Almost Eden Page 7

  “That was too easy,” said Joy.

  “Shhh!!!”

  Laughing, wide awake, and breathless, we ran down the alley.

  “Where are we going?” Heather asked.

  “It’s a surprise,” said Jillian. “Follow me.”

  “Not another one of Jillian’s surprises,” groaned Eleanor. She traipsed along behind us, but she wasn’t all that happy about it.

  Jillian led us down the route we’d planned, sticking to back alleys as much as possible. By the time we reached the park, we were all pretty wound up and acting like little kids. We ran for the slides and swings, whooping and hollering at half volume.

  “Over here!” I called. Everyone grabbed a spot on the wobbly old merry-go-round. We ran, pushing it faster and faster and still faster, then hopping on one by one. I was the last to jump on and lean out, breathless, letting the night sky spin dizzily around and around and around some more.

  “That was so neat,” Joy finally sighed, when the merry-go-round stopped.

  “It gets better,” said Jillian. “C’mon.”

  We chased each other through the park to the big elm tree close by the fence that surrounded the pool. Deck lights shimmered on the quiet water.

  A shadow moved in the bushes. “You’re late.”

  Heather strangled a scream.

  Aaron stepped into the light. “We thought you weren’t going to show up.” Behind him Mark, Pete, and the other guys rustled their way out of hiding.

  The midnight rendezvous had been the boys’ idea. They’d dared Jillian, Sadie, and me that afternoon, when they heard about Jillian’s party. We just hadn’t told anyone else. The others would never have followed us if they’d known what we planned.

  “Let’s go.” Mark headed toward the pool.

  Naomi looked around nervously. “We really shouldn’t be here, should we? Isn’t there a NO TRESPASSING sign somewheres?”

  Jillian held up her pack. “I brought our bathing suits. We’re not the first ones to ever go for a midnight swim.”

  Joy teetered like she might faint.

  It wasn’t like we were planning on wrecking anything. We weren’t delinquents. And we were all real good swimmers. Besides which, the guys were climbing the chain-link fence already.

  “I don’t know,” Eleanor whispered. “We’ll be in big trouble if we’re caught. I’m pretty sure there’s a fine, you know–”

  “Stay here then.” Jillian began climbing. “It’s your funeral.”

  In the end, everyone except Naomi and Joy went over the fence. To be honest, I was more than a little nervous, too, but no way was I going to be left out. Especially after I ruined everything for everyone last week already. Jillian and Sadie would really think I was a wimp.

  At first I was looking over my shoulder too much to have any fun. But then after a while, when no alarms went off or anything, I started to enjoy myself. I lay on my back at the bottom of the pool, staring up at the silhouetted bodies moving above me. Light streamed around them.

  Everything seemed unreal, as if the night had put a spell over us. Only I felt more real and alive than I could ever remember. I felt bigger than life. I wanted to hug Jillian. I’d never think of doing something like this without her.

  I didn’t want the spell to end. Only I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. I let myself rise slowly, quietly breaking the surface.

  “This is the best.”

  The voice behind me was barely a whisper, and a little husky, but I’d know Aaron’s voice anywhere. Treading water, I turned, smiling, all ready to agree with him. The night, the moment, everything was perfect.

  Only thing was, Aaron wasn’t talking to me. He didn’t even know I was there. He was talking to Sadie. Which wasn’t a big deal, except the way his voice sounded I knew he wasn’t just talking to her, he was talking only to her. And he didn’t just mean that swimming at night was the best, he meant swimming at night with her was the best.

  I dove deep and swam toward the others. Sadie and Aaron were right behind me. Probably, it meant nothing I told myself. Nothing at all. Absolutely nusht.

  But for sure I didn’t believe me.

  We formed a circle in the deep end, treading water and talking. I didn’t say much because my head was too full of questions. Why hadn’t I noticed something going on before? It must have all started while I was grounded. That figured. That’s why Sadie had been acting weird.

  “Someone’s coming!” Naomi hissed from the other side of the fence. A car slowed as it drove by on the street. A patrol car. “It’s the police!”

