Skeleton Tree

by Kim Ventrella

  “But Mom, that’s not what—”

  “I bet you’re hungry after waiting so long,” she said. “I’m going downstairs to get some dinner. Do you want to come?”

  “No thanks,” Stanly said. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Miren.”

  She nodded and left without saying anything else. Stanly stood next to Miren’s bed, not sure what to do. Dr. Cynthia had told him how he could help, but it didn’t seem like it was enough. There had to be more.

  After a few minutes, he reached for the phone and dialed Dad’s number.

  “Hello, Stanwright residence,” said a voice on the other end.

  “Dad, you answered, it’s Miren, she’s—”

  “I’m not home right now, but leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Bye now.”

  There was a beep, then a dull buzz. Stanly listened for a moment before he clicked the phone back into its holder.

  So much for Dad coming to the rescue. Maybe he’d call back—he had caller ID—but for now, he and Mom and Miren would just have to get through this by themselves.

  Stanly decided to try Dr. Cynthia’s advice. He sat next to Miren in bed and read her a story. The words came out scratchy at first, but they got easier the longer he read. As he reached the part about the skeleton army raiding the castle, a white hand slid around the edge of the purple curtains.

  Princy peeked out, saw Stanly, and gasped. He slid back into his hiding place, his bones shaking so much the silky purple fabric trembled. He was nothing like the warrior skeletons in Stanly’s book.

  Miren blinked and tried to sit up in bed. She had another set of needles stuck in her right wrist. The skin there was red and raw.

  “Mir-Bear, are you awake?”

  Miren struggled to pull the breathing mask away from her face. Stanly didn’t know if he should help her or not, but he decided it would be okay to lift up the mask just long enough for her to say something.

  “My chest hurts. Stanly … I’m scared.”

  Stanly put the mask back in place and closed his book. No stupid story about skeletons was going to make Miren feel better.

  But maybe … the real thing would.

  He stood up and threw back the curtain. Princy huddled into a ball on the floor, covering his ribs with his hands.

  “I’m not going to hit you,” Stanly said.

  Miren moaned, and both Stanly and the skeleton turned around to look at her.

  “I need your help. You have to make her feel better. You can do that, can’t you?”

  Princy got up slowly and nodded. He held out his hands like he was asking Stanly a question.

  “I don’t know, whatever you want to do. Dance?”

  Princy raised up one finger. Who knew brainless skeletons could have ideas? He picked up a bedpan and twirled it on top of his head. Stanly helped Miren sit up and slid his arm around her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall out of bed.

  They watched Princy balance the bedpan, a vase full of plastic flowers, and a metal serving tray on his head all at the same time. Miren moaned a little bit less when he tossed all three into the air and caught them one by one on the end of his big toe.

  The objects balanced there for an impossible moment, and then Princy put them all back and disappeared into the bathroom just as Mom returned with dinner.

  “Sweetheart, you woke up!” Mom pushed the tray of food into Stanly’s hands and crushed Miren in a hug.

  For the next hour or so they sat around watching TV and picking at their food. Finally, it was time for the news to come on, and Mom switched the TV off. She’d always said the news made her depressed.

  Miren was getting sleepy again. She laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.

  Mom put her plate on the rolling tray and scooted her chair closer to Stanly. “We’re going to get through this, just the three of us.”

  “I know,” Stanly said. Even as he did, five spindly white fingers poked out from underneath the bathroom door and waved at him. They would get through it all right, but he wasn’t so sure it’d be just the three of them.

  That night, Stanly slept in bed next to Miren, and Mom slept on a cot on the floor. Stanly woke up a few times to hear Mom crying. One of those times, he saw Princy sitting cross-legged beside her, stroking her hair.

  She didn’t cry anymore after that.

  Stanly had to go back to school the next morning. Someone from the principal’s office had left Mom a message on her phone. He took a cab to school.

  He told Jaxon about Princy and the hospital after lunch. About how Princy wasn’t really a monster like they’d thought, and about his talk with Dr. Cynthia. He could see that Jaxon didn’t really believe him about Princy, even though he never said so.

