“It’ll be good for you to get away from all those old sick people for a while. You need to be with kids your own age more.”
“But you hang out with old sick people all day at the hospital.”
“That’s different. That’s my job.”
Mom could be so hard to get along with sometimes it was almost unbelievable. But I saw pretty clear where she was going wrong, so I decided to try something else on her.
“Your friends are always saying how you cheer your patients up. Maybe I can do some cheering up too down at the shrine. Pastor Mike says it’s the charitable thing to do. So does Father Tom, and they ought to know since that’s their business.”
Mom yanked my shirt out of the machine and looked it over.
“Carlos and Father Tom and Mr. Santelli and whoever else works down there at that little dog and pony show can do all the cheering up that has to be done.”
She jiggled the shirt a little and then scowled at it, like she was trying to scare out the wrinkles. I noticed how nice and smooth Mom’s hands were and thought about how Pastor Mike seemed to love holding them.
“They don’t need a little fellow like you getting in their way. And don’t bring Pastor Mike into this either. Pastor Mike can speak for himself.”
“But there wouldn’t even be a shrine if it weren’t for me.”
She dragged her scowl from the shirt over to me.
“Are you saying that God couldn’t have arranged for Mary to become so popular if it hadn’t been for you?”
I hadn’t expected a religious kind of argument coming from Mom and figured that Pastor Mike was probably behind it somehow. But I could see quick enough where she was headed with it, so I decided to back off a little.
“Well, He used me to do it according to Carlos. That should count for something.”
“God and Mary and Carlos too for that matter can get along quite well without your input.” Then she smoothed out the sleeves so it would go through the rollers without losing the creases. “You just go to Marcie’s party and have a good time. The shrine’s not going out of business just because you’re not there for a few hours.”
I tried to tell her that more than just old sick people came to visit Mary, but she didn’t want to listen anymore. She said that I better behave myself at Marcie’s party too, and that I had to be especially nice to Marcie. She said that she was talking to Marcie’s mom over at the hospital one day when she came in for a checkup, and that Marcie’s mom had told her that I’d acted kind of rude to her daughter once on the way to school. I got kind of teed off about it too, since it was just like Marcie to badmouth me behind my back.
“It was all Marcie’s fault,” I snapped. “She was saying that Mary was just a fake and that I didn’t know what I was talking about.”
“Maybe she was right.”
“Marcie’s never right, at least not about anything important.”
“I don’t want to hear any more of your lip, Nathan Gray. Marcie is a nice little girl and you better shape up. Some days I think you’re turning into your dad.”
So I ended up having to go to Marcie’s dumb old party after all. Marcie’s big stone house sat up on a hill overlooking the town. According to Mom, the hill was the same ridge that Millridge got the second half of its name from. Mom said people lived up there who still had money from the old days when the mill was going full blast. She said sooner or later they’d all die out or move away, and then nobody would have any money anymore.
Our town was so small that I could walk there in ten minutes if I had to. That day it took me nearly an hour, because I was trying my best to put it off for as long as possible. When I finally got close I saw a long line of SUVs parked in front of the house, which meant that kids must have been coming from all over. I whispered to Chewy that we ought to skip this party, but Chewy said that Mom would find out about it somehow. Chewy was right about that, because Mom had spies everywhere. I thought about just sitting there on the front lawn for an hour or so and then leaving. That way I could still say that I’d gone to Marcie’s house without having to lie to Mom about it. But I was being scorched by the hot sun, and I decided that a little swim sounded pretty good.
I walked around to the back where tons of kids were already running around yelling and screaming. Marcie had told me that she had a big pool, and she wasn’t kidding either. It must have been forty feet across, and a wooden deck about six feet wide ran the whole way around it. On the other side of the pool was a red tent with three rows of long tables set up inside with all kinds of food piled up on them. The grownups were mostly standing around under the tent drinking beer out of dark bottles and talking to each other.
I’d worn my swimming suit underneath my jeans because it was easier that way. I was sliding the jeans off when Marcie came up to me wearing a two-piece pink swim suit that made her look a little fatter and paler than when she was in regular clothes. “Do you want to go swimming with me? The water’s perfect.”
I decided that while I had the chance I might as well get her back for saying all those nasty things about Mary.
“Those scientists said that nobody painted Mary’s face on the concrete. She just showed up out of nowhere, just like I said all along.”
I was hopping around on one leg trying to yank my pants off, and Marcie looked at me like I was crazy or something.
“What are you getting so all worked up about all of a sudden? I told everyone in school that you were the one who discovered her. Without me you wouldn’t be nearly as famous as you are.”
“I don’t care about all that. I’m just happy Mary’s around to heal people and give them hope, like Father Tom and Pastor Mike are always saying.”
I finally got my pants off and folded them up into a square and threw them behind a bush. Then I whipped off my T-shirt and tossed it behind the bush too. Marcie flashed me a sharp little grin before turning sour again.
“Like fun you don’t care. Admit it. You love all the attention. Everybody loves attention, especially someone like you who’s never had much of it before, at least not in a good way.”
