Endless Night (16 page)

“Well. No. But if you need help, yell. Okay? And you can specify whether you want me or Dad.”

He was still red, but now he laughed. “Okay.”

Jody left him in the bathroom and shut the door. Then she went to her bedroom and made a selection of clothes: plain white socks, white cotton underpants, and a pair of faded blue denim shorts that she’d worn almost daily for two summers, but which were now too snug and ought to fit Andy just fine. With a quick search of her closet, she found the bright red blouse that always went so great with the shorts. It had been slightly too large for her, last summer. Now, it would probably fit just right. But she wanted Andy to have it, even though it might be a bit too large for him.

She had to crouch and scurry around at the back of her closet to locate her old pair of Keds. They’d been white and beautiful, once. Now, they were grimy but otherwise okay except for a broken lace on the right shoe. She remembered when it had snapped. She’d done a quick fix with a square knot, but never gotten around to replacing the lace.

She took a package of fresh white laces from her bureau drawer, then sat on the edge of her bed and stripped out the old laces. While threading a new one through the eyelets, her gaze wandered over to the collection of clothes beside her.

Dad shouldn’t mind, she thought. It’s mostly old stuff except for the socks and undies.

Undies! Oh, my God. What was I thinking of!

She knew what she’d been thinking of; she’d seen Andy last night pulling up his jeans and glimpsed his bare butt. So she knew he wasn’t wearing undershorts.

But he doesn’t know I know, she told herself.

It would embarrass the daylights out of him, me giving him some undies to wear. Especially a pair of
mine.

Jeez!

She snatched them off the bed and hurried to her bureau. As she stuffed them into the proper drawer, she heard the bathroom door open. She pushed the drawer shut.

“Andy? In here.” She suddenly remembered his knee. “Wait. I’m coming.”

Before she could take a step, he called, “No, I’m okay. I’ll make it.” She heard him hobbling up the hallway.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll make it. You stay there.”

“Okay.” Jody went to her bed, sat down and resumed lacing one of the shoes.

Seconds later, Andy stopped just beyond the doorway and pushed a hand against the frame to hold himself steady. His hair was matted down, dark and slick. Where he’d been smudged and streaked with filth, he was clean. He looked in at Jody. “See? Made it. All by myself.”

“The champ.”

“Yep.” He smiled, but it only lasted a moment. Then he looked grim again, as if he’d again remembered last night.

Jody finished with the laces of one shoe and started on the other.

“What’re you doing?” Andy asked.

“I’ve got some stuff for you to wear. If you want it, anyway. Come on in.”

He looked uncertain. “You sure it’s okay if I come in your room? I mean, your dad won’t yell at me or something, will he?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding.”

“I mean, you’re a girl.”

Jody rolled her eyes upward and sighed. “Jeez, kid. Sure, I’m a girl. But you’re
twelve
years old.”

“Twelve and a half.”

“Oh. Okay. Anyhow, Dad isn’t gonna care. Just leave the door open.”

Andy nodded, then stepped into the bedroom. He glanced from the clothes to Jody, then returned his gaze to the clothes. “I don’t get it,” he said.

“They’re for you. You don’t have anything to wear but those jeans. All your other stuff is ... you know. Anyway, my dad’s clothes would all be way too big for you.” She shrugged.

“But these’re yours.”

“Hey, who’s gonna know they’re girls’ things? Nobody’ll know if you don’t tell.”

His upper lip lifted slightly. He kept staring at the clothes.

“Don’t worry, they’re clean.”

He met her eyes, and let out a soft laugh. “It isn’t that.”

“You mean you’re not afraid of my cooties?”

His smile widened. “No.”

“Don’t you like the stuff?”

“Yeah. Sure. But it’s
yours.
I saw you in this red shirt last summer. And in the shorts, too. You looked so ...” He stared down at the clothes and swallowed. “You can’t just give them away.”

“Okay, I’ll lend ’em to you.”

“Lend them?”

“Sure. You keep them till the next time we see each other.”

“What if we never ... ?”

“Hey, don’t be a dope. We’ll see each other again. So you can have the stuff till then.”

Frowning, he picked up the blouse. He studied it. “Are you sure? It’s such a neat shirt. You’re the one who oughta be wearing it.”

