Traplines

by Eden Robinson

  Between classes I pass Mrs. Smythe in the hall. Craig nudges me. “Go on,” he says, making sucking noises. “Go get your A.”

  “Fuck off,” I say, pushing him.

  She’s talking to some girl and doesn’t see me. I think about skipping English but know that she’ll call home and ask where I am.

  At lunch no one talks to me. I can’t find Craig or Tony or Billy. The village guys who hang out by the science wing snicker as I go past. I don’t stop until I get to the gym doors, where the headbangers have taken over. I don’t have any money and I didn’t bring a lunch, so I bum a cigarette off this girl with really tight jeans. To get my mind off my stomach I try to get her to go out with me. She looks at me like I’m crazy. When she walks away, the fringe on her leather jacket swings.

  I flunk my biology test. It’s multiple choice. I stare at the paper and kick myself. I know I could have passed if I’d read the chapter. Mr. Kellerman reads out the scores from lowest to highest. My name is called out third.

  “Mr. Tate,” he says. “Three out of thirty.”

  “All riiight,” Craig says, slapping my back.

  “Mr. Davis,” Mr. Kellerman says to Craig, “three and a half.”

  Craig stands up and bows. The guys in the back clap. The kids in the front laugh. Mr. Kellerman reads out the rest of the scores. Craig turns to me. “Looks like I beat the Brain,” he says.

  “Yeah,” I say. “Pretty soon you’re going to be getting the Nobel Prize.”

  The bell rings for English. I go to my locker and take out my jacket. If she calls home no one’s going to answer anyway.

  I walk downtown. The snow is starting to slack off and it’s even sunning a bit. My stomach growls. I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. I wish I’d gone to English. Mrs. Smythe would have given me something to eat. She always has something left over from lunch. I hunch down into my jacket.

  Downtown, I go to the Paradise Arcade. All the heads hang out there. Maybe Eric’ll give me some money. More like a belt, but it’s worth a try. I don’t see him anywhere, though. In fact, no one much is there. Just some burnouts by the pinball machines. I see Mitch and go over to him, but he’s soaring, laughing at the ball going around the machine. I walk away, head for the highway, and hitch home. Mom will have passed out by now, and Dad’ll be at work.

  Sure enough, Mom is on the living room floor. I get her a blanket. The stove has gone out and it’s freezing in here. I go into the kitchen and look through the fridge. There’s one jar of pickles, some really pathetic-looking celery, and some milk that’s so old it smells like cheese. There’s no bread left over from Saturday. I find some Rice-A-Roni and cook it. Mom comes to and asks for some water. I bring her a glass and give her a little Rice-A-Roni. She makes a face but slowly eats it.

  At six Dad comes home with Eric. They’ve made up. Eric has bought Dad a six-pack and they watch the hockey game together. I stay in my room. Eric has cleaned his bed by dumping his mattress outside and stealing mine. I haul my mattress back onto my bed frame. I pull out my English book. We have a grammar test this Friday. I know Mrs. Smythe will be unhappy if she has to fail me. I read the chapter on nouns and get through most of the one on verbs before Eric comes in and kicks me off the bed.

  He tries to take the mattress but I punch him in the side. Eric turns and grabs my hair. “This is my bed,” he says. “Understand?”

  “Fuck you,” I say. “You had the party. Your fucked-up friends trashed the room. You sleep on the floor.”

  Dad comes in and sees Eric push me against the wall and smack my face. He yells at Eric, who turns around, his fist frozen in the air. Dad rolls his sleeves up.

  “You always take his side!” Eric yells. “You never take mine!”

  “Pick on someone your own size,” Dad says. “Unless you want to deal with me.”

  Eric gives me a look that says he’ll settle with me later. I pick up my English book and get out. I walk around the village, staying away from the RinkyDink. It’s the first place Eric will look.

  I’m at the village exit. The sky is clear and the stars are popping out. Mr. Smythe will be at his telescope trying to map the Pleiades. Mrs. Smythe will be marking papers while she watches TV.

  “Need a ride?” this guy says. There’s a blue pickup stopped in front of me. The driver is wearing a hunting cap.

