Slow Dance in Purgatory (26 page)

             
“Don’t even think about it, Shadrach Jasper.”

             
“Gotcha,” Shad replied, smirking.  He pushed Maggie’s legs aside and sat down on the bed.  He gave Maggie a thorough once-over.  She stared back, her face pale, her eyes dull and darkly circled.

             
“You’re not lookin’ so good, Sleeping Beauty.  We might have to start callin’ you Sleeping Not-so-fine if you don’t snap out of it. 

             
“Thanks, Shad.  I’ll definitely call you the next time I’m down so you can kick me twice as hard.”

             
“Just sayin,’” Shad shrugged.  “So are you gonna tell me what the hell happened at Haunted Honeyville High?”

             
“No.”

             
“That’s it? Just…no?”

             
“That’s it.  No.”

             
Maggie and Shad stared at each other, neither of them blinking.  Shad was the first to look away, sighing in exasperation.

             
“Fine, Mags.  But tell me this.  Do I need to kick somebody’s ass?  Because you know I will.  If somebody hurt you or did you wrong in any way, I’m kickin’ some ass.”

             
Maggie felt a surge of love for her fierce little friend.  He would probably end up getting the crap beat out of him in the process, but she had no doubt he would pick a fight with Zeus if it meant defending her. 

             
“Thank you, Shad.  You really are a super hero.”  Maggie smiled at him affectionately.  “But no.  No butt kickings necessary.”

             
Maggie was saved from further testosterone displays by a light tapping on the door.  Irene slipped her head around the door and, seeing Shad, frowned at him and pursed her lips.  She didn’t comment on his trespass.

             
“Oops.  Busted.”  Shad grimaced.

             
“May we come in, dear?”

             
Irene and Gus entered Maggie’s suddenly crowded room.  Shad tried to make a hasty escape, but Gus cuffed him lightly on the back of the head and said, “You’re already here, you may as well stay.”

             
“I may as well,” Shad agreed, rubbing his head.

             
Irene sat on Maggie’s other side, and Gus perched stiffly on her window seat, clearly uncomfortable in her feminine little room.  He shot the proverbial hairy eyeball at his grandson, and Shad quickly removed himself from Maggie’s bed and sat meekly on the chair next to her closet.

             
“I’m glad you’re awake, Maggie.  Gus and I would like to ask you a few questions,” Irene said kindly.

             
Maggie stiffened and closed her eyes for a moment, as if waiting for the hammer to drop from somewhere over her head and crush her.  She had been in this position before.  Her well-meaning, and sometimes not so well-meaning, foster parents telling her it was time to move on, or telling her it just wasn’t working out, or telling her it wasn’t her, it was them.  All of it, crap.  She had never argued or pled her case.  She had always packed and did as she was told.  But this time she had let her guard down.  She had thought she was home…with family. 

             
Maggie opened her eyes and looked at her aunt.  Irene reached for her hand.  Maggie tensed but didn’t pull away.  She recognized this part, too, but couldn’t bring herself to do anything that might hurt her aunt, even at her own expense.  She loved Irene.

             
“What happened at the school, Maggie?”  Irene prodded, holding her gaze.

             
Maggie was prepared with her response.  She would stick to the truth, but she would edit.  A lot.

             
“It was a date dance last night.  I shouldn’t have had to go, but the dance captain seems to like torturing me.  I just felt really bad.  When the dance was over, I started crying.  I ended up sitting in the hallway.  I was exhausted; it had been a really long day.”  Maggie looked at her aunt and Gus, knowing they could confirm at least that.  They both nodded encouragingly.

             
“There are vents right there, and it was warm.  I fell asleep.  I’m sorry you had to come looking for me.  Way to ruin a perfectly good Saturday morning, huh?”

             
Irene tossed a loaded look towards Gus.  He straightened and approached Maggie’s bed.  She twisted her yellow polka dotted comforter nervously between her fingers.  Irene squeezed her hand, and Maggie felt her eyes prick with tears.  Would Irene really send her away?

             
“I didn’t mean to cause trouble, Aunt Irene,” Maggie blurted out before Gus could even say anything.  “I have really tried to be good.  I know I screwed up, but if you’ll give me one more chance, I would really like to stay here with you.”  Maggie silently cursed the weak tears that spilled over, wondering how it was possible that she had any more tears left to cry.  After last night, she thought she would never cry again. 

             
“Maggie!  My sweet girl!”  Irene held a hand to her heart as if to steady its beat.  “Of course you’re staying with me.  I waited this long for you.  I’m never going to let you go.”

             
“Miss Margaret, nobody is angry with you,” Gus chimed in.  “We love you.  We’re just worried, is all.  We thought something terrible had happened to you.”

             
“Nope,” Maggie smiled wanly.  “I’m just fine –“ Her lips trembled a little, and she tucked them between her teeth, nodding.  Her right hand resumed twisting yellow polka dots.

             
“Miss Margaret,” Gus entreated her gently. “You said Johnny’s name this morning.  Can you tell me about that?”

             
Maggie’s heart turned to ice, and her belly was filled with snakes.  “I must have dreamed about him,” She offered softly.  It was the truth.  She hadn’t lied yet.

             
“I saw him, Margaret.”

             
Maggie’s eyes flew to his, and her right hand ceased its incessant twisting.

             
“He watched us as we left.  I think he was worried about you.”

             
Maggie’s heart melted a few degrees, but the snakes still hissed. 

             
“Did you see him, too?”  Gus persisted.

             
“No,” Maggie choked out.  Again, the truth.

             
“But you have seen him, haven’t you?”  Gus was relentless.

             
“Yes.”

