Skeleton Tree

by Kim Ventrella

  Stanly helped Miren inside, and they ate potato soup and hard rolls for dinner. At least it wasn’t borsch.

  Mom came home from work before the sun had even gone down for the day. Ms. Francine heated up soup and they all sat around the dining table, talking about their day. Stanly tried to keep up his end of the conversation, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the bones.

  He must have zoned out for a while, because suddenly he heard Miren say, “And, next thing I knew, it made a thumbs-up, like this.” As soon as she said it, she clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, Stanly.” There must be something in little kid DNA that makes it impossible for them not to blab.

  “What made a thumbs-up?” Mom said.

  Miren thought about it for a long time. “Oh, nothing. It was just this dumb TV show Stanly made me watch.”

  Mom laughed and ruffled Miren’s hair. Stanly had to admit he was kind of impressed with her answer. Who knew she could be such a good liar? “You’ll have to let me watch it sometime. Promise?”

  “Okay,” Miren said. “One day.”

  After that, Ms. Francine went home and Mom put Miren to bed. She always sat with her and read stories from Miren’s favorite book, all about a stinky block of cheese.

  Stanly sat at the dinner table, doing his homework. Outside, the moon rose big and orange in the sky, like a Halloween pumpkin.

  Stanly couldn’t wait till Halloween. He was going to be Dagger Rockbomb, and Jaxon was going as BrainBlaster 2000, this zombie robot boss with spinning eyeballs and lasers shooting out of his tongue. Jaxon’s dad was this special effects guru. Every year he turned his whole backyard into a haunted house and had a huge party for the entire neighborhood. It was going to be epic, even if it was the same day as Miren’s birthday.

  Mom poured a glass of wine and went outside to talk on the phone. Stanly was pretty sure she was calling Dad. Maybe this time he would answer, and then Mom could put Stanly on the phone, too, instead of leaving another message. Maybe, but knowing Dad, probably not.

  While the phone was ringing, Mom walked right up to the skeleton arm a bunch of times without ever looking down at it. But that wasn’t the weirdest part. At one point, she stepped right through it, like it wasn’t even there, like the arm was made of smoke instead of bone. Stanly couldn’t understand it.

  “I told Dad you say hi,” Mom said a few seconds later when she came inside.

  “I could have told him myself,” Stanly said, an acidy taste settling on the back of his tongue. “Why doesn’t he ever pick up his phone anymore?”

  “You know he’s busy with his new job. We talked about this.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  Mom snapped her phone shut and set it on the counter. “I told him Miren’s going to be fine. Kids need oxygen all the time, even some kids who just have colds, I looked it up online. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll call back in the morning.” Mom dragged her fingernails across her forehead. “And, like I said, Miren just needs a little rest. If it was anything serious, he’d—”

  “What? If what was anything serious?”

  “Nothing, just don’t be so hard on your dad, okay?”

  Stanly didn’t say anything for a while. Suddenly, he didn’t feel like talking about Dad anymore.

  “You’d better go to bed, sweetheart, so you’re not tired tomorrow.”

  “Can’t I stay home from school again? Someone has to be here to take care of Miren.” The words came out before he could stop them.

  Mom got a look on her face like he’d hit her, but then she turned it into a smile. “Ms. Francine will be here, and you’ve already missed enough school.”

  “But Miren needs me.” Also, a tiny part of him was hoping to spend the day digging. All he had to do was find a camera and get the perfect shot. Then Dad would come on the trip with him, and he’d remember how great it was when he’d lived at home, and he’d give up his stupid job in California. Dad might not be perfect, but things had been better when he was here. It was a fact.

  Mom thought about it for a long time. Her fingers moved down from her forehead and started rubbing her jaw. “We can stop by McDonald’s on the way to school, how about that? I’ll drive you. Meet me at the station wagon at six thirty. Deal?”

  Stanly wanted to argue, but Mom looked so tired he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Deal.”

  “Goodnight, Stanly.” She hugged him for so long his shoulders started to ache.

  “Goodnight, Mom.” He watched her stare out the darkened window. Her eyes fell on the bone arm once, twice. The third time, her forehead creased and she opened her mouth, like she wanted to say something, but a moment later she closed it again.

