“Precaution,” said Steve. “We’re not risking any of you. We’ll wait for the fire department.”
He no sooner got the words “fire department” out of his mouth, when sirens came screaming down the street. Edie came out the front door with more blankets in her arms. She passed them out to the rest of the girls, and then both she and Steve stood at the edge of the portico, watching the trucks pull into the drive. Firemen poured out, and we were shoved back from the door.
“Is everyone okay?” asked Rosaline. Now she was all mature. Unlike three minutes ago, when she’d acted like a frantic toddler. I stood there staring at her, pretty sure my disgust was in plain sight.
Her face blinked red as the emergency lights from the trucks flashed over her. She caught me staring and looked away. Lizbet walked over and stood close to me. “Sorry I threw your slippers at you. I was scared.”
“I wouldn’t have even thought of them. Imagine being out here barefoot. My feet would have frozen to the cement.”
“Gotta love the excitement,” Ariel said, nudging Lizbet in the ribs.
Lizbet jumped. She smiled, but the shadowy fear on her face remained.
“Lizbet isn’t big on the adventurous life,” I said, moving back further as firemen continued to bustle back and forth.
“Good excuse not to go to school tomorrow,” Ariel said.
My eyes went huge. “No, we’re going. We have to go.”
Ariel squinted at me from the corner of her eyes. She faced me head-on. “What don’t I know?” Her voice was demanding, probing.
I blinked. “Nothing. Just so boring to stay around here all day.”
She leaned in and murmured, “Liar.”
I stepped back. “A bit on the suspicious side, aren’t you?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Jasmyn asked, shoving herself into our circle. She craned her head toward Steve and called out, “When can we go back in already?”
A fireman pulled Edie away from the portico out to one of the trucks. His arms gestured all over, and I saw the intent expression on his face. Edie seemed to shrink into herself as he spoke, getting shorter and shorter. Steve patted my back and then walked after her to join them. His skinny frame bent down, I assumed to hear everything. The fireman stopped waving his arms, and Edie and Steve came back to us, their faces a study of worry.
“Okay, girls,” Steve said. We huddled around both of them. “The firemen suggest we farm you out for the time being. It wasn’t a large fire, so not too much damage, but we’re going to have a proper inspection before inhabiting again. They’re checking now to make sure the fire isn’t inside the walls. It’s best to be completely sure and safe.”
“What do you mean? We have to go back home?” Jasmyn asked.
“No, no. We have people in the church who will take you in. Your parents will be notified, however. They are free to come for you if they wish,” Edie said.
“No way,” Ariel said. “I’m not going home.”
I was certain neither of my parents would come for me. But, what about my plan to sneak to Edgemont?
“Will we go to school tomorrow?” I asked.
“What’s with you and school?” Ariel asked, elbowing her way back over to me.
“I like to learn. Is that okay with you?”
Edie held up her hands. “Girls, girls. I know you’re stressed right now. Let’s be calm. We have an emergency course of action in place. All we have to do is follow it.” She looked at me. “And no, you won’t be going to school tomorrow. Some of the homes are too far out, and I can’t ask these people to chauffeur you around. You’ll only miss a day or so I hope.”
My heart dropped to my feet. Pete. My plan.
Crap.
I squeezed my lips together until they hurt. I didn’t exactly have all the time in the world. Ariel gave me a light punch. “Whatever you’re planning will have to wait,” she said in my ear.
“We’ve been cleared to go inside for a brief period. Go to your rooms, and do not go near the kitchen. The firemen will be in your hallway to help if you need it. Get dressed and pack up a few things. I’ll make the calls. Meet in the entryway. I’m sorry about all this,” Edie said and scurried back into the house.
We padded in after her. We not only smelled the smoke, but it floated over the room like smog. I licked my lips against its bitter taste.
“Don’t dally,” Steve called out to us as we turned down our hallway.
“Dally? Like we’re going to take our time at the scene of a fire. What a picnic,” Rosaline said, her voice sharp and pointed.
Lizbet pulled on my sleeve. “Hurry up, Farah. Let’s go.”
