Sojourner (26 page)

I open it to find Lev.  No surprise.  He’s more than likely been somewhere around here all night beyond my sight just in case.  He smiles at me as though nothing has happened, nothing has changed.

“Morning, Elizabeth.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, not looking at him.  I try to think about what it’s going to take to get through the day.

“I came to give you a ride.”

“Yeah, I know.  My Jeep is frosted over and your truck is already defrosted, right?  Do you even have to wait for it, anyway?  Don’t you just snap your fingers or something?”  I start shaking, not sure how I’ll ever get warm on the inside again.  Lev takes the coat from my hands and holds it out for me.

“No, I came because I knew you weren’t doing well this morning and it’s going to be a rough day.”  He tries to make eye contact, but I won’t.  I can’t.

“Let’s go,” I snap, yanking the door shut.  As I step off the porch, a blast of cold air greets me, and I shiver.  Lev slips his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close.  I feel his warmth slowly envelop me, driving back the wind.

I spend most of my day doing this autopilot thing.  I nod in all the right places and feign an interest in Shelly and Bree’s passing comments, but to tell the truth, nothing sinks in, not when I’m xpecting them to pull me out of school to give me the bad news.  How long will it take to identify my father’s body and how long before all hell breaks loose after?

I know Lev is worried about me.  I can feel it.  He’s watching me like a hawk, waiting at my locker, and when I reach to open it, I shudder and my stomach recoils.  I see the turkey dangling there, at least in my head, gutted, its lifeless eyes black and wide and staring not at me but at the rope knotted on the coat hook up top.

“Here, let me.”  Before I can argue, Lev slips his hand in front of mine and pulls it open.  For an instant it’s there, just like I thought it would be, but of course it isn’t.  Not really.  No red paint.  No turkey.  No blood.  The clean walls allow me to release the breath I’ve been holding so I can stack the books inside.  My arms are empty.  Lev bangs the door shut and, taking my hand, he leads me to the cafeteria.

“Hey, at least your locker didn’t have any surprises.  Isn’t that something to smile about?”

Looking up, I offer him the fakest smile I can muster.

“Or not.  That looks like it hurts.”  His tone forces a real smile from me and he leans close. “I knew it was in there somewhere.  You’ve got to stop thinking about the future.”

“Isn’t it?” I whisper as we stroll toward the salad bar.  Once upon a time, Lev would’ve asked my preferences.  Now it’s a no-brainer.  I don’t want indigestion. 

Once our plates are full, we make our way back to the usual table.  I glance around the room and spot Gail and Griffin chatting warmly.  Some part of me hopes he’s figured how just how much Gail really likes him, but I’m so not holding my breath for a miracle.  From another nearby table, Shelly and Bree watch us and smile knowingly.

“Earth to Elizabeth.  You might want to eat.”  I turn to Lev and he points at my tray.

“Yeah, I guess I should.”  I reach for the saltshaker and my hand stumbles over an open can of soda.  I try to grab it, but my reflexes are too slow and the fizzing liquid shoots all over the table, barely missing us both.

“Way to go, hotshot,” Lev smirks and shakes his head.  He rises and looks around, spotting Mr. Henley just finishing mopping up another mess four tables down.  Giving me one last look, he heads to the janitor and quietly explains the situation.  Henley looks in my direction, a disgusted frown on his face.  He shoots Lev an unkind word or two and Lev nods, drifting back to our table.  All the while, Henley stares malevolently my way, a look that makes me try to clean up the mess on my own rather than relying on him.  I have a big part of the mess mopped with saturated napkins by the time Lev comes back.

“What are you doing, Elizabeth?”  He frowns at my odd behavior.

“Just trying to make things easier for Mr. Henley.  Who knows how many messes he’s had to clean up today.”  I chew my bottom lip.

“Okay, but why?”  His hand grabs mine and stills it.

“I don’t know.  I just get the feeling the janitor doesn’t really like me that much.”  I look at Mr. Henley, who now ignores me as he mops the area of the floor around the last spill.

“I’d like to say you’re imagining things, but that man has never liked teenagers.  It’s not you though.  He hates everyone here.  It would be a miracle if he started liking people now.”  He snatches up the napkins and carries them, sodden and dripping, to the trash can.  When he returns, he nods to my untouched food.  “Now you need to eat.”

“All right.  All right,” I say in exasperation, picking up my fork so he’ll stop.  He’s a lot like Jimmie in that regard.  I nibble at a carrot stick.  “Happy?” 

“Not yet,” he muses, “but I might be if you keep it up.”

Gritting my teeth, I load my fork and focus on stuffing my face.  I’m so focused I don’t even notice Mr. Henley until he’s practically on top of us, closer to me than Lev.

“You gonna move your stuff or not?” he snaps, letting the wet sponge drip on the table, not far off from my plate.  It pools there and a runnel of it streaks toward the edge where it spatters drop by drop on my thigh.

“Sure,” I manage, grabbing my tray and standing to give him the room he needs.  Lev follows my lead, and once the table is clean, we sit down.

Henley shakes his head.  “Jeez, could you be a little neater?  I don’t have all day to clean up after you.”  He gives me a pointed stare.

“Sure,” I say, pretty much willing to promise almost anything to get him away from us.  That must have done it because after one last dirty look, the man walks away.

