Bud was still applying pressure to his nose, but he managed to speak. "I didn't?"
Dr. Austin struggled with his next words. He looked at Mrs. Hodges. "No. I'm not exactly sure what happened. But I am prepared now to take Mrs. Hodges's theories a little more seriously."
Mrs. Hodges did not speak. She did not have to. Dr. Austin spoke for her. "I am ready, regrettably, to approve a limited burning of Cornell Whittaker Number Two's antiquarian book collection."
He ticked off his conditions to the black-clad librarian. "First, you are not to do it alone. You could be the next victim of this ... demon. I want someone to work with you. Pogo, maybe. She's the only one around here who can keep her mouth shut. Second, I want you to take precautions. The construction workers left protective equipment behind. I want you to wear it. I can't run the risk of any more 'accidents.'"
"Certainly," Mrs. Hodges answered. "When shall we begin?"
Dr. Austin reached into his desk drawer and slid out an appraisal sheet from the Antiquarian Book Auction. He looked at the first item and winced as he read it silently: "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The History of Spiritualism, $7,500."
He told her bitterly. "Tonight. You can begin tonight, after everyone leaves."
At home, Kate and George sat on their back porch analyzing Bud Wright's mysterious behavior and Dr. Austin's meeting that followed. June opened the door to listen, but Kate told her, "This is a private conversation, June."
"I've already heard some of it, through the door. I'm worried about you. I really want to know what's going on."
"Nothing is going on."
But George said, "Some people have been acting really weird at the library, June."
"Mr. Barnes and Mr. Wright?"
"Yes." George looked at Kate, but Kate was staring at the ground. "June works there, Kate. She's seen things, too. She's heard things." He looked up. "Right, June?"
June shrugged. "Pogo has said some things to me. Things I don't understand."
George gave Kate a look that said, "There you go." He asked June, "Did she say anything about Jack?"
June turned pale. She finally whispered, "Jack and Jill went up the hill."
Kate pursed her lips and nodded firmly, like she had just made a decision. "Uncle George, can you leave us alone please? I need to speak to my mother privately."
George's eyes widened in surprise. "Sure," he muttered. Then he stood up and walked quickly into his side of the duplex.
June sat down in George's spot and waited.
Kate began, "This can't go on, June. I'm treated horribly at that place. I don't care what kind of 'condition' you have. You're my mother. You need to do something about it."
June waited a long time before answering. "We don't have any money, Kate. So we don't have any choices."
Kate turned and spoke through clenched teeth. "You chose to get divorced, June. That's why I don't have a father. You act like you're the victim of everything. Well, you're not. You've made your choices, and I'm the one paying for them."
"I didn't choose to get a divorce. It was all your father. He wanted out. He left me."
Kate tried again. "Okay. So you chose to get married, then, and to have me. Will you at least admit to that? Didn't you have something to say about that?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, June, that makes you responsible for me. You need to help me. Now."
June met Kate's gaze. "I know you're angry. You have many reasons to be angry. Good reasons. I thought this magnet school was a great opportunity for you. I really did."
Kate interrupted to ask, "And was it a great opportunity?"
"No. It wasn't. I was wrong. It's only made you miserable. And slightly green."
Kate looked at the backs of her hands.
June squeezed her eyes closed. "I want you to know that I am trying very hard these days. It may not show. But I'm trying to be there for you."
Kate thought about getting up and going inside. Instead, though, after picking her words carefully, she said, "I know you tried that one time, at the science fair. I never thanked you for that. So, thank you." She added, "But that's not enough, June. You have to try harder."
"I know," June agreed. "And I will. I'll try harder."
Kate stood up and shivered. "I guess that will have to do for now. I'm freezing. Good night."
"Goodnight."
Kate went inside, but June did not. She sat alone on the porch, in the cold night air, under the blackening outline of the oak tree. Her thoughts swirled and crashed around inside her head, like the ghosts in the Holographic Scanner.
