asked. “We’re going to . . . we’re going to watch out for the girls?”
“We’re going to be guardians,” I said.
“Like a secret club,” Ronald Duggan piped up. “We can call ourselves that. We can call ourselves the Guardians.”
“Name don’t mean a thing,” Daniel said. His voice cracked mid-sentence. “Don’t matter what you’re called. Matters what you do . . . that’s all.”
“The Guardians,” Michael said. “That’s what we are . . . and we should take an oath. We should do that thing where you . . . where you . . . you know that thing?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Maurice asked. He frowned and scowled simultaneously; looked like someone had sewn his eyebrows together across the bridge of his nose.
“The blood brother thing,” Michael replied, “Where you cut your hand and press your palms together, and then you make an oath about what you’re going to do.”
“Nobody’s going to be cutting anybody’s hands,” I said.
“We should,” Daniel said. He spoke quietly, his voice almost lost in the back of his throat. “We should do it because it means something, and because this is important, Joseph. My sister was killed by this . . . this boogeyman.”
“Lord God almighty, you’ve been talking to Hans Kruger,” I said. “It ain’t no boogeyman. There’s no such thing as a darn boogeyman.”
“Just a name,” Daniel replied. “Name don’t mean anything. We call ourselves the Guardians, we call him the boogeyman. Just names, that’s all. Means we know what we’re talking about, nothing more. And we should do something to show we’re all in this together. I think we should do this, and we should make an oath, and then we should work out what we’re going to do so this doesn’t happen again.”
Hans Kruger had a penknife. Blade no more than two inches long, but it was sharp. “Have a stone, and I work it on the stone until it can cut paper longways,” he said. He held out his hand, and when he drew the edge of the blade across the soft pad beneath his thumb, he squealed. Blood followed the line of the knife, and within a few seconds it had crept along the creases of his palm.
I took the knife. I held it for a second. I pressed the blade against my palm, closed my eyes, gritted my teeth. It felt like nothing at first, and then a sharp needle of pain lanced through me. I saw blood, and for a moment felt faint.
Each in turn, one after the other, and then we pressed our palms together.
“Gonna die of blood poisoning,” Maurice Fricker said. “Darn crazy fool kids the lot of you.” But when we held our hands out ahead of us, each of us bleeding, there was a grim determination in his expression that told me he believed in what we were doing.
“We make an oath,” I said “We make an oath to protect the little girls—”
“Elena,” Hans Kruger said.
Michael Duggan looked up. “And Sheralyn Williams . . . and Mary.”
“And my sister,” Ronald Duggan added.
“Your sister?” Daniel said. “Your sister’s nineteen. She rooms in a three-decker and works in the post office in Race Pond.”
“We watch over all of them,” I said. “We the Guardians hereby promise to watch over all of them, and we promise to keep our eyes and ears open at all times, and we promise to stay up late and watch the roads and fields and—”
“And meet every night right here,” Hans said. “And then we go out and patrol the town and make sure that nothing happens—”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “What the hell’s gotten into you? These girls weren’t taken from their beds. They were taken in broad daylight, taken from right under our noses and killed where anybody could have seen them.”
“Which means that it must have been someone they knew, right?” Ronald said. “Otherwise they would have run away. They all know well enough to stay away from strangers.”
There was a cool silence. Everyone looked at everyone else in turn. I
“We’re going to be guardians,” I said.
“Like a secret club,” Ronald Duggan piped up. “We can call ourselves that. We can call ourselves the Guardians.”
“Name don’t mean a thing,” Daniel said. His voice cracked mid-sentence. “Don’t matter what you’re called. Matters what you do . . . that’s all.”
“The Guardians,” Michael said. “That’s what we are . . . and we should take an oath. We should do that thing where you . . . where you . . . you know that thing?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Maurice asked. He frowned and scowled simultaneously; looked like someone had sewn his eyebrows together across the bridge of his nose.
“The blood brother thing,” Michael replied, “Where you cut your hand and press your palms together, and then you make an oath about what you’re going to do.”
“Nobody’s going to be cutting anybody’s hands,” I said.
“We should,” Daniel said. He spoke quietly, his voice almost lost in the back of his throat. “We should do it because it means something, and because this is important, Joseph. My sister was killed by this . . . this boogeyman.”
“Lord God almighty, you’ve been talking to Hans Kruger,” I said. “It ain’t no boogeyman. There’s no such thing as a darn boogeyman.”
“Just a name,” Daniel replied. “Name don’t mean anything. We call ourselves the Guardians, we call him the boogeyman. Just names, that’s all. Means we know what we’re talking about, nothing more. And we should do something to show we’re all in this together. I think we should do this, and we should make an oath, and then we should work out what we’re going to do so this doesn’t happen again.”
Hans Kruger had a penknife. Blade no more than two inches long, but it was sharp. “Have a stone, and I work it on the stone until it can cut paper longways,” he said. He held out his hand, and when he drew the edge of the blade across the soft pad beneath his thumb, he squealed. Blood followed the line of the knife, and within a few seconds it had crept along the creases of his palm.
I took the knife. I held it for a second. I pressed the blade against my palm, closed my eyes, gritted my teeth. It felt like nothing at first, and then a sharp needle of pain lanced through me. I saw blood, and for a moment felt faint.
Each in turn, one after the other, and then we pressed our palms together.
“Gonna die of blood poisoning,” Maurice Fricker said. “Darn crazy fool kids the lot of you.” But when we held our hands out ahead of us, each of us bleeding, there was a grim determination in his expression that told me he believed in what we were doing.
“We make an oath,” I said “We make an oath to protect the little girls—”
“Elena,” Hans Kruger said.
Michael Duggan looked up. “And Sheralyn Williams . . . and Mary.”
“And my sister,” Ronald Duggan added.
“Your sister?” Daniel said. “Your sister’s nineteen. She rooms in a three-decker and works in the post office in Race Pond.”
“We watch over all of them,” I said. “We the Guardians hereby promise to watch over all of them, and we promise to keep our eyes and ears open at all times, and we promise to stay up late and watch the roads and fields and—”
“And meet every night right here,” Hans said. “And then we go out and patrol the town and make sure that nothing happens—”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “What the hell’s gotten into you? These girls weren’t taken from their beds. They were taken in broad daylight, taken from right under our noses and killed where anybody could have seen them.”
“Which means that it must have been someone they knew, right?” Ronald said. “Otherwise they would have run away. They all know well enough to stay away from strangers.”
There was a cool silence. Everyone looked at everyone else in turn. I
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