profession.
She did not allow the doubts to linger, however. Looking up from the chief at the assembled waiting faces, she began.
“How many of you have children?” she asked.
Chapter 14
Bobby awoke to find himself in the bathtub with Ash kneeling beside him on the bathroom floor. The big man was gently cradling the boy’s head in one hand, holding it above the surface of the water while the boy’s naked body stretched full length in the tub.
“It’s all right.” Ash said when he saw the boy’s eyelids flutter. Bobby awoke in fright and confusion.
“You’re all right,” Ash said. “Everything’s all right.” Bobby tried to sit up and the pain struck him hard. Ash was ready and he had his free hand over Bobby’s mouth before the scream could emerge. Bobby could taste the plastic of Ash’s glove.
“Shhh, shhh,” Ash said gently. “It will go away.”
“It hurts,” the boy said. His forehead was wrinkled with an effort to control it. He did not need Ash to be any more specific to realize that noise would bring Dee into the room, her face wild with fury. He remembered the beating now, and each cut and welt upon his back seemed to be throbbing as if he were being struck again. No, not that badly. Bobby thought. Nothing had ever hurt as much as being struck the first time. He remembered the beating. Dee’s insane rhythmic chanting, her grunts of effort, the nonstop rain of lashes. He did not recall passing out, had no recollection of Ash holding him in his arms, carrying him to the bathroom, easing him into the tepid water.
“It hurts,” he said again, looking into Ash’s face for comfort, or sympathy, or understanding. He saw all three as well as a brute acceptance of things as they were.
“It will go away,” Ash said. “I promise.”
He eased Bobby back down into the water and began to rub him all over with a bar of soap in his gloved hand. Dec had told him to always wash a cut before applying disinfectant and he was thorough in his work. Bobby winced and gasped and moaned when the wounds were touched, but he did not cry out. He’s a good one. Ash thought. Dee would like this one better than some. She would let him last longer than some. As for Ash, he loved them all.
“Where is she now?” Bobby asked quietly.
“She’s asleep,” Ash said. “She was very sad. You made her very sad. Tommy.”
“I didn’t run,” Bobby said.
“I know. That was good. But you made her sad anyway.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Ash shrugged philosophically. “Sometimes we just do.”
Bobby looked at the water. Ash had opened the drain and let the faucet run as he scrubbed Bobby. The water had maintained the same level, but the color had gradually changed. It was just barely pink now; in another minute or two it would be clear.
Ash touched the medallion on Bobby’s chest.
“What is it?”
“It’s a good luck charm,” Bobby explained. He lifted the medallion and looked at it, then turned it to Ash. The big man studied the face of John F. Kennedy stamped on the silver coin. Someone had punched a hole in the half dollar and threaded a cheap dime-store chain through it. The coin still shone brightly after all the years, but the chain had turned a tarnished shade of brown.
“What’s it for?”
“It’s for good luck,” Bobby said.
“What does it do?”
“It gives me good luck.” Bobby said.
“How?”
“I don’t know, it just does. Nothing bad can happen to me as long as I wear it. That’s why I never take it off.” Ash held the coin gingerly between gloved finger and thumb, trying to imagine what bad things it had warded off for Bobby. For a moment Ash wondered if the boy was teasing him, but he seemed utterly convinced of his good fortune.
“You should get one, Ash,” Bobby said.
“Would it work for me?”
“Not this one, this one only works for me.”
Ash nodded solemnly, as if he understood.
“But you could get one for yourself,” Bobby explained. “I could help you find one if you want.”
“Okay.”
Bobby took the coin from Ash’s finger and put it back in its proper place on his chest. Ash regarded the coin with new respect.
“That’s sure a nice…” Ash groped for the proper word.
“Good luck charm,” Bobby offered.
“Good luck charm,” Ash repeated. “That’s sure a nice good luck charm.”
“It’s the best. It’s never let me down. I found a five-dollar bill on the sidewalk once.”
“Really?”
“Honest. Just lying there.”
“I wish I had one.”
“We’ll get you one,” Bobby said.
“Then I’ll be as lucky as you,” Ash said.
“Maybe,” Bobby said. “It depends on how good your charm is.”
Ash stood the boy in the tub and let the water continue to run as he poured disinfectant over his back and legs. Bobby bit down on a wadded washcloth, but the pain was mild compared to all that had gone before, scarcely more than a sting.
“How come you wear those silly gloves in the water?” Bobby asked.
“Dee says,” Ash replied.
“How come, though?”
“Dee knows all about these things. She says it’s for everybody’s safety.”
Afterwards Ash wrapped a towel around the boy and used another to dry the boy’s hair. They stayed in the bathroom to keep from waking Dee. They could hear her make noises now and again in the agitation of her dreams.
“How come you never sleep?” Bobby asked.
“I can’t.”
“Don’t you get tired?”
“Sure. I get tired all the time, but I can’t let myself go to sleep because of what happens.”
“What happens?”
Ash looked away. He wished the conversation had never started.
“What happens when you go to sleep. Ash?”
Ash shook his head stubbornly.
“Do you have bad dreams?”
“I don’t have dreams. I don’t sleep.”
“Because I have bad dreams sometimes,” Bobby said. “But I sleep anyway. I don’t have them all the time, just sometimes, and besides, they’re not really real.”
“I don’t have bad dreams.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
