Pork Read online

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s wrong, that’s why. How long has he been doing this to you?”

  Pork shrugged.

  “So these bruises—did he hit you when you refused to rub his…” Steven was embarrassed to say the word. “Snake?”

  She nodded, chewing. “Pork tired so no rub papa snake. Papa angry. Papa beat Pork.”

  Steven’s heart swelled with love for the innocent little girl and he instinctively hugged her. “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  “Why?” she asked when he released her.

  Steven smiled and caressed her cheek. “Pork, I don’t want you to go back there.”

  “Papa angry again.”

  “It’s okay. You won’t be there to see him get angry. I’d like you to stay with me, here. Would you like that?” Pork thought about it for a few minutes, still enjoying the cherries. Finally, she nodded. “Good girl.” He caressed her cheek again and she smiled. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll take care of both of us. I promise.” He hugged her again.

  Still in his embrace, Pork turned her head and pointed toward Mildred.

  “Mildred?” she asked.

  “Yes. Mildred too.” Steven smiled.

  ***

  The following morning, Steven was bursting to share the news of Pork’s safe return with Sandy. He was sure she’d be thrilled to know that Pork was fine. But he dreaded telling her what Pork’s pa had done. Sandy would surely think it was dangerous for him to get involved. Steven went to drop by the tree house with a container full of sandwiches, then arrived at school about ten minutes earlier than usual. Sandy’s seat was empty, however.

  “Where’s Sandy?” he asked Molly.

  “Sandy’s been sick. It’ll be a few days before she can come to school.”

  “Why? What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know. I just know she hasn’t been feeling well. A fever or something.”

  Feeling a little disappointed, Steven took his seat at the back of the class and tried hard to pay attention to Ms. Clapthorne’s lesson.

  ***

  After school, Steven went to visit Sandy before heading to the tree house. He walked up the marble stairs and rapped on the door with the brass knocker. Moments later, Nanny Gwen opened the door. She looked exactly the way she had before: thick makeup, black uniform, generous smile.

  “Hi, Nanny Gwen. I heard Sandy isn’t feeling well. Can I come in and see her?”

  “Hi, Steven. Of course. Come on in.” She pulled the door open wider and gestured for him to enter. Steven stepped inside, and Nanny Gwen accompanied him up the stairs. “I think it will be good for her to see a friend. Might help cheer her up a little. She just had her lunch about half an hour ago, so she might still be awake.”

  Steven nodded. Nanny Gwen opened Sandy’s door and then closed it silently behind him. Steven scanned the room and even peeked in the luxurious TV room, but there was no sign of Sandy. He didn’t see her until he moved closer to the bed. Sandy was sleeping, her small frame sunk into the plush mattress and pillows. A thick blanket covered all of her except for her pale, lifeless face.

  Steven stood still and watched her chest rise and fall, afraid to wake her up. Suddenly, he felt awkward, standing there with nothing to do except stare at her. He could walk around the suite and look at some of her things, or sit in one of her fine chairs, but that felt like an invasion of her privacy. He watched her sleep from where he stood for a few more minutes, then turned around and left the room.

  “Did you manage to speak to her?” Nanny Gwen asked as he came down the stairs.

  “She’s asleep. I didn’t want to wake her up. I’ll come some other time. Can you please tell her I came by?”

  “Sure,” she said, opening the front door. “Take care, now.”

  Steven’s steps lacked their usual bounce as he walked to his tree house. He had wanted to share with Sandy the news about Pork, but seeing her like that made him unhappy. He shook his head. She had to get better soon. He remembered how Pork had agreed to stay at the tree house, and the curve of his lips lifted. Now he would be able to make sure she was always safe.

  While Steven was at school, Pork had gathered cherries, fed Mildred, and washed herself in the creek. Steven took out his containers as soon as he got up the ladder, and they ate together before he sprawled on the floor to do his homework. When both he and Pork grew bored, he played his guitar. Pork hummed along and tapped her feet to the melody. Just before he left for the day, Steven handed Pork a small, tattered blanket his momma had kept in the cupboard. It was his when he was young, and he had taken it without asking his momma so Pork could keep warm at night. She took it with a smile and curled up with it on the floor right away.

