THREE
“Ok.”
()()()
Candy hobbled into the kitchen. Steam was hovering hazily above the table and sitting in the chairs. Everything smelled of spices and fish. She could hear it sizzling on the fire, and there was Jordan, with fingers in the flames. She was poking the fish with a spoon and whispering to it. “Almost done,” she whispered, to the fish.
“Hi.” Candy said. Her voice sounded strange.
Jordan turned. “Oh… Candy,” she breathed. She ran across the kitchen and wrapped her arms tightly around her. She felt her forehead and laughed at the bulky little curtain rod crutch and kissed her a million times on the cheek and nose and face.
She helped her walk over to the Chairman, who was rocking back and forth, looking at a book but not reading the words. He laughed and smiled when he saw her. The wrinkles in his face were so deep now, Candy realized. His eyes were failing, too.
He put his old soft hands around Candy’s face and whispered, “Rebecca,” like he always did. Apparently Candy looked like her.
Jordan whispered to him, “Candy broke her leg, but she’s feeling better now.”
The Chairman nodded, but there was no understanding in his eyes. There never was.
Candy pulled his hands away. “Bye… Sean,” she muttered. Saying his name seemed to make him happy.
He smiled at her and looked back down at his book.
Jordan touched Candy’s shoulder. “The Su’s will be here in an hour, or so. Go rest. Or go outside, with Davey. Oh, that reminds me.” Jordan opened the window and stuck her head out. “DAVEY!” She shouted. A bird screamed and flew out of a bush. “Davey! Come get the list!”
Davey’s head appeared on the other side of the window. “Can Candy come with me?”
“Sure,” Jordan said. “And don’t spend too much.” She pressed the list into his hand, turned away, and started rooting talking to the fish again.
“I never do. Come on Candy,” Davey smiled at her. His eyes snapped down to her leg and back up again. “You made a crutch out of a curtain rod?” he asked, grinning at the same time.
Candy grinned back and hobbled outside to join him. He had Elephant with a rope around his neck, trotting after them, oinking furiously at a butterfly.
()()()
“The pig seems cute,” Arista said. She took a sip of water.
“He is,” Caroline said, smiling. “Very cute.”
“Is?” Arista asked. “You still have him?”
Caroline kept smiling. “He’s at my apartment.”
Julie started laughing. Arista’s eyes were still wide. “You have a pet… pig? At your apartment?” She leaned forward, chin resting on her hands. “You mean, he survived the earthquake?”
“I think so. It might be a different one, but it could be him. I guess. It doesn’t really matter.” Caroline shrugged.
“Well, you should bring him sometime. I’d like to meet him.”
“Maybe I will,” Caroline said. But she knew she wouldn’t. “Anyway.”
()()()
Candy read the list aloud as they walked down the road. “Eggs,” she said.
Davey was pulling the wheelbarrow with one hand and holding her hand with the other. He had a warm, strong, big-brother hand.
“Pig feet?” Candy rubbed her eyes. “Hmm. Okay.”
Elephant oinked from the wheelbarrow. He was sitting with his hooves on the edge and his ears flapping in the wind, like a dog with its tongue lolling out of the car window.
“Three spoonfuls of dried asparagus.”
“Sounds gross,” Davey said with a laugh.
The wheels of the wheelbarrow crunched on the leaves. They must have fallen last night. Candy kicked a stone away with her crutch. Two people appeared on the road ahead of them, joking loudly and laughing louder.
One of them shouted, “is that a pig?” Laughing and clapping their hands. The one who had spoken was small with short black hair and ebony skin. She had a crooked, mischievous smile and was chewing on a piece of gum. The other was awkwardly tall, silvery-blonde, with a smattering of freckles and big blue eyes. She had a large nose.
Davey mumbled, “Yeah....” But stopped when the short girl jumped up and hugged him, feet dangling in the air. He hugged her back. Then he hugged the tall girl. Then he asked, “Where’s Daniel?”
The short one blew a bubble. It popped, and sounded ridiculously loud. She said, “He’s working,” and shrugged. “Who’s this?” she asked, turning to Candy. “Your sister?”
