That poor boy. He must be very frightened. I'll find out about her tomorrow," she said. "and see what we can do to help them. Nov go to sleep, and don't worry."
She leaned over to kiss me and stood.
"Oh," she said. smiling. "With all the commotion and all. I forgot to tell you I met a very nice gentleman tonight. He came in and ate alone. He was very sweet. He lost his wife recently," she said. 'We had a nice talk. It's funny, but when terrible things ha
ppen to you, you think they've happened to you and no one else, and you're surprised when you meet someone who understands because he's experienced something similar."
"It couldn't have been that similar," I insisted.
She widened her smile. "Well, it was close enough. I have a feeling he's going to be coming around again."
I said nothing. Finally she realized she was just standing there thinking about the man.
"Good night." she said. and left me in more of a state of confusion than I had been in before she came home.
Never in my wildest thoughts had I imagined Mommy with another man. It was still as if Daddy was just on sea duty.
How could she ever fall in love again?
How could she ever want to?
No one could ever take my daddy's place.
I would hate anyone who thought he could even try.
Life was so much less complicated when we were a naval family. I thought. and wondered how I could ever have longed for us not to be.
Try to sleep, I told myself. Sleep?
It was like chasing a rainbow.
9
Mommy and Mrs. Greenstein
.
The advice Augustus and Mommy gave me
proved impossible to follow. If it was only me Phoebe was out to damage I might not have had such a difficult time of it I went to school the next morning fully intending to do what Augustus and Mommy had suggested. I would even keep from looking in Phoebe's direction, I told myself. Actually I thought I was doing very well. Throughout the morning. passing from class to class. I avoided her. Randy was at my side constantly, and, as Augustus predicted, his friends also tried to be a buffer and were quickly becoming my little faction, mumbling about Phoebe and her friends, circling me as if I had become their queen bee in a separate hive. Phoebe's hive was well in place.
Just before lunch Ashley stopped me in the hallway. I felt my body tighten. Whatever she says, ignore; I told myself. There was no doubt in my mind she was Phoebe's little messenger, her human guided missile aimed at my heart.
"Are you all right?" she began, sounding so concerned and sympathetic. "Why shouldn't I be?" I countered, full of suspicion. "I'm fine, Thanks." I smiled at her and started away,
"Because of your mother being arrested and all." she blurted after me.
It was as if someone had dropped an icicle down my back. For a moment I couldn't move, not even to turn on her. The other students walking nearby slowed dawn to listen. Randy, who was hurrying up the hallway from the bathroom, saw the look an my face and paused as if a small explosion had gone off in the corridor. He shot forward again, practically running in my direction.
"Who told you such a stupid thing" I demanded, walking toward Ashley. She stood her ground, her smile set in her round face like a rock in whipped cream, cold and hard.
"Phoebe told everyone the story this morning. She said her father was so upset. Is your mother in jail? She said her father was seriously considering pressing charges because the stolen money was found in her coat."
"It's a filthy lie!" I screamed at her. "It wasn't in her coat. It was under it, and we all know Phoebe put the money there herself, hoping to blame my mother."
Ashley kept her smile. but I saw the way her eyes shifted to the right and looked back. Phoebe and her friends were watching from a classroom door,
"Phoebe says you need money badly because of your father's death, and her father might take pity on her and not insist she go to prison."