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.Aside from a fight with Michael and me over rights to the story of the body in the Bus years ago, Justin hadn't done anything remotely violent.He wasn't confrontational at all and was frequently a pushover.I often wonder if Justin would have taken to the stage of my life at all if Michael hadn't vanished.As we walked home from school, Justin threw rocks at the fence."Do you think he ran away?""Who?""Michael."I swallowed.I know he didn't run away, but there was no way I was going to try to explain what I saw nearly a year ago to Justin or anyone else.It was a brick in my castle, no one else's."No," I finally said.Justin was silent for most of the walk home.When we were about to part at the street corner, he looked at the house where Michael used to live.Dusty was tied to his chain in the front yard, sleeping under the shade of a mesquite tree."Do you still walk that ugly dog?""Dusty? He's not ugly."Justin chuckled and took a step toward me.He was so much taller than Michael ever was, and I found myself aroused by his closeness."I think that dog is bad luck.""Why do you say that?""He probably dragged Michael into the desert and ate him."I blinked as a rush of pictures I had tried to suppress was suddenly broadcast across my mind in vivid color: chunks of flesh flying, ripped from Michael's lifeless body by the eels in the Bus, blood splattered across the floorboard and staining the teeth of the creatures.I looked past Justin to the desert.The Bus was visible, enhancing every memory I had.I shook."Are you alright?" Justin's voice wavered past my ears.He sounded both distant and hollow."Maggie?"I slowly looked pulled my eyes from the Bus and looked at Justin.His lips were moving, words spilling out in a language I didn't understand.until Grandma's voice took over."He's out to get you, too, Maggie."I watched Justin's lips move with his tongue.The world around me seemed to disappear until there was only the warning."Build your castle one stone at a time, but do it right."I couldn't speak.I felt hands on my shoulders, gently rocking me back and forth.All the time, however, I heard Grandma's words."Are you listening to the wind, Maggie?"I wanted to break free of Justin's grip and run away, hide out in the desert and never come back.The more I stood there, the more I saw my world transform itself into one big mess.Grandma wouldn't leave me alone, and now that my relationship with Mama was getting better, I didn't feel the need to hear the wind talk.I didn't want to listen anymore.I finally stepped back and turned away."What's wrong with you?" Justin asked.His words were his own."Nothing.""You were shaking.""I'm alright."Justin pushed a tangle of hair from my face and tilted my chin up.I lost myself in his eyes and shuddered."I'm worried about you," he said as a gentle smile broke across his face.2Dusty pulled on the rope and led me across the desert.I didn't feel I needed to go as far as the Bus, so I took the easy route and walked him along the fence.Summer was close and I could feel the moisture in the air as we walked.In the distance, over the mountains, storms brewed.It would be a day or two more and the first wall of dust for the year would roll across the valley and through our lives.A few of the local boys were out, no doubt looking for mischief.They followed me on the other side of the fence, casting glances back and forth and whispering to each other.It was uncomfortable, but I wasn't afraid of them.I knew them from school, from around the park, from here or there.I could only put one name to a face though: Steve, a bully a year or two older than me.He was built, and I won't pretend that his good looks were lost on me.He was also an angry man, however, and that didn't appeal to me at all."Walking the dog?" Steve called out from across the fence.I suppose it was a conversation starter, but one that could only lead to no good.I didn't answer."Maggie.Can you hear me? I'm talking to you."I yanked on Dusty's rope and stopped."I can hear you.Yes, I'm walking the dog."Steve walked over to the fence with the other boys and wrapped his fingers around the links."What's wrong? Don't like talking to me?""No." I needed to start walking again, to turn my back and make the situation dissolve.I don't think they saw things the same way.One of the other boys spit on the ground and nodded toward Dusty."What's his name?""Dusty," I said.I looked to my right to see if there was anyone else around.I've found that when faced with uncomfortable circumstances, the company of complete strangers that are removed from the situation is helpful.They may not be, in fact, saviors, but there's always that hope."Isn't that Michael's stupid mutt?" The spitting boy smiled."Gave him to you, didn't he?"I nodded and looked to my left.No one there."For my birthday a few years ago.""Before you killed him?"I turned and walked away.Dusty sniffed a little at the boys on the other side of the fence as they laughed at me.Michael's disappearance was always a mystery, and so often mysteries trigger legends.Since I was Michael's girlfriend at one time, those legends usually involved me.I heard mumbles in the hallway at school about me and saw judgment in the eyes of others that didn't know anything.It was unfair, but I knew I couldn't set the record straight.I had to ignore it all."Where you going, Mags?" Steve called out."We were just asking about the dog?"I looked down as I walked and quickened my pace.I knew they wouldn't do anything to me—although I won't lie and say those thoughts didn't cross my mind—but I felt even more uncomfortable than I was at first.They were taunting me, and I didn't like it.Dusty must have felt the same.He pulled on the rope a little harder.I had to jog to keep up at times.I could hear the boys behind me, calling me names and making comments about Michael.One of them even called me a slut.The last person to do that was Mama.I cleared the end of the fence line that marked the boundary of the park and headed toward the other side.By the time I reached a broken section of the fence where I could cross over, I couldn't hear the boys any longer.They were gone, probably off to find more mischief or taunt someone else younger than them.That's the way it is with bullies, Grandma told me once.You give them an inch, and they'll run you through with a knife.3I didn't get a chance to walk Dusty for the next two days.My time was spent helping Mama around the house, folding laundry or doing dishes.I think Justin grew on me as I scrubbed pots and thought of him.He was handsome, kind, and never once had anything negative to say to me.In one respect, he was much like Michael, but in others—in the goofy way he walked with his hands in his pockets or the way he tilted his head when he smiled—he was so much different.I liked the eccentricity, even if I didn't immediately recognize it as something out of the ordinary.Maybe we were two of kind.A young girl's imagination is filled with vivid dreams [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]