  I take my hand out of my mouth. I’ve been chewing my knuckle like a baby. I shake my head. “I’m waiting for someone,” I say.

  He shrugs and takes off. I stand there and watch his headlights disappear.

  They didn’t really mean it. They’d get bored of me quick when they found out what I’m like. I should have just said yes. I could have stayed until they got fed up and then come home when Eric had cooled off.

  Two cars pass me as I walk back to the village. I can hide at Tony’s until Eric goes out with his friends and forgets this afternoon. My feet are frozen by the time I get to the RinkyDink. Tony is there.

  “So. I heard Craig beat you in biology,” he says.

  I laugh. “Didn’t it just impress you?”

  “A whole half a point. Way to go,” he says. “For a while there we thought you were getting townie.”

  “Yeah, right,” I say. “Listen, I pissed Eric off—”

  “Surprise, surprise.”

  “—and I need a place to crash. Can I sleep over?”

  “Sure,” he says. Mitch wanders into the RinkyDink, and a crowd of kids slowly drifts over to him. He looks around, eyeing everybody. Then he starts giving something out. Me and Tony go over.

  “Wow,” Tony says, after Mitch gives him something too.

  “What?”

  We leave and go behind the RinkyDink, where other kids are gathered. “Fucking all right,” I hear Craig say, even though I can’t see him.

  “What?” I say. Tony opens his hand. He’s holding a little vial with white crystals in it.

  “Crack,” he says. “Man, is he stupid. He could have made a fortune and he’s just giving it away.”

  We don’t have a pipe, and Tony wants to do this right the first time. He decides to save it for tomorrow, after he buys the right equipment. I’m hungry again. I’m about to tell him that I’m going to Billy’s when I see Eric.

  “Shit,” I say and hide behind him.

  Tony looks up. “Someone’s in trou-ble,” he sings.

  Eric’s looking for me. I hunch down behind Tony, who tries to look innocent. Eric spots him and starts to come over. “Better run,” Tony whispers.

  I sneak behind some other people but Eric sees me and I have to run for it anyway. Tony starts to cheer and the kids behind the RinkyDink join in. Some of the guys follow us so they’ll see what happens when Eric catches up with me. I don’t want to find out so I pump as hard as I can.

  Eric used to be fast. I’m glad he’s a dopehead now because he can’t really run anymore. I’m panting and my legs are cramping but the house is in sight. I run up the stairs. The door is locked.

  I stand there, hand on the knob. Eric rounds the corner to our block. There’s no one behind him. I bang on the door but now I see that our truck is gone. I run around to the back but the basement door is locked too. Even the windows are locked.

  Eric pops his head around the corner of the house. He grins when he sees me, then disappears. I grit my teeth and start running across our backyard. Head for Billy’s. “You shithead,” Eric yells. He has a friend with him, maybe Brent. I duck behind our neighbor’s house. There’s snow in my sneakers and all the way up my leg, but I’m sweating. I stop. I can’t hear Eric. I hope I’ve lost him, but Eric is really pissed off and when he’s pissed off he doesn’t let go. I look down. My footprints are clear in the snow. I start to run again, but I hit a thick spot and have to wade through thigh-high snow. I look back. Eric is nowhere. I keep slogging. I make it to the road again and run down to the exit.

  I’ve lost him. I’m shaking because it’s cold. I can feel the sweat cooling on my skin. My breat
h goes back to normal. I wait for a car to come by. I’ve missed the night shift and the graveyard crew won’t be by until midnight. It’s too cold to wait that long.

  A car, a red car. A little Toyota. Brent’s car. I run off the road and head for a clump of trees. The Toyota pulls over and Eric gets out, yelling. I reach the trees and rest. They’re waiting by the roadside. Eric is peering into the trees, trying to see me. Brent is smoking in the car. Eric crosses his arms over his chest and blows into his hands. My legs are frozen.

  After a long time, a cop car cruises to a stop beside the Toyota. I wade out and wave at the two policemen. They look startled. One of them turns to Eric and Brent and asks them something. I see Eric shrug. It takes me a while to get over to where they’re standing because my legs are slow.