  “Don’t let the wully bugs bite,” he added.

  He waited for her to answer, but she just kept staring out the window, like maybe there was something there other than the bone. Something she could see and Stanly couldn’t.

  Things were better in the morning, and the day after that. On Friday, Stanly got to go to Jaxon’s house after school. Jaxon was so hopped up on sugar from eating a whole plate of double fudge cookies, they didn’t even have to count fence slats before they started playing Ancient Aliens Attack!

  “So, I’ve been thinking,” Jaxon said as he torpedoed an ancient alien dressed like King Tut, “about the Young Discoverer’s Prize.” Stanly had been thinking about it, too. They only had one week to get the perfect picture. “We should start keeping a record of how fast the skeleton grows. With charts and stuff. Scientists love charts, and then we’ll be sure to win.”

  “Yeah,” Stanly said, “but I don’t have a camera. Mrs. Hammelstein said hers was broken, and Principal Eaks said I couldn’t borrow the school’s unless it was for homework.”

  “No worries, I’ll sleep over this weekend and we can take pictures with my iPad.” Jaxon shrugged, like it was no big deal. “I already asked my mom and she said it’s okay.”

  Out of nowhere, the victory music soundtrack from Skatepark Zombie Death Bash blasted in Stanly’s head.

  “Your iPad? Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Because you never wrote out a checklist like I told you? In one column, you put—”

  “No, because you’re a genius! A real-life, genuine superhero sidekick.”

  “Sidekick?”

  Later that night, Mom picked up Stanly and Jaxon, and they went to Lazlo’s Pizza and Mini-Golf. Stanly used to love going there when he was a kid, but what he really wanted was to get home and take a picture of the skeleton. Miren sat in the front seat, so Stanly and Jaxon could sit together in the back. The oxygen tank rolled around in the trunk. On Thursday, the doctor said she didn’t have to wear it anymore, unless she felt like she needed it.

  “I want to get a sno-cone and an ice cream and one of those lollipops with the swirly part in the middle.” Miren bounced in her seat. “And Ashleigh wants a corn dog, or maybe a burrito. She can’t decide.”

  “Ashleigh can’t eat,” Jaxon said. “She’s a doll.”

  Also, only babies carry dolls, Stanly wanted to say but didn’t.

  Miren twisted around in her seat and shook her head at Jaxon. “Oh really, smarty-pants? If she can’t eat, then how come she knows how to potty?”

  Miren squeezed Ashleigh’s tummy, and the doll piddled all over Jaxon’s knee. Stanly laughed so hard he swallowed his cinnamon gum. Mom kept driving and pretended not to notice. He knew she was just happy to see Miren feeling better.

  At the snack shack, Mom ordered an ice cream for Miren and a corn dog for Baby Ashleigh. Seriously, she wasted a dollar on food for a doll. Stanly and Jaxon shared a purple cotton candy and a burrito.

  Miren, Ashleigh, and Mom won at mini-golf. Mostly because Stanly let them win. Also, Jaxon was terrible at putting. He kept getting distracted because of this squiggly mark on his ball that looked like a hair.

  After that, Mom took Miren to play on the slides, and Stanly and Jaxon found an arcade version of PixelBlock. Only twenty-five cents a game. Ms. Fr
ancine had given Stanly enough quarters to play all night, and maybe the next day, too.

  “Don’t tell Momma,” she said that morning before school. “Go have fun with your friend. Little boys don’t have enough fun these days. Not like when I was in Kyrgyzstan.”

  “Oh my god, zombie chicken at five o’clock. Run, Stanly!”

  Stanly smashed the controls as fast as he could, but it was too late. The zombie chicken exploded and destroyed the space portal they’d built with the last of their moonstone.

  “Ugh, I hate this game. Let’s go get some pizza, then we can play World War 2½: Land of the Undead.”

  “Sounds goo—”

  Miren came out of nowhere and cannonballed into Stanly’s stomach.

  “We rode the slides, and Ashleigh went first, and her head fell off, but the man at the desk, his name was Carl, put it back on with superglue, so now she’s not beheaded anymore!” Miren held up her doll for Stanly to inspect.

