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song and the smell of vanilla. I felt strangely conflicted but didn’t want Jeff to know, so I asked, “Did you hear about Scotty Mitchell?”
    Jeff nodded. “He lost his stutter. Anybody tell you about Mrs. Richardson’s hemorrhoids?”
    I held my hands up to stop him. “This town is so freaking lame. Even its miracles suck.”
    Jeff laughed. Then he asked, “So how’s Little Man doing?”
    â€œHe’s great,” I said. “Always great.”
    Jeff smiled at the thought of Daniel, and I realized I was smiling too. I remembered the times the three of us went off together, for trips around the lake in one of Mr. Cedars’ canoes or on afternoon hikes in the mountains. How easy it used to be for me to pretend we were a family of sorts. Of course, one of those long walks is what got us all into trouble in the first place.
    â€œIt’ll blow over,” Jeff assured me. “Just like last time.”
    â€œI’m not taking that chance.”
    â€œChance of what? Come on, we’re talking about hemorrhoids and stuttering. The town’s just looking for a little excitement to spice up the summer.”
    I took a breath and, same as I told Gayle, I gave Jeff the story about Scarecrow. He listened closely, and when I finished, heshook his head. “Guy sounds certifiably nuts. You think he might show up at the church, cause trouble?”
    â€œI’m not real interested in finding out,” I said. “But it isn’t just him. I saw Volpe’s eyes. I saw Mr. Abernathy. And I remember last time. What if it gets worse, Jeff? What if people keep coming this time, keep wanting Daniel to be a miracle worker?”
    Jeff shrugged. “They’ll be disappointed?”
    â€œIt could get ugly,” I corrected him. I wondered again about those three backpackers, and the white school bus. “Sometimes, not all the time, when he gets praying real hard, something happens to Daniel.”
    â€œSomething like what?”
    â€œHe gets sick or something. Starts running a fever, gets all sweaty. A couple times, like when he was praying for Mrs. Bundower, it looked like he was going to die. Some of those nutjobs thought he could bring the fish back to life! We got lucky last time around, plain and simple. Daniel didn’t get hurt or too screwed up. I’m not risking that again.”
    Now Jeff looked worried. “I don’t see a whole lot you can do about what other people believe.”
    â€œI could take him,” I said quietly, looking down Roosevelt Road. “I could run.”
    Jeff’s hand rose up to his mouth and he ran his front teeth over a nail, but he didn’t bite. A delivery truck pulled in behind us and a guy got out, walked up to the gates of Amazing Animals and cupped his eyes to the window. Jeff honked and yelled, “They ain’t open on Saturdays till noon.” The guy stared at Jeff like he thought this was stupid, then walked back to his truckand pulled out a cell phone. Jeff watched him for a minute before turning back to me. “You’re going to kidnap Daniel?”
    I shook my head. “It’s only kidnapping if you demand a ransom, technically speaking. I looked it up online.”
    â€œTechnically speaking? Oh, hell then, it’s a fine idea. I’m sure your mom wouldn’t have the freaking state police on your ass in like two seconds flat. Where would you go? How would you get there?”
    This was something that had crossed my mind. Maybe Penn State , I wanted to say. Maybe we could hide with you.
    But Jeff didn’t offer sanctuary. “Running’s in your blood, everybody knows that. But this, this’d just be crazy.”
    I knew he was right. My escape plan was the worst kind of fantasy. I decided then to ask him what I hadn’t dared to ask Gayle. “You think I could convince a judge that my mother is endangering Daniel’s health?”
    â€œWhat