Read Online Revolutions of the Heart by Marsha Qualey - Free Book Online Page A

locker. Cory pulled it loose and unfolded it carefully, as if she expected filth to spill onto her hands.
    Indians carry diseases.
    Whores should be prepared.
    She crumpled the paper and dropped it into her bag. She spun the lock around until it clicked and released. When she pulled open the gray door she felt something spill out and fall on her feet. People around her laughed. A mound of condom packets covered her shoes.
    “Hey, I want some!” a voice called. Cory, forcing herself to crack through the anger and embarrassment, finally moved. She reached down, picked up a handful, and threw them with all the force she could muster. She did not scream.
    *
    “At least they weren’t used,” said Sasha.
    “Ha ha,” said Cory. She twisted the phone cord around her wrist. Sasha had been sick that day and had missed school. As soon as Cory reached home in the afternoon, she had called her with the story.
    “But this is good because now we can figure out who’s harassing you. All we have to do is track down who’s been buying a lot of condoms. Who has your locker combination?”
    “You.”
    “No way, Cory K.”
    “He probably just slipped them through the vents. It must have taken a long time. There are forty-three, not including the ones I threw down the hall. Evidently he has a favorite brand because they’re all the same: Mighty Max, multicolored.
    “Forty-three! What would that many cost?”
    “I have no idea, Sasha.”
    “Do you still have them?”
    Cory scooped up a handful of the foil squares. “Right here on the kitchen table.”
    “What did you tell your parents, that it was homework?”
    “I haven’t told them anything. They went to Wausau to the doctor and aren’t back yet.”
    “Is something wrong?”
    “A low fever that won’t go away. It could be nothing, it could be serious.”
    “In case it’s serious, here’s some advice: don’t leave the condoms on the table. Your mother’s heart couldn’t handle it.”
    After saying good-bye, Cory remained seated at the table and absently arranged the condoms in lines and circles. What would Mac say about this? She was glad he hadn’t been there when she opened her locker. The embarrassment could have been fatal. As she debated how to tell him, the phone rang, and she smiled as she picked it up. She had thought of the perfect joke.
    Mike’s greeting was immediately chilling. They should have been returning home by now.
    “Her doctor put her into the hospital for the night.”
    “Only a night?”
    “I hope so, but he said that they might have to transfer her to Minneapolis to the transplant unit. He’s worried she can’t wait much longer. If there’s no heart to harvest they’ll have to put in an artificial one. He thinks an infection has set in, which could indicate organ failure.”
    With a mad mental dash, Cory recalled the heart specialist’s warnings about infections: a weak heart is prone to bacteria, the bacteria weakens it further, the other organs don’t get the blood they need, and the resulting organ failure, gone unchecked, is fatal.
    “I’ll come tonight.”
    “There’s no need. Wait until tomorrow. Then we’ll know more. Please let Rob know what’s going on. We’re in Room 257 if he wants to call.”
    “Okay.” She pictured Rob upon hearing the news: any room he was in would suddenly be too small.
    “Is everything there all right?” Mike asked.
    She looked at the condoms. “Just fine. Everything’s fine.”
    She called and left a message with her brother’s wife. Then she cleared the table, sweeping the condoms into a bag. She took that to her room and had just finished stuffing it into the crowded sweater drawer of her bureau when the phone rang again. This time it was Mac.
    In their rush to share news about his brother and her mother, she forgot about the surprise in her locker. Mac was especially concerned about her mother.
    “I don’t know if I should be here or there,” he said. “With my brother or with