The even in-and-out sound of Lottie’s breath reaches me, but I’m not fooled. She’s wide-awake, just like me. I can tell. I have spent long hours tuned to Rian’s asthma attacks and to the quiet that comes when he finally falls sleep. Lottie’s breath is too hard and deliberate. She’s faking sleep, and I think that my unkind words about her mother have dug up memories of the time that her father gave her the spinning top and her mother was happy. Bet she wants to cry and pull her hair out too.

“Good night,” I whisper across the room, and she’s got to know that my saying good night is an apology, but that I will never tell her sorry to her face, because that would put me in the wrong and make me weak.

“Good night,” she whispers back.

We lie awake with our memories until sleep takes us away.

13

Goliath

Why, I ask you, does a dirt road on the southern border of Swaziland have to be swept? Chores keep us busy outside of the classroom, but I’d rather use the time to learn more Bible verses for the Scripture class competition. First prize for the most verses memorized is a spool of white satin ribbon if the winner is a girl, and a penknife if the winner is a boy. Lottie says the knife is worth more, which is typical of her and, I suspect, true.

She works across the road from me, bent over at the waist, her broom sweeping in wide arcs that leave a fan pattern on the ground. Last night, she hurt me and I hurt her back, and instead of hating each other and planning revenge, we got out of bed and got on with our day. We are not friends, but we’re not enemies either.

She lifts her head at the sound of a car engine and looks across the cattle grid that marks the entrance to the school grounds. Engines are rare at Keziah, and most students within earshot will stop to check the make and model of the vehicle.

“White bus,” Lottie says, and moves to my side of the road. “I thought it was Mr. Parns bringing Darnell back to school. He’s been gone for more than two days already.”

“Darnell will show up,” I say. “He always does.”

“True enough,” Lottie says. “But that black eye of his gave me a bad feeling, and God help him if he’s making trouble on Bosman’s farm.”

“Darnell is gone and gone,” I say. “And what can we do about it?”

“Nothing,” Lottie says. “We just have to wait and see, and hope that he’s safe.”