"How many of you are there at present?" she asked.
"There were five of us when we three came. There were four of us last night. Mindy's dead. She committed suicide," I told her.
Alex looked at Lieutenant Rowling, who smirked. "Who committed suicide?" he asked.
"Mindy."
"Mindy Levine." Robin said.
"You saw her commit suicide?" he asked.
"No. Gia told us that happened. We were out in the desert," I said.
"Who's this Gia?" he asked, looking from me to Robin and Teal. "She was the other girl, the fourth girl." Robin told him.
"You said you were out in the desert. What does that mean?" Alex asked.
"We were being punished. We were taken out there and left to find our way back." I explained. "Teal got bitten by a rattlesnake. Natani saved our lives." I felt like I was repeating a recording, speaking with little or no emotion, just reporting facts.
Again Alex's eyebrows hoisted and she looked at Lieutenant Rowling.
He shrugged again. "You guys should know more about this place than we do,," he said
defensively.
Alex nodded. "We should. But, we obviously don't."
"Yeah, well, that's for later. Right now." he continued, bearing down on me especially. "what do you know about this fire?"
I shook my head and the other two did the same.
"We woke up and saw the whole place illuminated, so we dressed and stepped out and saw the house was in flames. We ran around back and watched Natani and his nephew, the cook, try to save the buddies."
"Buddies?"
"Assistants, I suppose you would call them,," Teal said dryly. "We had better names for them."
"Do you know anything about Gia?" I asked.
"What about Dr. Foreman? Was she in the house or what?" Teal followed, her arrogant, demanding tone making her sound more like the Teal I knew,
"We're asking the questions here," Lieutenant Rowling said so sharply it was as if his tongue were made of razor blades.
"Okay, girls," Alex said, giving him a stern look and then turning back to us. "For now. I want you to rest. We'll get you something to drink and tat. I'll return soon."
She and the lieutenant left the barracks.
"How come they didn't know about Mindy?" Teal asked. "If someone dies, especially like that, wouldn't the police know?"
"It's all very weird," Robin said.
I agreed and then my eyes went to Gia's cot. The edge of her notebook could be seen just under her pillow. I went to it and pulled it out. I opened the cover and sat on her cot to read.
"What?" Robin asked when I shook my head.
"I guess she returned to being Posy. She starts this off with a 'Dear Mother.'"
I started to read on. "No. wait. Maybe not."
"Read it aloud," Teal said.
I looked up at them, then did what she asked. "Dear Mother,
"Did I ever tell you about the first day I saw you, when I was ten and they brought me to you? How does a girl get over the fact that her real mother and her real father gave up on her completely and agreed to give her away, give her to you, let you adopt her and make her your daughter?"
"What an imagination she had," Teal said, shaking her head. Robin nodded.
I continued reading.
"I never understood it all, of course. I always expected I would go home someday, no matter how you explained it You told me you wanted to be my mother, how I would be a shining example of your powers, your abilities. You would be sitting out there on my high school graduation day and my college graduation day and you would be so proud of me.
"I'm very smart, you said. You said you could tell that and you were sure I was going to be an excellent student once I was cured.
"I must tell you I never thought of myself as sick so I never understood why you called it being cured. Sick to me was sneezing and coughing, bellyaches and headaches, but not being angry. and afraid and alone. How is that being sick? From what I had seen of other kids my age, and especially the ones who were brought to you, being angry, afraid, and alone is more normal these days than being- sick.
"There you go, I'm sure, shaking your head and pursing your lips. More proof that I'm sick, more proof that I'm sick. That's what you're saying and what you 'e been saying since the day I -was brought to your home.
'I understand my parents being afraid of having me in the house after the fire, but I never stopped believing they would come back, for me someday. Not until now. Now I know they won't. You wouldn'twant them to. You wouldn't want to give up your prize patient, would you?
'You made fun of my Posy. You did everything you could to kill her, to crush her like some insect, but she got away, just like Mindy. We can get away from you, but not all of us. Not all of us can stand up to you and your little army of so-called buddies.
"You know -what frightens me the most today, Mother? That I'm finally calling you Mother. That you got your way with that, but now I'm terrified that you will win, that you really will be sitting out there on my graduation days and I will be your little protege, your shining example, and you will use me to get rid of every Posy who is out there and every Mindy.
"I was thinking I would give you this to read, but then I thought, if l do, you will find a way to overcome. You always do. You're the best at what you do, Mother. You will always win. You will always have your way with us.
"Guess who has come back tonight?" I read, and looked up at Robin and Teal. who were sitting there mesmerized. I looked back at the notebook.
"That's right, Posy. And guess why? She has a plan. I don't know why I didn't think of it on my own. You've had me spinning in circles, I guess. Anyway, she's here to help. She hasn't forgotten me. She couldn't leave me behind after all.
"We're on our way to activate our plan, Mother. You'll know it all very soon.
"I wonder if my real mother and father ever really asked after me. You said they didn't, but maybe, maybe you were lying to me. Maybe they haven't forgotten me completely. Maybe they'll think about me how Posy says they will.
