Page 109 of Bears Behaving Badly
And then she was shrinking and getting lighter and weaker and curling into herself and she hadn’t thought it possible but now everything hurtmoreand cold, ah,God, it was cold, and she blinked up at Nadia who was either an angel sent by the denizens of heaven
(she’s glowing!)
or was simply standing with the sun at her back.
“I wrecked the salmon dress,” she managed, and then everything went dark and stayed that way for who knew how long.
* * *
The upside: rainbow trout, steak, gazpacho, butter-basted morels, sugared raspberries and cream, fried chicken, shellfish kebabs, pasta, lemonade, tea, cake, and KFC gravy to wash it all down.
There didn’t appear to be a downside, though. That was new.
The only dead person in the room was Opal Adway, and that was new, too. She had topped the cake with raspberries and was washing down bites of dessert with milk tea. “Well, hiya,” she said in her high, piping voice, just like Oz did back then, and still did, even though his adult voice was neither high nor piping.
“Hi, Opal.” Annette sat across from her long-dead friend.
She grinned, green eyes gleaming. “You lost the bet on purpose.”
“Yes.”
“Dummy.”
“Yes.” She watched Opal relishing dessert, something she’d never seen the girl do in life. “Nice to see you digging in.”
“Took a while, y’know? For me to trust food again.” Annette nodded, like she and the dead girl were having a sane conversation. “Oz, too. Well, he didn’t trustpeople. Remember?”
Vividly. She’d been at Mama Mac’s for two years by then, long enough that thoughts of her parents would sometimes make her smile, which was an improvement over the sobbing and much less exhausting, too. Twelve year-old Oz and his sister, Opal, had come to stay for a few weeks while IPA tracked down a permanent solution for them, preferably one involving competent blood relatives.
The twins had been “saved,” which didn’t mean what she thought it did back then. The bad guys were in cages, and lawsuits were happening, but much of the damage caused by the months of malnutrition would prove to be irreversible in Opal’s case, and made worse by the fact that she no longer trusted any adult trying to feed her.
Oz’s coping mechanism had been the exact reverse: he ate anything he wanted, anywhere he wanted, anytime he wanted, and if people didn’t like it, too bad, and if someone decided to fight him over it, he’d go all in every time. Even if they were bigger and older. Even if it wastheirFrench Silk pie. Even if they won every fight, because bear versus wolf hardly ever worked out for the wolf.
So, the bet.
“I was afraid I’d hurt him eventually. He wouldn’t quit. Every fight was to the pain.”Why am I explaining this to a dead girl?But she knew why. This wasn’t real. She was explaining things to herself. “That’s all.”
“Nuh-uh! You wanted to give him back some control. And you wanted to give him a win. So you threw the bet.”
“Thanks for the nutshell summary.”
“Welcome. And then I died.”
“And then you died.” Cardiac arrest brought on by potassium deficiency. “There’s no need to narrate.”
“Uh-huh! Someone’s gotta remind you it’s worth it, you big dummy.” Opal had finished the cake and was now spooning up the sugared berries. “That’s what you’rereallywondering. You think your work is pointless.” When Annette opened her mouth, Opal amended her comment with “You sometimes think your work is pointless. Well, so? Sometimes going to the dentist is pointless. Shopping in the organic section. Um…buying sandals in winter. And…uh…”
“I get it,” she replied dryly. “And going to the dentist is never pointless.”
“What, are you shilling for the American Dental Association now? You couldn’t save me, but Oz is still kicking around. You should just let him help you. You think it’s a coincidence that out of all the places he could’ve worked, he ended up in your city, in your building, in your agency? Why was he even around for you to recommend to the Accounting department? He could’ve moved to any city in the world.”
“I…hadn’t given that much thought.”
Opal snorted, but thankfully declined to comment. On that issue, at least.
“Besides, he’s rich. He doesn’t need to work for IPA or anyone.”
“Really, Annette? You can’t think why a rich abuse survivor would want to help other abused kids? Your mind’s a blank? Nothing’s coming to you at—”
