Seeing his sister near the corner of the school building, he ran up to her. “Hey, have you seen William? I can’t find him.”
Her conversation with Julia and Vanessa interrupted, Shelley looked over her shoulder and gave her brother a glare colder than the snow he stood on.
“No. Go away.”
“But —”
“No ‘but.’ No nothing. Go away! Leave us alone.” She turned back to her friends, rolling her eyes. “Brothers!”
Confused but not quite worried, Ralph wandered along the wall of the school, wondering where his friend might be. He had been kind of moody when he’d left their place last night. William hadn’t said much, but Ralph knew it had something to do with the Horse, or Danielle, but more probably both. His buddy could sure be grumpy sometimes. But that was the cost of being William’s friend.
He passed classroom window after classroom window on his right as he walked along the wall of the school, looking into them and continuing to scan the school population on his left.
On another matter, he wished his sister wasn’t so mean. Watching her interact with William sometimes made him happy she disliked his friend more than him, but it still hurt him when his sister was so rude and dismissive. To the best of his knowledge, he’d never done anything to earn such meanness. But something his father had once told him provided him with some solace, though it conjured up more unsolvable questions. “Sometimes sisters are just like that. I know. I had three. Just keep your head down and hope for the best. And if worse comes to worst, you can always outrun them.” His father’s sister Aunt Rachel had moved away a long time ago, but aunts Carol and Claudia seemed okay to Ralph. They even gave him lots of homemade butter tarts. Now that he thought about it in this context, he had difficulty imagining his sister growing up to be so nice. At least to him.
As he reached the elbow in the school, where the building made a right angle along the street corner and continued down a different road, Ralph stopped walking. There wasn’t much time left in recess, and even if he did find William, there wouldn’t be much time left to do anything fun. It just wasn’t like William to not be around, wanting to do something. Ralph might have had a few other friends, but he was William’s only real friend. This absence was very un-William.
It seemed to Ralph that the world had become weird ever since Danielle and her Horse had appeared in their lives. He was sure Shelley felt the same way. And his parents. He could tell by the way his mother didn’t seem to know how to act around Danielle. And the way his father had looked at the drawing of the Horse. He knew that Danielle and her creature made them uncomfortable.
Ralph started to pace back towards his sister, still deep in thought. About friends, sisters, strange little girls, chalk horses, and how somehow, some way, they all seemed tied together. Life could be pretty strange sometimes.
Just by chance, or possibly providence, he glanced towards his left and saw his friend on the other side of the glass in the classroom window. William was pushing somebody. That somebody, Ralph realized with a gasp, was Danielle. Ralph stopped in his tracks, surprised to see them together, alone, in Danielle’s classroom. He saw William push Danielle again, harshly, towards the front of the room, making her almost fall. For the first time, Ralph could see in William’s face an obvious aggressive nature, a willingness to do anything to get his way. This was why some people had called his friend a bully, mean, and other assorted titles. He’d always shrugged it off. William’s older brother Robert was a bully. Everybody knew that. He’d been bounced out of at least two high schools. Even William didn’t like Robert. But now, on the other side of the window, he could see his buddy being mean and doing mean things to somebody who couldn’t and wouldn’t fight back. Instantly, Ralph pounded on the window desperately.
The dull thudding filled the small classroom. William looked up, right into Ralph’s face; their eyes locked, just for a moment. Then, looking away and without acknowledging his only real friend, William grabbed a piece of chalk and threw it at Danielle.
Ralph banged hard on the window three more times, his hand hurting with each impact, but William wouldn’t look at him or stop menacing the young girl. It was obvious William was upset about something; Ralph had no idea what William meant to do, but instinctively he knew it wasn’t something good.
Dodging away from the window, the younger boy raced towards the door of the school. Normally kids, under threat of detention, weren’t allowed to enter the school building during recess unless they had permission, but this was not even a consideration for Ralph. He did not have time to get permission to do the very necessary thing he had to do.
