The Reckless Club Read online

  She catches Ally wincing. It’s possible she’s overdoing it. But the residents just nod. “What’s her name?” a bald man with a few fuzzy strands of hair asks. He’s shoveling casserole onto his fork, but not looking at the plate.

  Lilith is quiet for too long. Bharati, she thinks. Bharati. But she can’t bring herself to say the name.

  “What’s her name?” another person at the table repeats.

  “Her name?” Lilith repeats.

  “Yeah. Your grandmother’s name.”

  “Oh,” Lilith says. She swallows down what she knows would come next if she answered truthfully—their foreheads would pucker; they’d say things like how it’s “exotic” or “different.” They’d smile too big and then get too quiet.

  “Her name is Becky,” Lilith snaps.

  “That’s my granddaughter’s name!” The old man tries to scoop up more casserole and misses it entirely, bringing an empty fork to his mouth. The woman next to him guides his hand to the mound of food, and he mutters something about minding her own business.

  Lilith doesn’t respond but glances behind her at TBN, who unwraps a straw and adds it to Opal’s cup.

  “Frank, need any help with dinner?” TBN asks. To Lilith, she says, “Macular degeneration. He’s blind.”

  “Oh,” Lilith says, and twirls the bracelet around her wrist. To Frank, Lilith says, “It’s gold. Very nice quality. I think she probably got it in India.”

  Frank nods. “Becky doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry. She sings, though. Her voice is pretty, even when she’s just talking. Just like yours.”

  “Well, I am a fantastic singer. Everyone says so.”

  Lilith hears Ally sigh but ignores her.

  “Becky’s going to visit me soon. She says so every time she calls. ‘Soon,’ she says. ‘Soon I’ll make it out there.’” The old man nods and the woman next to him pats his arm. Again he mutters under his breath and shakes off her hand.

  “Where does she live?” Lilith asks.

  “Montana,” Frank says. “Maybe I’ll go there myself this summer. When my eyes get better.”

  “Can that happen?” Lilith asks. “Your eyes, I mean. Can they get better?”

  TBN clears her throat. She shakes her head at Lilith.

  Frank doesn’t seem to have heard Lilith’s question. He scoops up more tuna casserole.

  “Who needs help?” Lilith asks. With that, she turns toward the table where Opal is sitting and slips off her bracelet. “I’ll just put this valuable bracelet here so I can help. It’s so precious to my family. They’d hate if I mucked it up with tuna casserole.”

  Lilith turns away again, stretches out her arm behind her, and, without looking, plunks the bracelet on the table in front of TBN. And that’s when she realizes the plan is not going to work.

  TBN isn’t even looking at the bracelet. She’s pushing through residents to get to the red hat ladies, who seem to be having some sort of emergency. Wide brim red hat lady is standing with her arms outstretched. “Now! Now!” she says. Small red hat lady, about twenty pounds heavier and three inches taller than her friend, stands on top of her chair with her back to wide brim red hat lady. “Now?” she asks.

  Her friend shouts, “Now!”

  Still rushing across the room, TBN bellows, “No! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”

  The entire cafeteria turns—some half standing, some gasping, some chuckling—toward the red hat pair.

  “It’s a trust fall,” Ally gasps.

  “A what?” Lilith scrunches her face at not knowing what’s going on.

  “We had to do them in cross country at a team-building session last year.” Ally bites her lip. “I hid in the bathroom, hoping no one would notice I left.”

  “Did they?”

  Ally glares at Lilith.

  “Guess that answers that.”

  Small red hat lady crosses her arms over her chest and falls backward toward her friend’s outstretched arms.

  TBN, fast as any linebacker, rushes through the crowd, lunging forward and intercepting the falling small red hat lady just before she falls into wide brim red hat lady. Grunting under the old woman’s girth, TBN huffs, “You have osteoporosis, Helen! You can’t go catching your friends!”

  “Whoo-wee! That was fun,” small brim red hat lady says. “Told ya she’d make it over in time.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You win again, Elise.”

  TBN rights the woman. “What would you have done if I hadn’t been here?”

  “That’s why it’s called a trust fall, isn’t it? The only way to know if someone will catch you is if you fall.”

