Chapter M7: Partners in Crime

Chapter M7: Partners in Crime

Joey awoke in a cave with Aunt Veronica squatting next to him. When he tried to get to his feet, she shoved him down to the ground. “Don’t even think it,” she said.

“What are we doing here?” he asked.

“It’s time you see what’s going on here.” She dragged him by the front of his shirt towards a circle of glowing red light. As they neared the light, he saw it was a pool with symbols all around it. These symbols looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember where he’d seen them before.

At the edge of the pool, he looked down into the glowing red light. Clumps of plants lay on the surface of blood-red water. Reflected in the water he saw not himself, but the faces of Samantha, Prudence, and Wendell screaming for help. Joey reached out towards them, his fingers about to graze the surface when Aunt Veronica threw him back against the wall. “Don’t touch it, idiot,” she said. “Unless you want to die like them.”

“They aren’t dead,” he said. “They’re in there.”

“They can’t be alive in the water. They’d have drowned a long time ago. You’re seeing things.”

“No I’m not! They are down there.”

“Fine, maybe they are down there. If you want to help them, then you have to figure out how we can get rid of that algae. I know the answer is somewhere in that big brain of yours. Come on.”

Aunt Veronica led him out of the cave and back into the forest. As they tromped through the woods, Joey tried to think of what he could do to help Samantha and the others. Aunt Veronica said he knew the answer, but how could he? He was only six years old; he hadn’t gone to school yet.

He thought again of those symbols, trying to remember where he’d seen them before. A dark place. A cave, but not the same as that one. In the cave he found something. He couldn’t remember what, but he knew it held the answer to everything.

Aunt Veronica dragged him along the path into town. There, in the square where decorations for Samantha’s birthday were still up, they found little Molly with a trio of boys. The boys surrounded her, holding a pink bow over her head. Whenever she tried to grab it, they raised it higher. “Give it back! It’s mine,” she said.

“Then come and get it, baby,” one of the boys said. She jumped as high as she could, but again they snatched the ribbon away from her. She stamped her foot and began to cry.

“Little baby, little baby,” the boys chanted. They tossed the ribbon to each other while she tried in vain to intercept it. When they grew bored, they pushed her down into a puddle of mud. Molly sat there, crying and calling for Mama Veronica.

“Shouldn’t we help her?” Joey said.

“Why?” Aunt Veronica said.

“They’re being mean to her.”

“It’s what she deserves. I never should have thought she could handle being in charge of anyone.” Aunt Veronica shook her head at Molly. “She’ll be happier this way in the end.”

Aunt Veronica opened the door to a bakery and then shoved him to the floor. “This is the best we can do for a laboratory. See what you can do. I’ll be back to check on you later.”

As Aunt Veronica opened the door, Molly rushed inside, hugging Aunt Veronica’s waist. “Mama Veronica,” she said. “Some mean boys stole my bow and pushed me in the mud.”

Aunt Veronica shoved Molly away. “I’m not your mother. You don’t have a mother. Neither does anyone else here. Now get out of here. You’re getting mud on me.”

“But—”

“Go play with your dolls.”

Molly ran away in tears. Aunt Veronica turned to Joey and said, “You’d better have something when I get back unless you want to end up like her.” Then she slammed the door shut.

Joey went over to the counter, where Veronica had left jars of different chemicals. The names on the labels were so long he needed five minutes to sound out each one. What could he do with those?

He crawled onto a stool to think. There had to be something he could do to get rid of the algae. If he didn’t, then he would end up a baby like Molly or even worse. Why had Mommy sent him to this awful place?

After hours of thinking and mixing different chemicals, he’d done nothing except make a mess. He hid under the counter at the sound of footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and then he heard Aunt Veronica say, “Well? Any progress?”

He sat under the counter, hoping if he kept silent she might go away. Instead, she came around the corner and then hefted him onto the stool. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”

She slapped him across the face hard enough to knock him off the stool. He cried on the floor as she screamed, “You know what to do! Somewhere in there you know what to do! How could someone so smart end up so dumb?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

Aunt Veronica took a flask from her pocket. “I told you the consequences of failure. Now it’s time to take your medicine like a good baby.”

“No!” He scrambled back until he bumped against a wall. Aunt Veronica filled a tablespoon with glowing white water. “That’s how you made Molly little.”

“Yes, and it’ll do the same to you.” She approached him with the tablespoon. He stuck out a hand to keep her back, but she swatted it away.

“Wait! I know what to do.”

“What?”

“If the water can make people little, can’t it do the same to plants?” he said.

Aunt Veronica stopped and considered this. “You might have a point. Or you could be trying to trick me into using up the last of this.”

“No, I’m not trying to trick you,” he said. “If it works the same on plants it would shrink the algae.”

Aunt Veronica thought about it for another moment. Finally, she nodded. “All right, we’ll try it.” Then she flicked the tablespoon towards him. The water hit him in the face, blinding him. When his vision cleared, his clothes felt looser and the room seemed bigger. Aunt Veronica grabbed his shirt to lift him up. “You’re even wimpier at four,” she said.

“Four? But I helped you. This isn’t fair!”

“Life isn’t fair.” She took him by the ear, dragging him down the road. Although it was almost dark, the other children continued to play in small groups. When a wooden ball landed at Aunt Veronica’s feet, a pair of girls ran forward until they realized whom their ball had landed near. Aunt Veronica kicked the ball to the girls. “Go on and play,” she told them. They skipped away to continue their game.

Aunt Veronica took Joey into a room with shelves packed with food. She unlocked a set of doors leading into the basement, and then carried Joey down. “You can wait here until I get back. If this doesn’t work, I’ll gut you.”

“Can we come out now?” a little girl asked.

“No, girls. Not yet,” Aunt Veronica said. She shoved Joey forward. “This is Joey, your new roommate. Joey, this is Helena and Phyllis. You kids play nice.”

Aunt Veronica stomped up the stairs, slamming the door behind her. As soon as the door closed, the little blonde girl came forward to pinch Joey’s cheek. “You’re such a darling baby. We’ll have lots of fun with you.” The girls snickered and then grabbed his arms, dragging him into a corner.