“Do you have time for a hot dog and fries? I'll buy.”
“Sure.”
He shoved the envelope into his pocket, and I followed him to a brand new restaurant just about a block down Main Street. They must have been paying him pretty well over at St. Sebastian's, because after lunch he bought me a brand new iPod too, the most expensive one they made at the time, although he told me not to say anything to Mom about it. I told him that Mom wouldn't know an iPod from a calculator and that his secret was safe with me.
Later, as I was walking home with Chewy and testing out my iPod, I remembered what that red-haired kid had said about how Mary was a big scam and that Carlos was paying me off to keep quiet about it. But I still didn't feel guilty about getting the iPod or the free lunches either, because it wasn't like I was getting rich off Mary or anything. Mary was all about doing nice things for people anyway, and if some sour-minded folks didn't like it, that was their problem. Chewy agreed with me too, and we ran down into the woods and played hide-and-seek for a while, because Chewy liked playing in the woods more than just about anything.
In spite of how Pastor Mike was always trying to build me up with Mom whenever they went out on a date, telling her how smart and curious I was and all, Mom still wasn't crazy about me spending so much time down at the shrine. I guess she thought that maybe I was turning into a “little holy roller” as she called it, and that I might get even a bigger head than I already had. Pilgrims down at the shrine would sometimes recognize me from the newspapers and take my picture and have me scribble my name on it if they had one of those old fashioned cameras that printed out the photo on the spot. It was happening less and less though as folks were concentrating more on Mary and what favors she could do for them. I tried over and over again explaining all this to Mom, but she was pigheaded like usual and didn't listen.
So it was easy for me to understand why Mom got all excited when Marcie's invite came in the mail for me to go to her stupid old swimming party. Mom said it was high time for me to start acting like a kid again and that I had to go whether I liked it or not.
The morning after I got it Mom was in the basement ironing my shirts, and I decided to try and talk her out of making me go. She had one of those ancient ironing machines she'd inherited from her grandma that she fed the clothes in through padded rollers, which she worked by stepping on a pedal, like she was playing the piano or the organ or something. Mom said she liked ironing my clothes because it took her mind off her troubles. She seemed happy enough to me though, at least ever since she'd been dating Pastor Mike so hot and heavy.
“It'll be good for you to get away from all those old sick people for a while. You need to be with kids your own age more.”
“But you hang out with old sick people all day at the hospital.”
“That's different. That's my job.”
Mom could be so hard to get along with sometimes it was almost unbelievable. But I saw pretty clear where she was going wrong, so I decided to try something else on her.
“Your friends are always saying how you cheer your patients up. Maybe I can do some cheering up too down at the shrine. Pastor Mike says it's the charitable thing to do. So does Father Tom, and they ought to know since that's their business.”
Mom yanked my shirt out of the machine and looked it over.
“Carlos and Father Tom and Mr. Santelli and whoever else works down there at that little dog and pony show can do all the cheering up that has to be done.”
She jiggled the shirt a little and then scowled at it, like she was trying to scare out the wrinkles. I noticed how nice and smooth Mom's hands were and thought about how Pastor Mike seemed to love holding them.
“They don't need a little fellow like you getting in their way. And don't bring Pastor Mike into this either. Pastor Mike can speak for himself.”
“But there wouldn't even be a shrine if it weren't for me.”
She dragged her scowl from the shirt over to me.
“Are you saying that God couldn't have arranged for Mary to become so popular if it hadn't been for you?”
I hadn't expected a religious kind of argument coming from Mom and figured that Pastor Mike was probably behind it somehow. But I could see quick enough where she was headed with it, so I decided to back off a little.
“Well, He used me to do it according to Carlos. That should count for something.”
“God and Mary and Carlos too for that matter can get along quite well without your input.” Then she smoothed out the sleeves so it would go through the rollers without losing the creases. “You just go to Marcie's party and have a good time. The shrine's not going out of business just because you're not there for a few hours.”