31. A Silent Scream
On Wednesday afternoon, Kate reported to the County Commission Room for her job as personal assistant to Heidi. She watched Heidi rehearse her entrance—as a smiling and waving orca—from a closet next to the dais.
Heidi stopped practicing long enough to snap at Kate. "You are late! I need my makeup case. Go get it!"
Kate looked around the room idly. "Where is it?"
"I don't know where it is. That's your job. Try Whit's office."
Kate shook her head adamantly. "No way. I'm not going in there."
Then Heidi actually smiled. "You're not afraid of Whit, are you?"
"Don't make me laugh."
"Well, then..."
Kate shrugged, exited the room, and turned right. Cornelia was dead ahead, outside of Whit's office. There was no avoiding her.
Cornelia passed Kate in the hallway and commented, "Still no uniform, I see."
"I'm saving every penny," Kate assured her. "I'm even skipping meals."
Cornelia ground her jaws, but she let the matter drop and continued on her way.
Whit was standing in front of a mahogany desk in an office that was an exact copy of his father's. Kate took two steps inside and told him, "Heidi said she left her makeup case in here."
Whit looked around lazily. "That must be it, there on the floor." He pointed to a spot right in front of him, but he made no effort to pick it up.
Kate walked quickly to the spot, but Whit was quicker. He darted to the door and closed it. He told her, "Wait. I want to watch you pick it up."
Kate looked down at the makeup case. Then she looked up at Whit. "Forget it. I'll just tell her you're still using the eyeliner."
She started back toward the door, but Whit blocked her. He pointed his finger at her and snarled, "You really think you're something, don't you? You don't even belong here. I know all about you. You got in because that goofy little uncle of yours lives at the same address."
Kate answered, "You're right. I don't belong here. And, might I add, you do belong here. Now get out of my way. This is sexual harassment, and I don't have to take it."
Whit remained in place in front of the door.
Kate approached him calmly. Then, in one deft maneuver, she grabbed him by the lapels of his blue blazer and pushed him back onto his heels. She pinned him against the wall, with his legs twisted crazily, like a Halloween skeleton. Whit squealed, "This is assault! You are assaulting me!"
Cornelia threw open the door, nearly filling its frame, with Heidi peeking around from behind her. "What on earth is going on here?" Cornelia bellowed.
Kate released her grip on Whit's lapels and he slid down the wall, landing upright. Before Whit could speak, though, Kate said, "I want to file a complaint against Whit Austin for sexual harassment."
Cornelia snapped, "That never happened!"
"Yes, it did."
"I was just in this room with him. It never happened."
"It happened after you left."
Cornelia's voice got suddenly reasonable. "Very well, then. Produce your witnesses."
Whit scurried over to his mother's side and waited for Kate to answer. She admitted, "There weren't any witnesses."
"So," Cornelia concluded, "it's the word of the worst student at this school against the word of the most admired young man in this county." She looked at her watch. "We have no time for this. We're due on t
he roof."
As the three of them turned to leave, Heidi looked back at Kate and complained, "Mother, she's not even a good gofer. Can I get somebody else?"
Kate stepped out into the hallway and watched them walk away, arm in arm, until they disappeared up the stairwell. She grabbed hold of the railing and looked out at the great chains that held the chandeliers. She reared back her head, opened her mouth, and screamed a silent scream until ropes of blue veins popped out on her neck.
From three floors below, across the expanse of the square, a figure moved in the shadows. Pogo had seen and heard everything. As Kate walked away, Pogo repeated to herself:
"Kissed the girls and made them cry.
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
Kissed the girls and made them cry."
32. A Primer on Football from an Unlikely Source
As soon as Cornelia and the children emerged from the stairwell onto the roof, a tall, awkward boy stepped in their path. The boy opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"Yes?" Cornelia snapped at him. "What is it?"
The boy stammered, "I'm William Anderson, ma'am. I'm an eighth grader."