As he ran towards the door, Shelley saw him and thought he was approaching her again. She looked annoyed.
“Ralph! I thought I told you —”
Barely pausing, Ralph attempted an explanation. “William’s in one of the classrooms. With Danielle. I don’t think he’s being nice. She’s crying …” Without waiting for a response, he continued past her, aiming directly for the door. He flung open the door and raced down the deserted hall, his sloppy wet boots leaving puddles and the force of his footsteps echoing. Behind him, he heard his sister calling his name. He didn’t stop. The room he had seen Danielle and William in was directly ahead and on the left. Ms. Martel’s room.
Ralph stopped just inside the opaque classroom door. Danielle was at the chalkboard, a piece of white chalk in her trembling hand. It was scraping along the black surface. So far, there were only two shaky lines evident. William was watching her intently, standing just a few feet behind the struggling girl. Ralph could feel Shelley’s arrival right behind him. She stopped and looked over his shoulder.
Over Danielle’s gentle sobs, they heard William’s harsh voice, almost laughing. “That’s it?! That’s the best you can do?!” Danielle had stopped halfway through the third line, unable to continue. The chalk landed on the floor beside her shoe.
Ralph opened his mouth to object. But it was Shelley who spoke first, asking the obvious. “William? What are you doing in here? What are you doing to her?”
William, a triumphant smile on his face, turned to face them.
“Look at that! I told her to draw a dog. Does that look like a dog to you? It sure doesn’t to me. So she can draw a decent horse. Big deal. So what? Geez, no wonder she’s crying. I’d cry too if I drew a dog like that. I guess she ain’t so great after all, huh?” Folding his arms across his chest, he sneered at the pathetic rendering on the chalkboard.
The attempted drawing did look like it had been sketched by the left hand of a right-handed monkey. If it was indeed the beginning of a dog, there was no way of telling.
As if he’d climbed the biggest mountain and beaten the most ferocious monster in the world, William was beaming victoriously. His point, however obtuse, had been proudly made.
Shelley forced her way past Ralph, nudging him roughly into the door frame as she did. She walked directly to Danielle, who was leaning against the far end of the board, her forehead leaning against the wall, her long, wispy hair hiding her face. Her tiny body trembled with what appeared to be silent sobs. The moment Shelley’s hand touched her back, she flinched until she realized it was Shelley, who was gently pulling her into her arms. Though there was only a little more than two years’ difference between the girls, Danielle seemed to disappear into the older girl’s coat.
“You stupid …” Try as she might, Shelley could not utter any profanity, especially while comforting the little girl. “I could just kick you. What were you thinking?!” Shelley glared at William, furious and intense.
Ralph was scared by his sister’s words and her tone of voice, and Shelley’s was not a look that made William entirely comfortable.
“What?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.
“Look what you did to her!” Shelley was angry.
“What?! I didn’t do anything. I barely touched her.
”
The smile of success gone from his face, William was experiencing some difficulty understanding why Shelley was so mad at him. He was used to her angry dismissals of him, but this outburst seemed different. More focused and strong. Even Ralph was looking at him weirdly. It was like they didn’t understand the laws of the schoolyard. Danielle was just a peculiar little girl, that’s all. So what was the problem?
Suddenly, William felt Ralph’s hands on his arm, pushing him away from the girls at the chalkboard.
“So uncool, William. So uncool.” Ralph found himself for the first time in a long time angry at his friend. Not mildly angry, but really angry. Though William had thrown snowballs at him point-blank, or taken the larger portion of chocolate bars they’d bought together, or pushed Ralph off the dock so he would suddenly find himself standing knee-deep in the lake, this was of a different order. Normally he was just being William. This was different, and all of them knew it.
William stumbled against two desks, unprepared for the act of physical violence from his good friend and frequent victim. Under normal circumstances he would have pushed back, harder. But, as was becoming obvious, they were not living in normal circumstances these days.
