at her right side.
“Everyone, our host is John Fallon.” She reeled off
their names, most of which he’d likely need to hear
again.
The tall, skinny boy who’d stayed here before was
Dieter Schoenecker, the stocky one had the unlikely
name of Hopper Daniels, and the third boy was Troy
Thorsen. Nordic last name, which didn’t explain his
racial heritage.
The girls were a blur. Kelli—with an i, she made sure
to tell him, last name he didn’t catch, Amy Brooks,
who seemed given to posing and flipping her hair,
Tabitha, Erin and…that left someone out, but he
couldn’t remember who. Probably the plain, quiet one.
Watching the speed with which the food disappeared, John took mental stock of his larder. They’d be okay for a week, he figured; he kept an emergency
supply of canned goods he could dip into if need be.
Fiona took half a sandwich and ate it slowly, as if she
had to remind herself to take a bite and swallow. Clearly
they’d driven across the mountains that morning, and
had probably made an early start to have had time for
any kind of competition during the day. Driving for
hours through the blizzard had to have wrung her out.
“Why don’t you hit the sack?” he said quietly.
“They’re still wound up. I can sort them out later.”
“I’m responsible…”
“You look ready to collapse.”
Dieter Schoenecker, who sat on her other side, heard.
“Ms. Mac was Superwoman today.”
She managed a grin and pretended to flex a bicep.
“That’s me. Speaking of which—” she pitched her voice
a little louder “—have I mentioned that I have X-ray
vision? I see through walls.”
“Ahh! Ms. Mac doesn’t trust us.” The Hopper kid
clasped his hand to his chest and fell back in his chair.
She just smiled. “Bathroom on the right side upstairs
is for girls, left side for boys.”
“Toothbrushes.” John pushed back his chair and stood.
His bad leg chose to cave, and he had to brace his hand
on the back of the chair until the spasm let up. Without
looking to see if anyone had noticed, he left the kitchen.
He grabbed a basket and piled it with toothbrushes,
toothpaste in sample tubes, dental floss, the small
bottles of shampoo and hand lotion he put out when
readying a bathroom for guests, and a couple of
packages of feminine products. It might embarrass the
girls, but if they were here for very many days, odds
were a couple of them would need something.
Fiona stood when he came back. “I’ll take that up.”
She looked into the basket. “Oh, thank goodness. I
didn’t even think of that as a problem. I’ll distribute all
this.” She raised her voice. “I’m going to bed, kids.
Help Mr. Fallon clean up, then I expect you to get ready
for bed, too. It’s been a long day.”
“Do we have to turn the lights out?” Amy looked
genuinely horrified.
“No. You can read, talk, listen to music, whatever.
Just keep it down, and be considerate of each other.”
“If you need anything during the night—” John pointed
to a door at the back of the kitchen “—that’s where I’ll be.”
Nods all around.
He walked the teacher to the foot of the stairs.
Standing one step up, she was at eye level with him.
“Did I tell you when I called that our principal said they
had four inches and snow still piling up even in Portland? It’s amazing that you have electricity.”
“We operate on a generator. There aren’t any power
lines out here.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” She gave a small shiver. “I
can’t believe how lucky we were. I didn’t want the kids
to know, but…I was so scared.”
Feeling cruel, he said, “You should have been.
Without winter gear…”
Her chin came up. “This blizzard wasn’t predicted
so soon. And none of the meteorologists expected it to
be so major. It’s only November!”
“You ever noticed how ski areas open Thanksgiving
weekend? Means they’ve been getting snow for weeks.”
“That’s true, but we’re not at that kind of elevation