The Window by Jeanette Ingold Read Free Book Online

stopped asking me why I leave it wide open at night.
    "Fresh air never hurt anyone," Gabriel told her the last time she asked. "When I was in the army, we always kept windows open in the billets."
    Abe said I was cleaning spiderwebs. I finally figured out he meant I was clearing cobwebs from my brain.
    I wiggle further into the covers, my thoughts shifting from the kids at school to Gwen and Paul, drifting from football games to a band of woods beside a summer lake. Cobwebby woods. Nice woods, I think, although...
    "Hey, lazy bones, don't you know what time it is?"
    It's Uncle Gabriel, at my door. He's gotten me this talking clock that you hit and it tells you the time.
    I grab for it, hear a perfectly flat, absolutely one-tone voice say, "Seven-oh-clock—oh-seven-hundred-and-fifteen-seconds."

    At school Hannah is full of plans for finding out about Gwen. "Maybe I can come over to your house and go through photo albums with you," she says. "Maybe we'll find Gwen's name written on a picture."
    "I've about decided to ask Aunt Emma who was in my uncles' family. See if she mentions Gwen."
    "And if she doesn't?"
    "I don't know. Go to Plan Two, I guess."
    "Which is?"
    "Hannah, I don't know. I don't have a Plan Two. Probably Aunt Emma will tell me Gwen's a retired librarian in San Antonio or Dallas and that will be that."
    But now Hannah's the one who wants to be all mysterious and makes me promise we'll try to find out ourselves about Gwen before I ask. I get the idea that what she really wants is an excuse to go home with me instead of to her own home. And, of course, I should have her over since I spent the night at her house.
    "OK," I say, "it's OK with me."
    Hannah leaves me at the door to my gym class. "I'll be at your place about four," she says. "And Mandy ... let's not tell anybody else about Gwen. She can be, our secret?"
    I try to remember if I've ever had a secret with another girl before. I don't think so.
    Not that I'm sharing this one quite all the way. I don't think I want to tell Hannah about that last time, how Gwen and Paul were kissing in the car. It seems sort of .. personal.
    The tardy bell startles me and I turn quickly, groping for a handle on a closed door that won't push in. I find a knob instead, pull the door open, and a second later bang my stomach against something solid.
    I cautiously run my hand along it until I realize it's a sink. My shoulder hits something that clatters to the floor.
    This isn't the gym.
    I try to think what I know about the wall by the gym door. What's along it? Hannah hasn't said there's a girls' room. What if I've barged into a boys' bathroom? I take a panicky step and knock something else over.
    Then my hand finds the stiff bristles of a brush and next to that a wet cloth. I'm in a cleaning closet.
    Relief runs through me and then my cheeks go flaming hot. I back out, wondering who's seen Mandy's latest mistake.
    But the hall's quiet. Maybe nobody has.
    I say a little thank-you as I search for another door. I find one and open it, and this time I listen for gymnasium echoes before I go any farther.
    ***
    After lunch Ted's waiting for me outside Ms. Zeisloff's room. I think we must look like a couple, standing there.
    "You want people to see us together?" I ask. "The deaf boy reading the lips of the blind girl listening..."
    "I just wanted you to know I'm not coming to class today. I'm in the middle of a project that I've got to finish before it sets, and I've got a pass to work in the art room."
    "So why are you telling me?"
    And as fast as I say it, I feel guilty in case I've hurt Ted's feelings, which is stupid, but I about fall over myself trying to make things right. "Ms. Z.'s will be boring without you. I didn't know you did art."
    "Yeah, well..." His voice trails off.
    "Mandy and Ted," Ms. Z. says, "time to get started."
    Ted must show her his pass. She says, "All right," and I hear her go inside.
    The path is quiet now because the period's begun. I suddenly realize