The spider closed in fast and was just beginning to line the bug up with its front legs, I guess so it could chew on it easier. That was when I noticed somebody coming up the street. I stopped watching the spider and put my nose flat against the screen and stared out as hard as I could. It was Tim Runyon, all right, and he was carrying some flowers with him, although they looked kind of cheap and droopy.
He was dressed in nice denim jeans and a light blue flannel shirt with little red ponies sewed onto the shoulders, and I figured he was coming to call on Mom. After I closed the door and locked it, I went back into the living room and hid behind the couch with Chewy. I was afraid that when he couldn’t get in Runyon might start sneaking around the house peeking in the windows, like Dad used to do sometimes after Mom had locked him out.
Pretty soon I heard this quick sharp crackling bang on the screen door. It stopped for a few seconds and then started up again, but even faster and louder this time. Then he must have opened it up and started pounding his fist on the regular wooden door, because the knocks sounded a lot heavier and more solid. I hid there behind the couch the whole time holding my breath and trying not to make a sound, although I discovered that it’s kind of hard for a person not to make any noise at all. I mean you have to breathe some time. Then I remembered that I’d left the back door open a few inches to let the air in, so I crawled over and closed and locked it too. I was extra careful to be quiet, although when I shut the door I couldn’t help banging it a little. The wood along the side was warped pretty bad, and I had to shove it some with my shoulder to get it to close.
I crawled behind the couch with Chewy again, who was all sprawled out on her back with her eyes shut tight like she was begging for a belly rub. I would have bawled her out for acting so silly if Runyon hadn’t been so close by. My hands were even shaking a little, and I was worried that I was about to start sneezing or coughing maybe too. I didn’t feel sick or anything, but sometimes I just sneezed right out of nowhere, especially in the summer when all the flowers were out.
Then I saw Runyon’s face peek in through the window next to the front door. His cheeks were all red and plump and his eyes were puffy, like Dad’s used to get when he’d been drinking heavy. I was expecting him to bust through the glass any second and crawl in to get me. But he must have decided that no one was home, because all of a sudden his face disappeared.
I waited for a whole minute without moving, although maybe it was a little less than a minute because I wasn’t exactly counting down the seconds. Then I crawled over to the front window to see whether he’d really gone yet or not. I was careful not to move the drapes back any when I was looking out. Runyon was pretty sneaky and might have been right outside hiding behind a bush. But instead he was walking down the street with his legs bowing in and out and looking pretty sure of himself. Since he couldn’t hassle Mom I figured that he was probably headed down to Main Street to finish off Mary, being that the fire he’d set hadn’t done the job.
Even though I was risking a spanking, I didn’t see where I had much choice if I wanted to save Mary. I snuck out the door and made sure to stay behind the bushes and trees as much as I could so Runyon wouldn’t spot me tailing him. Chewy came along too, but of course she was free to nose around wherever she felt like.
Runyon turned out to be just like Dad, because as soon as he got down to Main Street he headed straight for the only bar that was still open and disappeared inside. That gave me some free time, and I wandered over to see how Mary was holding up. It turned out that I didn’t have anything to fear, because there were all sorts of construction workers cleaning up the place already and hauling everything away that had been burned up in the fire. I even saw the mayor standing around looking things over. I guessed that he was supervising, because he sure wasn’t doing any work.
The mayor was all by himself, so I asked him what the town was planning to do now. I thought he might recognize me, but he must not have because he kept calling me kid. Anyway, he said that Mary was so popular that they were going to build her a new house as fast as they could. He said that this time they’d have cops patrolling Main Street all the time to make sure she stayed safe. I was about to tell him that the fellow who had set the fire was sitting in the bar right across the street. But then I remembered what Father Tom and Pastor Mike had said about not getting Mom into trouble.
Some people came by and started gabbing with the mayor, so I walked over toward the concrete steps to see Mary for myself. Carlos was squatting down right next to her sifting through some of the burned up junk on the ground. The little drunk was a few yards behind him crawling around on his hands and knees.
Carlos stood up as soon as he saw me and smiled real bright. I thought about how cool it felt when somebody important like Carlos was happy to see me. The little drunk didn’t even look up at me, but I didn’t really care what he thought.
“John and I were able to save most everything, except for some of the larger paintings of Mary holding the Baby Jesus. It’s too bad, because they retailed for over two hundred dollars apiece, and I doubt that the insurance money will cover it all.”
“The mayor said that you’ll be back in business in no time.”
Carlos mumbled something about how you can never trust a politician and then went back to work. I walked up the concrete steps and was glad to see that Mary looked just the same as before, except that they’d taken the glass case off since it must have gotten pretty scorched in the fire. I put out my hand and stroked my fingertips real gentle over her face. Even though she was still hard and cold and grainy, all of a sudden I felt like kissing her nose. I’d seen Mrs. Marcella doing that sometimes before they’d covered her up with glass. But there were too many workers and other strangers standing around watching. I whispered to her that everything would work out fine and then strolled back over to Carlos, who was hobbling around on his knees now fingering through the soot.
