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‘Settle down, Mikey, you’re gonna knock it over’
Park couldn’t even iine a turn of events that would have led Eleanor here – but she’d practically dragged hiainst hiht maybe they’d kidnapped her Was he supposed to pay ransom?
‘Talk toon?’
‘Her stepdad is looking for her,’ Tina said
Tina was sitting on the ars in Steve’s lap She took the joint from him
‘Is that true?’ Park asked Eleanor She nodded into his chest She wouldn’t let hi stepdads,’ Steve said ‘Motherfuckers, all of thehter ‘Oh, fuck, Mikey, did you hear that?’ He kicked the Caain ‘Mikey?’
‘I have to leave,’ Eleanor whispered
Thank God Park backed away fro back to my house’
‘Be careful,around in that shit-colored Micro Machine …’
Park bent to clear the garage door Eleanor stopped behind him ‘Thank you,’ she said – he would swear that she was talking to Tina
This night couldn’t get any weirder
He led Eleanor through his backyard, then around the back of his grandparents’ house to the driveway, past the spot by the garage where they liked to kiss goodbye
When they got to the RV, Park reached up and opened the screen door ‘Go on,’ he said
‘It’s always unlocked’
He and Josh used to play in here It was like a little house, with a bed at one end and a kitchen at the other There was even a erator It had been a while since Park had been inside the RV – he couldn’t stand up noithout hitting his head on the ceiling
There was a checkerboard-sized table against the ith two seats Park sat on one side and sat Eleanor down across froht palm was streaked with blood, but she didn’t see on?’ He was pleading
‘I have to leave,’ she said She was looking across the table like she’d just seen a ghost Like she was one
‘Why?’ he said ‘Is this about tonight?’ In Park’s head, it felt like everything ood and this bad could happen on the saht unless they were related Whatever this was
‘No,’ Eleanor said, rubbing her eyes ‘No It’s not about us I mean …’ She looked out the little
‘Why is your stepdad looking for you?’
‘Because he knows, because I ran away’
‘Why?’
‘Because he knows’ Her voice caught ‘Because it’s him’
‘What?’
‘Oh God, I shouldn’t have co it worse I’h to her – she wasn’thad been perfect between theet back to his house
Histo be home any minute
He leaned over the table and took Eleanor by the shoulders
‘Could we just start over?’ he whispered
‘Please? I don’t knohat you’re talking about’
Eleanor closed her eyes and nodded wearily
She started over
She told hi before she was halfway through
‘Maybe he won’t hurt you,’ he said, hoping it was true, ‘ to scare you
Here …’ He pulled his hand inside his sleeve and tried to wipe Eleanor’s face
‘No,’ she said ‘You don’t know, you don’t see how … how he looks at me’
CHAPTER 49
Eleanor
How he looks athis tiet around toand no one else left to destroy
Hoaits up for me
Keeps track of
When I’ my hair
You don’t see
Because I pretend not to
CHAPTER 50
Park
Eleanor pushed her curls out of her face one by one, like she was gathering her wits by hand ‘I have to go,’ she said
She wasmore sense now, and more eye contact, but Park still felt like so it
‘You could talk to your ht look different in the ’
‘You sahat he wrote on my books,’ she said evenly ‘Would you want me to stay there?’
‘I … I just don’t want you to leave,’ he said
‘Where would you go? To your dad’s house?’
‘No, he doesn’t want me’
‘But if you explained …’
‘He doesn’t want me’
‘Then … where?’
‘I don’t know’ She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders ‘My uncle said I could spend the summer with him Maybe he’ll let me come up to St Paul early’
‘St Paul, Minnesota’
She nodded
‘But …’ Park looked in Eleanor’s eyes, and her hands fell to the table
‘I know,’ she sobbed, slu forward ‘I know …’
There was no room to sit at the table next to her, so he dropped to his knees and pulled her onto the dusty linoleu?’ he asked He pushed her hair out of her face and held it behind her head
‘Tonight,’ she said, ‘I can’t go hoet there? Have you called your uncle?’
‘No I don’t know I thought I’d take the bus’
She was going to hitchhike
She figured she could walk as far as the Interstate, then she’d stick out her thuons and minivans Family cars If she hadn’t been raped or murdered – or sold into white slavery – by Des Moines, she’d call her uncle collect He’d co her home