Page 10 of Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Book
She started to cry because it was all her fault. She should never have mentioned Mr. Stempel’s name at dinner.
“I am so sorry,” she told him.
“I am, too,” he said.
“What should I do?” It wasn’t fair to ask him. Dawn knew that. But there was no one else she could turn to.
“I can’t say,” Mr. Stempel said. “I don’t know your son well. But I do know you, and I trust you. That’s why I’m deleting this video.”
She wiped her eyes on her shirtsleeve. The tears had already stopped. Now a rage was bubbling up inside her. “Thank you, Mr. Stempel,” she told the old man.
“It’s Joel,” he said, putting his hand on her arm.
As Dawn marched toward the house, she could see Nate standing at the living room window. He tried at first to stare her down the way his dad always did. To prove her emotions meant nothing to him—that she wasn’tworth a response. But he was still her boy, and he broke before she burst through the door.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” he said, backing away.
“Why would you do that?” she demanded. “Why wouldmy sonbe the kind of person who hurts someone for no reason?”
“They control the world! We have to fight back!”
She might not have been a genius, but that was the dumbest crap she’d ever heard. “Mr. Stempel controls the world? A sixty-nine-year-old man who lives here in Nowhere, Georgia. You’re telling me he controls the world?”
“His people do.”
“His people?” she was yelling now. “Whatpeople? His wife died two years ago and his son lives in Austin.Weare his people! The people who live in this town are his people!”
“He’s a Jew, Mom. He’s not one of us. You don’t know anything!”
She pushed him against the wall. Her son, who was big enough to hurt her. Another kid might have. But Nate didn’t, and that meant something. “I know one thing for sure. That old man just did you the biggest favor anyone has ever done you. His security cameras caught you on tape. He could have sent you to jail. You’re going to go over to Mr. Stempel’s house right now and clean that nasty mark off his door.”
“No, Mama.” Nate shook his head. He was terrified. But it wasn’t of her. “Please don’t make me. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
He opened his mouth but no words emerged.
“I asked you a question!”
“Because Dad’s just starting to like me.” Then he started to cry.
That destroyed her. Because she knew just how he felt. For years, she would have done anything for the slightest sign of affection from Nathan. She’d let her little boy see her scrape and grovel. He’d watched as she let Nathan train her to be the obedient servant he wanted—because she was too scared to think for herself. Nate was only following her lead. It was all her fault.
Dawn didn’t go to bed that night. By the time she finished reading her book, the sun was up. Before her husband could rise and demand his breakfast, Dawn headed out to the hardware store, where she bought a paintbrush and paint.
“I’m here to clean up your door,” she told Mr. Stempel when he answered the bell. The Stempel house was right on Main Street. Everyone in Troy would see Dawn at work. And that’s exactly what she wanted. She’d pay dearly for it later, but it was the right thing to do.
“I was hoping your son would come,” Mr. Stempel said.
“Nate’s got school this morning,” Dawn told him. “And I didn’t think this should wait any longer.”
“I see.” He didn’t sound satisfied.
“Also, I’ve been reading this book, and I had a question I was hoping I could ask you.” She reached into her bag and fished it out.
“Buffy Halliday Goes to Europe!?” he asked. “I have to admit, I’ve never heard of it.”
“Sorry, I should have mentioned—that’s just the cover. There’s a different book on the inside.”