“So you agree with me that it was Runyon who set the fire, huh?”
Carlos winced a little, and then he shook his head and said kind of soft that he didn’t know for sure. He didn’t look me in the eyes though, so I was pretty sure he was fibbing. It surprised me some, because I didn’t think Carlos ever fibbed. While I was wondering what to make of it I saw Runyon shoot out of the bar and head down Main Street toward the old mill. I decided I might as well follow him and see what he was up to. He might have had a secret hiding place after all, where he was planning his next fire or something. Dad sure used to have a lot of secret hiding places squirreled away around town, at least according to Mom.
It was pretty easy for me to stay out of sight on account of all the street signs and trash bins and fire hydrants I could fit behind. Right after the bowling alley Runyon turned down a side street and then headed up this real narrow fenced-in alley past a garbage dump. There was a big dog tied up outside the dump that was snarling and barking so loud that it sounded like it must have had rabies. I was careful to stay away from it, because I’d heard of kids getting bit by strays out at the old mill and having to go to the hospital for shots that hurt worse than the bite. That dog was so mean that even Chewy steered clear of it, and Chewy was no wimp either.
Runyon had been walking pretty slow and easy up until the junkyard. Then all of a sudden he started dashing around real quick and jerky and looking behind him and in front of him and all over. I ducked down right away and hid behind a garbage can. I was worried that he was about to slip away, when all of a sudden he stopped dead still next to a long black car parked along the curb. Then he picked up a big rock lying on the street and tossed the rock through the driver side window. Next he reached his arm in real careful through the hole so as not to get jabbed by the broken glass, and snatched the navigator gadget right off the front windshield. After stuffing it into his pants pocket, he looked all around one more time and then took off around a corner.
I decided to keep tailing him. If I couldn’t prove that he’d burned
Mary’s house down, I might be able to show that he was a thief. Either way, Mary could rest easier knowing that Runyon was sitting in jail.
Runyon crossed over the railroad tracks and then headed straight for the old mill. Mom always told me never to go out there, because she said I’d step on something sharp and die of lockjaw or something. I didn’t really see how, since Mom always made sure I was up to date on all my shots. But I could see why she was so uptight about it, what with all the jagged dirty fences and rusted out machines, and the sharp nails sticking up out of old rotten boards, and the blown-out tires piled up everywhere just waiting to catch on fire, and the glass lying around from broken beer bottles and such. Whenever me and Chewy snuck over there to play war games or something, I was always careful where I stepped. As I was walking along it hit me that the mill used to be the real center of town where all the jobs were and where even Dad and Runyon used to work. But now it seemed like the shrine had taken its place.
I followed Runyon all the way to this old brown warehouse that sat right next to the where the main part of the mill used to be before it burned down a few years back. Chewy spent the time running around sniffing at stuff, because there were plenty of strong smells over there. The warehouse had big jagged holes all over the roof, like it had gotten bombed out in a war or something, and the windows were all busted up too from kids throwing rocks through them. Runyon stopped in front of this huge, smashed-up window that was almost as tall as him, looked all around one more time, and then stepped right through it and disappeared inside. I ran up and peeked in and saw him strutting toward the end of the building, his legs bowing in and out like always. I waited until he was pretty far ahead of me and then I jumped in too, careful not to let any of the jagged glass stab me. After sniffing around for a few seconds Chewy hopped in after me real ginger, like she was worried about the glass snagging her too. Chewy could be such a dope at times.
It smelled like dead animals inside, and I had to hold my nose for a second to keep from gagging. Somebody must have been throwing beer parties in there too on account of all the broken bottles I had to step over. There was nobody else around though, and I didn’t see any stray dogs either and whispered to Chewy to keep an eye out for them.
Runyon kept on walking until he got to this big room way on the end. I slid in behind a tall greasy machine with a lot of wires sticking out and then peeked around the side to see what he was up to. It must have been a meeting room once, because there was a huge round wooden table in the middle all covered with bird droppings and cobwebs.
Next to the table on the floor was a dirty orange tarp with a bulge in the middle. I suspected right away that the tarp might have been hiding a dead body, because the bulge looked to be about that size. The last time I’d seen a real dead body was at the funeral home where they’d laid out my grandma, and I almost started gagging again just thinking about it. She was my dad’s mom and my only other relative, besides Uncle Carl and Aunt Helen, who wasn’t dead by the time I was old enough to remember anything.
I thought about how grandma’s hair was done up real fancy and the nice pink frilly dress she had on that Mom had helped her pick out when they’d gone down to Pittsburgh one day to go shopping in the big stores. Mom always said that Dad really started heading downhill right after his mom died. She said that with his mom still living in town, he would never have had the guts to ditch us the way he did.
