Island Angels

Two Down

Opal's basement made Brittany sick. First came the headache; next, the queasiness; then, the heaves. And, of course, the girls had no towels.

"Brit Wit is the grossest girl!" Blair declared. "What if you die?"

"Miss Maggie can bury me."

"On the beach?"

"No," she moaned. "If only Delaina were here!"

And Brittany remembered last winter's illness. Delaina kept her in the back room at her beauty shop, with blankets and ginger ale, because Mom was also sick.

Brittany's night was a storm-tossed sea of dreams. Opal Mildred chased her until she fell down the cistern. Then Grotto turned her into a rat. Up the secret staircase she climbed, until a giant lobster grabbed her in its claw. She fell into Jasper's beehive. "Brittany! Brittany!" Delaina's voice called...but Delaina could not save her, because Brittany was only a rat.

Next morning, she found Blair seated on the floor, a carton of Pop Tasties at her feet.

Over the bed she slung her feet. "Why did you go downstairs at night?"

"No one is there," Blair said.

"Not the witch? Not Mom?"

"They're both gone. We've got the run of the house."

"Blair, you are out of your mind!" Brittany shouted. "You know Miss Opal could return any time."

"Somebody else isn't coming back." She handed her sister a crumpled paper.

Can't live like this, Brittany read. Finding Delaina. Be good girls.

"This can't be Mom's," she said. "She'd never hike back to Ohio without us."

"Delaina is her best friend," Blair said. "They miss each other."

"No, Delaina was our best friend. She gave Mom the trailer, but she took care of us."

Blair looked into her sister's eyes. She understood.

After Mom's disappearance, Brittany and Blair agreed that they needed help. Unfortunately, they couldn't agree on anything else.

Back in the trailer park, the girls had shared many crises. Daddy had gone missing, and Mom had lost her mind. Delaina had found them huddled in the bathtub, scared to come out, after they started an oven fire. Together, they had spent the summer in Delaina's beauty shop, travelled Greyhound, scrounged for food in Opal's kitchen.

Stick together, Delaina had said. But how?

Team Belcher was over. Brittany wanted to use the secret staircase; Blair insisted on roaming the house. Brittany planned to mooch food from the Claysons; Blair craved Pop Tasties. Brittany thought they should run away, but Blair wanted to trap Opal Mildred in the cistern.

For half an hour, that morning, the sisters bickered on the beach. Brittany shivered. Blair stared across the waves, still awaiting Tiffany's return.

"There has to be an angel," Brittany murmured. "How long do we have to wait for her!"

"Angels can be boys," Blair said. "Like Grotto."

"Grotto is no angel. He's a freak, and his mother made us scram."

"He could be a good guy. You'll never find out if you don't go back."

"If they're such angels, beg for goat milk and blueberries," Brittany said. "But leave me out of it."

"I will!"

Knapsack on her shoulder, Old Man and the Sea clutched to her chest, Blair stalked off.

For the first time, Brittany and Blair had parted ways. Brittany made no move to stop her. What would Delaina say?

You're the leader, Brittany. You have to make sure everyone sticks together. Your mother is sick, your sister is little.

Nauseous waves crossed her stomach. I want, I want...

Delaina. Mom. Bologna sandwiches. The trailer park. The beauty shop break room, with its TV. Brittany wanted the food pantry, the school bus, tires on muddy lawns, every piece of her filthy former life.

Where was Delaina? Where was Mom? Where was her angel?

"Hey, Brittany!"

Jason sauntered across the beach. He carried a large towel.

"It's too cold to swim," Brittany said. "Where's your mom?"

"Somewhere, won't say where. Say, would Opal Mildred mind if I used her bathtub?"

"For a bath, or a science experiment?"

"Get real." He kicked a cloud of sand. "Mom's been keeping lobsters in the tub for two weeks. The house stinks, and so do all the people."

"You wouldn't want to use Opal's bathroom," Brittany said. "Why don't you ask Grotto?"

"That freak isn't human. Guess I'll have to use the ocean."

"Blair and I take baths there." She laughed. "Jason, you're funny. Lobsters took over your bathtub, so you're about to take over their ocean!"

"You don't look too clean, yourself. What's up this morning?"

Brittany handed him her book. "I'm reading this for home school. Do you think your mother could help?"

"Man, that's a heavy one!" He studied the spine. "Volume three. Did you read volumes one and two yet?"

"I jumped into the middle of the series."

"Jasper studied the Roman empire. If you can't read the big words, he might help you." His eyes lit up. "Do you want my mom to adopt you?"

She tightened her fists. "Do you think we're orphans?"

"Maybe." He stepped backward. "Don't worry. Mom stopped adopting kids after Dad left. But if she finds out you're alone, she'll have to report you."

"There's nothing to report. I just need Jenny's phone to call Delaina. She's the only one who can"—

"You're orphans," Jason said. "Everyone knows."

A seagull squawked in agreement. Foam curled around Brittany's toes, and she knew that high tide had come.

"Why don't you to go to Malisleet?" he asked. "Jenny will let you borrow her phone, if she hasn't wasted all her minutes on the Bangor boyfriend."

"How should I get there? Swim?"

"Hitch a ride with some fisherman." He shrugged. "Or try Alfred. He'll give you a free ride if you do his toenails."

With that, he was off, like a peaked wave melting into sand. Brittany gazed seaward into endless horizon, where the line between water and gray autumn sky was indistinguishable.

Decline and Fall dropped from her shivering arms. Three—no, five, six, seven—letters she had written to Daddy floated from the back insert, and she watched, helplessly, as the surf carried them to sea.

With her best pitching arm, Brittany flung her book into the water. Then, she turned her back on the ocean and trudged across the beach, toward Opal Mildred's house and the dense woods that led from her yard to the lighthouse and harbor.

Brittany was about to leave the island.