Trying to regain his composure, William gave Shelley and Ralph his best argument, which seemed incredibly simple and true to him. “What?! I never hit her or anything. I just wanted to see if she could draw anything else. That’s all. I don’t know why she’s crying. Geez.” The tone of William’s voice changed as he spoke; it became unsure and defensive, like he was trying to defend himself but was losing confidence in his own argument as he spoke. This was unfamiliar territory for him.
“No, you wouldn’t, would you? ’Cause you’re too stupid.” Shelley started to gently steer Danielle towards the door. “It’s okay,” she said to the little girl with her arms wrapped around her. “We’ll take you home. Ralph, can you get her coat and backpack?”
Nodding, Ralph went to the coat hooks at the back of the room and found Danielle’s familiar worn, white-turning-into-grey coat with the two rips. He noticed there was another tear, this time underneath the right armpit. He grabbed it and her bag quickly, giving his friend — if they still were friends — a piercing glare. He followed his sister out the door.
Alone in the classroom stood a bewildered and now clearly awkward William.
“Geez. You guys gonna make a big deal out of this?” he yelled after them.
There was no response. His friend and his friend’s sister didn’t respond.
Alone, William felt odd. It seemed the point he had tried to make had been completely overlooked. He looked at the board, at what he’d made Danielle draw, the squiggles and random lines, a very poor attempt at art. How could those lines be a dog?
“Like I said, it doesn’t look like a dog. See, I was right. I don’t get it….” Oddly enough, he no longer felt so exultant. For a very brief second, an unsettling thought rolled across the young boy’s mind. Was it possible he, William Williams, was the bad guy here?
“William? Do you have permission to be in here?” asked Ms. Martel, standing at the door.
Great. He was now in real trouble for being in the wrong classroom and at recess.
QUICKLY GRABBING THEIR backpacks and bundling up, Ralph and Shelley took Danielle out of the school and past the schoolyard. Several kids, including Julia and Vanessa, gave the trio peculiar looks, especially when the bell went off, sounding the end of recess. All but three re-entered the school. Both Thomas children knew they might get in trouble for cutting the last part of school, but any discipline that might come their way mattered to neither one. When they told their mother their reason for leaving school, both felt sure she would absolve them of the sin of truancy. Sometimes there were more important things than knowing the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees.
“What a stupid, stupid idiot!” grumbled Shelley. Danielle looked up at the taller girl, tears forming in her eyes. At first, Shelley assumed Danielle’s crying was the result of William’s meanness, but then she put all the pieces together and understood. “No, no. Not you, Danielle. William. I mean William. Not you. You’re okay. Honest.”
Ralph saw Danielle snuggle closer to his sister, who kept a protective arm around her.
“Don’t you worry about that nasty William. He’s just a big, stupid kid. He needs to be kicked in the head. And he’s ugly too.” From beneath her arm she was sure she felt what appeared to be a giggle. That was a good sign. Glancing at her brother, she added disparagingly, “And he’s your friend!”
“I’m so sorry, Danielle.” It was the first time Ralph had spoken since they’d left the school. All this time he’d been listening to Shelley calm and soothe the little girl who clung to his sister. It seemed she had a knack for that kind of thing. She was a natural. He felt sad for a number of reasons, primarily because it was his friend who had humiliated her. He was used to William’s rough ways. Maybe everybody was right. Maybe William was indeed a bully. He remembered reading somewhere that, legally, boxers were only allowed to fight other boxers. Otherwise, if they got into fights on the playground or in the cafeteria with everyday people, they’d get into a lot trouble. The same should hold true for people like William, he suddenly thought. Bullies should only pick on other bullies. But that defeated the purpose of being a bully, he supposed. There would have to be a severe readjustment of their relationship when all this particular dust settled.
