Soeur

5.Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

Albert Szent Gyorgyi

Renée didn’t show up the next day.

I didn’t know whether I should be scared that the reason had something to do with me or relieved that I wouldn’t have to involve myself anymore. Mary glared at me the whole day. She didn’t need to say anything; the accusation in her eyes was enough. But I couldn’t anything about Renée’s absence; I didn’t have a clue where she lived let alone how to get there.

Once Lisa was asleep, I spent my nights playing instruments as quietly as possible, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle that Renée had laid out for me.

Renée had never mentioned her mother. It was possible she had been out of the picture long enough for Renée not to remember her.

Renée’s sister was volatile, never seemed to show any kind of contentment and had more sides to her than a dice. She was a loose cannon; I couldn’t understand anything about her.

And then there was that first and only mention of Renée’s father. Daddy. That stuck to me. The way she said, she had almost shut up before spitting it out. Something was going on with him.

Now I took the last piece of the puzzle. My sister hit me to save me.

From who?

I stopped playing and stared at the keys. For someone who had such a streak of complete justice for her little sister, the girl wouldn’t have done it unless it was absolutely necessary. And from the way she didn’t tolerate any shit from her exes—the fact that she had so many—it wouldn’t be from a boy. That only left the one person any kid needed to prove themselves to:

Her father.

I could see it now; her father wanted to hit Renée but her sister did it for him because she knew how much it would hurt for a kid.

Or something like that.

I stood up and winced as the piano chair scraped on the hardwood floor.

The bedroom door creaked open and Lisa came out. She looked tired and frustrated. “Baby, what’s bothering you? You haven’t slept in weeks. Is it someone …” Lisa took a deep breath. “Someone else?”

“No. It’s nothing like that,” I said.

Her shoulders relaxed and she slide next to me, cuddling for warmth. I wrapped my arms around her. “There’s this girl at the kindergarten,” I started. “I think she’s being abused by her father.”

Lisa’s grip tightened. “I thought you were done with that vigilante stuff.”

“You’ve got it wrong, Lisa,” I knocked my head against hers. “I just need proof and then I’m going to report her father to Social Services. That’s it.”

“You promise?” she whispered.

 I lifted my hand. “Scout’s honor.”

Lisa shook her head, chuckling. “You were never a scout and you don’t have any honor, Angus.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you know. I don’t defile you every night like I could.”

“One, that’s virtue,” Lisa corrected before sliding closer. “And two, I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

I sighed, lifting her head up to mine. “I’m sure you wouldn’t.”

Renée didn’t show up on Friday either but that night, I stayed in bed, letting Lisa hold my hand through her sleep. I spent the night staring up at the ceiling. The next day, I accompanied Lisa to Rowena’s place where she let Rowena give her a weekly makeover. I went out with Sawyer.

“Do we have to buy music every time we hang out?” Sawyer complained as I sorted through the records. I found three I liked and one compilation CD of the Dave Matthews Band I didn’t have. I ignored most of Sawyer’s complaints until we left the store and I followed him into the comic book store.

“Lisa says this is why Rowena doesn’t like you,” I said helpfully as Sawyer gleefully browsed through the shelves. “You’re a nerd.”

Sawyer flipped me off. “I’m a good-looking nerd. Chicks dig that.”

“Except for Rowena.”

He glared wrathfully at me. I shrugged.

“I’m speaking for Lisa.”

“What does Lisa know?” Sawyer huffed, extracting two comics.

“She’s Rowena’s only friend.”

Sawyer didn’t answer.

After a while of rereading the back of my CD, I studied the stack of comics tucked under Sawyer’s arms and said, “Hey, about what you said before …” He nodded to show his attention. “You think girls really like comics?”