All That's Missing (26 page)

“You're awfully quiet,” Ida said over the back of the seat.

“Just tired, I guess.” Arlo faked being asleep the rest of the way, hoping they might talk in the front seat and he might overhear some interesting tidbit that would disclose details of her plan for getting rid of him. A single fact might go a long way in helping him fine-tune his escape.

Unfortunately, all they talked about was how much better Matthew's apple cobbler was than the cobbler they served at the Watermen's Café and how somebody ought to make the highway department pave the eastbound lane on the bridge across the river.

The nurse at Marshboro General had Poppo dressed and ready to go when they arrived. His color was better than the last time Arlo had seen him.

“Hi, Arlo,” Poppo said, opening his arms. “I've missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Arlo's chest was tight. Poppo called him Arlo. He didn't say Frankie. And his hair wasn't sticking up in back. And he didn't have that strange lost glaze in his eyes. When Poppo hugged him, Arlo held on for a long time. Some days it seemed like Poppo was getting better, and other days he didn't seem any better at all.

“It's OK, buddy. I'm not going anywhere,” Poppo said. “Other than to my new digs. And you're coming along to help me get settled, right?” Poppo tilted his head so he could see Arlo's face. “You look good,” he said. “Ida must be taking great care of you.”

Arlo forced his head to move up and down. He didn't want Poppo worrying about him.

“Arlo talks about you every day,” Ida said. “He wanted to come sooner, but I had some business I needed to take care of.”

Poppo hugged Arlo again. “I'm glad you found this lady,” he said, nodding at Ida. “Us fellas were in need of a little assistance, don't you think?”

Arlo nodded again, holding down the tide of feelings that welled up, making it hard to breathe.

“Sorry I let you down.” Poppo let his arm slip off Arlo's shoulder.

“You didn't let me down,” Arlo said. “You were sick.”

“I know, but I should've thought of what might happen.” He picked up the plastic cup on his bed tray and took a long sip. “It's just that I never . . .” Poppo's voice trailed off. He exchanged glances with Ida.

“Augusta's waiting for us downstairs,” Ida said, using her tight smile again, as if that would smooth over the jagged edges of their conversation. “The nurse told us you'd be leaving in a few minutes, so she decided to wait in the car.”

“Is Augusta another relative?” Poppo asked.

“No, Albert. Just a friend. She helped me with the driving.”

“Like my friend Eldon,” Poppo said, smiling again. “He'll be at the new place. You can meet him.”

“I know. That's nice, isn't it?” Ida said. “You'll have a friend as soon as you get there.”

Poppo's face brightened. “Eldon says it's a good place.”

A nurse appeared at the door with a wheelchair. There was an orderly behind her. Together, they helped Poppo into the chair. Then the orderly handed Poppo his overnight bag, and Ida and Arlo gathered up the bags with Poppo's other things. The orderly pushed the wheelchair down the hall to the elevator.

When the bell dinged and the doors opened, Arlo waited while the orderly wheeled Poppo on board. Then he stepped inside and stood beside his grandfather.

Poppo jabbed Arlo with his elbow. “Here we go,” he said.

Arlo smiled back at him. “Here we go,” he answered. There was a small jab at his heart as the doors closed and the elevator started moving.

After they'd gotten Poppo settled in his room, after Arlo had carried his Dopp kit to the bathroom and tested out the reclining chair and shared the view out the window with Ida and Augusta and Poppo, the four of them met Eldon in the cafeteria for ice cream.

Eldon was a tall man with a gaunt face and a maze of lines at the corners of his eyes. He looked frightening at first. But then he smiled and all those lines turned into tiny smiles that showed how happy he was to meet Poppo's family.

“So, you're the famous Arlo I've been hearing about,” he said.

“He's the one,” Poppo said, giving Arlo a wink.

Arlo felt a slight tug as he thought about Eldon filling the spot that Arlo used to occupy. He was glad that Poppo had found a friend. Of course he was. But it was hard sharing the person you loved with a stranger, especially when you weren't sure if you would ever see that person again.

“It's been a long day,” Ida said when the orderly came to see if Poppo needed anything. “We should give Albert a chance to rest.”

“You leaving already?” Poppo asked.

“We'll be back after dinner,” Arlo told him. His stomach churned at the lie. He wasn't coming back after dinner. He was going to the hospital all right, but after he got there, he was going to disappear.

“I'll be waiting,” Poppo said.

Water surged against Arlo's dam, ripping away mud and twigs, sweeping over the top, then sliding back and pulling particles of dirt with it. What he was about to say to Poppo — the words forming in his mouth constituted the worst lie Arlo had ever told in his life. Three simple words.

“See you later.”

“OK. After dinner,” Poppo said. “Right?”

“That's right,” Ida said.

Arlo's heart pounded. Did it count as a lie when you pretended something was true even though it wasn't?

Of course it did.

And here was the truth.

At the hospital, Arlo would ask Ida if he could go downstairs to the vending machines, and when he found Sam, the two of them would sneak outside, and that's the last anyone would see of Arlo for a very long time.

“Give me a hug before you go.” Poppo held out his arms.

Arlo felt like something was dying inside. He quit trying to hold back the flood. He let it come. He let water pour and spill and ravage and consume.

“What's this?” Poppo asked. “It's all right. You'll be back after a while. And look at me. I'm fine. Doing better than the last time you saw me, in fact. Don't you think so?”

Arlo nodded dumbly. He couldn't speak. Speaking would only confirm the lie. And he couldn't do that, couldn't take it any further. He'd already gone further than he could stand. He hugged Poppo, whispered “I love you,” and turned to go.

Walking out of Poppo's room was the hardest thing Arlo had ever done. Two weeks ago, he would have said that running away from Marshboro was the hardest, but this was ten times worse.