“I’m Caroline,” Candy said, fiddling with her skirt. “But everyone calls me Candy.” Elephant oinked.
“Hello, Candy,” the short girl said, in a husky, deep voice. “I’m Victoria, but everyone calls me Vicky. And that’s Flora,” she pointed to the tall girl. “Nice to meet you.” She popped another pink bubble. “What happened to your leg?”
Candy had almost forgotten about her leg. “I fell in the woods.”
“That’s too bad,” Flora said. Her voice was small and dreamy, like a whisper or a breath of wind.
“Where are you going?” Vicky asked. “We were just heading home, but we could come with you. Or… well, my dad just fixed his truck. Twenty miles? It can take us twenty miles. Tonight, tomorrow, doesn’t matter.” There was hunger in her eyes. “Please? We can’t go without you.”
Twenty miles? To where? The only thing that was twenty miles away was Cherrytown, if you followed the little dirt road. And beyond that, the big city, where her mom was… Did Vicky want to go there?
Davey looked at the ground. “After Thanksgiving.”
Vicky crossed her arms. “You told us you would come once summer started. And then you said you would come when summer was over. What’s next? Christmas? Do you even want to come?” She took his hand. “I won’t leave without you. Not without Flora, and Daniel, and you. Never. Never.”
“I’m coming,” Flora whispered. “And Daniel said he hates this place. He doesn’t have anything here to miss, besides you.”
“After Thanksgiving,” Davey said again. Vicky dropped his hand.
“Fine,” she said. “Well, where are you going? We’re coming with you.”
Davey pulled the list out of his pocket. “Jordan sent me to get… eggs, pig feet, asparagus, stinky cheese…”
“What?” Vicky laughed. “Give me that!” She snatched the list out of his hand. “Pig feet? Is she going to use those to make the fish look more appealing?”
Davey snorted. He pulled her close to him and plucked the paper back out of her hand. “I don’t think anything could do that. How did you know we had fish?”
“Everyone has fish,” Flora said. “Have you been to Mrs. Apple’s place? It’s all gone. We’ll starve if we stay here until Christmas, Davey.”
Was that true? Could that be true? No, Jordan would have told them, surely, and they would have left by now, if that was true. She wouldn’t let them starve.
The cotton candy clouds had turned into dark, misshapen shadows eating up the horizon. Vicky saw a dinosaur, a dog, and a donut.. Davey saw a tiny dragon. Flora saw a turtle. Candy saw a butterfly. Elephant oinked happily. Vicky and Flora and Davey were holding hands.
When they got to the little row of shops, Hunchback Paul waved at them and Crazy Samantha giggled. Vicky smiled at them, and Candy decided that she liked her. No one else ever smiled at Crazy Samantha except for Davey. Samantha grinned at them, exposing her black teeth.
The fountain in the middle of the street had run out of water, and now was just a useless stone fish. Candy ran her fingers along its teeth. “Sorry, Rosie,” she said, and ran to catch up with the others.
Mrs. Apple was an old woman with gray hair and a wrinkled little face, like a raisin. She was wearing a pink hat with little paper flowers on it, and the smile was as bright as the flowers. Her eyes had never aged, Grandfather said, they were the same as the day he had kissed her, fifty-seven years ago, and she had slapped him.
“Hi!”
“Hello.”
“Hey!”
They said.
“Sam, go help them!” Mrs. Apple yelled across the room. She was sorting through little necklaces that were all laid out on a table. The walls all around the place were stuffed full of little trinkets and clothes and mugs and books and paintings, all coated in a thin layer of dust, probably because not many people were buying.
A boy who must be Sam ran across the shop with his arms full of boxes. “Coming, mom!” he shouted, putting the boxes down and suddenly looking at Candy. His eyes were bright and blue, just like his mothers, and full of mischief and laughter. He smiled crookedly. His hair was as crooked as his smile, and he was standing crookedly, too. But that wasn’t a bad thing. Candy smiled back.
()()()
“Oooh, romance!” Arista said, gleefully, clapping her hands.
Caroline rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t call it that.”
“Why are you always so negative?” Arista muttered. She glanced at her nails.
Caroline crossed her arms. “Take a guess.”
