way.
My mom wants a different babysitter.
Your dad’s a creepo, that’s why, I said.
My cousin drowned when I was two, David said, that’s why I have to do swimming lessons until I’m eighteen.
Well, my friend didn’t get drowned, I said. Someone stole her off the street and killed her and left her body in a park.
The Penetang Maniac, David said.
No, I said. It wasn’t. It was just a regular maniac and they never caught him. It was the Unknown Maniac. It was the Maniac Who Won.
David considered this a moment.
I hate getting in the car with your dad, I said. I wish my dad would come pick me up.
We sucked on our spoons. I thought about, How mad will his parents be to find David still awake when they get home? versus, How freaked will I be if I have to sit down here alone?
Am I going to get in trouble for letting you stay up late? I said.
We’ll see the headlights, David said. I’ll just run up when I see the headlights and pretend to be asleep. That way I don’t have to see them. He stopped for a minute. Are you afraid of my dad? Is that what you mean, about getting in the car with him?
I’m not afraid of your dad. He’s just creepy. He’s always asking me stuff like we’re pals.
It’s okay if you are. My mom is. My mom’s afraid of him. He makes her cry a lot. David had his eyes down and he scraped back and forth against the ice-cream bowl with his spoon.
My mom’s not really a crier, I said.
Yeah. Your parents aren’t like mine.
They fight, I said. I mustered up all my kindly babysitter tone for this. Everyone’s parents fight sometimes.
Nah. Not like this. My dad does some stuff downstairs. Davidstopped for a moment. He takes pictures of girls, right? He says it’s like a job. I’m not allowed to tell my mom but sometimes she finds out. They scream and scream at each other, like he’s pulling her hair or something.
David had the spoon wrapped in his hand and he stabbed away inside the empty bowl and didn’t look at me.
But he’s not pulling her hair, right? I said. Not actually.
I thought of my own father, who was probably doing a crossword puzzle in front of the hockey game at home.
I don’t know, David said. Sometimes he gets mad. I mean, I get hit. I guess just like any dad hits a kid. This one time he pushed my mother and she fell down the stairs, but he ran right down after her to make sure she was okay. David set the bowl down on the floor and it rolled to one side because the carpet was so soft.
I should stop him, he said. When he yells like that. My mother cries so hard. I should do something, but I just stay upstairs.
I’m sorry, I said. David looked up.
I’d save you, Evie, he said. If anyone ever tried to hurt you.
Even if they were pulling my hair? I flipped my bangs. I have extra nice hair, you know.
Especially that. David dropped the spoon and it clinked in the bowl. Except my hair might be nicer than yours. He shook his head around. Seriously, check it out.
I put my own empty bowl down on the carpet and leaned in.
The Penetang Maniac was up in jail at Penetanguishene, I said. He was in the part of the jail that’s for the criminally insane. I heard this story when I was camping up near Midland, I said. So imagine we’re out in a tent.
I can make us a tent, David said.
It doesn’t matter. I picked up my spoon and held it out in front of me. He has a sharpened hook on one arm instead of a hand, I said. He can slice a tent open. After he escaped they found him in the woods, huddled over a deer, eating its guts raw. He had to lead them to the bodies. He’d chopped them up that small.
David sucked on his teeth. He was wearing pajamas with cars on them. I was wearing jeans and shoes inside the house, like a grown-up.
If you have to get into this kind of competition, you want to make sure you win.
E ventually even David’s parents had to admit he was too old for me to be babysitting him. When he was twelve they split up. For a while he barely saw his
My mom wants a different babysitter.
Your dad’s a creepo, that’s why, I said.
My cousin drowned when I was two, David said, that’s why I have to do swimming lessons until I’m eighteen.
Well, my friend didn’t get drowned, I said. Someone stole her off the street and killed her and left her body in a park.
The Penetang Maniac, David said.
No, I said. It wasn’t. It was just a regular maniac and they never caught him. It was the Unknown Maniac. It was the Maniac Who Won.
David considered this a moment.
I hate getting in the car with your dad, I said. I wish my dad would come pick me up.
We sucked on our spoons. I thought about, How mad will his parents be to find David still awake when they get home? versus, How freaked will I be if I have to sit down here alone?
Am I going to get in trouble for letting you stay up late? I said.
We’ll see the headlights, David said. I’ll just run up when I see the headlights and pretend to be asleep. That way I don’t have to see them. He stopped for a minute. Are you afraid of my dad? Is that what you mean, about getting in the car with him?
I’m not afraid of your dad. He’s just creepy. He’s always asking me stuff like we’re pals.
It’s okay if you are. My mom is. My mom’s afraid of him. He makes her cry a lot. David had his eyes down and he scraped back and forth against the ice-cream bowl with his spoon.
My mom’s not really a crier, I said.
Yeah. Your parents aren’t like mine.
They fight, I said. I mustered up all my kindly babysitter tone for this. Everyone’s parents fight sometimes.
Nah. Not like this. My dad does some stuff downstairs. Davidstopped for a moment. He takes pictures of girls, right? He says it’s like a job. I’m not allowed to tell my mom but sometimes she finds out. They scream and scream at each other, like he’s pulling her hair or something.
David had the spoon wrapped in his hand and he stabbed away inside the empty bowl and didn’t look at me.
But he’s not pulling her hair, right? I said. Not actually.
I thought of my own father, who was probably doing a crossword puzzle in front of the hockey game at home.
I don’t know, David said. Sometimes he gets mad. I mean, I get hit. I guess just like any dad hits a kid. This one time he pushed my mother and she fell down the stairs, but he ran right down after her to make sure she was okay. David set the bowl down on the floor and it rolled to one side because the carpet was so soft.
I should stop him, he said. When he yells like that. My mother cries so hard. I should do something, but I just stay upstairs.
I’m sorry, I said. David looked up.
I’d save you, Evie, he said. If anyone ever tried to hurt you.
Even if they were pulling my hair? I flipped my bangs. I have extra nice hair, you know.
Especially that. David dropped the spoon and it clinked in the bowl. Except my hair might be nicer than yours. He shook his head around. Seriously, check it out.
I put my own empty bowl down on the carpet and leaned in.
The Penetang Maniac was up in jail at Penetanguishene, I said. He was in the part of the jail that’s for the criminally insane. I heard this story when I was camping up near Midland, I said. So imagine we’re out in a tent.
I can make us a tent, David said.
It doesn’t matter. I picked up my spoon and held it out in front of me. He has a sharpened hook on one arm instead of a hand, I said. He can slice a tent open. After he escaped they found him in the woods, huddled over a deer, eating its guts raw. He had to lead them to the bodies. He’d chopped them up that small.
David sucked on his teeth. He was wearing pajamas with cars on them. I was wearing jeans and shoes inside the house, like a grown-up.
If you have to get into this kind of competition, you want to make sure you win.
E ventually even David’s parents had to admit he was too old for me to be babysitting him. When he was twelve they split up. For a while he barely saw his
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