  “It sounds like cancer,” Jaxon said, dragging a fork through his macaroni. “But you know how stubborn Miren is. If anybody can beat it, I bet she can.”

  Stanly tried to think back to what Dr. Cynthia had said. He remembered a lot of long, heavy words that made him sick to his stomach, but that was about all. If she’d talked about cancer, he’d made sure not to hear it.

  “Maybe, I don’t know. Look, let’s talk about something else, okay?”

  Jaxon nodded and dug around in his backpack for something. “Well, I wasn’t going to mention it, but there’s a new message on the home page for the Young Discoverer’s Prize.” He pulled out a brand-new iPad, complete with zombie-green cover, and handed it to Stanly. “Read it.”

  “Due to the high quality of entries submitted this year, the judges have decided to award two grand prizes. That’s right. Two trips to go on expeditions with National Geographic to two mystery locations. Winners will be announced in a live broadcast on our website,” Stanly read aloud.

  “They don’t say the date, but you know what this means? You have twice the chance to win.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Stanly should have been excited, but instead he handed the iPad back to Jaxon. With everything that had happened, the contest didn’t seem important anymore. True, he was desperate for Dad to come home, but winning some stupid contest wouldn’t make it happen. Only Dad could decide to do that, and he and Mom and Miren were a good enough family all by themselves.

  When Mom picked him up from school, he could tell she’d been crying again. They went straight to the hospital and found Ms. Francine waiting for them in Miren’s room.

  “Long time no see,” Ms. Francine said. “Here, I bought us cookies from downstairs. Not as good as tube cookies, but still pretty good.”

  Mom left to go pick up some things from home. Stanly unwrapped his cookie and sat next to Miren’s bed.

  “She’s been sleeping all day. Looking so peaceful, don’t you think?”

  “Not really,” Stanly said. He didn’t know how anyone could be peaceful with needles sticking in their wrists and tubes up their nose.

  “I’m so sorry about little sister, Stanly. You’re a brave boy, you know that? It’s never easy to lose someone you love.”

  Stanly bit off a chunk of cookie. It tasted like cardboard and caught in his throat.

  “Ms. Francine, do you think the skeleton is the Grim Reaper?” The words spilled out of Stanly’s mouth. He felt better once he’d said them, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Even though he was pretty sure Princy was okay, he couldn’t help still having doubts.

  “Ah, the one with the hood and the big, curvy stick?”

  “It’s called a scythe,” Stanly said, feeling like Jaxon.

  “Look at the old man who knows everything. But you want to ask Ms. Francine if this skeleton that grew in your garden is bad or good, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is bad and what is good? Some things, little Stanly, just happen. Flowers grow one day, and they blow away the next. The sun goes up and down. This skeleton, does he make your sister feel better?”

  Stanly nodded.

  “Then you have your answer. He is good.”r />
  One of the machines behind the bed started beeping. Miren’s skin had gone cold and gray. Nurses rushed in and wheeled her down the hall behind another set of swinging doors. Stanly tried to follow, but a nurse yelled at him to stay back. He stood on his tiptoes and watched doctors in white coats swarm Miren’s bed. He couldn’t see what they were doing.

  “Come, Stanly, let’s go back to the room and wait for Momma.”

  Stanly didn’t move. The doctors brought out more machines. They stood in a circle, blocking Miren from view.

  After a while, Stanly’s ankles grew tired and he couldn’t watch anymore. He thought about how scared Miren must be, and he wished Princy could go in with her and hold her hand, since Stanly couldn’t.

  He peeked through the window one last time, and he thought he saw a bony toe sticking out from underneath Miren’s bed. It wiggled in his direction, then drew back into shadow.

  Miren stayed in the emergency room long after the sun went down. Mom paced the hallway when she got back and refused to eat anything. She wouldn’t even drink a glass of water. Finally, one of the doctors in white coats came out and pulled Mom aside.

  “Miren is a strong little girl, Ms. Stanwright.” The doctor flipped through some pages on his clipboard.