“Will your parents come to get you?” I asked.
She jerked to a stop. She turned around and looked at me with a face that glared distress. “I can’t go home. People would know.”
I didn’t see how. She was still skinny as a stick, but I was sorry I’d brought it up. “Come on, then. Let’s get our things. Wherever we’re going, you and I are a team and we’re going together.”
I took her arm, and we hurried to throw stuff into our suitcases.
Back in the entry way, Edie handed out slips of paper. “These are the names of the people you will be staying with for the time being. They’re on their way right now. Except for you, Ariel. Your mother is coming for you.”
Ariel made a face of stark disgust. “Ah, come on. Not fair. Why do I have to go home?”
“We’ve called all your parents or guardians.” She then spoke to Rosaline. “Not yours, of course.”
Rosaline nodded and shrugged.
“We’ve assured them you’re all right — we’re simply being extra cautious. We should all be back together early next week.” She surveyed us, and there were tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat and sniffed. “No use fussing about it. We do what we have to do.”
Someone honked outside. Steve opened the door. “It’s the Wilsons. Jasmyn, you’re up.”
Lizbet held her paper toward me. “I’m going to the Vaughns’. Where do you go?”
“Same here.” I raised my eyebrows and grinned as if we were heading to a birthday party.
Her face relaxed. She exhaled in a gush and closed her eyes for a second.
The air from the open door enfolded us in a cocoon of cold. “Can’t you shut it?” asked Ariel.
“You girls shouldn’t breathe the smoke,” Steve answered.
“You can’t even smell it anymore,” Ariel said. Her face had tightened into a mask of irritation, and I knew it wasn’t about the open door. I wondered how her mother compared to mine.
“Nevertheless,” Steve said, opening the door an inch wider.
Another honk. I peered out the door, and an older woman emerged from the passenger side. She wore a fuzzy yellow bathrobe and had a pink net over her hair. Shocking large, white glasses matched her oh-so-white hair. Her face crinkled with concern.
“Got here as soon as we could,” she said, and her soprano voice wobbled. “Where’s Edie?”
“Dashed back to our room for a second,” Steve said.
“Which of these gorgeous ladies do I take home?”
Steve twisted around and motioned to me. “It’s you and Lizbet.”
I was semi-ashamed of what was going through my mind, but I’d pegged the old lady as a pushover. I’d be able to make an easy escape to Edgemont. Maybe the heavens were smiling down on me, and she lived close to Edgemont.
I plastered on a huge grin. “You get me and Lizbet,” I said and hurried forward with my bag. “Glad to meet you.”
Her head moved back, and the distorted eyes behind her thick lenses focused. “Fine then,” she said. “Come on, Harold’s waiting.”
Lizbet and I crawled into the backseat of their huge boat of a car, which was covered with rust spots and had metal wings on the trunk. The vinyl on the seats crackled when I wiggled to get comfortable.
“Onward, Harold,” Mrs. Vaughn said, thrusting her arm forward like
a crusader, almost hitting the windshield.
Lizbet shook beside me. When I glanced over in the darkness, she was giggling.
I couldn’t tell which roads we were on, or where we’d ended up going. I only knew tall trees whispered in clumps around the house, and a field stretched forever across the street. Harold pulled into a drive over bumpy chunks of asphalt.
“Sorry, girls, we never got the driveway fixed. Too spendy,” Harold said.
Mrs. Vaughn hit his shoulder. “And with these girls in the family way. You oughta be ashamed.”
He turned off the ignition. “Didn’t hardly know we’d be having strangers over.”
She dismissed his excuse with a wave of her hand then opened the car door and got out. “Come on, sweeties. Harold will get your bags.” She let out a rough chortle. “Old man should be good for somethin’.”
We followed her into a sizable kitchen, and the checkered linoleum floors creaked with every step. A fire stove in the kitchen belted out heat. Lizbet rushed over to it and held her hands out.
“My old stove is a humdinger. Dearies, I hope you two don’t mind sharin’ a bed. We’ve got a big iron one upstairs in the guest room. Not to worry, neither. I cranked up the space heater, so it’s nice and toasty. Our grandkids love stayin’ up there. Go on up. My arthur-i-tis don’t take to the stairs too good.”
