Crush. Candy. Corpse.

by Sylvia McNicoll

  Alexis wrinkled her nose. “Is that even legal?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “They’re both married to other people. And Cole isn’t even an Internet priest. Still it made her happy for a little while and, of course, Mrs. Johnson was off that day. We gathered up a group of the seniors in the television room and borrowed a bouquet of plastic flowers from the foyer upstairs. And Cole got them to recite some vows.”

  “Just like we used to do in kindergarten at recess.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s true. We used to play marriage.” I thought for a moment about how the seniors’ lives seemed to be replaying backwards. “Except in the middle of this ceremony, Marlene decided they needed to go to the store for some bread before it closed.”

  “Wow. Did that hurt Fred’s feelings?” she asked as she flipped back dresses. “Here’s another one that could work. It’s bright.”

  “Nah, they just walked off hand in hand.” I looked at the dress she had separated from the rest. “This is lime, Alexis! You think I want to wear lime to the prom?”

  She shrugged. “It’s kiwi, not lime. And it makes a statement.”

  I took it, along with the blue dress, into the changing room.

  “What’s Donny going to say when he hears you’ve given away his ring?” Alexis said a few minutes later, just as I slid the blue dress over my head and onto my body.

  I gasped when I looked in the mirror. That single bare shoulder looked dramatic against the shimmer. I just had to have that dress. And I needed to wear it to Donny’s grad.

  “Sunny? Can I see?”

  I opened the door.

  She nodded. “Mmm hmm. That one’s really you.” She just stared for a second. “You’re not even going to tell Donovan about the ring, are you?”

  “Lexie, of course I am. I’ll just say I lost it somewhere at the Manor.”

  Alexis fumbled for the price tag on the dress. “One hundred and twenty dollars. That’s not bad. But is your Mom going to pay for a dress that you’re wearing to Donny’s grad?”

  I frowned. “No. I’ll just have to figure out another way. You don’t have any money, do you?”

  She made a face. “Five dollars. Would that be enough for them to hold it for you?” she asked.

  I shrugged.

  “You know, there’s a couple in your size. Maybe they’ll go on sale later in the season.”

  The salesclerk walked over to us. “That looks stunning on you. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “Can you hold this dress for us? I don’t have the money right now. But I only need it in April anyway.”

  “I could keep it aside till the end of the day,” she suggested hopefully. “But I can’t put it away any longer and at that price, well . . . ” She shook her head.

  “That does it. I’m texting Donovan. We need a lift home anyway.” I took my cell phone from my purse and keyed in: Found perfect dress. Need money. Meet me @ food court? I put the phone back in my purse and talked to the salesclerk again. “Yes, if you could hold it till closing for me that would be great.” I changed back into my clothes and handed the dress to her.

  Then we walked towards the south side of the mall where all the noise and food smells came from. At the coffee shop, we decided the ice lattes would be way too fattening. My phone buzzed just as I ordered a Chai tea. OK, Donovan texted me back.

  “Where’s he going to get the money? He’s not going to steal it, is he Sunny?” Alexis hissed as she looked over my shoulder.

  “No!” I shook my head at her. We grabbed our teas, added some sugar, and headed for a table with four chairs. “For your information, Donovan isn’t always broke. Maybe he has some Christmas money left.” Oh right, in February. Even I knew how unlikely that would be. “I just wish I could have volunteered at Salon Teo. The tips alone probably would have covered the dress.”

  “Come on, you said it yourself before, you love those old people,” Alexis said.

  “You’re right. I do. I just want to be able to buy things for myself.” I sipped at my tea and tried to relax. But a grabby feeling inside made me tense. That dress, that perfect shimmering one-shouldered dress. My life wouldn’t be the same without it.

  To take my mind off things, Alexis told me her volunteer story about a Jack Russell puppy the shelter adopted out on Friday. Yada, yada, yada. Alexis was all about giving out lots of details. Apparently people buy the dogs without realizing how much energy they have. Then they dump them. They’re really difficult to place but Alexis’s photo of the dog on their website drew some dog lovers in.

