The Boarding House (3 page)

“What?”

“You saved my life.”

“I know.”

“We’re awful muddy now. Momma’s gonna pitch a fit.”

“We’ll wash the mud off in the creek, and our clothes will be dry by the time we get home.”

Ellie nodded then started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Wyatt muttered.

“We aren’t supposed to get in the water, but now we have to take a bath in the creek or Momma will know what we did.”

Wyatt grinned. “So let’s get going.”

Ellie carefully pulled herself upright, and then crawled on her hands and knees to a more level spot before heading for the water.

A small turtle had taken up residence on an outcropping of rocks, positioning itself in such a way to catch the few rays of sun coming down through the canopy.

“See, even the turtle is drying out,” Wyatt said as they reached the creek. “Take your shoes and socks off. I’ll wash off the mud.”

“We’ll have to take our clothes off, too,” Ellie said. “I know how to scrub. I watched Momma do it in the sink.”

Wyatt shrugged. Getting naked was no big deal to him, but Ellie didn’t like it.

“What if someone sees us?” Wyatt asked.

Normally, it would have been Ellie asking that question, but today felt safe. The monster only lived in the house. It didn’t come to the creek.

“We can hurry,” Ellie said and quickly stripped. Wyatt cleaned up their shoes, then Ellie took the clothes down to the creek and knelt by the water.

Her naked limbs were snow-white and thin, like the trunks of new cottonwood saplings. Her hair brushed against her shoulders as she bent over the water, scrubbing the pieces of the clothing back and forth, just like she’d watched Momma do.

The water was cold, but the sun was warm against her back. She could feel the tickle of new grass against her legs and feet where she knelt. She liked the damp, earthy smells of moss and mud, and the rush of blood coursing through her body, keeping pace with the runoff from the rain. It made her feel alive and clean.

She thought about asking Preacher Ray on Sunday if she could get washed in the creek instead of being washed in the blood. It seemed like a less messy option.

“Are you done?” Wyatt asked.

“Soon as I wring out my shirt.”

She was reaching for her panties when she heard her Daddy’s first shout.

“Ellie! Where are you?”

She froze.

Wyatt shook her. “Get dressed.”

Every piece of clothing she tried to put on was too wet. It either stuck to her skin or she couldn’t find an opening. And all the while, Daddy kept coming closer.

“Ellie! Answer me. I know you’re here.”

Ellie moaned. “Oh no, oh no, I can’t get them on.”

Wyatt was in a panic. He kept trying to pull at the tiny bits of clothing. Finally, he found the neck of her T-shirt and yanked it over her head. “Your arm. Put your arm in here.”

At that moment, Garrett stopped at the top of the creek bank and looked down. The fact that his daughter was naked and standing at the verge of the rushing water nearly stopped his heart. She’d fallen in.

“Ellie,” he yelled and started down through the trees, crashing through brush as he ran.

Ellie’s legs gave way. “It’s too late. It’s too late.”

“Stand up, Ellie,” Wyatt begged, then saw the thin stream of urine running out from between her knees and realized she was already gone.

He turned to face his father, his fists doubled.

“Ellie. What happened? Did you fall in?”

When Garrett reached for Ellie, Wyatt swung, his fist connecting with the side of Garrett’s jaw. Granted, it wasn’t much of a blow, but it was unexpected enough that Garrett stopped.

“Don’t touch her,” Wyatt yelled.

Garrett’s eyes narrowed angrily. “Don’t touch her?”

“You heard me,” Wyatt shouted.

“Ellie, get up. You’re going to get sick out here without any clothes,” Garrett said.

“She’ll put them on. I’m gonna help her,” Wyatt said. “You just stay back and let me do it.”

“Wyatt, you need to shut up. I’m the father, not you. Back off. I need to tend to Ellie.”

Garrett began unbuttoning his shirt to put around Ellie.

Wyatt started to panic. Daddy was too big and he wasn’t listening.

“I’ll do it,” Wyatt said. “Just leave Ellie alone.”

Garrett’s eyes narrowed. “Do what?”

“Whatever you want,” Wyatt said, and tried not to shudder when Garrett smiled.

