“Least I know who my daddy is,” Jon said, relieved when the other guys laughed.
Luke took another drink from the bottle. “So what if we kill him?” he said. “No one’ll know. He’s a bum. Let’s do something people will see. Not just burning a drunk.”
“Do what?” Tyler asked. “Better be good.”
Luke looked around. “Up the block,” he said. “The high school. Let’s trash it.”
“Trash and burn,” Zachary said. “Set it on fire.”
Ryan nodded. “That’ll make a difference. They’ll notice that.”
The boys turned to Tyler. “Better than knocking off some bum,” he said. “People’ll talk about it. Let’s go.”
Jon followed the others up the street. As they passed the bum, Zachary gave him a kick. The bum slept through it.
“He wouldn’t’ve felt a thing,” Luke said. “Waste of matches.”
Jon had never been to the high school. Mom taught there, but she had never bothered to show it to him. Talked about her students, though. Cared more about them than she did about her own son. Cried when they went to the mines.
“Damn school should burn,” he muttered.
Tyler slapped him on his back. “Burn the damn school down!” he shouted.
When they got to the building, they found its windows had already been shattered. “Someone got here before us,” Zachary complained. “Let’s go back to the bum.”
“Sure, they trashed it,” Jon said. “But we’re the ones who’re gonna burn it down.”
Tyler leaned over one of the broken windows. “Someone brush the damn glass off,” he said.
“Job for a slip,” Zachary said.
Jon took his jacket off and used it to brush the slivers of glass away. Tyler hoisted himself through the window and the others followed.
“Big mess,” Ryan said.
He was right. Desks and chairs had been overturned, books ripped to shreds. The room stank of piss and puke. Might as well burn it, Jon thought. Too much of a shithole even for grubs.
“Got an idea,” Zachary said. “Gimme the potka.”
Ryan handed him the bottle.
Zachary took a deep gulp, then poured potka over the shredded books. “Lighter fluid,” he said. “Get the fire goin’ faster.”
“Let’s try,” Tyler said. He pulled one of the matches from the box, struck it, and threw it into the book pile. Sure enough, the fire blazed hot and fast.
“Next room!” he shouted, and they followed him. Room by room they made piles of paper and watched as they burned.
“We did it,” Luke said. “Whole school’s on fire. Better go before we get hurt.”
Laughing and congratulating themselves, the boys climbed out a broken window. They stood in front of the school and watched as the fire spread, until they could see flames coming out of the second-story windows.
“That’ll teach those damn grubs,” Tyler said. “Come on, guys. Let’s find ourselves some more girls. The night’s still young.”
Jon got in at 4 a.m. By nine o’clock he was sitting in church, Lisa on one side, Gabe on the other. There was no law saying you had to go to church on the eighteenth, but everybody did.
He looked around and had no trouble spotting Luke and Ryan. Zachary and Tyler went to a different church, so he didn’t expect to see them. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find Sarah in the crowd. He knew she and her father didn’t attend church, but he thought they might show up for the eighteenth.
It was hard to keep Gabe distracted, but between Jon and Lisa, they managed to make it through the service. Jon hoisted Gabe and draped him around his shoulders for the walk home.
Jon and Lisa were fasting, but Gabe ate enough for both of them. He demanded Jon play with him, and Jon obliged until it was time for Gabe’s nap.
“Let me get him to bed,” Lisa said. “I need to talk.”
A few minutes later Lisa joined him in the living room. “Val and Carrie are wonderful,” she said, “but there are times I’m glad they’re not here. They don’t need to know how worried I am about the evaluation.”
“Have they set a date?” Jon asked.
Lisa nodded. “Friday.”
Friday, Jon thought. He and Sarah would have to keep waiting after that, until the results were in, but how long could that take? In a week or two they’d be taking the bus together, eating lunch together, letting everyone know how they really felt.
“Lisa, you’ll be fine,” he said. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Oh, Jon,” she said. “There’s always something to worry about. Especially for me. Slips have to work twice as hard. You know that. And there’s so much politics. So much I don’t know. Factors. So many factors.”
“Like what?” Jon asked.
“Like some claver’s relative wanting my job,” she said. “Or some claver not liking me because I don’t smile enough or I smile too much. Or Gabe.”
“What about Gabe?” Jon said. “What does he have to do with it?”
Even though the house was empty, Lisa lowered her voice. “If I don’t pass my evaluation, I’ll have to leave Sexton,” she said. “You know that.”
Jon nodded.
“If that happens, I’ll have to decide what to do about Gabe,” she said.
“I don’t understand,” Jon said. “You’ll take him with you.”
“To what?” she asked. “To some roach-infested tenement? No medicine, not enough food? If I’m lucky, I’d get a job in Sexton. I’d be away from home six days a week, twelve hours a day. And that’s if I’m lucky. If no one will hire me, then where do I go? Where do I take him?”
Jon pictured Mom’s apartment: it was a good one because she was a teacher. But still it was cold and miserable, and even Mom had given up trying to kill the roaches.
“You’ll pass the evaluation,” he said.
“Jon, there are a lot of people in Sexton who’d adopt Gabe,” Lisa said. “Couples who lost their children. Couples who haven’t been able to conceive or who’ve miscarried or had stillborns. If I don’t pass the evaluation, there’ll be a lot of pressure on me to give Gabe up for adoption.”
“You wouldn’t, would you?” Jon asked.
“I don’t know,” Lisa said. “What’s best for Gabe? Living with me? I love him more than life itself, but what could I give him? Maybe he’d be better off living with another family who can give him a good life, safe, with a future. Your mother let you go. Maybe I should do the same.”
“It’s not the same and you know it,” Jon declared. “You’re family. And I get to see Mom.” He pictured her school burning down and forced himself not to think about it.
“I’m terrified, Jon,” Lisa said. “What if I fail my evaluation because someone wants Gabe? It could happen. Then what?”
“We’ll figure something out,” Jon said. “Maybe you could work as a domestic and keep Gabe with you. Or he could stay with me. I won’t get evaluated for another year. If I pass, he can keep living with me.”
“Mommy!”
Lisa got up. “Gabe must have had a nightmare,” she said. “Thank you, Jon. I feel a little better, a little less crazy.”
“Is it okay for me to go out?” Jon asked. “Do you need me here anymore?”
Lisa bent over and kissed him on his forehead. “Be home by suppertime,” she said. “We’ll break fast then.”
Jon waited until Lisa left the room. Then he grabbed his jacket and ran out of the house. He didn’t stop running until he got to Sarah’s house.
He found her sitting on the porch. Even from a distance he could tell she was crying.
“Sarah!” he yelled, racing toward her.
“Oh, Jon,” she said, reaching out to him.
He held her in his arms until she stopped crying. Then they sat on the wicker love seat, Jon putting his arm around her. “What is it?” he asked. “What happened?”