  TBN shakes her head as the pair sits back down and resumes giggling. TBN rubs at her back and lumbers past their table again. The cafeteria fills with noise and movement as residents recant what happened and settle back in front of their trays.

  “Gah!” Lilith groans. “Now what!”

  She glances toward the lunch line, where Rex is silhouetted, jumping up and down and pointing right at them. What? Lilith mouths, shrugging. They tried; it hadn’t worked. Why does she think she can go ahead and yell at them from across the room like this?

  Now Rex is grabbing fistfuls of hair and, though Lilith can’t hear it, she knows Rex is groaning. Maybe even cursing. Her face is bright red. Rex jabs out her pointer finger again and finally Lilith realizes Rex isn’t pointing at them. She’s pointing behind them.

  The table with Opal is empty. TBN is gone.

  And so is the bracelet.

  11:28 a.m.

  JASON “The Nobody”

  Jason and Wes don’t speak as they head back toward the cafeteria. C’mon, Jason commands himself. Say something. Say anything. But, as usual, the words clog up in his throat. His fingers flex in his pocket, imagining how he’d sketch Hubert’s face. The clear eyes framed by deep circles. The mouth set. How would he sketch Wes? He glances at the other boy. Wes, beside him, seems dazed. He keeps looking back down the hall where Hubert had been. Jason would draw Wes’s hands first. The way they’re balled into fists at his sides.

  “It’s, uh, it’s—”

  But Jason is spared from finishing the lie (going to be okay or just his time, I guess) when the cafeteria doors swing open so fast he and Wes have to jump back. An arm in teddy bear scrubs holds open the door. Quickly, Wes and Jason meld against the wall behind it. TBN steps out into the hallway, hoisting the door ajar with her hip as Opal slowly pushes a walker forward.

  “I hope you weren’t up to no good,” TBN says to the little old woman, who swats at the air with a curled hand. TBN sighs. “Let’s go on back to your room. I’m sure Mike will be stopping by before too long to check on you. Why the two of us keep bothering, I don’t know. Really should just let you get what you deserve.”

  Jason holds his breath as the two cross to the other side of the hall and press the button for the elevator and disappear behind the closing door.

  Under his breath, Wes mutters, “Wow. She really is awful.”

  Jason nods.

  “You and that Ally girl, you’re not big on conversation, are you?” Wes says.

  Jason shrugs.

  “Right. Let’s take the stairs, beat TBN to the second floor, and trail her back to Opal’s room,” Wes says.

  “Hold up!” shouts a familiar voice. Lilith stands in front of them, her arms crossed and foot tapping. Just behind her, Ally flashes a quick smile. She’s tossing the hacky sack back and forth in her hands. “Don’t you think what we do next should be decided by our leader? Moi.”

  Wes shakes his head. His chest rises and falls with a full-body sigh. “Fine, most glorious leader. What should we do next?”

  Lilith smiles, the light glinting off her perfect white teeth. “Let’s take the stairs, beat TBN to the second floor, and trail her back to Opal’s room.”

  Wes rolls his eyes. “Is Rex coming?” he asks as Lilith takes the lead in heading toward the stairway.

  “No,” she says. “Someone has to handle clearing the
cafeteria.”

  “Oh,” Wes says, and stops. “I’ll go help her.”

  “No way!” Lilith grabs his arm and yanks him forward. “We’re going to need someone with your skill set, I think.”

  “Skill set?” Wes echoes.

  Lilith sighs and drops his arm. Arching an eyebrow, she says, “Do you really think either one of them”—she jerks a thumb between Jason and Ally—“is going to be able to sweet-talk the way out of a situation?”

  “Um, we’re right here,” Jason points out.

  “Yeah,” Wes agrees. “I guess you’re right.” He falls into line behind Lilith.

  Even taking the stairs two at a time, the four students couldn’t beat the elevator.

  Tumbling into the hall, they spot TBN walking just behind Opal as she eases toward her room with shuffling steps. TBN is whispering the whole time. Jason quickens his steps, trying to hear what she’s saying to the old woman without the nurse noticing them.

