plants with their gray leaves. Discarded oil drums and other metal stuff heaped in piles off the side of the road.
Desert, miles of it.
And now Wayne had turned off onto a road that made Grace’s heart pound. A sign pointed the way to
Desert Dreams.
If he wasn’t going so fast, she would’ve tried to jump out of the car.
Even though she couldn’t escape, she imagined it. Balling her hands into fists so she could punch Wayne on the back of his fat neck, make him stop.
The desert. How long could she survive by herself?
Not long, no place to hide. Unless she could make it all the way to the mountains. But maybe it was worse up there, she had no idea, she’d never been.
All she had on was a Disneyland T-shirt, shorts, sneakers. Up in the mountains it could probably get real cold, even in the summer.
She knew that because sometimes when Dodie used to complain about living in a damn oven, Grace could see snow atop the mountains.
It was too dark to tell if there was snow, all Grace could see were the outlines of the mountains, big and sharp.
Like knives.
Wayne said, “Almost there. How ya doin’?”
Terrible, you stupid caseworker.
Grace said, “Okay.”
“A little nervous, huh? That’s natural, new surroundings. Tell the truth, kid, I don’t know how any of you do it, the constant shuffling—being moved around.” He chuckled. “Shuffled like cards in a deck. Come to think about it, it is kind of like a game of chance.”
Grace stared at the back of his neck. Spotted a pimple to the side of his ponytail. If she used her nail to flick it, the pain might be enough to…
Then she realized he hadn’t turned toward Desert Dreams, this was a road she’d never seen. Skinnier, real dark, and Wayne was muttering something about “out in the boonies” and making his headlights brighter, turning the area in front of the car into a cold, white tube.
Dust flew up from the tires, like upside-down rain. The sand stretched forever.
Why was he
taking
her here?
Now a different kind of fear crawled into her belly and kept going, lodging in her throat.
Was he one of
those
?
She searched for some detail to remember. It took a long time before anything rose above the desert. But then: A big yard of metal garbage. Broken-up trucks. Part of an old bus, too. Heaps of wheels and metal grilles and things that looked like metal branches.
As soon as the junkyard was gone, a fenced area that said
Water Station: No Admittance.
Grace put one hand on her seat belt clasp so she could undo it fast if she needed to.
Wayne was fat, Grace figured she could outrun him.
He began to hum off-key.
All of a sudden more buildings appeared outside Grace’s window. A trailer park just like Desert Dreams, this one was called Antelope Palms but with no palms or any other kind of plant around. To her surprise, she was happy seeing the mobiles.
Wayne kept driving and humming louder. More open space followed by another mobile park. And another. Brightly lit signs chewing their way through the darkness.
Sunrise Motor Estates.
Morningview Motorhaven.
Okay, so she’d end up somewhere like Desert Dreams, but without the memories…okay, that would be okay.
Despite telling herself that, she shuddered. Hugged herself tight and tried not to be sick.
Time for good thoughts, she’d been practicing that in order to drive out bad ones, it was hard but she was getting better at it.
Okay. Breathe. Think good…maybe her new fosters would live in a double-wide with a real bed for her…maybe there’d be a big enough refrigerator so she wouldn’t have to wait for scraps. Maybe—Wayne made a sudden turn and got on
another
road, this one really, really bumpy.
They were getting closer to the mountains.
Nothing out here but more of those fringy trees—Grace suddenly remembered what they were called. Joshuas, they were passing through kind of a forest of Joshuas—another turn, then another, and bigger trees appeared—now there
were
palms and
Desert, miles of it.
And now Wayne had turned off onto a road that made Grace’s heart pound. A sign pointed the way to
Desert Dreams.
If he wasn’t going so fast, she would’ve tried to jump out of the car.
Even though she couldn’t escape, she imagined it. Balling her hands into fists so she could punch Wayne on the back of his fat neck, make him stop.
The desert. How long could she survive by herself?
Not long, no place to hide. Unless she could make it all the way to the mountains. But maybe it was worse up there, she had no idea, she’d never been.
All she had on was a Disneyland T-shirt, shorts, sneakers. Up in the mountains it could probably get real cold, even in the summer.
She knew that because sometimes when Dodie used to complain about living in a damn oven, Grace could see snow atop the mountains.
It was too dark to tell if there was snow, all Grace could see were the outlines of the mountains, big and sharp.
Like knives.
Wayne said, “Almost there. How ya doin’?”
Terrible, you stupid caseworker.
Grace said, “Okay.”
“A little nervous, huh? That’s natural, new surroundings. Tell the truth, kid, I don’t know how any of you do it, the constant shuffling—being moved around.” He chuckled. “Shuffled like cards in a deck. Come to think about it, it is kind of like a game of chance.”
Grace stared at the back of his neck. Spotted a pimple to the side of his ponytail. If she used her nail to flick it, the pain might be enough to…
Then she realized he hadn’t turned toward Desert Dreams, this was a road she’d never seen. Skinnier, real dark, and Wayne was muttering something about “out in the boonies” and making his headlights brighter, turning the area in front of the car into a cold, white tube.
Dust flew up from the tires, like upside-down rain. The sand stretched forever.
Why was he
taking
her here?
Now a different kind of fear crawled into her belly and kept going, lodging in her throat.
Was he one of
those
?
She searched for some detail to remember. It took a long time before anything rose above the desert. But then: A big yard of metal garbage. Broken-up trucks. Part of an old bus, too. Heaps of wheels and metal grilles and things that looked like metal branches.
As soon as the junkyard was gone, a fenced area that said
Water Station: No Admittance.
Grace put one hand on her seat belt clasp so she could undo it fast if she needed to.
Wayne was fat, Grace figured she could outrun him.
He began to hum off-key.
All of a sudden more buildings appeared outside Grace’s window. A trailer park just like Desert Dreams, this one was called Antelope Palms but with no palms or any other kind of plant around. To her surprise, she was happy seeing the mobiles.
Wayne kept driving and humming louder. More open space followed by another mobile park. And another. Brightly lit signs chewing their way through the darkness.
Sunrise Motor Estates.
Morningview Motorhaven.
Okay, so she’d end up somewhere like Desert Dreams, but without the memories…okay, that would be okay.
Despite telling herself that, she shuddered. Hugged herself tight and tried not to be sick.
Time for good thoughts, she’d been practicing that in order to drive out bad ones, it was hard but she was getting better at it.
Okay. Breathe. Think good…maybe her new fosters would live in a double-wide with a real bed for her…maybe there’d be a big enough refrigerator so she wouldn’t have to wait for scraps. Maybe—Wayne made a sudden turn and got on
another
road, this one really, really bumpy.
They were getting closer to the mountains.
Nothing out here but more of those fringy trees—Grace suddenly remembered what they were called. Joshuas, they were passing through kind of a forest of Joshuas—another turn, then another, and bigger trees appeared—now there
were
palms and
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