you’re saying,” the younger officer said, pencil poised on his notepad, “is that you weren’t anywhere near the park last night?”
Oh, damn. There it was. Talking about lying to the authorities is one thing. Now that I actually had to do it, I couldn’t. I’d done it before, in high school. It had never worked. I wasn’t very good at it and something always tripped me up.
“Well, like we said,” Nat said, saving me again, “we were on the riverbank. I guess you could say that’s near the park, right?” Her eyes had never looked more innocent. “We wouldn’t want to mislead you, officers.”
What could they say? I wasn’t sure they believed us, but they couldn’t prove that we were lying, so they left, telling us they might be back and to “be available.”
“That means,” I said as I closed the door after them, “don’t leave town. Funny, since we’re only lying so that we can stay. If we wanted to leave town, all we’d have to do is spill our guts and the administration and the townspeople and the police would be only too happy to escort us out of town. We should write a book: How to Go from College to Prison in One Easy Move. ”
Nat was shaking. “You shouldn’t have said we were here last night,” she accused. “What a dumb thing to say! Like we’d be sitting around the room while everyone else was out celebrating. Who’d believe that?”
“Well, you shouldn’t have mentioned Mindy, either,” I snapped. “They’re probably heading for her room right this minute. What if she folds?”
“Oh, you sound like someone in a bad movie.” Nat flopped down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. “She’s not going to ‘fold.’ She’s not giving up everything now. She’s as determined as any of the rest of us.”
I hoped Nat was right.
I had just slathered a greasy coating of salve onto my stiff, aching, skin when Bay called.
“A lot of people are really ticked about the fire,” he informed me, speaking in a low voice. There must have been someone else in his room at the Quad. “They’ve closed the whole park, even the sections that didn’t burn. There was supposed to be a ten-K run through there tomorrow. Had to be cancelled. And a bunch of people had planned a midnight picnic there tonight. That’s cancelled, too. No fishing allowed off the riverbank, either, until the arson investigators come up with some answers.”
I groaned silently. We really had screwed up. For just a second there, I hated Bay with a fierce passion. He was the one who had insisted that we make a campfire. If he hadn’t been so stubborn, so insistent, none of this would have happened.
But we could have voted Bay down, and we hadn’t.
“Then there’s Hoop,” Bay continued into my silence. “Everyone’s really bummed about Hoop. We had a good chance at taking the finals. But without him, we’re lost.”
Of course there would be no way Hoop could play. The game was Tuesday night. We didn’t even know if he would live until Tuesday night. And no one had to tell us that if he had a future at all, it wouldn’t be in sports. He’d be lucky if he ever walked again, never mind running up and down a basketball court.
“So everyone’s mad about that, too, although they don’t come right out and say so. They know that thinking about a trophy sounds pretty shallow when they should be thinking about Hoop. But you can see it in their eyes: kiss the championship good-bye.”
Everyone hated us. Only they didn’t know it was us they hated. They just hated whoever had been stupid and careless enough to start that fire.
I did, too.
Bay wanted me to meet him, just to talk for a little while.
I said no. I knew he wanted me to make him feel better. We’d sit on the Commons somewhere and tell each other that we hadn’t meant it, we’d blame the high wind and the dry winter, we’d say that it could have happened to anyone. And then maybe we’d hold each other and kiss and try to make it
Oh, damn. There it was. Talking about lying to the authorities is one thing. Now that I actually had to do it, I couldn’t. I’d done it before, in high school. It had never worked. I wasn’t very good at it and something always tripped me up.
“Well, like we said,” Nat said, saving me again, “we were on the riverbank. I guess you could say that’s near the park, right?” Her eyes had never looked more innocent. “We wouldn’t want to mislead you, officers.”
What could they say? I wasn’t sure they believed us, but they couldn’t prove that we were lying, so they left, telling us they might be back and to “be available.”
“That means,” I said as I closed the door after them, “don’t leave town. Funny, since we’re only lying so that we can stay. If we wanted to leave town, all we’d have to do is spill our guts and the administration and the townspeople and the police would be only too happy to escort us out of town. We should write a book: How to Go from College to Prison in One Easy Move. ”
Nat was shaking. “You shouldn’t have said we were here last night,” she accused. “What a dumb thing to say! Like we’d be sitting around the room while everyone else was out celebrating. Who’d believe that?”
“Well, you shouldn’t have mentioned Mindy, either,” I snapped. “They’re probably heading for her room right this minute. What if she folds?”
“Oh, you sound like someone in a bad movie.” Nat flopped down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. “She’s not going to ‘fold.’ She’s not giving up everything now. She’s as determined as any of the rest of us.”
I hoped Nat was right.
I had just slathered a greasy coating of salve onto my stiff, aching, skin when Bay called.
“A lot of people are really ticked about the fire,” he informed me, speaking in a low voice. There must have been someone else in his room at the Quad. “They’ve closed the whole park, even the sections that didn’t burn. There was supposed to be a ten-K run through there tomorrow. Had to be cancelled. And a bunch of people had planned a midnight picnic there tonight. That’s cancelled, too. No fishing allowed off the riverbank, either, until the arson investigators come up with some answers.”
I groaned silently. We really had screwed up. For just a second there, I hated Bay with a fierce passion. He was the one who had insisted that we make a campfire. If he hadn’t been so stubborn, so insistent, none of this would have happened.
But we could have voted Bay down, and we hadn’t.
“Then there’s Hoop,” Bay continued into my silence. “Everyone’s really bummed about Hoop. We had a good chance at taking the finals. But without him, we’re lost.”
Of course there would be no way Hoop could play. The game was Tuesday night. We didn’t even know if he would live until Tuesday night. And no one had to tell us that if he had a future at all, it wouldn’t be in sports. He’d be lucky if he ever walked again, never mind running up and down a basketball court.
“So everyone’s mad about that, too, although they don’t come right out and say so. They know that thinking about a trophy sounds pretty shallow when they should be thinking about Hoop. But you can see it in their eyes: kiss the championship good-bye.”
Everyone hated us. Only they didn’t know it was us they hated. They just hated whoever had been stupid and careless enough to start that fire.
I did, too.
Bay wanted me to meet him, just to talk for a little while.
I said no. I knew he wanted me to make him feel better. We’d sit on the Commons somewhere and tell each other that we hadn’t meant it, we’d blame the high wind and the dry winter, we’d say that it could have happened to anyone. And then maybe we’d hold each other and kiss and try to make it
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