And that was the way it had gone. Jack asked Tim to keep their names out of it as much as possible. He?d seemed puzzled by the request but said he?d do what he could.
“How?s your head?” Weezy asked.
He touched the tender area of scalp at the rear, gooey now with Neosporin.
“Okay, I guess.”
The EMTs had looked at it last night and told him he?d be better off with stitches but, because it wasn?t a full-thickness cut, didn?t absolutely need them. Jack had opted for a little first-aid treatment.
His mother had almost fainted when she saw the blood on his shirt, but recovered and was suitably proud when Tim told her and Dad about Jack finding Cody.
He still didn?t understand what it had been about his blood that turned the animal off. Not that he was unhappy about that—no way. Just curious.
Curious about Walt too. Had it been pure coincidence that Cody had come to when Walt touched him, or …
Or what?
This was all so crazy.
His folks had given him the option of staying home today, but he wanted to go in. Word of the rescue would be spreading through school and he wanted to be there to douse any hero talk.
Being a hero meant attention. Neither he nor Weezy wanted that. He wasn?t sure of Weezy?s reasons, but he knew she was self-conscious and probably figured the more people looked at her, the more flaws they?d find. He just wanted to be Jack … just Jack … a kid who could walk the halls and go where he wanted when he wanted without anyone paying much attention.
Yeah. No hero stuff. At least not on the outside. But inside he was feeling pretty damn good.
He?d put Mr. Vivino in his place and found a lost child almost given up for dead.
Not bad for a night?s work.
Except for one thing …
“Think we?ll ever see that little pyramid again?”
Weezy closed her eyes and flinched—as if the question had caused physical pain.
He knew the answer, but wondered if Weezy could accept it. He had a wild vision of her at the controls of a backhoe digging up the streets of Old Town in search of the buried city and her pyramid.
“I don?t want to talk about it.”
“Well, then—”
“Okay, yes, I do. It?s gone for good, buried under Old Town. I know that. It makes me want to scream when I think of it lost down there, but it?s better than knowing it?s sitting on a shelf in the Lodge. I want it back like crazy, but I have to accept that it?s gone. At least it wasn?t stolen from us this time … we lost it. There?s a big difference—at least to me—if that makes any sense.”
“It does, kind of.” He looked at her. “You mean that?”
“Yeah … for the moment, anyway. I may feel entirely different by the time we get to school, but right now I see it as sort of a circle: The buried pyramid was uncovered—because of us. And now it?s buried again—because of us. Don?t you feel like a circle has closed?”
A circle closed … Had Weezy too noticed how recent events in their lives seemed to circle the pyramid?
“Yeah, I do. I definitely do.”
Jack felt a surge of relief, followed by a strange peace as they reached the highway.
He figured all the Johnson kids had heard—the word would have spread like the flu through the close-knit community—but the only out-of-town kids who?d know would be those who listened to the morning news on the local radio.
When they reached the highway he glanced right and was surprised to see Mrs. Vivino waiting at the elementary bus stop. Sally stood to the side with a couple of little kids while a group of the other mothers clustered close around her mother. No way they hadn?t heard.
The events at the VFW seemed like they?d happened weeks ago rather than just last night.
To his shock, Mrs. V broke away from the other women and began walking toward him.
“Jack? Can I speak to you?”
Jack stood frozen. What could she have to say to him?
Something about her expression made him want to say “No” and cross the street. But he hung tough.
“You two go ahead,” he said to Weezy and Eddie, as he walked toward Mrs. V.
“I suppose you heard about the videotape,” she said as they drew within a few feet of each other.
Jack nodded, his mouth dry. “Um, yeah. Sorry.”
“I?m glad you found Cody. I?m glad for him, and I?m glad for his parents, and I?m glad because it gives people something to talk about besides that tape.”
“Yeah, well …”
He wanted to say more but felt tongue-tied.
“Do you know who made it?”
Oh jeez. He could feel every muscle in his body tensing. Why was she asking him? She couldn?t suspect, could she? No reason in the world she could. He forced himself to look at her and saw a distorted image of himself reflected in her sunglasses.
“I haven?t heard any rumors or anything.”
“I?m sure that person thought he was doing us a favor, but he invaded our privacy. He stole what was supposed to be just between two people, and made it public.”
Stole?
“People see one thing, one scene from a marriage and don?t understand. They don?t know what went before. They don?t know what someone was like before … before he lost his son … how when a parent?s worst nightmare becomes a reality, how that can change a person … make him into someone he never was, someone he would never have wanted to be.”
Was she excusing all that violence?
She said, “That videotape changed everything. A family splits, a home will have to be sold, Sally will have to move away from her friends.”
A tear slipped from under her sunglasses and left a glistening trail down her cheek. She wiped it away.
“Everybody loses … except maybe the videotaper, who probably thinks he?s some sort of hero.
If you ever meet him, tell him he?s not. Tell him he may have had good intentions, but the road to Hell is paved with those.”
Jack watched in stunned silence as she turned and walked back toward Sally.
She knew. Somehow … she knew.
He wanted to go after her and defend himself, wanted to say that if she was going to let that go on in her house just to keep her marriage together at any cost, fine for her. But what about the cost to Sally? Sally wasn?t being given a choice. Sally had stopped smiling.
But he couldn?t say a word without giving himself away.
Maybe Mr. Vivino had been changed by Tony?s death, or maybe he?d just stopped controlling an awful temper. Jack could only judge the man by his actions, by what he
But what about what I did? he thought.
He?d intruded on a private matter. Was peeping into their life and videotaping it right?
He?d thought so at the time. Now he wasn?t so sure.
But if you saw something wrong, was it ever right to turn away and just mind your own damn business?
On the other hand, had exposure robbed them of the chance of working things out?
Jack shook his whirling head. What had seemed so clearly black and white a few days ago had blurred to gray in the middle. If he could go back in time a week, he wondered, would he do the same thing?
Yeah, he decided, hearing again the
