I grabbed Dee’s baby book and we slipped out of the apartment. I tucked the book under my coat.
At the traffic light, I noticed the green trannie again, halfway down the cross street.
“Don’t look,” I whispered to Sal. “That’s Ed’s on Wacker.” I tilted my head in the direction of the street.
Sal pulled me into an embrace. What the…? I started to protest when, instead of anything romantic, he whispered, “Pretend to trip on the curb. Fall down like you’ve hurt yourself.”
The light changed. I lurched forward, yelped, and then collapsed, clutching my ankle. I didn’t have to pretend; like an idiot, I’d accidentally twisted it for real.
Wei rushed over, kneeling beside me. “What happened?”
“Ed’s across the street. Sal told me to fake it, but I actually twisted it.”
“It’s her ankle. Come on, guys, we’d better get her home.”
Sal and Derek each grabbed an arm and hoisted me to my feet. Sandy retrieved the book, which I’d dropped.
“Don’t forget this.” She waved it in the air.
Wei snatched it from her. “Way to go. Now he’s seen it for sure.”
“’Scuse me?” Sandy planted a hand firmly on one hip.
“If you’d use that head for something besides growing hair…”
“Stop,” I said. “Somebody just take it, okay? My ankle’s killing me.”
Wei stuck the book in her bag. Sandy gave her a dirty look and stormed back to the building.
I put one arm around Sal’s neck and grabbed Derek’s arm. I hobbled back between them. I felt ridiculous for actually hurting myself.
Wei made small talk, like, “Does it hurt much?” and “Be careful, guys.” I guessed she was doing this in case Ed had a listening device. We didn’t stop the ruse until we were all in the elport.
“That really did hurt.” I rubbed my ankle. “If that’s Ed out there, we can’t use the oasis. We’ll have to look at the book in my room. If we’re really quiet, we shouldn’t disturb anybody.”
“Not a good idea,” Sal said. “You know… listening…”
“It’ll be fine,” I replied, winking at him.
When we got into the apartment, they all went down the hall to my room while I hobbled to the kitchen. Several minutes later, I returned with the scrambler and plugged it in.
“Is that what I think it is?” Wei said. “Those are illegal.”
“They are. But if you knew Pops…” I grinned. “It’s lucky they didn’t find this during the break-in, but Pops has his hiding places.”
Wei pulled the book out of her bag and handed it to me. “I hope Ed didn’t see exactly what it was,” she said.
“Look, he was all the way across the street and it was dark. It’s not like I did anything wrong.” Sandy plopped down on the inflato-mat and started plucking at the blanket, obviously still upset. I figured it had a lot more to do with Derek and Wei than with the book.
“You also shouted at full voice. And he could’ve had some kind of nightscope,” Wei retorted. She shot a withering look at Sandy, who fortunately was so busy looking at Derek that she didn’t see it.
“Give her a break,” Mike said. “If he saw it, he saw it. We already know he knows that Ginnie gave something to Nina and he wants it. And has been looking for it.”
Sal, Derek, Wei, and I congregated in a circle on the floor. Mike perched on the edge of the bed close to Sandy and leaned over Sal’s shoulder. Sandy was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. I’d definitely have to be smoothing things over later.
On the page that contained all the pertinent information, Wei noticed the same things I did. “I wonder why Ed’s name isn’t written in after ‘Father.’”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I wondered the same thing. Maybe Ginnie just wanted this book to be about her and Dee.”
Following that was information about the hospital, how much Dee weighed, and all the normal baby statistics. The next page with writing on it said Mother’s Thoughts at the top.
Ginnie had written how beautiful her new baby was and how much she loved her. How she hoped I would love my little sister and watch out for her. Then she’d signed her name and put a little squiggle after it.
“What’s that funny mark after your mother’s name?” Wei asked. “Is it just part of her signature? Like the way some girls dot their i’s with hearts?”
“I’ve never seen her sign her name like that before. Although she did doodle all the time.”
“It looks like a flower,” Derek finally said.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it mean anything.”
The next page, Father’s Thoughts, was blank. As I flipped through the book, I noticed a photograph of me holding Dee when she came home from the hospital.
“Weren’t you adorable,” Sal teased.
I could feel the blush starting up my neck.
“Little-kid pictures are the worst,” Wei said. “My mother is always… what’s that?”
A quiet beeping emanated from the scrambler, and the light was blinking red.
“It must have a timer,” Sal said. “Do you know how to reset it?”
“No.” What if I’d broken it? Would Gran be furious?
“When the light stops blinking, if it stays red, I bet it won’t be scrambling anymore,” Sal said.
The beeping stopped, and sure enough, the light burned a steady red. We were already deep in discussion about zydeco music, hurricanes, and guitars. Well, everyone else was. I was silent, picturing Ed, hunkered down in his car, listening to everything we said.
XXXI
Sandy had fallen asleep while we were all still talking. I covered her with a blanket and shortly after that, everyone left. I went to sleep on the sofa. Next morning, when Gran got up, I knew I had to tell her about the baby book. She had to know that I wasn’t the only person who suspected my father was alive. But Sandy appeared and I didn’t want to go into it while she was there. I was glad to see her snit from the night before was over.
“Hi, Mrs. Oberon.” She gave Gran a hug. “Can I help with breakfast?”
“No. I’m sure you and Nina still have a lot of catching up to do. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”
Sandy and I went back to my room. We sat down cross-legged on the inflato-mat.
“I don’t think your friend Wei likes me.”
“She’s just being protective.”
“Of Derek?” Sandy scanned the top of my “box” dresser and picked up a couple of my text chips. “Can’t blame her; he’s gotten pretty cute.”
“Derek looks like he always has. You never thought he was cute before.”
“Yes I did. But he was crazy about you. Bet he still is. If you wanted him…” She snapped her fingers in front of my nose. “All the guys like you. Zeb asked about you just last week. And that ultrahot guy from your art class… you know the one, he’s got purple streaks in his hair…”
“Grayson?”
“Yeah. He told me to tell you he was sorry about your mom.”
“Tell him thanks.” Grayson and his friends had never talked to me the entire time I was in school with them. Weird. “You know, Sandy, you could’ve been a little nicer to Mike.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s kinda sweet, in a… well, you know.” She must’ve thought better about making some rude remark regarding him. “I did tell him I’d call him about going to the zoo sometime. It’s cool that he can get us into the barns and stuff. And I do like that he knows all about cows. I guess he’s not so bad.” She pondered Mike for a moment, then tossed one of my chips at me. “You’re taking L & L? We’re reading stupid plays by some guy named Shakespeare who’s been dead for over five hundred years. What did he know about anything, huh? And I guess it’s completely out of the question for you to ask Ed to pick me for FeLS?”