  “Nope, definitely not beheaded,” Stanly said, patting Ashleigh gingerly on the scalp. “What do you say we get some pizza?”

  “Large pepperoni, sauce on the side?” Mom said.

  “Yes, please.” Jaxon bit his lip. “Sorry, I just don’t like thinking about the sauce hiding under all that cheese. You know, I like to see what I eat.”

  “You’re one strange cookie.” Stanly punched Jaxon’s shoulder. Some kids at school thought Jaxon was weird for saying things like that, but Stanly knew better. The problem was, he was too smart for his own good. “Let’s go get a table. Come on.” They raced through the aisles, looking for an empty booth.

  “Save a seat for Ashleigh,” Miren called after them.

  The pizza tasted better than any Stanly remembered, even though the sauce came in a cup instead of under the cheese like it was supposed to. Miren ate half a piece of pizza and two mega-size Diet Cokes.

  Stanly was surprised when she fell asleep on the car ride home, after all that caffeine. Mom stopped by Jaxon’s house to pick up his things.

  “This is going to be the most epic sleepover weekend in history,” Jaxon said while their moms stood in the driveway, talking. “It’s just like Darby Brothers’ Mystery #57, The Case of the Dancing Bones.”

  “Is this another dead cat story?” Stanly said.

  “No, listen. James and Oliver spend the night in the cemetery, and they see what looks like a dancing skeleton, only it’s really the groundskeeper wearing a costume to scare away grave robbers.”

  “How is that anything like anything?”

  “Don’t you see? You’ve got a dancing skeleton, too, sort of. Only it’s not just some guy wearing a costume. It’s real.” Jaxon took his iPad from his backpack. “And we’re going to prove it.”

  That night, Stanly and Jaxon snuck into the backyard after everyone had gone to sleep. Mom’s fork and spoon wind chime clinked in the chilly air. Jaxon took a deep breath and switched on the Maglite he always kept in his Darby Brothers’ Just-in-Case investigator’s backpack.

  The beam lit on a bony rib cage sticking straight up out of the ground. The skeleton’s hands covered his face, like maybe he was shielding his eyes from the light. Stanly peered through his ribs at the fence beyond, and then he ran a shaky finger along the skeleton’s sternum.

  “Smooth,” Stanly said. “Shouldn’t it be, I don’t know, messier?”

  “Let me see,” Jaxon said, sounding braver than he looked.

  He took a magnifying glass from his pack and scanned the stubby vertebrae and fragile finger bones.

  “Ouch!” Jaxon fell back on his butt, clutching his nose.

  “What happened?”

  “He flicked me!”

  “What?” Stanly pressed his nose close to the skeleton’s face, and sure enough, a bony finger shot out and hit him in the left nostril.

  “Hey!” Stanly backed up, tripped over Jaxon’s legs, and dropped to the grass beside him.

  “That is not natural,” said Jaxon, dragging himself back toward the house.

  “Wait,” said Stanly, standing up and brushing himself off. He wasn’t going to let a little flick stop him now. “Think of it like we’re scientists discovering a new species. Skeletus animatus, get it, the moving skeleton?” Stanly was trying to make a joke, but inside his stomach had twisted into a big, tingly knot.

  “That’s not how you say it in Latin.” Jaxon stood up, too, but he didn’t look like he wanted to come near the skeleton again.

  Stanly groaned. “Whatever, look, the point is, no one’s ever seen anything like this. If we get a picture, we could be famous. Not just the Young Discoverer’s Prize. We could be on TV and stuff.” And maybe then Dad would answer his phone when Mom called.

  “Fine, let’s just take a picture and get out of here,” said Jaxon, a drop of blood trickling from his nose.

  “No, hold on.” Why hadn’t Stanly thought of it before? “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s take a video. If we send that in as our entry, there’s no way we can lose.”

  Jaxon fished the iPad from his backpack and aimed it at the skeleton’s torso. His hands were still shaking, but Stanly didn’t say anything. Inside, he felt the same way.

  “Say cheese,” Stanly said. Jaxon didn’t laugh.

