Read Online Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath - Free Book Online Page A

hide.”
    “To
hide?”
    “Oh sure. I used to hide all the time with Johnny.”
    “He calls himself
Johnny?”
    “No,
I
call him Johnny,” says Shirley gently as if Ned is stupid. “ ’Cause he don’t mostly call himself. Anyhow, maybe he’s there but don’t tell no one I told you. It’s, like, his …” She pauses. She is at a loss.
    “Refuge?” says Ned.
    “Yeah. Like with elephants,” she says.
    “My mother is keeping horses
and elephants?”
squeals Ned.
    I nudge Ned in the ribs. “I think she means refuge. There are wildlife refuges with elephants.”
    The woman nods compassionately at Ned. She knows what it’s like to get all mixed up. “Yeah. I always wanted to go to Africa to those elephant refuges. Maybe I’ll do that now. You think it costs a lot?”
    “Yeah, probably,” says Ned, so concentrated on our little problem that he isn’t worrying about raining on her parade.
    “But, anyhow, if you see him tell him, like, I quit. You know, I don’t get paid when he don’t show up and he hasn’t been showing up regular lately. Okay? Like, how am I ever going to get to see elephants?”
    “Yeah, sure. And listen, don’t tell anyone else about the horse ranch,” says Ned.
    “Hey, I told
you,”
says Shirley in outraged tones. “It was, like,
my
secret. Maybe you shouldn’t tell anyone about
the elephants.”
    “Right,” says Ned. “Listen, do you know exactly where this ranch is?”
    “Near
Elko,”
says Shirley, enunciating as if he is deaf.
    “Can you be more specific?”
    “You mean like an address or something?” says Shirley, looking confused.
    “Yeah, like an address,” says Ned.
    “Nah, I don’t pay attention to things like that,” says Shirley. “I’m kind of an in-the-moment girl.”
    “I can see that,” says Ned.
    “So where’s the guy I come out with?” asks Shirley, looking around the parking lot, but he has disappeared too. “Oh jeez, when it rains it pours.” She gets into a beaten-up old black car and speeds away with rubber burning.
    We walk back to the car.
    “She’s not the brightest lightbulb in the box,” I say to Ned. “I mean, she had no proof you were John’s brother. For all she knew you were one of the guys showing up to give John trouble. But she went ahead and told you where to find him.”
    “I know,” says Ned, ruffling his hair in weariness. It stands up on end as if it has been gelled, but it’s just sweat. “We’re lucky anyhow that she was a trusting soul, because no one else around here seems to be.”
    “Maybe it’s all this gambling,” I say. “Everyone looks kind of lean and desperate. So maybe they prey on each other and after a while no one really trusts anyone else.”
    “You could say that about an awful lot of places, Bibles,” says Ned.
    “Whoa!” I say.
    “I’ve been around, Bibles, I’ve been around,” he says, but jovially, and smoothes his hair back down. Now it is lying as if gelled flat. He’s really not having a good hair day.
    “What kind of trouble do you think John is in?” I ask as we get back in our car.
    “Well, if it’s the kind that comes accessorized with a bag full of money, I don’t even want to guess,” says Ned.
    We drive silently back to the motel. The bright lights keep flashing even though we are far away from the Strip. I am suddenly tired of all the speed and noise and light here and I just want to sit quietly on our porch in Massachusetts and listen to the waves.
    After we park, Ned and I go to our motel rooms, but no one is in mine. I go into the other one, where everyone is awake and dressed. My mother is sitting ramrod straight on the bed, looking unusually prim, her knees together, her hands folded in her lap as if she is waiting for a bus.
    “What’s the matter?” I ask when I see their stricken faces.
    “Bedbugs,” says Ned, looking defeated.
    “It’s DISGUSTING!” yells Maya.
    “We’ll have to find another motel,” says my mother. “We can’t sleep