I stuck out my chest at her, which made her giggle and blush some. Then I felt my face turn a little hot, but I pretended not to notice.
“I already had plenty of friends before Mary even showed up, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
Marcie kept right on talking as if what I had to say didn’t matter at all.
“I even googled your name on my computer and found over ten thousand matches. Of course, it was pretty much just the same newspaper story coming up over and over again, and there hasn’t been much new either since you discovered her. But you’re more famous than most kids anyway. And it’s all because of me. I could’ve hogged the credit for myself too if I’d wanted. But I was looking out for you.”
“You don’t fool me,” I answered real sharp, because I didn’t want her thinking that I owed her anything. “You just didn’t want to get the blame if Mary turned out to be a fake.”
She rolled her little brown eyes and then gave out a big heavy sigh.
“Do you want to go for a swim with me or don’t you?”
I looked down at the ground and kicked at the grass, but my foot slipped and I almost clobbered Marcie in the knee. All of a sudden Marcie’s eyes flared up like tiny volcanoes.
“And anyway, those scientists said she was just a water stain. They didn’t say that God put her there or anything. They didn’t even say that she’s Mary. She might be some other girl for all we know. You can believe in her if you want, Nathan, but I’m just telling you the hard facts.”
I decided to play it cool, because I didn’t want Marcie making up some story about me losing my temper and then telling Mom about it. My plan must have worked, because after a few seconds her face softened up a little.
“Don’t take it so hard, Nathan. My dad thinks the pilgrims are all just a bunch of dummies who don’t know any better. But he says
that dumb people spend money too, and that the shrine is the best thing that’s happened to this town in years. He says that it’s a good thing you wandered into that old lot before they bulldozed it. So don’t go getting all snippy with me. I’m on your side after all.”
Just then I saw Marcie’s dad the lawyer getting himself a beer under the tent in his red and blue checkered Bermuda shorts and white T-shirt with BIG DADDY printed in black letters on the front. He looked kind of old and washed out without his fancy suit on.
“Your dad must believe in Mary’s powers, or else he wouldn’t have stuck up for her in public like he did at the town meeting. I was there, you know. I heard him with my own ears.”
Marcie made a big deal about rolling her dark little eyes again.
“Dad says that lawyers take the side of whoever pays them the most.”
“Who paid him then to speak up for her? Did the town pay him?”
I was hoping it was the town and not Father Tom and Carlos. It wouldn’t have bothered me much if the mayor turned out to be in it for the money, him being a politician and all. But Marcie didn’t seem to care about any of that and instead started making silly faces at me and laughing. After my cheeks got hot again, she scooted over to the ladder and climbed up it wiggling her hips all around. Then she turned and laughed at me again before diving into the pool head first.
I didn’t want to be shown up by some crazy girl, so I climbed the ladder too, held my nose tight and jumped in like a cannon ball. I didn’t even test the water first with my toes like I usually did. Marcie wasn’t fooling either and the water was just right. I ducked under a few times to get my head cooled off, and then I shook the foam out of my eyes and looked around.
There were kids on floats kicking their legs into the water and kids jumping off the deck holding their noses, and other kids were smacking a big yellow beach ball back and forth. Marcie was off to the side where the water wasn’t so deep giggling with these two little girls I’d never seen before. They’d giggle at each other for a while and then stop and stare at me with their eyes real round and bright, like they expected me to take off for the moon or something. And then they’d start giggling at each other again.
I dove under and swam to the far side of the pool to get as far away from them as I could. After I came up and shook the water out of my eyes, I saw that I was standing next to that big red-haired kid, the same one who’d kicked the snot out of me down at Mary’s shrine. He had his back to me and was arguing with his dad about whether he’d cleaned out his room enough to get his monthly allowance. I recognized the dad right away as that doctor Mom had dragged me in to see for talking to Chewy. I was about to dive under water again so he wouldn’t spot me. But he finally quit arguing with his bratty son and went back to the tent to get himself another beer I guess.
The kid whirled around and right away started in on me again, calling me a sneaky little crook and other nasty names. I began wading through the water as fast as I could to get away from him, but the kid jumped onto my back and tried to strangle me. I bent down real quick and judo flipped him over my shoulder, and then we started fighting for real.
The kid was even slower with his fists than I remembered. Whenever he took a wild swing at me, all I had to do was back out of the way and then jab him in the nose with my right like Father Tom had taught me. I took Pastor Mike’s advice too and made sure to hold up my left hand to keep him from sneaking in a lucky punch.
After a while the kid must have gotten tired of getting smacked in the nose, because he charged me like a linebacker trying to make a tackle. But at the last second I dove out of his reach and started swimming for the ladder. I wasn’t too keen on fighting him anymore because I was pretty sure that if the kid got hurt, Mom would blame it all on me, because she was always blaming bad stuff on me.
Kids were swimming over now rooting us on, and some of the grownups were starting to look around to see what all the fuss was about. Marcie must not have been too happy about us fighting in her pool, because she was already hollering and wailing for her mother to come get her.
