Sybil at Sixteen by Susan Beth Pfeffer Page A

likes that sort of thing.”
    â€œSam’s grandfather died an hour ago,” Evvie said.
    â€œOh, no,” Sybil said.
    â€œHe died an hour ago, and Sam wasn’t there with him because he only got released from jail at eight this morning,” Evvie continued. “He spent the night knowing his grandfather had had the heart attack, they managed to get that message to him all right, but they wouldn’t release him until this morning. He got the first flight he could to Saint Louis, and from there he’ll get a connecting flight to New York, but he won’t find out his grandfather died until after he gets to the hospital. His grandfather raised him, you know. His grandfather was the only father he ever really had.”
    â€œEvvie, I’m sorry,” Nick said. “Are you going to New York to meet him?”
    â€œThe story gets even better,” Evvie said. “It seems Linda Steinmetz wasn’t completely honest with Sam when she called. No reason why she should be; she’s never been honest with him in her life.”
    â€œHow was she dishonest?” Sybil asked, hoping that somehow she would be exonerated by Linda’s lie.
    â€œShe’s dying,” Evvie said, not to Sybil, maybe not even to Nick. “She’s past the point where she could survive surgery. She was so terrified of being caught she let her kidneys rot away, and now she’s suffering from uremic poisoning, and it’s only a matter of days before she dies. She called Sam from the hospital. She wanted to see him once before she died, and she was afraid if she told him the truth, he wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t bear the thought that if she said, ‘I’m dying, come out here so I can see you and die in peace,’ he would tell her no. It was easier for her to put up with his rejection if she asked something enormous of him, something he’d have every right to say no to. She said she wouldn’t even have disapproved if he had said no. It would have shown he was tough, and that would have gladdened her. But if he’d refused her her deathbed wish, then that would have shown he had no compassion, and she couldn’t have borne that. That’s what she told him when he met her at the hospital. She didn’t have much more time to talk with him because the police came almost immediately and arrested the two of them.”
    â€œDid they put her in jail, too?” Sybil asked.
    â€œYou don’t put someone with less than a week to live in jail,” Evvie said. “They moved her to a maximum security section the hospital has, and they have armed guards around her room, just in case she decides to make a break for it, which is pretty ridiculous, given how many wires she’s attached to, and how weak she is, and she isn’t allowed visitors. When Sam was released, he went to the hospital first, and they wouldn’t let him see her. He went from there to the airport, but he won’t get to see his grandfather, either.”
    â€œIt’s good he saw his mother,” Nick said. “Even if it was only for a few minutes. Take it from me. It helps to know what the person looks like, to hear their voice. It answers a lot of questions.”
    Evvie stared at her father. “I don’t believe you,” she said. “You sit there, acting as though you can identify with Sam, as though you have the vaguest idea of what he’s feeling. His universe has collapsed in just four days. He’s suffered losses so enormous that they can never be recovered. I love Sam and I always have and I always will, but I don’t delude myself that the Sam I love is going to be the same person coming back from San Diego today. Don’t you pretend you care. Don’t you pretend you understand. I won’t have that anymore.”
    Nick smiled. “I seem to be damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” he declared. “You wouldn’t be