  The skeleton crumpled forward as soon as the iPad started recording, wrapping his arms over his head and curling into a tiny ball.

  “Not cool,” Jaxon said, nearly dropping the iPad. “All I got was a blur.”

  “Let me see.” Stanly played back the video. Sure enough, all he could see was a white light sweeping across the screen, kind of like the beam of a flashlight. “Here, let me do it.” He tried to sound brave, but really he had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up.

  Stanly waited for the skeleton to stretch back to its full height, but it didn’t move … at first. Not until Stanly and Jaxon turned their backs and closed their eyes. Then, they heard bones clinking together, and when they turned around the skeleton was upright again.

  “I wish he’d take his hands away from his eyes,” said Stanly, although his tongue had gone numb, and if the skeleton had moved his hands at that exact moment he might have screamed.

  “Just take the video so we can go inside.” Jaxon twisted his shirt in his hands and counted under his breath.

  “Okay, here it goes.”

  Stanly zoomed in and pressed the button. The skeleton collapsed to one side again, so that all Stanly captured was a long, white blur.

  “I don’t think he wants to be on camera,” Jaxon said. “Oh my god, what am I saying? Skeletons don’t want anything. Stanly, you know I’m your friend, right? But can we please go inside?”

  Stanly wasn’t listening. He was determined to make this happen, whether the skeleton wanted it to or not. “Maybe the shutter speed’s too slow or something.” Stanly didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded good. “Let’s try to snap a regular picture.”

  “I’m leaving, okay? Hold on to the iPad, I’m out of here.”

  “Not yet,” Stanly said, but Jaxon had already started toward the door.

  Stanly didn’t want Jaxon to be mad at him, but he had to get a good shot. Jaxon might not need to win the prize, but he did. Especially now that Miren was really sick. If he won the trip, he could convince Dad to come home, and then things would be how they used to be. Dad could get a job at a law firm in town, Mom could quit at Walgreens and go to dog grooming school, and they wouldn’t have to worry about bills all the time. Dad was like the hard drive to the Stanwright family computer. With him gone, they were just a bunch of spare parts.

  Stanly did everything he could think of to snap a clear picture of the skeleton growing in his backyard. He pretended to be cleaning the iPad’s screen, and then he swung around for a surprise shot. Nothing but blur. He hid the iPad behind his back and then slid it out so fast no normal person would have had time to react.

  The skeleton seemed to know each move he was going to make before he made it.

  “You win,” Stan
ly said after the tenth failed shot. “Guess I’ll go back inside.”

  Stanly strolled across the yard, humming, and closed the door behind him. Quick as a cat, he ducked under the window, held up the iPad, and clicked.

  Heart banging against his ribs, he lowered the iPad and looked at the photo he had taken. The top part of a skeleton stared back at him. Jaw open. Two cavern eyes gaping like endless black holes, hungry and swirling.

  But that wasn’t the weird part. The skeleton’s body was draped in velvety black fabric that reflected back the light. A hood hung low over his forehead, casting long shadows down his cheeks. And one bony finger pointed at the house. Not at Stanly, but off to his left.

  Back toward the kitchen and Miren’s bedroom.

  “Did you get one?” Jaxon said when Stanly plopped down on his bed. Jaxon was playing PixelBlock on Stanly’s ancient computer. “Let me see.”

  Bitter liquid coated Stanly’s throat. He turned the iPad around to show Jaxon, but even as he did, the image changed, like one of those sand paintings that go fuzzy when you shake them.

  “I think you were right,” Stanly said, the words scratching the inside of his mouth. “He doesn’t want to have his picture taken.”

  Miren bounced up and down in her seat at the dining table, the chair legs creaking under her weight.

  “This is why little ones shouldn’t eat coffee for breakfast,” Ms. Francine said.

  “She only had one sip,” said Stanly.

  “And I’m not little!”

  “Eat your biscuits, not-little girl. It will help soak up some of that energy.”

  “Ashleigh and I want to go visit Princy after breakfast,” said Miren. “He’s gotten so big, soon he’ll be as tall as me, and we’re going to play hide-and-seek and freeze tag. He told me so.”