The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove (29 page)

buds.” He hesitated and said, “My folks were waiting to ask her about being a

companion, but I told her, and she was psyched, so when she left…”

“You were hurt?”

He nodded and then smiled ruefully. “Hattie said I should get used to girls

blowing me off.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t take them for granted. So Hattie knew all the time

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that I was brought here for you.”

He nodded. “She knew it would be hard for you to adjust and she wanted

to help you. Hattie’s like that, a nicer friend than anyone deserves. She likes

you.”

Hattie had told me she had to be careful, and now I understood. “I like her,

too.”

“I like you, too, Jane. You’re smart and level-headed. Like last night,

Mom said you listened and thought about what they said. You didn’t flip out

about the geezers’ ceremony and you didn’t flip out about the knife.”

“Lucky, what you said to me before, about girlfriends being temporary…”

“We marry our own,” he said. “We have to because we can’t have children

with normal people. It works out for everyone. My father’s companion, Claire

Mason, was with him since they were our age. That’s why he’s so out of it when

you see him. He misses her.”

“She was your mom’s best friend, right?”

“They were more like siblings, like me and Jack. Aunt Claire and Dad

were best friends,” he said. “My mom keeps telling Dad to find another

companion, but he’s still grieving.”

As I thought about what all this meant, Lucky shifted his weight to one hip

and then reached into his pocket. He brought out the penknife and opened it with

one hand.

“Jane, I know that maybe you want a different kind of relationship with me,

but being my companion is really important. It’s lifelong and it’s physical, too, a

different kind of physical, but it can still be good.”

Lucky lifted his hand from my thigh and brushed my cheek. “I know you

don’t mind. I think you even like it.”

“I like being with you.”

“Stay then. Two more years and we’ll get out of this stupid town and go to

college somewhere cool. We’ll travel and have adventures. My family will pay

for everything.”

“You’re talking about a lot of money. I can get scholarships.”

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“They’ve
got
a lot of money,” he said. “You won’t have to worry about

anything except being there for me, Jane.”

He rubbed my earlobe between his thumb and forefinger, and my face grew

hot. “Will you stay with me?”

I wanted Lucky to keep touching me. I wanted to be needed. I wanted a

future where I wasn’t poor and powerless and, worst of all, alone and anonymous.

I wanted one beautiful thing in the gritty grayness that had been my life. “Yes.”

“Good,” he said, continuing to rub my ear. “The ear doesn’t have many

nerves, but it has lots of capillaries.” As he said this he turned my lobe to expose

the back. Then he brought up his knife and I felt the pain, like burning, as he cut

it, and I cried out.

The wind gusted through the trees, sending branches rattling and creaking

as my blood come out in a gush, sticky and warm and metallic smelling.

Lucky watched with an exhilarated expression as the thick blood trickled

down my jaw and then along my throat. He pushed me back against the hard cold

rock and began licking my skin.

The branches above me swayed as the wind grew stronger, and Lucky

moved his body against mine rhythmically as his tongue rasped upward along my

neck. When he reached my earlobe, he took it between his teeth and tugged,

worrying at the cut and making it bleed more.

I closed my eyes and slid my arms around Lucky. I would only pay

attention to this moment, the press of his body. I wrapped my legs around him to

increase the friction of his movements against me. My breath quickened as

pleasure intensified.

Then I opened my eyes and above me in the white branches of the trees

against the cloudy sky, I saw a dark shadowy shape.

I blinked and looked again and the shape seemed to grow denser, looming

above us and not moving even though the branches thrashed violently, raining the

narrow leaves down on us.

The shadow became larger and I said, “Lucky…” but he kept sucking at my

earlobe and shoving against me and then he grunted and shuddered.

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As he lay atop me, breathing heavily, the shadow dissolved like mist, like

nothing.

Lucky’s face was nestled against the side of my head and I didn’t move

even though a bump in the boulder jabbed my shoulder blade. After a few

minutes he sighed and flopped off me. He licked the traces of blood off his lips

and made a
mmmm
sound.

I kept starting up at the branches, which had stopped rustling as the breeze

died down.

“Goddamn noisy trees,” Lucky said, brushing leaves off his shoulders.

“I thought I saw something up there. A dark shadow.”

He glanced at me and raised his eyebrows. “The trees are nothing but

shadows and leaves and mess. When I get my share of the school, I’d like to cut

them down.”

“You couldn’t!”

“No, I couldn’t. Jack wouldn’t let me and he’ll be on the board, too.”

I felt relieved and said, “They’re so beautiful and I love the sound – it’s as

if they’re talking and singing.”

“I wish they’d shut the fuck up. Let’s go back and I’ll take care of your

ear.”

We walked silently to the cottage. He went to the bathroom and returned

with a tube of antibiotic ointment. I stood still while he smeared the ointment on

the back of my lobe.

“This is between us,” he said. “I’m supposed to wait until you officially

agree and then we’ll get a lecture on doing safe tastings and there’s an initiation

ceremony.”

“We could have waited.”

“I couldn’t. I waited for two years for Bebe. My dad gets it, but my mom

doesn’t know how
I
feel and what I need. What goes on between us isn’t her

business.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s awkward having her know what we do.”

“That’s why you need to remember that you’re
my
Companion,” he said.

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“You want to come up for breakfast?”

I washed up and changed into clean clothes and then we went up the path to

his house. Lucky asked me to wait in the living room. I pulled my hair forward

to cover my aching ear and looked at the family photos.

Lucky had been a stunning child, with luminous blue eyes and pale blonde

hair. Jack as a child was a smaller version of himself, a sturdy kid with a

mischievous grin.