“Girls!” Julie stood and yelled, “We’d like to finish this segment before lunch. Concentrate!” Then she went back to her salad.
Caroline glared at Arista and Arista quickly glared back. “You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, as if it was the worst thing she could think of to say.
()()()
“A dozen eggs, four pig feet, asparagus, gorgonzola, milk, and a pack of pencils,” Mrs. Apple said to the cash register. “That’s that. Oh, and ‘help wanted,’ by the way.” She pointed at a sign dangling from the window, and raised her eyebrows at Sam. “He’s a bit useless,” she whispered to Davey.
“I’m sure he’s not that bad…” Davey said, trailing off when Mrs. Apple started sorting necklaces again. He muttered something to Vicky, under his breath. Whatever it was, it began with a “B.”
()()()
Arista snorted.
()()()
“Come on, let’s go,” Davey said. Candy cast one last look at Sam, and he smiled again, that crooked smile. She could feel her heart flutter.
“I want an ice cream!” Vicky said. “I have a dollar.”
So they headed to the grocery story. Uriah was there, of course. Candy hated Uriah. He was Crazy Samantha’s father, and was just as crazy. He would say things, horrible things, predictions. He would scream that the town was going to set on fire, or that a hurricane would come and tear it apart. And the scary thing was, after he said that, a house went up in flames, and a tornado went by only a few miles away.
Coincidences, Jordan said, and Jordan was always right. They put out the fire, and no one was hurt, so it didn’t matter anyway.
He greeted them with a, “howdy,” and watched them with his one good eye as they wandered around. Vicky picked out her ice cream, strawberry.
“Strawberry,” he whispered, hoarsely, like his throat was full of sandpaper. “You sure? You want strawberry for yer final ice cream?” He studied it for a few seconds, then pushed it into her hand. His hands were cracked, and the veins crisscrossed just under the skin, which was thin and filmy.
Vicky rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.” She grabbed Davey’s hand.
“Better enjoy it!” He called after them as his throat was clawed apart by raspy hands. “Earthquake’s comin’! That’s the last ice cream you’ll ever taste. Hope you like it.”
Vicky yelled something back at him. He laughed, horribly.
The air smelled of metal, all of a sudden. Candy grabbed Davey’s hand without even thinking. He smiled at her. “Ignore him,” he said, so easily. Davey, her brother Davey, who would never tell a lie.
But the town was still empty. People were leaving, or were they running away? Perhaps they had seen that it was true on their big, flat televisions. The Orchards didn’t have a television. They had sold it two months ago. They didn’t get the news. So if it was true, how would they ever know?
“Candy?” Davey said. “Are you coming?”
She realized that she had stopped in the middle of the road, and that Elephant was oinking impatiently and she hadn’t even heard him. “I… I’ll be right back,” she said, dropping the wagon’s rope and leaving them all there, watching her walk away, back to Uriah’s store.
“Back again so soon?” he said, baring his gold tooth in some sort of smile.
Candy could have screamed at him, but she was too out of breath. She got tired from just walking, now. “Tell… me,” she managed to say.
“Water?” he offered her a glass. “Tell yeh what?”
Candy gulped the water down. “About the earthquake,” she said.
“Ah, good, yeh listened. Well, it’s all there, on the TV. People are freakin’ out about it, ‘parently. Sposed to be the ‘craziest thing in a millennia’ or something like that,” he took a swig out of a glass bottle that looked like it had been sitting there for several days.
“But is it real?” Candy asked.
“Yeh can bet your…. Eh, nevermind. Anyway, it’s real all right. Don’t you smell the iron in the air? You should hear the things they say about it, too. It’ll destroy this whole place. Everything’ll be gone by, oh, December.”
“December? But it’s almost Thanksgiving.” That seemed too soon.
“Look around you. Yeh’ll see the signs. Birds’ll fly south too early, the air’ll smell sick, the ground might even shake. Can’t yeh feel it? She’s angry. She’s gonna kill us all.”
Candy shuddered and hugged herself tight with her arms.
