“You really were making a kite, weren’t you?”
“Lucy was. She was going to ride it all over town. She had it all built. It looked like it was going to work, too. See?” I point to the mess in the mouth of the cave. Elys picks up one of the branches. You can tell from the size of the branch how sturdy the thing would have been.
“She would’ve killed herself.”
“I wasn’t going to let her do it, Elys.”
“How did you stop her?”
“It’s a long story. She kind of stopped herself.”
“Tell me.”
I shake my head.
“Nope. Bats don’t rat on bats.”
We crawl outside and everyone is standing around talking. It’s like a wedding reception or something.
Rico rubs Lucy on the head and says, “What happened to your hair, Loser?”
“Get your hands off me, Moran.”
At least Lucy’s sane enough to still hate Rico.
Those two cops come down the path and Russell goes out to meet them. He points up to the cave, then over at Lucy and next, at me. I feel myself blush hard. The police woman comes over to us.
“You all right?” she asks Lucy.
“Yeah, I guess,” says Lucy. Daphne puts her arms around her again.
“You stayed in there?” the cop motions toward the cave. Lucy nods. “Nobody put you there? Nobody forced you to do anything?”
“No. I put me there.”
The police woman goes and pulls the man cop aside. Then he wanders over.
“You know this man?” He motions at Russell.
“Yeah. That’s Russell,” says Lucy. You can tell from her eyes that she’s just cluing in to what’s been going on while she’s been holed up in the cave.
“Is he in trouble because I ran away?” Lucy looks at me. “Did I get Russell in trouble?”
The cop looks over at Rico. Lucy’s looking at everyone looking at Rico.
“Not exactly, Lucy,” I say. “I think Rico got Russell in trouble. You shouldn’t have run away, but Rico was the one who told them he thought Russell was a…” I can’t say it with Russell standing here.
“A what? What did you tell them, Moran?” she yells at Rico.
Rico looks like he wants to take off, but the police man has him by the arm.
“I think you’d better tell them, Rico,” says the cop. “And then you’d best apologize to the man.”
Rico’s big face is all tight, and I can tell he’s blinking back tears. But he won’t open his mouth.
“’fess up, Rico,” I say. He looks at me.
“I called him a pervert, okay? Satisfied?”
“I’m not satisfied,” says the police man. I’m beginning to like him a little. “Are you satisfied?” he asks Russell.
Russell has his hand on his chin. He looks like he could throw boulders with his eyes, he’s so angry.
“No,” he almost whispers. His being so quiet makes him sound even angrier.
“Apologize,” the cop says to Rico. Rico looks up at the cop.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“Not to me,” says the cop. “To him.” He points at Russell. Rico looks up at Russell and bursts into tears.
“I’m so sorry, mister.” He wipes his nose with the back of his arm. He’s still looking Russell straight in the eye. “I didn’t think, mister. I’m sorry.”
Russell softens up, slowly, while Rico bawls. Finally, the cop lets go of his arm.
“I think it’s time we all went home,” says Russell.
We all start heading out of the ravine. All except for Rico. I wouldn’t mind leaving him there, but Russell calls back for him. “Come along, Rico.”
Rico catches up, but not all the way. He tags behind us a bit as we make our way up to the street.
“By the way,” Elys whispers in my ear, “I phoned your mom. She should be home by now.” I look up at her and she gives me this huge, evil, no-teeth smile.
We all walk together toward Wells Hill Park. I feel like it’s been a million years since I was here.
Tom will be home in a couple of weeks. It doesn’t seem like a lot of time anymore. I mean, I want to spend more time with Lucy before he gets back. I want to play her at chess.
How am I going to explain to Tom how a bald girl could be so beautiful? He’ll never believe all this stuff. Even if he does, he’ll pretend like it’s no big deal. I don’t think he could stand to know that life goes on without him.
When we get to where it’s time to split ways, Lucy breaks away from Daphne and the cops and comes over to me. She seems like another person already. I feel kind of embarrassed.
“Well, anyway, thanks,” she says. She puts out her hand for me to shake. I take it. I have the strangest urge to kiss her, like I could just do it and get away with it and not have it be any big deal.
I give her a huge smile instead. I’ll kiss her later. I’ll kiss her next week. I’ll kiss her sometime when it’s just her and me.
“You’re welcome,” I say.
“I still want to make the Save the Bat kite. We’ll do it properly this time. We’ll, like, read books and stuff. You’ll help, right?”
I nod. She leans forward toward my ear. I feel a chill run down my back. Then she whispers, “Eep, eep, eep.” She turns and runs back to Daphne and the cops.
You can’t take the bat out of Lucy.
I wonder if there’s enough of Lucy that’s human to keep her from flying off again. She’s getting a police escort home to her parents, but what happens then?
I watch Daphne put her arm around her sister and make for home. Russell and Rico are going that way, too. They’re walking beside each other, but neither of them is talking. The cops pull up the rear.
Elys and I watch them all go until there’s nothing more to watch. Then we start walking home.
“Don’t worry,” Elys says. “Lucy will be all right.”
“How do you know?”
“She’s got you, doesn’t she? Friends take care of friends. And you’re a good friend, Terence.”
The sun sifts through the branches that hang over the street. I watch my shadow move slowly down the road. I feel like I’m chained to my shadow, like there is a dark part of me — a bat part of me — that will follow me from now on, no matter where I go.
Elys sighs and throws her arm over my shoulders. It should weigh me down even more, but it doesn’t. It makes me feel so light, like if I opened my arms, I could fly.
Bat Summer Page 12