Lizbet and I exchanged glances and started up the steps. The stairwell walls were covered in family photos. A person would think there were hundreds of people in their family. Lizbet stopped behind me to inspect a crooked photo, showing three teen-age guys standing under a sprawling tree.
“I miss Ned,” she said with a sigh.
“Come on.” I pulled her up the stairs behind me. “You just saw him anyway.”
Fleeting pain pricked my heart. My brother Sam’s unhappy face floated in front of my eyes. My foot paused and hung suspended over the worn wooden plank.
Lizbet bumped into my back. “Oh, sorry. Why’d you stop?”
“Just making sure you caught up,” I said, swallowing past a lump of tears.
The guest bedroom looked like a photo from an old-time bed and breakfast inn. No wonder Edie set us up here. The iron bed had a ruffled canopy strung with twinkle lights. Plush, striped throw rugs were strewn across the hardwood floor. The mirror was bordered by swirls of dark wood, and at the windows, curtains framed the glass in lace.
Lizbet sucked in her breath. “It’s beautiful.”
My mouth dropped open. “Who would’ve guessed Mrs. Vaughn had it in her? This place is amazing.”
Harold banged his way up the steps with our suitcases. He rounded the corner into our room, his face flushed and a layer of sweat across his forehead. He dropped the suitcases on the floor with a loud thump. “Don’t quite got it anymore,” he said. “You know, the stamina.”
He scanned the room and rubbed his hands together. His rough skin made a scratching noise like a cat trying to get in the back door. Flakes of dead skin fluttered to the floor. “Mighty purty in here, ain’t it? We keep this room for our granddaughters. I hope you gals will be comfortable. Restroom’s down the hall a ways. I’ll set some towels out. Better tuck in now, though, it’s mighty late.”
He turned to go, then paused and said, “Pancakes in the mornin’. Wait’ll you taste ‘em.” And he was gone.
Lizbet wandered to the window and fingered the delicate curtains. “Let’s stay here forever,” she said.
“It’s not that great.” Since we were already in our pj’s, I pulled back the plump comforter and crawled into bed. I sank deep into the way-too-soft mattress.
“Whoa,” I said. “We’re going to roll right into each other on this thing.”
Lizbet clicked off the lamp. “No matter. It’s too lovely to care.”
I scooted over and she climbed in. Sure enough, she rolled right into me. I pushed her over and maneuvered as close to the edge as possible. Exhaustion flowed through me as my heartbeat settled down like the slow drip from a faucet. I fell asleep in minutes.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, I woke up confused. The twinkle lights on the bed blinked, and I rubbed my eyes, trying to figure out where I was. When I heard Lizbet’s gentle snores two inches from my ear, I shot up and remembered we were in the same bed in a strange house. The Vaughns. A strong, salty smell came through the huge gap under our door, and my stomach growled.
I punched Lizbet, and she moaned and pushed herself upright.
“Get out of bed. I smell bacon.”
The space heater still hummed, shooting out hot air. I crawled out of bed and stood in front of it for a minute, inhaling the heat, and then we both threw on our clothes and went downstairs.
Mrs. Vaughn stood over the stove. No more hairnet or fuzzy robe. She was decked out in a bright orange polyester pantsuit dug out of a yard sale box somewhere. Her white hair of last night had changed hues to blondish-blue and was in tight curls all over her head. There was a sheen to it, like a hairspray helmet.
“Good morning, sweeties. Breakfast is almost ready. Sit yourselves down.”
Lizbet and I each pulled out a metal kitchen chair. The upholstery on the chairs was patterned with teapots and spoons. We were staying in a museum.
At the stove, Mrs. Vaughn twisted around to look at us. “Got plenty to eat. Harold won’t have it any other way. The old goat loves to eat.” She chuckled and walked to the table with the sizzling skillet in her hand. She dug out pieces of bacon with a fork and plopped them onto a red glass plate with paper towels draped over it.
“Eat up, sweeties.”
