Read Online Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen - Free Book Online

in that mix?”
    “Insecticides,” Hannah says.
    “And maybe some bleach,” Baker says with a glance to Hannah.
    “And just a dash of Kool-Aid to make it taste good.”
    “He’s a master,” Luke says reverently.
    Hannah drinks another cup of Elixir de Landry, and now her muscles feel even slacker and her chest feels heavier. “You alright?” Wally says, placing an arm on the small of her back, and she swats at him and says “I’m fine, Wall,” until he drops his hand.
    The room continues to darken and the shouts of Hannah’s classmates get louder and looser. Hannah sips from her drink without thinking about it, until it’s empty once again and she has to mix a fourth drink. “I’ll do it,” Clay says, holding out his hand for her cup. “Baker, you want another one too?”
    The music changes to a song they all love. They throw themselves into the crowd, hugging and shouting and singing, Luke hopping from one foot to the other in a bizarre dance, Wally nodding his head over and over in a kind of trance, and Clay returns with fresh drinks and a roar of delight, and Joanie jumps on Luke’s back from behind, and they all sing the lyrics together, clapping for each other’s melodramatic gestures, drinking from their cups when they’re not sure how to match their dancing to the beat, but most of all falling into the music, into the crowd, into each other.
    Hannah feels exuberant—freer in a way than she has ever been before. She clutches her drink and bobs where she stands, watching the people dance all around her, and for just this moment, for just this second of her life, she feels whole, she feels at ease, she feels like she could exist in this cocoon of time forever and ever. She looks at Baker, standing there with her long brown hair falling over her shoulders and her dark chicory eyes blessing everyone around her, and tenderness pours forth from Hannah’s chest like light from a broken vessel.
    “Outside?” Baker says, catching Hannah’s eye.
    They step out onto the back porch and close the door on the party behind them. Hannah knows the air is cold, but she doesn’t feel it.  Her body is warm and her muscles feel like jelly. She steps forward, closer to the yard, and watches the mesmerizing torches in the distance.
    “Baker,” she says.
    “Yeah?”
    “I might be drunk.”
    Baker laughs. “I can tell.”
    “What? No you can’t.”
    “You keep combing your hair over your face. You only do that when you’re drunk.”
    Hannah smiles. She extends her hand toward Baker. “Come sit with me.”
    Baker takes her hand, and Hannah pulls her toward the porch steps. But when Hannah spins back around to sit down, she loses her balance and knows a split-second’s terror as she falls forward off the steps.
    But then Baker is there, quick and steady in her movements. She wrenches Hannah back, gripping her left wrist and the right side of her waist. “Whoa, drunky,” she says, guiding Hannah to sit down on the steps. “Let’s not ruin the night with a bad fall.”
    “Sorry,” Hannah laughs.
    “You okay?”
    “I’m good. Thanks.”
    They sit still for long minutes, simply breathing. Baker pulls absentmindedly on the hem of her dress until Hannah grabs her hand and stills her fingers.
    “Thanks,” Baker says. “Hey, Han?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Do you think Clay likes me?”
    Hannah stops breathing. “I don’t know.” She hesitates. “Why?”
    “I think he does,” Baker says, her eyes narrowed at the dead grass in the yard. “But I don’t think I like him. Do you think that’s bad?”
    “Why would that be bad?”
    Baker doesn’t reply. They sit in silence in the cold air, and Hannah feels Baker’s energy all around her.
    “Sometimes I can’t wait to graduate,” Baker says after a long minute.
    Hannah lets the words wash over her. “I never want to graduate,” she says.
     
    Time passes over them. They walk back inside and the party absorbs them again, and Hannah marks the minutes by