  The cop is watching me. I swear I’ll never call them pigs again. I swear it. He leans over to Brent, who digs around in the glove compartment. The cop says something to his partner. I scramble down the embankment.

  Eric has no marks on his face. Dad probably hit him on the back and stomach. Dad has been careful since the social worker came to our house. Eric suddenly smiles at me and holds out his hand. I move behind the police car.

  “Is there a problem here?” the policeman says.

  “No,” Eric says. “No probulum. Li’l misunnerstanin’.”

  Oh, shit. He’s as high as a kite. The policeman looks hard at Eric. I look at the car. Brent is staring at me, glassy-eyed. He’s high too.

  Eric tries again to reach out to me. I put the police car between us. The policeman grabs Eric by the arm and his partner goes and gets Brent. The policeman says something about driving under the influence but none of us are listening. Eric’s eyes are on me. I’m going to pay for this. Brent is swearing. He wants a lawyer. He stumbles out of the Toyota and slips on the road. Brent and Eric are put in the backseat of the police car. The policeman comes up to me and says, “Can you make it home?”

  I nod.

  “Good. Go,” he says.

  They drive away. When I get home, I walk around the house, trying to figure out a way to break in. I find a stick and jimmy the basement door open. Just in case Eric gets out tonight, I make a bed under the tool table and go to sleep.

  No one is home when I wake up. I scramble an egg and get ready for school. I sit beside Tony on the bus.

  “I was expecting to see you with black eyes,” he says.

  My legs are still raw from last night. I have something due today but I can’t remember what. If Eric is in the drunk tank, they’ll let him out later.

  The village guys are talking to me again. I skip gym. I skip history. I hang out with Craig and Tony in the Paradise Arcade. I’m not sure if I want to be friends with them after they joined in the chase last night, but it’s better to have them on my side than not. They get a two-for-one pizza special for lunch and I’m glad I stuck with them because I’m starved. They also got some five-finger specials from Safeway. Tony is proud because he swiped a couple of bags of chips and two Pepsis and no one even noticed.

  Mitch comes over to me in the bathroom.

  “That was a really cheap thing to do,” he says.

  “What?” I haven’t done anything to him.

  “What? What? Getting your brother thrown in jail. Pretty crummy.”

  “He got himself thrown in jail. He got caught when he was high.”

  “That’s not what he says.” Mitch frowns. “He says you set him up.”

  “Fuck.” I try to sound calm. “When’d he tell you that?”

  “This morning,” he says. “He’s waiting for you at school.”

  “I didn’t set him up. How could I?”

  Mitch nods. He hands me some crack and says, “Hey, I’m sorry,” and leaves. I look at it. I’ll give it to Tony and maybe he’ll let me stay with him tonight.

  Billy comes into the Paradise with Elaine and her friends. He’s getting some glances but he doesn’t notice. He holds the chair out for Elaine, who sits down without looking at him. I don’t want to be around for this. I go over to Tony.

  “I’m leaving,” I say.

  Tony shushes me. “Watch,” he says.

  Elaine orders a beer. Frankie shakes his head and points to the sign that says WE DO NOT SERVE MINORS. Elaine frowns. She says something to Billy. He shrugs. She orders a Coke. Billy pays. When their Cokes come, Elaine dumps hers over Billy’s head. Billy stares at her, more puzzled than anything else. Her friends start to laugh, and I get up and walk out.

  I lean against the wall of the Paradise. Billy comes out a few minutes later. His face is still and pale. Elaine and her friends follow him, reciting lines from the poems he wrote her. Tony and the rest spill out too, laughing. I go back inside and trade the crack for some quarters for the video games. I keep losing. Tony wants to go now and we hitch back to the village. We raid his fridge and have chocolate ice cream coconut sundaes. Angela comes in with Di and says that Eric is looking for me. I look at Tony and he looks at me.

  “Boy, are you in for it,” Tony says. “You’d better stay here tonight.”

  When everyone is asleep, Tony pulls out a weird-looking pipe and does the crack. His face goes very dreamy and far away. A few minutes later he says, “Christ, that’s great. I wonder how much Mitch has?”

  I turn over and go to sleep.