  ***

  When Steven went to the tree house the following day, he had a plan. He wanted to teach Pork something new. Something he knew she’d be interested in. He climbed up the ladder and found her playing with Mildred. She got up off the floor and placed Mildred in her nest when she saw him. He dropped his bag on the floor and removed the food containers. Pork sat in front of him expectantly.

  “Here,” Steven said. “It’s peanut butter today.”

  Pork nodded and opened the container. She was never picky about what kind of sandwich he brought. Steven watched her eat and opened another container for himself.

  “Have you ever played any games, Pork?”

  Pork paused her eating. Her eyebrows came together. “Play?”

  “Yeah. Like games. Hide-and-seek, tag, you know.”

  Pork jutted her lower lip and shook her head.

  “Would you like to play?”

  She smiled.

  “Good. Let’s finish this, and then we can go down and I’ll teach you how to play a game.”

  Pork nodded.

  Ten minutes later, they had finished their sandwiches and were standing in the middle of the clearing below. Pork was excited, smiling and bunching up the corner of her t-shirt in her hand while she bounced from foot to foot. Steven crouched on the ground, drawing boxes in the dirt with a stick and numbering them. Pork licked her lips and watched him work. When he was done, he got up and picked up a smooth pebble from the bed of the creek.

  “Okay, now we can start playing,” he said. Pork smiled again. “This game is called hopscotch. Can you say it?”

  “Hosotch.”

  Steven laughed, and Pork smiled shyly.

  “Okay, Pork. Hosotch it is. Now the way you play hosotch is by hopping. Can you hop?” Steven asked, hopping on one leg to demonstrate. Pork hopped too, giggling. “Good. That’s perfect. So when we start, you throw this pebble here on the first square. Make sure you throw it nice and easy in the middle. If it hits the lines or bounces off the square, you’re out. Get it?” Pork nodded. “Good. Once you have the pebble in the first square, you start by hopping over the first square and into the second square. You hop over square one because your pebble is in square one. And then you continue hopping all the way to square number nine. Again, you mustn’t step on any of the lines or outside the lines. You can’t use both legs either, except when you reach squares four and five, and seven and eight. Because they’re side by side, you can stand on both legs on these squares. Let me show you.”

  Steven threw the pebble into square one, hopped to square two, then all the way to square nine, landing on both feet in squares four and five and seven and eight.

  “From square nine, you have to turn around and hop all the way back to square two in exactly the same way you arrived.” Steven did a demo, and paused on one leg in square two. “Now, you pick up the pebble, hop into square one, and then hop out,” he said while doing it. “So that’s it. Then you throw the pebble into square two and repeat the same thing again, hopping over square two. Get it?” Pork smiled sheepishly. “Why don’t you try it? Here’s the pebble,” he said, handing it to her.

  Pork took it and tossed it into square one, but the pebble bounced and landed outside the square. Pork gasped, her hand
s over her mouth and her shoulders raised. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at Steven. He smiled.

  “It’s okay. Try again,” he said, picking up the pebble and handing it to her again. “Be gentler when you toss it.” Pork tried again, and this time it landed in the square. She grinned and hopped into square two, then went all the way to square nine as he had taught her. On her way back, she stumbled on square six and fell face down. Steven rushed to help her up, but found her sitting and laughing at her own misfortune. Steven, who was worried she might have hurt herself, couldn’t help himself from laughing too as his heart swelled.

  When Pork finally composed herself, she got up and they continued with the game. They shrieked and squealed from time to time, enjoying the suspense when either of them seemed as if they’d lost their balance and tried to steady themselves. They passed a few hours this way before Steven decided it was time for him to do his homework.

  “Did you like playing hosotch?” He asked. Pork nodded. “We can play again tomorrow if you’d like.” Pork nodded again, then rubbed the lines off the ground with her bare foot before heading up to the tree house again.

