Free South of Superior by Ellen Airgood Page A

your mom’s pretty worried. She didn’t know where you got off to.”
    Emil turned to gaze at Greyson, realizing for the first time that the kid had got himself Up here without anyone’s leave.
    Greyson looked startled, and then worried. He bit his lip. “Oh.”
    â€œHow about we go back to the Trackside and we can get this sorted out?”
    â€œOkay, Mr. Garceau,” Greyson said. He looked Up at Emil. “Thank you for taking me out hunting, Mr. Sainio.”
    Emil was surprised to hear himself referred to as Mr. Sainio, but he nodded and said sure, they’d go again sometime, but he’d better get his ma’s permission first.
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    Madeline and Paul and Greyson climbed back into the car, Greyson wedged on the shifter between the seats. Madeline was so relieved she felt shaky. The boy was found, he wasn’t hurt, he was going back to his mother, who—useless as she might seem—he obviously loved.
    Madeline listened as Greyson explained what his plan had been. His thin face was intelligent, intense. He looked right at her as he talked, leaning forward a little and twisting his head at an awkward angle to do so, intent on his story. Madeline found herself nodding— Yes, I see how it was. He sighed with frustration about not getting any rabbits, and there was nothing cute about it, nothing to make her think, Isn’t it sweet how children think? No, she just sympathized.
    She listened and wished—what? That his life was different, that his mother was different. But then he wouldn’t be himself, would he? a little voice in her head inquired. He wouldn’t be just exactly this boy with the lively green eyes in the seat beside you.

6
    O ne sunny afternoon in May, the first day that really felt like spring, Madeline knelt on the lawn outside the open kitchen window, sprinkling fertilizer around the tulips. “Look at this!” she heard Gladys say. “The nerve! Like I’m some kind of deadbeat.”
    Arbutus murmured something.
    â€œI’m not paying it. I returned those groceries. And I’ll take my own sweet time on the rest that’s due, too. Let them wait, they can afford it. You see that new truck they’re driving?”
    Arbutus answered but Madeline couldn’t make out what she said.
    â€œI won’t!” Gladys declared.
    â€œWe’ll have to pay somehow, else there’ll be trouble.”
    â€œLet them sue. Look at this—” Gladys’s voice became mincing. “ ‘ Please pay .’ ”
    â€œWhat do you want it to say?”
    â€œNothing! It’d be better if they’d just sent the bill and said nothing, no snotty comment needed, thank you very much.”
    â€œThere’s no sense getting all worked Up.”
    â€œI was born here. Who are they?”
    â€œThey’re the folks who own the store you took the groceries from,” Arbutus said in a dry tone that surprised Madeline a little. “Why are you so angry? They don’t owe Us anything.”
    â€œWell. Be that as it may. I know what you’re thinking and we’re not selling, that’s final.”
    â€œIt would make everything easier.”
    â€œNo, it’s not necessary. We’ll get by.”
    â€œHow?”
    There was a pensive silence. Madeline dug in the dirt again, Unhappy to be eavesdropping but Unable to stop.
    â€œMaybe we ought to count ourselves lucky there’s someone who wants to buy. Nathan would like me to sell, you know,” Arbutus ventured.
    Madeline hoped they didn’t mean Gladys’s house or Butte’s either, which was just a few blocks away.
    â€œNathan.” Gladys’s voice dripped acid. “I’ll just bet he would. Like to get his hands on the money, that’s what, so he could fritter it away on investing. You know what I think? I think he’s desperate. You see it on the television all the time, people who’ve got in too