Page 16 (2/2)

Careful

Then I drew that tip, sharp as a pick, over the swell ofasped at the feel of the knife againstskin because it

It was

It hat I wanted Not blood, not fro knife, no shriek, not that kind of pain I walked along that knife‘s edge in the heat as my blood thundered inknife slipped

There was a sudden, bright, white lance of pain, and I stared, horrified, as a red rosette bloo knife had nicked the skin just to the right of my heart

―Jenna!‖ My mother knocked on the door The knob rattled ―Why is this door locked?‖

―I Moh a sudden flutter of panic

Shit, shit! I forced ers to explore the cut then breathed out a tiny sigh of relief The slice wasn‘t deep, just the tiniest of nicks made by the stiletto‘s razor-sharp point and barely there An accident, it had just been an accident; I‘d slipped; I hadn‘t meant to really hurt

―Jenna, open the door this instant!‖

―No!‖ I watched as the water splashing overalready God, that was a close call What had I been thinking? This was crazy There was no such thing as good pain Was there? No, no! That was a uy, but this was real life Besides, there was no guy ―I‘m in the shower‖

Moain, but I kept shouting back that I was in the shower and what did she say, what, what? By the ti had stopped completely I knew this wasn‘t the end of it, of course Once I was out, Mom would march ht was even better there

But she would , I always cut my stomach, my hips For another, the slice was so clean, so neat, the lips entirely bloodless, there was no way she‘d spot it

By the ti knife was hidden, too: snugged right next to that pair of nail scissors behind ot aith it? That I could get at that knife--hold it, carry it, touch it whenever I wanted?

That I had a real piece of aabout ood, Bob

It felt good

Because it was mine, Bob It wasparty, Dewerratulations Since you‘re the only student who hasn‘t chosen someone for a project, it‘s my pleasure to name you the lucky winner of Procrastinators Anonymous First prize is one week in New Jersey and‖--he presented a note card with an elaborate flourish--―the only person no one else wanted Be grateful Second prize eeks in New Jersey‖

I scanned the card ―Alexis Depardieu? Likethe actor?‖

―No relation This Depardieu was the Rachel Carson of y She studied whales and dolphins, mainly, and wrote one book, Ladyfish, published posthumously the year after she died‖

―Uhm‖ As I remembered it, we‘d had to choose from people who‘d written novels or poetry or plays Maybe that hy no one had chosen Depardieu ―So why is she on the list? How did she kill herself?‖

Dewerman showed a thin s vessel off the coast of Japan in Nove at it Clearly, if she‘s on the list,ot all next week to work on a proposal while we‘re on fall break Now, git‖

I gitted As I went out the door, I saw Mr Anderson coht, so I peeled off to the left When I looked back, Dewer and Mr Anderson‘s hands were in his pockets Neither man looked my way That was fine

The library didn‘t have Depardieu‘s book, so I ordered it through interlibrary loan and then did a Google search The Wikipedia entry was pretty dry Here‘s the SparkNotes version, Bobby: Alexis Depardieu was French-Canadian and an only child whose father had died when his swordfish boat went down in a gale in the North Sea Alexis was nine when herschool when she elve; was pree for a PhD and then she ht at Berkeley, Stanford; started publishing on dolphin behavior and communications, blah, blah, blah

In the late 1980s, Alexis connected with another ht, a professor and a roup

Alexis and Wright got arrested a bunch of ti to free dolphins from aquariums and stuff Got themselves fired from Berkeley and then joined up full-time with the Stewards, ere kind of Greenpeace-y, into harassing whaling ships, things like that

Then, in 1997, off the coast of Antarctica, Stephen Wright ashed overboard as he piloted his Zodiac between a Japanese whaler and a hu A year or so later, she was back with the Stewards aboard their flagship, Mystic Drea on whom you believe, Mystic Drea vessel or deliberately ra to the survivors, Alexis ordered the crew into life rafts but stayed at the helm and radio where she continued to broadcast a Mayday (The Japanese steaot whatever they deserved) The last person to see her alive was the first mate Mystic Dreamer went down and then it was au revoir, Alexis The rest of the creas rescued sixteen hours later by an Australian ship responding to Dreamer‘s Mayday The end