The kid caught me from behind just as I was halfway up the ladder. Then he locked his arms around my neck and pulled me back into the water with him. For a second I thought I was about to get drowned, so I grabbed him hard in the nuts and he let go of me real fast.
When I floated back up to the surface I saw Marcie trying to crawl out of the pool. But just as she was digging her toes up onto the deck, she slipped backwards and landed in the water with a big foamy splash. Then the red-haired kid ambushed me from behind again. But I was so slippery from all the water that I was able to spin around on him and punch him in the nose with my knockout left that Pastor Mike had taught me. I must have really connected too, because blood exploded out of both his nostrils and then spilled into the pool and started spreading out all over. It was almost as much blood as when that little drunk had tumbled down Mary’s steps and cracked his head wide open. But in spite of all his screaming and crying, I didn’t think the kid was really hurt all that bad. It was just his nose, after all, and the worst thing that could have happened was that it was busted. Anyway, he was the one who’d started it.
When Marcie saw all that red water closing in on her, she got to gagging like she was about to puke. Meanwhile some dad was climbing up to the deck with his eyes fixed on me, but he was kind of stiff in the joints and it was taking him a while. Then Marcie started throwing up, and with all that blood and upchuck floating around it was getting pretty gross in there. I grabbed the side of the pool and yanked myself as hard as I could up onto the deck. Just then the dad who was chasing me tripped over my leg and fell in right next to where Marcie was still heaving.
By now some kids were yelling one thing, and other kids were yelling something else. But when the noises all came together, it was just a big loud jumbled up mess. It sounded a little like being down at the shrine when all those country folks showed up speaking in tongues, which Carlos had explained to me is when you talk in some language that nobody understands. Just then this really fat dad worked his way up onto the deck trying to block my escape route. I decided it was now or never, so I jumped off and landed on the soft cool grass. After sidestepping Marcie’s dad, who wasn’t nearly as quick with his feet as he was with his mouth, and ducking under another guy’s arm, I finally broke into the clear.
I tried to stay mostly on the grass since I was running in my bare feet. When I got up the street a ways, I looked back to see who was still chasing me. A bunch of dads were just storming around the corner of the house, but only one looked like he was in good enough shape to give me a run for it. He was that doctor whose bratty son’s nose I’d just bloodied. Since I knew he’d tell on me to Mom for sure if he ever caught me, I didn’t see what choice I had but to keep on running as hard as I could.
At first I stuck up along the ridge where all the fancy houses were, because I didn’t feel like racing back down into my neighborhood in my swimming trunks with some guy hollering after me. A few hundred feet farther on I looked back again, and by then only the doctor was still in the hunt. And even he was looking like he was getting ready to quit. Another hundred feet or so I turned around one more time, and he’d already stopped running and was bending over real low and panting like he was about to puke. Just to be safe I kept going awhile longer, and then I cut across a couple yards and headed back home through the woods.
After I got deep into the trees I found a nice level cool spot under some big thick branches and laid down on my back. Everything was quiet now except for some birds chirping. I thanked Chewy for having trained me to run so fast back when she was visible, and as a reward I petted her on where I was pretty sure her head was.
“How much trouble to do you think we’re in now, Chewy?”
Chewy said that I shouldn’t worry about it. She said just because silly little Marcie had decided to puke her guts out wasn’t our fault.
“If Mom ever finds out ab
out me getting into a fight with that doctor’s kid, she’ll hang me for sure. You don’t have to worry so much, because she doesn’t even believe you’re still around.”
Chewy told me that even if we got into big trouble with Mom, it was still worth it having so much fun.
“But what about turning the other cheek like they’re always preaching at church?”
Chewy said that turning the other cheek didn’t mean I had to get beaten up by some dopey kid for sticking up for Mary. I asked her what it meant then. Chewy said she didn’t know for sure, but she thought it had something to do with letting God have the final say on things. She said she heard Pastor Mike preach something like that one Sunday while I was daydreaming like usual.
“We better go home before Mom finds out. Maybe we can talk her out of grounding me if we get to her early enough and give her our side of the story before her mind gets all twisted against us.”
I was working my way up onto my elbows when I heard the big fire alarm going off. Our town didn’t have many fires, and according to Mom, to save money we just had a volunteer fire department. Whenever the alarm sounded the volunteers were supposed to drop whatever they were doing and take off for the fire station, where they’d get dressed up in their crinkly yellow fireman suits. The siren was a sharp shrieking wail that would rise up and tail off and rise up and tail off again. And sometimes the wail would last a half hour or more until the volunteers all got to the station, because Mom said the folks in our town were a little slow sometimes. Whenever I heard the siren I always got a little nervous that our house was burning down. Chewy must have been worried too because she was already pacing all around me. We got home in just a few minutes, but the house was standing there like always, kind of dumpy looking with the paint chipping off from around the windows and some of the tiles on the roof starting to slip off into the rusty gutters. I didn’t want to risk going inside, because with the alarm sounding I knew Mom would just make me stay home. Plus, there was a good chance that Marcie’s mom had already called her about the ruckus at the party, and I didn’t feel like getting yelled at right then, especially with a big fire so close by.
An Imperfect Miracle Page 12