  “Just tell me if she’s okay.” Mom dug her fingernails into her palm.

  “She pulled through, but she’s going to have to stay with us for a while. Dr. Boyle can meet with you first thing in the morning to lay out the treatment plan.” The doctor handed Mom a packet of papers from his clipboard. “This is the insurance paperwork you need to fill out. One of the nurses can help you if you have any questions.”

  Mom reached out to take the papers, and Stanly saw three bloody half-moons from where her nails had been.

  Later that evening, Stanly and Ms. Francine sat beside Miren’s bed, back in the room with purple curtains. Mom started to fill out the insurance papers but stopped when she got halfway down the first form.

  She slid them into the trash without saying anything. Stanly heard her in the hallway later arguing with a nurse.

  “Are we going to have to leave?” Stanly asked Ms. Francine. “Since Mom lost her job?”

  Ms. Francine clucked her tongue. “Nobody is going to leave. Why would we leave? Miren is sick, so the doctors help her.”

  “Doesn’t somebody have to pay?” Stanly said.

  “Listen to you, sounding like a grown-up. Momma is worried and scared. She doesn’t want Miren to be sick, so she thinks maybe if she doesn’t sign the papers, everything will be okay again.”

  “How do you know?” Stanly said. Ms. Francine could always tell what everyone was thinking. He wished he could do that, even a little.

  “I know.”

  Mom did sign the papers, and Miren stayed at the hospital. For that night, and the one after. Mom wanted Stanly to start sleeping at home, with Ms. Francine watching over him, but he refused to go.

  “I want to be with Miren. Especially, you know, if she’s not going to be around for very long,” he told Mom, and she didn’t say anything after that.

  Miren spent the next few days sleeping, mostly. Stanly liked it when she was sleeping, because that meant she wasn’t coughing or wheezing or crying into her pillow.

  On Friday night, Ms. Francine brought balloons and a board game called Hungry Hungry Hippos. The game was fast and loud, and Mom almost smiled once when her hippo swallowed five marbles in a single bite.

  Princy peeked from behind the curtains just as Stanly jumped out of his seat after winning his third game in a row. Stanly had suspected Princy was hiding back there for a while. The curtains looked lumpier than normal, and the windows kept making this weird jangling sound.

  Ms. Francine raised her eyebrows and nodded to an armchair by the closet when she saw him. “Maybe he wants to play.”

  “Who wants to play?” Mom said.

  Stanly couldn’t believe his ears. What was Ms. Francine doing? Mom turned around and looked at the armchair, following Ms. Francine’s gaze. She stared at it for a long time, like she was trying hard to make sense of what she saw.

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “Oh, nobody.” Ms. Francine swatted her hands. “You know us old women, always talking to ourselves.”

  Mom got up to check on Miren, and Ms. Francine winked.

  That night, Stanly woke up to find Princy sitting by Miren’s bed, holding her hand. His eyes no longer looked scary at all, but kind of sad and peaceful. Like two dark oceans.

  Jaxon and his mom came to visit on Saturday morning. The two moms went out into the hallway to talk. Jaxon stared at the tubes and the needles and the beeping machines. He picked at his thumbnail so long the tip broke off and he had to throw it in the trash.

  “My grandpa died when I was seven, did I ever tell you that?” Jaxon said.

  Stanly shook his head.

  “Yeah, I was with him when it happened. We were sitting on the couch, watching cartoons, and then his head fell to one side. I remember, because it conked me on the shoulder, and I yelled, ‘Ouch!’ and then I saw his face. He looked just like Granddad, except I knew somehow he wasn’t anymore. You know what I mean?”

  “Miren’s not going to die,” Stanly said.

  Jaxon swallowed hard and went back to tugging on his fingernails.

  Miren started her treatments on Monday. Stanly didn’t understand why the medicine that was supposed to help made her cry more than ever. She threw up twice into the basin next to the bed.

