Runaways (17 page)

Picking up her pillow, Dani punched it hard, and the punch felt strong and certain, and the next morning she woke up feeling the same way. Hard and strong, and certain that she was going to run away very soon. Maybe Stormy and Pixie would be going too and maybe they wouldn’t, but it didn’t matter a bit one way or the other. Dani O’Donnell was definitely going to leave Rattler Springs for good and always, before that very week was over.

Getting out the beat-up old envelope from the back of her underwear drawer, Dani counted the money in the running-away fund. There was now, with the addition of the three dollars and eighteen cents left over from the cafe lunch, a total of forty dollars and twenty-five cents. Which would probably be just about enough for one person to get all the way to Sea Grove, if the one person didn’t spend much on anything else. Like food, for instance. Dani smiled grimly. All right, she’d go without food. Unlike some other people she knew, she didn’t consider stuffing her face the most important thing in life. Being careful to keep her jaw at a firmly determined angle, Dani got dressed and went to the kitchen to have breakfast.

It was late, but to Dani’s surprise Linda was still there, rinsing out a coffee cup at the sink. No sign of Stormy, though, which was another surprise. Right at first, when Linda said good morning, Dani just nodded, keeping her jaw set, even after she noticed the big platter of apple pancakes, her favorite breakfast. But after a moment she began to reconsider her decision to never speak to her mother again.

Not that she was any less angry. And certainly not that the apple pancakes made any difference. It was just that it suddenly occurred to her that, right at the moment, any sort of out-of-the-ordinary behavior might not be a good idea. For instance, anything that might make a certain person feel that she had to be especially watchful for the next few days.

So Dani forced herself to smile a little the next time her mother looked at her and then, just before Linda left the house, she even went so far as to mention that the apple pancakes were very good. Linda said, “I’m so glad,” in a surprised tone of voice and, as she left for work, she patted Dani on the shoulder. At the door she stopped once to say that she was going to try to get home from the bookshop a little early, and another time to ask, “Where do you suppose Stormy is? I made enough pancakes for him.”

Dani shrugged. “Yeah,” she said. “I noticed.”

Linda went out then, and a few minutes later Dani left too, on her way to the bus stop. Of course no bus ever arrived in Rattler Springs that early in the morning, and there were no buses at all on Wednesdays, but that didn’t matter. All she was planning to do at the moment was to check the most recent bus schedule, and perhaps ask Rosie Arlen, the post office/bus station operator, a few important questions. Questions like what time the Thursday bus usually got into Rattler Springs and, just in case Pixie or Stormy might be going too, at what age a person had to start paying the full adult fare.

Mrs. Arlen, sometimes known as Nosey Rosie, had sold bus tickets as well as stamps for as long as Dani could remember. She was a large, round woman with several double chins and eyebrows that were plucked out and penciled in. Everybody said she knew everything about everybody in Rattler Springs, and what she didn’t know she was determined to find out one way or another. But Dani wasn’t too worried. Nosey Rosie could be pretty sneaky, all right, but so could Dani O’Donnell.

She began by looking around the post office. At the public notices and wanted posters and things like that, as if she were just killing time without having anything particular in mind. She looked at the bus schedule notice too, but she knew better than to take what it said as the final word. She’d lived in Rattler Springs long enough to know that buses seldom arrived there on time. When she finally strolled over to the counter the first thing she asked was whether the Thursday bus from Las Vegas had been getting in on time recently.

“Oh my, no,” Mrs. Arlen said. “Not recently. They’re supposed to be here between five and six in the afternoon but in this kind of weather they usually have to stop along the road to keep from overheating. Lately they’ve been getting in pretty much any time from five to midnight.”

“Oh,” Dani said. “I was just wondering.” She started to leave then, or pretended to, before she turned back and asked, “Do nine-year-olds have to pay the full adult fare?”

Mrs. Arlen narrowed her eyes and said, “No, my dear, nine-year-olds don’t pay adult fare.” She leaned forward then and, arching her penciled-in eyebrows, she added, “But we both know you’re a bit older than that. Don’t we, missy?”

Dani thought about asking if she also knew that people with fat faces oughtn’t to wear skinny eyebrows, but she didn’t. Instead she only unclenched her teeth enough to say she knew she was too old for a children’s ticket but that she was just asking for a friend. She left then and headed back toward the cabin, but as she was going past the Grand Hotel she ran into another of Rattler Springs’ charming residents, Ronnie Grabler.

