Page 28 of A Better World

“I like serious killjoys,” Rachel said. “I married one.”

“Well, if we’re going to bare our souls, me next!” Daniella said. “I’m an outsider, too. You probably guessed because I don’t talk like everybody else. I grew up in Vegas. My third-grade teacher was awful. Taught us nothing and never in a good mood. He was too lazy to grade papers, so it was always group projects…”

She raised her hands, indicated her own face and body. “I always looked like this. I never had an awkward phase. You’d think it’s all advantages, but you’d be wrong. It’s too much attention. It makes you a little crazy. And it’s not all good attention. It’s mostly bad. People used to try to buy me off the street from my mom. Not just foreigners… The decent people give you space. They hate you because they assume you have everything they want. They assume you’ve never had to work. But they give you space. The problem is, space leaves room for the monsters…

“Anyway, somebody’d followed me to school in third grade. I think he worked at one of the casinos? Or was he a parking attendant? I don’t know. I purposely forgot. He broke into my classroom. My crappy teacher came right out in front of me. I don’t know how he knew I was the target, but he did. He took the bullet for me. I played dead underneath him. It’s a blur, what happened after that. I think one of the guards finally took him down, or he shot himself? There’s a definitive answer, but I really don’t remember.

“I was lying there, nose to nose with this poopy teacher—Mr. Angle, like isosceles or scalene. We called himMr. Scaley. Only eight-year-olds would come up with something like that… I remember it being wet and warm underneath him. Who knows if it was blood or urine. Isthat awful? I shouldn’t have said that! Linda, you broke me open like a coconut! Anyway, I promised myself, when it was happening, that I’d get out of Vegas. Out of places where I could be followed around, or if I did get followed, at least I’d be in charge… Rachel had some really bad things happen to her, too.”

“Uh, yeah,” Rachel said, in a way that indicatedreally bad thingswas an understatement, and also that she wasn’t inclined to share.

Tears welled in Linda’s eyes. The pressure of this move and now this interview had made her too sensitive. Still, it seemed to her that the three of them represented an ocean of people, and they were the only ones who’d come out, and survived. What was happening with her patients right now? What about all those people she and Russell had known over the years, who’d disappeared through cracks, as if the world weren’t solid, but a sieve?

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Linda said.

“Me too. But it’s over.”

“Yes,” Linda said, looking around the pretty glass room.

“I’ve seen lots of things, too,” Anouk said. “I’ve been through bad things. It can be hard, even in the Bell Jar. I know that’s difficult to believe.”

“It’s not,” Linda said.

Anouk lowered her voice. “Daddy says other people haven’t had my advantages and it’s not right for me to complain. I put my feelings in my writing.”

“I’ll have to read it,” Linda said, her judgment against Anouk lifting just a little. Big Daddy, chairman of BetterWorld, son of its founder, sounded like a pill.

“And we do help!” Daniella jumped in. “We have everything we need for our pediatric clinic. The space, the equipment, the legal. The office even has airlock filtration, so it’s practically as clean as the Bell Jar. The only problem has been staff. We can’t hire from the outside because BetterWorld isn’t contracting any new people. We have to cull from our existing pool. Ideally, you’ll see patients a few days a week. As we grow, you’ll hire staff and manage the place, or hire a manager if you’d prefer to spend your time with patients. Once the positiongoes full time, you’ll be tenure track for a golden ticket. Of course, all that’s contingent on results and success, so that we can plead our case to BetterWorld’s board of directors and Anouk’s dad. They’re the ones with the wallet.”

“This all sounds great. What does success look like?” Linda asked.

“Healthy kids!” Daniella said.

“Can I get a look at the clinic?” Linda asked.

“I’ll send the entire prospectus Monday,” Rachel said. “We were just getting the details together before you came.”

“You don’t have to worry about safety, even though the facility is located beyond the walls. We’ll make sure you’re protected,” Daniella said.

“That’s not a problem,” Linda said. “I’m used to being outside.”

“You’d be surprised how fast you get un-used to it,” Daniella said. “The rest of us will discuss your application and get back to you. But this is all very auspicious. Propitious? Whatever it is, you can go ahead and get your hopes up. In the meantime, hazing’s for suckers. Yours is over. Once people know you’re with me, the invitations will rain down.”

“And me,” Anouk chimed. “People care what I think, too. It’s not just because of my dad. It’s because of all my literary awards.”

Rachel looked up, realizing she was expected to say something. “I have no time to hold your hand. But good luck.”

Linda laughed. “Thanks! I’d appreciate any help you can offer,” she said. There was no way that acceptance in this crazy town would come so easily. There had to be more to the test than this. But if these women could help just a little, she was grateful.

Linda would look back on that evening and identify it as a watershed. If it had continued uninterrupted, her family’s success in Plymouth Valley would have been assured. Reviews would have been passed, assimilation achieved. But that’s not what happened, because a young brunette rolled open the stained-glass doors, disrupting everything.

“Daniella!” the brunette cried, her voice so jarringly high pitched that Linda winced. “Ithoughtthat was you!”

Very, very slowly, Daniella’s full lips spread into a smileless grimace, like a macaque before it attacks. “Gal Parker,” she pronounced.

Gal issued prayer hands, shined a sheepish grin. She was a heavyset, light-brown-skinned woman. Overweight wasn’t a common look in PV, making her the unicorn of body types.

“ActHollow’s Saturday meeting! What a crazy coincidence! I was just getting some takeout,” Gal cried, breathless and excited and vibrating with youth. “I was afraid I was gonna have to leave here without saying good-bye!”

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