  “Here, let me show you his picture.” She held out her cell phone to me. The dog’s hair stuck up in the middle, which reminded me of something.

  “Why is he so shaggy?” I asked, pointing to the fluff in the middle of his head.

  “We think he has some poodle in him.”

  “Cole,” I said out loud. That’s who that fluff reminded me of. Even as I said his name I saw Donovan heading towards us. He was confident, cool. His curls were glossy and his brown eyes soulful. He looked very Johnny Depp. I felt my face open into a grin. I took a last look at the Cole puppy and snapped Alexis’s phone shut. “He’s very cute.”

  “Hey, Sunny. Alexis, nice to see you,” Donny called from two tables away.

  “Hi, Donovan,” she answered back.

  One more table and I stood up to give him a squeeze. “Thanks for coming, Donny.” I kissed him quickly on the mouth, not long enough to embarrass Alexis and not short enough to be cold to him.

  “Anytime and always, Beautiful.” He sat down with us. “So you found something special, did you?”

  “Yeah, it’s light blue with a hint of shine to it in a certain light. The strap comes down like this.” I made a motion with my hand. “Do you want to come see it?”

  “I don’t need to, Sunny. The way you talk about it, I know you love it. That’s enough for me.” He took his wallet from his pocket. “What do you need?” He pulled out a few bills.

  “You don’t have enough, do you? It will be about a hundred and thirty with tax.” I reached hesitantly just as a receipt dropped down.

  He made a grab for it but my hand was closer. I was about to hand it back to him only something made me unfold it instead. Murphy’s Pawnshop. My face blazed when I made out two scribbled words: gold pin. “How did you get the money, Donovan?” I held up the receipt. I wasn’t really asking, ’cause I already knew.

  “Hey, leave that. I said take the money, not go through my stuff.”

  “Yeah, but it sure seems like you go through other people’s stuff.” I frowned, looking at the twenty-dollar bills and the receipt. My cheeks steamed. I wanted to hit Donovan so badly. “Well, you know what?” I stacked them up along with the receipt and put them in the zipped part of my purse. “This money is going back to the pawnshop. I’m getting Jeannette Ferrier’s thirty-year service pin.”

  “Is that what that thing was? I found it on the floor. I asked the old lady if it was hers. She didn’t seem to recognize it.”

  I looked at his face. I wanted to believe him. “But I asked you if you took anything from anyone’s room and you told me no.” His smoky eyes didn’t look so dreamy anymore, they looked like they were trying to find an escape somewhere.

  “’Cause I didn’t take it,” he insisted.

  “Have it your way. But now that you know, we have to do the right thing. Can you drive us there?”

  “But, Sunny, she’ll never know the difference.” Donovan threw up his hands in a panic. “And you won’t get your dress for the prom.”

  “At this point, I’m not sure I even want to go to your grad.”

  chapter twenty

  “You’re absolutely sure about continuing with this,” Michael McCann asks before we return to the court.

  “Yes,
” I tell him.

  “All right then.” He breaks into a grin. “Let’s go in there and convince them that you’re innocent.”

  The jury comes back happy looking. The chubby dude pats at his gut. Is that soya sauce I see down the sleeveless T-shirt of that lady? There’s a Chinese buffet restaurant around the corner. Those twelve jurors will be sleepy and slow just when it’s our turn to give my side of the story.

  The judge speaks to the Crown lawyer and nods at whatever he says. We all take our places. I sit down in my special box, front row, slightly to the right of the centre of the court.

  “Your Honour, I would like to call Patrick Gale to the stand.”

  The prosecuting buzzard furrows his brows. You can tell he’s confused. The Crown is required to give the defence a list of witnesses who will be called to the stand, but defence doesn’t have to name theirs. And the name doesn’t mean anything to anybody. Not even me — except I know that Michael McCann had his assistant make phone calls to the family of that younger man in Johann’s old room. Through her discussions with them she tracked down Patrick.

