Castles on the Sand

Twenty-Seven

Alex shows up right at five thirty and gives Siraj a wary look as he strolls up to the circulation desk. My boss only nods in his direction, though. “Madison, please don't do anything rash.” To Alex's curious gaze, he says nothing.

I say goodbye to him and walk out with Alex.

“What's going on?” he asks, the moment the door swings shut behind us.

“Nothing. I just need to go talk to some people tonight.”

“Who?”

“I'm going over to Kirsten's house and then the Beales'. It's nothing, really. Just helping them with family stuff.”

He takes me by both shoulders, looks me in the eye, and raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. Mr. Beale's been a jerk, but I can handle it-”

“Tell me everything.”

I try to hide a smile.

“What?”

“You remind me of my brother. In a good way.”

“He look out for you too?”

“Yeah, whether I want him to or not.”

“So you going to tell me what's going on?”

I lay it out for him, the whole situation, how the Beales want to run me out of town, and how I don't want them to win.

Alex's expression gets more and more grave as I tell the story.

“I'll handle this,” I say.

“Listen, not to put you down, but why do I think you might just try to give everyone a hug and fix matters that way?”

“It wasn't exactly what I planned.”

“I'm coming with you.”

“You don't have to-”

“I'm coming okay?”

“Fine,” I say, “but no rocks. No smashing things.”

This earns me a kiss, in public, where anyone can see.

Kirsten gives Alex a nervous look when she opens her front door. “Can I help you?”

I speak up before he can. “Come with me to see your parents.”

“Are you nuts?”

“Please.”

“You know my dad will just run me off the property with a shotgun, right?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. You heard about what happened with Kailie?”

She leans against the doorframe as if that sentence just sapped away all her energy. “I know you found her and she's in the hospital.”

“CPS is involved now,” says Alex.

I expect Kirsten to look confused at the abbreviation, but instead she looks up. “What? Why?”

“They think your parents endangered or neglected her or both.”

“Well, I can answer that...”

“Listen,” I say, “your dad's trying to make my mom and I leave town.”

“So what's your plan here, Madison? My dad told me that he never wanted to see me again. He looks away if I pass him in the street. You think I can talk him out of bullying you?”