I tried to tell her that more than just old sick people came to visit Mary, but she didn't want to listen anymore. She said that I better behave myself at Marcie's party too, and that I had to be especially nice to Marcie. She said that she was talking to Marcie's mom over at the hospital one day when she came in for a checkup, and that Marcie's mom had told her that I'd acted kind of rude to her daughter once on the way to school. I got kind of teed off about it too, since it was just like Marcie to badmouth me behind my back.
“It was all Marcie's fault,” I snapped. “She was saying that Mary was just a fake and that I didn't know what I was talking about.”
“Maybe she was right.”
“Marcie's never right, at least not about anything important.”
“I don't want to hear any more of your lip, Nathan Gray. Marcie is a nice little girl and you better shape up. Some days I think you're turning into your dad.”
So I ended up having to go to Marcie's dumb old party after all. Marcie's big stone house sat up on a hill overlooking the town. According to Mom, the hill was the same ridge that Millridge got the second half of its name from. Mom said people lived up there who still had money from the old days when the mill was going full blast. She said sooner or later they'd all die out or move away, and then nobody would have any money anymore.
Our town was so small that I could walk there in ten minutes if I had to. That day it took me nearly an hour, because I was trying my best to put it off for as long as possible. When I finally got close I saw a long line of SUVs parked in front of the house, which meant that kids must have been coming from all over. I whispered to Chewy that we ought to skip this party, but Chewy said that Mom would find out about it somehow. Chewy was right about that, because Mom had spies everywhere. I thought about just sitting there on the front lawn for an hour or so and then leaving. That way I could still say that I'd gone to Marcie's house without having to lie to Mom about it. But I was being scorched by the hot sun, and I decided that a little swim sounded pretty good.
I walked around to the back where tons of kids were already running around yelling and screaming. Marcie had told me that she had a big pool, and she wasn't kidding either. It must have been forty feet across, and a wooden deck about six feet wide ran the whole way around it. On the other side of the pool was a red tent with three rows of long tables set up inside with all kinds of food piled up on them. The grownups were mostly standing around under the tent drinking beer out of dark bottles and talking to each other.
I'd worn my swimming suit underneath my jeans because it was easier that way. I was sliding the jeans off when Marcie came up to me wearing a two-piece pink swim suit that made her look a little fatter and paler than when she was in regular clothes. “Do you want to go swimming with me? The water's perfect.”
I decided that while I had the chance I might as well get her back for saying all those nasty things about Mary.
“Those scientists said that nobody painted Mary's face on the concrete. She just showed up out of nowhere, just like I said all along.”
I was hopping around on one leg trying to yank my pants off, and Marcie looked at me like I was crazy or something.
“What are you getting so all worked up about all of a sudden? I told everyone in school that you were the one who discovered her. Without me you wouldn't be nearly as famous as you are.”
“I don't care about all that. I'm just happy Mary's around to heal people and give them hope, like Father Tom and Pastor Mike are always saying.”
I finally got my pants off and folded them up into a square and threw them behind a bush. Then I whipped off my T-shirt and tossed it behind the bush too. Marcie flashed me a sharp little grin before turning sour again.
“Like fun you don't care. Admit it. You love all the attention. Everybody loves attention, especially someone like you who's never had much of it before, at least not in a good way.”
I stuck out my chest at her, which made her giggle and blush some. Then I felt my face turn a little hot, but I pretended not to notice.
“I already had plenty of friends before Mary even showed up, if that's what you're getting at.”
Marcie kept right on talking as if what I had to say didn't matter at all.
“I even googled your name on my computer and found over ten thousand matches. Of course, it was pretty much just the same newspaper story coming up over and over again, and there hasn't been much new either since you discovered her. But you're more famous than most kids anyway. And it's all because of me. I could've hogged the credit for myself too if I'd wanted. But I was looking out for you.”
“You don't fool me,” I answered real sharp, because I didn't want her thinking that I owed her anything. “You just didn't want to get the blame if Mary turned out to be a fake.”
She rolled her little brown eyes and then gave out a big heavy sigh.
“Do you want to go for a swim with me or don't you?”
I looked down at the ground and kicked at the grass, but my foot slipped and I almost clobbered Marcie in the knee. All of a sudden Marcie's eyes flared up like tiny volcanoes.
