Charleigh would go over and try to hug her again, but Nellie is actually opening up to her and she doesn’t want to set her off. “Any idea how the dang thing got loose?”
At this, Nellie freezes; her face hardens, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “No, Mom, why wouldIknow anything about that?” Her tone is that of a violin string about to snap.
Hackles rise on the back of Charleigh’s neck. Nellie sure got defensive in a hurry. “I’m just asking if you heard anyone talking about it. It’s just such a freak thing—I don’t know—” But Charleigh’s voice peters out. She spoons some of the leftovers out onto a plate, then pops it into the microwave, keeping her back toward Nellie.
After a tense silence, Nellie finally responds: “No, nobody said anything really other than that it must’ve gotten loose somehow.”
65
Jane
It’s nearly sunset, and we are all gathered on the dock. The air is heavy, dank; a gang of mosquitoes fogs over us, hovering.
We usually do Vespers on Sunday nights, but Pa called an emergency one so we could all pray.
Pray for Blair, who is now in a coma.
Thank God she’s still alive, but her condition sounds serious. I feel sick to my stomach. One of the ladies called Mom a little while ago to fill her in. Mom asked her if we should come to the hospital, but she said the family wants to be alone for the evening.
We’ll probably go tomorrow.
But right now, Pa is leading us all in prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father,” he starts, his voice booming across the pond, “please lift Blair Chambers up in prayers. Lord hear our pleas. Place your loving, healing hands on this poor girl!” His voice shakes at the end, and tears roll down his face.
He looks—and sounds—drunk. His eyes red and glassy, skin clammy.
He continues with a Bible verse, and as he reads it, I look over at Julia, who is praying intensely, her eyelids fluttering, her lips moving without making a sound. Sometimes in revival tents, she’d stand up, start speaking in tongues—she can really lay it onthick, like she’s doing right now—but I don’t believe in all that bullshit, don’t really believe Julia believes in it either.
Dad ends his prayer, opens his eyes, and starts in on a rambling sermon, slurring some of his words. First it’s about healing, thenabout God’s children, his eyes roving over our faces, his expression manic.
Oh, he’s definitely drunk.
Mom is seated right next to him, sober as a nun, her face pinched with impatience. I’m sure she’s ready for him to wrap this up; she’s probably steaming in her long flowery dress, thinking about the pile of dishes she needs to wash in the sink.
She pats Pa on the wrist, a cue for him to call it a night.
He scowls at her. Then, his voice thundering, he shouts, “Oh, do I have a special verse to share with everyone!” He says this as if he’s up on an actual pulpit, as if he has an actual congregation he’s preaching to and not just me, baby Molly, Luke, Mom, and Julia.
“Listen to this one.” His fingers nearly tear the tissue-thin pages as he prowls through it. “Proverbs 12:4.” He stabs the page. “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but adisgracefulwife is like decay in his bones.That’s a good one, isn’tit, Abigail?”
He jabs her in the side with his elbow, laughs darkly.
Mom’s face turns red; she just shakes her head.
“Shall I continue?” Pa asks, a sinister tone in his voice.
“That’ll be enough, Ethan,” Mom hisses at him. With that, she stands and pulls the skirt of her dress around her.
“Suit yourself!” he hoots at her as she stomps away.
Again, I wonder if he noticed she was missing with Nellie’s dad at the party the other night.
Pa tosses his Bible aside, picks up his guitar. “I dunno, I could sing a gospel, but I wanna sing a happy song, a hopeful one, for…the poor girl.” He’s already forgotten her name.
As he strums, I recognize the opening notes to “Here Comes the Sun.” I usually love it when Pa sings the Beatles—and I usually sing backup, harmonizing with him—but right now, I’m twitchy, overheated, and just want to be done with all this.
And I want some alone time with Luke. After what happened, I feel like a soda can that’s been shaken up. I ache, right now, to be in Luke’s strong arms, to be comforted.
But after what happened to Blair, we have to be even more careful that nobody knows about us.