  But all four seem to have the same idea. Lilith scurries forward, her face fierce. Jason can practically hear her expression. It’s all I am the leader! Ally is on the balls of her feet, so she’s not making any noise, but Wes clearly has no idea how to be in the background. He plods forward and bumps into Lilith, who falls sideways into Jason. Ally jumps out of the way, and Jason lands with a thud on his hip.

  “Watch it!” yelps TBN, whipping around to see the trio of students standing just behind her and Jason sprawled out on the linoleum floor. Funny, he hadn’t noticed the nurse’s face before. He usually notices everything—too much, his mom says—but all he had taken in of TBN was the teddy bear scrubs.

  The nurse is older than he had thought, maybe in her forties. Her brown hair curls into tendrils around her face, but she must’ve gotten tired or ran out of time before getting to the rest of her hair. Most of it is pulled back into a low ponytail, where it hangs in a mostly straight clump like the tangled tassel of a throw blanket. Her mouth is too thin for her round face, just a bubblegum-pink streak under a too-small button nose. It is like someone rolled out a big circle of peach Play-Doh and only had enough left to make miniature facial features. That is, except for TBN’s eyes. They are bulbous and brown, framed by eyelashes so caked with mascara that they look like black shark teeth. She kneels down beside Jason, grabs his elbow, and yanks him to his feet.

  Next to her, Opal slowly turns in her walker.

  “You realize you could’ve knocked over a resident?” TBN says. “You have to be careful. This is a home, not a playground!” Her big eyes narrow at the four of them. “What are you guys doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be working in the cafeteria? Mitchell gave most of the cafeteria workers the afternoon off for team building since you are here.”

  “Yes,” Lilith says, and once again steps to the front. “Mrs. Mitchell also asked us to do research for a skit we’re to perform for the residents this afternoon. And we have to research for an essay about all we learn while we’re here today. We’ve left a very capable student in charge of the cafeteria and—”

  “Wait,” TBN interrupts, a small smile tugging on her mouth. “You mean that spiky-haired pain in the rear? She’s the only one in the cafeteria? Awesome.” She grins. “So who are you interviewing?”

  Opal pushes forward and reaches out to pat Ally’s bun. Jason knows if he weren’t standing just behind her, Ally would’ve stepped away from the woman’s reach. Ally’s face goes totally still—not a bit of her is moving—at Opal’s touch.

  “Her,” Lilith says, and points to the old woman.

  “Opal?” TBN shakes her head. “That should be interesting. Well, go on, then. This is her room. Interview away!” Laughing again, the nurse leaves the kids with Opal, who smiles broadly at statue-like Ally.

  “Wait!” Lilith says. She nods at Wes.

  “Yeah, hold up, nurse!” Wes’s dimple is in full force when she turns around. “Could you help me, miss? I can’t seem to find my senior.”

  TBN’s nostrils flare for a second, giving her an almost-big enough nose. “What’s his name?”

  “That’s the thing,” Wes says with a half smile. “I can’t really remember his name. He’s sort of tall. Sort of old?”

  TBN shakes her head again. “The residents’ pictures are hanging on each door. Walk around. I’m sure you’ll find him.”

  Lilith, who has moved to stand just behind TBN, jerks her hands in a keep going gesture to Wes.

  He tilts his head toward TBN, again deploying the dimple. “Or maybe I could interview you?”

  “Me?” TBN says, and her cheeks flare pink.

  “Yeah,” Wes replies. “I’m sure you’ve got some stories. Probably better ones than the residents.”

  “Stories? You better believe it, kid,” TBN says. “But I don’t have time for an interview.”

  “I could maybe trail you a little, though?” Wes asks. “Until I see the picture of my senior?”

  TBN shrugs. “I guess I can’t stop you.” She turns to Opal. “You better stay out of trouble.”

  Jason winces at her tone of voice. She talks to Opal like she’s a kid. Like it’s so much work just to take care of her. Like his parents talk to him.

  TBN strides away and Wes is about to follow when Lilith grabs his arm. “Don’t forget,” she hisses in his ear, “a locker or a storage area or some place where she could dump the stuff she steals. Keep an eye out for it, okay?”

