Another woman came around the house into the backyard. She looked a lot like the first woman, though the first woman had black hair and this woman’s hair was brown. She looked very surprised by what was happening as she ran over to them. “Hey!”
“Let me go! Let me go! I didn’t do anything!”
“Just calm down,” said the first woman, not letting go of his arm. “I’m not going to hurt you!”
“Please let me go!”
“Settle down and I’ll let you go!”
Nathan gave one last unsuccessful tug, and then decided to stop struggling. Neither woman was holding a shotgun. Maybe they weren’t going to kill him. Or maybe they were going to kill him in a much slower manner. He wished he had more information.
They all stood in silence for a long moment. Nathan was breathing heavy and tried to force himself to relax.
“Who are you?” the black-haired woman asked.
Nathan didn’t respond.
The second woman looked at the first. “Is he feral?”
“I don’t know if he’s feral, but he’s filthy!” She inhaled and scowled. “Goodness, you really stink. I’ve never smelled such a thing. Where did you come from?”
“Please let me go.” They didn’t seem to have noticed his teeth while he was screaming, but now that things had calmed a bit he spoke with his head down, keeping his mouth mostly closed, just the way he’d been taught.
“We can’t do that until we understand what’s going on. Where are your parents?”
“They’re dead.”
“Who takes care of you?”
“Nobody.”
“Nobody? A boy of your age? Why, that’s not…actually, from the looks of you, it is possible! Oh, you poor little darling!” The woman threw her arms around him, holding him tight. She was much taller than Nathan and he thought she might be suffocating him, but it was still the best feeling he’d had in an entire year.
“Where have you been staying?” asked the other woman.
“The forest.”
“Goodness gracious! Assuming that your story isn’t a shameful lie, what a remarkable young boy you must be! Would you like something to eat? We’ve made sandwiches.”
“Oh, yes!”
Nathan didn’t let his guard down, but he allowed the women to lead him inside the house. He’d known that he was hungry before, but now, with a fine meal so close, he was so ravenous that he thought he might follow these women even if they said “Surprise! There’s your meal on the nose of a great white shark!”
“What’s your name?” asked the woman with black hair, as they stepped into the kitchen.
“Nathan.”
“Pleased to meet you, Nathan. My name is Penny. This is my sister Mary.”
“Hello,” said Mary. “I’ll go get my sandwich from the living room and give it to you, since Penny has already taken a bite out of hers. Not that it matters. Right now you don’t look like a boy who is overly worried about germs.”
At this point, Penny could have spat out half of her guts between two slices of bread and Nathan would have eaten it, though he did not share this information.
Mary left the kitchen. Penny ran her index finger across Nathan’s forehead and clucked her tongue. “I never knew so much dirt could cling to a single person. You’re worthy of scientific exploration. And I don’t believe I’ve ever seen hair so desperately in need of cutting. I count three, four, five, six…at least seven twigs twisted into your hair. How long have you been on your own?”
“A year.”
“A year? That absolutely boggles my mind, though I guess the evidence stands before me.”
Nathan was mildly offended by this, since he thought he’d done an excellent job with the bathing process, but he didn’t protest. He couldn’t say for certain how he smelled, as he’d grown accustomed to his own aroma.
Mary returned with the plate, which she set on the counter next to where Nathan stood. She gave him an encouraging nod, and Nathan picked up the sandwich and took an enormous bite.
Delicious!
Heavenly!
Beyond bliss!
Nathan was so focused on this masterpiece of a sandwich that it wasn’t until he had but one bite left that he realized that he’d forgotten about hiding his teeth.
Had they noticed?
He looked at Penny, then at Mary. Neither of them were recoiling.
He swallowed.
“What would you like to drink?” Penny asked.
“I have a choice?”
Penny opened the refrigerator and peered inside. “We have milk and apple juice, or you can have water.”
“Apple juice, please.”
Penny took the jar out of the refrigerator. Nathan ate the last bite of his sandwich as she set it on the counter and took down a glass.
“You were certainly hungry,” said Mary.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oooh, and polite! I didn’t expect that from a filthy feral boy. Would you like another sandwich?”
Nathan gave her a vigorous nod.
The three of them stood in the kitchen as Nathan ate two-and-a-half sandwiches and drank three full glasses of apple juice. If they were going to murder him, Nathan figured that they would have gotten around to it by now, so he relaxed.
“We have to figure out what do with you,” said Penny. “But the first thing we have to do is clean you up.”
She used very hot water and had a painfully firm grip on the sponge, but it felt like torture with a purpose, as opposed to the mindless beatings of Bernard Steamspell. Penny washed his face and his ears and between his toes and scrubbed until he felt like he might not have any skin left, though he could clearly see that he did, and no veins had come loose. When she’d removed the dirt from every visible part of him, she gave him the sponge and left the bathroom so he could finish the job.
What a wonderful day this had been!
He looked at himself in the mirror and grinned.
Then he frowned. He might be clean from head to toe, but he was still a monster.
Penny and Mary were sitting on the living room couch, and smiled at him as he walked in. He didn’t smile back.
“Do you feel better?” Penny asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. So, Nathan, we’ve been wondering about something. Would you mind so terribly if we took a closer look at your teeth?”
SEVEN
Nathan wanted to cry. This was the end of their kindness. Should he run now, before they could shoot him or throw things at him, or should he keep his mouth tightly closed in hopes of receiving another hour or two of generous behavior?
He did neither.
Instead, he opened his mouth.
Not all at once. First he gradually lifted his upper lip, exposing the top row of teeth a fraction of a millimeter at a time. Then he exposed the lower row. Penny and Mary watched him, their faces betraying no emotion.
With his teeth fully revealed to the sisters, Nathan just stood there, his ears ringing and his stomach hurting.
Finally, Penny spoke: “Goodness…”
“What happened?” asked Mary. “Did somebody do that to you?”
Nathan shook his head. “I was born this way.”
“Goodness…” Penny repeated.
“We could tell that there was something unusual about them,” said Mary, “but we never suspected this.”
“Are you frightened?” Nathan asked.
Mary laughed. “Of a little boy like you who came to us starving and covered in mud?”
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want you to be scared, I just thought that you might be, is all.”
“No, we’re not scared,” said Penny. “Mystified, but not scared. May we see them closer?”
Nathan walked over to the couch and opened his mouth wide. He had to trust them. They’d treated him so nicely. They couldn’t reject him now, could they?