“Jane, come on.” Lucky was in the doorway and I went with him to the

family room.

His parents were drinking coffee, and Mrs. Monroe still wore her clothes

from the night before and her eyes looked tired.

Mr. Monroe said, “Lucky told us the good news, Jane. Welcome to the

family.”

Or maybe he said,
The
Family. “Thank you, sir.”

“My own companion, Mrs. Mason, was a very important part of my life.”

His voice was heavy with sorrow.

Mrs. Monroe shot a look at her husband and said, “We
all
loved Claire.

Jane, come have breakfast.”

I sat at the table, which had a basket of pastries and a fruit salad with

strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. A glass pitcher held dark red juice.

Lucky picked up the pitcher and poured a glass for me. “It’s orange juice

from blood oranges. They taste the same.”

Jack came in as we began to eat. He grabbed a cranberry muffin and said,

“Hi,” to no one in particular.

“Jacob, sit down and eat a proper breakfast,” Mrs. Monroe said.

“Can’t. I’ve got practice. See you.”

He left without even looking at me, which hurt me more than his criticisms.

Mrs. Monroe watched her son walk out and said, “Jacob’s not a morning

person.”

Mrs. Monroe began talking about the improvements at the country club, a

surreal twist to the morning. I tried not to stare at Lucky and kept pulling my hair

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The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove – Marta Acosta

forward to make sure it covered my ear.

“We’ll sponsor you into the club, Jane,” Mr. Monroe said. “You can’t join

on your own until you’re twenty-five, so we’ll sponsor you and take care of the

fees.”

“Thanks, but I’m not really interested in joining,” I said.

“The club is part of Lucky’s life, of life here in Greenwood, so it will be

part of yours, too,” Mrs. Monroe said. “Joining the right clubs and organizations

is always a good idea. Knowing the right people can make your life much

easier.”

“I’d rather be judged by what I do, not who I know.”

“Not me,” Lucky said. “Why not make things easier?”

“In an ideal world, one is judged by one’s accomplishments,” Mrs. Monroe

said. “And in an ideal world, friends help friends.”

The doorbell rang and Mrs. Monroe said, “That must be Hattie.”

Lucky jumped up. “I’ll let her in.”

Turning to me, Mrs. Monroe said, “I hope you don’t mind that I told Hattie

our good news. I know you’re friends and I thought you might want her to help

you through the initiation ceremony.”

“That’s fine. Do Mary Violet and Constance know?”

“Goodness no!” she said. “They are exceptional girls, of course, like all my

girls, but we don’t confide in outsiders unless we have a special relationship with

them. Until you learn who is Family and who is not, don’t tell anyone about us.”

Mr. Monroe, who was reading the newspaper, looked up and said,

“Eventually you’ll be able to spot a Family member at a glance. We have friends

among the long-established townspeople, too.”

About ten minutes later, Hattie came in by herself. “Welcome to the

Family, Jane!”

“Thanks!”

“I’m so glad I have another girl my age to talk to about this stuff. Where’s

Jack?”

“He went to practice,” Mrs. Madison said.

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“He doesn’t have… Oh, that’s right. I forgot that he’d told me they were

starting early.”

No one asked where Lucky had gone, and so I didn’t either.

After breakfast, Mrs. Monroe said, “Jane, you’ll need more clothes now

that you’ll be accompanying Lucien here and there. Hattie’s going to take your

shopping and help you pick out suitable things.”

“I could use a winter coat,” I said.

“You need dresses, Jane,” Hattie said, “Skirts, more casual clothes,

accessories. It’s okay.”

Mrs. Monroe smiled at her husband. “Tobias, will you deposit enough to

cover Jane’s expenses?”

“I’ll take care of that now, dear,” Mr. Monroe said and left the room.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said, thinking more about the money in my account

than new clothes.

“You’re very welcome, Jane. Make sure to listen to Hattie. She knows the

importance of picking quality over quantity.”

“Bye, Mrs. M,” Hattie said. As we walked outside to her car, she pulled on

a canvas hat and sunglasses. “We can go to Millerton. It’s not too far and they

have a good mall.”

“Good, because the stores down the hill are too expensive.”

Hattie leaned against the car and looked at me. “It’s a business deal.

Lucky and his family are definitely going to get what they need from you. You

make sure you get what you need, too. Is he already taking your blood?”

I didn’t answer and Hattie said, “I thought so.”

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“
The Community Service Program (CSP) is incorporated throughout our

curriculum in order to raise students’ awareness of and action on behalf of

the poor and unfortunate in our society. Moral growth is integrated into all

aspects of our education.”

Birch Grove Student Handbook

HATTIE DROVE
to a midsize suburb with most luxurious mall I’d ever seen.

Water splashed in big fountains and a classical guitarist played on a patio.

We went into department stores I’d only heard about. Hattie glanced at

price tags without much concern, but I knew the cost was coming out of the

money that had just been deposited in my account. That meant that I would get

the receipt and could return things for cash.

While Hattie pulled casual dresses from a rack, she said, “Most of these

pants and skirts are too long, but we can have them altered at Eunice’s. You’ll

need a few LBDs.”

“What?”

“Little Blue Dresses, the young woman’s equivalent of the Little Black

Dress. The Family likes us to look put together for their parties.”

We stopped for lunch at a dark little restaurant with white tablecloths

waiters dressed in black t-shirts and black jeans.

“You haven’t had any more incidents, have you?”

“None, and I keep looking around, trying to figure out who the girl could

be,” I said. “Lucky told me that Bebe was into being a Companion and MV told

me she was big and stocky. What if Bebe’s the one harassing me?”