Arlo willed his feet to carry him down the hall. He felt like the walls were closing in on him. His heart beat wildly, blurring his vision.

And then, somehow, they were in the car and on the way back to the hospital.

“Is it OK if I get a bottle of water from the machines in the basement?” Arlo asked, struggling to make his voice sound as normal as possible.

“Do you need money?” Ida asked.

“No, thanks,” Arlo said. “I have enough.”

“Here you go.” Ida handed him two dollar bills and a handful of quarters. “I'd like a bottle of water, too, please. If you don't mind. That ought to be enough.”

“Thanks,” Arlo said.

“We should go on up,” Augusta said, pointing to the clock.

“Right,” Ida said. “Well, Arlo knows how to find Miss Hasslebarger's office, don't you?”

Arlo nodded.

“Good. Augusta and I will meet you there.”

As soon as their backs were turned, Arlo ducked down the stairs to the basement, where the machines were located. He found Sam waiting just as they'd planned.

“Are you OK?” Sam asked.

Arlo nodded.

“You had me worried after that phone call. I was afraid your grandmother was keeping you locked in a closet or something.”

“No. She's nice. Well, she was nice. For a while. I mean, she wasn't nice at first, but then she was. And now . . .”

Sam frowned. “You're not making sense.”

“Yeah. I know. I don't really understand, either. At first I thought she hated me. But then everybody told me that was just the way she was. Kind of touchy about things, you know? Because she lived alone such a long time — that's what they said. Then after a while, she started acting friendlier. She even told me she wasn't going to move to Richmond after all.”

“Whoa, Arlo. You lost me again.”

“Sorry.”

“What's moving to Richmond got to do with anything?”

“I found out she was going to sell her house and move to Richmond. Everybody in Edgewater told her she shouldn't. Then Mr. Tretheway tried to help her cancel the contract. Things were going real well . . .” Arlo looked down at his feet. “Until she told me we were coming here.”

“How do you know she's turning you over to the social worker?”

“Why else would I have to go to this meeting?”

Sam held up his arms in a sign of surrender. “I don't know. Maybe they just need to make sure you're OK. Maybe they want to see the two of you together. You know, just to make sure it's really OK for you to stay with her.”

Arlo studied his reflection in the glass on the snack machine. Could the reason for the meeting be as simple as that?

“Did you see your grandpa?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.”

“How's he doing?”

“Better.”

“Well, that's something, then,” Sam said.

“Yeah,” Arlo said. “It is.”

Footsteps came tapping down the hallway. Someone was headed toward the machines. And they were moving fast.

“We should hurry,” Arlo said.

Sam nodded, but before they'd had a chance to move, a shadow fell across the linoleum. Arlo glanced in the glass of the machine again. This time he noticed the profile of someone rounding the corner. A familiar profile.
No.
It couldn't be. She was supposed to be in the meeting.

“Arlo?”

Arlo's stomach dropped.
Busted.

“Is this a friend of yours?”

“Hi.” Sam held up a hand.

“This is Sam,” Arlo said.

“Nice to meet you, Sam. I'm Arlo's grandmother.”

“Yes, ma'am. You're Mrs. Jones. It's nice to meet you.”

“How odd that you ran into each other here.” Ida narrowed her eyes at Arlo.

“I was just getting water for us,” Arlo said, holding up the quarters she had given him.

“Mmm-hmmm.” Ida looked at Sam. “And you,” she said. “Were you getting water, too?”

“Well, not exactly. I was just . . .”

“Visiting a relative in the hospital?”

“No, ma'am. I . . .”

Her eyes sharpened. “Meeting Arlo, I suppose.”

Sam gave Arlo a panicked look.

“You two didn't just happen to run into each other, did you?”

“Sort of,” Arlo started, but then stopped. “No,” he said after a pause. He wished he knew how to keep his face from turning red.

Ida looked at him for a long time. Her face was hard at first, but then something changed. She stared at the quarters in Arlo's hand, but he could tell she was thinking about something else. Something far away from the machines and the hospital.

Arlo locked eyes with her. She didn't look as angry anymore.

“You were going to get me a bottle of water, weren't you?”

“Yes,” Arlo said.

She nodded at him. “Well, go on. We're here, aren't we?”

Arlo fed a dollar bill and two quarters into the machine. He punched a button for a bottle of water, waited for it to drop, and then handed it to her.

“Now one for you,” she said.

Arlo's hand felt shaky as he fed the other bill and quarters into the machine and pushed the same button a second time. What was she planning?

“Sam?” Ida said. “Would you like a bottle of water?”

“No, ma'am,” Sam said. “Thank you.” He looked like he wished he could push a button and disappear.

If they made a run for it, Ida wouldn't be able to stop them. But somehow that was unthinkable, even if she was about to turn him over. Arlo couldn't run out on her now. Not without a conversation. He eyed the hallway.

“You know,” his grandmother said, “Augusta and I would be happy for Sam to join us for dinner. In fact, I should have thought of asking if you'd like to invite one of your friends.”

Arlo glanced sideways at Sam, whose eyes were growing rounder by the minute.

“Unless you had something else planned?” She looked from Arlo to Sam and back again.

Arlo's toes itched the same way they had when he was on the bus with Bernice. He rubbed the top of his right foot against his ankle. He didn't want to make up stories anymore. Why was needing a home and someone to take care of him so much to ask?

“We've been getting along so well. And Nathan has things worked out. All we need to do is have this one short meeting.”

At the mention of the word
meeting,
Sam looked straight at Arlo. The carving thrummed in Arlo's pocket. Arlo felt Ida staring at him. She pressed her lips together slowly as she looked from one boy to the other.