Ronnie, who had been leaning against one of the posts that held up the Grablers’ private awning, stepped out into the middle of the sidewalk and put out an arm to block her path.

“So?” Dani said, giving him her coldest stare. “What do you want?”

Ronnie’s grin was just as sinister as always. “Guess you heard the news already,” he said.

“What news is that?” Dani asked.

“The news that my folks are going to buy your mother’s ranch.”

“Is that what you heard?” Dani asked. And then, to her own surprise and shock, she heard herself adding, “What I heard was that your folks’ offer was ridiculous and my mom’s going to turn it down.”

“Oh yeah?” Ronnie’s pudgy face twisted into a bulldog snarl. “And what I heard was that if your mom does that, my folks are going to raise the rent on a certain old cabin.” He chuckled evilly. “I mean, you folks can’t expect to live in a famous place like that for peanuts. So what I heard is my folks are going to raise that there rent a whole lot. That’s what I heard.”

“Is that so?” Dani could feel a hot, red tide of anger oozing across her face. “Sounds like a Grabler trick, all right. Folks don’t call you guys the Grabby Grablers for nothing.” It wasn’t a very smart thing to say. She knew that Ronnie didn’t mind hitting girls, because she’d seen him do it. So in the split second it took him to figure out just how angry he ought to be, she ducked under his arm and ran.

D
ANI RAN, AND A
moment later she began to hear a clomping noise, as Ronnie came out of his trance and came after her. The heavy thud of boots was beginning to gain on her as she reached the entrance to the General Store and, on a sudden impulse, darted inside. It wasn’t a well-thought-out move. The store, after all, was Grabler property and if anybody was there they’d probably be on Ronnie’s side. But halfway down the aisle that separated hardware from groceries Dani suddenly knew where she was headed—behind the lunchroom counter, through the kitchen and out through the service door. The back door that opened directly onto the truck alley, and the path that led to the cabin. And then, unless a Grabler or one of their employees stopped her, she’d be safely home.

For once her luck held. No one the least bit dangerous was in the store. No one at all except for one plump, middle-aged clerk, way up on a ladder arranging things on a high shelf. Dani had time for a quick glimpse of a startled face way up above the grocery shelves as she dashed down the aisle, ducked under the lunch counter and darted into the kitchen. But it was there that her plan fell apart. The service door was locked.

Dani jerked frantically at the locked door as the sound of Ronnie’s voice yelling questions at the clerk, and then the thud of his boots, got closer and louder. Definitely locked. She glanced around desperately, thinking, “Key? Key? No key. Another way out? Yes.” She ran again then, across the kitchen to an alcove that opened into a short, dark hallway, and at its end some narrow wooden stairs that led up to another even darker hall. Dani had run up the stairs and was feeling her way, her eyes not yet adjusted to the lack of light, when suddenly something grabbed her from behind and jerked her backward, gasping and struggling, through a doorway.

“Shhh,” a familiar voice was saying. “Be quiet.” It was Stormy.

“Stormy,” Dani said, “what on earth …”

“Shhh,” he said again. “Listen.”

She hushed then and listened. A series of thumps and thuds and clatters seemed to be coming from somewhere down below.

“Ronnie?” Stormy whispered, and Dani nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “He was chasing me. But what’s he doing? What’s all that racket?”

“He’s in the kitchen,” Stormy said. “I think he’s looking for you in the kitchen.”

The thuds and clatters made sense then and Dani almost giggled, picturing Ronnie pawing through cupboards and closets.

But Stormy’s voice still sounded worried. “He’ll look here,” he whispered. “He’ll look here too.”

He was probably right. Dani glanced around quickly. In the dim light of a tiny window she could barely make out a room the size of a large closet with nothing in it except a stack of wooden boxes and a narrow iron cot. Suddenly Stormy was pushing her toward the cot.

“Under the bed,” he whispered urgently. “Hurry. He’s coming.”

It was stifling hot under the cot, the air thick with dust. Dani’s heart was pounding so hard that it seemed to shake the floor. Fighting the possibility of a sneeze, and the even greater possibility of suffocation, she forced herself back against the wall, while above her head the metal springs of the cot squeaked rustily and then were still. Stormy had gotten back into the bed. There were footsteps on the stairs, then closer. The door banged open and a light blazed. Feet came into Dani’s line of vision. Big feet in fancy cowboy boots.

“Hey, kid,” Ronnie was saying, “did anyone come up here just now? Did you see anyone?”

