Do Not Pass Go by Kirkpatrick Hill Page B

had settled on Nelly’s face as he watched their classmates. He was ready to protect Deet.
    Deet felt a hot wave of affection for Nelly.
    He looked at Nelly sideways. “Hi, Nell.” His voice sounded odd because it was almost the first time he’d spoken all morning.
    Nelly nodded to him gravely. “Hi, Deet,” and returned to his surveillance.
    And that was another something.

NINE

    Everything got easier, just like people always told you. It got easier every day for Mom to walk up to those cold steel doors at the jail, and it took less courage, just a little less, for Deet to go to school, even when he was back riding the bus. The knot in his stomach eased up, and he began to eat again. It had seemed as if he’d never be hungry again, and his pants were all loose at the waist, but he got his appetite back.
    After the first week in jail, Dad began to call them at night when he could get to use the phone. Somehow he managed to make the girls feel like he was all right, just disgusted with himself. “Daddy says he was an idiot!” Jam announced delightedly when he’d hung up after the first call.
    Dad could use the phone for only five minutes, sohe usually spent that time talking with the girls. He saw Mom every day, and he knew she’d pass on everything to Deet. Only once did he ask to speak to Deet.
    â€œThe kids at school ever say anything to you?” Dad asked in a tight voice.
    â€œNever,” said Deet. “Never.”
    It was true, and Dad could tell it was true by the way he said it.
    â€œGood,” said Dad, and he sounded relieved. “That’s good. I was worried about that.”
    No one
had
said a word to Deet about Dad. He didn’t know if it was kindness or ignorance. Maybe they didn’t read the police column, maybe they hadn’t heard. Maybe the cold, blank look on his face was scaring them, maybe he was so unimportant it wasn’t worthwhile making him miserable. Maybe Nelly really did keep them away, at least for homeroom and lunch, and the math and PE classes he had with Deet.
    But
some
of them knew. Deet could tell.
    His math teacher, Mr. Ellis, who was usually sort of distant, treated him differently somehow, seemed more aware of him, looked at him more often or something.Deet wondered if they’d been talking about Dad in the teachers’ lounge.
    And once in science, Saul Hastings was goofing around before class and he broke a beaker. Mr. Zingle gave Saul a detention, and one of the other boys had said, in a dramatic voice, “You’re going to jail.” Immediately Sarah Smith, who sat next to Deet, slid her eyes toward Deet in alarm, obviously upset that someone had said “jail” in front of him. So Sarah knew.
    Mom had to get a job. Everything was going to take a long time—the hearings, the trial, the sentencing—and they needed money. She could easily get a waitress job again, she thought. She’d had a lot of experience, and she was good and fast. Deet knew she’d been liked as a waitress because she was happy-go-lucky, chatted with all the customers, and laughed a lot. That’s why she’d made so much in tips.
    Deet didn’t think she would be like that this time. She had become quiet, and he hadn’t heard her laugh for a long time.
    One night she was late after she’d been to visitDad, and when she got home she told them that she’d found a job. “I stopped at the Sourdough Café where I used to work when you were little. Al said he didn’t need anyone, but he said he knew they needed someone at Gina’s Diner, so he called the owner, Guy Davis, and told him about me, and Guy said to come right over, so I went there and he hired me right away. Al told him I had a lot of experience and I’m good. And fast. They like you to be fast.”
    On her first day at work, Deet and the girls couldn’t help staring at her. She looked so different in her uniform.