Sojourner (4 page)

Nodding, I step into the room and close the door, looking from one face to the other, waiting for someone to break the silence.

“Is this because I fell asleep during first hour?” 

“You fell asleep in class?” Jimmie asks, his irritated gaze snapping to my face.  As he sits there, his fingers clench the arm rests of the chair.

“Guess not,” I mutter, wishing I hadn’t said anything.

“No, Ms. Moon, you aren’t in trouble.”  The two men exchange pointed glances.  “I was just informed that your locker has some defacement in it, and I felt obligated to call your guardian.”

“Oh.”  I say, “It’s no big deal.”  I shrug my shoulders, trying to pretend it hasn’t upset me.   Who would have told the principal?  Griffin?  He was the only one who saw it.

“It damn sure bothers me,” Jimmie all but yells.  It seems that only his fingers clenching the armrest hold him in place.  “What I want to know is what you plan to do to make sure the harassment stops.  You don’t have a clue who the idiot is, do you?”

“Mr. Abram, I assure you that this will be handled satisfactorily, and your charge will be looked after.  We do not tolerate this kind of behavior here.”  Mr. Williams stiffens and I can tell by his rigid posture he struggles not to lose control.

“The janitor is cleaning the mirror as we speak, and, if the words cannot be removed, I will replace the mirror,” he says, turning to me.  “And then I will find out who is responsible and deal with them so it won’t happen again.”

  “Yeah, sure.  I grew up in this godforsaken town with Lizzie’s mother and father.  I saw just how much of this kind of behavior was tolerated, thank you so much, and I won’t stand for it.  I never even would have moved back here if I hadn’t had so much trouble selling my mom’s house, and I can tell you that once that happens, we will be leaving because Lizzie deserves better.”  He rises and starts to the door before turning back and waving a warning finger.  “And one more thing.  If this doesn’t stop or if Lizzie gets hurt, I’ll make sure the lawsuit is so big, your school district will shut its doors.  Do we understand each other?”

Jimmie’s talking about the year Mom died in a car wreck, and Dad disappeared a few months later.  Jimmie tried to get the law involved, but it’s pretty amazing sometimes what skin color gets in the way of.  My father was never found.

“We understand each other perfectly,” Mr. Williams says in a tightly restrained voice.  He, too, stands and shoves his hands in his pockets, probably because he isn’t so sure he can be responsible for them if he doesn’t occupy them.  His smoldering eyes glance at me, and I can feel his frustration centering on the half-breed this town would have been much better off without.  I always wanted to be like my dad.  Guess I got my wish.

The final bell rings, and I grit my teeth, barely restraining my own frustration.  Mr. Maguire enters the office, carrying his plan book.  Then I notice Jimmie’s looking at him strangely, and my history teacher is awkwardly meeting his gaze.

“Jimmie, is that you?”  Maguire speaks first, his eyebrows furrowing in a frown.

“Yeah, Barry.  It’s me.”  Jimmie extends his hand and they shake.

“Been here long?”

“Not very.  We just came back.”

Maguire looks at me.  “Is this Anne’s Selby’s little girl?”  His gaze seems to center on me in a different way.  I’d say with more interest and warmth, but his pleasant expression doesn’t really seem to reach his eyes.

“Yeah.  This is Lizzie.”

“We’ve met.  In first period,” I say, turning to Jimmie.  I shake my head.  Everybody knew my mother.  From what I hear she was so beautiful she could have had any man.  And she settled for an Indian.  Was it possible that Mr. Maguire even had a thing for her?  Uncomfortable, I shake away that thought.

“Are you ready?” I ask Jimmie.

“Yeah.”  I can feel his eyes burning into me, and I’m waiting for the conversation that’s coming once we clear the building and all these people.  He holds it together until we reach my Jeep. 

“Why didn’t you call me when you opened that locker door?” he demands, standing in front of the driver door so I can’t get in.  Usually Jimmie is pretty good at keeping private things private, but right now he’s angry and worried sick.  He hates this town as much as I do.  So he doesn’t notice Griffin hovering at his own vehicle, a Porsche.  Should have known.

“It was a joke, Jimmie.  A stupid joke.”

“Like hell,” he spits, shaking his head.  “It’s an attempt to see how you’re going to react Lizzie.  They need to know it’s not okay.  Maybe I couldn’t do anything about your parents and the things they had to go through in this same high school, but this time it will be different.  If I have to go up there every day, wreak havoc on all the school board members’ lives.  Whatever it takes, you will not have to face that.”

“No harm, no foul,” I say, raising my hands in surrender.  Griffin is now peering with open amusement at Jimmie’s rant, shaking his head as though he can’t really believe anybody’s parents actually do this.

“Any ideas who did it?”

“No.  I met a few kids, but I don’t really think any of them hate me.  So your guess is as good as mine.”

He forces himself to take a calming breath and try to shake off the anger.  “Sorry, Lizzie.  This small-town hatred just sends me over the edge.  I wish we’d never returned to this place.  So what’s this about you falling asleep in class?”  He arches one eyebrow, demanding an answer.  “I thought you were sleeping okay.”

“I am.  It’s that all the unpacking and moving are tiring, Jimmie.”  From my peripheral vision, I see Griffin get into his sports car.  He revs the engine loudly, causing us both to face the noise.

“Let me guess, a Hauser kid, right?”  He nods toward the Porsche, open disgust on his face.

