“Some of us think it’s time you and yourlitter”—Buster gave me and Sadie a sideways look—“find a new town to trash. Get that eyesore of a trailer off the bluffs.”
Dad cooled. “You can say whatever you want about me, Buster, but I’m not gonna let you talk about my girls that way.”
“What girls?” Buster said. “I only see dogs. At least your bitch wife had the decency to go die in the woods.”
I grabbed Dad’s hands at the same time Sadie shoved herself between him and Buster. I had never seen my dad angry, and I had never—never—seen him angry enough to hit something, but the moment the words left Buster’s mouth, white rage flashed across Dad’s face.
“We’re going.” Sadie shoved her way around the tables,pulling me and Dad behind her. “We’re going, we’re going right now. Ecky, here’s a couple of twenties, keep the change. Going, going.”
Only when we were outside did Dad pull his hands out of mine. A furrow deepened between his eyebrows; with his new gray hair, he looked years older.
“I didn’t think it’d be that bad,” he said.
“People never liked us,” Sadie replied.
I didn’t say anything. Dad wandered toward the Chevelle, looking lost. It was good for him to hear that. Maybe he thought time in prison had been enough of a punishment, maybe he’d never gotten the full story of what had happened after he’d left. What people thought of us. How they treated us. It was his fault, and there was no point in sugarcoating it.
Dad gave me the Chevelle keys. “Maybe you should drive home, Zoo.”
I watched him get in the backseat. He needed to see the ramifications of what he’d done, but that didn’t mean I had to let Buster Gates get away with calling my mom a bitch.
I marched back to the Fool and got as far as the sidewalk before Sadie yelled at me from the car. I didn’t hear what she said, but the sound was enough. I stopped.
Threatening Buster—even yelling something at Buster that could be vaguely construed as a threat—was one of those things that wouldn’t help anyone. It wouldn’t even make mefeel better. All it would do was reinforce the idea that the Novaks were quick to anger and couldn’t control themselves. I balled my fists, squeezing the Chevelle’s keys so hard my fingers burned.
Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
A deep breath.
I walked back to the Chevelle.
14
Dad went to bed early that night. He didn’t want to stay in the bedroom he used to share with Mom, and we refused to let him sleep on the broken-down couch, so I took the couch and he was in my room. He was exhausted, he said, and just wanted to sleep. Sadie moved from the kitchen nook to the bathroom and back again, wearing paths in the floor, while I went over my excuse for leaving.
“I have to go to work.” I shut off the TV.
Sadie stopped by a big box of Mom’s old clothes and gave me a blank look. “No, you don’t,” she said. “You don’t work again until tomorrow, after the homecoming parade.”
I should have figured she’d been keeping track of my work schedule.
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re going out somewhere, aren’t you? And you don’t want me to know where.”
“No.”
“I can see your face, you liar. You’re going to sneak out. Is this about theDMWcrew again? What are you doing, going to Grimshaw House?”
“No.”
“Is Artemis going to be there? Are you getting her in more trouble, too?”
“Christ, Sadie, shut up.”
“You are not going. I forbid you to go. You’re asking for a shitstorm of epic proportions, and we’ve already got a big one on our hands.”
“And you’re going to stop me... how?” I already had the keys to the Chevelle. I was faster than Sadie, and I was banking on the odds I could get to the car before she could grab me. “I don’t want to start anything. Artemis and I are going to get her footage back.Notsteal it. There are going to be other people around, and at least one cop. Nothing illegal is going to happen, I promise.”
“You also said nothing was going to happen the day you went out and set fire to the Denfords’ cornfield, and now you only have eight fingers.”