Danielle didn’t react to Ralph’s apology. Shelley had run out of kindnesses to share with the little girl. As they walked, there was only the silence of the snow-covered community to keep them company. The three of them turned on to Twin Pine Lane, an oddly named street since both the pines that had generated the name had died a decade ago and were no longer in evidence. This was where most of the dozen or so trailers on the reserve were located.
Danielle, still snugly attached to Shelley, suddenly stopped moving. She stopped so suddenly that Shelley almost knocked her over.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
It took Ralph a moment to realize that this was Shelley’s voice and not the voice of their mother.
Crawling out from underneath the layers of coats — hers and Shelley’s — Danielle emerged into the winter afternoon air. The glare of the sun off the snow made her blink a few times, and then she wiped away the remaining wetness around her eyes. Though she’d stopped crying some time ago, her eyes were still red. She sniffled and looked around, recognizing the area. Then she spoke.
“Thank you.”
Ralph remembered that in their few actual moments together, that was all Danielle ever seemed to say. That seemed to be seventy-five percent of her vocabulary. Just, “Thank you.” Unsure how to respond, he simply smiled at her and looked at his sister uncomfortably.
Also smiling, Shelley looked down Twin Pine Lane to the row of trailers near the end. “Danielle doesn’t have to thank us, does she, Ralph?”
Again, Ralph could hear his mother’s voice.
“No, not at all. Sorry we couldn’t do more.”
“See? And don’t you worry about William. When I get a hold of him, he’ll be more afraid of you than you should ever be of him.” Shelley nodded her head once solidly to punctuate her assurance. “You live down here, don’t you? We’re almost there. Come on, let’s get you home first and then we can …”
Danielle shook her head, clearly afraid, and stepped back from the Thomas kids. Her demeanour changed completely. There was a panicked look on her face. Whatever had caused it had been triggered by Shelley’s offer.
Shelley took another stab at getting the young girl home. Stepping forward, she said, “It’s okay, Danielle. We just want to make sure …”
No such luck. Danielle took another step back, now clearly looking over her shoulder. “No. Thank you, but no. You really shouldn’t. Momma doesn’t like people visiting. She’l
l get mad. I’m okay, really.” She faked a poor smile to add emphasis.
“Under the circumstances, I don’t think she would …” Shelley could see that she was about to be unsuccessful in her attempts to deliver the little girl home personally.
Danielle took another step further down Twin Pine Lane, backing away more.
Ralph felt sure she would bolt any second. He reached out and grabbed Shelley’s arm, knowing she would keep trying, regardless of how Danielle felt.
“Danielle, before you go …” he said.
Her eyes darted to him, but she still looked on the edge of running down the lane.
“We forgot to give you your present.”
“What present?”
Ralph nudged Shelley, who quickly dug around in her backpack. Everything of importance to Shelley existed in that backpack. She was seldom without it, especially at school. After some rummaging around, she pulled out a small package wrapped in newspaper. Handing it to Danielle, she peeled back a layer, revealing the head of the plaster horse. “You won the Everything Wall contest.”
“Again!” added Ralph with a smile.
“So this is your prize.”
Danielle couldn’t take her eyes off the present. She reached out and gently pulled back more of the newspaper, exposing the entire miniature horse.
“It’s yours. Go ahead. Take it.” With that, Shelley put the plaster cast of a horse into the little girl’s hands.
Around them, the trees creaked in the winter wind, but Danielle had senses for only what she held in her hands.
“For me?”
“For you. We know it’s not much, but …”
“It’s beautiful.”
Frequently something being “not much” was a relative term. To Danielle, this prize, this present was indeed something “much.” For Danielle, this knick-knack was worth more than the six dollars and ninety-nine cents Liz had paid for it. Terrified of breaking the delicate legs on the cast, Danielle very carefully wrapped her fingers around the trunk of the animal and tucked it inside her worn jacket, close to her chest. “I want to keep him warm,” she said. “You’re so nice to me.” With a look of contentment Shelley and Ralph had not seen before on her face, she turned to walk down Twin Pine Lane.
Chasing Painted Horses Page 14