"I know who you are. What do you want?"
"I want to volunteer to help for the First Lady's visit, for the big performance."
"We have everybody we need."
But Dr. Austin suddenly appeared among them. "Not so fast, Mrs. Whittaker-Austin. We may have use for a volunteer after all. Especially a tall one. Do you remember a problem we had last week, and our discussion that followed?"
"No. About what?"
"About a possible solution to that problem." Dr. Austin looked up at the boy. "Excuse us, William. We will need to discuss your generous offer and then get back to you. For now, go enjoy today's Story Time performance."
William backed away. "Yes, sir, Dr. Austin. Thank you. And thank you, ma'am."
After several deep breaths to calm herself, Kate walked up the twelve cement steps to the roof. She opened the metal door and stood for a moment, surveying the crowd. But her survey ground to a halt at the sight of Bud Wright's face. He was standing off to one side wearing a high white neck brace. He had two swollen ears, two black eyes, and a very large, very red nose.
Dr. Austin walked up the three steps to the wooden stage, posed for a moment, then told the audience, "Congratulations for coming here. While foolish parents are damaging their children's knees at football practice, you are improving your children's brains at the Whittaker After-School Preparatory. But don't take my word for it!" He stepped back as the Juku Warriors bounded up to join him. "Listen to this!"
The performance began with a round-robin spelling of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. But then, instead of sitting down, the Juku Warriors broke into another song. This time, to Kate's delight, it was a song from Peter Pan: "I Won't Grow Up."
Dr. Austin stepped forward, smiling stiffly, and shooed them away. He told the crowd, "They're inveterate pranksters." Then he followed them off, casting a deadly glance at George.
The Juku Warriors sat with Math 6, freeing George to saunter over and stand by Kate. She looked at him with a mixture of puzzlement and newfound respect. "Uncle George? Did you teach them that?"
George smiled, pleased with himself. "I taught them that. With a little help from June."
"Really? June?"
"Yup."
Cornelia walked up onto the stage. "And now, the moment you have all been waiting for. Heidi Whittaker Austin, soon to perform before the First Lady of the United States, will perform for you today. She will read the children's classic Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Afterward, you will work with your parents to find the p sound on the worksheets."
Cornelia gave the audience the applause sign, and Heidi assumed her starting position. As Cornelia stepped offstage, Dr. Austin whispered, "I know just the job for William Anderson. Come with me."
The two disappeared down the cement block stairwell just as Pogo appeared from behind it. She worked her way stealthily to the book cart. Kate and George watched as she switched Heidi's copy of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? with a second copy from a manila envelope. Then she worked her way around the perimeter of the crowd until she was standing next to Kate.
Kate whispered, "Pogo, what did you just do?"
Pogo whispered back:
"Curly Locks, Curly Locks,
Will you be mine?
"You shall not wash dishes,
Nor feed the swine."
Kate looked at George, then said, "Pardon?"
Pogo added:
"She won't get up to feed the swine,
But lies in bed 'til eight or nine."
"She's talking about Heidi," George said.
Kate asked her, "Are you talking about Heidi?" But Pogo did not reply.
Kate and George exchanged a baffled look Then they turned together to watch the performance.
After a curtsy and an energetic wave, Heidi skipped over to the black cart and selected a book. She then skipped toward the group of children, calling, "Hello!" and smiling brightly. She opened the book and began, "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?"
But then she stopped. Her hands snapped the book closed like she was killing a bug. Her head tilted upward and her eyes glazed over in a way that Kate and George now recognized.
George inclined his head toward Kate. "That's not Heidi anymore, is it?"
Kate could only manage, "Oh my god."
Heidi stared at the Polar Bear book curiously, like she had never seen it before. She looked at the audience and back at the book. Then she intoned, in a surprisingly deep voice, "Hmm. What is this? This won't do. This won't do at all. This is a baby book."
