Chasing the Milky Way (18 page)

“S
IR, EXCUSE ME, MAY
I
HELP
you?” Officer Doogan says, hands up, palms out.

“I've come to get the boy.” D-Wayne stares over Officer Doogan's shoulder at us. And he's chewing on something, his jaw jiggling up and down with the effort. Ms. Linda gets up out of her chair and pulls her glasses onto her face.

“Figures,” Cam says, sliding off the bed, onto his feet. Not to go to him, I imagine, but to get ready for some sprinting.

“You're not Mrs. McKinney,” Ms. Linda says, striding across the floor.

“They must pay you the big bucks.” D-Wayne smirks and rubs the unshaven hair on his chin.

“I'm sorry, are you Camrin's father?” Ms. Linda asks, not missing a beat.

“No, he's not,” Cam says. Ms. Linda spins toward us and then back toward D-Wayne. She blocks the doorway.

“I'm close enough,” D-Wayne says. “Aren't I, boy?” He winks at Cam over Ms. Linda's shoulder.

Cam crosses his arms. “I don't think so,” he says.

D-Wayne steps toward Officer Doogan, but Ms. Linda puts her hand between them.

“I'm sorry, but unless you have identification showing that you're one of Mr. McKinney's relations, you're going to have to leave.”

“Well, excuuuuse me,” D-Wayne says. His gaze goes from Ms. Linda's feet to her head as he says it. I don't have to see her face to know she doesn't like that one bit.

“Ehem, well.” She leans back and grabs the door handle. “If you'll excuse us for a moment.” She pulls the door shut behind her. Just like that, we're all alone in the hospital room. And I'm starting to like Ms. Linda a whole lot more. Their voices rise and a second later, I see them walk past the window and around the corner.

“For once maybe something he's doing will work out for us,” Cam says, jumping up and down.

I slide out from under the covers. Take Mama's journal and tuck it into the front of my pants.

“We don't have a plan,” Cam says. “We don't even know where your mama is.”

“Fifteen-B,” Izzy says.

“Huh?” I say, my head snapping up. Is she talking in her sleep?

“She's in fifteen-B,” Izzy says again. I see her hand grab the railing and she rises up from the covers like a little mole from its den. She rights the wire crown on her head.

“Izzy, how do you know that. Did you see her?” I ask, rushing over to her side and grabbing her shoulders.

“No, I heard Ms. Linda asking the man in the white coat if we could see Mama and he said, ‘No, no, they cannot. She needs to go to psych.' And then Ms Linda said, ‘It's really important. Are you sure she isn't okay to see them.' And then he said, “'Scuse me, Mrs. Burningham, but if you're more qualified to assess Mrs. Peevey, then by all means go down to fifteen-B and dig nose yourself.'”

“Diagnose?” I say.

Izzy nods. “Something like that. His face got pretty red.”

I give her a squeeze.

“Now, we just need to know where fifteen-B is.”

“Got it,” Cam says. I help Izzy down. We walk over to where Cam is standing. He's tracing his finger over something on the wall.

“Emergency procedures floor plan.”

My mouth goes dry.

“We need to go right down this hallway, take one right, next left, then find the number.”

“Let's go,” I say, grabbing Izzy's hand. “We gotta sneak.” We go to the door. PingPing sits in the corner where Officer Doogan left him and he looks out at me with his LED eyes. His football head looks a little bit more crushed than usual. He's been having a heck of a journey.

“We gotta go now if we're going,” Cam says, sliding the door open. He looks both ways, then ducks his head back in. He sees me looking at PingPing. “What are you thinking, Cap'n?”

“I think we might need him,” I say. I rush to the corner and pick PingPing up. “Let's go.”

And just like that, we sneak out into the hallway, silent as can be. I hear Officer Doogan and Ms. Linda talking in short sentences around the corner. Cam grabs my shoulder and we head in the opposite direction. Toward the east wing.

