Chapter Seven
That night I stayed in the library. It was a little bit risky, but I thought it was worth it to be able to stay someplace warm.
I waited until right before closing time, and then I went out onto the fire stairs and climbed up the steps that led to the roof. The roof door was locked, of course, but I hid up there as high as I could for about thirty minutes, like a bat in a cave. If anybody had come down the fire stairs and looked up there they probably couldn’t have kept from seeing me, but luckily nobody did.
I waited until I was sure everybody was gone, and then I slipped back down the steps and through the door. The lights were off, but it wasn’t hard to see because of all the windows.
A library looks really spooky in the dark, I have to say. If I had let myself think about it, I would have been imagining I saw all kinds of ghosts and bogies out of the corners of my eyes. I decided real quick that I better think about something else besides that.
I crossed the room and laid down on one of the plastic couches. It was already almost midnight, and I wasn’t used to staying up that late. The whole time I’d been in my shed in Sulphur Springs, I hadn’t stayed up more than two or three hours after dark, and this time of year that meant I’d been going to bed about eight thirty. So I was yawning my head off already.
I set the alarm on my watch to wake me up at six thirty in the morning so I could go hide again before they came to turn the lights on upstairs, and then I laid there for awhile with my hands behind my head and looked out through the windows and thought about things.
You couldn’t see very many stars because of all the light from the town, and for some reason I missed that. In my room at home there was a window that looked out to the east, and sometimes on dark nights I used to leave my curtains open so I could pick out the stars I knew. I went through a phase where I was all into astronomy and stuff. I knew how to find a bunch of them. Aldebaran and Achernar, Antares and Canopus, Regulus and Vega, I knew all those and more. I thought it was so cool they all had their own names like that. It made them seem like people.
I think Sirius is my favorite star, though, because it’s so bright and blue and because it’s supposed to be called the Dog Star. I thought that was awesome, even though I didn’t know why it had that name. I asked Nana one time, and she used to tell me it was because it was high in the sky in the hot summertime and it caused all the dogs to slobber in the water that time of year.
I don’t know if that was true or not or where she heard such a thing, but I do remember being grossed out every time I saw a little bit of foam on the water at the swimming hole after that, cause I thought it was dog slobber and I didn’t want to get any of it on me. It’s funny what you remember sometimes, isn’t it?
I couldn’t see Sirius through the big window, though, so after awhile I gave up trying. I did find Achernar, still twinkling blue like he always had.
Watching the stars made me forget about spooks, and after a little while I closed my eyes. It was good to feel like I was back on the right track again, making some progress toward trying to find Justin and getting things settled for once and all.
That’s the last thought I remember having before my alarm woke me up. It was still dark, and it seemed like the whole night had gone by in an eyeblink.
I was still nine tenths asleep and had this fuzzy idea I was in my own bed at home. I groaned a little bit and rolled over cause I didn’t want to wake up that early.
I guess I probably would have gone right back to sleep again in spite of the alarm, cause I was just that dead beat, and if I had then I would have got caught red handed when the librarians came to turn the lights on.
Lucky for me though (well sort of) the couch was narrow and when I turned over I rolled right off and hit the concrete floor. My head and my right knee clipped the sharp edge of that darned coffee table on the way down, and you can bet your aunt’s girdle that woke me up for sure.
I sat there on the floor rubbing my ear and my knee and wanting to kick that danged table. I’d bit my tongue too when I hit my head. You’d think they’d keep dangerous things like that away from public places, wouldn’t you? I would, if it was up to me.
Anyway I didn’t kick it cause I didn’t want to make any noise. I just gave it a black look and hoped somebody chopped it up for firewood someday soon. Then I hobbled over to the east windows to see outside.
I say it was dark, but not completely. You could see the first streaks of light down low in the sky, even though it was too dark to read or anything yet. I was still groggy and not thinking too clearly, so I stood there in front of the window like an idiot for several minutes and didn’t move. I was probably in plain view of anybody who happened to be outside on the lawn at such an uncivilized hour, if they happened to look up in just the right place.
As soon as it dawned on me what I was doing, I backed away from the window real quick and melted into the shadows amongst the books. You never just “go” into a shadow, you know, you always “melt” into one. I like that. It made me feel all sneaky and invisible, like nobody could possibly find me, and that’s exactly the way I wanted it right then.
