Every Single Second (22 page)

“Daaad.” Her voice was a foghorn. “Daaad.”

“Dead. I know. D’Lon Andrews is dead.
Morto.
Nonni, are you all right?”

Nonni shook her head, furious. No! No, she was not all right, or no, Nella was wrong? Wrong as always?

“Daad,” she repeated. Her face took on a strange brightness, and Nella realized she’d begun to cry. Tears ran down her cheeks and pooled in her wrinkles. Never, ever had she seen her great-grandmother cry. Something inside Nella came unhinged. It swung loose like the door to an abandoned house.

“Dad,” she said softly. “It made you remember what happened to Dad.”

Nonni fell back in her chair. The tears dropped onto her threadbare black-widow sweater. Maybe, Nella thought, maybe the stroke wasn’t all my fault. Maybe the shock of what happened to Anthony was part of it. He reminded Nonni of Dad at the same age, and her heart broke all over again.

It was impossible for time to go backward. But so many things that once seemed impossible had turned out not to be. What if Nella got things wrong, but now she had a chance to get them right? A do-over. She touched her great-grandmother’s sleeve.

“I meant to come see you the night before, but I was too late. I’m sorry.”

Nonni kept shaking her head.
No no no.
No she didn’t forgive Nella, or no it didn’t matter, or just no, no to the whole universe and everything in it? And then Nella had a terrible thought. It was so terrible, she tried to push it away, but it roared back with all the fierce, stubborn power of Nonni herself.

“You’re not giving up, are you, Nonni?”

Nonni curled her hand and struck her chest. It was what the old ladies did at Mass when they prayed the confiteor.
By my fault, by my fault, by my most grievous fault,
they said, knocking their breasts with their bony fists. Now Nella really felt scared.

“You can’t! No!” She pressed her hand to her heart.
No,
it said with each beat.
No no no,
it protested. “Nonni, I know this is hard, it stinks, it bites—but you can get better. The doctors say.”

Nonni made a disgusted sound. Nella didn’t know what to do, how to convince her. Desperate, she unwrapped another taffy.

“How do you get a peanut to laugh?”
she read.
“You crack it up.”

The tears were still running down Nonni’s face, and she darted out her tongue to lick one away. A little beam of sunlight pushed its way through the blinds. It fell across the bed, lit up a corner of this sorry room.

“Nonni, the doctors say you’re lucky.” Nella set the
box of tissues in her great-grandmother’s lap. “Maybe there’s no such thing as luck, or fate, or divine mercy, or I don’t know, but you’re here. Here you are, alive. And if you try, things will get better. If you fight. Who’s a better fighter than you? Nobody!”

Nonni clutched at her sweater. Nella wanted to tell her that if she died, part of Dad would too. But making Nonni feel guilty wasn’t fair or right.

“The way you fought for Dad—you saved him, Nonni. In a way you saved our whole family. Now you have to fight like that again. Only this time for your own self.”

Nonni glared.
Don’t tell me what to do, you terrible girl.
But something had shifted. Nonni was listening.

“Okay, you don’t have to fight. You can cave. It’s up to you. You have free will, after all.”

Nonni growled. Nonni scowled. Nella plucked a tissue and tried to touch her dripping nose, but Nonni grabbed it and did it herself.

“See?” said Nella, and her great-grandmother gave a crooked grimace. She reached for another piece of Laffy Taffy, but somehow her hand instead came to rest on top of Nella’s, and stayed there.

Sam had to go visit his cousins, so Nella took care of Mr. T alone. Clem was due back in just a few days, but instead of
happy, Nella was nervous. She’d lost track of when they’d last talked. So much had changed since Clem left, it was easy to imagine that Clem would be different too.

Outside, it was raining, just as Salvatore predicted. Who knew little brothers could grow up? Who knew they wouldn’t always remain booger-eating, head-butting creatures? Witness: tonight at supper, he was wearing cologne. Approximately half a gallon. The smell was overpowering. One thing for sure: he was going to need some grooming tips.

A stiff breeze flapped Mama Gemma’s awning. Why was it so cold? What was Mother Nature thinking? Tired and wet, all Nella wanted was to be inside. But just as she reached her own corner, another brother’s voice sang in her ear, pure as the song of a yellow-flecked bird.

Angela. An-gel-a!

Vinny’s voice took her by the hand. It tugged her past her own street, all the way to Angela’s house. Somebody had taped a square of cardboard over the hole. The wind picked at it, trying to get in. The rain drummed on the roof.

Nella remembered summer mornings when a brother would open the front door and find Angela already there, waiting for the family to wake up. By the time Nella came downstairs Angela would be nestled on the couch, reading to them, or in the kitchen pouring milk on their cereal.

Nella tiptoed across the strip of grass and tried to stick the corner of cardboard back down.

Angela always seemed like the weakling, and Nella the strong one. But maybe this was another thing Nella got wrong.

She ran all the way home, like something was chasing her.

What the Statue of Jeptha A. Stone Would Say if It Could

S
he sits upon her nest rain or shine.

And I thought I was dignified.

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

now

C
lem pulled clothes out of her suitcase and tossed them into drawers. So far she hadn’t sat down once. Her nose had new freckles, and her new bandanna was printed with whales. Her energy level had gone from extremely high to dangerously frenetic.

“And another crazy thing,” she was saying. “Great white sharks! Half the people warn you not to swim when seals are in the area, because they attract sharks. The other half says
only
swim when seals are in the area, because that means there
aren’t
any sharks.”

