Gone by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson

Author:Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466874503
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

FIFTEEN

Sitting in the covered glider, pushing the floorboards gently with his feet, Connor rocked, staring at the long-empty goat pen at the back of the yard. His aunt had sold off all the goats when her husband died.

“Hey.”

Connor looked to find Darnell, faintly outlined in the purpling dusk, standing beside the glider, so he slowed down to let him climb in. Darnell sat opposite Connor and pushed with his feet, setting them in motion again.

“Miss Sylvia said she’s thinking about getting some more goats.” Darnell rubbed his nose with the back of his wrist. “She wouldn’t eat them, would she?”

Connor smiled. Barbecued goat? “I don’t think so.”

“Good.” They rocked back and forth in silence. “I’m pretty sure a cat is living in the shed,” Darnell added. “I saw one go in earlier, and it wasn’t Furr.”

Connor nodded. “Furr’s way too lazy to check out the goat shed.”

“It was kind of fat, so Mil said it might be a female about to have kittens. I went to look for her a minute ago, but didn’t see anything. It was too dark and spooky to go inside.”

“Cats are good at hiding.” Connor swatted at a mosquito attempting to feast on his leg. He needed to ditch the shorts and pull on some jeans. “Kittens, huh? Great. Just what we need.”

Darnell leaned back in his seat, giving the swing an extra push. “I’d take one. It’d have to live with Mil, though, since my mom doesn’t like them.” Keeping his head back, he watched the sky as his seat slid in and out from under the roof. “When are we having the cake and ice cream?”

Connor looked toward the house. “Pretty soon, I thin—” He stopped as three figures stepped from the light-infused patio into the encroaching darkness of the yard, approaching the glider. Miss Toni. Mil. Corinna.

His pulse leapt.

“Hey, Mil!” Darnell shouted as they got close. “I couldn’t find the cat. I think she might be hungry, though. Should we give her a crab?”

“At these prices?” He laughed. “She’ll be fine.” In the almost-gone light, Connor could see Mil smile his big, easy grin, his arm slipping around Miss Toni’s generous waist.

“Hi,” said Darnell to Corinna, still shy.

“Hi, back,” she answered, her voice bright, friendly. She turned toward Connor, and though her face was shadowed, her eyes glistened. “So, this is where they keep you, eh? Out by the goat pen. Your aunt said she’s thinking of getting into goats again.”

“I told you!” Darnell exclaimed, happy to be right. He turned eagerly to Connor. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“Um—” Connor’s heart banged in his chest like Aunt Syl’s washing machine on a too-full load. “Right.”

“I knew there was a reason I was invited to this party,” Ms. Timms continued, teasing. “To see my former student prepare for his new life as a goat herder.”

A blush rose to Connor’s face, heating him up all over again just as the air had begun to cool. He struggled to control his breath, to catch the ball she had thrown.

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