Colin Fischer (24 page)

Dinner at the Fischer house
that night was uncharacteristically quiet.

“So, Big C. I got a call from your principal today,” Mrs. Fischer finally said, breaking the silence.

Colin had a good idea what Dr. Doran had said but
decided the best policy was to wait until his mother had revealed her hand. Though he was not an experienced liar, Colin had long ago mastered the art of compartmentalizing information. It was a time-honored investigative technique with proven results.

“Detention,” she finished. “Two days in a row.”

“Yes,” Colin acknowledged, as though she had just made a comment about the dress code or school supplies. He picked up an asparagus stalk, experimentally bending it between his fingers, testing the point at which it snapped in two. “I like asparagus,” he said. “Although there is one thing I do not like, and that is it makes my pee smell funny.”

“You plan to tell us what happened?” Mr. Fischer asked. “Or are you just gonna sit there and finish your asparagus?”

Colin did not answer. If anything, he focused even more intently on testing the tensile strength of his vegetables. “Chemists think it has to do with the digestive system breaking down sulfur compounds into ammonia, but they’re not really sure.”

“Dr. Doran told us everything,” his father revealed, undeterred by Colin’s efforts to change the subject. “She said—Colin, look at me—she said you got into a fight. Then you skipped detention. Then you lied to her, forged a note from the office, and fooled Wayne into coming into school when he was clearly forbidden
from doing so. LAPD had to dispatch a cruiser to West Valley High, for God’s sake.”

Mrs. Fischer looked at her husband very seriously. “Salt, please?” she asked. He passed it to her without comment. “Thanks,” she said, and dashed it over her potatoes.

Colin cut into his asparagus, took a bite, and chewed very slowly, working to keep his face as blank as possible.

His father, pointing his fork across the table for emphasis, made no such effort. Still, it was difficult to say if he was
ANGRY
or
IMPRESSED
—his expression kept changing, as though he didn’t know how he felt himself. “In forty-eight hours, you’ve broken more rules, started more trouble, and caused more chaos than in all your fourteen years on this planet.”

Danny squirmed in his chair, drumming the table with his hands. “Yes!” he hissed under his breath, but not quite under his breath enough. One dark look from his mother was all it took to silence him immediately. Danny returned to eating his salmon.

“You also saved an innocent boy.”

Colin chewed his asparagus five more times, swallowed, and then washed down what remained of the mouthful with a sip of chilled water. “No, I didn’t,” Colin said. “I just figured out the truth. The rest…happened.”

“Either way, we’re proud of you.”

“And if you ever do it again,” his mother said, raising a warning finger, “we’ll strap you to a chair, lock you in a closet, and feed you through a tube.”

Colin understood she was exaggerating for effect, and the punishment described was an unlikely outcome whether or not he did anything like this again. However, he knew with equal certainty whatever consequence his mother actually devised would be, in its own way, far less entertaining. Colin nodded, acknowledging her threat as he went back to his dinner, quietly hoping this discussion was at an end. After all, he suspected this was all far from over. There were still too many questions.

“Colin,” Mr. Fischer said.

“Yes, Dad?”

“You were saying. About asparagus.”

“Oh,” Colin said. He looked at his father and pushed his glasses up his nose. “What is very interesting is that while everyone seems to produce the compounds for stinky asparagus urine, only about half the population can detect the smell….”

An hour later
, Colin sat in his room, enjoying the solitude as he recorded his thoughts for the day in his Notebook. His quiet repose was interrupted by the approach of familiar footsteps and the creak of his door.

Danny stood at the entrance for a moment, giving
Colin an
UNCERTAIN
look. “So that’s pretty cool what you did,” he said.

Colin had no idea what Danny was talking about.

“Nailing Sandy Ryan for bringing that gun,” Danny explained,
EXASPERATED
. “I guess she deserved it for peeing on your bed.”

“No,” Colin said, “she deserved it for not reporting the gun to the authorities.”

Danny shook his head, quite certain he would never really understand his older brother. “Speaking of which…about messing up your room. You remember how Dad said I would apologize to you when I really felt it?”

“Yes.”

“Just wanted to see if you remembered that,” Danny said. “Later, loser.”

Danny left. Colin wasn’t sure why, but he was overcome with the urge to smile.

Dr. Doran had arranged
for Sandy and her mother to come before the first bell so she could clear out her locker before most of the other students arrived. Melissa, who had arrived early, watched from a distance as her friend peeled stickers off the metal and collected her things into a cardboard box. Sandy paused only to wipe away her tears.

Melissa sensed Colin standing behind her. He was
watching the scene with mild curiosity, his Notebook open, recording his thoughts on the matter.

“I can’t believe it,” Melissa said softly, interrupting Colin’s thought. “Expelled.”

“She had a gun,” Colin said. “It was in her purse.”

“Eddie’s gun.” Melissa gestured with her chin, drawing his attention to Eddie. He stood at the other end of the hall with a knot of his friends. They were usually the loudest and most boisterous students in the school, but this morning they were quiet—especially Eddie. Colin wrote all of this down.