Chapter 13- Polly

Polly McCoy noticed that her arm was bleeding. A drop of red trailed from beneath the bandage inside her left elbow all the way to her wrist. She had given blood that afternoon; it was a habit of hers to give blood every two months, as frequently as she could. Once Jessica had joked that she must have been a vampire in a past life that she was working off the karma. Polly didn’t know about that. She had all this money and she never had done anything to earn it. She felt as if she had to help people, give something back. And she didn’t believe in reincarnation, anyway, or even life after death. When you died, you were dead. It was pretty simple. On the other hand, she occasionally did wonder about vampires and demons in general. So many terrible things happened to so many nice people. There had to be something evil behind it.

Taking out a Kleenex and wiping away the blood, Polly saw Alice making her way up the stadium steps. Polly was sitting on the very top row. She liked the view. She could see what everyone was up to. Of course, when half-time finished, she would rejoin Sara and Jessica closer to the field. They had all come together. But for now she didn’t mind being alone. Actually she preferred it. She was not in the best of moods. She was mad at her sister. Sara and Jessica had been looking for him, but only she had seen Clark. She had watched him and Alice carrying on the whole night.

And it was me who saw him first.

Polly had met Clark three months ago, during the last week of school at Mesa High. The day had been beautiful. She and Alice had decided to go for a hike in the woods. They had driven up into the nearby mountains and set out along a trail adjacent to a stream. They quickly ran into trouble.

Approximately two miles from the car, Polly stepped on a loose stone and twisted her ankle. The sprain was nasty. They both decided she would stay where she was while Alice went for help. While waiting for her sister’s return, Clark appeared.

Polly’s initial reaction to him had been one of fear. He talked weird. He looked weirder. But he had a certain touch. When he had taken her swollen ankle in his delicate hands- over her shy protests- and began to massage points on either side of the bone, the pain vanished. Polly had read about acupressure and stuff like that. But what Clark did went beyond that.  The swelling even stopped.

And the more she listened to his voice, the less strange it sounded. He had lots of interesting ideas. He told her how the mountain they were on had once been used by the Indians as a sacred spot for the channelling of the spirits of long dead medicine men. What made the point of view so unique was that he neither believed nor disbelieved what he said. He was just being ‘open.’ He told her she had to open up. He had a pad and pencil with him. He wanted her to take off her tip and let him sketch her. When she refused, he began to draw her as if she was completely nude. He finished the sketch minutes before Alice had returned with the ranger. He gave it to her as a present. She didn’t remember giving him her number. But he called her the next day.

Over the next two months, they never went out once. They spent most of their time together necking in her bedroom with the door locked. She finally did take her top off for him, and her pants but they never did have sex. He would push her right to the limits then back off. She knew it was probably for the best- what with all the talk of herpes and AIDS going around- nevertheless, it still frustrated her. She wondered if he truly found her attractive. She wondered a lot when he started chasing Alice.

It happened just like that. Overnight. Hello, how are you Polly? Let me speak to Alice. And from then on Alice and Clark were always together. The only thing that kept Polly from freaking out altogether was their relationship appeared to be a brother-sister sort of thing. Alice said it was, and of course being the considerate sister that she was, she still asked Polly a thousand times if it was OK. Polly told her not to worry. She wanted what was best for Alice. And there was no denying Clark was ‘opening’ her up to all kinds of artistic inspiration. Alice had paintings in progress in her studio that the special effects people in Hollywood couldn’t have dreamed of.

Yet Polly was finally beginning to wonder if she hadn’t got a raw deal. Tonight, for the first time, she had seen Clark put his arm around Alice. If you would do that in public, there was a lot of other things you might do in private. Clark had such hypnotic green eyes, like a cat. And those long fingers. She couldn’t stand the thought of them all over her baby sister.

“Hi. Have you seen Jessie?” Alice asked, panting from her hop up the stairs.