“M
IGHTY
H
AWK, THIS IS
J
UNIPER
R
AY,”
I hiss. “We got nurses at two o'clock.”

“Security at four o'clock,” Cam says as we duck into a bathroom. Cam reaches up and spins the lock to the right. It latches.

“This is crazy, right?” I say, hunkering down and setting PingPing on the floor for a second.

“Yeah, delusional,” Cam says, smiling.

Izzy presses her ear up against the door and I lean in, too, waiting for the footsteps to disappear down the hall.

“So if we're right”—Cam stands up and looks at the blueprint attached to the bathroom wall—“she's right around the corner. She should be two doors down.”

Could it be that easy? I grab the handle, unlatch the lock, and slide the door open a tiny crack. I peer out.

“It's clear,” I say. I look at Izzy and put my finger up to my lips. “Quiet as can be, okay? Just like when Queen Nomony had to sneak in to free the Tinktree people.”

She puts her finger up to her mouth, mirroring me. I lift PingPing again and we slip into the hallway and along the wall. I stop at the corner. Clear one way. I stick my head out and peer to the right. There's a lady sitting right at the table next to a door. I jump back. Squeeze against the wall. I shake my head at Cam. Then hold my hand out, take a breath, and look again. She's in a chair next to a room marked
15B OBSERVATION
. She starts to turn her head our way and I wave my hands at Cam. We scramble back down the hall.

“Not clear,” I mouth.

“In here,” Cam says, sliding a door open. We duck inside, but Izzy and I get tangled and we trip into the room. I stumble forward, keeping PingPing up off the floor until the last second. Mama's journal jams itself into my rib cage. I come down a twisted heap and set PingPing down the rest of the way. Cam and Izzy grab my arms and start helping me up. Just as I am getting back to my feet a little old lady sits up in the bed in front of us. My heart bangs against my chest as I scramble. She looks from me to Izzy to Cam.

“Please?” I say. Pressing a finger to my mouth. Her eyes slide sideways. Then she leans back against her pillow, sucking one cheek in.

“Looks like trouble to me,” she mutters. “I've been in a fair bit of trouble in my day.” Then just like that she flicks the TV on and starts flipping the channels, acting like we're not there.

“Thank you,” I whisper, but she doesn't seem to hear me. Instead, she reaches her hand out and pulls a curtain around the edge of her bed. She gives me a wink and disappears behind the cloth.

“Don't send them to me when you get caught, though,” I hear her say.

I get up high enough so I can peer between the blinds on the window. If I angle just right I can see down the next hallway. Not very well, though. I can't see the lady or the door to the room. All I can see is the corner of her elbow, which appears and disappears from sight.

“Someone's watching Mama,” I say.

Izzy gets up on her tippy toes to peer out and Cam leans in.

“Is it a cop? I can't see,” he says.

“No, it's not a cop. I don't think.” I picture the lady sitting there. “She was reading a book. I don't think she's a nurse, either.”

“Not wearing a blue outfit like the rest of them?” Cam asks. He lets go of the blinds.

“Nope. I think she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.”

“Hrm.” This was not in the plan. Though we didn't really have one to begin with. Izzy slides PingPing over to the wall and starts talking to him under her breath.

“Don't be afraid, soldier,” she says, holding on to the sides of his arms.

“We need to lure her away from that door,” Cam says. I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. I peer out to see a nurse walking toward the nurse's station.

“Get down,” I hiss. We slide down next to Izzy, leaning our backs up against the wall. PingPing seems to look at me, telling me he can do it, if I let him. I glance at Cam and back at PingPing.

“You're kidding me, right?” Cam says, reading my thoughts.

“Kidding what?” Izzy says, looking confused.

“It's the only way,” I tell him.

The footsteps draw closer and I hold my breath. Then they recede and disappear down the hall.

“Okay,” Cam says.

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay what?” Izzy asks.

