“I don’t have a sister,” Nellie says.
“They said sorry, but they did not mean sorry,” I clarify.
“How do you know?”
“I know they did not mean sorry because they did not do anything to make it better.”
“What did they do?” Nellie asks.
“They left,” I say. “They did not do anything.”
She thinks about it. “Except send you their grandson.”
Nellie probably does not understand what she means, but this is a good point. Mab said who he was, but Mab did not say the most important things which are what is River Templeton doing at Bourne Memorial High School and why is he living in my library. It does not seem possible that Belsum Chemical sent their grandson to live with us. But I cannot think of a thing which does seem possible instead.
* * *
After-school tutoring is canceled because, Mrs. Radcliffe says, “What with everything.” I do not know what her words mean, but what her actions mean is Mab can leave school with me. On the way home, we stop at her friend Pooh Lewis’s apartment because even though Pooh Lewis’s eyes work, her legs do not, which means it is not accurate to say she cannot read without a reader （Mab）， but it is accurate to say she cannot read without a librarian （me） because Pooh can read but only if there is a book already in her home.
I have chosen for her a book about King Philip II of Spain because King Philip II of Spain had a wheelchair, even though it was the 1590s and even though really he could walk if he wanted to, and that makes him a good subject for Pooh who also uses a wheelchair and also was born a long time ago and also can read without help but pretends she cannot.
But before I can give the good news about the book, Mab opens Pooh’s front door and calls in, very loud and happy about it, “You were wrong.”
“So what else is new?” says Pooh Lewis. I look at her face to see if she is mad or sad about being called wrong, but she does not look like she minds. “About what?”
Mab tells her about the moving vans at my library and how there was a new student at school and how that new student’s name is River Templeton.
Pooh Lewis says, “Oh!” She claps her hand over her mouth which means surprise or shock, but I can see under her hand that she is smiling which means happy which is weird. When she stops smiling and holding her mouth, I think she will ask what is he doing here or what does it mean that River Templeton has moved to Bourne or what happened when he was introduced at school. But instead she says, “So! What does he look like?”
“That’s what you were wrong about.” Mab is bouncing a little bit. “When you said real life isn’t like the movies anywhere? He looks just like a movie star. It is exactly like the movies out there.”
Pooh Lewis makes a noise like a squeal and claps her hands. “That handsome?”
“Not handsome. More like…” Mab does not finish saying what she is saying.
“What? What?” Pooh is very impatient. I know how she feels.
Mab says, “Well lit.”
Pooh says, “Well lit?” because she does not understand what Mab means which makes me feel better because I also do not understand what Mab means.
“Glowing like,” Mab says. “Shiny.”
“Greasy?” Pooh is guessing because Mab does not make sense. “Radioactive?”
“Healthy,” Mab says. “Whole.”
“Ahh,” Pooh says to show she understands. “Well, sure. He must be rich.”
Which makes me feel glad to have something to contribute to the conversation. “It is not accurate to ascribe a correlative relationship between being rich and being pretty,” I inform them. Mr. Beechman is very big on the difference between correlation and causation.
“I don’t know what that means, honey,” Pooh Lewis says, “but being rich has everything to do with being pretty.”
“There are many ugly rich people,” I point out.
“Name one,” Pooh Lewis says.
I cannot name one, but I cannot name any rich people, ugly or pretty.
Pooh Lewis says, “If you have money, you can get your hair curled or straightened, darkened or bleached, thickened or removed. You can get the fat taken off your ass to fill in your wrinkles. You can get your teeth pushed in if they’re pushing out, straightened if they’re crooked, whitened if they’re beige. Clothes, nails, shoes, jewelry.” She waves all up and down herself. “You can replace the whole damn thing if you have enough money.”