Lies We Bury(86)

“We will be, honey, but we need to get the police first. Jenessa is a good girl. She’ll wait out front like I told her. Making the rope will take at least ten minutes, and he won’t get free before she does. We’re close. We’re so close.”

“But why, Mama? Why can’t we stay? What about Twin?”

“She’ll be safe. She’s fine, honey. She’ll be safe.”

“But how do you know?”

Mama doesn’t saying nothing. We go left—no, right—on the new street and Mama darts her head back and forth.

“What are you looking for, Mama?”

But she hushes me and looks behind us like she’s scared. She mumbles something starts to cry. She says Alefter Alefter Alefter.

“Speak up,” I say and she shoots me a look. Not mad. But like she’s surprised to see me.

She makes a throat-noise and stops crying. “Pouch Street. We’re looking for Pouch. Remember geography lessons?”

I nod then start using my eyes, too. Plant-trees are brown in this outside world. Not like the green ones I see in the television or in books. Shadows are everywhere between the tall light-trees. An animal barks. A dog. And I remember that Jenessa’s favorite cartoon has a dog in it. A penguin and a sea lion.

Row row row your boat. Gently down the stream.

“Mama Rosemary? Is Twin okay? Are we okay?”

“I hope so, baby. Girls, look!” Mama Rosemary sets Sweet Lily down on the ground again and Sweet Lily leans on her good foot. Dirty cheeks are stripy from tears.

She points with her whole body toward more light-trees. “Do you see it?”

Me and Sweet Lily shake our heads. “No, Mama.”

She swings Sweet Lily up into her arms and begins running. I follow her in my one shoe so I gallop like a horse but I’m running. I keep holding the blanket. “Mama, wait for me, Mama Rosemary!” My voice is all high. I couldn’t be left here in the dark I can’t not like Jenessa all alone with the man.

“Mama!” I scream.

“Hurry up, baby!” she yells back but doesn’t stop. Just keeps running running past one light-tree then past another until I see a road that’s full of them. And a building. And cars on both left and right. There’s a—a train ahead moving as fast as us.

“Hey, Mama Rosemary, a train! Are we gonna get on the train? Are we leaving? Where is it going?” In my favorite show Mister Rogers there’s a train that takes you to magical places, away from his home.

Then a scary thought slows my feet. Are we gonna go without Jenessa? Without Twin? “Mama, we can’t!” I catch up to her. She slowed down now again with Sweet Lily and Sweet Lily walks as quick as she can on her own. “Mama, we need to go back for Twin.”

“I know, honey; we will. Almost there.”

“No, no, no!” I stomp my foot in the middle of the darkness road in a place with no light-trees. My face gets hot my cheeks start to shake.

“Missy, listen to me.” Mama Rosemary gets down real close to my face. She grabs my arms and I think she’s gonna hug me but she doesn’t. That makes me cry harder.

“Missy, we’re so close, baby. We’re so close to getting out and home free, but I need you to be a big girl for just a little bit longer, okay?”

“But we are out. And we left our home with Twin inside—”

“I know we did. You’re right. I just need you to be brave a few minutes longer, okay? Can you do that?”

A car passes with bright eyeballs and a long tail. Mama Rosemary steps in front of us and waves her arms wild at the car but it doesn’t stop. She sniffs then looks behind us at something.

“What, Mama? What is it?”

“We need to keep going.” Her voice is low. The one she uses when she’s mad. But when she turns and looks at us again her face is shiny. She picks up Sweet Lily and makes a growl noise.

I wipe my chin. My belly feels empty. The veggies and spaghetti we ate for dinner is unhappy. It twists and I think I might throw up like when I got sick when I was five. Then Jenessa got sick because she wanted to sleep with me. I take Mama Rosemary’s hand and we keep walking. She takes her hand back to hold Sweet Lily and Sweet Lily curls into her neck like a koala.

“Almost there, girls,” Mama Rosemary says again all breath. She walks fast until we are almost at the train and I feel nervous we’re going to disappear on it.

There’s a building now and she walks on a white part of the road and then up to the door that has a bunch of words on it. I read a little bit and see pol-ys. Po-lees. Police.

“We’re here, girls.” Mama Rosemary looks at us and her face is different than I know it. She’s happy but her face is wet again. The most happy I ever saw her.

She pulls on big doors made of glass and pushes us inside. People are everywhere. Strangers and lots of—mans—like the man, and two women.

“You two sit here and don’t move a muscle. I mean it.” Mama Rosemary points a finger at both me and Sweet Lily and then at two chairs on a wall.

I peek at her through my hands. “It’s too bright, Mama.” Sweet Lily tucks into me and pulls her hair over her face.

Mama Rosemary looks around. She takes Sweet Lily’s baby blanket and puts it over our heads. “There you go. Good girls.”