ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK (33 page)

“Coming back? We were
trapped down there with no way out. You never came back. We would be dead right
now if Cooper hadn’t come looking for us.”

“I was planning to come
back. Really. I tried to make it there. I was just too weak. Can I have some of
that applesauce?”

I handed the jar to
him. “Knock yourself out.”

He opened it and
smelled it. “Got a spoon?”

I rolled my eyes, then
sighed, reached into the pack, fished out a spoon and handed it to him.

“I don’t know why you
left in the first place. If you had just stayed—” I shook my head. “Never mind.
It doesn’t matter anymore.”

He spooned some
applesauce into his mouth. “I didn’t lie. It
was
my dog. He stole her
from me. I came over to show him the dog and he immediately grabbed the leash
from me and told me I didn’t know what I was doing. I got mad, and rightfully
so. That thing I said about his mother was true. I … I just didn’t know she had
died that day. But Court, he took it the wrong way and slugged me in the eye, then
took the leash and the dog and went inside. He refused to give the dog back to
me, said I didn’t deserve it and I didn’t know how to treat it anyway.”

He stuck another
spoonful of applesauce into his mouth and swallowed.

I stared at him until
he finally looked at me. “What? I swear that’s how it happened. Whatever he
told you is a lie.”

“Whatever.” I wasn’t
going to get into a who-lied-and-who-told-the-truth match with him. Besides, I
didn’t care so much about the dog. I did care about the way Max hurt Court with
the “half-breed” comment, which Max just admitted to—and the rumor. “What about
the rumor?”

“What rumor?”

“The one you started
about him being a freak. Saying he could talk to animals and making fun of him,
calling him ‘Dr. Doolittle.’”

Max shrugged. “If the
shoe fits.”

I shoved him and he had
to catch himself with his hand, spilling applesauce down the front of his shirt.

“Hey!” he said, wiping
his shirt with his fingers and licking them clean. “Okay, I didn’t know it
would stick. How could I? I didn’t know everyone would actually believe that
Doolittle shit. But when he showed up with the dog and she followed him
everywhere without his ever having to say anything to her it just validated my
story. Kids really started to notice when he started helping out at different
ranches. He began doing that shortly after his mother died, I think. It made it
worse when he wouldn’t say anything to people to defend himself. I think he
just stopped talking to almost everyone.”

“Did you ever think he
was hurting? That
you
hurt him? Did it ever occur to you that maybe he
didn’t talk to any kids because they laughed at him all the time and made fun
of him because of what you said? Did it ever occur to you that he lost his
mother and his best friend all in the same day? Then he lost his father from
his drinking because he couldn’t cope with his wife’s death. Did it ever occur
to you that he may have needed you?”

I sat in the little
hidey-hole, waiting for a squirrel, or preferably a rabbit, thinking about
everything that had happened over the past couple of weeks.

Aside from the
earthquake and so many people dying, I was glad I finally had the chance to get
to know Adela. She was everything I’d always known she would be. I only hoped,
now that Max was back in the picture, she wouldn’t go back to pining over him.
What we’d shared that morning was absolutely fantastic. Her kisses told me she
loved me. She told me she loved me. But still, Max had been her number one
focus for so long I worried.

It only took a couple
of minutes before I heard a rustle in the brush. I poised for the kill, expecting
to see a rabbit hop out of the brush, but my mouth watered when I heard a
gobble instead. I took aim, letting go of the knife as my foot slipped on some
wet leaves and crap, I missed. The turkey scurried away. I grabbed the knife
and followed the large bird. I didn’t think it would run too fast. Most of the
wild turkeys around were pretty used to seeing people, at least the ones by my
house. As I slowly came around a tree, I stayed hidden and smiled at the sight.
There were six turkeys gathered together. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since
I knew they usually traveled in flocks. I took aim again, and this time I hit one
right in the center of his side and he fell over. He was small, but plump,
still pretty young. I looked around and saw the others scurrying up the hill
and out of sight before I could blink.

