After the Fire (16 page)

“Alice and Austin need help too,” said Melissa.

Sharlene nodded. “And now they have a chance. Families can mend, you know.”

Melissa thought about that for a moment. She thought about a family breaking apart, like a piece of china, and then being stuck back together again.

“Alice lied to me about so many things,” she said with a sigh. “She said she and Austin built the tree house and that he was this great brother, but he wasn't. He acts like he hates Alice! And it was Alice who stole the stuff from our cabin. She said the window was already broken but I'm not even sure now if that's true. She probably broke it herself.”

“I suspected it was Alice,” said Sharlene slowly.

“She was supposed to be my friend,” said Melissa. “Friends don't lie to each other.”

“She was the best friend she could be at this time in her life,” said Sharlene firmly. “Just think, Mel, how Alice must have felt when her little brother died. Helpless. I think all those crazy things she did and even her lying, was her way of trying to have some control over her life.”

“What will happen to Alice now?” said Melissa.

“Marge said that Alice's aunt has arrived from Toronto,” said Sharlene. “She stopped in at the store and Marge said she seemed extremely sensible and kind. Austin and Alice are going to move to Toronto and live with her for a while.” Sharlene stood up. “I have a feeling Alice is a survivor. She'll be okay.”

The next day Alice's aunt brought Alice over to say goodbye. Her aunt, a tall freckled woman called Penny, who reminded Melissa of Jill Templeton, drank iced tea with Sharlene on the porch. Melissa and Alice sat on the end of the dock, dangling their legs in the water.

“I'm almost all packed,” said Alice. “Austin just started packing this morning. He said he wasn't going to go at first, but he's changed his mind. Aunty Penny says he can sign up for hockey. Austin used to be really good at hockey, before Tristan died. I get to pick something to do too. I can do swimming or skating or whatever I want.” Alice's thin face glowed. “I might pick dance.”

A survivor, thought Melissa. Sharlene was right. “I went back to Dar Wynd,” she said. “I put the sleeping bag in a garbage bag so it wouldn't get wet.”

“Oh, thanks,” said Alice, but she sounded uninterested. Then she frowned. “Did you find my story? Did Austin really rip it up? That's what he told me.”

Melissa nodded. “I picked up all the pieces. They're in the binder. I put that in the garbage bag too. You might be able to put the story together.”

Alice shrugged. “It was dumb anyway. And I probably never would have finished it. Oh, and by the way,” she added airily, “you can have Dar Wynd if you want.”

Melissa stiffened. Dar Wynd wasn't Alice's to give away. She sighed. She didn't think she would want to hang out there by herself anyway. One day, when she felt like it, she would go back to Dar Wynd and gather up all the stuff Alice had taken and bring it back to the cabin.

Alice made a face. “When I go to Toronto, I have to go back into grade six. That's because I haven't actually done any schoolwork for over a year. But Aunt Penny says her neighbor has a daughter who will be in my class. We're going to invite her over as soon as I get there.”

Melissa stretched her legs out and watched the water drip off her toes. She imagined Alice peppering this girl with questions. Alice had said that Melissa was her best friend, but she didn't seem at all sad about leaving her. Melissa tried to sort out her jumbled feelings. She thought she should feel a little bit jealous, but to her surprise she didn't. She wondered what grade seven was going to be like. There had been a new girl in her class the last month of school who Melissa had thought seemed nice. She made a plan to summon the nerve to ask her over.

When it was time to go, Sharlene gave Alice a big hug. Then Alice hugged Melissa.

“Wait a minute,” said Melissa. She ran into the cabin and got the two twenty-dollar bills off her dresser. The drawing of Elfrida that she had thumbtacked on the wall caught her eye. It was the only thing she had to remind her of Alice, but she didn't really need it. She would
never
forget Alice. Melissa hesitated and then took it down. She went outside and gave the money to Alice. “You better give this back to Austin. And here's your picture.”

Alice took the money quickly and put it in her pocket. She studied the drawing of Elfrida, her face unreadable. “She would have done it, you know. She would have saved Tristan.”

