Honesty broke off. A shiver ran down Nona’s spine. Nobody asked him to continue.
“People with no eyes,” said Honesty.
Born in the Morning said unsteadily, “He was bullshitting you.”
Honesty ignored him. He said, “Said the eyes was all white. But he said he was moving quietly, real quietly, and these guys—they’re all just sitting around—they all look up … they all look at him … with these white-out eyes … they all look up at the same time. They look at him. He kept saying that,” he said suddenly, breaking off. He said, “Kept saying, they saw me, they saw me, oh my God.”
His voice took on a more normal cast and he said, “Then he said that someone in the van behind started taking potshots at him so he called for pickup. The boss was all, calm down, calm down. But then … then the driver said we were being followed … and the guy goes crazy sobbing and apologising, saying he fucked up, he got us in trouble, and then one of the old chicks is like, get the kid out, and … and they stop the car and there’s another two big trucks pulling up behind us, militia trucks with guys, and…”
For a moment Honesty couldn’t talk. They all sat there together and breathed as one, Nona matching her breath to Hot Sauce matching her breath to Honesty and Beautiful Ruby and Born in the Morning and even Kevin, all in one tight and sweating circle.
Then in a completely normal and even brassy voice, Honesty said, “Then I ran like fuck and I bonked my head on a pole so bad I probably got brain damage, so you have to all be very nice to me.”
The whole group absorbed this. Nona reached down for one of the empty sprays and chewed at the ends, wanting something to chew on, if not to eat, liking the way the tough fibrous stem felt between her teeth.
Then Born in the Morning said, “You just said like forty-two swears.”
“Oh my God, man, shut up,” said Honesty.
“It’s not fair if I swear and get in trouble with Nona and Honesty doesn’t,” said Born in the Morning.
“Shut up, Born in the Morning,” said Kevin.
And because Kevin never told anyone to shut up, Born in the Morning shut up. But that was okay—that broke the atmosphere. Hot Sauce kept her hand on Honesty’s shoulder and said, “You think they’re following you?” and Honesty said, “Nah. Nah,” and then: “I’m your boy, right, Hot Sauce? I’m your best boy?”
“Yes,” said Hot Sauce gently, “you’re my boy. I’ll take care of you.”
Then there was the main teacher standing over them, and they looked up guiltily from their huddle, but she was only smiling at them in the way teachers did when they thought they knew what was going on and didn’t really.
“Group meeting, is it?” she said, kindly. “Honesty, here’s one of the shelter pamphlets, okay?”
Honesty was so affrighted that he just said, “Yes, miss, thank you, miss,” and took it.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” she said. “Clean up, everyone, it’s nearly class time. Nona, could you ring the bell? Then you’d better leash up Noodle. I want to mark some books.”
Nona jumped up immediately. “Yes, of course.”
But she didn’t go right away. She went back down into a crouch as the rest of them picked up fragments of stem and crushed berry from the floor—not so many crushed berries, they weren’t stupid—and she volunteered, “I’ll take care of you too, Honesty.”
“Who wants you to take care of me?” said Honesty cheerfully, getting to his feet. “You’re dumb as a box of hair, Nona.”
Nona was indignant, but Hot Sauce said, “How many vehicles?”
“I dunno,” said Honesty. “I wasn’t counting the whole way and the guy picked the middle one, middle-ish. Over ten. Could’ve been twenty. Megatrucks, all of ’em. I tell you what,” he said, and he brushed his trousers off, and he said heavily: “I know what it was. I hang out with you lot. I know the deal. Nobody ever asks poor old Honesty … Honesty could’ve told him not to try and knock off the goddamned Convoy.”
8
HOT SAUCE APPROACHED NONA before the Hour of Science and said, “You’re still on lookout.”
What with all the fuss about Honesty it had completely escaped Nona’s mind that someone was watching, or that Hot Sauce was investigating. But that was Hot Sauce for you; Hot Sauce never forgot.
Nona said, keeping a weather eye on the Angel, chatting to some of the smaller kids as she got out a bucket of ice cubes and socks （they were finishing off a unit on temperature）： “She still looks tired.”