Daughters of Eve (22 page)

"What did they look like? Were they young guys, like in high school?"

"It was dark. I couldn't see them very well. I just know they were big. They had arms and shoulders like gorillas. One of them got a rope around my neck and choked me with it while another one grabbed me and pulled me down and sat on me. I must have gone out cold, because the next thing I knew I was lying there all alone in the clearing. Everybody was gone. My head felt funny, sort of cold and strange. I reached up and felt it—and—they'd done this."

"Thank God they didn't kill you," his mother said softly. "Money is such a small thing to part with. It could have been your life."

"You're sure Bambi wasn't in on it?" Niles asked.

"Bambi!" Edna Grange exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, she's Pete's girl friend!"

"She's the one he went out to meet. She knew where the place was."

"Bambi didn't have a damned thing to do with this," Peter exploded. "Even if she got mad about something, can you picture a chick like that attacking a full-grown man?"

"She could have got some guys to help her."

"Well, she didn't." Peter turned to his mother. "You just better make up your mind to it; I'm not leaving this house till my hair's grown back. And you tell Ruthie that if she dares breathe a word, and I mean one single word, about this to that bunch of clucking chickens she runs around with, she'll be sorry for one hell of a long time."

"Dear, you're being ridiculous," Edna said. "This is your senior year. You can't just drop out of school. The first thing to do, though, is to call the police."

"No way," Peter told her.

"We have no choice. Those men are monsters. They were probably on drugs or something. If they could do this to you, they could do something even worse to somebody else."

"I'm not going down to the police station and get all written up in the paper."

"We've got to report it—"

"Mom, lay off." Niles moved over to stand beside her. "Pete knows what he's talking about. You don't know what it would do to him if this got around school. I'll go by his classes and get his assignments. I'll say he's got mono and the doctor won't let him come back until after Christmas."

"But, that's so silly," Edna began in bewilderment. "He could wear a cap if he wanted to. People would understand."

"You're the one who doesn't understand," Niles said. "Pete's not just anybody. He's got an image. And Pete's image is my image. We're both of us Granges." His eyes were smoldering and his wide, thin mouth was tight with fury. "If I ever find the dudes who did this to Pete, I'll kill them."

"You mustn't say such a thing, Niles," his mother said. "You know you don't mean it."

She turned quickly away before she could see in his face that she was wrong.

CHAPTER 16

The December 4 meeting of Daughters of Eve was called to order by the vice-president, Kelly Johnson, in the absence of the president, Fran Schneider. The pledge was repeated.

Ann Whitten presented the minutes of the previous meeting which were approved as read.

Bambi Ellis gave the treasurer's report.

"We brought forth a balance of thirty-six dollars from last time, and I'm collecting December dues today, so if everybody forks over, that's fifty-six dollars," she said. "No, wait a minute—without Laura it will make fifty-four dollars. The only expenses since the dance were a get-well card for Laura, which was seventy-five cents, and a stamp. So the current balance, when the dues are paid, will be fifty-three dollars and ten cents."

"How is Laura, anyway?" Ann asked. "Has anybody heard from her?"

"I talked to Mrs. Snow at church yesterday," Holly Underwood said. "She said she phoned Laura Saturday and she sounded okay. She isn't going to start school there until next semester."

"With Laura gone, are we going to vote in another member?" Ruth Grange asked. "Weren't we supposed to keep a membership of ten?"

"I'd like to propose Jennifer Deline," Tammy Carncross volunteered.

"Why her?"

"Well, she's really nice, and she's into things around school. And she's a junior. That means she would still be here next year to help get things going when a bunch of us have graduated."

There was a moment's silence. Then Bambi said slowly, "Do we really want another member?"

"Like Ruth said, we're supposed to keep it at ten."

"According to the rules, we can't go over that, but I don't know that there's anything that says we can't go under." She paused. "What do you think, Irene?"

"We need to think this over carefully," Irene Stark said. "We do have such a congenial close-knit group here that it might be difficult to introduce a new member at this particular point in the year."

"We'd have to tell her about Peter," Jane Rheardon said.

"That would be all right, once she took the

"I don't think we should take in anybody right now," Holly said. "She'd be so far behind in things she might never get caught up with us. I move we leave the membership at nine for the rest of the school year and start over with ten again in the fall."

"I second the motion," Jane said.

"I don't think we should vote on it," Kelly said, frowning, "Fran and Paula ought to be in on the decision."

"Does anyone know where those two are?" Irene asked. "I know they were both in school today. I saw them in the hall together just before last period."

"Didn't Fran have her meeting with my dad today about her science project?" Tammy said. "She came by the house last Thursday to pick up the entry forms."

"That's right—and Paula's probably waiting for her. They'll be along." Bambi turned to Ruth. "How's your baldheaded brother? I notice he hasn't been coming to school."

"He's not going to till his hair grows back," Ruth said. "He stays in his room all the time. Mom takes his meals up to him. Niles is going around to all his teachers and getting his assignments for him. He's telling everybody Pete has mono."

"The 'kissing disease'!" Bambi gave a snort of bitter laughter. "That's a good one. Niles gives me the creeps. We should have gotten him the same time we did Peter. Do you know he came up to me in the hall on Thursday and asked me where I was Wednesday night?"

"I hope you remembered what to tell him," Irene said.

"Of course. That I was at your place working on an art project. He asked me if anybody else was there, and I told him Ann was."

"I'm glad we synchronized our stories," Ann said. "He got me cornered in the cafeteria the other day to double-check you."

"Do you think he really suspects anything?" Holly asked Ruth.