I shook the cobwebs out of my head and decided I had to get smarter than that, no matter how worn out I was. It scared me that I’d been so careless. It wasn’t like me.
At least I hoped it wasn’t.
Before long the lights came on, and I was extra specially careful to be completely quiet and still for a little while. I heard the door shut when the librarian left the room, but that didn’t mean I was safe just yet. I had to wait for the library to actually open so nobody would wonder how I got in there.
I couldn’t leave immediately even after that, because for a little while I knew they might remember who they’d seen walk through the doors that morning. I had to give them time to forget.
It wasn’t hard though. As soon as the building was officially open, I walked right out in the open and sat down on the couch to read a book for a little while. I don’t remember what it was; just something I picked off the shelf at random to make it look like I was doing something in case anybody came by and wondered why a kid was at the library on a Tuesday morning instead of in school.
Nobody did, so I guess it didn’t much matter one way or the other. In fact nobody even came up to the top floor the whole time I was there. It was so quiet you could have heard a pencil hit the carpet, if anybody had dropped one.
When about an hour had gone by, I decided that was enough time. I got up and went downstairs to the first floor, and walked right past the circulation desk just as bold as brass. The lady was looking at her computer and didn’t even glance at me when I walked out the door. So much for that!
It was a little frosty outside that morning in the patches where the sun hadn’t managed to shine just yet, and the air was chilly. I stopped to put on my jacket before I went anywhere else, and when I pulled it out of my backpack even I noticed that it didn’t smell too good in there. My clothes were starting to get pretty grubby and dirty, cause I hadn’t had a chance to wash them all week. I couldn’t afford it. I had to eat. The clothes I got from that garage in Sulphur Springs were never too clean to start with.
I hate being dirty. It makes people think you don’t ever wash. Even when that’s the truth, you still don’t want people thinking it, do you?
There was no wind that morning, and nothing much to hear except a few birds in the trees and some traffic noise. The campus was deserted. I guess most of the students were in class right then, but for whatever reason I didn’t see anybody.
It looked like it might turn out to be a really pretty day, and I would have enjoyed it more if my feet hadn’t been so sore and I hadn’t still been so tired and hungry. I nibbled on a devil’s food cupcake that I got from a vending machine, but that was about all I could afford right then.
If you had asked me a month ago how I’d like it if I got to eat candy and cokes and junk food for every meal, I probably would
have thought it was a great idea. But now it seemed a lot less appetizing. I would have given a lot for some real food right then. I wondered what Justin was having for breakfast that morning.
By and by I passed a pond with a fountain in the middle, and crossed over a busy street with four lanes of traffic. I spotted the football stadium, so I knew I was at the right intersection. I dreaded the idea of walking another fourteen miles, but at least I knew that was the last of it. You can put up with a lot of things, if you know they’ll be over soon.
I can’t really say much about the walk, except that it seemed to take forever. By the time I dragged myself into Wolfe City it was maybe an hour or so before dark, and my feet and legs were hurting so much I didn’t think I could take even one more step. My whole body hurt. If you’ve ever been totally and completely exhausted then you know how I felt right then. I’d had as much walking as I ever wanted to do ever again in my life. I’d only thought yesterday was bad, but it was nothing compared to that second day of hiking.
I didn’t let it knock me back, though. I told myself I was almost there and soon everything would be all right. I wanted to believe Justin was there in Wolfe City so bad I guess I convinced myself.
Because if he wasn’t. . .
My only choice then would be to walk that whole thirty-five weary miles back to Sulphur Springs, and when I got there I’d be too sore and exhausted to do yard work for a few days at least. Then I’d have a choice between starving or rummaging in trash cans, and I couldn’t decide which one would be worse.
I came to a little convenience store and mustered enough energy to go up to the counter and ask to borrow their phone book. Phone books are wonderful things, when you stop to think about it. Where else could you find so much information so fast?
I sat down and flipped my way through it, and sure enough, there was Justin Wilder listed. It gave his address as 392 Wild Buck Lane, wherever that was.
There was a big blown-up map of Hunt County on the wall by the door, so I went over to it and picked out Wolfe City first. Then I started combing through the surrounding area looking for that street name. I looked and looked until I was blue in the face, but I could not find the darned thing.
