Yeah, he probably would. It would still seem like the right thing to do. But he knew now that doing the right thing didn?t guarantee a rosy outcome. Or a warm fuzzy feeling.
He caught Sally staring at him. He forced a smile and managed to give her a little wave. She waved back.
But she didn?t smile.
2
“Hi, Jack.” He?d been following Weezy and Eddie onto the bus, lost in thought and feeling glum. He looked and saw Karina, with her engineer?s cap, baggy sweater, and jeans, smiling up at him from a window seat. The aisle seat next to her was empty.
“Oh, hi.”
“Need a seat?” she said, her eyes inviting.
He looked around. “Where?s Cristin?”
“Not feeling so hot.”
He spotted Eddie slipping into an empty seat and Weezy heading for her
sophomore friends toward the rear. So he stowed his backpack under the seat and
dropped in next to Karina.
“I heard they found Cody last night,” she said.
Swell. She listened to the morning news. Then he realized that if anyone on this bus listened, it would be Karina.
“Yeah. Great news.”
“What happened? Who found him?”
Okay, play it cool.
“Couple of local kids.”
He hid a smile, wondering at her reaction when she discovered she?d been sitting next to one of those kids and he hadn?t told her. She?d probably think that was pretty cool.
He found he liked the idea of Karina thinking him cool.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Eddie holding out his Rubik?s.
“Okay, boy genius. I give up. You?ve been talking big. Let?s see you deliver.”
Jack took it and turned it over this way and that, saying, “Boy, you really messed it up.”
“Yeah. It?s a gift. I did my part, now you do yours.”
“I?ll have it back to you by the time we get to school.”
Eddie laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Jack looked up at him. “You doubt my Rubik-fu?”
“Hey, if you can straighten that out by school, I?ll carry you from class to class on my back.”
“Deal.”
The driver gave Eddie her no-standing-in-the-aisle line, so he returned to his seat.
Karina stared at the cube. “Can you really straighten that out by school?”
He smiled. “Of course not.”
“Then why … ?”
He pulled his backpack from beneath the seat, unzipped it, and removed a new, unused Rubik?s Cube.
“I?ve been setting him up for this all week.”
Karina slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. “You are eeeeevil!”
“A regular devil in disguise,” he said as he hid the old cube in his backpack.
“Oh that?s so funny! He?s going to totally plotz when he sees it.” She laughed again. “First Cody, now this. Almost makes up for that awfulness at the VFW last night.”
Jack nearly jumped out of his seat. “How?d you hear about that?”
“My dad?s a vet. He was there. I heard him telling my mother.”
Jack realized he?d never met Karina?s father, so he couldn?t have known.
“How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged. “Serves him right.”
Her lack of hesitation surprised Jack. Then he remembered Mrs. V?s words and decided to bounce them off Karina.
“But … someone invaded their privacy.”
“Yeah, true, but he was running for public office. Don?t people have a right to know who they?re voting for? I want to know
“Everyone?s got a right to privacy.”
She nodded. “Absolutely. But if you want privacy, don?t go public. A man with a secret life shouldn?t step into the spotlight and expect to keep his secrets.”
Jack had a secret life—things he couldn?t talk about to anyone. He vowed then never to run for any sort of public office.
But didn?t everyone have a secret life? Even the animal in the buried town had had a secret life.
“I think it comes down to truth,” she added. “Isn?t the truth important?”
“Very.”
She raised a fist. “Truth.”
“But what
“The truth is.”
He waited. She said no more, simply watched him, smiling.
“That?s it?”
She nodded. “Yep. The truth is. We can twist it every which way with our minds and our words, but that doesn?t change the truth. The truth is what trips you up when you walk around with your eyes closed.”
I like you, Karina Haddon, Jack thought.
“You?re a thinker, aren?t you.”
She frowned. “Been told I think too much.”
He nudged her. “Well, someone?s got to make up for all the people who don?t think at all.”
She leaned against him as she laughed. He liked the feeling and liked the sound. “Thank you!
I?ll use that next time I?m accused of thinking too much.”
“Who tells you that?”
Her smile faded. “My father, mostly.”
That rang a familiar bell.
“Wants you to be a bow-head?”
Her jaw dropped. “How do you
“I know someone with the same problem.”
“Really? How does she deal with it?”
He glanced back at Weezy, reading a book.
“She stays herself.”
“Not easy sometimes.”
He nudged her. “Stay you. You?re great just the way you are.”
Instantly sure he?d said too much, he wanted to recall those last words. But then he saw Karina give a secret little fist pump and knew it was okay.
They sat in silence a moment and Jack thought about what Weezy had said.
Yeah. More than one.
He thought about how complicated his life had become—a series of intersecting circles all leading back to that strange little pyramid.
Was it good or evil, or like what they?d been learning about in chemistry: a catalyst …