  Naomi and Joy disappeared. The rest of us didn’t have time to get out of the pool. We ducked underwater, surfacing against the side of the pool under the diving boards and keeping our heads below the deck. Almost right away, before the water stopped rippling even, a patrol car swung up to the fence. Headlights scanned the pool. Holy Moses.

  “C’mon out!”

  A disembodied voice from some kind of loudspeaker crackled over our heads. It reached right into my stomach. I thought I might lose it right then and there.

  “What do we do?” groaned Heather.

  “Shhh!” Jillian put a finger to her lips. “Don’t move.”

  “We know you’re in there,” the voice crackled again. “You might as well come out.”

  “We better give ourselves up,” whispered Eleanor.

  “Are you totally nuts?” Aaron hissed.

  We huddled still closer, staying low. Mark was pressed against me on one side, Jillian on the other. Mark and I were staring into each other’s bright eyes. I was pretty sure I could feel his heart racing as fast as mine.

  I don’t know how long we huddled there. Probably only a few minutes, even though it felt like forever. Our teeth were chattering before we finally heard the car drive away.

  “Wait,” Mark said. “Just a bit longer yet.”

  The patrol car appeared on the street. It drove by slowly, then turned the corner away from the park.

  “Now!” Pete boosted himself out of the water. We bolted, grabbing our clothes and racing for the fence.

  “That was wild,” said Mark.

  I nodded, getting all tangled up as I tried to pull my T-shirt on over my wet bathing suit. “It’ll get wilder yet if we’re caught.” Please God, I prayed, help us get out of here without getting caught and I swear I’ll never do anything like this again.

  I wasn’t the only one praying, that was for sure.

  “Never again. Never again.” Heather’s teeth chattered, her voice shook as she scrambled up the fence. “I promise I’ll never ever break the law again.”

  Jimmy, Pete, and Caleb were the first ones to hurdle over the fence. They dropped to the ground on the other side. Jillian and Heather were right behind. Right about then is when the cop car pulled up in the alley across the street, facing the pool. For a split second everyone froze.

  Aaron, Mark, and Sadie were straddling the top of the fence still. Eleanor and I were clinging halfway up. Then Aaron hit the ground running.

  “Meet you at home!” Jillian took off with the others.

  Mark reached down and grabbed my hand. He hauled me up and over. “Jump!”

  I practically flew I jumped so far. The landing took my breath away. The cops had turned onto the street and were speeding toward the parking entrance.

  “I’m caught!” Sadie cried. Her suit was snagged on the fence. She yanked at it, tottering back and forth. Eleanor had pretty much given up, falling back to the ground. Her hands clasped the chain links from the other side. She stared, wild-eyed at me. Aaron brushed past on his way back to help.

  I’d lost sight of the cop car behind the building. For a second I thought about going back to help, too. Then I heard tires squealing. I stopped thinking and started running. I ducked through the trees, dove under the hedge bordering the park, and elbowed my way out the other side into the fair grounds. Scrambling to my feet I ran, flat out, right into a barbed wire fence, flipped head over
heels yet, rolled, and was up again, still running.

  At some point I realized I was running beside someone. I didn’t know it was Heather until we both cut through a garden and into Jillian’s backyard. We almost knocked over Jillian, Naomi, and Joy.

  “Never again,” croaked Heather, gasping for breath. She fell onto the lawn. “My heart can’t take anymore.”

  “Where’s Sadie? And Eleanor?” asked Jillian.

  I shook my head. Leaning forward, hands on my knees, I tried to catch my breath. “What do we do now?”

  We did the only thing we could do. We waited. And waited. And waited some more yet.

  We were about ready to wake up Jillian’s parents; never mind the consequences, when Sadie and Eleanor stumbled in the back gate and fell onto the lawn. Eleanor burst into tears as we crowded around.

  “What happened?” asked Jillian. “We thought you were right behind us.”

  Sadie waited to catch her breath. “Elsie knew I was caught on the fence.”

  The night was too dark to see very well, but I could feel her eyes blazing right through me. “I thought Aaron went to help you.”

