Upside Down

83

Faith Ann lay in the darkness between the bags and cases, just about frozen from the wind washing over her. Nobody had told her that the thirty-minute ride to the Bible bee would involve a three-hour detour to allow some no-stopping-to-get-out sightseeing. When the van finally slowed and turned, and gravel crunched under the tires, she leaned up on her elbow to see that they had pulled up in a large gravel lot next to a church building with a tall steeple. The van doors opened, and the kids and two adult chaperones spilled out. All of the kids, delighted to be somewhere, started horsing around in the parking lot below her perch.

A male voice rang out. “Okay, gang! Take the cases down. They go inside. Your bags all go in the van. Let's get cracking. We're on the Lord's time!”

To Faith Ann's immense relief, Peter was first up the ladder. He pointed at the left side of the van and held up two fingers, warning her that the two adults were down there. He untied the first duffel and tossed it down to someone on the ground. With Peter on the ladder, there was no way anybody else could see her unless he moved aside. It seemed that the others were happy to let him do the high-altitude work.

“You okay?” he murmured. “You must have just about froze your nuts off.”

“Yeah, just about. The coat sure helped. Thanks,” she said, handing it to him.

“Okay,” he said, looking off to his left. “Mr. Lander is headed inside the church. Ms. Forest isn't looking this way. Everybody knows about you but them, so come around me and go down the ladder. Just stand down there while we unload the crap and they'll think you're one of the local yokels. Jesus, j-e-z-i-s.”

Faith did as he said, holding onto the rail and edging past him. As she hit the ground, the teenagers crowded around to cover for her. After the things were offloaded, Faith Ann wandered into the church with Peter. The competition was being set up in the sanctuary. There were about seventy kids and at least twice that many adults-mostly parents and siblings of the contestants. Faith Ann doubted anybody else would want to sit in on this if they didn't have to.

“What're you gonna do now?” a voice asked. She turned to find herself face-to-face with another boy.

“I need to make a long-distance call. I guess I ought to go find a pay phone.”

“This is Ashe,” Peter said. “He's the best speller we have.”

“Nice to meet you,” Faith Ann said, shaking the boy's hand.

Ashe's brown eyes were serious. “You're a girl, aren't you?”

Faith Ann nodded.

“I told ya,” Ashe said, punching Peter's shoulder. “I knew I saw breasts when the wind blew her shirt against 'em.”

“I knew that,” Peter said indignantly. “She's way too pretty to be a guy.”

“Unless you're turning queer,” Ashe said, laughing. “Which you probably are. You're that girl the cops are looking for, aren't you?”

Faith Ann felt the heat rising to her cheeks. She didn't know what to say, what the boys would do. “Yeah.”

“Cool,” Peter said.

“You can use this, then.” Ashe held out a Nokia cell phone painted with red and yellow flames. “My mom gets pissed if I rack up roams. Talk as long as you want.”

The two boys high-fived.

“Thank you, guys,” she said, kissing each of them in turn on their cheeks. She felt like yelling.

“Anytime,” Peter said.

“Guys, what's the name of this place again?”

“Church of Christ. Barataria, Louisiana.”

Faith Ann dialed Rush's number and held her breath while it rang.