  ***

  Two days later, Steven went to Sandy’s house again after school. He had been missing her, especially during lunch break, and looked forward to seeing her again. He kept his fingers crossed that she was feeling better. As he turned onto the main street, he spotted a bright poster thumbtacked to a tree. His heartbeat picked up pace and his armpits felt sticky. The word “MISSING” was printed in bold capital letters, and there was a black-and-white photo underneath it. A missing persons poster. Steven’s mouth went dry and he said a little prayer: Please don’t let it be for Pork.

  In a small town like Halstead, news of kidnappings, death, accidents, and other juicy gossip traveled fast. The grapevine usually did an effective job of improvising on the actual story with extra macabre details as it went from one person to the next; by the time the last person in town heard it, the story was often so convoluted and stretched it no longer had any resemblance whatsoever to reality. Fortunately, Steven was shielded from all of that for two reasons: One, he hardly spoke to anyone other than his momma and Sandy, and occasionally the schoolteachers. None of them spoke to him about town gossip. Two, even if he had wanted a more trustworthy account of a real story, he had no TV to watch the news on, and his momma never bought newspapers.

  When he finally got close to the poster stuck to the tree, he was relieved to find it was for a little girl by the name of Emily Doyne, from the next county over. The girl looked much older and chubbier than Pork, and she had blond hair. Steven breathed easy and thanked God before crossing the street again.

  Although things were fine and nobody had come looking for Pork, Steven still got anxious about it from time to time. Sometimes, he’d run to the tree house in a state of panic just to make sure Pork’s pa hadn’t come and found her. But so far, she’d always been there, either down by the creek or up in the tree house, playing with Mildred.

  When Steven finally reached Sandy’s house, he saw an ambulance in her yard and his heart picked up pace again. He ran the final few yards and reached the marble stairs just as the paramedics wheeled Sandy out on a stretcher.

  “Sandy!” he called out and she glanced at him. An oxygen mask was strapped to her face and she looked pale. She smiled weakly as they brought her down the stairs and loaded her into the ambulance. Nanny Gwen locked the doors and looked up to find Steven staring dumbly at the paramedics as they shut the ambulance door.

  “Oh hi, Steven.”

  Steven turned around and said, “Nanny Gwen. What happened?”

  “Nothing happened, Steven. She’s just weak, and the doctors think she’ll get better sooner if they keep her at the hospital for a few days. We’re taking her to Halstead Care.”

  “Why?” Steven couldn’t understand it. The ambulance’s engine roared to life.

  “Sandy hasn’t been eating well and her temperature’s high. So the doctors are going to do some tests and try to curb the fever. Don’t worry. She’s going to be fine. I promise she’ll be back in no time, and you can visit her again soon.”

  With that, Nanny Gwen smiled and got into a shiny red car. Steven stared at the two vehicles pulling out and walked out of the yard slowly, his shoulders drooping. He made his way to the tree house, wondering why he’d never seen Sandy’s parents. He decided to come back to her house in a couple of days to make sure she was all right.

  At the tree house, Steven dropped his bag on the floor and stretched out on a ledge. He had been startled too many times today and felt weary. Pork was lying on the floor, humming a soft tune.

  “Pork, can you open my backpack and help yourself to the sandwich? I’m so tired.”

  Pork rolled to her side, got up, and scratched her nose briefly before opening his backpack. She took out the containers and laid them on the floor.

  “Pork, I’m thinking about going back to work at Bob’s Garage during summer break,” Steven said as Pork bit into a sandwich. “He pays okay. Plus the customers tip, and Uncle Bob sometimes shares it with the car wash crew. With a little bit of money, we can buy you a new t-shirt and panties. And we can eat better food, too. What do you think?” Pork nodded absentmindedly, and Steven took it as approval.

  ***

  Halstead Care was in the city, and Steven had no means of getting there by himself. But he had been thinking about Sandy a lot, wondering how she was doing. So after three days, he went to her house again. Thankfully, she had already been discharged and was convalescing at home. Nanny Gwen smiled as usual and let him into her room.