I pull the remote control from its spot around PingPing's neck. “Sorry, Izzy. PingPing's moment of glory has finally come.”

“Huh?” She stands up. “Where's he going?”

“He's going for a ride,” Cam explains, moving toward the door. He opens it a crack, kneels, and looks down the hallway. Izzy gives PingPing a hug. I pat him on the head, trying to tell myself we'll see him on the other side, but I'm not one hundred percent sure that that's true.

“Be brave,” Izzy says, looking into his LED eyes.

“We have a nurse's cart on the right,” Cam says. “If we can crash him into it, it may draw her away.” I move my hand from PingPing's head, make sure that Izzy isn't looking into his eyes, and flip on his power switch. He makes a little
wuw-whir, wuw-whir.
The TV that the old lady is watching gets louder. I smile. Nice to have someone on our side for once.

I wrap the RC lanyard around my neck and pull out the antenna. Cam comes over to me and picks up PingPing. Then he grabs the door handle and sets PingPing down next to him.

“Is it clear the other way?” Cam asks as he opens the door a crack. Izzy stands up on her tippy toes and looks through the window toward Mama's room.

“Clear this way,” she says. “Except for the guard.” Cam opens the door a little more. Just wide enough for PingPing to get out. I take a breath and put my thumb on the joystick.

“On your go, Cap'n,” Cam says, letting go of PingPing. My right thumb fires the joystick forward, then to the right as I steer him out the door. Cam slides it mostly closed and I go over so I can see PingPing racing down the hall to the nurse's cart.

I toggle the joystick, touching lightly left and right until he is barreling toward the nurse's station straight ahead.

“Collision course is acquired,” Cam says. “Impact in five, four, three, two.”

One flick with my left thumb and I lift PingPing's hands. They shoot straight up.

“One,” Cam says. A loud crash sounds as PingPing collides with the cart; his upturned hand gets caught on a loose bedpan and the next second I flip my left thumb again and he wings it into the air. It comes crashing down, collides with the tiles, and spins.
Ka-ping-wing-wing-wing.
I keep my right thumb pressed forward and PingPing glances off of the station, running it into the wall again and again. It becomes unsteady and sheets, a stethoscope, and some other metal tools skitter to the floor with every jostle.

“She's on the move,” Izzy says, letting go of the blinds. I watch as another piece of metal falls and slides under PingPing,
clinkclank.
The metal detector goes off.

Pling-tink, pling-tink, pling-tink.

I see a few heads pop out of the doors beyond the cart. Then footsteps sound and the guard passes us, the soles of her sneakers flashing quickly like warning lights.

“Please return to your rooms,” she tells everyone. “Nothing to see here.” Though it sounds like she isn't quite sure herself.

“Let's go,” Cam hisses. “We don't have much time.” He shifts his weight and slides the door open. I flip the remote control off and grab for Izzy's hand. We sneak low and quiet out the door and past the desk.
Room 15B, Observation.
I place my hand on the door handle, turn it, and step inside.

M
AMA.
S
HE'S LYING ON HER SIDE
facing away from the door, and all I can see are her big black curls cascading down her back. Her silver streaks seem dull, almost nonexistent here in the shadows.

Her voice tickles the darkness. “I don't want to go, now why are you doing that?” Quiet words.

I crush my eyelids closed. My throat is filled with stardust, jagged edges, dark matter. Something inside me cracks open.

“Mama?” I say real quiet. She breathes in sharply and tries to flip over.

“It's okay, it's okay,” I say, coming around the side of her bed. I can see her in the light spilling in the window. Her eyes are wide and rimmed with tears.

“Lucy?” Her voice has a low timbre to it, like she has been crying forever. Sharp-edged tears rubbing her throat raw.

Izzy comes over to me, and Cam stands watch at the door, peering out between the blinds, his head turning back and forth and back and forth.

“My girls,” Mama says.