'And Posy knows,
"Posy always knew."
I closed the notebook.
"I feel so sick inside." Teal said. "So sick and tired."
"'What's new about that?" Robin muttered, then quickly added. "So do I."
We all looked up when the door opened and a female sheriffs deputy entered carrying some sodas and a bag of sandwiches and candy bars.
"Hi, girls," she said. "Brought you something to eat and drink." She set it all down,
"Chocolate bars?" Teal said, opening the bag. "And subs. They look like they have everything on them!"
"They do." the deputy said. "I didn't know what you liked, of course. so I got the works, Enjoy. Mrs. Patterson and Lieutenant Rowling will be back to speak with you all scion."
She left and Robin dug into the bag, "Roast beef, And a Coke. I think I forgot what that tastes like. Look." She held up a bag. "Potato chips!"
Teal was already eating and closing her eyes with pleasure. I was the most surprised of us all that I had an appetite after what we had just been through, but nervousness burned calories. I guess.
I ate as fast as they did and enjoyed what I was eating just as much.
When we were finished, we went to the doorway because we heard a loud roaring sound. We saw a helicopter landing. Two men in suits and a uniformed policeman who looked like a general emerged, bent aver to avoid the propellers, and ran toward the ruins of the house. Many more patrol cars, another ambulance, firemen and police were moving about the rounds and around the smoldering hacienda. Off to the left. I saw Natani and his nephew surrounded by policemen, who were listening to them answer questions.
"Who's that in the helicopter, the president?" Teal wondered aloud.
"What's going to happen to us now?" Robin asked.
Bath Teal and I turned and looked at her. Funny, I thought, how I had never even considered it until she had just mentioned it. What
would be done with us?
"Whatever it is, it'll be a vacation compared to this." Teal replied.
Somehow, I didn't believe a vacation was what was ahead for us.
16
Fly Away Home
.
The two men in suits whom we had seen come
in the helicopter joined Alex and Lieutenant Rowling when they returned to the barn barracks. Once again. Alex told us to sit on a cot. She sat on the one brought closer to us, and the three men stood around and stared down at us as if we were extraterrestrials or something that had just been found in the desert.
"We need your help to understand what exactly happened here," Alex began in a soft, friendly tone.
None of the men smiled. I had the feeling that if she weren't there, they would beat every answer out of us.
"All three of you were sent here as part of the juvenile recovery program, correct?" she asked, thumbing through some pages in a file she carried.
"Was that what they called it?" Teal asked, looking at Robin and me as if we had kept it a secret from her.
"I never heard that term. Teal," I said.
"I thought it was part of the garbage recycle program," Robin muttered.
"Maybe we should conduct this interrogation someplace else." Lieutenant Rowling growled. "like the state's maximum security prison."
Alex held up her right hand without turning to him. She kept her eyes on us.
"Listen to me, girls. People are dead. This is an obvious case of felonious arson."
'Murder is a better word," Lieutenant Rowling corrected.
Alex closed and opened her eyes, again without looking up at him. "Before we can take you to more comfortable surroundings and see about your futures, we need to know as much as possible about what transpired here. How long have you girls been here?" she asked, flipping through those pages again.
We looked at each other, and then, after a moment, when no one replied, we all just laughed.
The men again looked ready to pounce and pound us.
"We're not being disrespectful, Alex," I said. "We've all last track of time. It seems like a very long time. but I imagine it's not."
"When you arrived here, these other girls, Mindy and Gia, were already here. however?"
"Yes." Robin said.
"Is Mindy dead?" I asked. I looked up quickly at Lieutenant Rowling, anticipating his saying again that they were the ones who asked the questions, not us. "We're worried about her. We don't know what to believe."
Alex nodded. "We understand she did attempt suicide. She's at a clinic. A mental clinic, and she is in treatment."
"She didn't die?" Teal asked, then looked at me.
"Why did she get to go to a clinic and not Gia?" I wondered aloud. "Maybe none of this would have happened then."
"Why do you say that? Was Gia angry about Mindy?" Alex asked.
"She told us she was dead. I don't think she was lying. I think she really believed it, so, yes, she was upset about her. When we returned from our picnic in the desert, we found her to be very different. She didn't talk to us very much. She slept a lot." I said.
"What did she actually do?" Teal asked.
Robin and I looked up in anticipation of hearing the gruesome details.
"Did she talk to you girls about doing anything?" Alex replied instead of answering directly.
"No," I said.
"All she did was work, eat, and write in her notebook." Robin offered, "Like us."
"Notebook?"
"Dr. Foreman made us write in notebooks." Teal said. "If we didn't do it, we lost privileges or were punished. After we had done so this time, we were supposed to get our mattresses, pillows, and blankets back." she added with indignation, as if she were locking a complaint with a hotel manager. "We handed them in and never heard a word."
"Did Gia hand in her notebook. too?" Alex asked.
"No. It's right there, under the pillow." I nodded at Gia's cot. Lieutenant Rowling, probably frustrated with just standing and listening and not applying some sort of electric torture, hinged at the cot and found the notebook. He opened it, then smirked with
disappointment and handed it to Alex. I don't know what he was expecting to find between the covers. Maybe a confession.
