“Didn’t you say you were already there? Why not stay and see the fireworks?”
“Did you just—”
“Use your personal suffering as a joke to get you to come to the Lieber Falls Founders Day Festival? Yes. Yes. I did. Cause I’m bad…bad to the bone.”
He covered his mouth and shook his head as he stared at me bewildered.
“Malachi, I can make lame jokes all day.”
“Does it get lamer than that one?”
I tilted my head from side to side and pretended to crack my neck before clearing my throat singing, “Bad Boys, bad boys, whatcha—”
“Whatever it is she wants, give it to her before she sings more,” Pete said to Malachi as he walked over and picked up the plates from another table.
“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re an awful singer. Just awful,” Malachi muttered as he reached into his wallet and set a few bills onto the table…much more than was needed.
“You are hurtful. People love my voice.”
They all snickered, even Millie. I looked up at her feigning hurt and she bent her head and pretended to check the receipts in her hand.
“See?” Malachi leaned in so close to me that I jumped a little. But he didn’t seem to notice, instead, he looked between Millie and Pete. “They’re good people towards the front of the good people line…they don’t want to hurt your feelings. I, on the other hand, at the back of the line, feel that I must tell you that you sound like three cats who’ve been thrown into a washing machine and left to die.”
“HA!” Pete put his fist to his mouth as his body shook but he couldn’t hold back anymore and he erupted into laughter.
“Pete…Pete…stop…haha! Poor cats,” Millie giggled.
“Poor me!” I told them and they laughed harder.
Pete finally managed to compose himself as he looked at Malachi teary-eyed. “Why three though?”
“Her pitch changes…ahh…uoooo...ieee… One creature can’t make all of those sounds.”
At this point Pete was going to bust his gut.
“Okay. Sure. Make fun of me. I don’t care. I’ll sing if I want to!” I muttered as I marched towards the glass doors of the diner.
But when I looked back at Pete talking to Malachi I couldn’t help but smile. At least they didn’t think he was a freak. I could handle being the butt of the joke for today… only today. I’d get my revenge on him soon.
12. UN-SAVEABLE
ESTHER
“Wow,” I whispered looking up at all the stars which shone in the moonless sky like diamonds over black silk, while the lake, which was slowly starting to freeze over, lay before me. On the edge of the beach, the waters had already iced over. Had it been silent, the beauty would have been immense, but all of the town had converged on the lake and small campfires dotted the circumference of its shores.
I felt the blanket fall over my shoulder before I heard his voice. “You like it?”
“David? Hey.” I looked up to him. He was out of his police uniform, and like most of us, he was bundled up with a red hat that covered his blond hair. He kicked his foot over the log and sat beside me as he cracked his beer can open and took a long drink. He already reeked of whatever it was that he’d been drinking and it started to give me a headache.
“Ah…” He shook his head and licked his cold, chapped lips as he handed it to me. “Want some? This will warm you up good.”
“No thanks.” I nodded to the fire a few feet from me. The whole town was bundling together and drinking in an effort to keep warm. As soon as the sun went down the air was filled with ice and a wicked chill took over the night. If it weren’t for heat packs they were handing out to everyone my fingers would have gone numb by now.
“Seriously, it’s good, have—”
“She’s good.” I turned to see Malachi standing a few feet away from us. Over his left arm he held my quilt and in his right hand a silver flask. I’d asked him to bring me my quilt since he’d gone back to the house to get changed but I hadn’t asked for the drink, not that I minded. He now stood in jeans, boots and a dark blue wool jacket and the flames of the fire flickered in the reflection of his eyes as he looked at us. “Officer.”