“You’re right.  Mr. Friendly is less friendly to you.  What did you do to him?”

“Nothing.”  I pick up my can and find that a bit remains after the spill.  I take a sip. 

Rather than arguing, Lev watches Henley for a moment before going back to his lunch.

“Hey, how about coming over to my place after school.  I can help you work on homework.  I know you’re not doing well right now, what with everything….”

I narrow my eyes at him, waiting, but he doesn’t push.  Still…. “Do you have another nasty surprise in store?  I’d rather go home if that’s the case.”

He grins, ignoring me.  “No nasty surprises.  I just know Evan and Celia feel bad for the way things have turned out and they want you to come over for dinner.”

His smile is infectious, and I realize one thing for certain: I’ll never be able to stay mad at him for long—however long that ends up being.  Besides, none of this is his fault really.   

I crinkle my nose at him and whisper, “Do angels even have to eat?”

“Not officially.  We just like to.”

“Well,” I say, drawing out my reply.  “I guess I’m in.  But I need to call Jimmie before lunch is over.”

“All right,” he says.  “Anyways, wouldn’t you like to take another sky ride?”

“Yeah,” I whisper, wishing the rest of my life could be like this.

“How do you know it won’t be better?”  He tries to smile but neither of us feels it.

I ignore the comment, but it stings anyway.  I look at my tray and pick it up.  “Think I’ve lost my appetite.  I’m gonna go dump this.”

Lev nods.  “I’ll go with you.”  We take care of our trays and head to the office.  As I expected, Jimmie has no problem with me going over to Lev’s after school, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t issue me the standard “Be careful” talk I always get.  Still, little does he know how good a thing it is to be with Lev, all things considered.

I’m still daydreaming about being with Lev after school when my Ms. Ramos, my English teacher, calls me up to her desk and gestures to a history book on her desk.

“Could you take this book to Mr. Maguire.  It belongs to a student who checked out last week, and somehow his textbook ended up in here.”  As I start to the door, she calls, “Oh, he’s probably in the wing that’s being remodeled so you’ll probably have to go around the back end of the building to get to that section.”

“Okay.”  I head out into the hallway and outside to re-enter the school from the side that is under remodeling, and in some parts, under new construction.  As the hallway is not a hardhat area, none of the workers question my presence.  Still, I have to ask one if he has seen Mr. Maguire.  He points to the first room on the left.

After thanking him, I walk to the closed door and knock.

Mr. Maguire opens the door and frowns.  “Shouldn’t you be in class, Ms. Moon?”

“I am.  Ms. Ramos asked me to bring you this book.  Apparently the kid it was given to checked out of school last week.”

He grabs the book.  “Thank you.”

I look around the room, wondering why he’s even out here.  It’s really just walls and old flooring, wood that’s probably rotten enough it will be torn up.  He must sense my confusion.

“I’ve been waiting ten years for a new classroom, Ms. Moon.  Contrary to popular belief, I do enjoy teaching, and I’m planning what a difference this room can make.”

I nod and I think back to the conversation he had with Jimmie in the office.  “How do you know Jimmie?”

He pulls off his glasses and cleans them on his shirt. “Mr. Abram and I were good friends in school.  It’s a shame that we drifted apart.”  He slips the glasses back on.

I shiver.  The room is cold.  “Did you know my mom and dad?”

“Your mom, yes.  She was a beautiful lady.  It was a terrible shame she died so young.  She never should have been on that road.”  He glances at his watch.  “You should probably get back to class before Ms. Ramos sends out a search party.

I nod and walk away, more than grateful to be going back to my daydreaming about Lev and after the final bell rings at the end of the day, Lev and I drive to his house.  Even as we enter, I can smell the Italian spices of spaghetti floating around.  My eyes widen in delight and I turn to Lev.  “Isn’t it a little early for dinner?”  He gently pulls my coat off, followed by his own.

“The sauce is simmering.  It’ll still be a couple of hours before we eat so you’re going to have to be content drooling right now.”

“Oh, Okay.”  I laugh.

“You want something to drink?”

“Yeah.” 

Taking my hand, he leads me into the kitchen where Evan, not Celia, stands over the stove.  Evan turns to me and stares, probably trying to gauge exactly how I’m dealing with everything.

“Hey, Elizabeth.”

It’s pretty tough to reconcile all the powers I’ve seen Lev demonstrate with a “man” standing in front of a hot stove, clad in a white apron and brandishing a white spatula.

“I wouldn’t tell him that,” Lev offers, snickering, as he pulls out two cans of soda from the fridge.

“What?” Evan asks, looking from me to Lev.

“That it’s very nice of you to fix a meal like this,” I say, giving Lev an elbow and offering Evan a gracious smile.

“Don’t believe a word,” Lev says, bursting into laughter.  “She’s expecting you to turn into Donna Reed with wings.”

“Oh,” he says grinning.  “Really?  Should I have worn pearls?”  He blinks at me disarmingly.  “Nah.  They’d look kind of silly, wouldn’t they?  Besides, apple pie’s not my thing.  I like a nice sponge cake myself.”

“Angel food, right?”

Evan tosses me a wink but says nothing.

I point at his apron that says, “Earning my kitchen wings by not burning things.”  I shake my head.  “You know, Jimmie never wears an apron.”