Part 10 (1/2)
A woman standing behind the register, her white hair in short beauty-parlor curls, looked them up and down skeptically, as though she was trying to decide if they were trouble. ”You can't track mud all over the place,” she said finally.
Zach could smell something frying in the back, and his stomach lurched with hunger.
”Sorry,” said Alice, taking a step forward, putting on her best acting face. ”We were out racing our sailboat and got really into it. A little too much, I guess. We just wanted to get something warm to eat before we go back. The water was really cold.”
The woman behind the register smiled, like the idea of healthy outdoor activity had made their mud-stained appearance wholesome. Or maybe she figured that kids with sailboats had money, however bad they looked. ”Well, okay, but you go dry off in the back first. Table for four?”
”Three,” Alice said, and the woman blinked in confusion.
Zach narrowed his eyes at the doll, hanging limply in Poppy's arms.
”Come on.” Poppy took Alice's arm and hauled her toward the bathrooms. As she walked she looked back at the white-haired woman at the register. ”Table for four is fine.”
Zach went into the men's bathroom. There was a row of three urinals and a single stall, all in baby-blue tile, with paintings of the Ohio River in the olden days hanging high on the walls. He walked over to the sinks, took off his shoes, and rinsed them off. Then he took off his jeans, wiped dirt and bits of gra.s.s from the cuffs, and tried to dry them the best he could with a combination of paper towels and a hand dryer.
Finally he wrung out his s.h.i.+rt over one of the sinks, hand-combed his wet hair, and put his jeans back on. They stuck to his legs, damp and chill. He looked back into the mirror, seeing a slightly sunburnt boy looking back at him, older than he remembered himself, with a familiar mess of brown-black hair and black eyes that seemed to say: I hope you know what you're doing.
When he left the bathroom, Alice and Poppy were already sitting in a banquette. They waved in his direction, and he slid in just as their waitress arrived.
She was only a little older than they were, with pink lipstick, blunt-cut black hair, and a nose ring. Handing over the menus, she paused to stare at the Queen, lolling beside Poppy.
”Your doll?” the waitress said, pointing. Dirt from the riverbed was in the grooves of her nose and mouth and was turning her blond ringlets into thick clumps. ”Superscary.”
”Oh, yeah,” said Alice, with a dark look in Poppy's direction. ”The scariest.”
The waitress smiled, handed them the menus, and walked off. Zach was just glad that it seemed like she was seeing a doll, instead of whatever Tinshoe Jones, the donut guy, and the lady at the register had seen. He pushed the thought out of his mind and studied the menu. They had twelve seventy-five that they could spend and still get homea”and that was budgeting on loaning Poppy a quarter for her bus fare.
There were biscuits and eggs in white sausage gravy with hash browns, maybe big enough for them to split two plates three ways, for five dollars. But there was also a turkey bacon club sandwich that came with fries and slaw for a little more than seven dollars, and if they got water with that instead of sodas, and figured on a tip of a dollar, they would still have money left over. And there was the three eggs with hash browns and toast for three ninety-fivea”just enough that they couldn't afford it all around.
There was a bowl of chili for two ninety-five that seemed promising. You could get a side of fries for another two fifty. Maybe if they got three orders of chili and one side of fries?
Thinking about what they could afford to eat was making his mouth water. If they didn't figure out something soon, he was going to order it all and have no way home.
”Be right back,” Alice said, and headed off toward the counter, leaving him alone at the table with Poppy.
”Maybe you should go after her,” Zach said. ”Talk.”
”Maybe you should go after her,” Poppy told him, pus.h.i.+ng loose strands of wet hair behind her ears.
Zach sighed. ”Don't be like that.”
”Don't be like what?” She stared at him unblinkingly. ”Are you going to tell me why you answered all those Questions and then lied about it? Why you wouldn't play even one more time?”
”I couldn't,” Zach said.
”That doesn't make any sense.” She folded her arms and balanced her chin on them, watching him.
”I know,” he said miserably. ”I thought it would be easiera””
He broke off as Alice came back to the table, holding a bottle of ketchup and another bottle of hot sauce. She opened her menu, scanning the prices.
”There are free refills on the sodas,” she said. ”We could get one and share it.”
”And be out a dollar seventy-five,” Zach said.
”I asked about the bus, too,” Alice said, not looking at any of them. ”Next one comes tomorrow, same time as today. I got directions to the stop. It's a couple miles from here.”
Zach wondered if it was closer to where they'd fallen into the river, whether they'd gone the wrong way, whether they could have made it after all, but he didn't ask. Poppy was silent, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. The Queen's dark eyes shone in her mud-streaked face, and Zach couldn't help thinking that everything was going exactly the way she wanted it to, even if he had no proof of that.
They were still studying the menu when the waitress came back around to take their drink order (tap water) and placed a basket of bread and margarine on the table. They fell on it, ripping apart the rolls, spreading them with margarine, and stuffing them into their mouths.
Zach felt better, having eaten something since the donut. Poppy and Alice must have felt better too, because they were able to agree on the chili and fries, which they devoured down to the last little burnt, ketchup-and-hot-sauce-covered crisp of fry.
”I'm so tired,” Alice said, putting her head down on the table. ”All the walking and the swimming and the being cold and miserable. I could go to sleep right here. Seriously, under this table. It would be more comfortable than sleeping on the ground was.”
”We're almost done,” Poppy said softly. ”We've almost made it.”
”I know,” Alice said, groaning. ”I'm stuck here, so I'm in for finis.h.i.+ng the quest. But are we seriously going to a cemetery at night and digging a grave?”
Zach looked out the window at the street. The sun was still in the sky, but it wouldn't be for long. Alice was right. By the time they figured out where they were going and actually got there, it would probably be pretty late.
”If we are going to go tonight, we need to get supplies,” said Zach. ”Something to dig with and a flashlight. All that stuff was in our backpacks, and now it's at the bottom of the Ohio River.”
Alice inhaled sharply, and Zach followed her gaze. She was staring at the doll. Its head was turned, like it was looking out the window. Poppy was looking in the same direction, mirroring the doll's pose perfectly.
”Poppy,” he said. ”Stop messing around.”
”What?” she turned back to look at them, like she was oblivious. He hadn't seen her turn the Queen's head toward the window, but she must have. The doll didn't move on its owna”had never left the case, needed them to bring it to the grave. It didn't move.
He really hoped it didn't move.
Except for that time in the woods.
”You know where we're going, right? You know which cemetery we're going to, right?” He thought back to the moment before they got on the bus back home and how he'd asked her almost the same thing. The grave is under a willow tree. Eleanor will tell us the rest.
Alice looked about to say something scathing.
Poppy nodded, not looking at either of them. ”Yeah.”
”You do, right?” Alice asked.
”Of course,” Poppy said, meeting their eyes, looking from Zach to Alice. ”I just need a map.”
Zach would have liked her to seem more confident, but then he would have liked her to stop being so crazy about the Queen and also maybe to stop acting like she might be occasionally possessed. Zach would have liked a lot of things.
They paid the check with everything but the bus fare home, dumping the grimy pennies from the bottom of their pockets on the other coins and bills. The waitress smiled at them on the way out, and Zach smiled back, even though he knew they were completely broke.
”Hey,” Alice said, reaching down past circulars and coupon flyers near the door to pick up a crude tourist map. It didn't have any graveyards on it, but it did have the pottery museum, a few antique pottery stores, and the Carnegie Library. ”Is this any good?”
”The library,” Zach said. ”They'll have really detailed maps. We could use this to get there.”