“Last time I saw her she was down by the cheerleaders. But she’s not there now.”

Alice searched the stands sighing. “I’ve got to find her right away. Clark wants to leave.”

“I could give her a message for you.”

“No it’s not that I want her to meet someone.”

“Why are you leaving with Clark now?”

“I told you, he wants to leave.”

“Why does he want to leave?”

“He didn’t tell me.” Alice stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“With my arm? It’s bleeding, can’t you see? I gave blood today. You should too, sometime. There’s a lot of sick people out there who need it.”

“No I mean, you sound mad.”

“Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m not mad.”

Alice smiled. Polly remembered the first time Alice had ever smiled. Polly had only been two years old at the time, and Alice two months, but Polly remembered everything. “Are you having fun?” Alice asked.

“Sure. How about you?”

Alice beamed at the whole stadium. “I’m having a great time. I love this school I love the people here.” Suddenly she leaned over and embraced her sister. “And I love you most of all!”

Polly returned the hug. “I know you do,” she said softly, feeling the bones of Alice’s rib cage under her fingers. When they had both been kids, Alice had tended towards chubbiness. Now Polly could barely get her to eat one full meal a day. “Would you like a candy bar?” she asked reaching for her purse.

Alice straightened herself. “No, chocolate gives you acne.”

“It doesn’t do that to me,” Polly replied getting the candy out for herself. The nurse at the hospital this afternoon had told her to go home and have a big meal. She had to make up for what she had lost. She didn’t appreciate Alice staring at her as if she were a pig. “I gave blood today,” she repeated.

“What about your diet?”

“Leave me alone, all right?”

Alice knelt back down beside her, holding her hands. “Are you upset because Clark’s here?”

Polly swallowed on the lump in her throat. “No. I see Clark all the time at our house. What difference should it make seeing him here? Anyway why have you been hiding him away all night? Jessica and Sara want to meet him.”

Alice leaned back on her heels. “I don’t want them to see him.”

“Then why did you bring him here tonight?”

A note of anger entered her voice. “I didn’t. He insisted he come. Now he wants to leave early.” She looked away, her expression strangely flat. “I’ve got to get away from him,” she whispered.

Polly felt a thrill. She softened her voice. “Why?”

“He’s not very nice.”

“What?”

“He talks about mum and dad.”

Polly closed her eyes, the thrill gone. “What does he say?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me!”

“No, it has nothing to do with you.”

Polly opened her eyes took a bite of her candy, smiling slowly. “All right, let’s drop it. Let’s talk about the party.”

Alice brightened. “Can we have it?”

Polly nodded. The bad moment had come, and the bad moment had gone. “Yes, I think it would be alright. But we’ll have to take Aunty over to Uncle Tom’s for the night. The noise might upset her.”

Alice nodded leaned over and kissed her cheek.  “Thanks! I owe you a million.”

Polly smiled at her. “You only owe me a penny. Don’t invite Clark to the party.”

Alice didn’t hesitate. “I won’t even tell him we’re having one.”

Alice left to search for Jessica. Polly remembered a textbook she had to take home that afternoon. She debated waiting till after the game to get it out of her locker. She finally decided that Sara would get mad if she did. Sara had been getting mad at her a lot lately; it was really beginning to bother her.

Polly accidentally ran into Sara at the bottom of the steps.

“Do you know where Jessica is?” Sara demanded.

“No. Alice doesn’t either.”

“What are you talking about? Where is Alice?”

“I don’t know.”

Sara grabbed her stomach, groaned. “I just ate three hot dogs.”

“Why three?”

“My political advisor insisted. Where are you going?”

“To my locker.”

“Is the locker hallway open now?”

“The door lock is busted. It’s always open.”

“What did you forget?”

“Nothing. Don’t say anything mean.”

Sara laughed loudly. “Don’t get mugged. I could see the school from the snack bar. They don’t waste electricity here. There isn’t a light on.”