The Goats Read online

  The camp parking lot was empty. Maddy stopped her car beneath a sign that said FOR OUR VISITORS and turned off the engine. As it cooled it made irregular clicking noises.

  Above her, on a hill covered with dark trees, she could see the roofs of the camp buildings. It would be dark soon. Laura must be there by now, waiting.

  Maddy wondered if she should have come. In her first panic upon hearing that Laura was missing, it had seemed the obvious thing to do. Now she wasn’t so sure. What if Laura should greet her with that dull puzzled look that came down over her face like a mask, making her fears into something pointless, even ridiculous? Maddy didn’t think she could stand that.

  Wells had suggested that it might be better to wait. That the long drive might be for nothing. He hadn’t been so smooth and bland before he had understood that Maddy had spoken to Laura. He had been a frightened man then, almost incoherent, mumbling about the possibility of a swimming accident, trying to reassure her before she had even understood what he was talking about.

  There had been a moment, no more than a few seconds really, when Maddy had thought that Laura had drowned. For those few seconds Maddy felt as if a razor had sliced deeply into her flesh, and she had stared numbly into the wound.

  The misunderstanding had been cleared up quickly. The wound had closed even before she had felt the pain. What would it have been like if Wells had called first? She hadn’t the courage to imagine.

  Maddy sighed and, getting out of the car, climbed the long path toward the administration building. There seemed to be no one around. A pair of campers in white shirts that seemed to glow in the fading light eyed her suspiciously from a distance, and then glided off among the trees. There was no one else.

  Inside the administration building was a long counter of yellow wood. From behind the counter a middle-aged woman looked up at Maddy inquiringly. She was deeply tanned, and her thin hair was pulled back from her forehead by the weight of a silver-and-turquoise clasp. Her small mouth was wreathed with sharp little lines.

  “I’m Mrs. Golden. Laura’s mother. I want to see Mr. Wells?”

  “Oh yes. Mr. Bob was waiting for you, but he just stepped out.” The woman didn’t know what to do with the papers in her hands. She considered putting them on the counter, but then changed her mind and put them on the desk behind her. “I think he’s gone to the dining hall. I’ll just fetch him.” She seemed afraid of being left alone in the office with Maddy.

  “Wait a minute. Can you tell me if Laura’s come back?”

  The woman stopped abruptly. “Oh, I don’t think so. Mr. Bob would know about that.” She smiled. A small, tight, give-nothing-away smile. She looked at Maddy as if waiting for permission to go. “I’ll just fetch him. All right?”

  Maddy waited. There was nowhere to sit down. On the wall behind the counter was an elaborate trophy made of lacrosse sticks and canoe paddles. It was covered with dust and varnish.

  A fat man came up the steps into the office wiping his mouth. “Just grabbing a quick bite,” he said. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and half-frame reading glasses dangled from a chain on his chest. “Mrs. Golden? I’m Bob Wells.” They shook hands. “And this is Miss Haskell.” He waved at the woman who had bustled back into the office behind him, nodding and smiling as if it was to see her that Maddy had driven up from the city.

  “She’s camp secretary. Some of the campers seem to think she’s their mother.” Mr. Wells and the woman beamed at one another.

  “Well! Come into my office, and we’ll see if we can get this business straightened out.” He led the way behind the counter and through a doorway into a small room decorated with more trophies. It seemed important to the secretary that she go in front of Maddy.

  “Miss … Haskell, is it? She said she didn’t think Laura was back,” Maddy called after Mr. Wells as she picked through an obstacle course of furniture. She had an irrational idea that he might escape from her. Disappear through some hidden door.

  Mr. Wells didn’t answer at once.

  “Sit down, please, make yourself comfortable.” He himself sat down behind a desk and put on his glasses. He laid his hands palms down on a clean, fresh blotter.

  “No. She’s not back yet.” He looked at Maddy reproachfully over his glasses.

  “But I don’t understand,” said Maddy, beginning to feel frightened. “It’s hours since I spoke to her. Where can she be? I mean, what can have happened?”

