School Days

Chapter 30

WITH PEARL ASLEEP in the backseat, I pulled into the parking lot at the country store in the late afternoon, and sat with the motor running and the a/c on low. In maybe five minutes, a vast Chevy Suburban pulled up beside me and Janey got out. I rolled down my window.

"Thanks for coming," she said. "I didn't know who else to call."

"Nice vehicle," I said.

"Oh, the car, that's Daddy's. We have horses."

"They ride in the backseat?" I said.

She smiled faintly.

"George's in the car," Janey said. "Animal beat her up."

"Can she move around?" I said.

"Yes."

"Okay, put her in my front seat. You get in back with Pearl."

"She's scrunched down in the front seat," Janey said. "She's afraid Animal will see her."

"I'll take care of her," I said.

Janey nodded.

When George got out of the car, she moved very carefully, as if her ribs hurt. She had one eye swollen shut and a fat lip and a long welt along her jawline. She eased herself into my front seat, and Janey closed the door behind her carefully and got in back. Without raising her head, Pearl opened her eyes and growled. Janey froze.

"I don't think she'll bite you," I said.

"You don't think?"

I reached back and patted Pearl's head.

"You pat, too," I said.

Janey did, cautiously. Pearl stopped growling. Her short tail wagged.

"Easy," I said.

I looked at George. She had cowered down into the corner of the front seat.

"How are you?" I said.

"I don't know," she said.

"In pain?"

"I'm real sore," she said.

"I'm going to take you to the emergency room," I said. "They'll give you something to feel better."

"I can't go to no hospital," George said. "Animal said I went to a hospital or anything, he'd kill me."

"He won't," I said.

I put the car in drive and pulled out onto the street.

"He beat her up for talking to you," Janey said from the backseat. "Somebody saw us at the mall."

"He said he was going to kill me if he ever saw us together again."

"You tell him what we talked about?" I said.

"I said you was asking about Jared Clark, but I didn't tell you nothing," she said.

She mumbled some because her lip was so fat.

"He's gonna kill me," she said.

"No," I said. "He's not."

"He'll find out," she said.

"He's not going to hurt you," I said.

"How you gonna stop him?" she said. "You can't stay with me all the time."

"Parents?" I said.

She made a noise.

"Shit," she said.

So much for parents. At the hospital, Janey stayed in the car with Pearl. I went in with George and waited while they cleaned her up. When he was through with her, the young emergency-room doctor came out to talk with me.

"You her father?" he said.

"No. Friend of a friend."

"Well," he said. "She'll be okay. No broken bones. I don't think anything wrong internally. She's scared to death and in some discomfort."

"You give her something?"

"Yes. Three days' worth."

"She tell you she uses drugs?" I said.

"No, but I assumed. I didn't give her a prescription."

"Any limits on what she should do?"

"She should stay away from whoever hit her," the doctor said. "Otherwise, just rest."

"I'll see to both," I said.

"You know who did it?" the doctor said.

"Yes."

"We'll have to report this to the police," the doctor said. "It's an obvious beating."

"I know."

"We'll need your name for the police," the doctor said. He smiled a little. "And she has no medical insurance."

I took out one of my cards and gave it to him.

"Send me the bill," I said.