She threw down Polar Bear, scattering the cinders and making some children laugh. She returned to the black cart and scanned the other tides on the lower shelves. At last, she picked up The NFL's Greatest Running Backs and showed it to the crowd.
She struck a pose, a very girlish pose, with her hair tossed back and her hand on one hip. Then she started talking demurely. "I am Heidi, the Swiss Milkmaid. How do you do? But what if I got tired of being Swiss? Or of being a milkmaid? Or, even worse, what if I became lactose intolerant? What would I do then? I know! I could play in the National Football League."
She backed over toward the wall, turned, and struck a new pose. Her fist went down into the cinders and her rump went up in the air, in a perfect football player's three-point stance. Then she shouted, "Give me the ball, Coach! Give me the ball!"
She yelled, "Hut!" and sprinted forward face-first into the cement blocks.
She turned back to the audience.
A red welt began to blossom on her forehead. The Juku Warriors laughed and clapped. Mrs. Hodges leaned forward, her gray stripe of hair temporarily blocking Kate and George's view.
"Uh-oh," Heidi said. "No gain. Second down and ten to go." A rivulet of blood trickled out of her nose. "A lot of girls never do figure out what that means. It means that it's my second chance to gain ten yards. And here I go."
She put her head down and, once again, ran full tilt into the wall. She staggered backward. Blood was now leaking from a cut over her left eye. The kids were all cheering now. But some of the parents stood up, unsure of what to do, wondering if this was all part of the show.
Heidi put a hand up to her mouth, fiddled around for a few seconds, and pulled out a tooth. "Third down and ten. I'd better make it this time, or Coach may sit me on the bench." She crouched unsteadily, wound up, and again hurtled forward into the reddening wall.
She turned back on wobbly legs and babbled, almost incoherently, "Oh no, Heidi the Milkmaid! Now you'll have to punt!"
Then she collapsed in a heap.
The kids screamed with delight. The parents, however, almost as one, covered their children's eyes and rushed them toward the elevator.
Pogo took off like a fleet-footed mouse. Under the guise of helping the prostrate Heidi, she slipped out a book fr
om under her dress and opened it. A few seconds later, she slid it back and disappeared into the stairwell.
Kate took off right behind her, calling to George, "Keep your eye out for the Austins! Semper Paratus!"
Kate followed Pogo down four flights of stairs with a flood of thoughts, troubling thoughts, coursing through her brain. She exited the stairwell on the fifth-floor landing, looked left and right, then set off toward the applied sciences section. She found Pogo in a far corner, leaning casually against a bookshelf. Pogo bobbed lightly and waved.
Kate walked toward her. "Everybody's still up on the roof, Pogo. Why aren't you?"
Pogo smiled happily and shrugged.
"I really want to know, Pogo. Why are you down here, all alone?"
Pogo bounced and answered:
"Here I am,
Little jumping Joan.
When nobody's with me,
I'm always alone."
Kate's eyes scanned the nearby shelves. "Where's the book that you had with you?"
Pogo stopped bouncing. She looked down at the floor.
Kate moved closer, cutting off Pogo's escape. "I've been thinking some strange stuff. I want you to hear what I've been thinking."
Pogo fidgeted with her dress.
"I've been thinking stuff like: You knew that I hated Heidi. And you knew that I hated LoriBeth Sommers."
Pogo broke away from her spot, but Kate moved into her path. "Walter Barnes picked up a book that was meant for Heidi, didn't he? And Bud Wright picked up a book that was meant for LoriBeth. Right?"
Kate twisted forward until her face was directly in front of Pogo's. "Do you have anything to say to me about these strange thoughts?"
Pogo finally looked up at her. She answered defiantly:
"Wake up bright
In the morning light
To do what's right
With all your might."
Kate shook her head no. "But this is not right, Pogo. Heidi, LoriBeth, they're my enemies. Not yours."
Pogo knitted her brow in thought.
"I fight my own battles. I always have. I'm proud of that. Do you understand?"