The Cloud Reader

Almost Alone

Carrie and I walked through the mall checking out the clothes at the various stores. She always seemed to have money to spend and so we tried on all kinds of stuff under the stern frowns of the salespeople. Peter, Kenny and another boy named Garret were sitting at a table in the food court and when Carrie saw them she insisted we go and say hi. I knew very well it was Kenny she wanted to say hi to so I agreed without any fuss.

"Hey, if it ain't Hari Carrie and her pal, Molly Mudlark!" Peter let out a loud guffaw and the others joined with short laughs. "Still sittin' in the weeds, Molly, lookin' at the sky? I hear you got your mom doin' it too."

I had started to sit and I stopped, feeling my face redden and the eyes of the other boys watching me.

"Shut up, Peter Bandaid Face," Carrie chirped, pulling out a chair and sitting boldly next to Kenny. "Sit down, Moll, don't pay any attention to that nerd."

"Been spending all your allowance again, Carrie?" Kenny tipped back on his chair and slurped noisily through his drink straw.

"Yup," she laughed. "Why not?"

"How about you, Molly?" Aside from the fact that I didn't know him, the boy named Garret surprised me with his question.

"I don't have any allowance," I said, avoiding his eyes.

"Oooh poor little Miss Weedbed, doesn't-"

"Put a sock in it, Peter." Garret said with angry force and then he turned back to me. "Can I buy you a pop or something?"

"Oh gee- I-." Carrie kicked my leg under the table and I winced.

"I'll be right back." He got up and went to one of the food stalls. I watched him all the way there and all the way back. "Here you go, a famous Henry's Slurpy."

Kenny, Carrie and Peter left to go to the music store and I was alone with Garret, wondering how I would get away. Not that I was in any hurry; he seemed a very nice boy, generous, polite and I was drinking his treat. And he had really nice eyes.

I finished without the usual noise and set the carton down. "Thanks a lot for the drink, I don't- I- I really liked it."

"My pleasure." He sat back and looked at me for a minute and then leaned forward again. "Why were you sitting in that field?"

I thought, oh boy, here we go. All the nice manners and generosity were just a lead up to pump me about Hector. "What did Kenny have to say about it?"

"Kenny? Nothing. Why?"

"Well he was there too."

"Kenny was?" He watched me intently as he answered and I felt uncomfortable as well as mad.

"There was a house in that field you all seem so keen to tease me about." I pushed away the empty drink carton and looked around for Carrie.

"Hey, I'm not trying to tease you. Peter told us about you sitting in the field on his street and then he said your mom did the same thing. I was just curious."

I pushed my chair back and stood up, disappointed. "I don't know why he didn't say that Kenny sat in the field too-twice."

"Sat where?" Kenny came up behind me and poked my ribs, making me jump. Carrie stood behind him holding an armload of records.

"Why don't you tell your friends that you spoke to Hector too, about your license?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? Who's Hector?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at Carrie. She was watching me with a strange look on her face and I suddenly felt very scared. "Tell him, Carrie. You told me Kenny went to the Cloud Reader about his license and when I asked him he gave me the address."

Peter started to laugh and Kenny held up his hands, backing away. "Carrie!"

"I never said anything about Kenny, Moll."

My mouth dropped and I felt tears starting. "You spoke to my mom the other night and told her you met with Hector." Kenny made an exaggerated frown and shrugged at the others. "You're all just being mean and I think it's a rotten trick." I pushed past them and ran through the mall to the escalator, sobbing.

There was a lineup at the exit because they were moving some huge crates in through the mall doors and everyone had to wait to get in or out. I went to the wall at one side and leaned there, hoping no one would notice my red eyes.

"Molly?" I turned with a start to see Garret standing awkwardly behind me.

"Go away."

"Molly, I- it wasn't a trick. I got mad at the others but they swear they don't know anything about this-what did you call him-Cloud Reader?"

"That's not true. Carrie told me Kenny saw him twice. She's just lying because she wants Kenny to like her."

"She 's really upset for you, Molly, honest. She says she doesn't know what you were talking about and I got mad but I believe her. I believe both of them. She told me to come after you." His words carried the ominous knowledge of Hector's definition of truth and I felt the same discomfort as earlier.

"Fine. Go ahead. Believe them, I don't care." My voice choked and I ran for the door as the line cleared.

"Molly! Wait!"

We sat on the edge of a short wall beside the mall parking lot in the shade of a small Maple tree. Garret had caught up with me and insisted that I listen to him, after all, hadn't he bought me Henry's Slurpy? I relented but I wasn't very talkative. I couldn't believe that my friends would do that to me and then the longer we talked, I wondered if the whole thing was just my imagination. I knew it wasn't; I sure didn't imagine mom coming back from meeting Hector.

Garret asked if he could walk me home and I said I had my bike-not very polite. He laughed and asked if he could walk my bike home with me. I said okay. I was feeling much better and he was turning out to be good company.

We strolled slowly along the tree-lined streets, kicking at the gathering blanket of autumn leaves on the sidewalk, chattering about school and family; Garret had an older sister who was going to be a model. He said she was so stuck up he called her Post-it Note. He also said that his mother had died when he was three and he had a stepmother that was almost as young as his sister. They didn't get along too well, he said. I asked him what his dad did and discovered that he was a doctor.

Garret didn't seem to want to talk a lot about his family; for some reason the subject seemed to make him very sad and at the intersection just down from my house while we waited for the light to change he asked if I would like to go to a show or something sometime. I felt very nervous and blurted out the worst question of my life.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen. I just started high school this year." I was surprised, he seemed much older, and then again, what would I know. Boys are all the same, young or old. Still, he didn't take offense. I pointed to the light and we crossed the road. "So?"

"I'd have to ask my mom."

"Can I ask her?"

"You want to ask my mom to the show?" Garret's face flamed red and I laughed aloud. The earlier problems faded in memory the longer we spent together and it felt really good. I laughed again, pointing a teasing finger in his direction.

"You have a nice laugh. Molly Howe," he said, and my laughter froze as I looked into his eyes. They were the same dark intense eyes Hector Nublado had and when he smiled they brightened with the same silver gleam. "What's wrong? Did I say something?"

"Why did you use my last name, Garret?" I kept my breath shallow and my feet moving toward home. His smile remained but sadness seemed to wash over him somehow.

"I guess I owe you a big apology, Molly." He grabbed the handlebar of my bike and made me stop walking. "I wanted to talk with you, to hear what you said about Hector. The reason I believe the others, as well as you, is because I've seen the man you call the Cloud Reader too."

I just gaped at him.