I grabbed a piece, and the bacon burned the tips of my fingers. I tossed it back and forth between my hands till it cooled, and then wiped the smudges of grease off my palms with the dishtowel lying by the side of my plate. Lizbet was already munching away, and I joined her.
“About school…” I started.
Mrs. Vaughn chuckled. “You’re off the hook. No school till you go back to the Home. You’ll only miss a day or two at most.”
“Couldn’t Harold take us in?” I asked, not ready to desert my plan.
“Aren’t you the studious type? Edie said don’t bother, and we gotta respect her wishes. Some of the girls are way out in the boonies.”
Lizbet had a piece of bacon halfway to her mouth. She was staring at me like I was in a pen at an animal refuge. When Mrs. Vaughn turned her back, she leaned close. “Are you serious? You can’t get to Edgemont now. You’ll have to try next week.”
I glared at her. “Another week wasted? No way.”
“Pancakes coming right up,” Mrs. Vaughn said. “Syrup is warming on the stove, so it’ll be piping hot for you.”
A pit of yearning settled in my stomach right along with the bacon. I swallowed the tears that had gathered in my throat. I wanted to run outside and yell Pete’s name into the wind.
Instead, I picked up another piece of bacon and sucked off the salt.
Harold shuffled in while Lizbet was tucking away her fourth pancake. He sat across from us, shaking out each page of the newspaper like a dirty rag before reading.
“Harold, where are we? What road is this?” I asked.
“We’re in an old farmhouse, honey. Was my daddy’s before it was mine.” He glanced around the kitchen. “A good sturdy place.”
“I know. But where are you located? We anywhere near Edgemont?”
He rubbed his jaw. “Edgemont’s down the road a piece. Why you askin’?”
“I’m from Edgemont, and I’m in need of some supplies. You know, girl supplies.” I fluttered my lashes and gazed down at my lap like a dainty modest teenager.
Lizbet’s fork clattered to her plate.
Harold’s face reddened, and his eyes bugged out. “Mother, this little gal needs you.”
He got up and left the room. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. What an old-fashioned guy — I liked him.
Mrs. Vaughn dropped herself onto the chair next to me. She scooted close u
ntil her nose was next to mine. “Sweetie, how is it you need girl supplies when you’re in the family way?”
I sucked in my breath. How stupid could I be? Think, Farah, think.
Lizbet pressed her lips together, and her eyes were as big as the glass plates in front of her.
“Um, well, it’s embarrassing,” I said to buy myself time. I’d never had problems telling untruths before. Lies rolled off my tongue as if greased.
Mrs. Vaughn’s eyebrows were raised in a perfect McDonald’s arch.
“Ever since I’ve been pregnant when I laugh hard, you know, I…”
She raised her hand to stop me. “Say no more, dearie. Had the same problem myself some decades back. Although, you don’t seem far enough along.” She chuckled. “But not to worry, I’ve got supplies to take care of that.”
She got up and bustled out of the room.
Lizbet burst into laughter. “Adult diapers! She’s going to bring you an adult diaper!” She scooted her chair back from the table with a loud screech and bent over giggling.
I pursed my lips into a tight pucker, but I couldn’t hold it. I cracked up right along with her. By the time Mrs. Vaughn scuttled back in with a large white square in her hand, we were both wiping tears from our eyes, which I’m glad to say Mrs. Vaughn didn’t notice.
****
The morning slogged on, like it was walking in boots full of bricks. By ten-thirty, I was ready to scream. Lizbet was in the kitchen with Mrs. Vaughn, chatting it up about cooking — happy as a four-year-old sucking a lollipop. I was sitting on what Mr. Vaughn called the settee — whoever heard of a settee — in the living room. I fiddled with the crocheted doilies on the arms of the furniture and watched Harold.
He was asleep in the chair opposite me, his mouth hanging open. I was tempted to lay a tissue over his mouth and watch it flutter up and down as he breathed. In the corner of the room was a six-foot-tall grandfather clock. The pendulum swished its duty with a steady tick tock. I squinted my eyes and followed its movement through my lashes, and wondered if I was being hypnotized.
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