“You know what I want,” Garrett whispered.

Wyatt could hear Ellie panting, like a dog that had run too far and too fast. Bowing to the inevitable, he quietly gave up.

“It’s okay, Ellie. Hide your face,” he said.

Ellie was praying. She was always praying, but Wyatt already knew it didn’t do any good. God was always busy when Daddy wanted to play.

“School’s out! School’s out! Teacher let the mules out!”

Ellie winced as a third grader ran screaming past her, shouting the chant at the top of his lungs. Stupid third grader. Stupid boy. All boys were stupid—except for Wyatt.

She hurried through the crowded hallway while keeping an eye out for Wyatt and was all the way out the door before she heard his voice.

“Hey Ellie, wait up,” Wyatt said.

Ellie stopped. “I was looking for you.”

“Now you found me. Race you home,” Wyatt said and tore out running.

Ellie squealed.

It was heaven, running as fast as she could go with the sun in her eyes and the wind in her hair—running away from tedium toward an endless summer of lazy days. She could hear the
slap slap
sound of her tennis shoes on the sidewalk—felt the thump of her heartbeat in her ears—and then something wet running down the inside of her leg.

That wasn’t right.

Ellie stopped, and then ran up onto a neighbor’s yard and hid behind part of their hedge. “Wyatt!”

Immediately, he was at her side. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I peed my pants.”

“We’re almost home. You can change. It’s no big deal. You know what Momma says. Your bladder is weak.”

Ellie’s voice was shaking as she took a tissue out of her backpack. “Momma thinks everything about me is weak.”

She lifted her skirt just far enough that she could wipe off the trickle running down her leg, but when she pulled the tissue out from underneath her hem, she gasped.

It was blood red.

“Oh no! Wyatt, I think I’m dying.”

Wyatt sighed. “Naw
 . . .
you’re only twelve. Remember what they said about girls in health class? I bet you’re getting your period.”

Ellie was shaking as she stuffed the telltale tissue deep into her backpack. “Are you sure?”

Wyatt shrugged. “I’m not a girl. Just ask Momma when you get home.”

Ellie nodded, checked herself one more time, and then slipped out from behind the hedge and started home at a more stately pace. If this was true—if she was truly getting her period, then this might be the best thing that would ever happen to her.

“I hope it is,” Ellie said. “And you know why.”

“No. Why?”

Ellie glanced over her shoulder to make sure no other kids were close behind them. Then she lowered her voice. “Think about. If this is my period, then that means doing it can make me have a baby.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So Daddy will have to stop the games. Right? They have to be a secret, but if he made a baby it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”

Wyatt grinned. “I never thought of that. Maybe you’re right. Come on. Let’s walk faster. I think I heard Doris say she was making cookies this afternoon. Maybe they’ll still be warm when we get home.”

Ellie giggled. This might become the best summer ever, a training bra, cookies in the afternoons, and no more secret games.

Doris Bailey had been hired
two years earlier after Fern appeared in the kitchen one morning and announced that God had come to her in the night and told her she was not to cook anymore. She’d stayed firm, despite Garrett’s shock and displeasure, claiming she knew it was her duty to obey her husband, but that God trumped Garrett, and if he wanted to eat, he’d better hire them a cook. And while he was at it, make sure she was also willing to clean house, because Fern had a premonition that God was going to take her off that duty as well.

Garrett had fussed and fumed, but an empty refrigerator and no clean work clothes had ended the standoff in a timely fashion. Doris had been here long enough now that she was almost a part of the family, except that she didn’t sleep in the house.

By the time Ellie and Wyatt
ran through the back door into the kitchen, they were breathless. Just as Wyatt had predicted, Doris had made cookies—soft, chewy oatmeal cookies with raisins. Wyatt’s favorite.

“Yum,” Wyatt shouted and grabbed two from the counter where they were cooling.

Doris smiled. She liked kids, and while this family was a little strange, she was the kind of woman who didn’t poke into other people’s business.

“Where’s Momma?” Ellie asked.

“In her room, I think,” Doris said. “But she might be napping.”

“Well, she’s gonna have to wake herself up then, ’cause I have an announcement she needs to hear.”