Didn't she say the girl had unbuttoned her white blouse? I wore no white blouse; I wore only my Greenwood uniform. My eyes drifted down to Gisselle's shoes lined up on the floor of the closet. Something caught my eye. My heart began to pitter-patter as I knelt slowly and picked up the loafers, the bottoms and the sides of which were caked with mud. But how . . .
The sound of my sister's loud voice declaring her complaints about being kept after school preceded her arrival in the quad. I heard her ranting as Kate wheeled her down the corridor. I stood up, holding my breath. My mind was reeling with possibilities, thoughts that seemed too fantastic. Just before she was wheeled to the door of her room, I backed into the closet and closed the sliding door almost all the way.
'Where's my sister?' Gisselle demanded.
'She was in your room,' Samantha told her. 'Straightening up your clothes.'
Gisselle gazed in and smirked.
'Who asked her to? Anyway, she's not in here now.' Samantha came up beside her and looked into the room. 'Oh. She must have left when I was in the bathroom.' 'Great. I want her to know just what that horrible Mrs. Weisenberg made me do until I got the answers right.'
'Should I look for her?' Samantha asked.
'No. I'll tell her later. I have to get some rest,' she said, and wheeled herself into the room, slamming the door behind her. She sat for a moment, staring at her bed. Then she reached back and snapped the lock on the door. I held my breath. As soon as she had locked the door, she stood up without wobbling, without much effort.
And I realized my sister could walk!
I slid open the closet door slowly, without much sound, but she sensed my presence and turned. Her eyes widened in astonishment, but I was sure they weren't as wide as mine.
'What are you doing?' she gasped. 'Spying on me?'
'You can stand and you can walk.
'So what?' she said after a moment. 'I don't want anyone to know it just yet.'
'But why? How long have you been able to stand and walk?'
'Awhile,' she admitted.
'But why have you kept it a secret?'
'I get treated better,' she confessed.
'Gisselle . . . how could you do this? All these people, everyone slaving over you . . . Could you walk before Daddy died? Could you?' I demanded when she didn't respond, but she didn't have to respond. I knew she could. 'How horrible! You could have made him feel so much better.'
'I was going to tell him as soon as we were permitted to go home and leave this terrible place, but as long as I had to stay here, I wasn't going to tell anyone,' she said.
'How did it happen? I mean, when did you realize you could stand?'
'I was always trying to do it, and one day I just did.' I sat down on her bed, my mind in turmoil.
'Oh, stop making such a big thing over it,' she ordered. She stood up and walked to the closet. The sight of her walking so easily seemed so incongruous. It was as if I had fallen into a dream. At full height again and able to use her limbs, Gisselle appeared changed to me. It was as if she had grown taller and stronger while confined to her wheelchair. I watched her brush her hair for a few moments, everything I had suspected now rushing over me.
'It was you, wasn't it?' I cried, pointing at her.
'Me? Whatever are you talking about now, Ruby?' she asked, pretending ignorance.
'It was you who was with Buck Dardar that night, wasn't it? That's why your shoes are caked with mud. You snuck down there and—'
'So what? He was the only game in town, although I must admit, he was quite a good lover. I hated to see him go, but when you were accused of being there, I thought it was perfect. Finally we'd get out of here too. Then your own loverboy had to appear and get you off the hook. Crummy luck.'
'Did Buck think you were me? Did you tell him your name was Ruby?'
'I did, but I don't know whether he believed it or not. Let's just say he was happy to pretend I was anyone I wanted to be as long as I appeared.'
'How often . . . All those times you kept this door locked,' I said, turning to her door. I looked at the window.
'That's right. I would crawl out the window and have my rendezvous. Pretty exciting, huh? I bet you wish you had thought of it now.'
'I do not.' I pulled myself up. 'You're going to march out of here right now and tell the truth,' I said. 'Especially to Mrs. Gray.'
'Oh, am I? Well I'm not ready to let people know I can stand and walk,' she said, returning to her chair.
'I don't care if you're ready or not. You will tell,' I assured her, but she didn't seem intimidated. She wheeled herself toward me and looked up at me with hard, cold eyes.
'I will not,' she said, 'and if you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll tell Mrs. Ironwood about you and your precious Miss Stevens. That oughta do her in for sure.'
'What? What are you saying?'
She smiled.
