House on Fire

Chapter 61

  Later in the afternoon, we heard noise outside. Almost a dozen kids from school stood in front of the house, waving.

  “Cory, we can’t let them in – we’re supposed to be sick.”

  “I know – we’ll make a sign.” I grabbed a marker and some paper. “What do we write?”

  “I’ll write ‘Can’t come in,’ and you write ‘Still contagious,’ okay?” We made the signs and held them up to the window.

  Outside, Beth reached into her backpack and pulled out a pen and a legal pad. She turned it sideways in big letters “Do you mean contagious?”

  “What is she...? Cory you misspelled contagious.” She made a sign that said ‘ha ha,’ and held it up.

  I’d been working on a page that read, “Thank you for the cards!!!!!” with the thank you underlined.

  Janna made a note that said, “Where were you?”

  “Crap,” I said. I was afraid they might ask. Jess put up a sign that just said “UMC.” Oh, that’s right, I thought. This exchange went on for twenty minutes, and we could tell they were getting cold. “Go home + Warm up,” Jess wrote.

  Spaz and Jody held hands. She up a sign that said, “We hope you feel better!”

  We posted our last replies; “Thank you guys!” and “You’re good friends.”

  Later, Jessie and I were lying on her bed snuggling and smooching like a couple of newlyweds.

  “Cory, I’m worried about Beth.”

  “Yeah, tomorrow’s her appointment. It’s going to be a hard day for her.” I’d gotten over feeling angry at Beth and Dave for being irresponsible; there was no point. I just felt sad. “Does it hurt? Physically, I mean.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said gloomily. “And the people from St. Ann’s are still holding that prayer vigil thing in the parking lot.”

  “Ugh, the van with the billboard on the side? I hope they pray for the moms, too. Maybe we can go there tomorrow and create a diversion so she and Dave can get in the building without being harassed.”

  “We can’t. We’re sick, remember? I’m going to call her.” I handed Jess the phone.

  “Hi, Beth? It’s me. Me and Cory. We were thinking of you and hoping you were doing okay.” She listened for a minute. “Good, I’m glad Dave’s with you.

  “I know you’re scared, but everything will be okay. Yeah, of course. Look, I don’t want to worry you, but we wanted to warn you what’s going on at the clinic. Yeah, okay, so long as you know. Yeah, Father Neil will probably be there. Yeah, that’s going to be hard. Okay. Right. Right. Uh-huh. I know. We love you guys, too. We’ll talk to you tomorrow, afterward.”