  He lumbers down the aisle, large and scary, even though his tattoos are covered by what looks to be a wrinkle-free shirt. He wears a black leather vest over black jeans. Formal biker wear, I’m guessing.

  Patrick Gale swears in on the Bible and states his occupation to be a forklift driver at General Motors. He looks around the courtroom and smiles. Why not? He’s not up on any charges. There’s no risk for him at all.

  “Mr. Gale, can you tell the court how it was that you came to visit Paradise Manor in February of last year?”

  “Certainly,” he answers in a gravely smoker’s voice. “Brother of mine had a motorcycle accident. Bad one, too.”

  “Excuse me for interrupting. To be clear, when you say brother, do you mean Frank Conner is actually your sibling?”

  “Sibling? No.” He wags his head. “He was a biking brother. We belonged to the same club.”

  I see the lady in the ruffled shirt lean far back in her chair. The man dressed in a burgundy shirt and dark pants raises his chin.

  “And you said he was hurt badly?”

  The biker twirls a finger at his ear. “Not ever going to be right in the head again. So he moved into Paradise Manor and I came for a visit.”

  “Did you bring anything?”

  “Yup. A box of Timmies.” He smiles. “Figured it might cheer him up a little.”

  “Did you leave the box behind?” Michael asks.

  I’m nervous about this question. I told Michael about leaving the doughnuts in Jeannette’s lap, and the lie I told Mrs. Johnson. He explained to me that it wouldn’t matter what Mr. Gale answered, as long as he introduced some doubt into who caused Mrs. Demers’s diabetic coma.

  The biker nods. “I didn’t see a recycling box but figured the cleaners would know where it was.”

  “Who ate all the doughnuts? Was it your friend?”

  “No, he had one cruller. I handed them out to the rest of the old folk. One old lady must have had about four.”

  A photo of Mrs. Demers flashes up on the small screen.

  “Was this the resident who ate so many doughnuts?”

  The biker shrugged his shoulders. “Couldn’t tell you for sure. They all look the same to me.”

  “No further questions.”

  But he should have been able to tell Helen apart from the others; she had candy cane–coloured hair after all. Not in the photo on the screen though. A little deception on the defence’s part.

  The judge leans forward. “Does the Crown have any questions for Mr. Gale?”

  I hold my breath, wondering if the buzzard picked up on the all-grey hair detail.

  “No, Your Honour.”

  I exhale and can’t help smiling as the biker lumbers back out of the courtroom.

  The Twentieth Visit — I’m all done

  Good news, Mr. Brooks. I found the missing camera brooch and pinned it on Jeannette so she could enjoy it. This was my last compulsory visit to Paradise Manor. In conclusion, as the voluntary requirement states, I understand my role in serving the community and I have a greater sense of belonging. I may still pop into Paradise Manor from time to time, but I wish to pursue a career in hairstyling so will now apply for an internship at Salon Teo.

  “I didn’t do it. I promise.”

  When a person keeps saying the same thing over and over, your heart wants to accept the words even if your mind keeps reminding you they can’t be true.

  “I’ll find a way to buy that dress for you,” Donovan also promised as we left the pawnshop. He opened the car door for me and Alexis. Then he went to his side and slid in. “They called me for an interview at Pizzalicious. I’ll even throw pizza in the air to make dough for you.”

  In the back seat Alexis chuckled. Traitor.

  Donovan looked at me, waiting for something.

  I squinted at him. “You know that’s not why I’m mad.”

  “But that dress was gorgeous. You have every reason to be disappointed.” He started the engine. “I don’t blame you.”

  So gallant, so honourable . . . What an act. “You took something from Jeannette Ferrier,” I hissed. “Donny, she’s lost all her memories. You can’t rob her of her souvenirs too.”

  “Well, if you think I stole something from one of the golden geezers, then I’m mad at you. How can you not believe me after seven months together?” He faced towards the road, not looking my way.