“Put it on, Andy.”

He swung it behind his back, wrestled his arms through the sleeves, and pulled its front together. He started to work on fastening the first button. And stopped. And ducked his head for a closer look. “Hey, something’s wrong.”

“What?”

“I don’t ... Is it inside out?”

Jody could see that the big, twin pockets were exactly where they belonged. “No, it ...”

“The buttons are on a funny side.”

“They are?” She got up from the bed, stepped closer to Andy, bent down and studied the situation. “No, they’re right where they always ... Oh. Woops. I forgot. Guys wear their buttons on the wrong side.”

“Huh?”

“Girls’ shirts have their buttons attached to the left side, but guys’ shirts have them on the right.”

“Well, that’s sure dumb.”

“Sure is. You still want it, though, don’t you?”

“Sure I do.”

“Here.” Jody began to fasten the buttons for him.

“Thanks.”

“No big deal.”

“They’ll probably buy me some new clothes pretty soon, anyway. Or at least let me wear Gary’s old things. He’s my cousin. He’s in high school.”

“Is he all right?”

“He’s okay. Sort of a geek, is all.”

“How are your aunt and uncle?”

“Oh, they’re okay.”

“They’re nice?”

“Sure. Uncle Willy’s sort of weird, but ...” He shrugged.

Jody finished with the top button, but she didn’t step away. She put her hands on Andy’s shoulders. “Make sure you give me their phone number before you leave. And I’ll give you mine. I’ll call you every so often. And you call me. Call collect. You know, reverse the charges. Then they won’t have any reason to not let you do it. We’ve got to keep in touch. I have to know that you’re all right and they’re treating you good and everything.”

Andy nodded. “I sure wish I didn’t have to go.”

“Me, too. But they’re your relatives. You could probably stay here with us, but they want you with them, you know? Besides, Dad says you’ll be safer there.”

His face contorted. “What?”

“Safer. You’ll be all the way in Phoenix. Those guys won’t stand a chance of finding you there.”

“They’re still after us?”

“Of course. What do you think?”

He looked stricken. “Can they
find
us?”

“They’ll have trouble finding you, that’s for sure. Your aunt is your mother’s sister, right? So her name wasn’t even Clark to begin with, and on top of that she got married to your uncle. So they’d have two name changes to get through. Unless they found an address book before they ...”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Dad won’t let anyone hurt me.”

“Do they know who you are?”

“They might. Or they might not. It depends on whether they found my purse.”

“Where was it?”

“In Evelyn’s room. Same as my clothes and stuff.”

“Wow. It had your name?”

“It had the whole shebang. My brand new driver’s license was in it. So if they got their hands on my purse, they know right where to find me.”

“Oh, man.”

“It’s all right. Dad knows.”

“That doesn’t make it all right.”

“You don’t know Dad.”

Andy shook his head. His face was very red.

“Calm down,” Jody told him. “They won’t get me.”

“How do you know?”

“I know.”

“Oh, God, I don’t like it. They’re gonna come after you, I know it. And I’m not gonna be around to... I’ve been to Phoenix. Do you know how far away it is?”

“It’s not all that far.”

“It’s like eight hours on the freeway.”

“It isn’t that far.”

“Oh, no? I don’t want to be in Phoenix when they come after you.”

“I told you, everything will be all right. My dad can handle them.”

“He’s just one guy.”

“Yeah. But he’s Kong Fargo. Besides, he’s got the whole LAPD with him. They’re probably just hoping those creeps will make a move.”

“I’ve gotta be here when they do.”

“No you don’t.” She turned Andy around by his shoulders and eased him backward. He hopped on his good foot, then dropped to the mattress. Jody picked up the shorts and tossed them onto his lap. “Put these on. I’ll throw your jeans in the wash so they’ll be good and clean before you leave.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“You have to, Andy.” She turned her back to him. “Off with them.”

“Don’t peek.”

“Why would I?”

He didn’t answer. Jody heard the zipper slide down, then a soft sound of rumpling denim.

“Maybe you could hide me,” he said.

“I’m not going to hide you. You’ll be a lot better off in Phoenix.”

“Why? If it’s safe here like you said.”

“It might not be that safe.”

“See? See what I mean?”