“So which did you do?” Nella asked.

“I boogie boarded every day no matter what.” She flung flip-flops in the vicinity of her closet. “Also I became a vegetarian, after seeing one too many lobsters boiled alive. Not to mention heartless adults sucking down raw oysters.”

“But you adore cheeseburgers.”

“I know.” Clem sounded sad.

Clem! Nella had missed her even more than she knew. But Clem felt nervous too, Nella could tell. That’s why she wouldn’t sit down, wouldn’t quit talking so fast and so loud. Mr. T gave a sleepy squeak.

“He’s dreaming,” said Nella. “That’s his dreaming sound.”

“I missed my guy.” Clem rushed over to the cage and plunged in both hands. A huff and a puff and she was doing jazz hands. “Zoinks! Vicious hedgehog attack!” She stuck her fingers in her mouth and immediately yanked them back out. “Aack, aack! Including the dreaded green poop!”

She rushed to the bathroom. Nella murmured hedgehog words of comfort, and Mr. Tiggywinkle grunted in reply. Nella resolved not to tell Clem about Sam. Clem would tease and Nella wouldn’t be able to stand it.

The second Clem reappeared, her attacked hand wrapped in a towel, Nella cried, “Sam Ferraro kissed me.”

“What?”

“Right here in your room.”

“Shut up!”

“And by the bocce court, too.”

Clem staggered backward. She keeled over onto the bed in her chopped-down-tree imitation.

“I told you he was in like with you,” she said. Then repeated it again and again, till Nella was forced to pillow-clobber her. Clem fought back with super-pillow-fighting powers. It was a battle to the death. Neither one would surrender, till finally they were both on the floor, limp and gasping and staring up at the glow-in-the-dark galaxy. Just like always. Everything was once more Right Between Them. P2F2. Past Present Future Friends.

Then her best friend sat up.

“I got into Charles Chestnutt Magnet School. The science one. I think I’m going to go.”

Nella didn’t move. She focused on Saturn. “You think?”

“I am. I’m going. My parents said it was up to me, and I chose.”

Now Nella studied a plastic comet. Glow-in-the-dark galaxies looked incredibly dumb in the daytime.

“I didn’t get to choose. Big surprise.”

Clem ran her hand through her hair. Her glasses sat crooked on her nose. “Standardized tests are notoriously poor indicators of intelligence.”

“It’s okay. I mean, congratulations. I know that’s what you really wanted.”

“We’ll still be together all the rest of the time! School’s just an incidental part of our friendship.”

“Right.”

Clem hunted up her bandanna and slowly tied it back on. Nella could practically hear the unsaid thoughts whirring around in her head. But what Clem said next was a surprise.

“How’s Angela?”

That was when Nella understood: without being conscious of it, she’d been saving up to tell Clem. Clem who was so smart, such a better thinker than she was. Clem would know what to do. Nella had been counting on it. Now, telling her felt impossible.

“When Angela and I were little, we called each other secret sisters. Because we both really wanted a sister. And because . . . well. We kept so many secrets together.”

Clem got that mischievous look Nella usually loved. “Tell me one.”

“They’re
secrets
!”

“Fine!” Clem looked startled. “Pardon me!”

“I better go.”

At the door, Clem said, “The countdown has begun.” When Nella looked baffled, she shook her head sadly. “You forgot again.”

“No I didn’t! What?”

“The leap second!”

“Oh. Right.”

“The correct response is not
Oh. Right
. It’s
It’s not too late. We are time sisters. Masters of the hour. Commanders of the minute and lords of the leap second!
”

“Oh. Right. I mean . . .”

They were having trouble looking at each other. It was time for Nella to go.

That night Dad grilled hamburgers, and they ate outside at the picnic table. Seconds and minutes flew by, and the Sabatinis took no notice whatsoever. Until Mom started to cut Vinny’s meat up for him, and he shook his head.

“Bun,” he said.

“He said he wants a bun,” Bobby automatically translated. “Hey, wait a minute!”

Mom quickly put a burger on a bun and handed it to Vinny. Everyone watched as he took a big bite.

“Good,” he said.

A moment of stunned silence before they all burst into cheers. Vinny cheered too, waving his arms till the burger flew out of the bun and landed in the grass. Mom smothered him with kisses.

“For the love of God,” said Dad with a grin.

“I told you he could talk,” Bobby said.

Later Vinny said “moon.” He pointed at a firefly and said “wi-fi.” It was as if he’d crossed over from one land to another, and was at last adopting the language and customs. Mom took this as a beacon of hope. For the first time in weeks, she looked as happy and beautiful as she used to.

SEASHELL, AGAIN

now

N
ella still had most of the hundred dollars she got for hedgehog sitting. New clothes for Garfield Middle would gobble that up, but she saved five dollars to put in the “bale” jar. Except when she got to Franny’s, the jar wasn’t there.

No one behind the counter knew where it was. Worse, nobody seemed to have noticed it was gone.

Nella went back outside and sat at a sidewalk table. Clem was supposed to meet her here, but fifteen minutes (how many seconds?) went by and she didn’t appear. Nella started to feel like the jar. Lost, and nobody noticed.
Pigeons pecked at the sidewalk crumbs and each other.

Just as Nella was telling herself Clem completely forgot, she appeared, arms flailing and flannel shirt flapping.

“Sorry sorry sorry!” She flung herself into a chair, annoying the pigeons. “Glacially paced school orientation. Guess what? We have to wear uniforms! So much for becoming a fashion icon.”