Alex read some of it quickly, nodded, and handed it to the shorter of the two well-dressed men. He began to read it with the other man looking over his shoulder.
Alex turned back to us. "Just give me a quick understanding of what went on here."
"Went on?" Teal asked, tilting her head as if she were talking to a complete idiot.
"You had classes you attended. You talked about good and bad behavior. You had therapy sessions with Dr. Foreman, who tried to help you understand why you were getting into more and more trouble. I imagine you had your chores every day, helped with the management of the ranch, the preparations for your meals. am I not correct?"
None of us replied. We all stared at her again,
Then Teal leaned forward, holding her head with that superior air as only she could and looked Alex in the face. "Your understandings are somewhat misdirected." she said in perfect, teacherlike tones.
Alex lost her smile, "Then help me understand correctly."
Teal looked at us. "Shall we help her. girls?"
"Look, Mrs.... Alex. whatever." Rabin said. ":`'all been given a lot of hogwash it seems. We didn't have any real classes. She threw books and
assignments at us and we were left an our own to do them, and if we failed, she gave us demerits, and if we got too many demerits, we lost privileges, and if we got even more demerits, we were sent to the Ice Room."
"Ice Room?"
The two men in suits closed Gia's notebook and turned to listen to us.
Neither Robin nor I was anxious to describe the Ice Room. In fact. Robin just wouldn't say much at all. I explained how I had revealed my fear of rats and how that had been used to torture me into obedience.
"Virtual reality," one of the men in suits said. He nodded at the other. "Pretty sophisticated equipment. Look into that as they sift through the ruins. See what you can find."
The man nodded and left the barracks. "Tell me about this desert trip," Alex asked.
Robin did describe that. When she reached the point when Teal got bitten. Teal started to cry silently. It was almost as if she didn't know she was crying. She sat there staring and the tears started to emerge from under her lids and trickle down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, girls. I don't want to force you to relive painful experiences," Alex said. "but we're just trying to understand how all this came about."
"Did you help this Gia with the gasoline?" Lieutenant Rowling demanded, raising his voice with impatience and stepping closer to us,
"Gasoline?" Robin responded.
"No." I looked at Alex. "What did she do exactly? Please tell us already."
"This is ridiculous," Lieutenant Rowling complained. "This girl, Gia, went out and did all this and you three are sitting there and telling us you knew nothing about it. Is that it?"
"Y'all don't have to believe it, but that's true," Robin told him, her eyes just as fiery.
The stronger my friend was, the prouder I was of her, and the stronger I felt myself become.
"Gia was smarter than any of us." I said. "She helped us all get through the schoolwork. Whatever she came up with to do, she didn't need any of us to help her do it or think it up. What did she do?" I repeated with more firmness.
It looks like she poured gasoline strategically around the hacienda so that the fire and the flames would entrap the inhabitants. She poured it on the roof, around windows. everywhere. The lieutenant believes she might have spread this gasoline over a significant period of time and not have just come up with the idea and done it all at once. That's why he and same others are so suspicious about no one else noticing anything," Alex explained calmly.
"If she was carrying that much gasoline to that house, she would be marching back and forth a nu
mber of times from the barn where the tractor was housed." Lieutenant Rowling continued. "Someone would have to see her doing it and ask what she was doing. She would smell from gasoline, too."
"We all smelled from one thing or another around here." Teal said. "You ever clean out a pigpen?" She wiped away a tear.
"Maybe there was some gasoline closer to the house," I suggested. "Besides being in the barn with the tractor."
Teal looked at me. "That big tin drum," she said.
"What drum?" Lieutenant Rowling asked.
"There was a big drum behind the house." I then described how we had spied on the buddies. Confessing about something so innocent compared with what had just happened here and what had been done to us over time didn't seem risky. I told how we had gotten the idea from Gia in the first place.
"So she knew the drum was there," Robin said,
"I don't think there was anything in it then. I didn't smell any gasoline," Robin said. "and it fell over, remember? We would have seen gasoline spill out."
"It just wasn't in it then," I said. Robin shrugged,
"She might have been sneaking gasoline from time to time and spilling it into the drum until she thought she had enough.' Teal suggested.
"Iguess that makes sense. That way she wouldn't have to be running back and forth with pails all day and night to spill it all around the house." Robin added. "I guess she did have it all well planned out."
Her look of appreciation for Gia's ingenuity only made Lieutenant Rowling more enraged, "And you are sitting there and telling us you didn't help her and you didn't know anything about it?"
"See that?" Teal said, looking at me. "And you said he wouldn't be able to figure it out."
If the top of Lieutenant Rowling's head hadn't been securely attached to the rest of his skull, it would surely have blown off from the explosion of anger inside his brain.
"Girls. please." Alex said. "I'm trying to get this all over with quickly for you and get you out of here."
"I guess they did belong here," Lieutenant Rowling said. "I guess no matter what was done to them, it wasn't enough to change them."
"Oh, we're changed. sir." I said. "We're changed. We used to be nice people."