Thea at Sixteen (15 page)

“Don't worry about it,” Thea said. She reached over and touched his hand, but Kip didn't seem to notice. “Have you gotten any sleep since yesterday?”

“She sleeps better when I'm in the room,” Kip said. “I nod off occasionally. It isn't for that much longer.”

“What happened?” Thea asked. “It wasn't because of us, was it?”

Kip shook his head. “She shouldn't have gone,” he said. “But we knew that at the time. We just all denied it. The doctors, too. We wanted her to have that … that last taste of normalcy. But she's been getting weaker and weaker.”

“I'm sorry,” Thea said.

“Don't be,” Kip said. “At least I won't have to buy any Christmas presents.”

“Oh, Kip,” Thea said, and the sound of her voice roused Gina.

“Dani?” she whispered.

“No, honey, it's me,” Thea said. “Thea. Do you want to see Dani? She's right outside.”

“Thea,” Gina said. She reached for Thea, who gave her her hand to hold. Gina's touch was terrifying, filled with sickness. Thea marveled that Kip could sit there holding her hand without flinching.

“I wanted to see you,” Thea said. “We worried about you yesterday.”

Kip shook his head. “Gina doesn't remember about yesterday,” he said.

“How's Sybil?” Gina asked, and her voice gained strength, and sounded almost normal.

“She's fine,” Thea said. “She's at home collecting candy wrappers. I told you about the wrappers.”

“Sybil,” Gina said. She closed her eyes, and Thea thought she'd drifted off again. “Angels in heaven like Sybil,” she murmured.

“Beautiful angels,” Thea said. “Just like you.”

“Mommy's gone,” Gina said. “Daddy's gone. Just you and Sybil and angels.”

“Kip's here,” Thea said. “See, he's sitting right by you, holding your hand.”

“Kip,” Gina said. “Kip and Thea and angels. I like angels. They're pretty.”

“So are you,” Thea said. She had no idea what she was saying or even why. Megs could handle this, she thought, and I'm like Megs. “You're so pretty, Gina, and so sweet. I love you, you know.”

Gina seemed to nod. “Angels,” she said. “Angels in heaven with me.” Her breathing became heavier, and Thea saw that she was sleeping again.

“She drifts in and out,” Kip said. “So do Mom and Dani.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Thea asked.

“No,” Kip said. “Frankly, I'm surprised you even bothered showing up.”

“Kip, don't do that,” Thea said. “I'm part of this, and you damn well know it.”

“Yeah,” Kip said. “You might as well go now. And if you see Dani out there, tell her to get Mom. I sent her to the cafeteria an hour ago, but there's a chance she might still be there.”

“I'll tell her,” Thea said, but when she left the room, Dani was nowhere to be seen. So Thea walked to the cafeteria and found Dani and her mother together.

“Kip thinks you should go back now,” she said to Mrs. Dozier. She felt presumptuous, but there was no other way for Kip's message to be delivered.

Mrs. Dozier nodded. She looked accustomed to being bullied. “I will in a minute,” she said. “Let me finish my coffee.”

“Don't rush on her account, Ma,” Dani said. “She's nobody to tell you what to do.”

“It's for Kip,” Mrs. Dozier said. “He wants me there.”

“That makes it all right, then,” Dani said. “Whatever Kip wants, Kip gets.”

Thea resisted the urge to slug Dani. “I'm going home now,” she said to Mrs. Dozier. “Please call me if there's anything I can do.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Dozier said, and to Thea's surprise, she took Thea's hand and squeezed it. “You've been so sweet to us, so understanding.”

“She's a saint,” Dani said.

“Compared to you she is,” Mrs. Dozier said. “Please, when all this is over with, come for supper sometime.”

“All right,” Thea said. “I have to go now. I'll see you later.”

“You're an angel,” Mrs. Dozier called after her, but Thea didn't turn around. She walked as fast as she could out of the hospital, and then jogged the rest of the way home.

Her house was still bustling with guests and activities, and Thea felt as alien there as she had in the hospital room. Sybil was putting on her jacket as Thea walked in. “Where are you going?” Thea asked.

“On the great candy-wrapper hunt,” Sybil replied. “Sam's coming with me.”

“May I join you?” Thea asked. “I have great eyes for candy wrappers.”

