Ruby in the Sky

by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo

  Right then Mr. Andrews tossed the cork ball. My eyes popped open and my hand flew up. I wasn’t sure if I was more surprised that he threw it to me or that I actually caught it.

  “We have a little over three weeks until the Wax Museum,” Mr. Andrews said. “We’ll hear more presentations tomorrow.” He paused and I swear he stared straight at me. “If you didn’t go today, you should be ready to present tomorrow.”

  I looked at my hands.

  “Index cards are due Monday. I will be grading them.”

  The bell rang. I left the cork-ball center on my desk and started to gather my things.

  “Ruby, I’d like you to stay after class.” I sat down as everyone filed into the hall. I avoided their pity stares.

  When the room was empty, Mr. Andrews sat backward in Ahmad’s chair so that he faced me.

  I kept my head down.

  “I spoke with your mom yesterday,” he said. “She told me about what’s going on.”

  My cheeks burned.

  “You know, if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m a good listener,” he said.

  I wouldn’t look up.

  “If you want to stay after school to work on your speech or practice giving it, that’s fine with me. I won’t even listen if you don’t want me to. You can have the whole classroom to yourself.”

  I shook my head. He didn’t understand. No one did.

  “There is no judgment in this classroom. Everyone does their best and I insist that we all support and encourage each other.”

  Right! I wanted to scream. Have you not seen Dakota and her dopey clone waiting for me to mess up?

  “I know you’re shy, Ruby, but I am asking that you give it a shot. I think you have a lot to say and I would love to hear it.”

  I peeked through my bangs at Mr. Andrews. His eyes were not crinkly at the corners as usual. They were serious as stone. He lifted the cork-ball center and handed it to me. “I want you to keep this, Ruby. I’m hoping it will help you figure some things out.”

  I took the cork ball from him, not sure what to do with it. “Thank you,” I whispered. What I really wanted to say was Why? I tucked it into a pocket of my backpack.

  “You are free to leave,” he said. “But I am going to keep calling on you, Ruby.”

  My eyes brimmed with tears. Do not cry. Do not cry. Do not cry. I swung my backpack onto my shoulder, feeling its weight pulling on me. I stumbled down the hall, my body hunched forward as if the bottom half of me couldn’t walk fast enough to keep up with my top half. I slipped into the bathroom and lowered the toilet cover to sit on. As I locked my stall, the bathroom door opened. I lifted my feet so no one would know I was there.

  “Greetings, I am Ahmad. I cannot speak the English language.” It was Dakota and Ellen. Their laughter ricocheted like bullets off the bathroom walls.

  “Oh, Dakota, you do a hilarious Ahmad,” Ellen said. “Why is he even still here? I thought you said your father was getting him and his uncle deported.”

  “My dad says the federal government makes it impossible to get anything done right,” Dakota said.

  “And what about Ruby?” Ellen said. “You said she was moving away, but she’s still here, too.”

  “You didn’t hear?” Dakota said. “Her mother got arrested. My dad says he’s going to make sure she goes to jail. Now that my dad is mayor, he’s cleaning up Fortin just like he said he would.”

  I almost fell off my seat.

  “What?” Ellen said. “My mom told me to be nice to Ruby because she has a lot of problems. I thought it was because she never talks.”

  “I’d be sad for her if she wasn’t so pathetic. Can she wear something besides that space sweatshirt? She looks like she shops at the lost-and-found table.”

  The door slammed behind them, muffling their laughter.

  I hugged my knees. I wasn’t leaving that bathroom until everyone in the whole school was gone. I didn’t care if it meant missing the rest of my classes and the bus. I’d rather walk home than have to see those two again.

  Sitting alone on that hard toilet seat, I had plenty of time to make up my mind. Now that Dakota knew about Mom, it wouldn’t be long before everyone found out. Of course, Mom was too busy speaking up for herself to know what I was going through. There was only one thing left to do. Quit school. I bet no one would even notice that Ruby Moon Hayes was missing. By the time they figured it out, the trial would be over and Mom and I’d be on to our next forever home. Hopefully in Washington, DC.

