  “Stupid doctors. I had to yell at them to discharge me. There are more diseases in any hospital than at home.”

  “But the baby …”

  “Is fine. She’s been fine all along. Don’t you worry.”

  Lu focused on the space around her. This wasn’t her bedroom.

  “Where am I?”

  “In the guest room, dear. We decided to keep you down here.”

  Lu tried to remember what had happened, how she had gotten here, but everything was too fuzzy. The last thing she remembered with some clarity was Blos Pease, shaking her awake, and then Dad …

  “Is Blos here?” she said.

  “Not at the moment,” Mom said. “I expect he’ll come after school. He’s bicycled every day to see how you’re doing.”

  Lu shut her eyes.

  “Every … day?”

  She reopened them. Mom nodded.

  “He’s the one who found you, you know.”

  Yes, Lu did. “He’s a good guy,” she said.

  Mom nodded again. “Yes.”

  “How long have I been …”

  “Well, today’s Monday.”

  Lu did a quick calculation—three days. She’d been out of it for three days. And she hadn’t called Salman!

  She pushed aside her covers and swung her legs over—well, she tried. Somehow, they weren’t doing what she was asking them to do.

  “Slow down, Lu.”

  Mom put the bowl of soup on the side table and helped Lu turn in bed.

  “You’re still sick. And you’re probably pretty weak.”

  She felt Mom’s gentle hands placing slippers on her feet. Lu tried to stand. She was so unsteady!

  “Hold on to me,” Mom said.

  Step by step, they made it to the bathroom.

  “I’ll manage,” Lu said.

  Mom smiled.

  “Of course you will.”

  She helped Lu back to bed. Lu was exhausted by the short trip down the hall. She lay back on her pillows and shut her eyes while Mom tucked covers around her.

  “Sleep,” Mom said. “It’ll help you heal.”

 
; Lu opened her eyes.

  “Wait. Mom …”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you find a business card in my pockets?”

  Mom looked puzzled.

  “Dad’s the one who took your clothes,” she said. “He never mentioned a card.”

  Lu shut her eyes again. Did Dad check her jacket? she wondered. That’s where it would have been. But she fell asleep before she could say the words.

  She woke up to Mom’s hand on her forehead.

  “Lu? Can you wake up for a bit? Someone’s here to see you.”

  Lu worked hard to shake off the grogginess. Mom helped her sit up and gave her some water to drink.

  “Who …” She forced her eyes open. “Who’s here?”

  “Blos,” Mom said. “I thought you’d want to see him.”

  Yes, Lu thought. She tried to smile.

  “I’ll bring him in,” Mom said.

  A second later, Mom returned with Blos.

  “Hi, Blos,” Lu said.

  “Hi,” Blos said.

  He stood by the door, stiff and even more awkward than usual.

  “I’ll go check something in the kitchen,” Mom said. “Why don’t you sit in this chair, Blos?”

  Blos sat in the chair Mom had used earlier. Lu saw worry in his eyes. His jacket, still zipped to his chin, smelled of outdoors—she breathed in the cool crispness. He laid his backpack on the floor—he must have come straight from school.

  Blos sat and stared at her—a combination of fear and curiosity. Lu knew she had to speak first.

  “So, how’s it going?”

  Blos startled. He stared down at his hands.

  “O-okay.”

  “Mom tells me you saved my life.”

  He squirmed in his seat. He seemed ready to run. She didn’t want him to go.

  “Thank you,” she said. “You’re a good friend.”

  Blos looked up, surprise and pleasure flashing across his face. She had never seen him show so many emotions before. They were so close to the surface.

  “Are you … are you okay?” he asked.

  She smiled.

  “Not quite yet,” she said. “But I’m getting better.”

  Blos nodded.

  “I … I have something for you.”