“Yeah, Griffin Hauser,  stud and all around gift to women.”  My tone is laced with enough sarcasm that even Jimmie laughs.

“I guess I don’t have to worry about you with stupid teenage guys.  You act just like your momma.  God help the first jerk who gets on your bad side.”  He pats my shoulder.  “Let’s go home, Lizzie.”

“I’ll be there in a few.  I just want to go by the cemetery and see Mom’s grave.”

A frown hoods his eyes, and he’s looking at me very strangely, like he’s not happy about my newfound interest.  My mom’s been dead so long, he’s sure that’s not it.

“You’ve never been to her grave before.  You want me to come?”

 I shake my head.  “No, I’ll be fine.”  I’m not about to tell him that I’m looking for a teenage boy, not my mom’s grave.  I want to see if Lev is there.  It’s a long-shot, but it’s definitely worth freezing my butt off for.  I shove the key into the door and unlock it.

“Just be careful.”  I can tell by the hard set of his jaw and his stiffness, he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving me to my own devices.  Although Jimmie’s not my dad, he’s the only father I can remember, and he tries hard to do all the right things, which tells me that if he’s this nervous about this town, he’s got a good reason, and maybe the graffiti isn’t just a joke.

I climb into the Jeep and start the engine.  He’s still standing there when I pull out of the parking lot, and Jimmie has gone to his car and started it as I drive to the cemetery.  Although I don’t know where Mom’s grave is, I will look.  After I find Lev.

As I climb out of the Jeep, I see the first hesitant snowflakes gently tumble from the sky, gracefully dotting the landscape.  At first I think I’m just imagining them so I look harder.  Nope, it’s really snowing, and judging from the puffed out clouds, these first few flakes are the beginning of the snowstorm that Jimmie has threatened.

A cold wind cuts through me, and I zip my coat, tucking my long hair into the hood that I draw around my face, trying to retain all the warmth I can.  Here goes nothing, I think.   My hands are freezing.  The harsh breeze chaps my dry lips, and for just a split second I contemplate returning to the Jeep and picking this up before school tomorrow.

That’s when I spot the house just past the large bridge at the border of the cemetery.  The house is almost completely  hidden by a line of bushes.  Curious, I head toward a single-lane bridge over a frozen river, probably pretty deep in places.  It’s hard to tell because of the ice covering it.  Although most bridges have safety rails, this one is old enough so that besides the support beams, there is nothing blocking the water below.  Holes in the wood beams suggest a rail was there at one time but it has been removed.  The bridge itself is slick with ice, and in a smarter moment, I would have thought twice about crossing it.  Today just isn’t that smarter moment.  Desperate to explore, I scurry across it.  My feet hit a patch of ice.  I try to regain my balance.  Then I fall toward the side as open as the sky.  I reach for some part of the rail and grasp air.

I plummet toward the river.  I think it will be cold, but I’m not expecting the slam of my right hip and shoulder against the ice.  Then the cold.  Shocked, I inhale, trying to flail upwards.  The water is deeper than I thought.  I can’t breathe.

Chapter Three

Something grabs me, yanking me upwards.  I’m cold. So cold.  My body shakes violently and my teeth chatter.  I have no control over them.  Arms lift me.

“Elizabeth?  Can you hear me?”

The voice is strange.  Deep and rich.

“Open your eyes.”  The voice is more desperate.

I blink.  Lev.  He exhales in relief and shakes his head.  “Only one river, and you fall in.”   Another heavy sigh.  “Let’s get you inside.”

He’s carrying me.  My head rests against his chest, and his clothes are just as wet as mine.  My eyes are heavy and want to close.

“Hey!” he says, jostling me.  “Nap time was history class.  You’ve got to stay awake.” 

“It’s c…cold.”  I look at him, expecting his face to be flushed from the cold water, but his complexion is golden.  Even his breath is slow and calm.

“I know.  The house is just ahead.  Then we’ll get you warm and dried, but you have to stay awake.”  He frowns at me and swallows hard, his dark blue eyes full of something I can’t read.  Whatever emotion it is, it hurts, and it seems as though it’s aimed at me.

“I…I know you” I whisper as we reach the house.  He twists the doorknob with one hand and pushes it open with the other.

“Course you do.  We have history together.”  He offers a smile and then shifts his attention.  “Celia?  I need help!”

A girl with the same golden blonde hair appears.  She’s much shorter than I am, her body so demure she looks like a delicate ballerina.  Her hair falls in tight ringlets around her oval face, framing soft perfect features.  It hurts to look at her.  His sister, perhaps?

“What happened?”

“She slipped off the bridge.  She’s freezing.”

“Take her to the bathroom while I get a change of clothes.  Start her a warm bath and I’ll be right there.”

“Okay.”  He carries me through the house to a hallway and turns into the doorway on the left.   Once inside, he looks me in the eye. “I need to set you on the counter so I can start the bath, okay?”

The moment he releases me, I feel the shudders ripping through my body grow more desperate.  In the background, I hear water running.  Everything blurs and feels funny.  The world starts to tilt.  Then his hands grip my arms.

“Hey, there, no falling off,” he says.  I can hear a forced calm in his tone. 

“Okay, I’ve got her,” Celia says. 

“I’ll be right outside.”  He squeezes my arm.  “Cee will take care of you.”