“And anyway, those scientists said she was just a water stain. They didn't say that God put her there or anything. They didn't even say that she's Mary. She might be some other girl for all we know. You can believe in her if you want, Nathan, but I'm just telling you the hard facts.”
I decided to play it cool, because I didn't want Marcie making up some story about me losing my temper and then telling Mom about it. My plan must have worked, because after a few seconds her face softened up a little.
“Don't take it so hard, Nathan. My dad thinks the pilgrims are all just a bunch of dummies who don't know any better. But he says that dumb people spend money too, and that the shrine is the best thing that's happened to this town in years. He says that it's a good thing you wandered into that old lot before they bulldozed it. So don't go getting all snippy with me. I'm on your side after all.”
Just then I saw Marcie's dad the lawyer getting himself a beer under the tent in his red and blue checkered Bermuda shorts and white T-shirt with BIG DADDY printed in black letters on the front. He looked kind of old and washed out without his fancy suit on.
“Your dad must believe in Mary's powers, or else he wouldn't have stuck up for her in public like he did at the town meeting. I was there, you know. I heard him with my own ears.”
Marcie made a big deal about rolling her dark little eyes again.
“Dad says that lawyers take the side of whoever pays them the most.”
“Who paid him then to speak up for her? Did the town pay him?”
I was hoping it was the town and not Father Tom and Carlos. It wouldn't have bothered me much if the mayor turned out to be in it for the money, him being a politician and all. But Marcie didn't seem to care about any of that and instead started making silly faces at me and laughing. After my cheeks got hot again, she scooted over to the ladder and climbed up it wiggling her hips all around. Then she turned and laughed at me again before diving into the pool head first.
I didn't want to be shown up by some crazy girl, so I climbed the ladder too, held my nose tight and jumped in like a cannon ball. I didn't even test the water first with my toes like I usually did. Marcie wasn't fooling either and the water was just right. I ducked under a few times to get my head cooled off, and then I shook the foam out of my eyes and looked around.
There were kids on floats kicking their legs into the water and kids jumping off the deck holding their noses, and other kids were smacking a big yellow beach ball back and forth. Marcie was off to the side where the water wasn't so deep giggling with these two little girls I'd never seen before. They'd giggle at each other for a while and then stop and stare at me with their eyes real round and bright, like they expected me to take off for the moon or something. And then they'd start giggling at each other again.
I dove under and swam to the far side of the pool to get as far away from them as I could. After I came up and shook the water out of my eyes, I saw that I was standing next to that big red-haired kid, the same one who'd kicked the snot out of me down at Mary's shrine. He had his back to me and was arguing with his dad about whether he'd cleaned out his room enough to get his monthly allowance. I recognized the dad right away as that doctor Mom had dragged me in to see for talking to Chewy. I was about to dive under water again so he wouldn't spot me. But he finally quit arguing with his bratty son and went back to the tent to get himself another beer I guess.
The kid whirled around and right away started in on me again, calling me a sneaky little crook and other nasty names. I began wading through the water as fast as I could to get away from him, but the kid jumped onto my back and tried to strangle me. I bent down real quick and judo flipped him over my shoulder, and then we started fighting for real.
The kid was even slower with his fists than I remembered. Whenever he took a wild swing at me, all I had to do was back out of the way and then jab him in the nose with my right like Father Tom had taught me. I took Pastor Mike's advice too and made sure to hold up my left hand to keep him from sneaking in a lucky punch.
After a while the kid must have gotten tired of getting smacked in the nose, because he charged me like a linebacker trying to make a tackle. But at the last second I dove out of his reach and started swimming for the ladder. I wasn't too keen on fighting him anymore because I was pretty sure that if the kid got hurt, Mom would blame it all on me, because she was always blaming bad stuff on me.
Kids were swimming over now rooting us on, and some of the grownups were starting to look around to see what all the fuss was about. Marcie must not have been too happy about us fighting in her pool, because she was already hollering and wailing for her mother to come get her.
The kid caught me from behind just as I was halfway up the ladder. Then he locked his arms around my neck and pulled me back into the water with him. For a second I thought I was about to get drowned, so I grabbed him hard in the nuts and he let go of me real fast.