An Honest Lie(19)

“Oh, yeah,” she said.

It didn’t feel quite right, but she did it, anyway, the promise of a ceiling swing and snacks bought from a tiki hut fresh in her mind. Also, there was the promise of friends, and she wanted those more than anything. She’d seen everyone as they left Kids’ Camp and walked back to the main building. They were outside for some sort of field day, leaping and climbing through an obstacle course. They were on teams, judging by their red and blue shirts, and for a moment, Summer stopped to watch them, letting Taured get ahead.

They were having a pizza party that very night in Kids’ Camp, he’d told her, and after ice-cream sandwiches, they were going to watch a movie about Moses. It felt rushed, the way she was instructed to pack up her things and join them that night, but when she’d protested, Taured told her that they had planned to surprise her with a cake to welcome her and to not show up would be rude. Because she wanted to please her mother and to make friends, Summer agreed. As Taured watched from the door, she said goodbye to her mother. It felt silly, sure, because she was only going to be sleeping a few hundred feet away, but at the same time, it hurt so much she could barely breathe.

“It’s going to be okay,” Lorraine said, wrapping Summer up in her arms. Burying her face for a moment in her mother’s neck, she allowed her hair to be stroked and she breathed in that mama smell of comfort and soaped skin. Her mother was breathing hard as she touched Summer’s hair, like she was sighing with each breath.

“Lorraine.” Her mother’s hand froze at the sound of his voice, but then the stroking started again.

“I’m really proud of how brave you’re being,” she said into Summer’s hair. “Daddy would be proud, too.” She said that part softly, so Taured wouldn’t hear. Taured made it clear that anything her dad had said was influenced by the poison he had been taking; both Lorraine and Summer had taken to only talking about him privately, which was fine with Summer. She liked Taured, but the truth was, he hadn’t known her dad.

He was watching from the door and she was too embarrassed to let him see her cry, so Summer bit the inside of her cheeks and tried to think of something else as she let go of her lifeline and stepped away.

“I’ll see you at breakfast,” she said, lining her voice with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel. Lorraine nodded, tears edging her eyes.

“Take care of her?” Her eyebrows were drawn when she looked at Taured, who bopped his head at her request.

“You’ll see her in the morning, and you can confirm she was well fed and well taken care of, mama bear.”

The smile didn’t reach her mother’s eyes when she nodded, and then she turned away, facing her bed.

Taured led Summer to Kids’ Camp the same way he had earlier, but instead of coming inside with her, he stopped at the door. He knocked twice, and a woman Summer recognized as Marcy opened the door. Her smile was wide and her eyes were excited.

“Summer!” she said. “Everyone is waiting for you!” That sentence shot twin firecrackers of excitement and fear into her belly. She glanced back at Taured, who nodded at her. He was happy with her. Marcy reached for her hand and Summer allowed herself to be led inside.

Marcy took her to the dorms. At the back of the room was an empty bunk pushed against the wall. It was closest to the bathrooms, which would mean foot traffic and flushing toilets; she understood why it was the last one chosen. Marcy told her she could choose either top or bottom, since no one else had claimed it. A couple kids had trickled into the dorms after the movie and were pushing each other around and laughing. Summer stared at the bed, uncertain. She usually conferred with her mother about these things, but Taured had been insistent that she do this on her own. Lifting her chin, she said, too loudly, “I’ll take the bottom.”

As soon as she’d said it, a very tall girl climbed the ladder to the top bunk closest to Summer’s and settled back against her pillows.

“Wrong choice,” she said as she picked up a book and began to read.

It was Sara. Her dad had built the swing in the rec room.

“I’ll take the top, then,” Summer said to Marcy, who winked at her. Later that night, after everyone had taken their showers and gotten into bed, Summer whispered across to Sara, “Why was it the wrong choice?”

Someone shushed her from across the room. “Lights out,” apparently, was taken seriously.

“Cockroaches, mice and spiders,” Sara said. And that was enough. Summer felt a wave of affection for the girl who had saved her from every grossness on the planet. Not four hours later, a girl named Lydia woke everyone up in the middle of the night, screaming, when she felt tickling on her cheek and reached up to find a cockroach. She was shushed by one of the adults who slept in the dorms with them at night and told not to be so weak-minded. Summer didn’t think Lydia weak-minded at all; she would have screamed louder and probably not stopped, even when told to. She made sure to smile at Lydia the next day as they made their way to the cafeteria for breakfast. The girl looked embarrassed to be noticed at all, but she raised a small hand in greeting before scurrying away to find her parents. Summer caught up to Sara near the buffet of scrambled eggs, fried ham and tomato. With her plate under her arm, she stood in line behind the girl, keeping an eye out for her mom, who should have been here by now. After a moment of contemplation, she elbowed Sara gently in the ribs to get her attention.