  The next morning Billy is alone on the bus. No one wants to sit with him so there are empty seats all around him. He looks like he hasn’t slept. Tony goes up to him and punches him in the arm.

  “So how’s Shakespeare this morning?” Tony says.

  I hope Eric isn’t at the school. I don’t know where else I can hide.

  Mrs. Smythe is waiting at the school bus stop. I sneak out the back door of the bus, with Tony and the guys pretending to fight to cover me.

  We head back to the Paradise. I’m starting to smell bad. I haven’t had a shower in days. I wish I had some clean clothes. I wish I had some money to buy a toothbrush. I hate the scummy feeling on my teeth. I wish I had enough for a taco or a hamburger.

  Dad is at the Paradise, looking for me.

  “Let’s go to the Dairy Queen,” he says.

  He orders a coffee, a chocolate milk shake, and a cheeseburger. We take the coffee and milk shake to a back table, and I pocket the order slip. We sit there. Dad folds and unfolds a napkin.

  “One of your teachers called,” he says.

  “Mrs. Smythe?”

  “Yeah.” He looks up. “Says she’d like you to stay there.”

  I try to read his face. His eyes are bloodshot and red-rimmed. He must have a big hangover.

  The cashier calls out our number. I go up and get the cheeseburger and we split it. Dad always eats slow to make it last longer.

  “Did you tell her you wanted to?”

  “No,” I say. “They asked me, but I said I couldn’t.”

  Dad nods. “Did you tell them anything?”

  “Like what?”

  “Don’t get smart,” he says, sounding beat.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  He stops chewing. “Then why’d they ask you?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “You must have told them something.”

  “Nope. They just asked.”

  “Did Eric tell them?”

  I snort. “Eric? No way. They would … He wouldn’t go anywhere near them. They’re okay, Dad. They won’t tell anybody.”

  “So you did tell them.”

  “I didn’t. I swear I didn’t. Look, Eric got me on the face a couple of times and they just figured it out.”

  “You’re lying.”

  I finished my half of the cheeseburger. “I’m not lying. I didn’t say anything and they won’t either.”

  “I never touched you.”

  “Yeah, Eric took care of that,” I say. “You seen him?”

  “I kicked him out.”

  “You what?”

  “Party. Ruined the basement,” Dad says grimly. “He’s
old enough. Had to leave sooner or later.”

  He chews his last mouthful of cheeseburger. Eric will really be out of his mind now.

  We drive out to check the trapline. The first trap has been tripped with a stick. Dad curses, blaming the other trappers who have lines near ours. “I’ll skunk them,” he says. But the last three traps have got some more martens. We even get a little lynx. Dad is happy. We go home. The basement is totally ripped apart.

  Next day at school, I spend most of the time ducking from Eric and Mrs. Smythe before I finally get sick of the whole lot and go down to the Paradise. Tony is there with Billy, who asks me if I want to go to Vancouver with him until Eric cools off.

  “Now?”

  “No better time,” he says.

  I think about it. “When you leaving?”

  “Tonight.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t have any money.”

  “Me neither,” he says.

  “Shit,” I say. “How we going to get there? It’s a zillion miles from here.”

  “Hitch to town, hitch to Smithers, then down to Prince George.”

  “Yeah, yeah, but what are we going to eat?”

  He wiggles his hand. Five-finger special. I laugh.

  “You change your mind,” he says, “I’ll be behind the RinkyDink around seven. Get some thick boots.”

  We’re about to hitch home when I see Mrs. Smythe peer into the Paradise. It’s too late to hide because she sees me. Her face stiffens. She walks over to us and the guys start to laugh. Mrs. Smythe looks at them, then at me.

  “Will?” she says. “Can I talk to you outside?”

  She glances around like the guys are going to jump her. I try to see what she’s nervous about. Tony is grabbing his crotch. Billy is cleaning his nails. The other guys are snickering. I suddenly see them the way she does. They all have long, greasy hair, combed straight back. We’re all wearing jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. We don’t look nice.

  She’s got on her school uniform, as she calls it. Dark skirt, white shirt, low black heels, glasses. She’s watching me like she hasn’t seen me before. I hope she never sees my house.

  “Later?” I say. “I’m kind of busy.”