             
There was an audible gasp from both Irene and Shad, and Gus shook his head like he almost didn’t believe it himself.

             
“How often?”  Gus asked gently.

             
“All the time,” Maggie whispered.  She searched their faces desperately, beseeching them with her eyes.  She never would have admitted even that much if Gus hadn’t confessed to seeing him, too.

             
“Have you talked to him?  Has he….talked to you?”  Gus sank down next to Irene on the bed.  Maggie hugged her knees to her chest to clear some space.  Her knees provided a barrier between her and the hovering adults.  She leaned her forehead against her steepled legs and wondered how much she was willing to reveal.

             
“He’s very alone.”  Maggie lifted her head and met Gus’s steady gaze.  She would talk to him.  He would believe her.  “He’s been there for a long, long time.  We’ve become friends….”  She couldn’t continue.  The pain was a writhing, churning hole in her chest, and it consumed her ability to speak.

             
Gus seemed at a loss for words as well.  He simply sat, staring off, pondering what she had revealed.  The stillness in the room was stifling.  Maggie buried her face in her arms.   

             
Irene suddenly shook herself briskly and, leaning forward, she grasped Maggie’s face in her hands, forcing her to look at her.  Irene’s blue eyes were wide with worry and something close to fear.

             
“Maggie?  Tell us what to do for you…and for….Johnny.”  Irene choked on his name, like she couldn’t believe what she was saying.  “Tell me what to do.  Tell me how I can help.”

             
Maggie placed her hands over her aunt’s and with considerable effort spoke the final, inescapable truth.

             
“That’s just it.  You can’t help.  I can’t help.  No one can.”

             
“Surely….there’s something?”  Irene let her hands fall from Maggie’s cheeks, and she shook her head helplessly.

             
“I love you, Aunt Irene.  But…. please, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.  I will be okay.  I don’t want you to worry….I’m just so tired.”

             
Maggie
wouldn’t
talk about it anymore.  Surprisingly, talking about Johnny was strangely cathartic, but it also illuminated the impossibility of the situation and made her despair all the more complete.   A big part of her didn’t want to explain -- even to the people she loved.  Trying to put her feelings into words cheapened them, reducing her relationship with Johnny to some kind of tawdry carnival side show.  She gently pulled away from her aunt and sank down in her bed.  Her eyes fluttered closed, effectively shutting out further conversation.

             
Irene stared down at her niece for a moment and then rose from the bed.  She smoothed Maggie’s blankets up over her thin shoulders.  Her loving tenderness had Maggie fighting emotion all over again, and the tears threatened to leak out from under her closed lids.

             
“Let’s leave her alone now,” Irene sighed, herding Gus and Shad from the room.  Maggie didn’t watch them leave, but she heard the door click behind them and the stairs groan with their departure.  They hadn’t banished her to some far corner of the world or to some mental institution.  Aunt Irene had said she wouldn’t let her go; she said she loved her.  Maggie still had a home.  The relief was almost as sharp as her agony.

***

             
Nobody saw Shad take the key sitting on Maggie’s little desk in her room.  He had seen it when he’d been relegated to the corner chair during Maggie’s interrogation.  He had known immediately what it belonged to, and almost as immediately he had begun to form a plan.  He rationalized his theft by telling himself that if Maggie had a key then by all rights, so should he.  Plus, he would return it.  Maybe.

             
He made an excuse to Grandpa Gus about needing some time alone or some such garbage.  Grandpa nodded and waved him off.  Shad climbed on his bike and began peddling hard for the scene of the crime.  He knew Grandpa Gus and Miss Honeycutt were just going to wring their hands and mutter and worry, but he was actually going to do something about this whole crazy mess Maggie had gotten herself into.  His heart pounded in his chest as different gory and violent scenarios played out in his head.  He must be crazy for what he was about to do.  Could ghosts kill people?  It looked like he was about to find out.

             
When he threw his bike down by the side entrance door, he didn’t give himself a chance to think or chicken out.  He slipped the key into the lock and entered the school like a man with a mission.  He adopted his George Jefferson swagger, just to give himself a little confidence.  He strutted angrily up and down the halls for a few minutes before it occurred to him that he might not be able to see the ghost.  Maggie seemed to be able to – and Grandpa Gus, too.  Maybe Maggie had super powers she wasn’t even aware of.  Seeing ghosts was a power he would gladly do without.  Plus, it didn’t matter if he could see Maggie’s foggy lover-boy.  He had a message to deliver, and he would deliver it loud and clear.

             
“Johnny Kinross!” he shouted as loudly as he could.  His voice broke embarrassingly on the K, and he tried again, not quite as loud.

             
“Johnny Kinross!”  He waited, hoping the ghost had been alerted.

             
“Johnny Kinross!  I know you’re around here somewhere.  I want you to listen up, you steamy excuse for a man.  I want you to keep your ghost-y white Casper ass away from Maggie.  She don’t need attention from the likes of you!  Do you hear me Johnny Kinross?”  Shad was really working up a good mad.  It felt good to yell and scream a little - totally therapeutic. 

             
“She deserves better!  What were you thinking, misty man?  This girl is a wreck, and you are the cause!  If you had a face, I’d pound it in!  If you had a freakin’ body, I’d kill you all over again.”    Ooh, that was good.  Shad liked the way that sounded.  He kept walking and ranting.

             
“That girl has had a shitty life.  Nobody lookin’ out for her, people passing her from one place to the next.  Now she finally gets a life and somebody who actually wants her, and look who comes along?  Mr. Invisible!!!”  Shad roared like the preacher in his old church.  Maybe that’s what he should be when he grew up.