“Don’t lie to me.”
He was silent.
“Since we moved to Santa Leona,” she said, “you’ve gotten mixed up with the wrong kids.”
“No.”
“And last night you came out here with some of them because this is probably a popular place-in fact, it’s just an ideal place-to sneak away and smoke some dope and do… all sorts of other things.”
“No.”
“Last night you came here with them, popped a few pills-God knows what they were-and then you tripped out.”
“No.”
“Admit it.”
“It’s not true.”
“Colin, I know you’re basically a good boy. You’ve never been in any trouble before. Now you’ve made a mistake. You’ve let some other kids lead you astray.”
“No.”
“If you’ll just admit it, if you’ll face up to it, I won’t be mad at you. I’ll respect you for accepting your medicine. I’ll help you, Colin, if you’ll just give me a chance.”
“Give me a chance.”
“You popped a couple of pills-”
“No.”
“-and for a few hours you were really gone, really out of it.”
“No.”
“When you finally came around, you realized you’d wandered away, back toward town, without your bike.”
“Jeez.”
“You weren’t sure how to get back here and find your bike. Your clothes were torn, filthy, and it was one o‘clock in the morning. You panicked. You didn’t know how you were going to explain all that, so you made up this foolish story about Roy Borden.”
“Will you listen?” He was barely able to keep from screaming at her.
“I’m listening.”
“Roy Borden is a killer. He-”
“You disappoint me.”
“Look at what I am, for Christ’s sake!”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Can’t you see me?”
“Don’t shout at me.”
“Can’t you see what I am?”
“You’re a boy in trouble and getting deeper.”
Colin was furious with her because she was forcing him to reveal himself in a way he never had done before. “Do I look like one of those kids? Do I look like the kind of guy they’d even bother to say hello to? They wouldn’t even take time to spit on me. To them, I’m just a skinny, bashful, near-sighted creep.” Tears shimmered in the corners of his eyes. He hated himself for being unable to hold them back. “Roy was the best friend I had. He was the only friend. Why would I make up a crazy story just to get him in trouble?”
“You were confused and desperate.” She stared at him as if her gaze would crack him and reveal the truth as she imagined it to be. “And according to Roy, you were mad at him because he wouldn’t come out here with you and the others.”
Colin gaped at her. “You mean you got this whole theory from Roy? This whole dumb thing about me taking drugs-it comes from
“I suspected it last night. When I mentioned it to Roy, he said I was right. He told me you were very upset with him because he wouldn’t come to the party-”
“He tried to kill me!”
“-and because he wouldn’t contribute any money to buy the pills.”
“There weren’t any pills.”
“Roy says there were, and it explains a lot.”
“Did he name even one of these wild dopers I’m supposed to be hanging out with?”
“They’re none of my concern. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Jeez.”
“I am worried about you.”
“But for the wrong reason.”
“Playing with drugs is stupid and dangerous.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“If you want to be treated like an adult, you’ve got to start acting like one,” she said in a lecturing tone that galled him.
“An adult admits his mistakes. An adult always accepts the consequences of his acts.”
“Not most of the adults I see.”
“If you persist in this bullheaded attempt to-”
“How can you believe him instead of me?”
“He’s a very nice boy. He-”
“You’ve only talked to him a couple of times!”
“Often enough to know he’s a well-rounded boy and very mature for his age.”
“He’s not! He’s not like that at all. He’s lying!”
“His story certainly rings truer than yours,” Weezy said. “And he strikes me as a sensible boy.”
“You think I’m not sensible?”
“Colin, how many nights have you gotten me out of bed because you were convinced something was crawling around in the attic?”
“Not that often,” he mumbled.
“Yes. That often. Quite often. And was there ever anything there when we looked?”
He sighed.
“Was there?” she insisted.
“No.”
“How many nights have you been absolutely certain that something was lurking outside the house, trying to get in through your window?”
He didn’t answer.
She pressed her advantage. “And do level-headed boys spend all of their time building plastic models of movie monsters?”
“Is that why you don’t believe me? Because I watch a lot of horror movies? Because I read science fiction?”
“Stop that. Don’t try to make me sound simple-minded,” she said.
“Shit.”
“You’re also picking up bad language from this crowd you’re running around with, and I won’t allow it.”
He walked away from her, into the junkyard.
“Where are you going?”
As he walked away, he said, “I can show you proof.”
“We’re leaving,” she said.
“Go ahead.”
“I should have been at the gallery an hour ago.”
“I can show you proof, if you’ll bother to look at it.”
He walked through the junkyard, toward the point at which the hill dropped down to the railroad tracks. He didn’t know for sure if she was following him, but he tried to act as if he had no doubt about it. He believed that