"No way. Peter told him he got jumped by a bunch of guys. I think Niles wondered at first if Bambi might have put them up to it, but he doesn't any longer. Being with a teacher is an unbeatable alibi."

"Why did Peter lie to him?" Jane asked, puzzled. "He must have known we weren't men. He couldn't see our faces through the masks, but he could hear our voices."

"You don't know Pete," Bambi said. "He'd die before he'd admit he was attacked by women."

"But, he has to realize—"

"He won't let himself. It would be too humiliating. Why, he'd have to give up the whole macho bit he's so good at, and if he did that, what would be left?"

The door at the back of the classroom opened and Paula Brummell came in. She gave the door a hard shove so that it closed with a bang and came over to the table.

"Sorry I'm late," she said to the group in general "I went down to the office to talk to Mr. Shelby about organizing the soccer team. He kept me sitting there waiting for twenty minutes, and then he had his secretary tell me he was busy. He said to check back with him next week."

"What's with him?" Bambi said. "That's the second time he's done that. The check was cashed; it appeared on the November bank statement. That means he's got the money for equipment right there in his hand."

"Did Fran go with you?" Irene asked Paula. "We thought the two of you might be together."

"Nope. She had that meeting with Mr. Carncross. I saw her in the hall, though, as I was coming back from the office. She said she was going home."

"Going home!" Kelly exclaimed. "You mean, she won't be at the meeting? I thought I was just subbing awhile until she got here."

"She's pretty upset," Paula explained. "She just found out she won't be taking her science project to state."

"She won't!" Ann said. "Oh, I can't believe that! She's been working on it for what seems like forever. I don't know exactly what it is she's been doing with those rats of hers, but whatever it is, she's surely been excited about it."

"She's had a right to be," Paula said. "She's been conducting a study on alcoholism. She's proved the tendency to become an alcoholic is genetic. She was sure Mr. Carncross would be impressed out of his mind with all her research."

"So, what happened?"

"He told her the project was unacceptable and he wanted Modesta High to be represented by Gordon Pellet."

"Gordon Pellet with his solar energy experiment?" Holly asked incredulously. "I was in class when he put that together. It was just a demonstration to go along with one of Mr. Carncross's lectures. Gordon had this solar collector he ordered from a magazine, and he put a light bulb in front of it. Then he built this little pump to put water through it. When the water came out the other end, it was hot."

"Well, rah, rah. That sounds like a real winner," Bambi said sarcastically. "Why wouldn't it be hot?"

"And that's what beat out Fran's year of original research?" Paula turned to Tammy accusingly. "Why would your father choose that over Fran's experiment?"

"How should I know?" Tammy said. "He's got to have his reasons. He knows what he's doing. Dad's had students participating in these fairs for years."

"Have any of them been winners?" Irene Stark asked her.

"Sure, they have! A lot of them have gone on to the regionals. In fact, there was a boy a year or so ago who went all the way to the nationals and took a second prize. Dad was really proud about that."

"It was a boy who did that?" Irene asked quietly.

"Yes."

"And the ones who made it to regionals, were they boys also?"

"I don't know—I guess so," Tammy said reluctantly. "Not too many girls enter science competitions."

"So the judges at state level are used to thinking in terms of having male winners? And your father is aware of that fact?" Irene glanced around the table. "Perhaps we have an answer to Paula's question."

"Mr. Carncross vetoed Fran because she's a girl?" Ann did not sound convinced. "I don't think he'd do a thing like that. He's a very fair person."

"The fairest person can be influenced by the expectations of society," Irene said firmly. "It means a lot to a teacher to have his or her student achieve at a high level. It reflects on his abilities as an instructor. Science has long been considered a 'man's field,' and the judges award the majority of the scholarships to boys. Mr. Carncross undoubtedly feels that he has a better chance of sponsoring a winner if he sends a male student to compete."

"But that's not fair!" Ruth said angrily. "Fran did the work! She deserves to have her chance!"

"My dad isn't like that," Tammy objected. "He must have thought Gordon's project was better than Fran's or he wouldn't have picked it."

"The light bulb and the pump?" Holly said. "Oh, come on, Tarn."

"You're just guessing that's what Gordon's entering. He might have come up with something else entirely. He might have invented something to dispose of nuclear waste or found a way to use salt water for irrigating food crops or—or—"

"Or found a way to jump over the moon without a space ship?" Paula was regarding her with disgust. "You're just sticking up for him because he's your father's protégé. You don't want to face the fact that you're related to a male chauvinist."

"My father's no chauvinist," Tammy said angrily. "You take that back!"

"I'm not taking back anything. Why can't you be objective? Look at Ruth. She didn't try to think up excuses for Peter just because he's her brother."

"Well, maybe she should have," Tammy said. "There is such a thing as being loyal to people you care about."

"Don't you care about Fran?" Paula challenged.

"Of course I care about her!"

"If I were to choose between my father and my 'sisters,' there's no question which way I'd go," Jane said. "My sisters come first."

"If I had a father like yours, I'd probably feel the same way, but I don't."

"Until we compare the projects, there isn't any way we can say Mr. Carncross didn't make the right choice," Ann said. "Maybe Gordon really did work up something special."

"Okay, let's compare them," Kelly suggested. "Where are they?"

"Down in the science room," Paula told her. "Oh, not the cages with the rats—Fran was afraid to bring them out in the cold air—but all her notes and records that relate to the experiment."

"And Gordon's project?"

"That's down there too. Fran said Mr. Carncross wanted to keep both of them on display for a week so the students in his various classes could examine them."