Lindsey Lost by Suzanne Phillips

Author:Suzanne Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2012-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

VI

4:45 P.M.

The mountain was thinned for lumber, so hiking up its southern face is easy. He and Vivian slip through the sparse trees, zigzagging to keep the climb manageable. Every ten yards or so she scoops a handful of dry snow and packs it into a ball. She got him once in the head—a lucky shot.

“You’re not cold?” she asks.

It’s after four and the weather, at this elevation, is all about the sun and wind: It’s warmer at three thousand feet than at sea level. The sky is more blue than gray, though the edges are beginning to show night, with swaths of purple and indigo on the horizon.

The breeze stirs the snow from the tree branches. It sprays the earth and sparkles in Vivian’s hair until her body heat melts it.

She’s bundled in a sweater and peacoat. She wears leather gloves the color of Tabasco sauce—Micah gave them to her for Christmas. His hands are bare. His feet are wet and his toes sting from the cold. But it’s a good pain.

He tips his head back and lifts his arms until they’re circling the sun. “It’s sixty degrees.” He wonders how close he’d have to travel toward it before he burst into flame.

“The car thermometer said forty-three,” she reminds him.

“Close enough.”

“You have antifreeze in your veins,” she says, and smiles when he almost trips over his feet.

“You know antifreeze?” Vivian doesn’t like cars or can openers. Nothing mechanical for her. After high school, she plans to study psychology or cultural anthropology. She’s really into people and how they all get along.

“Of course. And when no one’s looking, I can read a dipstick,” she says.

“You want to learn how to put an engine together?”

“Baby steps,” she says.

“We can start with a lawn mower.”

She laughs. “How about you come over and make my father’s radio work? I’ll be your tool girl,” she says to clinch the deal.

“When did that go out?”

Mr. Nguyen is all about his kids, putting them through school and making sure they have enough of everything they need, plus a few extras to sweeten their lives. He bought Vivian the Mini, but still walks a mile to the municipal bus stop and rides with a monthly pass. She swears he has two pairs of pants—the same color and style—and a three-pack of flannel shirts he bought in August when the price was sidewalk-sale cheap. His one love is baseball, which he listens to on an old transistor radio. Vivian says it’s her turn to give back when she graduates from college. She and Minh, her older brother, plan to buy their father his first new car. Until then, she gives him what he’ll allow. Micah wants to do the same.

“A few days ago.”

“I’ll come over tonight,” he offers.

He wants to put off for as long as possible walking through the door into a house that’s all shadow because his mother doesn’t remember to turn on the lights. Besides, opening day for MLB may be two months away, but

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