I finally gave up and decided to ask the clerk. She was a red-faced girl with orange hair who looked like she was bored, but I hoped maybe she might know where the dadgummed road was.
“Excuse me, miss, do you know where Wild Buck Lane is?” I asked her.
“Is that in Wolfe City, sugar?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s in the phone book but I can’t find it on the map,” I told her. She chewed her gum and thought about it.
“Naw, seems like I mighta heard of it before, but I don’t remember where it’s at,” she finally said, “But that map on the wall is not too good. There are some better ones on the rack over there next to the Icee machine.”
“Uh, thanks,” I told her, and wandered over there to see what she was talking about.
I found the map stand, and it did indeed have some new county maps. They were that annoying kind that have the plastic wrap around them so you can’t look at them without buying one. I swear, whoever thought of that idea ought to be shot first and then fed to the hogs.
The map cost two dollars, and that meant I had a choice between buying the map or getting something to eat that night. I had two dollars and thirty cents left in my pocket, and that was the last drop. Paying that kid for the ride to Cumby yesterday almost broke me.
The girl at the counter wasn’t paying any attention, and for a second I was tempted to just take one of the maps and slip it up under my shirt and leave. When your back is up against a wall you start thinking about stuff like that. I don’t remember ever stealing anything in my life and I really didn’t want to try it now. I could imagine what Justin would say if the first time he ever saw me was when he had to come get me at the police station for shoplifting. What a great first impression that would make.
On the other hand, I was so hungry my head hurt. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day except those two chocolate cupcakes early that morning. So I dithered and dawdled and couldn’t make up my mind what to do.
In the end I decided not to take the map, since I know you’re probably all on pins and needles wondering what happened. I know, I know, it sounds like a lot of build up for nothing, but it mattered a whole lot at the time.
I was reading a story once about a boy who got thrown out on the street in London or someplace like that, and I remember something an old man told him, that you never did wrong by doing right, no matter how hard it was at the time. I sure hoped he was right about that.
What I did do was buy myself a roasted hot dog smothered with so much mustard and chili and nacho cheese that it was dripping over the edge of the plastic container. It cost me ninety-nine cents, and I intended to get every penny worth. It was a self-serve kind of thing where you got your own bun and reached into the wiener-roaster with some tongs to get the one you wanted, then you got your own chili and cheese from a dispenser, however much or little you wanted.
I still had a little over a dollar left, so I got me an extra large Coke to go with it. I had no idea when my next meal might be, so I wanted this one to count.
I sat at a booth and attacked the food like I hadn’t seen any in days. I got cheese and chili all over my chin and my fingers, but I didn’t care. I licked them clean, and when I was done I licked the container clean. Laugh if you want to, but you’ve probably never been that hungry before. And if you have, then you know how it feels.
I killed the Coke with one last gulp, then sat there for a little bit resting my feet and relishing the feeling of being full. Then I went and got a free refill on my Coke and refilled my hot dog container with chili and cheese. I didn’t have the money to get another dog, but a bowl of chili and cheese would suit me just fine, and there was a sign over the dispenser that said extra chili was just twenty-five cents. I could afford that. Barely.
I went in the bathroom and washed my hands and my face to get the cheese off, then I went back out to the map stand. I looked at those maps with a hangdog look on my face, I’m sure, because after a minute the orange haired girl came up behind me.
“You find the one you need?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think so, but it costs too much,” I admitted, pointing to the map of Hunt County. She reached past me and picked one up.
“Well I don’t guess it matters if you just look at it for a minute,” she said. She tore the plastic off and handed me the map like it didn’t matter a bit.
“Thanks,” I told her. I wasn’t sure what else to say, so I unfolded the new map and looked at the list of street names down in the bottom corner. Sure enough, there it was: Wild Buck Lane. I ran my fingers across the map to where it said the street should be, and found it. It wasn’t long, just a little spike off the highway maybe a half mile west of town.
The thought of walking another half a mile was depressing, but I was so excited I finally knew where to find the place that I didn’t care.
I folded the map back up and handed it to the girl, and she put it back on the rack without bothering to slip it inside the plastic jacket. I grabbed my Coke and my chili cheese and headed out the door with a smile on my face, sure that everything was almost over.