I started to get up to protest, but M'Lady One put her forefinger between my breasts and pushed so hard, I lay back down.
She hovered over me. “Just relax, girl. You're not going anywhere.”
“Leave her alone. She's really hurt,” I pleaded.
She smiled. “Suddenly, you care about each other? How sweet.”
I looked at Robin who was back on her side, shivering in fear that she would be next, I was sure.
“If you don't bring Teal back in here . . . ,” I started to threaten.
“You'll do what, Phoebe bird? Huh?”
“I want to see Dr. Foreman,” I said, starting to sit up again.
“Oh, you'll be seeing her. Don't worry about that. You want to spend some time in the Ice Room first?”
“You're disgusting. You're all disgusting.”
M'Lady Two drew closer. “You better shut your mouth, or we'll shut it for you for good.”
She had as mad and as wild a look on her face as I had ever seen on anyone. I swallowed hard and looked at Gia, who was staring at me without any feeling, any expression, not even slight interest.
I folded my arms under my breasts and lay back again.
The two buddies turned and followed Teal and M'Lady Three out of the barn, closing the door behind her.
“What are they going to do to her?” Robin wailed.
“What did you do, spy on them?” Gia asked us, speaking as if she were in a dream.
“Yes,” Robin said. “Teal remembered your telling us about it, about their partying.”
“You went up on the roof and looked in their windows?”
“We did and we saw worse than you saw. They weren't just listening to music and smoking pot. They were dancing and striping for each other. They're sick and disgusting. Wait until we tell Dr. Foreman what we saw. Right, Phoebe?”
I didn't respond.
Her words died like hollow threats in the dark. Gia went back to sleep and Robin turned on her side, but I sat up for awhile and listened for Teal. I heard nothing, not a cry, not a loud voice, nothing. Finally, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and lay back.
Teal wasn't there in the morning. The first thing I did after my eyes opened was sit up and look for her, but her cot was empty. Gia and Mindy were dressing silently. Robin was still asleep. I woke her.
“They never brought Teal back,” I said. I wondered why they had chosen her out of the three of us. Why hadn't they taken Robin and me, too?
Robin looked worried, but said nothing. We dressed and stepped outside and the buddies were there as usual, waiting to hear us recite our prayer.
“Where's Teal?” I demanded.
“The prayer,” M'Lady One said, stepping up to me.
We did it and then I asked after Teal again.
“That girl,” M'Lady Two said, shaking her head, “keeps getting hurt. She shouldn't have walked so much on that injured ankle, but we couldn't stop herfrom going around and around. Now she's in the infirmary again, but she'll pay for it. As you know, there are no excuses for not doing your work. Dr. Foreman will give her five demerits for this.”
“What will she give you when she finds out what you did?” I muttered.
“What did you say?” She stepped up to me again, her nose touching mine. I stepped back. “Well? Did you say something? Did you threaten something, Phoebe bird?”
“No.”
“Very wise reply for a stupid girl. Get to work, all of you.”
I looked at Robin, whose head was down the whole time. Mindy was muttering to herself and Gia was staring ahead, her eyes so dark.
I took a deep breath and turned to go into my shell, chanting to myself.
From the confident way they acted, I was sure that the buddies had told Dr. Foreman what we had done, but they had given her selected information, of course, leaving out what they had been doing. To my surprise Dr. Foreman didn't ask Robin or me anything specific about it. Teal was kept in the infirmary and apparently not questioned either. Dr. Foreman didn't come charging out of the house, her eyes blazing with anger.
However, the silence made me more nervous. It was like the moments before a bomb would explode. Our days weren't any different, except Teal wasn't with us. One afternoon we saw Dr. Foreman leave in the van and I didn't see her return that day. She wasn't there at dinner either. What does all this mean? I wondered.
The next morning, I did see the van out front again,
and later in the day Dr. Foreman sent M'Lady One to call Robin and me in from the garden work.
“This is it,” Robin said.
We hurried to her office, expecting now to hear her anger over our spying on the buddies. She was sitting at her desk, filling out some papers. When we entered, she looked up.
“Oh, Phoebe, Robin,” she said in a friendly voice, “I want you girls to take some lessons from Natani.”
“Lessons?” I asked. Was she going to make fun of his idea of the shell?
“Yes. I usually start the girls on these lessons earlier, but we've had so much orientation and setting up to do, it's just all taken a second seat. I find it more effective for Natani to work with no more than one or two at a time. He's expecting the two of you in his hogan after dinner tonight. You're excused from any other schoolwork for now. I'll ask you to be polite and give him your full attention. We'll talk about it all afterward. That's all. You can return to the gardening.” She returned to her paperwork. “Oh,” she added as we were leaving. “Don't discuss it with the others. I hate these petty jealousies that develop. They'll have their turn when it is their turn.”
We left in a daze.
“I thought for sure we had bought it,” Robin said as we walked down the steps. “What is this about, lessons from Natani? He gives us lessons in
