The Language of Trees by Ilie Ruby

Author:Ilie Ruby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

WHEN LUKE’S BODY WAS finally found a year later, Melanie and Maya stopped reminiscing about the baby, and stopped playing make-believe. They still raced over the wet grass, their feet tracing old footsteps leading to the Shongos’ cabin. But things were different. They fought over everything. Suddenly, there was not enough of anything for them both. Certainly there was not enough of Leila. When they lost Luke, they lost each other. He was the separation, the space they needed. Without him, they collided.

Anxiously, they foraged through the coal bin and argued over a shiny piece of coal. Who saw it first? Who had gotten the last good one? They struggled. Someone hit someone else. No one knew who had started it, but by the end, they were both bruised and crying.

“Everyone knows it was your fault,” Maya said. “It was your idea to take the canoe into the lake, the whole thing was your—”

“You could have grabbed him when—”

“You stood up and made him fall.”

Melanie lost control and flung herself at Maya. Maya’s hands pulled at her hair, leaving tufts of blond curls scattered across the coal. They fought without sound. They fought harder than ever, and they didn’t know why. Perhaps because they loved each other and they didn’t know how anything would ever be the same again. If a ghost had tried to separate them, they wouldn’t have felt it. Potato bugs stopped moving grains of sand. Spiders stopped in midstream. The girls walked home an hour before sunrise, muscles sore, both crying silently, pockets stuffed with shiny pieces of coal.

After Maya fell asleep, Melanie snuck into the closet, her ritual. She removed the piece of floorboard from her secret hiding place. She removed the white cloth napkin with Leila’s initials on it, unfolding it over her knees, spilling the contents in front of her. There she’d sat, lap full of moonlight, holding a piece of coal, a gold button from Victor’s coat, three red beads, and a silver dollar. Here was all her luck. When she turned them over in her hands as the morning light snaked in, the items sparkled, tripling her luck, meaning she and Maya would be okay. When satisfied, she put everything away and got into bed, lying awake, watching the slats of light from the blinds that crawled across the ceiling each time a car passed. This was the beginning of the insomnia that would plague her for a lifetime. Night after night, she’d lie there replaying the events of Luke’s death in her mind or waiting for Victor to come home. What had happened to Luke after she had hit her head? Why couldn’t she remember? Had there really been a giant on the island? Hadn’t he seen her and waved, just for a second? Maya said she couldn’t remember seeing anyone. Now all Melanie could do was pray for them all. If she could hold her breath before the light receded, Victor would be okay. If she did this until

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