I glanced up at the
sky. Some dark clouds were rolling in and I wondered what sort of weather we
were in for now. There was a chill in the air and most likely, those clouds
meant snow. I sighed. Snow would add one more thing to make our journey even
more difficult. I pulled my shirt collar up around my ears—every little bit
helped and trekked back to the museum. I took the turkey to the side of the building,
placed him on an old sawhorse, cut his head off with the ax, and plucked and
gutted him there before I went back inside. There was no sense in making a mess
on the museum floor. When I entered, I stopped in my tracks at the sight of Adela
sitting on the sleeping bag, Max right beside her.
Shit
.

They heard me come in
and turned toward me. Adela jumped up, her eyes wide, her face adorned with a
broad smile. “You killed a turkey! Wow, and you already plucked it and
everything.”

I forced a smile and
walked to the fireplace. “It’s small, but it’ll feed the three of us.” Adela
had already taken out the little grill we had and positioned it over the fire.
She used a couple of bricks to hold it in place. I glanced at her. “Good job.”

“Thanks,” she grinned. “I
had a good teacher.”

I placed the turkey,
breast side up, on top of the grill and sat on the edge of the sleeping bag,
leaving room for Adela to slide in between Max and me.

“That didn’t seem to
take you very long,” she said.

“No. I got lucky.”

“You seem to get lucky
pretty often when it comes to finding food.”

“Yeah, well, our luck may
run out if those dark clouds I saw heading this way bring snow. We might be
here for a while if that’s the case. No sense trying to go anywhere and
freezing to death along the way.”

Adela nodded. “Right. At
least here we have the fire.”

I picked up one of the
cans of pears, grabbed the ring and flipped the top open halfway, pouring a
little of the juice over the turkey. The fire sizzled as some of the juice hit
it. I opened the can the rest of the way, pulled out one of the pear halves and
offered it to Adela.

“Thank you.” She took a
bite then offered it back to me.

I had to smile, liking
the way she thought about me as I took a bite, then she took another, then me
until it was gone. When she took the last bite, she grinned. “That was good.”

I put the knife down on
the floor and Adela picked it up, then stuck it in the can and pulled out
another pear half. She offered it to Max. I stayed quiet and hoped she wasn’t
going to take a bite after him. When he took the knife out of her hand, my back
stiffened. What would Max do with the knife? I watched him out of the corner of
my eye and wondered where the kid I once admired had gone. When Max finished
eating the pear, he put the knife back down beside the can and I relaxed my
shoulders.

The smell of the juice
from the turkey permeated the air. “How long is that going to take to cook?”
Max grumbled, clutching his stomach.

“A little while. Here,
have another pear,” Adela said, picking up the knife, spearing another pear in
the can, handing it to Max.

I watched him put the
whole pear half in his mouth, never offering any to us. Typical Max, but I
figured he would be hungrier than we were. I knew Max didn’t know too much
about hunting and I wondered what he did to survive out there over the past
week. But quite honestly, I didn’t care to ask him to find out.

The skin on the turkey’s
legs began to separate, indicating it was cooked. I pulled one off, held it out
toward Max. He snatched it and nodded at me. “Thanks.” Then he took a bite.

I cut some of the
breast meat and offered it to Adela. I cut two more pieces, handed one to Max
and kept one. Max had already finished the leg and started in on the piece of
breast meat immediately. I had to remind myself that Max hadn’t eaten in a few
days to keep from commenting on the way he guttled the meat.

It was no big surprise that
we managed to eat every last bit of the turkey, leaving nothing but the bones,
which meant I’d need to go back out tomorrow morning and find more food.

Maybe it was time to
make some more weapons. There were three of us, after all. We could take turns
hunting or even hunt together, but there was no way I was giving Max the knife
and letting him go out with it alone. He would probably just take off with it
and never come back.

I glanced at Max, his
lanky body sprawled out on the floor on the other side of Adela. She sat poking
a stick at the fire. I picked up another stick almost identical in size to the
one she held and began shaving the top edge with the knife. She watched with
interest.