I reach my hand into hers. And I look at my mama. My mama, who remembered my birthday. My mama, who took the biggest risk she could possibly take. My mama, who is chaos walking. My mama, trying the best she can. Same as me. My mama, full of love. She looks so sad, bruised and broken. And I look from her to Cam to Izzy. We all have our heads in the sand. Like that's all we've known for a long, long time. Like that's all we'll know for a long time to come. Gram's voice rings in my ears.
One second you're so high you can taste the sweetness of the Milky Way.
I want that. I want that for me, and Cam and Mama and Izzy. But we're not in any position to reach it. Not if others are going to make our decisions for us.

“You know,” Mama says, “they're gonna numb out my brain.”

Her pupils go in and out like a telescope lens trying to focus. I follow her gaze past my shoulder and out into the night. I go and slide the window open. It stops about an inch up. But I can hear the ocean. And a light breeze tickles my fingers, calling us on. When I turn back, Mama closes her eyes, and I can see the sounds of the ocean are soothing her. I look down to my waist, pull the journal from the front of my pants. I bring it to her and press it into her hand.

“Here's your notebook, Mama, and your poems.”

Her eyes flutter open and she smiles at me, but once again her gaze finds the sky over my shoulder. I look out at it, then over to Cam at his post by the door.

“Hey, Mighty Hawk, is it quiet out there?” I ask.

Cam leans toward the window and flicks the blinds apart with his index and middle finger. “Uh, negative, Juniper Ray. We have activity. A few patients out.”

“Could we get to the elevator?” I ask, hearing a lone seagull behind me.

Cam looks across the room at me, finally seeing what I'm getting at. A smile finds its way to one side of his lips. He nods. “Oh yeah, I'm sure of that. Nothing's impossible. If we want it bad enough.”

Izzy reaches up and squeezes my free hand.

“You want to go for a midnight ride, Mama?” I look at her, wondering if she understands me. Wondering if she can hear me through the fuzz. If she knows I'm here or if she's just talking to the world. I get down so that I can look her right in the eyes.

“A midnight ride?” I say. “You wanna go?”

And I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I swear that underneath the dark and dust, her eyes get a glimmer.

I wrap Mama in her blanket. As I tuck it in, she rolls up into a sitting position. I fold it around her shoulders and pull it over her back, so it's in a spiral around her. She grasps it at her shoulders, holding it in place.

“Mighty Hawk, if you don't want to be part of this, I totally understand,” I whisper.

“And let you have all the fun? Get off your high horse, Juniper Ray,” he says. He goes to the bed on the other side of the room, pulls the blanket from it, and fashions himself a cape. “You need me.”

“You're darn right I do,” I say as I pick up Izzy and put her on the edge of the bed.

“Mama,” she says, leaning forward. “You okay, Mama?” Mama reaches her blanketed arms out and Izzy finds a spot in between them, wrapped in a hug.

I hear Cam suck in a breath.

“We got a nurse at three o'clock.” He points to the right. I rush over to the window. We watch as she starts down the hallway, opening doors and peering in.

“We better go now,” I say.

I hurry to Mama's bed and flip the brake.

“We're going for a ride?” Izzy says.

“Yeah. You hang on tight,” I say, feeling like I'm a rocket ship getting ready for launch. I flex my feet, angle the bed. Cam takes a deep breath. “Juniper Ray?” Cam hisses. “This is Mighty Hawk.”

I hear a few voices in the hallway. I don't know where they are, but either way, we're getting ready to get out of here, so they best clear out.

“We got takeoff in five . . .”

I push forward slightly. Izzy claps her hands and Mama grips the bed railing with one hand.

“Four . . .” Cam inches the door open a tiny bit. I hear voices in the hallway. Footsteps.

“Three . . .” He goes silent and let's his fingers do the counting.
Two.
I lean forward.
One.
He tears the door open and we spill into the hallway.

We're on our way. Moving, running.

Chasing the Milky Way.