As we continued, I kept my eyes forward, never wavering, so I didn't see or know if Gia and Mindy were watching us. When we stood at the steps, the front door opened, and Dr. Foreman, dressed in a cool, mint green skirt suit, her face freshly made up with a brighter lipstick and even some eye shadow, looked down at us and smiled.
“Oh, I just knew you would do well. I just knew you had it in you to be cooperative, unselfish, and resilient. My girls, my Foreman girls, always come through for me, for themselves. What a wonderful day,” she cried.
Was she blind? Could she not see that Teal was practically comatose and we were standing on legs held up only by sheer determination?
“Teal was bitten by a sidewinder,” I said. “She's delirious.”
“And you knew what to do, I see,” Dr. Foreman replied, still not moving to help us. “Natani's lessons. How fortunate that you paid attention. Imagine if you paid attention in regular school as well. Maybe now you will. See?” she asked as if in that simple question she justified this whole experience, her techniques and theories and all that was done to us in the name of recovery.
“Teal is very sick,” I replied in a dry, stiff voice.
She blinked rapidly, but held that cold, egotistical smile I had come to hate, to have dreams about shattering.
“She'll recover,” she said, “and she'll be better for it.”
“Have you been bitten by a sidewinder?” I fired back at her.
“Don't be insubordinate.” She nodded at the buddies. “Take Teal to the infirmary immediately.”
M'Ladies One and Two moved forward and lifted Teal from our shoulders. Then they scooped her under her legs and carried her up the stairway. Dr. Foreman stepped aside and opened the door for them.
“Are we home?” I heard Teal ask.
“Yes,” M'Lady One said, and laughed.
The door closed behind them and Dr. Foreman turned back to us. “I want the two of you to shower andchange back into your coveralls and wait for further instructions in your bunkhouse. You may rest while you wait.” She turned and walked into the house before either Robin or I could say another thing to her.
“Let's go, girls,” M'Lady Three said.
We turned and crossed the yard to the showers. Both of us were actually looking forward to the cold shower. We couldn't swallow enough water and it felt wonderful on our bodies. Soaping up, scrubbing our hair, revived us both.
“Enough, girls. Move it,” M'Lady Three shouted.
I looked for Mindy and Gia and didn't see either of them in the gardens or the pigpen. We slipped on our shorts and blouses and battered sneakers before going to the barn bunkhouse. Both of us stopped dead on entering.
Our three cots had been stripped of their mattresses, blankets, and pillows. Our coveralls and old blouses were on them and our clodhopper shoes beside them.
“Why?” I asked, turning to M'Lady Three.
She shrugged. “You had demerits. You have to earn what you get, remember?”
“This stinks. It's unfair!” Robin cried.
“Welcome to the real world. You have to learn how to deal with unfairness. Not that this was unfair. Rest up, girls. You'll need it, believe me,” she said, and left.
“Look,” Robin said, nodding at Gia's and Mindy's bunks. Mindy's was stripped down as well. “I wonder what she did to deserve her unfairness.”
“I don't care anymore,” I said. “I'm too tired to care about anything, even this.”
I went to my bunk and swept the coveralls and blouse off. Then I thought again and rolled them up to use as a pillow. Robin nodded and did the same.
In minutes, we were both dead to the world, asleep. Soon after, however, we were poked and prodded until we woke up. M'Ladies Two and One were there with notebooks in their hands, the same sort we had been given at orientation.
“You've slept enough, girls. Dr. Foreman wants you both to start on your journals. She wants you both to write about your experience out there and what you have learned from it. She expects details and honesty,” M'Lady One said, and handed me a notebook with a pen.
Robin was handed hers as well. We both just stared blankly at the notebooks.
The buddies smiled, then left.
“She must be kidding,” Robin said.
“I strongly doubt it,” I said.
“I can't keep my eyes open, much less write something.”
We looked at each other and came up with the same cry: “What more can she do to us?”
I put the notebook down and sprawled out again. Robin did the same and we were asleep almost as quickly as we were the first time. We slept well into the late afternoon and woke this time when we heard the door open.
Gia stood there looking at us. I sat up quickly.
“Gia. Where's Mindy?” I asked, seeing she was alone.
“Mindy's gone.”
“Gone?” Robin asked, sitting up. “You mean she was sent home?”
“No, I mean gone.” Gia walked to her cot. She sat, staring down at the floor. I looked at Robin and then rose and walked over to Gia.
“What happened to her, Gia?”
She looked up at me. "I couldn't stop her. She used the scythe Natani had us use to cut the high grass. I was working and suddenly realized she was no longer in the field. She had been strange all morning after a session with Dr. Foreman. She wouldn't tell me anything about it, but I could see she was very upset, more upset than ever. I kept asking her about it, trying to find out something, some reason for her deep depression.
"Finally, she muttered something about never going