“I know,” said Melissa.

Alice folded the picture carefully. “I'll keep this forever,” she said.

She climbed into the passenger seat of her aunt's red car and rolled down the window. “Goodbye, goodbye,” she called.

Aunt Penny turned her car around and, beeping the horn, bounced up the rutted road. The last thing Melissa saw was Alice's arm waving wildly out the window.

Twenty-One

“M
om!” called Melissa. “Cody did it! He put his face in the water!”

Sharlene put her book down on the arm of the lawn chair. She stood up to get a better look. “Let me see!” she said.

“Come on, Cody, you can do it one more time,” urged Melissa.

Cody scrunched up his cheeks. He took a big breath. He leaned over from his waist and dipped his face in the water. He threw his head back up in a shower of sunlit water drops, sputtering and gasping.

“Bravo!” shouted Sharlene. “Way to go! And kudos to the instructor.”

Melissa grinned. She surveyed her little brother, slippery and wet as a minnow, and said, “Now I'm going to teach you how to do a dead man's float.”

It was Melissa's day to jump.

She stood on the smooth sun-warmed rock at the top of the cliff and gazed down into the still, green bay. Dark shadows clung along the base of the cliff, but farther out the water sparkled in the sun.

The cliff was higher than she remembered. Melissa's knees felt weak.

She bit her lip. “One, two, three,” she said softly.

She braced her back and willed herself to go but her legs felt stuck to the ground.

For a second, Melissa closed her eyes. Far out in the lake a loon warbled.

You'll love it
, Alice had promised.
You'll feel free
like an eagle.

Melissa opened her eyes. “One, two three…” She sucked in a huge gulp of air and leaped off the cliff.

She felt a whoosh of air on her arms and face. Everything spun around her in a blur of green and blue. Then she hit the water with a great splash.

She sank down, down—much deeper than she had expected. She was lost in a cool, dim green world and she felt a moment of panic. Her chest was going to explode. Then she turned her head up to the light and swam with steady strokes, feeling the strength in her arms from days of paddling.

She burst out into a blaze of blinding sun and blue water.

She gasped, feeling the air pour into her lungs. “Whooo-eeee!” she hollered. “I did it!”

Melissa took her time paddling back to the cabin, the warm sun seeping into her shoulders and back. That morning, Sharlene had asked her if she wanted to go back to Huntley. “We've got two weeks left until school starts,” she said. “We don't have to stay here if you don't want to. We can move into our new place a bit early, I'm sure.”

Melissa thought about the new apartment. She couldn't wait to move in. But there was still so much she wanted to do at the lake. “I want to stay,” she said.

Two weeks. She dug her paddle deeper and made her plans. Bonnie Hill had invited them to the guest ranch to go horseback riding. Melissa had never been on a horse but she was pretty sure she could do it. And there was the fair. She had decided that she would enter some of her drawings. And Sharlene had predicted that Cody would be floating any day now.

Ted had dropped by in the morning and told them that the fire ban was lifted. He was coming for supper and Sharlene had promised that they could roast hot dogs on a campfire and make something called s'mores out of graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. Sharlene said s'mores were one of the best things about summers at her grandpa's cabin.

Melissa's stomach rumbled as she paddled past the island. Their cabin came into view. Sharlene was reading in a lawn chair and Cody was playing in the grass with his dump truck. Melissa rested the paddle for a moment and waved.

Sharlene had talked about their new life. Melissa had waited and waited for it. Now she knew it had crept up on her without her knowing. She grinned as she dug her paddle into the smooth water and felt the canoe surge forward.

Acknowledgments

A huge thank-you to my writing pals, Kathy, Ann and Ainslie, who make writing fun, and to my sister Janet, who reads all my manuscripts. As well, a heartfelt thanks to my editor Sarah Harvey, who brings out the best in my writing.

BECKY CITRA is the author of many books for children, including
Never to be Told
,
Whiteout
and the Max and Ellie historical series. Becky lives on a ranch in Bridge Lake, British Columbia, where she cross-country skis, rides her horses and watches the wildlife that visits her home.