everything on Mary Bell? She blamed her for stealing Garnett. She blamedher for having the baby that made him drop out of community college. That's right, the same baby that got him locked up. She even blamed Mary Bell's genes for being so strong that, upon seeing me, most folks couldn't figure out what Garnett had to do with it. I looked that much like my mother. But most of all, she blamed Mary Bell for what happened to Garnett on the inside.
I believe that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Granny Clotkin was nut up. What happened to Garnett was my fault, Fish. His dying the way he did happened because of
me
, not my Mary Bell.
Walking back from Homer's house that day, I was full, not just of J-Cat, but of Homer's news, too. Another idea had caught in his head, one that would make me as happy as it would make him to walk again. And just because he knew nothing short of a miracle could make his dream come true didn't stop Homer Price from helping me realize mine.
And that, Fish, is the true meaning of a road dog.
Part 3
Lost
It was much harder to find their way back through the big fields of buttercups and yellow daisies than it was being carried. They knew, of course, they must go straight east, toward the rising sun; and they started off in the right way. But at noon, when the sun was over their heads, they did not know which was east and which was west, and that was the reason they were lost in the great fields.
—
The Wizard of Oz
Chapter 16
It was a sentence Beau had tossed off in passing that had snagged Homer's imagination, just like when I'd read that bit about trees absorbing energy. Something about the telephone answering system for the Wisconsin State Lottery.
What difference did it make to the price of tea in China, I wondered, that Wisconsin had an 800 number for buying lotto tickets? This was Michigan, not Wisconsin, and you could buy Quick Picks or the Daily Double at every gas station and drugstore in town.
But Homer was way ahead of me, seeing as the whole time I was rescuing Spooner from the pond and messing with the new teacher's art suppliesand almost sending Violet Chump to her eternal reward, he was putting things together in his mind.
“First I had to make sure what Beau told me was right before I said anything. Then I had to call myself. Well, I had the maternal unit call. Wisconsin is very progressive, Harry Sue. Even lumps like me, with a valid credit card, can participate in legalized gambling.”
“Yeah, but why?” I wanted to know. “Your mom could just snag you a Daily Double at the gas station.”
Homer smiled. He loved the dramatic pause.
“Well, not every lump has people to do his bidding. If your granny were laid up here, you think there'd be someone to wait on her? Maybe it's for people outside the state to call in their choices.
I don't know
, Harry Sue. Let's return to what matters here. What matters isn't that there is a telephone ordering system. There is. What matters is that every telephone operator in the Wisconsin State Lottery is a conette.”
Homer stopped one more time before he put it together for me. “There's a wealth of information to be gleaned here.”
“You're playing me, Homes.”
“No, this is for real, Harry Sue.”
“They let those conettes have credit card numbers?”
“There are safeguards in place. Besides, youthink they could have porch furniture from Land's End delivered to their cell block? What's a conette going to buy?”
“How about presents for her kids?”
“Well, the point is, they thought of all that,” Homer said grumpily because, once again, we weren't going in the direction he wanted to. “They can't make any calls out.”
I was about to argue they could memorize the numbers and pass them on to relatives. Let's face it. It's in my blood to know these things. But I didn't want to make Homer cross, so I let him go on with his story.
Well, almost. As he sat there, chewing his lip and waiting for me to jump on
I believe that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Granny Clotkin was nut up. What happened to Garnett was my fault, Fish. His dying the way he did happened because of
me
, not my Mary Bell.
Walking back from Homer's house that day, I was full, not just of J-Cat, but of Homer's news, too. Another idea had caught in his head, one that would make me as happy as it would make him to walk again. And just because he knew nothing short of a miracle could make his dream come true didn't stop Homer Price from helping me realize mine.
And that, Fish, is the true meaning of a road dog.
Part 3
Lost
It was much harder to find their way back through the big fields of buttercups and yellow daisies than it was being carried. They knew, of course, they must go straight east, toward the rising sun; and they started off in the right way. But at noon, when the sun was over their heads, they did not know which was east and which was west, and that was the reason they were lost in the great fields.
—
The Wizard of Oz
Chapter 16
It was a sentence Beau had tossed off in passing that had snagged Homer's imagination, just like when I'd read that bit about trees absorbing energy. Something about the telephone answering system for the Wisconsin State Lottery.
What difference did it make to the price of tea in China, I wondered, that Wisconsin had an 800 number for buying lotto tickets? This was Michigan, not Wisconsin, and you could buy Quick Picks or the Daily Double at every gas station and drugstore in town.
But Homer was way ahead of me, seeing as the whole time I was rescuing Spooner from the pond and messing with the new teacher's art suppliesand almost sending Violet Chump to her eternal reward, he was putting things together in his mind.
“First I had to make sure what Beau told me was right before I said anything. Then I had to call myself. Well, I had the maternal unit call. Wisconsin is very progressive, Harry Sue. Even lumps like me, with a valid credit card, can participate in legalized gambling.”
“Yeah, but why?” I wanted to know. “Your mom could just snag you a Daily Double at the gas station.”
Homer smiled. He loved the dramatic pause.
“Well, not every lump has people to do his bidding. If your granny were laid up here, you think there'd be someone to wait on her? Maybe it's for people outside the state to call in their choices.
I don't know
, Harry Sue. Let's return to what matters here. What matters isn't that there is a telephone ordering system. There is. What matters is that every telephone operator in the Wisconsin State Lottery is a conette.”
Homer stopped one more time before he put it together for me. “There's a wealth of information to be gleaned here.”
“You're playing me, Homes.”
“No, this is for real, Harry Sue.”
“They let those conettes have credit card numbers?”
“There are safeguards in place. Besides, youthink they could have porch furniture from Land's End delivered to their cell block? What's a conette going to buy?”
“How about presents for her kids?”
“Well, the point is, they thought of all that,” Homer said grumpily because, once again, we weren't going in the direction he wanted to. “They can't make any calls out.”
I was about to argue they could memorize the numbers and pass them on to relatives. Let's face it. It's in my blood to know these things. But I didn't want to make Homer cross, so I let him go on with his story.
Well, almost. As he sat there, chewing his lip and waiting for me to jump on
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