“You bet your ass I am.”
“Matthew Walker, quit yapping and start paddling,” Mrs. Walker yelled at them.
“So we’re friends, right?” Matthew said. “No matter what?”
Leni nodded. “No matter what.”
“Groovy.” Matthew turned around and faced the bow and started paddling. “I’ve got a cool thing to show you when we get where we are going,” he said over his shoulder.
“What?”
“The bogs will be full of frogs’ eggs. They’re completely slimy and gross. Maybe I can get Axle to eat some. That kid is pure crazy.”
Leni picked up her paddle.
She was glad he couldn’t see how big her smile was.
*
WHEN LENI STEPPED OUT of the schoolhouse, laughing at something Matthew had said, she saw her parents waiting for her in the VW bus. Both of them. Mama leaned out of the window and waved like she was trying out for a spot on The Price is Right.
“Jeez. You really get the royal treatment.”
Leni laughed and parted ways with him and climbed into the back of the bus.
“So, my little bookworm,” Dad said as they rattled along on the dirt road out of town. “What useful thing did you learn today?”
“Well. We went on a field trip to Eaglet Cove and collected leaves for a biology project. Did you know that baneberries will make you have a heart attack if you eat them? And arrowgrass will cause respiratory failure?”
“Great,” Mama said. “Now the plants can kill us, too.”
Dad laughed. “That’s great, Leni. Finally, a teacher who is teaching what matters.”
“I also learned about the Klondike Gold Rush. The RCMP wouldn’t let anyone cross the Chilkoot Trail unless they carried a stove with them. Carried. On their backs. But most of the miners who came up paid Indians to carry their supplies.”
Dad nodded. “The rich, riding the backs of better men. It’s the history of civilization itself. It’s what’s destroying America. Men who take, take, take.”
Leni had noticed her dad saying more and more things like this since meeting Mad Earl.
Dad turned into their driveway and rumbled bumpily along. When they reached the homestead, he parked hard and said, “Okay, Allbrights, today my girls learn how to shoot.”
He jumped out of the bus and dragged a bale of blackened, mildewed hay out from behind the chicken coop.
Mama lit up a cigarette. The smoke formed a gray corona above her blond hair. “This should be fun,” she said without joy.
“We have to learn how. Large Marge and Thelma both said so,” Leni said.
Mama nodded.
Leni moved to the driver’s seat. “Uh. Mama? You noticed that Dad is sorta … prickly about Mr. Walker, right?”
Mama turned. Their eyes met. “Is he?” she said coolly.
“You know he is. So. I mean. You know how he can get if you … you know. Flirt.”
Dad thumped on the front of the bus so hard Mama flinched and made a little sound, like a bitten-off scream. She dropped her cigarette and scrambled down to find it.
Leni knew her mama wouldn’t respond anyway; that was another facet of their family weirdness. Dad blew his temper and Mama somehow encouraged it. Like maybe she needed to know how much he loved her all the time.
Dad herded Leni and Mama out of the bus and over the bumpy terrain to where he’d set up the bale of hay with a target on it.
He lifted his rifle from its leather scabbard, aimed, and shot, hitting the target dead center in the head he’d drawn on a piece of paper with a Magic Marker. A bunch of birds flew up from the trees, scattered through the blue sky, cawing angrily at Dad for disturbing them. A giant bald eagle, with a wingspan of at least six feet, glided in to take their place. It perched on an uppermost branch of a tree, pointed its yellow beak down at them. “That’s what I expect of you two,” Dad said.
Mama exhaled smoke. “We’re going to be here awhile, baby girl.”
Dad handed Leni the rifle. “Okay, Red. Let’s see what you’ve got naturally. Look through the scope—don’t get too close—and when you have the target in your sight, squeeze the trigger. Slow and steady. Breathe evenly. Okay, aim. I’ll tell you when to shoot. Watch out for—”
She lifted the rifle, aimed, thought, Wow, Matthew, I can’t wait to tell you, and accidently pulled the trigger.
The rifle hit her shoulder hard enough to knock her off her feet and the sight slammed into her eye area with a crack that sounded like breaking bone.