Runaways (14 page)

“You don't know anything about them. There are girls on the loose everywhere these days, running away from home, from jails, becoming little prostitutes.”

“That's not who we are,” Crystal cried defensively.

“You don't look exactly like Mary Poppins.” His face grew stern again. “I want that jewelry.”

“We didn't take it,” I insisted. “We don't steal.”

He nodded. “Sure you don't.”

“Wait a minute,” Norman said. “Seems to me I remember you taking them off before you started cooking last night, Nana.”

“Yes,” she said her eyes growing sharper. “Yes.” She turned and then she went to a drawer in the cabinet by the sink and produced the watch and bracelet. “Here they are. I just forgot,” she said.

Everyone was silent a moment.

“I think we're owed an apology,” Crystal declared, her eyes fixed on Gerry.

“I think you got enough from my parents as it is.”

“I wasn't referring to them,” Crystal said.

“You should apologize, Gerry,” Nana said.

“Aaa. I don't like it,” he said. “I'm leaving for work, Dad. I'll talk to you later.” He glared at us. “I expect you'll be gone when I return.”

“We will for sure,” I said angrily.

“Good.”

He turned and left the house. As soon as the door closed, Nana apologized for him again.

“We've got to get going,” Crystal said. “It's all right. I'm glad you found everything.”

“It's easy to forget things these days,” Nana said mournfully.

“Shouldn't we stay and help with the dishes?” Butterfly asked.

“No, you don't have to do that,” Nana said. “I don't have much to do with myself as it is.”

They followed us out of the house, once again apologizing for Gerry.

“Maybe on your way back, you can stop in again,” Norman said.

I smiled.

Nana hugged Raven and Crystal and then gave Butterfly an especially long hug before hugging me, too. I got into the car and started the engine. Everyone got in afterward and I turned it around and headed toward the driveway entrance. The two of them stood side by side watching us, waving, looking smaller than ever.

“I wish we could have stayed,” Butterfly said sadly.

No one spoke.

“I only hope that son of theirs doesn't report us to the police,” Crystal remarked.

It was a worry we carried with us for nearly two hours before we felt more comfortable.

It had been a great stopover, I thought, but then when I looked at everyone and saw the sadness if their faces, I thought again. Maybe it would have been better if we'd never met Nana and Norman.

Our time with them seemed to confirm what we'd always feared: we'd never have a chance to be loved, to be part of a family. Being orphans had tainted us forever.

C
rystal returned to her maps to find us the safest routes because she was still worrying about Nana and Norman's son Gerry and Gordon's inevitable report to the police.

“Even if Louise talked him out of it for the time being, hoping we would come back, thinking we might have just gone off on a joy ride, he would be furious by now, especially if he followed that false map,” she explained. “Let's continue to stay away from heavily traveled highways where policemen patrol more frequently. Turn here,” she instructed. “Yes,” she said reading her map, “just follow this until I tell you to turn again.”

“Can we have a picnic today?” Butterfly asked once we'd been on the road for a while. “It was fun eating in the backyard with Nana and Norman yesterday.”

“It looks like it might rain,” Raven said, sounding a note of discouragement.

The dark clouds crawling toward us seemed to have already seeped into the car. Raven didn't even notice that I hadn't turned on the radio. She sat staring out the window, watching the scenery go by, looking like someone hypnotized. When I gazed at Crystal and Butterfly in the rearview mirror, I saw they were both pensive, Butterfly looking sadder than ever.

“You want to sing or play riddles?” I asked. No one responded. “Great. You're all a lot of fun. I might as well have stolen a hearse to drive,” I said.

“What's that up there?” Raven suddenly said, sitting up.

Maybe a half mile ahead of us, at the side of the road someone was sitting on a suitcase. I slowed as we drew closer.

“It's a hitchhiker,” Raven declared. “A girl. Pick her up, Brooke.”

“No,” Crystal said.

“Why not? She's probably all alone, like us. Who else is going to pick her up? Besides, she might get caught in a rainstorm,” Raven fired back at her.

“We can't take chances,” Crystal said.

“Some chance, helping someone. Stop for her, Brooke,” she pleaded. “We could use the change in company,” she added, throwing a look back at Crystal.

“I don't mind,” Butterfly said. “It could be fun.”

As we drew closer, we could see that the hitchhiker was a young woman, maybe seventeen, eighteen years old. She wore a short skirt the color of light tea, shoe boots with no socks and a tie-dyed tank top. A lime green and white bandanna was
wrapped around her peach and blue colored hair and her forehead. The faded brown suitcase upon which she had been sitting looked like it had been tossed out of a speeding train. It was cracked and battered so badly, some of her clothing was actually leaking out. She had tied a rope around it to keep it shut.

“All right. She does look pretty pathetic,” I said and stopped.

She wore only one earring that looked like a thin string of leather with a blue marble on the end. Her small framed, dark blue sunglasses hid her eyes. She wore no makeup, but it looked like she had a patch of tiny, blue dots on her left cheek.

The tank top was snug and revealed she was braless, despite her full bosom. She had lean arms with a tattoo of what looked like a sunflower bursting open on her left forearm. Her right hand was covered with metal rings, none looking very expensive. Despite the tattoo, the dots, the strange clothes and appearance, she was a pretty girl. Her nose was perfect and her lips were full and straight with just a tiny dip in the left corner. When she spoke, a dimple flashed on and off in her right cheek.

“Thanks for stopping,” she said breathlessly. “I didn't expect to see anyone on this road for days. Where should I throw this?” she asked, indicating her suitcase.