  After the last bell rang, I peeked into the hall. There was only a janitor left, mopping the floor. I grabbed my coat from my locker and stuffed everything else into my backpack. When I went outside, the buses were gone. It was like the whole school gave a great big sigh.

  * * *

  As I started for the house, my full backpack weighed heavy on my shoulders. On Main Street, I was keeping my head down, hair in full protection mode, when bam, I walked right into my mom’s lawyer.

  “Whoa, Ruby.” Annie chuckled. She had been on her cell phone. “Maybe texting and walking should be a crime, too?” She wore a soft tan coat over her suit and tall heels.

  I shook my head. It was my fault, I wanted to say, but the words stuck in my throat.

  “I was going into Rucki’s to find your mom,” she said. “Care to join me?”

  I nodded.

  A bell jingled as we stepped inside.

  “Hello, Mohammed,” Annie called. “Is Dahlia here?”

  Mr. Saleem stood behind the long counter. “She is running deliveries,” he said. “She will be back soon.” He placed a cup of coffee and a plate of dates on the counter in front of Annie.

  She slid onto a stool. “Oh, that is just what I needed.”

  “How about a sandwich to go with it?” Mr. Saleem asked. “And a Game Changer for you, Ruby?”

  “Sounds like dinner.” Annie sipped her coffee. “This is heaven.” She turned toward me. “How are you doing, Ruby?”

  I wanted to tell her about the Wax Museum and what had happened at school today, but my tight, dry throat wouldn’t let me.

  Annie bent her head forward and massaged the back of her neck. “What a day I had.”

  I knew how she felt.

  “You know, tomorrow we start jury selection,” she said.

  Mr. Saleem put the steaming Game Changer in front of me and I took a sip, hoping it would loosen my words. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He bowed and smiled.

  “It’s going to be a tough one. But don’t count us out. Annie’s got some tricks up her sleeve,” she said.

  Right then, I thought Annie was about the bravest person I knew. She was going up against Mayor Eton, Frank Chatty, and Officer Prattle and she didn’t seem nervous. I couldn’t even read from index cards in front of my sixth-grade class without freezing like a deer caught in headlights.

  I stared into my mug. “How do you do that?” I asked, grateful the Game Changer had freed my words.

  “Do what, hon?” She smiled as though she was confused.

  “Stand up in front of everyone and talk.”

  She bit into a date. “Well, you know, I wasn’t always like this. I was shy as a field mouse when I was your age,” she said.

  I didn’t believe that.

  “But I’ve always liked to help people.” She turned toward me. “People who really need help. And when I did that, I discovered I could be brave because it wasn’t about me anymore.” She nodded. “If I didn’t speak up, no one would hear their side. No one would know their story.” She took another sip of coffee. “That’s why I became a public defender.”

  “I could never do that.”

  “You think you’re different from me?” Annie asked.

  I nodded. I knew I was. “I get this peach-pit feeling in my throat when I have to talk. It keeps my words from coming out.”

  “You’re talking to me right now.”

  “You make it easy,” I said. “But we have this Wax M
useum where the whole town comes. I’m afraid that even if I go, when it’s time to talk, my throat will get tight and nothing will come out. Everyone will think I’m even more of a weirdo than they do now.”

  Mr. Saleem pushed through the swinging door. He placed a grilled sandwich in front of Annie. Ahmad was behind him, carrying a small pizza. “For us to share,” he said to me.

  “It’s hard speaking in front of people. That is true,” Annie said. “But I have a trick. You two want to know about it?”

  Ahmad and I nodded.

  She took off her suit jacket. “See this?”

  “Yes,” Ahmad said.

  “Well, it’s magic.”

  Ahmad pushed up his glasses with his fist. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I knew that would be rude.

  “You’re laughing at me, I know you are, but it is.” She nodded. “When I get ready for work in the morning and I put my suit jacket on, I become a different person.”

  I lowered my pizza slice. “How?”

  “As soon as I put on this jacket, I tell myself that I have the power to be the voice for each client who doesn’t have one, and that makes it true.”