  “Now, now, now,” said Mr. Wells sharply. “I don’t think we should be too worried yet. We know they were safe when you talked to her. That’s the important thing. We don’t know where she was calling from, or even where they came ashore. It might take them some time to get back to camp. I really expect them any time now, Mrs. Golden.”

  “But she’s only thirteen. Isn’t anyone looking for her? Something terrible …”

  “Mrs. Golden, I notified the sheriff and the ranger just as soon as we knew they were missing this morning. Some of our senior counselors are out searching for them right now.” He managed to look understanding and affronted at the same time.

  “But why haven’t they found her? I really don’t understand this.”

  Mr. Wells looked vaguely surprised, as if she had disappointed him in some way.

  “Well,” he said patiently, “we have to consider the possibility that they might not mind making us worry a bit.” He exchanged a fruity, knowing smile with Miss Haskell.

  Maddy began to feel annoyed. “Listen. Laura isn’t like that. When she says she’ll be back at a certain time, she is. I left her in your care. I want my daughter back. I want her now.”

  “Mrs. Golden, no one is more aware of their responsibilities than I am. We are doing all that can be done to find them. I assure you that I am as concerned for their welfare as you are. Now”—he leaned forward, hunching his shoulders to show that he was getting down to business—“did Laura actually tell you that she was coming directly back to camp?”

  “No, not in so many words …”

  “I think you told her that you would meet her on Saturday at the Parents’ Weekend.”

  Maddy looked at Miss Haskell. The woman nodded slightly, as if to encourage a dull student.

  Maddy looked back at Wells. “Are you suggesting that she might not come back until Saturday? That’s simply ludicrous.”

  “Mrs. Golden, I think I can say that I know these kids pretty well. They don’t always understand how their behavior can upset others. Particularly their parents. Now, I’m sure that Laura is as good a girl as you think she is. Believe me, Mrs. Golden, it isn’t yet time to be deeply worried.”

  “Laura is …” Maddy began, and then stopped. She didn’t know what she had been going to say. In some way the man had put her on the defensive. As if it were Laura’s behavior which had to be justified. She took a deep breath and began again. “What exactly happened, Mr. Wells? I think you owe me some kind of explanation.”

  For the first time the fat man looked uncomfortable. “Not something that any of us approve of, Mrs. Golden. It was, frankly, a practical joke that didn’t work out the way it should have. Completely unsanctioned by the camp and its staff.”

  “Joke? I know, you said that on the telephone. But what was the joke?”

  “Well, it’s an old tradition at the camp. It started a long time back. Back when, well, frankly, there wasn’t the same attention to camper supervision that we find advisable now.” He looked at Maddy to make sure that she understood that this was an important point.

  She waited. The man stirred uncomfortably. Miss Haskell cleared her throat, and Wells darted the woman a glance of such ill-concealed irritation that Maddy was taken aback. She knew very little, she realized, about these people with whom she had left Laura.

  “You must know, Mrs. Golden,” he began again, “that at a large camp like this, with children from all sorts of homes, broken homes … all kinds. I’m sure you know that there are always a few campers who don’t fit in right away. That doe
sn’t mean that they’re unpopular. Far from it.” he said hastily, misinterpreting Maddy’s stricken look. “These are often children who are deeply admired. The other children want to make friends with them. Make them a part of the community.”

  “What did they do to her?”

  “Sometimes,” Wells continued as if he hadn’t heard the pain in her voice, “sometimes there are boys and girls who are a bit, well, judgmental about their fellows. And some of the other campers might decide, mistakenly, that things could be improved if a boy and girl were put in a situation where they might realize that we are all just people. That there’s nothing wrong, for example, in a healthy interest in members of the opposite sex.” Mr. Wells smirked slightly.

  “Mr. Wells, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What did they do to Laura?”

  The man surrendered reluctantly. “Well, they marooned Laura and this boy, Howie Mitchell, out on this little island together. It was to be just for the night. Not very clever, I agree.” He raised his hand before Maddy could speak. “I don’t think any real harm was meant. It’s happened before, back in the bad old days, and I don’t think any offense was taken, usually. I think most kids teased in this way would come back, well, a little proud of themselves, actually. There’s an old tent platform there. It’s perfectly safe. It’s just the other campers’ way of saying, ‘Hey, kids, come on! Get with it!’”