  I watched his profile — curls softening a hard jawline, smoky brown eyes that could melt you. I didn’t believe him because he lied all the time, to his parents and his teachers, to his friends, too. When the truth was inconvenient, when it was uncomfortable, when it meant trouble — if deception smoothed things over, then Donovan lied. Still, I didn’t want to think he stole the pin from Jeannette.

  “You’ve got that ugly camera brooch back. What more do you want?” He gave me a quick dark glance.

  I looked away and didn’t answer, couldn’t answer really. Breaking up with Donovan was huge. I loved having him as a boyfriend. No Donovan, no grad dance, no dress. Alexis was my only other friend. I would feel lonely.

  “Where’s your ring?” he suddenly asked me.

  On the defence now, I stumbled. “It . . . um . . . slipped off when I was helping Marlene to her walker. You just reminded me. I’ll have to check at the reception desk to see if anyone found it.”

  Donny turned his head a second time so his eyes could meet mine. One set of lying eyes calling to another set. So I couldn’t break up with him just then. We were both guilty.

  That Monday I met up with Cole on the bus to the Manor. He wore a crazy court-jester hat that I snatched off his head immediately. I liked the hat; I just needed to see his hair sticking up. It looked honest, puppy-like now that I’d seen Alexis’s photo from the pound. “I’m glad you used the bus. It’s much safer in this weather.”

  “Me too, since you’re here.” He grinned. “I had to make a deal with my mother. Unless the streets are absolutely clear, I will not take the bike.”

  He was a promise keeper, even if his mother wasn’t there to check up on him. I admired that. He reminded me, too, that I did have other people in my life who liked me besides Donovan.

  “This is your last volunteer session.” His voice wobbled and he turned to rub at the ice on the window. There was a small lookout hole when he finished.

  “Yes. But I am thinking of breaking up with Donny.”

  He turned back to me, a smile stretching across his face.

  I showed him Jeannette’s brooch and told him what happened. “I need to get it back to her without Mrs. Johnson knowing. Can you help me?”

  He agreed to be a lookout for me when I returned the pin to Jeannette.

 
The bus stopped and he got off first, reaching his hand up to hold me steady as I made the step down to the ice. He didn’t let go of my hand as we walked to the Manor. It felt right. I wouldn’t fall.

  I realized in that moment that being with him felt better than hanging around Donny.

  We went through the doors, signed the book, released each other’s hands to sanitize them, and then passed into the lockup ward.

  We spotted Marlene talking to Mrs. Johnson. She was holding a hand up, showing her my ring. I cringed as we drew nearer and overheard the discussion. “It was a beautiful ceremony. I’m so sorry you couldn’t make it.”

  “Hello, Cole. Sonja,” Mrs. Johnson called.

  “Hi,” I answered.

  “Hello,” Cole said.

  “So you know the minister and his wife?” Marlene asked.

  “Yes, I do.” Mrs. Johnson’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. Only me. Not Cole, the minister who actually performed the ceremony.

  “It was a nice wedding,” Cole said as we continued past.

  I giggled.

  We found his grandmother and Jeannette, conveniently sitting side by side, in the television room. We hung up our coats in the closet and headed over to them.

  “What a beautiful smile,” Jeannette told me as we drew nearer.

  “Thank you,” I said and then actually did smile.

  “I’ll go back to the door and watch for you,” Cole told me.

  “Thanks.” I kneeled down and took the camera pin from my purse.

  “This belongs to you, Jeannette. I found it on the floor.” I stuck the camera on her collar and bent the pin in to close it.

  “Thank you. Such a wonderful present. I can’t believe it.”

  “You deserve it, Jeannette. Thirty years of service, you’ve earned it.”

  “But I’m only twenty-nine years old,” she answered.

  I didn’t know what to say back. “Can you keep your present a secret? Just between you and me?”

  Her eyes darted side to side, then squinted. I watched the bright light in them fade till they looked vague and faraway.