  “Well, my mom has a voice,” I said. “That’s what got us into this mess.”

  Annie leaned in to me. “Your mama did a brave thing, Ruby. Don’t you forget it. You cannot ever be afraid to speak up for yourself. But now she’ll be in court and that, well, that’s like a whole other language she doesn’t know. So that’s my job now.”

  “What do you have to do?” Ahmad asked.

  “Our investigator interviews witnesses and gathers evidence. Then I put it all together in a way that tells your mama’s story in the language the court requires.”

  “And your jacket helps you do that?”

  She nodded. “That’s my magic,” she said.

  “Can I borrow your jacket for the Wax Museum?” I asked.

  She laughed. “Nope. You’re going to have to find your own Ruby-magic.”

  After we had finished, Mom still wasn’t back.

  Annie looked at her watch. “I have to get going. Can you tell Dahlia I’ll talk to her tomorrow, Mohammed?”

  Mr. Saleem nodded.

  “How about I give you a ride home, Ruby?” Annie offered.

  We said goodbye to Ahmad and Mr. Saleem and I got into Annie’s car. It was cleaner and quieter than any car I’d ever ridden in. Annie hummed with the violin music playing on the radio. I stared at the side of her face. Her shoulders back. Chin up. I wondered if I could ever be as brave as her.

  The moon seemed to follow us. It looked like a wobbly, lopsided egg. I’ll see you on the moon tonight, Dad.

  Less than a month, I thought. We’ll have this trial behind us and we can finally go home.

  CHAPTER

  10

  The next morning, I woke to Mom banging on my door. “Ruby! You are going to miss the bus!” My alarm clock read six thirty a.m.

  My door swung open and bright light stung my eyes. I wished I was a turtle who could hide deep inside its shell. My covers would have to do. I scrunched down.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Mom tugged at my blanket. “You need to get up. Now!”

  I felt the darkness creep inside me. My body was too tired to deal with any of this. Too tired to get up and too tired to go back to that horrible school. I hadn’t heard Mom come home last night. I never got to tell her about my day or how I knew she had told Mr. Andrews our business. I never got to tell her how Dakota knew she’d been arrested or how I’d decided to quit school permanently.

  Mom stood over me, fully dressed and with her makeup done. I squinted against the light. “Where are you going?”

  “Jury selection starts today.” She put her hands on her hips. “I had enough to deal with yesterday, and I get another call from your principal! I know you skipped class. Ruby, I can’t take it. I told you, we are giving Fortin a real shot. We are not quitting this time, and that means you need to go to school. All of it!”

  Her words prickled against my skin. “I didn’t decide any of that.” I sat up. “You did. I’m not going back. You don’t even know what—”

  Suddenly, the covers flew off the bed. Mom stared at them in her hands as if she didn’t know how they got there. “I—I’m sorry, Ruby. I didn’t mean to…”

  But I didn’t want to hear any more excuses. “You said we were going to make decisions together. I don’t remember deciding it was okay for you to go to trial so you could end up in jail. I never said I was giving Fortin ANY MORE TIME!”

  Mom looked as though I’d slapped her.

  “What if you lose, Mom?” I said. “The judge said you’re facing up to a year in jail. You always think everything is going to work out the way you want, but it doesn’t. It never does!”

  Mom spun away from me, her eyes wide. Black mascara tears streaked her face. She moved toward the door and stood with her back to me.

  I buried my head in my knees, hugging them. Do not cry, do not cry, do not cry.

  “I know I’ve made mistakes. But I’m trying to do what’s right.” Mom sniffled. “I guess it’s time for you to do what you think is right.” She closed the door behind her.

  I flopped back, letting my head hit the pillow hard. I heard Mom put on her coat and say, “Bob, where’s my other boot?” And then, “Oh, never mind, I’m late. I’ll just get snow in my shoes.” The front door slammed hard. The window rattled.

  I blew air out of my mouth. I had won. But as the eerie silence of the house began to creep inside me, the prickly feeling returned. I slid off the mattress and pulled on Dad’s Air and Space Museum sweatshirt. Bob pushed open my door and shook Mom’s boot at me.

