Remember Me by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online Page B

Jo, Jeff, and myself—all arranged in a rough circle in the cluttered living room. Sad six, one short of lucky seven.

    Jo smiled at Jeff. "A body."

    "I have one," Beth volunteered, raising her hand, showing more enthusiasm now that her official boyfriend had made the whole matter respectable with his question. Daniel looked at her and smiled, the bastard.

    "We know," I said, sitting on the floor against a wall.

    They ignored me. They wanted to talk to the universe.

    Only Amanda appeared uninterested. Or else afraid. She continued to hang back in her corner chair. She might have been afraid of what I was going to say. Or else what the universe might know. I suppose we all have our secrets.

    But Dan and Beth weren't afraid of anything. They gathered around as Jo slid onto the floor. "What's the heel like on those shoes you're wearing?" Jo asked Beth.

    "They're all right," Beth said, not having the foggiest idea what Jo was asking.

    Jo leaned over and gave Beth's sneakers a brief inspection.

    "They'll work," Jo said. "Lie down flat on your back."

    "What are you going to do?" Beth asked, now a tad nervous.

    "I'm going to put this magnet on the floor at the back of your head," Jo said, doing precisely that as she spoke. "And then I'm going to take your ankles in my hands and ask your body questions. When your body wants to answer yes, one of your legs will get longer than the other."

    "Why don't you use her nose?" I asked, thinking of Pinocchio and telling lies and that sort of thing. No one seemed to care. They continued to ignore me.

    "Are you serious?" Dan asked.

    "You'll see," Jo said. "One leg will actually get longer than the other."

    "How does that happen?" Jeff asked.

    "Her hip must rotate," Jo said, cradling Bern's shoes in her palms. Beth had closed her eyes and appeared to be concentrating hard on something unknown to the rest of us.

    "No, how does her body know to respond?" Jeff said.

    "No one knows," Jo said. "Somehow the magnet triggers an answering reflex in the body."

    "Why did you cap one pole of the magnet?" Jeff asked.

    "The book said to do it," Jo said. "It doesn't work otherwise." She turned her attention to Beth. "How do you feel?"

    "Different," Beth whispered.

    "Should she feel different?" Daniel asked.

    "No," Jo said, looking down and pressing Beth's heels together. "Your body must be in good alignment. Your legs are exactly the same length."

    "Thank you," Beth said.

    "She probably has her hips worked on regularly," I said.

    One person in the room didn't ignore me mis time. Daniel caught my eye and stared. I stared back in such a manner that I made it clear I knew what had happened in the Jacuzzi. And somehow I knew he was thinking of the comment Jo had made in the car on the way to the party, about how fast he always was—thinking about what an untrustworthy bitch I was. There was something unhealthy in the way we looked at each other right then.

    "Is today Beth's birthday?" Jo asked aloud, simultaneously raising Beth's heels off the floor. Jo then nodded for Jeff to check Beth's leg lengths.

    "They haven't changed," Jeff said.

    "It's not working?" Beth asked, obviously worried that her body might not be connected to the universe. Jo was unconcerned.

    "Think for a moment," she said. "It is after twelve.

    Today is the day after your birthday."

    "Ask an affirmative question," Jeff said.

    "Is Beth a girl?" Jo asked, again raising Bern's feet up. I was too far away to tell, but apparently there was a shift in the length of one of her legs. Jeff leaned forward from his place on the edge of the couch and nodded his head.

    "There is a slight difference, yeah," he said.

    "It's not that slight," Jo said, continuing to keep Bern's heels tightly pressed together.
    "The right leg is now an inch longer than the left."

    "And this is her body's way of saying yes?" Jeff asked.

    "Yes," Jo said.

    "You can only ask yes-or-no questions?" Jeff said.

    "You'd be surprised how much