Free Glory Girl by Betsy Byars Page A

her arm laid gracefully on the costumes, her long hair trailing into the water.
    Then darkness came and Anna clawed her way forward. As she knelt over her mother’s body, she suddenly heard a new sound, a rapping. It made no sense. “Mom, can you hear me?”
    She thought she heard her mother speak. She bent her head closer. “Mom!”
    It was then that she saw a light at the back of the bus. She looked up, squinting. A thin beam of light was shining around the inside of the bus, touching on the costumes, sliding over Angel’s pale face, Mr. Glory’s arms, then on her own face.
    “Is someone there?” she asked, her voice cracking with fear and hope.
    The small circle of light was turned backward to shine onto a round face. Anna blinked. The face seemed far away, something at the end of a long tunnel.
    “It’s me,” a voice called. “It’s Uncle Newt.”
    Anna knelt where she was. She watched as Uncle Newt crawled into the bus, the beam of his flashlight bouncing over the walls, the dripping seats. He came toward her, his feet sliding on the slick, wet ceiling.
    “You all right?” He shone the light into her pale face. She nodded.
    “Well, you’re going to have to help me, honey. Can you move?”
    Anna nodded again. Uncle Newt stuck his flashlight under one arm and helped her sit up.
    “What happened?” she asked. “I can’t remember anything.”
    “You had an accident. Some boys run you off the road. I knew what they were up to, but I couldn’t stop them. Can you move your legs?”
    “I think so. My feet are numb.”
    “By the time I caught up with you, the bus was off the road and them punks leaving. I got there to see you disappear down the bank.”
    Anna swayed, and Uncle Newt caught her around the shoulders. He said again, “You all right?”
    “Yes.”
    “When I looked down the bank and saw where the bus was at—well, I thought you were goners.”
    “Where are we?”
    “In the creek. The bus is upside down. That’s why everything looks so strange, why the water is—” He broke off. “Right now we got to get you and your folks out of here.”
    “I can make it,” Anna said. “You look after the others.”
    “The trouble is I need your help. Can you take your mother on this side?”
    “I don’t know—I—”
    Anna lost her footing on the slick surface and went down on one knee. “Easy does it.” Uncle Newt helped her up.
    He bent over Mrs. Glory. “Maudine, it’s Newt,” he said in a loud voice. “You hear me, Maudine? We got to get you out of here.”
    Mrs. Glory moaned.
    “She’s coming to. Grab her under the arm and let’s get going. Time’s running out.”
    With a new urgency, forgetting her numb feet, her pain, Anna grabbed her mother’s arm. She and Uncle Newt began moving Mrs. Glory toward the back door. Mrs. Glory moaned in protest, and her small shoeless feet trailed behind, twitching helplessly in the icy water.
    At the door Uncle Newt said, “Hold your mother right there. Don’t let her slip back while I climb outside. You got her?”
    “Yes.”
    Anna was shuddering violently, her teeth clacking together so hard she could barely speak. There was a splash as Uncle Newt dropped into the water. Anna pressed against her mother, holding her by the door. Her eyes closed with the effort.
    “All right, I’m ready!” Uncle Newt called.
    “Come on, Mom.”
    Anna raised up slightly and, pulling her mother with her, leaned out the door. She hung there, too weak to move for a moment. The metal cut into her waist. “Uncle Newt?”
    A bolt of lightning lit up the sky then, and Anna looked down with horror. Dark water swirled around the bus, rushing downstream with enough power to carry the whole bus with it.
    “Let go. I’ve got her,” Uncle Newt called in the darkness that followed.

The Rescue
    A NNA LAY BY THE doorway, leaning her head against the metal frame. Her eyes were closed. She was startled when Uncle Newt took her by the shoulders and shook her. “Your