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Cat’s hand was on her shoulder "What’s wrong?"
"I can’t be in this picture"
"What’s the big deal?"
Eureka took a few steps backward "I just can’t"
"It’s only a picture"
Eureka’s and Cat’s eyes lifted skyward as the sharpest crack of thunder shook the field A wall of cloud burst open over the track It began to pour
"Just perfect!" Coach shouted at the sky The photographer raced to cover his equipment with a thin wool blazer The teah the rain, Eureka met Coach’s steely eyes Slowly she shook her head I’ht in the stor Others shrieked Within moments, Eureka was soaked At first the rain was cold on her skin, but after she was drenched, her body war
She could hardly see across the field Sheets of rain looked like chain mail The triple tweet of a whistle sounded from the huddle of the Manor kids Coach Spence triple whistled back It was official: the storm had won the meet
"Everybody back inside!" Coach bellowed, but the tea for the locker roohshimmered in the corner of her eye She turned to see a boy standing there alone, gazing up into the torrent
It was Ander She didn’t understand how she could see hiara Falls Then she noticed soe:
Ander wasn’t wet Rain cascaded around hi the mud at his feet But his hair, his clothes, his hands, his face were as dry as they had been when he stood on the dirt road and reached out to catch her tear
6
SHELTER
By the time Cat dropped Eureka at hoe to downpour Truck tires on the ainst wet paveonias in Dad’s flower bed were tra south of Lafayette where the Tabasco plant got its seasoning
From her doorstep, Eureka waved to Cat, who responded with two toots on the horn Dad’s old Lincoln Continental was sitting in the driveway Rhoda’s cherry-red Mazda, mercifully, was not
Eureka turned her key in the bronze lock and shoved the door, which always stuck when it stormed It was easier to open from the inside, where you could rattle the handle a certain way From the outside you had to push like a linebacker
As soon as she was inside, she kicked off her soggy running shoes and socks, noticing that the rest of her family had had the sa Velcro sneakers had been flung to all corners of the foyer Their tiny socks were balled up like stamped-on roses The untied laces of her dad’s heavy black work boots had left short snakes oftohere he’d tossed them at the entrance to the den Raincoats dripped fro the wall Willia; Claire’s was pale violet hite appliqué flowers on the hood Dad’s draping black hand-me-down slicker came from his own dad’s days in the Marines Eureka added her heather-gray raincoat to the last peg in the row, dropped her track bag on Rhoda’s antique entry bench She sensed the glow of the TV in the den, its volume low
The house smelled like popcorn--the twins’ favorite after-school snack But Eureka’s chef dad didn’t prepare anything plainly His popcorn exploded with truffle oil and shaved Parmesan, or chopped pretzels and chewy flecks of caramel Today’s batch sh food better than through words Creating so love
She found him and the twins nestled in their usual spots on the enorray boxers and white T-shirt--was asleep on the long end of the L-shaped couch His hands were clasped over his chest and his bare feet were turned out, pointed up like shovels A soft buzz purred frohts were off, and the stor, crackling fire kept the rooht played on the Garaazines Rhoda subscribed to--but none of thele of stubby legs in the corner of the couch, knees splayed out froolden from the curry She looked like a piece of candy corn, a shock of white-blond hair piled on top of her head with a yellow barrette She was four years old and an excellent sport about TV watching but nothing else She had her mother’s jaw, and clenched it the way Rhoda did when she finisheda point
On the near side of the couch was Willia a foot above the floor His dark brown hair needed cutting He kept blowing puffs of air out the side of his mouth to keep his hair out of his eyes Other than that, he sat still, his hands folded in a neat cup on his lap He was nine minutes older than Claire, careful and diplo as little space as possible There was a led stack of cards on the coffee table next to the bowl of popcorn, and Eureka knew that he’d been practicing a lineup of ic tricks he’d learned from a library book published in the fifties
"Eureka!" he whisper-sang, sliding off the couch to run to her She picked her brother up and twirled hi the still-daht think Eureka would resent these kids for being the reason Dad was married to Rhoda Back when the twins had been two beans inside Rhoda, Eureka had sworn she’d never have anything to do with the when she was thirteen years old Eureka had shocked her dad, Rhoda, and herself by falling in love the moment she’d held each infant’s tiny hand
"I’ up fro, but when Eureka was down the foxhole of her depression, the twins
"I’ll get you some milk" Eureka put William down and the two of them padded to the kitchen She poured three cups of erator, where no Tupperware ventured unlabeled, and let in their soaking-wet Labradoodle, Squat, fro muddy water and leaves across the kitchen walls
Eureka looked at him "I didn’t see that"