“Good idea. Now I can
hunt too,” she said.

I shaved the tip until
it came to a sharp point, then smoothed down the sides, making it straighter,
easier to grip, and handed it to her.

“Nice. Thanks.” She
smiled then nodded toward Max.

I rolled my eyes. “If
you insist.”

I had planned to make
another one all along, but couldn’t resist teasing her.

After carving another
spear, I placed it against the wall next to the fireplace. Max was asleep, his
eyes shut and his breathing heavy. Sleep on a full belly was probably something
he hadn’t had in a while. I considered the question of which one of us had it
tougher over the last week. Remembering my time with Adela, I decided it had to
have been Max.

Adela yawned and stretched
out on the floor beside me, her head inches from my thigh. I fingered the
strands of her hair and she smiled up at me. Those bright brown eyes sparkled
against the flames of the fire. My heart sang and fluttered as Van Morrison’s “Brown
Eyed Girl” came to my mind, my favorite song since the fourth grade.

I added a few more
boards to the fire, stoking it enough to last until morning, then  positioned my
body close to Adela’s, though not exactly side-by-side. I wanted to take Adela
in my arms and hold on to her while we slept, but things were different now that
Max was with us again. I wasn’t sure how she felt about snuggling against me
with Max in the room. I closed my eyes and was pleasantly surprised when the
warmth of her body pressed against my back and her arm draped around my waist. I
wondered what would happen when Max woke and saw us. Maybe he’d give me another
opportunity to decorate his face.

I awoke freezing and scooted
closer against Courtland, opening my eyes to a brightness that wasn’t exactly
warming as I squinted at the frost-covered window. I got up, walked to it, made
a small circle in the middle of the glass with the edge of my fist, and watched
snow floating down. Each little flake glistened as it hit the ground. A wet
snow most likely. I stood, mesmerized for a few minutes before crawling back in
the sleeping bag with Court to get warm.

Max sat against the
wall next to the fireplace, glaring at me. Court stirred next to me and I looked
at him and then back at Max. At that moment, I realized what Max was thinking.
Suddenly filled with chagrin, I gave him a weak smile. He did not return the gesture,
only scowled, not saying a word. He didn’t need to. His silence told me
everything he was thinking and the vitriol pooling behind those steel blue eyes
of his caught me off guard. I didn’t want Max to hate me and he really didn’t
have any right to be upset. I had a strong desire to walk over and slap him, but
Court sat up beside me, rubbing my neck as he looked around.

“It’s snowing,” I said.

“I thought it might. It
looks like we’re stuck here, for a few days at least, depending on how long it
snows.” Court got up and walked to the window. I stayed seated while Max
continued to glare at me. I glanced away and pulled myself up to walk over to
the window to look out at the snow again.

“Somebody needs to go
out and get some more wood,” I said, trying to distract Max from staring icily at
me.

“I’ll go, and get more
food while I’m out there too,” Court said.

“I can go with you.” I
did not want to be alone with Max even if it meant walking out into the
freezing snow.

Court turned to me.
“That’s okay. You’ll get your chance, but it’s tricky hunting in the snow.” He
glanced at Max who just sat there staring at the two of us and Court gave me a
puzzled look. “I think it would be better if I went this time. We’ll draw
straws to see who goes later. Maybe the snow will let up by afternoon and the
animals will come out of hiding.”

Court bundled the
sleeping bag around his shoulders and took one of the spears he’d made along
with the knife. He turned toward the door and took a step. I grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”

I decided right there
and then that it didn’t matter anymore what Max thought. He wouldn’t be any more
upset than he already was, so I stood on my toes, threw my arms around Court’s
neck, and kissed him. Court, I’d learned, was never one to miss an opportunity
like this, so he placed his hand on the nape of my neck and pulled me in close,
turning the kiss into what must have appeared to Max as a hot, sensual display
of affection. “Be careful.”