For a long moment, the four of us just gaped at her.

“Well, are you giving me a ride or not?”

“Oh, I'll open the back door for it,” I said and got out. I flipped open the rear door and she put the suitcase in quickly.

“You can sit up front,” Raven called out the window and she went around and got in when Raven moved over. I started the engine and drove on.

“Thanks guys,” she said, smiling back at Crystal and Butterfly, who continued to stare at her as if she were an extraterrestrial.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Anywhere but here. How about you?”

I glanced at Crystal in the rearview mirror. She shook her head slightly.

“To my friend's house in Ohio,” I said.

“Great. I'll go to Ohio,” she said. The way she said it, I thought she would agree to go to Alaska if we said we were heading that way.

“What's your name?” Raven asked. She was the most taken with her.

“Sunshine. What's yours?”

“Sunshine?” Raven hesitated as if her own name wouldn't match up in value. “Um, I'm Raven. This is Brooke,” she said nodding at me. “Crystal and Butterfly,” Raven said nodding at each.

“Butterfly? Great name. I had a friend who named her daughter Beetle Bug because she was born with these dark eyes so close together she looked like a little bug in the blanket.”

“Butterfly is just a nickname,” I said. “Her real name is Janet. What's your real name?”

“I told you, Sunshine. I have no other name,” she insisted.

“How come you were hitchhiking?” Raven asked.

“Because my darling boyfriend, Sky, left me out there. We broke up.”

“Sky?” I said with a smile.

“In his case he had another name, Ormand Boreman. It was on his driver's license. It should be Ormand Boring instead.”

“He just left you there?” Crystal asked. Sunshine turned and smiled at her.

“Well actually, I opened the door and said if you don't stop and let me out, I'll jump. So he stopped and I got out there. He drove away with the door still open.”

“What kind of boyfriend is that?” Butterfly asked.

“The worst kind,” Sunshine said. “Good riddance, huh? Men make me sick anyway. They always think just cuz you're pretty or funny you're up for grabs.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Raven said. Sunshine looked at her, a small smile on her lips. It was obvious that they were kindred souls.

“Who are you guys? Where are you all from?”

“Back east in upstate New York,” Crystal said quickly, “except for me. I come from Ohio. How about you?”

“I was born in California, but I haven't been back there since . . .”

“Since when?” Crystal asked.

“Since good old Mom and Dad split,” she answered.

“Oh, sorry,” Crystal said quickly.

“It's all right. There's nothing to be sorry about.” she remarked.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Raven asked.

“Probably,” Sunshine replied.

“Probably? What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“I mean probably. Knowing my father, I'm sure I
do somewhere.” She looked at me. “Maybe one of you is related to me. I don't know.”

“Where are your parents now?” Butterfly asked. Sunshine's appearance was definitely getting her out of her funk.

“Last I heard, Mom went to Rosarita Beach in Mexico and Dad went to Oregon,” she replied.

“You haven't seen or heard from them since?” Butterfly pursued.

“Nope. Far as I'm concerned, I'm an orphan,” she said, “and I don't mind.”

“That's because you really aren't one,” Crystal muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said.

“How old were you when you left home?” I asked.

“Sixteen. Well, maybe just fifteen. It seems so long ago now, I can't remember.”

“How old are you now?” Butterfly asked. “Seventeen?”

Sunshine laughed.

“I'm twenty,” she said.

“Twenty!”

“Yeah, I'm an old lady.” She dug into the pouch she had swinging on her neck and came out with a sad-looking cigarette, the paper barely holding the tobacco together. “Anybody want a drag?” she asked as she lit it.

“We don't smoke,” Crystal said sharply.

“Me neither,” Sunshine said.

“That isn't a cigarette,” Raven said, suddenly suspicious.

“No. It's a joint,” Sunshine replied with a smile. She offered it to Crystal, who shook her head and
then to Butterfly, who stared with big, frightened eyes.

“She doesn't want any.” Crystal spoke for Butterfly.

“None of us do,” Raven said. “That stuff is nothing but trouble.”

“With a capital T!” Crystal and I chimed in, laughing nervously.

“It's all right. One puff can't hurt,” Sunshine said, taking a long drag. “It never hurts, that's the point.” She leaned to me and I shook my head. The sweet smell filled the car. Crystal coughed.

“Throw it out,” she demanded.

Sunshine looked at me.

“Please,” I said. I didn't want to have to stop the car and kick her out, but I knew we'd have to if she kept this up.

“What a waste,” she muttered, took another long drag and then threw the joint out the window.

“You could start a fire in a field,” Crystal complained looking back.

“Who are you, the national leader of the Girl Scouts?” Sunshine asked.

Raven gave her a dirty look and Sunshine changed the subject.

“So what were you all doing back east?” Sunshine asked.

“Going to school, a private school,” Crystal said quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

Sunshine looked at Raven and then back at Crystal. She raised her eyebrows and slowly took off her sunglasses and gazed at Butterfly, who quickly looked down.

“Something tells me you're not telling the truth. Am I right?” she followed. No one spoke. “What, are you all running away or something?”

“No,” I said. “We're going to Crystal's home in Ohio. We've been invited.”

“Really?” She looked back and then smiled. “Pack light, do you? All I see are some pillowcases. I know this isn't some kind of pajama party. You guys are on the run. You don't have to tell me. I know enough about people on the run.”

“I told you not to pick her up,” Crystal complained.

“Relax,” Sunshine said. “I'm the last person you have to worry about. I've been running away for years.”