Footprints (19 page)

Gazing at Isora's tear-stained face, Sgt. Chase thinks she looks like an elementary school kid. He feels sorry for her and angry at Lully for abusing her vulnerability.

They are walking on the beach, trying to decide whether to swim in the sea or in Mr. Anderson's pool in the cottage grounds. They don't have to ask permission, and have swum there several times already. If Mrs. Anderson is home she brings them lemonade and cookies. They simply have to climb the steps through the rocks and let themselves in the iron gate with the code Mr. Anderson has given them. It's his way of saying thank you to Isora for saving Mrs. Anderson and the staff and the cottage from the terrorist's bomb, the same terrorist who had
tried to destroy the offices of Eastern Oil.

Mr. Anderson offered Isora anything she wanted as a reward – money, scholarships, a holiday for her and her father, a house away from the trailer park – but she refused everything. At last he begged her at least to accept his invitation to visit the cottage grounds and the pool whenever she liked, to which she said, “Can I bring two friends?” The first time he encountered the boys at the pool with her he looked hard at them but said nothing. Now he treats them as he treats Isora, with a gentle and formal courtesy.

It's the end of August, a few days before they return to school. Anderson is still talking of buying the mill, but the deal is stalled while he waits for a decision from the government about relaxing environmental regulations regarding emissions until the mill starts to turn a profit. Mr. Meating's hours have been further cut and Mrs. Meating has been laid off at the supermarket. Al's-To-Go has closed and Al has moved away. Mayor Green says a call centre has expressed interest in setting up in Back River, offering up to a dozen jobs.

Harper watches his friends from the corner of his eye. They are holding hands. Drumgold is saying something about worldwide injustice and oppression. He talks like that all the time.

Isora gazes at the sea. Harper wishes she'd pirouette in the sand, the way she used to. She's not listening to Drumgold. She's wearing the outfit she wore the day she set the bomb. She doesn't talk much, and when she does, it's of revenge for Dexter and George.

Droopy and Diamond Head are at the iron gate. They wave and smile. Drumgold and Isora ignore them.

Harper, glancing at his friends again, wonders which of them he fears the most.

robert rayner

A former principal, school district consultant, teacher and journalist, in England, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, Robert Rayner now concentrates on writing. He has six young adult novels and one adult novel in print. His stories have been shortlisted for the
Ann Connor Brimer Children's Literature Prize
and the
Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award
. He lives on the Magaguadavic River in St. George, New Brunswick.