Free St. Clair (Gives Light Series) by Rose Christo Page B

ponderosas. The pines on the
    easternmost boundary of the forest looked really
    ill, the bark red and chalky and splotched with
    blue. I zeroed in on the ground. I saw a man in a
    neat black suit, and a couple of men wearing tool
    belts. One of the contractors gestured
    emphatically at the dead pine tree nearest him. I
    wished I could hear what they were saying. The
    contractors abruptly stormed off, the man in the
    black suit chasing after them.
    "Hurray!" Marilu said, and slid down the beech
    tree. I followed her quickly to the ground.
    "What is it?" Dad asked. "What happened?"
    "Pine beetles, that's what!" Zeke yelled. He broke
    into a very interesting dance.
    Dad looked at me. "What aren't you telling me...?"
    "Uncle Paul," Marilu said, "could we have some
    lunch now?"
    Dad nodded slowly, awkwardly. He scratched the
    back of his head with a pawlike hand. He started
    back to the forest path and we trailed after him,
    Zeke dancing after us. We picked up the boat on
    our way back to the neighborhood and dropped it
    off at Mr. At Dawn's house. From there we
    headed home.
    "Odd," Dad murmured. I opened the front door
    and Zeke and Marilu piled into the house. Dad
    perused me silently. I smiled noncommittally and
    went into the kitchen to pour us some iced juniper
    tea.
    "We are the bomb-diggity!" Zeke yelled.
    I gave him a weird look.
    Marilu took the honey biscuits out of the icebox.
    Dad turned on the radio to catch up on baseball
    scores. Zeke invited himself to use our computer.
    "I'm gonna e-mail Steeeew," he announced. I gave
    him another weird look. Marilu kicked her legs
    under the kitchen table and sipped her juniper tea.
    "Are you sure you don't have anything to tell me?"
    Dad asked.
    I smiled innocently and bit into a honey biscuit.
    Lunch was a really weird affair that day. Between
    Zeke yelling at the computer and Dad yelling at the
    radio, Marilu and I didn't get much talking done. I
    guess I should say Marilu didn't get much talking
    down. I had a hard time swallowing, for whatever
    reason, and had to keep hitting my gut to spit the
    bread back out. It sucks when you don't have a
    coughing reflex.
    "I was thinking," Dad said, when the radio turned
    to a commercial break. "Maybe I should build a
    new house."
    I looked at him, surprised.
    "Not for us," he said. "For..."
    I grinned mischievously.
    "Please don't make fun of me," Dad said feebly.
    "Will you come see our house in January, Uncle
    Paul?" Marilu asked.
    "I can't, honey. I'm sorry."
    "Aw... That's okay. I'll send you pictures."
    "Thank you. That's very nice of you." Dad poured
    me more tea when he saw that I was choking.
    "Drink this," he said. I shot him a grateful look.
    September came much too soon for my liking. Dad
    and Granny and I saw Aunt Cora and Marilu to the
    bus stop off the turnpike. I looked left and right,
    paranoid, to make sure the cops weren't hanging
    around. The laws of the reservation didn't protect
    Dad out here.
    Aunt Cora took me into a hug, patting my hair with
    her bony hand. "You're a good boy," she said
    kindly. "Make sure you come around for the
    winter pauwau."
    "Goodbye, Skylar," Marilu said somberly. "I'll
    write to you if Danny comes home."
    I felt a very real pain in my heart. The both of us
    knew Danny wasn't coming home.
    I waved after Marilu and Aunt Cora as they
    boarded the bus. Marilu put her hand against the
    hazy window and waved back at me. The doors
    hissed closed; the wheels squealed on gravel.
    They were gone.
    "Just in time for school, too," Dad said, his hand
    on my shoulder.
    I went to the schoolhouse early the next morning,
    Annie walking at my side. Together we sat at a
    long wooden table in the back of the room. It was
    bizarre to think that we were twelfth graders now.
    Mr. Red Clay hadn't arrived yet, but the entire
    room was buzzing with conversation. Everyone
    was talking about the forest.
    "Good job, you guys!" said Daisy At Dawn,
    grinning. "The pines look truly disgusting.
    Awesome."
    "Not