Pearl in the Mist (Landry 2)

But Gisselle almost had the victory she wanted when Beau phoned that night. He was very excited about his upcoming trip to Greenwood to see me on Saturday. I had forgotten for the moment because of all the trouble. My heart was breaking; the tears came pouring down my face as I told him.

"Oh Beau, you can't come this weekend. I can't see you. I've been punished and confined to my dorm."

"What? Why?"

Shuddering through my gasps and cries, I told him what had happened.

"Oh no," he said. "We've got an away game the following weekend. I won't be able to come for at least two more weeks then."

"I'm sorry, Beau. You have every right to forget me, to find yourself someone else," I said.

"I won't do that, Ruby," he promised. "I have your picture in the top pocket of my shirt every day, close to my heart. I take it out and gaze at it every now and then in school. Sometimes," he confessed, "I even talk to you through your picture."

"Oh Beau, I miss you?'

"Maybe if I come up, you can sneak out and--"

"No, that's just wha

t she wants, Beau. Besides, Gisselle would love to reveal it even if no one else knew, just so she could get me expelled."

"I'm with Gisselle."

"I know, but it would break my father's heart and cause all sorts of new problems at home. Somehow, Daphne would find an even worse situation for me and for Gisselle. And that would be terrible, even though Gisselle deserves it," I added angrily.

Beau laughed. "All right," he said. "I'm going to call you then and I'm going to plead with Father Time to hurry along."

After I had hung up, I stood there sobbing. Mrs. Penny saw me and came hurrying down the corridor.

"What is it now, Ruby dear?" she asked.

"Everything, Mrs. Penny." I ground the tears from my eyes with my small fists and sighed. "Mostly, my boyfriend. He was coming to see me this weekend and I just had to tell him I can't see him."

"Oh. Oh!" she added, wide-eyed. "You spoke to him on the phone?"

"Yes. Why?"

She looked up and down the corridor and shook her head.

"You can't do that, Ruby. You're not permitted to use the phone for social calls for a week. Mrs. Ironwood has made that perfectly clear."

"What? I can't even use the phone?"

"Not for social calls. I'm sorry. All I need is for one more thing to happen that gets Mrs. Ironwood angry at me, and she might give me my discharge," she said sadly. "I'll post that restriction on the bulletin board so all the other girls will know not to call you to the phone. I'm sorry. If you get any social calls, I'll have to talk to the person and explain. I'll give you any messages, however."

I shook my head and then lowered it. Maybe Gisselle was right. Maybe we were better off fleeing from Greenwood and taking our chances with Daphne. My heart felt torn in two: One side was crying for Daddy and what would happen and the other crying for Beau and what had happened.

I returned to my room to bury my sobs in my pillow and do what Beau had said he would do: pray to Father Time and ask him to rush the minutes, the hours, and the days.

.

I plodded through the remainder of the week, preparing myself for a weekend of what amounted to house arrest, when the second unexpected event occurred. On Friday night after dinner, after most of the other girls in the dorm had gone to the auditorium to see a movie, Mrs. Penny came to my room. Abby and I were amusing ourselves with a game of Scrabble and listening to music. There was a light knocking on the door and I raised my eyes to see our housemother looking rather confused and troubled.

"You had a phone call," she announced. I imagined it had been Beau again. When Mrs. Penny didn't continue but instead wrung her hands and bit on her lower lip nervously, I glanced quizzically at Abby and then turned back to her.

"Yes?"

"It was Mrs. Clairborne's grandson, Louis."