  “Drop it, Bob,” I said. But he carried it to the front door and scratched.

  I ignored him and headed into the kitchen. I opened the fridge. Mom had finally bought the kind of orange juice I liked, with mango in it, and there were eggs and my favorite cereal. I poured milk over Frosted Flakes and started eating. Bob kept nudging me with Mom’s boot, but every time I tried to grab it, he scurried toward the door and scratched.

  It felt weird not hurrying to school. I thought about the kids filing into Mr. Andrews’s class. There would be more presentations. More comments. I imagined Ahmad, smiling as he scanned the halls for me. I imagined his smile disappearing when he realized I wasn’t there.

  It wasn’t my problem. Ahmad needed to make friends with someone else. Even though he’d already been in Fortin for two years and he hadn’t done a very good job so far.

  “I’m so done with that place,” I said to Bob. But my smile disappeared, too.

  Bob dropped the boot, then put his paws on the table, craning his neck to reach the leash.

  “Down, Bob!” I grabbed it. “Okay—okay, let’s go.” I dressed in my snow pants and hat. Why not go for a big walk? I had all day. I wrapped a scarf around my face, slipped into my boots, and grabbed a pair of gloves. Before we left, I shoved two handfuls of lettuce in my pocket.

  * * *

  Fat snowflakes fell from the sky as Bob and I made our way down Specter Hill. The road was already covered in a blanket of white. Everything looked so clean. I pulled my scarf tight. Fortin never seemed to cancel school. I tried to shake off the nagging feeling that I should be there instead of here. Flakes gathered on my coat.

  “Quitting school is the right decision,” I said to Bob. Maybe a magic jacket worked for Annie but I had no magic.

  At the bottom of the hill, the bunny sat in the middle of the road as if she was lost. I walked up to her, but she stared straight ahead.

  “You’re not invisible, little bunny. I can see you.”

  I stared past the NO TRESPASSING sign and felt a pang. I hadn’t helped Abigail feed the birds yesterday. But the way she’d disappeared into her shed last time had made me feel like she didn’t really want me around. I turned my attention back to the bunny. “You can’t stay there,” I said. Bob whined as I hooked his leash on a branch. I bent down to pick u
p the bunny, but she hopped under the pine tree. I followed and dumped out the lettuce. “Where’s your family, little bunny?” I asked.

  “She was probably someone’s pet.”

  I jumped at Abigail’s voice. “Where did you come from?” I asked.

  “The town green.”

  “Do you feed the birds there every morning?”

  “Well…” Abigail hugged herself and smiled. She shook her head. “I used to, a long time ago, with my daughter.” She stared down her driveway as if there were someone standing there waiting for her. Then she turned back to me. “After you started helping me, I remembered how much I missed it.” Abigail crouched down. The bunny hopped near her. “Most cottontails only come out at dawn and dusk,” she said. “This one doesn’t seem to have her instincts in order.” She looked at me. “Do you want to pet her?”

  “She won’t let me get near.”

  “Try again,” Abigail said. “She likes to be scratched behind the ears.”

  I removed my glove and cautiously knelt next to Abigail. The bunny didn’t hop away. I ran my fingers through her fur. It felt like strands of fine, cold silk.

  “Did you know cottontails can literally be scared to death? Scared so bad they die. Right on the spot,” Abigail said.

  I thought about school and the Wax Museum. “I know how they feel.”

  “Me too.” Abigail showed her gap-toothed smile. And when she did that, the heavy feeling I’d been carrying since yesterday’s Wax Museum practice vanished, as if Abigail had said, Here, let me take that for you. I felt lighter than I had in days.

  “Scrappy,” I said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m going to name her Scrappy, because you have to be scrappy to live in these woods.”

  “That you do,” Abigail said, and she laughed.

  The snow was falling heavier now. Maybe there would be an early dismissal. I sure didn’t want to be on the road when the bus came by.

  I waited for Abigail to ask me why I hadn’t come yesterday or why I wasn’t in school. Instead she said, “You know, today is a perfect day for flying.”