The springs squeaked again and Stormy’s voice said sleepily, “Nobody’s here. Nobody’s here ’cept me. I’m sick.”

“Yeah?” Ronnie said. “You telling the truth?” The boots came closer. “You better not be lying to me, kid.” The springs creaked noisily.

“Turn me loose,” Stormy said. “You’re choking me. You better turn me loose.”

“Oh yeah?” Ronnie laughed sarcastically. “I’d better, huh? Who’s gonna make me?”

“Yeah.” Stormy’s voice had gone high and breathless. “You’d better. I might be catching. Like polio, maybe.”

Ronnie laughed again, but the boots moved quickly back away from the bed and, a second later, went out the door. When the sound of footsteps on the stairs had died away, Stormy said, “Okay. You can come out now.”

Pushing herself through clouds of choking dust, Dani crawled out and began to brush herself off. Stormy was sitting on the edge of the bed. He was wearing a huge baggy T-shirt instead of regular pajamas, and his feet and legs were bare. And now, in the brighter light, it was easy to see that he really did look sick. His whole face looked damp and pale, and there was a greenish tinge to his skin. Even his freckles seemed to have faded.

Dani stopped dusting and stared. “What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong with you? Do you really have …”

Stormy shook his head. “Not polio,” he said. “Shrimp. Brenda’s shrimp salad.”

“Brenda fed you some bad shrimp salad?”

“Nope. She threw it out. But I found it.”

“Food poisoning!” Dani was horrified. “You have food poisoning!”

Stormy’s grin looked almost normal. “Not anymore,” he said. “I threw it up.”

“You’re sure you’re all right now?”

Stormy nodded confidently. “Now I am,” he said.

Dani was really glad he was going to be all right, but the whole thing was getting to be slightly disgusting. Eating spoiled shrimp, and … She looked around. And the tiny, dusty room too. A bedroom that had probably been a storage closet for the old hotel. And only too obviously, the one thing it never had been was dusted. No wonder Stormy never wanted anyone to see where he lived.

“So this is your room?” Dani asked. “Yours—and your mother’s?”

“No.” Stormy looked offended. “My mother’s room’s down the hall.” He pointed. “She got a big room.” Suddenly he was looking uneasy. “You better go,” he said.

“I will,” Dani said. “But I have to tell you something first. Something very, very important.”

Stormy nodded, looking serious and solemn. “Tell me,” he said.

Lowering her voice, Dani said, “I’m leaving tomorrow. On the afternoon bus to Reno. I’m leaving tomorrow for Sea Grove.”

Stormy stared at her for a long time without asking or arguing. He seemed to know she really meant it. After a long time he swallowed hard and said, “All right. Me too. I’m going too.”

“Stormy,” Dani said. “You can’t. There isn’t enough money. There’s just barely enough for one person.”

Stormy grabbed her arm. “But Pixie’s going to get some more. For her birthday. She said so.”

Dani sighed. “I know. She thinks she is. But her birthday isn’t until next week. And she doesn’t know when the money will come. I can’t wait.”

Stormy was still clutching her arm. “I’ll come too,” he said. “I’ll get some money. You can’t go without me. I won’t …” He hushed then, saying, “Shhh. Listen.”

Dani heard it then too. There were footsteps on the stairs again, but not the same kind of footsteps. Instead of a heavy thudding noise it was now a series of hard, sharp clicks. Sounds that might be made by someone in very high heels.

Pushing her back away from the door, Stormy put his finger to his lips and whispered, “Shhh. Stay here.” Then he turned out the light and went out into the hall.

Standing there against the wall in the dimly lit room, Dani could hear voices, a woman’s voice asking questions, and Stormy’s answering. Hearing the voices, but not quite what they were saying, she suddenly felt frightened without knowing why. It was only Gloria out there, she was pretty sure of that. Only Stormy’s mother, old Gorgeous Gloria.

What she should do, she told herself, was to open the door and walk out there and say, “Hi.” Just say hello and tell Gloria the truth, that Ronnie had chased her and she’d run up there to get away from him. Anybody who knew Ronnie Grabler would understand that. That was what she ought to do, and she would have too, except for a mysterious feeling that tightened her throat, froze the muscles in her arms and legs and forced her to go on standing there in the dark, motionless and silent. Made her stay right where she was in the tiny, stifling hot room until the voices stopped and, at last, Stormy came back into the room.