“Yeh want an ice cream?” he asked, flashing his gold tooth at her. “A dollar a cone. That’s cheap, anywhere but in this godforsaken place. Probably anyone who stays here will die of starvation before the earthquake even begins. Yeh know what? Save yer dollar.” He handed her a half melted ice cream cone. “That’s on the house. Enjoy.” He laughed a terrible laugh and pushed her out the door.
Candy walked, alone. Her footsteps were hollow and solemn, like she was the only one left in the world. When she got back home she would be greeted by emptiness, and the quiet would eat her alive. She looked up and the sky was clouded over, grey as the road beneath her feet. She felt a raindrop on her nose.
She tried to run, but she was so slow.
And everywhere she went she was alone. Crazy Samantha didn’t giggle at her. Paul didn’t wave. Davey, Vicky and Flora were just a memory. Now they had disappeared. There wasn’t even the sun to light her way, or any butterflies to guide her back home. If the earthquake came now, she would have nowhere to go. She would be swallowed up by the earth, lonely and afraid, and no one would know what had happened to her.
She should never have gone back. She was getting paranoid. And crazy, crazy, crazy.
Her crutch hit a rock. She fell. The ground swung up to meet her knees and her hands and left them raw and bleeding, and she started to cry. Why did everything have to hurt?
The clouds laughed at her, and it started to rain.
Her crutch lay on the ground beside her, but she couldn’t reach it. She was too sick, and too tired, and too hurt. And she was scared, and didn’t want to keep walking, all alone.
But… Candy.
Candy.
Get up.
It’s cold. It’ll get colder tonight. You can’t die here. I won’t let you.
Oh, she was going crazy. Ever since that day she stood out in the sun, she wasn’t the same. Her mind had turned to mush. Stupid, crazy mush. She was just a mushy human now, and nothing made sense.
“Leave me alone,” she muttered. To the ground? The air? Herself? She was so crazy, she didn’t even know who she was talking to.
No. I won’t leave you alone. Get up, Candy.
“Why should I?”
Because I said so. And for Davey, Candy, for Jordan, for Poppy and your grandfather and for everyone else that loves you. Now, get your crutch.
Candy got her crutch.
Stand up.
Candy stood up.
Walk.
Candy could hardly see for the tears and rain in her eyes, but she walked.
Not to the house, that’s too far. Go to Mrs. Apple’s store. Go!
Candy went.
()()()
“A spirit? Ghost? Whatever it is, it surely isn’t your conscience. That makes no sense.”
“I’m glad you’ve realized that consciences can’t talk. I’m proud of you.”
“Oh shut up. At least I have one. Why are you so awful? Ever since you walked in the door, you’ve just been mean to me. Like you’d rather be anywhere else.”
“You’re not the best company.”
“In what way?” And now she raised her voice. “Ever since you got here I’ve been nothing but courteous. But you just had to make a show of pulling out your hairbrush and taking your damn time too. This was supposed to be over by five, you know. I don’t… I…” she cleared her throat. “This is important to me. You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.”
“Why should I? You will never listen.” She stood. “I need some water.” And left. The sound of her high-heels clicking on the floor lingered, and finally drained away.
“Well. How about that?” Julie said, poking at her salad, which seemed to be unending. “She’s young, you should remember that. And what the hell, you’re young too. I told her she wasn’t cut out for the job. Anthony would be better, he knows how to act in front of a camera. But no, she insisted. Only God knows why,” she said, between bites of cucumber.
“Should I apologize?” Caroline asked, staring at Arista’s empty chair.
“I reckon so,” Julie muttered.
Caroline didn’t move. Her phone rang. “I’m sorry,” she said, and walked out. The big door slammed shut behind her.
“Princess!” she cried. She must be smiling from ear to ear. “How are you?”
“So good. It’s Lizzie’s fifth birthday today. She had all her friends over and they went bowling, and Peter was just showering her with kisses the whole time.”
Candy could hear the smile in Princess’s voice.
“But that’s not what I called about. You see, Peter and I, we are planning a little trip. We want you to come.”
“What is it?” Candy asked, with a lump rising in her throat.
“We want to go back.”
Candy didn’t need to ask where.
“No.” she said, ending the call.
()()()
ns 15.158.61.50da2