  “Hi,” he said tentatively. Sandy looked better, but not much. Her skin was still pallid, she seemed weak, and the usual sparkle in her eyes was missing. Even her red hair had lost some of its fire. She took a puff from her inhaler and smiled weakly at him.

  “Hi, Steven.”

  “Are you feeling better?”

  “I think so. My temperature is back to normal but I still feel weak.”

  Steven tried to think of the right thing to say. Finally he said, “I guess if you eat and drink enough, you’ll be all right.”

  Sandy nodded. Steven wondered if he should tell her about Pork’s return, but decided against it. It wasn’t the right time. Instead, he looked around her room nervously.

  “Did I miss a lot at school?” Sandy asked.

  “Nah. Just the usual boring stuff. We’re going to break for summer soon anyways,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah. My parents want me to attend summer camp.”

  “I see.” Once again, he briefly wondered about her parents before adding, “I’m planning to work at Bob’s for the summer.”

  “That’s great,” Sandy said and closed her eyes. She seemed exhausted, and Steven felt bad for bothering her.

  “I should get going. I just came to say hi and make sure you’re all right. I’ll see you again soon, okay?”

  Sandy nodded without opening her eyes. A minute later, she was fast asleep.

  ***

  Three days later, Sandy came back to school. It was just two days before school was set to break for summer. She looked fragile, but at least her skin was rosy. Steven was excited when he saw her standing next to Molly in the hall.

  “Hi, Sandy. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thanks.” She smiled. “The doctors said I caught some bug. Thank God for Nanny Gwen. She took care of me and made me chicken soup every day until I got better.”

  “Where were your parents?”

  “Oh, they had just gone to Europe when I got sick. They called the doctor and instructed Nanny Gwen to take good care of me.”

  Steven nodded and stared at her desk. “Would you like to have lunch with me later?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Steven went to his seat. He had to tell Sandy everything. Maybe today would be a good time. She was his friend. But he couldn’t imagine how she’d react when he told her Pork was staying with him at the tree h
ouse. More importantly, she had to keep it a secret, regardless of her personal feelings about the matter. Pork’s life and his own could be in danger if she told anyone.

  When they finally sat down on the bench for lunch, Steven could not hold himself back and told Sandy everything she’d missed. He told her about Pork’s return, the abuse, how he’d asked her to stay at the tree house, and his true reason for wanting to work at Bob’s during summer break. Sandy listened without emotion. Steven found it difficult to read her mind.

  “What do you think?” he asked when he’d finished.

  “If he really was abusing her, don’t you think it’s best to report it to the police?” Sandy asked.

  Steven wondered how he could reason with her. Ever since what happened to his momma, he didn’t like the police very much. Going to them would mean a lot of embarrassing questions for Pork, and she might not be able to answer them. Besides, what guarantee was there that she’d be well taken care of?

  “I think it’s better this way,” he said.

  “Well, then, you should go ahead with it,” Sandy sulked.

  “Look, the police would ask a lot of questions and I don’t think they’d arrest her pa.”

  “Why? Why do you think that?”

  Steven shrugged. “I don’t know why. I just do.”

  “How long do you think you can keep her safe there, Stevie? Hmmm? Sooner or later someone’s going to find out about your tree house, and they’ll be looking at you when they find her. What will you do then?”

  “The house was abandoned for years before I found it. No one’s going to find out. I really think it’s the safest place for her right now.”

  “What about her education? What if she gets sick, Stevie?”

  “I told you, I’m going to work at Bob’s. I can take care of her, Sandy. She doesn’t want to go to school like you and me.”

  “What about your momma?”

  “What about her?”

  “Well, aren’t you going to tell her?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Why not?”

  “Momma won’t understand this, Sandy. She just won’t.” Steven was growing increasingly disappointed with Sandy’s stupid questions. Why couldn’t she see how delicate the situation was? His momma would skin him alive if she found out her underage son had been harboring another underage child.