“You will want this blanket, believe me. It gets very cold in the desert before it gets warm again.”
I shook my head. Teal turned to run, but her buddy was right there to seize her and hold her, screaming and kicking.
“If you cooperate, it will be so much easier,” my buddy told me. She smiled. “We're doing it for yourown good. You'll thank us someday, just the way we thanked our buddies and Dr. Foreman.”
“You're all sick, crazy,” I cried, and continued to back up. But M'Lady Two was behind me and wrapped her pincerlike arms around mine, also practically lifting me off the ground. M'Lady One wrapped the blanket around me quickly, then ran wide tape around that while I kicked and struggled. It was as good as a strait-jacket.
All the while Teal was screaming at the top of her voice. When they were finished with me, they let me stumble and topple to the ground while they went to M'Lady Three and assisted her in doing the same thing to Teal. After both of us were snugly wrapped in the blankets, they took the lids off the coffins.
Teal's voice was so shrill, it seemed far off to me. I was shaking my head, my eyes closed, and mumbling my pleas. They can't be doing this to us, I thought. This can't be happening.
“It was an accident,” I said. “Really, it was just an accident.”
I felt myself being lifted and opened my eyes to see myself being lowered into the coffin.
“Please don't do this,” I begged. “I'll do anything. Please. Let me talk to Dr. Foreman. Please.”
“Dr. Foreman knows all about it,” M'Lady One said.
The lid was put over me. I could see a number of holes drilled in it to permit air, but it was still a coffin and a lid and I couldn't move.
I could hear Teal's hysterical screams go hoarse and finally muffled, so I assumed she was in her coffin and the lid put over her as well.
“There are no accidents at this school,” we heard the m' ladies chant.
I closed my eyes. Teal was straggling madly, twisting and turning her body in the coffin. It went on and on, and finally she grew quiet.
“Teal?” I called. “Teal, can you hear me? Are you all right?”
There was just silence and then the cry of a coyote. It grew closer, then there was another and another. It sounded as if they were right near us. My heart was thumping and I was sweating now. I managed to get some more space inside the blanket. The tape stretched a bit, but I could do little more.
Suddenly, I heard the distinct sound of Natani's drum. The slow, rhythmic beating was accompanied by a soft, melodic chant. It was truly like a lullaby. Thankfully my eyes grew heavier and I either fell asleep out of exhaustion and fear or simply passed out.
The next thing I knew the lid was being removed and the sunlight was blaring down on me. I felt myself being lifted out of the coffin and stood. I was confused and groggy, barely aware of what was happening. The tape was removed and the blanket unwrapped. The air, not yet heated to the temperatures of midday, felt soothing. I opened my eyes and focused on Dr. Foreman, who stood there smiling at me.
“Good morning, Phoebe,” she said. “You have come through this well. I'm proud of you. Something rotten in you was buried forever last night, I'm sure. I want you to shower and come directly to breakfast. Then we'll talk before you start your daily chores today, okay?”
“I'm thirsty,” I muttered. “Very thirsty.”
“You'll feel better soon, a lot better. We always feel better when we peel off a miserable part of ourselves.”
I looked at the other coffin. The buddies were removing the lid and reaching in to lift Teal out. Her head drooped. She did not regain consciousness.
“What have you done to her?” I asked under my breath. The buddies were holding her upright and her head still dangled loosely.
Dr. Foreman approached her, took something out of her pocket, and put it under Teal's nose. Teal's head snapped up and she shook it sharply before opening her eyes.
“Good morning, Teal,” Dr. Foreman sang. “You look like you've buried something rotten and miserable, too. I just know the both of you will be so much better for it.”
The buddies unwrapped Teal, but she was so wobbly, they had to hold on to her. They looked to Dr. Foreman, who seemed unhappy about that.
“Walk her about for a while. She'll get her legs back. I want them both showered and then brought to me,” she said.
“Will do, Doctor,” M'Lady Three said.
While she and M'Lady Two walked Teal about, my buddy directed me to the shower. Slowly, my arms and legs aching, I got undressed and went under the freezing water. I lifted my head to drink and swallow as much as I could. It did revive me. M'Lady One had a towel ready for me. While I was drying myself, I saw Robin, Gia, and Mindy leaving the house and heading for the fields where Natani was waiting for them. Robin looked like she was afraid to look my way. Just like the other two, she kept her head down, her eyes to the ground with only a passing glance my way when she walked by.
We are becoming like them, I thought. Robin is first. I'll surely be next.
“Let's go. We don't have all day to pamper you,” M'Lady One told me.
Pamper?
I saw Teal walking on her own now, but her face was so empty of any feeling, any awareness, she truly looked like someone in a hypnotic state. Mechanically, she began to undress and then stumbled under the showerhead and stood there stupidly. M'Lady Three turned it on, and she jumped and screamed.
“Wash!” they all shouted at her.
She looked my way and began to scrub. Because of her sunburn, it