  “He did. He was really great. He got me loose while Mark helped Eleanor. She was petrified.” She scowled, disgusted, at Eleanor. “Mark jumped down and shoved her under those spruce trees, you know, the ones in the corner.”

  We nodded, holding our breath practically through Sadie’s whole story. How it was too late by then for Mark to get out again or find another place to hide. How Aaron and Sadie, watching from the bushes, saw the police take him away. Then Aaron and Sadie went back for Eleanor, but it took them forever to convince her to leave her hiding place.

  “Aaron had to climb back over the fence and practically drag her out,” said Sadie.

  “I couldn’t help it,” Eleanor sniffed. “I was too scared to move.”

  “We looked for you,” Sadie said to me. “But you’d disappeared.”

  There wasn’t much I could say. “I-I panicked,” I stammered. “All I could think about was getting out of there. It didn’t matter anyways. I couldn’t have done anything more to help.”

  Only it did matter. Sadie knew it. I knew it. And for sure everyone else knew it.

  “Anyways,” Sadie turned to the others. “Aaron walked us back here. He’s going to call Mark in the morning and then let us know what happened.”

  Yeah, I thought. I bet that was a real hardship. Walking all the way back in the dark with Aaron. I hated myself for thinking what I was thinking. But I couldn’t help it.

  No one could sleep. We lay awake for hours, whispering and retelling the story. Running away from the police yet. How stupid could we get? Eventually we couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves over it.

  I laughed with the others on the outside, but on the inside I wasn’t laughing. None of the heroes in any book I’d ever read would have abandoned their friends like I did. I was despicable; a coward who only thought of saving her own skin. It was a miserable thing to find out about yourself.

  In my heart of hearts, I wondered if I might have gone back, even if I hadn’t seen Aaron and Sadie together in the pool. I suspected I was not only a coward, but a jealous, spiteful coward to boot.

  Jillian and Sadie were whispering, heads close, too quietly for me to hear. I turned away.

  Who’d have thought that Mark Giesbrecht, of all people, would turn out to be a hero?

  Dear God–

  I’m such a loser. I left Sadie caught on the fence because I was jealous, and now she hates me. This should have been the best night of my life. Instead I feel lousy.

  Why does Aaron have to like Sadie and not me? It’s not fair, God. I can’t say sorry to Sadie. I just can’t. Not yet.

  Please forgive all my trespasses. There’s too many to tell you about) but I guess you know what they are. And watch over Mom. This would never have happened if Mom had been home. I’d never have gotten grounded and then Sadie and Aaron…I need Mom to come home again.

  Are you listening, God? It doesn’t feel like you’re listening.

  Amen.

  Mark didn’t tell the police who all was with him. But we got together first thing in the morning and decided it wasn’t right for him to take all the blame. So we rode over to the police station on our bikes and turned ourselves in.

  The officer at the desk took down our names.

  When I told him mine he said, “You’re Isaak Redekop’s daughter, aren’t you?”

  Holy Moses. I nodded miserably. I could already hear Dad saying how I’d stirred my own mouse and now I was going to have to eat it yet, too. And that wouldn’t be the half of it. Maybe I’d get out of my room by Christmas. I knew I was going to have to come clean before he heard about our midnight dip from someone else, or it would be way worse yet. It was pretty much the same for everyone. Sadie’s dad played slow pitch in the same league with one of the constables who’d caught Mark. Pete Wiens’ mother was a part-time secretary at the high school with the wife of the other constable.

  Good thing we didn’t let Naomi, Joy, or Eleanor come with to the police station. They shouldn’t have to confess, we’d decided, because Naomi and Joy didn’t really do anything, and Eleanor would probably wet her pants.

  Chief Neufeld took us into a room and gave us a scathing lecture, about how stunts like ours wasted their time and tied up valuable resources, and how we were lucky no one got hurt or drowned, and how this sort of foolishness and irresponsibility for sure wasn’t what the community expected of its young people, never mind the danger we had put ourselves in. He said he was letting us off with a warning, but he’d better not see us in there again.

