The Cider House Rules

Mary Agnes trembled. "I can't move," she whispered.

"I didn't mean to," Melony said, "but I told you to keep outta my stuff."

"Your hair's too short," Mary Agnes said. "You can't wear it, anyway."

"You want me to break something else?" Melony asked the girl.

Mary Agnes tried to shake her head, but she stopped. "I can't move," she repeated. When Melony bent over to help her up, Mary Agnes screamed, "Don't touch me!"

"Suit yourself," Melony said, leaving her there. "Just keep outta my stuff."

In the lobby of the girls' division, on her way to her meeting with Dr. Larch, Melony told Mrs. Grogan that Mary Agnes had "broken something." Mrs. Grogan naturally assumed that Melony meant that Mary Agnes had broken a lamp, or a window, or even a bed.

"How are you liking the book, dear?" Mrs. Grogan asked Melony, who always carried Little Dorrit with her; she'd not been able to get past the first page.

"It starts kinda slow," said Melony.

When she got to Nurse Angela's office, where Dr. Larch was waiting for her, she was slightly out of breath and sweating.

"What's the book?" Dr. Larch asked her.

"Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens," Melony said; she felt the barrette bite into her leg when she sat down.

"Where'd you get it?" Dr. Larch asked her.

"It was a gift," Melony said--which was not exactly a lie.

"That's nice," said Wilbur Larch.

Melony shrugged. "It starts kinda slow," she said.

They eyed each other for a moment, cautiously. Larch smiled a little. Melony tried to smile but she was unsure how this looked on her face--so she stopped. She shifted in the chair; the barrette in her pocket hurt her a little less.

"He's not coming back, is he?" Melony asked Dr. Larch, who regarded her with the respect and wariness you feel for someone who has read your mind.

"He has a summer job," Larch said. "Of course, some other opportunity might develop."

Melony shrugged. "He might go to school, I suppose," she said.

"Oh, I hope so!" Larch said.

"I suppose you want him to be a doctor," Melony said.

Larch shrugged. It was his turn to feign indifference. "If he wants to be," he said.

"I broke someone's arm, once," Melony said. "Or maybe it was something in the chest."

"The chest?" Larch asked. "When did you do this?"

"Not too long ago," Melony said. "Pretty recently. I didn't mean to."

"How did it happen?" Dr. Larch asked her.

"I twisted her arm behind her back--she was on the floor--and then I stepped on her shoulder, the same shoulder of the arm I twisted."

"Ouch," said Dr. Larch.

"I heard it," Melony said. "Her arm or her chest."