  Wes winks over his shoulder at her. “I’ve got this.”

  Lilith sighs. “If only you did,” she says, and touches her heart.

  Ally sharply intakes her breath. She had followed Opal into her room, but now stands in the doorway, her mouth hanging open. Without even thinking about it, Jason darts to her side in an instant. Then he, too, stands with his mouth agape.

  Lilith is just behind them. She looks around Opal’s room and stomps her foot. “This is so not fair! I’m sure Agnes’s room is nothing but quilt patches.”

  Quiet, frail Opal’s room is testimony to a life that was anything but.

  A poster-sized picture, blurry from being blown up too large, shows two little girls holding hands. Jason can guess which is Opal—the one with two braids down to her chest and missing front teeth, but the same wide smile. The other little girl has her hair piled on top of her head; her knees are caked in dirt and she isn’t smiling. Instead, she’s yanking on Opal’s arm, pulling her toward a creek behind them. That little girl is mostly a blur.

  Lilith sighs again, and Jason and Ally move toward the wall of framed newspaper articles she’s looking over. All the articles feature Opal in the 1970s, when she must’ve been an activist. Jason and Ally pause in front of one article featuring a picture of a much younger Opal, her long brown hair tied back in a bandana, holding a megaphone in one hand and a sign proclaiming Equal Pay for Equal Work. Next to her is another woman, her hair pulled into a sloppy bun on top of her head—one just like Ally’s—holding a different sign. This one states Down with the Patriarchy.

  Another clipping shows Opal crossing a marathon finish line, the outlines of her arm and leg muscles sharp in the black-and-white picture. Her arms are outstretched, her head hanging back as she finishes the race. The other woman is just ahead of her, but instead of rejoicing, she’s still charging ahead, leaning forward into the race as if it had just begun.

  There’s one by Opal’s nightstand from when she was in her midforties, maybe. Her head is fallen back with laughter and she’s holding a small girl on her hip. The girl’s tiny mouth is open midscream, her big eyes welling over with tears, and her fist holding an empty ice cream cone. The melting ice cream is on the sidewalk in front of the girl. Reaching for the girl is the woman who had been in the other pictures with Opal. Her mouth is puckered in a frown, but her eyes are slanted with the effort of holding back her laughter.

  Other pictures in the room are more recent. A color shot is of a more recognizable Opal, her arm around the waist of the woman. Opal is softer, rounder. The other woman is as tr
im and fierce as ever. While Opal is perfectly in focus, the other woman is blurred around the edges, as if she was midmovement. Only her eyes, blazing into the camera, are crisp. Her eyes are green.

  Like Ally’s.

  Jason turns toward Ally, whose eyes flicker between the pictures of the women. He steps to the side as Opal takes his spot next to Ally. She reaches out with a curled, swollen finger and touches the picture of the fierce woman’s face, just over her sloppy, puffy bun. Then she turns and bounces Ally’s bun with her hand. Opal’s smile stretches so wide that if he were drawing it, Jason would have to figure out how to make a mouth bright as a sun.

  “She looks like me,” Ally whispers.

  Opal boops Ally’s bun again, then throws back her head and laughs. She takes Ally’s arm and leads her in small shuffling steps to a compact vanity table. Opal sits on the round bench and Ally, after a moment, sits on the edge of the bed just next to the table.

  Opal smiles and pats her knee. She hands Ally a hairbrush.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Ally whispers to Jason. He shrugs. Ally puts the hairbrush on the bed next to her, and Opal pats her knee again. “So, um,” Ally begins. “I’m supposed to interview you, I guess.”

  Lilith flits around the room, picking up more pictures and sighing, opening drawers and pulling out scarves or hats, checking what’s behind the closet door. All the while Opal just blinks at Ally with a wide smile.

  “What are you doing?” Jason hisses to Lilith, who has one of Opal’s scarves wrapped around her head and is checking out her reflection in the attached bathroom mirror.

  Lilith pulls off the scarf and says in a clipped voice, “Looking for clues, of course.”

  “By playing dress-up?” Jason asks. It’s in his usual muttering tone, but somehow with an edge.