Sybil scowled. “Too many people and we'll all end up talking and not looking,” she said.

“I promise I'll look,” Thea said.

“Tell you what,” Scotty said, joining them in the hallway. “I'll walk with Thea and look with her while you and Sam look together. How's that, Sybil?”

Sybil grinned. “Fine,” she said. “Sam, come on!”

“Coming!” Sam called, and soon the four of them were on the expedition together.

“We're going to Oak Hollow Road,” Sybil declared. “Lots of kids walk there, and I found a lot of wrappers there in October.”

“Sounds promising,” Sam said.

“This should work out really well,” Sybil said. “See, there's Oak Hollow up ahead. Scotty, you and Thea walk to the left, and Sam and I'll walk to the right.”

“I bet we'll find more wrappers than you do,” Thea said.

“You will not,” Sybil said. She grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him with her. “Come on, Sam,” she said. “Let's find a thousand wrappers.”

“Come on, Scotty,” Thea said. “Let's find a thousand and one.” She heard herself laughing, and couldn't believe that she was. An hour ago, she'd been sitting with Gina, watching her die, and now she was outside searching the sides of the road for garbage. She loved Gina, probably more than Dani did, and yet she was outside laughing. No wonder Kip had been surprised she'd shown up.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Scotty said.

“You don't want them,” Thea replied.

“That little girl,” Scotty said. “She's dying, right?”

Thea nodded.

“A kid I went to school with died,” Scotty said. “I'd known him since, I don't know, since fourth grade, I guess. That's when we both started Mayfield Academy. And when you go to prep school like that, you really know the other kids, because you live together in the dorm. Not that this guy was a big friend of mine or anything, but he was someone I knew. Someone I ate with. Someone I heard crying when he was homesick. I guess he heard me cry, too, on occasion.”

Thea liked the sound of Scotty's voice, and was glad she didn't have to look at him. She stared down at the side of the road and searched for wrappers while he spoke.

“Anyway, about three years ago, they found out he had cancer,” Scotty said. “Brain tumor. Real fast. Real bad. He was dead six months later. But it was all during the school year. He had a seizure right before Halloween, and he was dead by Easter break. Of course, once he went into the hospital, he was out of school, but they made us visit him. He looked weird, his hair all shaved off, big bandage around his head. The next time we saw him, he looked worse, and the third time, you knew he was a goner.”

“Did you go to the funeral?” Thea asked. There. Now she'd said the
f
word, too.

“We had to,” Scotty replied. “None of us wanted to, but they bused us to the church. His mother cried. His parents were divorced, and his father couldn't make it, but his mother cried, and she said what made it all worthwhile was seeing us all there. Like that proved the guy was popular. I mean, he was, but it wasn't like we were all his friends. We had to go. I had to go. That's the only funeral I've ever been to. You ever go to one?”

“Not yet,” Thea said. If she looked hard enough for wrappers, she wouldn't start crying.

“Boring,” Scotty declared. “Lots of talk about heaven. When I die, I don't want a funeral. Schyler says he wants a big one, with all his old girlfriends there, but not me. Just cremate me and scatter my ashes.”

“Where?” Thea asked.

“On Wall Street,” Scotty replied. “In the Stock Exchange.”

Thea laughed. Scotty was silent for a moment, and then he laughed, too.

“You have a wonderful laugh,” he said. “You should laugh more often.”

“I laugh all the time,” Thea said. “Just not lately. You picked a bad weekend to hear me laugh.”

“Can I have another chance some other weekend?” Scotty asked.

“Do you mean can you come for another visit?” Thea asked. “Sure. Now that Nicky and Megs are in the inviting habit, I bet they'd be delighted to have you come back.”

“Good,” Scotty said. “Because I want to keep seeing you.”

“You do?” Thea said. “Why?”

“Oh, come on now,” Scotty said. “You've got to know how pretty you are. Girls as pretty as you always know.”

“Oh,” Thea said. She knew she used to look in the mirror and admire herself, but lately she'd had other things on her mind. “Am I as pretty as Dani?”

“Dani,” Scotty grunted. “I knew you'd bring that up.”

“It's a natural enough question,” Thea said. “Oh, good. I found a Wattabar wrapper. It's in mint condition, too.”