I held my breath until the gagging feeling passed. Meanwhile, Runyon was trying to pull the tarp up, and it must have been heavy because he was fighting it a little. Then when he finally lifted it high enough, he slid the navigator underneath toward the bulge and dropped the tarp back over it all. I couldn’t see what else was underneath because his bowed out legs were blocking my view. Then he whipped out his cell phone, punched a few buttons and held it up to his ear.
“I’ve got a bunch of good stuff all ready to unload,” Runyon said, and then listened for a while. He must have gotten teed off by something because all of a sudden he started rolling his eyes. “I can’t wait that long. You’re not the only game in town, you know. I just found me another source of income.” After waiting some more, he finally said, “See ya, Dave, and don’t be late.”
When I heard him say Dave, my heart felt like it was about to explode right out of my chest, because that was my dad’s name. Chewy must have been listening in too, because right away she said that there were tons of guys named Dave and it could be anybody. Then Runyon whirled around and strutted out of the warehouse the same cocky way he’d come in. He passed right by me too, not six feet away, and I held my breath as hard as I could until he’d climbed back out the window. Then I sat down on the floor panting for air and shaking all over, on account of how scared I was.
I waited awhile to make sure he wasn’t coming back, and then after I’d calmed down a little I tiptoed into the room where the tarp was. It took me twice as long as him to get it off, but I finally folded it backwards enough to where I could see what was underneath.
“Wow, Chewy, do you believe that? Now I know where he got the money to buy all his new clothes.”
Jumbled up all together in this huge pile were toasters and a couple flat screen TVs and some shiny watches and necklaces and a few bright red pots and pans. Then I bent down closer and saw the really good stuff, the cell phones and laptop computers and some fancy cameras and even a few old DVD players. They looked like they’d just been dumped there on the floor, and I wondered if they still all worked. But with the tarp keeping off the rain from the leaky roof, most of it probably hadn’t shorted out yet, although some of the computers looked pretty dinged up. I thought about grabbing a little blue Gameboy to replace mine, which was kind of old and wasn’t set up for the best games. But then I decided I better not, since Mary probably wouldn’t like me stealing stuff, not to mention what Mom would have done to me if she ever found out.
As I was looking the pile over, I had an idea. I grabbed the navigator that Runyon had just stolen and slipped it into my pocket. Then I pulled the tarp back over the pile and told Chewy that we had something important to do. Chewy had been sniffing all around the room and looked like she was ready to leave. We headed out of the warehouse through the broken window and back toward town, careful to make sure that Runyon wasn’t hiding somewhere close by spying on us.
Chapter 11
I found Father Tom on the playground at St. Sebastian’s shooting basketball with some big high school kids. Like usual Father Tom was missing most of his shots, so the kids on his team didn’t mind when I went up and said that I had something important to show him. I’d picked him over Pastor Mike, because St. Sebastian’s was way closer than my church, and because Father Tom was a better boxer. I wasn’t sure if I could trust Pastor Mike to keep it a secret from Mom either, since he seemed to be working so hard to stay on her good side.
Father Tom asked me what I wanted to show him so bad that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow, and I said I couldn’t really tell him yet.
“What do you mean, you can’t tell me?”
“You’ve gotta see it for yourself.”
“Does it have to be right now?”
“It’s about Mary. I thought you’d want to know.”
His eyes lit up for a second.
“You mean the shrine? Is everything all right?”
“For now. But that’s why I want to show you this thing I just found.”
His eyes clouded up again.
“How far is it? I’m kind of busy, Nate.”
“It’s in walking distance.”
“And you can’t tell me about it first.”
“Nope.”
“Not even a hint.”
“Nope.”
Father Tom sort of kicked at the pavement. It was the first time I’d ever seen him so touchy.
“Does Carlos know about it?”
I shook my head.
“Nobody knows about it except for me and one other person
.” Then I remembered Dave, the guy Runyon had called up on the phone, and said, “Maybe two people.”
“And is one of those other people Chewy?”
“I’m not talking about Chewy, although she knows where it is too. But when you see it, you’ll understand right away why I’m bugging you about it.”
“And you say it’s important.”
“It’s real important. Mary herself might be at stake.”
Father Tom gave out a long, groaning sigh and then told the high school kids that he’d be back in a few minutes. They told him not to rush, and we walked off together with Chewy way out in front of us. When we got to Main Street, Father Tom stopped to talk to the mayor and some of the town’s other big shots who were hanging around watching them clean up Mary’s lot. Then after they all finally left to go to some meeting, Carlos came by and griped that they must have lost twenty thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise in the fire that wasn’t covered by insurance.
“The important thing is that nobody got hurt,” Father Tom reminded him.
Carlos nodded, sort of worn out and droopy, and said that he was going to his room at the church to take a nap, but that he might be back later. I wondered if he was sick or something, because I’d never seen him so down in the mouth before. Then Father Tom told him to cheer up because the shrine would be up and running in no time and busier than ever. He said that all the publicity from the fire was whipping up more interest in Mary every day. He said that the church’s web site was loaded with e-mails from people all around the world asking about her.
An Imperfect Miracle Page 14