  Stanly cleaned Miren’s face with a wet towel. He squeezed her hand and read her a book Ms. Francine had brought from home. Charlotte’s Web, one of Miren’s favorites. Nothing he did could make her stop crying.

  Then a pair of bony fingers popped up out of nowhere and tiptoed across Miren’s blanket. Stanly had never even noticed Princy folded up under the bed. The fingers twirled like a ballerina up Miren’s arm and onto her shoulder. She stopped crying. It was a miracle. She stared at the fingers. One flicked her cheek, and then the hand skittered away onto her tummy.

  Miren laughed and laughed inside her breathing mask. Mom couldn’t understand what she was laughing at.

  “Probably just something from Charlotte’s Web,” Stanly explained. “Pigs are kind of funny.”

  “I guess,” Mom said.

  Princy slid his other hand onto the bed and made a bone butterfly that fluttered and swooped above Miren’s head.

  Mom lifted up Miren’s mask so she could talk.

  “Look, Momma. Can’t you see it?” She pointed, and Mom’s eyes searched the air, trying to see what Miren saw.

  “What is it, sweetheart?”

  “A butterfly, look at how its wings change color!”

  “You’re so silly. Stanly, did you read her a story about a butterfly?”

  “It’s not a story, it’s a butterfly.” Miren’s forehead got scrunchy.

  “If you say so.” Mom laughed. The sound made Stanly happy. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better. How about I go get you some ice cream?”

  “Ice cream? All right!” Miren punched the air, just like her old self.

  “That settles it, then. Three ice creams.”

  That night, Miren had to go to the emergency room again. The doctor said the treatments made her too sick. When he came in and said that to Mom, Stanly got so mad he pretended he was punching Slurpy over and over in his head, until he turned to a stinky, green smear. How could the doctors be stupid enough to give Miren medicine that made her feel worse?

  Princy stayed by Miren’s side all the time after that.

  None of the other grown-ups could see him, as far as Stanly could tell. Except for one nurse in poodle scrubs named Jamie. She always looked right at Princy when she came into the room. She frowned when she saw him but never said anything.

  It started to rain again on Sunday. Mom went downstairs to call Dad, and it was about time. Stanly found out he’d been leaving her messages ever since Stanly had called
from the hospital phone and hung up.

  Ms. Francine wasn’t there, either. She’d gone to New York for a few days to visit her brother. He was in the hospital, too, because he’d been in a car accident.

  Even Princy had disappeared. Stanly hadn’t seen him since the day he came into Miren’s room wearing a lab coat and a clown wig. Miren had laughed so hard Mom asked the doctor if she might be having some kind of weird reaction to the drugs.

  With everybody gone, it was Stanly’s job to take care of Miren. She was sleeping late, as usual, and so Stanly decided to take some of the money Mom had given him and go downstairs to buy donuts. Stanly knew they had the kind with sprinkles, Miren’s favorite. That way, when he came back, she would wake up to a special treat.

  He picked out three donuts and got in line to pay.

  A hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed his elbow. Stanly twisted around to see Princy looming over him, a grave expression on his face. Where had he come from?

  A little boy in front of Stanly pointed at Princy and screamed.

  “What is wrong with you?” said the boy’s dad. “What did I tell you about inside voices?”

  Princy squeezed Stanly’s arm harder and tugged him toward the exit.

  “I haven’t paid yet,” Stanly whispered. He felt stupid talking to an invisible skeleton. Well, sort of invisible.

  Princy kept pulling. Something in his eyes told Stanly he’d better follow. They rode the elevator back up to Miren’s room. Princy’s reflection in the shiny steel elevator doors looked fuzzy, like something floating behind wet glass. If Stanly didn’t know for a fact there was a skeleton standing beside him, he might not have even noticed him.

  Princy led Stanly into Miren’s room. The skeleton didn’t follow, but instead stood blocking the exit, like a security guard. Stanly walked slowly up to Miren’s bed. Her eyes flickered open when she heard him.

  “Stanly.”

  “Mir-Bear.”

  “I’m tired, Stanly. Did you get my donut?”