Silver and Salt(3)

Jed kept glaring at me while ripping into my burger with those snaggled teeth. Man, was that an orthodontist’s dream. That was a car payment and a lap dance, right there.

How’d I know about lap dances? I had a cousin back East who had a friend and, boy, could she tell some stories. I was thinking of one of them and wishing twenty-one wasn’t so far away when Sammy made the really bad choice of sitting next to me. He couldn’t have been paying attention. Nobody sat at the same table as Jed on purpose. Sammy wasn’t a bad guy. Not too smart and called Dog Boy by most of the kids at school, but he was okay. He had four dogs, big, shaggy mutts, who followed him to and from school. I liked dogs. Jed hated them and the feeling was mutual. One look of his freaky pale blue eyes and the dogs would bark until foam flew from their muzzles before eventually turning and fleeing with tails between their legs.

You know you’re a shit when even dogs didn’t like you. I kept hoping one would hump his leg or better yet piss on it, but it never happened. Probably for the best. I didn’t want to think what Jed would do if he ever caught one of those dogs.

“Hey, Dog Boy,” Jed sneered. “You think I want to eat my lunch smelling you? You stink like those damn mutts of yours. Get the hell out of here.”

Sammy’s eyes widened as he realized who was sitting with me and scrambled away, his tray shaking hard enough to spill his juice. He did smell a little like dog, but, hey, we all have something. Jed was psycho and Sammy was a little doggy. I’d take a fur-covered pair of jeans over crazy any day. But today was a day crazy didn’t seem to want to leave me alone. I’d started on my second burger, so Jed couldn’t take that, but he did take my Jell-O. Cherry. It looked like fresh blood on his teeth as he wolfed it down. He narrowed his eyes at me as he licked a streak of red from his bottom lip. “You’re not afraid of me, are you, *?”

I took another bite and chewed it. Bullies only heard what they wanted to hear. I wasn’t going to waste my time.

He leaned in, his breath hot and smelling of meat and cherry. “I’ll make you afraid. You got that? I’ll make you so goddamn afraid you’ll piss your pants.” He snatched up his tray and stalked away.

Trouble, he was big trouble. Maybe the first trouble I couldn’t get around. Crazy is crazy, and crazy never learns. He’d keep coming and coming until he caught me or backed me in a corner. I didn’t want to be looking over my shoulder every minute. I didn’t want him watching me. I stabbed my fork in my French fries. I was going to have to do something. That something being not letting Jed beat the shit out of me and stay out of trouble.

There was a trick.

“Hey, Nicky, you hanging out with Jaws?” Isaac sat across from me chin propped in his hand.

He definitely had the teeth for the nickname, but no one had ever called it to him to his face. “Nah, just my turn on his list.” Isaac frowned. His parents had come over from Mexico and he’d already had his turn over that with Jed.

“Oh shit,” he said, wincing. “Whatcha going to do?”

“Don’t know yet.” I dropped my fork. “Guess I’ll have to think about it. Sneak through the woods home until he figures that out.”

After the last class, I bolted into the woods. They were thick and deep, full of poison ivy and tangles of blackberry bushes that would tear you to pieces if you tried to push through. I managed. Scratches were scratches. They’d fade quick enough. And I’d avoided Jed.

This time.



*



The next afternoon I was at the store looking for a present for Tessa. I scowled at the Santa ringing the bell by the door. One more reminder…everywhere you looked. Skinny or with sagging beards and worn black boots or faded red pants. Fakes. It made the whole season fake.

But there were only two more days until Christmas Eve and I couldn’t put off shopping any more. I couldn’t get Tessa what she really wanted, so I wandered up and down the doll aisle. It was amazing. They had dolls that walked and talked, crawled and cried, ate and pooped. Why would anyone want a toy that threw up on you while you changed its diaper? That was crazy. But Mom sent me out with a list and one of these nasty things was on it. I picked up the nearest one. It only talked and waved its arms, no puking involved. That was the one.

“Playing with dollies now,” Jed purred from behind me. “Why not? You run like a goddamn girl. You might as well play like one too.” His hand circled my arm above my elbow so hard it cut the blood off. I felt the tingle in my fingers.

Jed had been behind me in the woods yesterday afternoon, but he didn’t know them like I did. He’d come closer than I’d have thought though. He just didn’t care. Pain was nothing to him. Diving through blackberry bushes, sliding down ravines. He was one scratched, bruised mess now, and wasn’t that too bad? I might try and stay out of trouble but there was no way I was sorry about that.

I ignored him, yanked my arm away, and took the doll to the checkout counter. He followed me every step of the way. “You can’t run forever, Nicky,” he whispered. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck ruffle in the godawful stench of his breath. “No one’s ever gotten away. And when I’m done with you and you hide like a little bitch every time you see me, I’ll make your little sister sorry, too. Her and her dolly.”

And that was that.

I’d put it off. I’d tried to stay out of trouble. I’d tried not to piss off Mom and Dad. But you couldn’t let the *s win, even crazy ones like Jed. I sat in a plastic chair by the door, eyes on the floor, until Jed gave up and left. And I never said a word to him.