Excerpt
Ignorance
“Ignorance is
bliss,” Molly replied at the park picnic park table. “Better if we don’t push
our noses into someone else’s business.”
I fidgeted with my
galoshes until I finally curled one leg under the other. “Tommy died for a
reason. Doesn’t that reason bother you?” A gust of wind blew past and tousled my
hair.
“How would we ever
know the reasons? We can’t read his mind,” Molly retorted as she fixed her
favorite avocado-colored scarf, which draped on her neck, a scarf that accented
the green in her irises.
Sniffling, Jennifer
desperately wanted to join the conversation, but couldn’t speak without shaking
and bawling. She tended to her wool mittens instead. Red-eyed and disheveled,
she reminded me of an old rag doll. Dressed in heavy beige coats, knit hats and
boots, the three of us stayed relatively warm in the 30 degree weather. We were
well acclimated, since we were all born and raised in New City.
“There has to be
something we can find. He was popular for heaven’s sake, ” I insisted as Molly
stared at me incredulously. “Girls loved him. Teachers adored him. Doesn’t make
any sense.” I shook my head.
“Why? His best friends
don’t even know why. Why does anyone do it?” Molly plopped her hand down on the
picnic table, the hand holding the fanning paint brush. Dabbing her ocean blue
canvas with specs of white, she created a snowy effect. “Maybe he just couldn’t
take the pressure of being popular anymore.” When she rolled her eyes, I knew
what Molly was thinking. She didn’t like the so-called jocks. Suicide or not,
she didn’t want to give them any more of her time. But I didn’t want to let it
go, couldn’t let it go. Something about it nagged me.
“Because...people just
don’t go killing themselves for no good reason.”
“If you care so much,
maybe you should write something up for the school paper.” Molly tilted her head
to me and I lit up like a neon light. “You know...like one of those in-memory
pieces.”
Brilliant! I hadn’t
even thought of it, but I did have journalism fifth period. I could satiate my
persistent curiosity and complete an assignment all in one. Every writer needed
a muse and Tommy would be mine. A muse from the grave.
“We could work on it
together...like Bonnie and Clyde.” I grinned as a snowflake dropped from the
pines above and lit my long lashes.
Tightening the
hug-grip around her chest, Jennifer sniffed one last time before raising her
gaze.
“Wait, wait,
wait...first of all Clyde was a guy,” Molly interjected, “and I’m not going to
be the guy in this scenario. More like Rizzoli and Isles. And second, I am
n-o-t going to be a part of this.”
“Why not? Could be
intriguing. Today is Wednesday and we don’t have to be back at school until
Monday. What else are we going to do?” I rationalized.
“I’ll do it.” Jennifer
interrupted, the sound of her voice almost foreign at this point in the
conversation. We both jerked our heads in her direction. Wiping her nose with
the back of her coat sleeve she held a sneeze and repeated more firmly. “I’ll
do it.” Her big brown eyes widened as her lips tensed.
“You will? why?” Molly
cocked a brow and spun her body around on the bench to face Jennifer better.
Her fingers inched across the table and found Jennifer’s mittened hands. “You
don’t have to do this just because...” she didn’t want to say it aloud, but
Molly had a way about her. Truth, whether crass or not, always popped out of
her uncontrolled mouth. “...you liked him.”
Blushing, Jennifer
tilted back and the freckles on her cheeks almost faded away. “I am going to do
this because Ali is right. Tommy was not the sort to commit suicide. He had
everything going for him. With his death this makes...” she paused in thought
counting on her fingers, recollecting the names listed in the morning paper,
“five deaths from Millennium High in seven years!”
“Don’t forget Emily.”
I reminded them, and they each gave me wrinkled foreheads of confusion. “The
girl who was found dead in Central Park. She went to the school too...and just
because she didn’t die on school grounds doesn’t make her death any less odd.”
“Something is going on
at this school and I’ll be damned if I’m just going to sit and do nothing.”
Jennifer got her mojo back, a newfound task of investigation motivating her out
of her misery.
“Well damn, if you two
are going to go at this then...” Molly raked her fingers through her shoulder
length cut and sighed, “then I might as well do it too.”
Jennifer and I both
turned at the same time and grinned.
“What else am I going
to do until Monday without the two of you?” Molly reasoned.
“It’s settled then. We
are officially the unofficial team investigating this suicide,” I added as
another gust of wind brushed through the park, rushing over Molly and Jennifer.
Thanks for having me on!
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