bad. I could almost thank you, Grey. Without you, none of this would have happened.”
Chapter 8
Jillybean
Ernest seemed particularly attached to Jillybean. As they prepared to abandon Fort Campbell, he was always hanging around her to the point that Ipes became agitated. The zebra, who was lounging on top of Jillybean’s pillow with one of his hooves tucked behind his head, said, It isn’t normal fora grown man to take such an interest in a seven-year-old girl; everyone knows that .
Jillybean, who had been flattered by all the attention the older man had given her, replied, “He’s just nice is all. He at least thinks I’m smart, not like some zebras I know.”
That’s not the point. All this attention is not what anyone, including your daddy would say is natural , Ipes said. Who knows? Maybe he’s one of those pedophiles. There’s no way to really tell, not until it’s too late .
“Oh stop,” Jillybean said, irritably. “If there’s no way to tell then you can be mis-insulting him for nothing. And that’s not nice at all. That’s what I think. So far he’s just been a nice person and I think you’re being jealous. Now, stop being such a lazy bones and make yourself useful. Help me pack.”
Packing required little more than her going through her Ladybug backpack and ridding it of the odds and ends that were taking up too much room and only adding to the weight of it. So far she had set aside a neon yellow water pistol, a stapler with a butterfly decal on top, and a white dress that wasn’t the one Ram had found for her way back when. That dress she had lost when the River King’s men took her I’m a Belieber backpack. But it was close enough and at the last minute she decided to keep it. Before putting it in its plastic bag she had folded it as neatly as she could manage, which meant it was very wrinkled.
Ipes looked at it quizzically . A replica of another dress? Will you ever wear it? he asked.
“That’s not the point,” she answered. “That dress was a gift, maybe the nicest gift I ever got.” She paused, thinking about the day she first met Ram. He had been tied to a tetherball pole and had been within minutes of being eaten alive by little kid monsters. The image of his face in her mind caused her throat to go tight. He was supposed to have died with her that day; they were supposed to have been monsters together for all time. But now only he was a monster.
With her lips pressed tightly together, she placed it on top of the other oddities in her pack. “And I can pretend it’s the same, so it stays. You never know, there could be, like a ball with dancing and music and such. I want to be prepared just in case.”
Sure, that could happen , Ipes said, sarcastically.
In Jillybean’s mind, it could definitely happen. The possible limits of what could happen ended at her imagination, which was near on limitless. She could easily envision a ball in Colorado once they had made it safe and sound. Neil would be there and he would do a father-daughter dance with Sadie. And Captain Grey would dance with Deanna because they were both tall and pretty.
Jillybean would dance with Joe Gates, who was ten years old, but only if he promised not to be mean; he sometimes twirled his finger next to his ear when she went by. She knew that meant “being crazy” which wasn’t at all nice since she really wasn’t crazy. She was just misunderstood. At least that’s what Ipes told her.
There might be other boys in Colorado , Ipes said. You know, nicer boys. You just have to be careful not to catch kooties .
“Ain’t that the truth.” Jillybean was a firm believer in kooties and knew for certain that Joe Gates had them; he was always scratching himself.
Like a monkey , Ipes said.
“Just like one,” Jillybean agreed.
Once she was packed it wasn’t difficult to find her new friend. Ernest was standing in the doorway just down the hall; he stood so that he could simultaneously talk to someone in