“Dani means nothing to me,” Scotty declared.

“I never doubted that,” Thea said. “Your courtship was pretty brief, if fervent.”

“She practically raped me,” Scotty said. “I was standing in the kitchen, minding my own business, and she walked over to me and started kissing. Ordinarily I would have told her to stop, but I was a guest in your house, and I thought that might be rude. Maybe I was supposed to kiss her, so I did. My mother brought me up to do whatever my hosts did. And your parents kiss, and so do Evvie and Sam. I figured that was how you did things here, so I kissed Dani back. But I certainly wouldn't have started if she hadn't. There's a Yummie Junior. Sybil's collecting those, right?”

“Right,” Thea said. “Oh, here's an Mmm Mmms with Almonds. Yuck. It has ants on it.”

“I'll brush them off for you,” Scotty said, and he took the wrapper from Thea and delicately removed the ants. “I think I'm in love with you, Thea Sebastian,” he said, and, wrappers in hand, kissed her.

“What?” Thea said when he'd finished.

“You heard me,” Scotty said “I know you don't love me yet, but you will, I promise.”

Thea stared at Scotty and then checked to see if Sam and Sybil were within earshot. But they were already a few hundred feet away, and engrossed in their own conversation.

“Scotty,” Thea said. “I don't love you. You don't love me, either. Hold on. I think I see a Sweet Somethings wrapper over there.”

“In your family, everyone falls in love fast,” Scotty said. “I know all about it. It's all Clark ever talks about. How your mother fell in love with your father, and then Evvie with Sam. And now you and me. I can see why you might not have known it at first, because you have had other things on your mind, but soon you'll realize it and then we'll be together.”

“Excuse me,” Thea said. “But there's an Mmm Mmm wrapper under that stone.”

“Forget the wrapper,” Scotty said. “And listen to me. I could have played this the traditional way, dates, letters, yearning phone calls. But I couldn't afford to take the chance. You obviously feel something for Kip, even if it is one-sided, and I know it's hard for you, his sister dying and all, and I'm only here until Sunday. Besides, things are crowded in your house. All those sisters. And Sam. Schyler was right when he said Sam has a gift for getting in the way. So I'm telling you now, and years from now you'll look back at this moment, and remember us on Oak Creek Road and wonder how you ever could have doubted.”

“Oak Hollow Road,” Thea said. “What makes you say my feelings for Kip are one-sided?”

“You'll get over him,” Scotty said. “He isn't worthy of you, anyway. I'm going to be a millionaire, Thea, by the time I'm twenty-five. And after that, I'm only going to get richer. I'll buy you anything you want.”

“You have the wrong sister,” Thea said. “Try that line on Claire.”

“She's not my type,” Scotty replied. “She reminds me too much of Schyler. I saw you Wednesday night, and I thought, there she is, the girl I've always dreamed of. Thea Sebastian. Thea Sebastian Hughes. That's perfect. Sebastian's my grandfather's name, you know.”

“No, I didn't,” Thea said. “Scotty, you're very sweet, but I'm not in the mood to be proposed to right now.”

“Let me know when,” he said. “I'll give you roses.”

“I'd rather have candy wrappers,” Thea said. “Oh, good. Here's another Wattabar. You want to brush off its ants for me?”

“The first test of my love,” Scotty said. He shook the wrapper free of the ants, and then, while handing it to Thea, kissed her again. Why not, Thea thought, and kissed him back. In her family, they did fall in love at first sight. Maybe if she'd bothered to look at Scotty two nights ago, she might have fallen in love, too.

She was hardly aware of the car whizzing past them. It only penetrated her consciousness when she realized someone might have seen them kissing. Kip, Thea thought, although she knew he didn't have a car, and was unlikely to be anywhere near Oak Hollow Road. But the thought of him made her aware of the car, and the car made her think of Sybil, and she looked over to the side of the road where Sybil was standing, and somehow, as though she knew what she was going to see, she watched the car race toward Sybil. And Thea began to scream, but the car was making too much noise, only Scotty could hear her, and he turned and saw, too, as the car hit Sybil and she flew into the air and the car kept going faster and faster and Sam was standing there, and Sybil was on the ground, and the wrappers, the damn candy wrappers started floating down, landing on the road, landing on Sybil lying on the road.