“Okay. We’ll do it.” I held out my pinkie and he did the same. It was a handshake and a promise all at the same time.
Chapter 21
Gaze
PIXIE AND I walked over to the Central Station downtown after school, looking into ticket prices. Between the two of us, we could come up with the cash to get back-and-forth to Poughkeepsie. So our secret trip to save my dad and me was starting out great. Almost exciting. I wasn’t going to tell my dad. He was used to me being out. I got a bees nest in my stomach thinking about what would happen if he tried looking for me early in the day and I was nowhere to be found, but I had to ignore it and power forward. Enjoy the trip with Pixie. She had a skip in her step. She’d never really been out of the neighborhood. We were going to get to Poughkeepsie by 10:00 a.m., if the train was on time, so I thought we could go exploring a little before trying to find my mother’s parents’ place.
We peeked out our windows and waved. She didn’t have to sneak because her mom and Bic had left last night for a late flight.
But I did. It was easy enough because my father had made it to his room before passing out. I was able to time his snores with my steps and I was on the sidewalk with Pixie in no time. Pixie had her backpack with her.
“You headed to school instead?” I touched the strap.
She shook her head. “Amateur. We needed snacks and food and something to do on the train. It’s like an hour train ride.”
“Oh. That’s actually a good idea. Nice work.” She and I went over to the ticket machine and fed the right amount of dollars in to get two FastTrack cards with the right amount on them for us both to go to and from.
We felt like adults. And we had enough street smarts from this summer that we hoped we looked too clever to mess with. Well, at least Pixie did. She was snapping gum and watching for the train—totally in her element.
When the train pulled up, she and I navigated for a mostly empty car and took our seats facing the right direction. I let her have the window seat and then settled in for the long ride. It was pretty exciting when the car pulled away from the station, like an adventure. Pixie’s eyes were shining, so I knew she felt the same way I did.
After about ten minutes, I started pestering Pixie for food. “You know, I think I’m dying of starvation.”
She swung her head in my direction. “Did you eat any breakfast?”
“I didn’t want to wake up Bruce.” That part was true, but I also hit my snooze three times, so I clearly wasn’t that upset about it.
“Fine. You can have a snack.” She pulled out a little bag of goldfish for her and one for me.
We ate through those pretty quickly, and like a dam bursting open, once the lunch sack was breached, everything flooded out. Soon enough, we were staring at a bunch of empty wrappers and our breath smelled like peanut butter and our fingers were stained with Cheeto dust. She handed me a napkin.
We cleaned up and put everything back into the brown sack for the next time we saw a trash can.
“I don’t want to hear either of us complaining that we’re hungry when lunch rolls around.” Pixie was disgusted with herself and me.
“Oh, we’ll be complaining. No worries.” I patted her forearm and then pointed out the window to distract her. We were getting to less and less congested spots of the state. The woods and rivers enthralled her.
“It’s way less busy than our river.” Our river was more brown than blue and had a lot of trash along the edges.
“Yeah. I think stuff can live in it, too, way out here. I used to go fishing with my dad when I was little.” I felt the disappointment of losing that dad. The one that planned outings for us and made jokes.
She saw through me. “Maybe he’ll get better someday.”
I nodded, playing along. My hope never really wagged its tail when it came to my dad anymore, but I appreaciated her trying. Next, Pixie pulled out her music player and handed me one earphone. We listened to a few of her favorite songs and I watched her bop her head to the beat.
This part was easy. The next part, well, I wasn’t sure if there would even be a next part. Mom’s parents probably moved and we were headed on a pointless mission.
When the stop for Poughkeepsie was announced, we grabbed our stuff and headed off the train. There were a few groups on the platform and Pixie and I stepped to the side to let them pass us. We had to orientate ourselves. I had my dad’s map in my pocket, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure how to use it. Pixie was busy looking at a cardboard piano that was lying off to the side, and I had to capture her attention.
“I think this is the right street. I mean, it looks pretty close on here, but it might be a long walk.” I pointed out the station and the street with the same address as the piece of mail that had come to my apartment.
“It’s cooler up here. I like it. Let’s walk. Only one way to get where we’re going.”
And with that, we headed in what seemed like the right direction, and soon enough, we found signs that proved us wrong, so we turned around.
“We’re like two runaways,” I offered.
“Nah, runaways don’t come back. We’re come-back-aways.” She crinkled her eyes at me and I smiled. Man, she was up for anything. I was grateful to not be alone for this part. I was worried that my mom’s family might call the cops or something. Dad always said that they hated us. And this was really letting them know how bad it was. I was hoping they would have a heart. And a checkbook for me. If this didn’t work, I wasn’t sure where we were headed next. I got a shiver despite the heat.
“You all right?” Pixie kicked a rock off the sidewalk.
“Yeah. Just trying to figure out what to say.” I really had not gotten that far in my head yet. Just a general idea.
The neighborhood was getting more and more elegant as we walked. Sprinklers went off, watering perfect lawns. The houses appeared small compared to our buildings, but huge compared to what houses should be.
“There’s so much...space. Wow.” Pixie stopped to smell the literal flowers that were growing by a mailbox. It had my mom’s last name scrawled on the side. “Looks like this might be it.”
She put her arm around my shoulder as I took in the actual house. Huge columns like the White House. A circular driveway was dotted with pretty trees and more landscaping.
“They might actually be rich,” I observed out loud. Their house looked like it would be considered a mansion. There were even outbuildings. All the lights and fixtures were made of wrought iron and a stately look.
“Let’s see if they’re home.” Pixie pulled on my hand like we were going trick-or-treating, not crashing the family’s carefully protected bubble.
The two front doors towered over us, and it took a minute to locate the fancy doorbell. Pixie let me do the honors.
It sounded like a church bell was going off in the house. We waited so long I considered ringing it again. It swung open before we had the chance,
The woman that answered the door wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “Yes?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Pixie grabbed my hand.
“We have some questions about Sophie. Is there anyone here that can talk with us?”
It was the perfect way to word it, and I was grateful again for Pixie.