  “Since you came in on your own, I’m not going to call your parents this time.”

  We breathed a huge sigh of relief. Apologies flew around the room. But we breathed too soon.

  “You’ll tell them yourselves,” he added. “And believe me, I’ll know whether you have or not.”

  We believed him.

  I made up my mind to confess and get it over with. Only my good intentions came to nusht because when I got home Dad had gone to work. That made two Saturdays in a row.

  There was no way I was telling Beth anything. She’d want to pray over me or something. I felt guilty enough already without that yet. What if Mom found out? She’d be so mortified she’d never show her face out of Eden again. I remembered to feed Tommy, then I went at the siding with my wire brush, scrubbing loose paint like a maniac until I’d scoured every board as high up as I was allowed to go.

  Only I was still feeling like I needed to repent. So I let Lena watch Tarzan on TV for once, instead of making her watch American Bandstand, While she was watching, I picked lettuce for Beth, washed it, and helped her make lunch.

  “What’s up with you this morning?” Beth asked.

  That’s what a person gets for trying to be nice.

  “If you’re hoping to suck up to Dad, don’t bother,” said Beth. “He had to go into Winnipeg. He won’t be home until late.”

  “I wasn’t sucking up. Geez.”

  Since I was off the hook till tomorrow anyways, one last swim before I got grounded again seemed like a pretty good idea. I made up my mind to stop by Sadie’s. I’d tell her I was sorry and that I didn’t blame her for being mad at me. I’d be mad at me, too.

  I felt better already, after deciding to apologize to Sadie. So I knew it was the right thing to do. First, though, I had to visit Mom. I hadn’t gone to see her at all yesterday. I even told Lena she could come with.

  At Eden we went for a walk around the grounds again, then played knippsbrat a little. I could tell Mom was trying, but she wasn’t really into it. When she wasn’t looking I checked her eyes to see if it was the real Mom or the robot Mom in charge today, only I couldn’t tell.

  While we were playing, one of the other patients came and stood over the table, rocking back and forth and watching us. He just stood there, rocking and watching. A thin line of drool ran from the corner of his
mouth down his chin, but he didn’t wipe it off or anything. I tried not to look, but it was sort of hard not to, with him standing right there. Lena begged me with her eyes to do something.

  “Uh, Mom?” I nodded at the guy.

  Mom looked up. “Oh, hi Corny,” she said, like she didn’t mind one bit for him to be standing there drooling.

  Corny kept on rocking and watching. Talk about creeping a person out. Lena looked like she might bolt any second. As soon as the first game was finished I told Mom we had to go. She walked us to the door. I don’t think she really wanted visitors very much right then anyways, not even Lena and me.

  But it wasn’t our day. On the way out we were ambushed. A girl was crawling on the floor in the foyer, between us and the door. Her head was hanging down and her arms, her legs, her body, everything was shaking. The girl looked about Beth’s age.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Lena asked, edging as far away as she could.

  A nurse appeared. “Don’t worry. Sally does this. It’ll pass.”

  Easy for her to say. I took Lena’s hand. We followed Mom, moving slowly around the shaking girl. But then the girl reached out and grabbed my ankle. My heart nearly shot right out of my mouth.

  “Don’t go. Don’t leave me,” the girl begged.

  “There now, Sally.” The nurse reached over, took hold of the girl’s arm and pulled it back.

  Sally yanked her arm away and went for me again. Only you bet I backed out of reach real quick.

  “Don’t leave me!” she wailed.

  There wasn’t much room to maneuver or for sure I would’ve been out of there.

  Another person came to help, an orderly I guess. A doctor waited while the nurse and the orderly just sort of walked beside the girl, keeping her from bumping into things.

  “Poor Sally,” Mom sighed.

  The doctor smiled at Lena and me. “Sally didn’t mean to scare you, young ladies.”

  “I wasn’t scared,” I denied. Creeped out, I told myself, which wasn’t the same thing as scared. Mostly I just felt sorry for Sally.

  “Girls, this is Dr. Shroeder,” Mom said. “These are my daughters, Elsie and Lena.”