She heard another zipper. “Have you got the shorts on?”

“Yes.” She turned around. His legs were bare below the cuffs of the blue shorts. The right knee was wrapped with an Ace bandage, but both legs had their share of bandages, bruises and scratches.

“Nice gams,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Gams. Gams are legs.”

Andy’s eyes lowered to her gams.

“Let’s get done in here,” she said. “See if the shoes fit.”

“See if the foo shits.” Andy grinned. Then his mouth shook and twisted, his face went red, and his eyes flooded.

If the foo shits, wear it.

One of Evelyn’s favorite sayings.

Andy hunched over his knees and hid his face behind both hands. His shoulders jumped as he sobbed.

Jody sat beside him and rubbed his back. She felt bandages through the shirt. She stopped rubbing, and kept her hand on a place that didn’t have a bandage underneath. She drew circles there with her fingernail, hoping to distract him so he would quit. If he didn’t stop soon, she would start bawling, and she didn’t want that.

“Hey, come on,” she said after a while.

“I’m sorry. ”

“Here. I’ll help.” She picked up the socks. When she knelt on the floor in front of him, Andy sat up straight. He stopped looking tortured, and looked puzzled, curious.

Jody drew his right foot slowly toward her. She rested its bandaged heel on her thigh, just below a bandage of her own, and began to work one of the socks over his toes. “Whew.”

“Ha ha.” He sniffed. “Jody?”

“Huh?”

“How are we gonna see each other again?” He sniffed again. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Jody finished with the first sock and eased his foot away. “I mean it. I don’t think they mean to just keep me for a week, or something. I’ll be
living
there.” She lifted his other foot onto her thigh. “It’ll be ... like
permanent.
It’s not like a vacation or something.”

“I know.”

“What if we never see each other again?”

She pulled the second sock over his foot and up his ankle. “Then you can keep my clothes.”

“I mean it.”

From the sound of his voice, Jody suspected he was about to resume crying. “We’ll get together again. You can count on it. You and I are ... I don’t know ... tied together. Because of last night, you know? We’ll
always
be like that, no matter how far apart we are. No matter what.”

“Really?”

“You bet.”

“But when’ll we get together?”

Jody shrugged. “I don’t know. But we’ve got all summer before school starts, and you’re only gonna be a day’s drive away. We’ll work out something.”

“If they let me come, can I stay here?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t you have to ask your dad?”

“I know what he’ll say. He’ll say you can stay here any time you want. That’s what we’ve got the guest room for.”

He let out a long, heavy sigh. “I want to stay here right now.”

“I wish you could.”

He looked doubtful. “Really?”

“Of course, really.”

“Then help me hide.”

“Hey.”

“Why not? I can hide in your attic, or something. You can tell them I ran away.”

Jody shook her head. She cupped Andy’s unhurt knee with her hand. “Hey. No. For one thing, if you go and pull a disappearing act, everyone’ll think the creeps from last night got their hands on you.”

“Not if you tell them I ran away.”

“It won’t work, Andy.”

“Sure it’ll work.”

“No, it won’t. I’d have to lie.”

“So ?”

“I’m not going to.”

“Why not?”

“I’d have to lie to Dad. I won’t do it. And you shouldn’t even be asking me to do something like that.”

He stared at her. He looked confused, betrayed. “I thought you
wished
I could stay. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Yeah. And it’s true. I’d like it very much. But there are right ways and wrong ways to do things. I might want to—I don’t know—maybe spend a week at Disney World, you know? But I wouldn’t rob a bank to do it.”

Now, he was scowling. “Nobody’s asking you to rob a bank. Cripes! All it’d take is a little fib. I’d tell a fib for you, you know.”

She let go of his knee and stood up. “It’d never work anyway, so forget it. Even if I did lie—and I won’t—you’re crazy if you think your uncle’s gonna drive all the way out here and then just turn around and drive home without you. Just forget it. It’s not gonna happen.”

“You probably
want
me to go away with him.”

“I do not.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Just shut up and try on the shoes, okay?”

“Who wants your stupid old shoes, anyway?”

Jody kicked her right foot high and flicked off her moccasin. It jumped at Andy fast, tumbling, and its soft leather sole smacked his forehead. The moccasin dropped to his lap. He gaped at Jody.