  Maddy felt her heart constrict into a small, painful lump. “That,” she said, “is the most beastly thing I have ever heard of.”

  Mr. Wells looked at her, full of compassion. “Mrs. Golden, I fully understand how this must seem to you. And I admit that for more sensitive children it might not be a good idea. And of course there’s always the possibility of an accident. Swimming accident, or something like that. That’s why I put a stop to this business as soon as I became director. We haven’t had an incident like this in years, believe me. But traditions die hard. Some of the campers here are third generation, if you’d believe it.”

  “I was a goat,” announced Miss Haskell.

  “What?” said Maddy. She thought the woman had said she was a goat.

  “A goat. We call the island Goat Island.” She blushed. Maddy understood.

  “I’m going to sue you,” she said levelly. “I’m going to sue you and this camp right into the ground.”

  Mr. Wells turned bright red, and his sympathetic expression hardened by a minute degree into something made of wood. “I don’t think that attitude is going to help us, Mrs. Golden. The important thing right now is that we get Laura and Howie back, safe and sound.”

  Maddy looked at him silently over his desk. It seemed strange to her that she had not realized at once that this man was her enemy.

  “Now, about the boy.” Wells began to fuss with some papers on his desk, as if the boy were some last, minor detail. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about from that direction. He’s a nice boy. Quiet, wouldn’t you say, Miss Haskell?”

  Miss Haskell agreed. Howie was very quiet.

  “No, you don’t have to worry about that, Mrs. Golden. Howie wouldn’t harm your daughter.” He smiled as if it were, really, only a joke. “He’s about two inches shorter than she is, for one thing. You know girls at that age mature more quickly.”

  Maddy hadn’t worried about the boy hurting Laura. She had never even thought of such a thing. In all her imaginings of what might happen, this had eluded her. She looked alertly from the man to the woman, wondering what other horrors might be concealed.

  She heard Wells explain that they were trying to notify the boy’s parents. She understood that there was some difficulty about getting in touch with them. They were in Turkey. Digging, excavating. She wondered vaguely if they were some kind of engineer.

  Wells and Miss Haskell were standing now, so Maddy got up. There was nothing more she could learn there. They would be in touch, of course. Miss Haskell explained about the reservation she had made at a local motel. She was sure that Maddy would be comfortable.

  “Perhaps Mrs. Golden would like to eat with us in the dining hall tonight. What’s the menu, Hilda?”

  Miss Haskell looked doubtful. “Corned-beef hash, I think.”

  “Ah! Cat’s vomit. That’s what the campers call it. Cat’s vomit.” Mr. Wells smiled at Maddy. She was afraid he might wink at her.

  The Dining Hall

  IT WAS the teenager named Calvin who held him, squeezing his arms just above the elbow as Bryce had done.

  The girl had faded into the shadows, but when she saw that he was caught, she came out and stood beside him.

  “Let us go,” the boy said. “We’re not hurting you.”

  “Oh, man, where you going to go to? This is the wilds!”

  The boy twisted in Calvin’s hands. He was surprised when Calvin let go at once, backing off and holding his hands up. “Okay. Be cool.”

  The girl Tiwanda was standing close by, watching from under her fringe of beads. She did not look excited or angry. She looked sad.

  “Okay now. Why you running from the Man?”

  “Who?”

  “The Man. The cops. Back at the gas station.”

  They had been noticed. The boy had felt invisible, but Calvin had seen them and understood what they were doing. It had been a mistake to leave the woods and go into the gas station. People might see you, think about you, even if they didn’t seem to.

  “We broke into a house and took some stuff.”

  Tiwanda’s face bunched up in distress.

  “Oh, man …” she said.

  “We had to! We’re going to pay them back.”

  “That’s okay,” said Calvin. “That’s okay. I understand. People shouldn’t leave their houses lying around, right?”

  “Oh, Calvin, I don’t know,” said Tiwanda. “I think we better tell Mr. Carlson.”

  “Don’t do that,” said the girl.

  “Yeah, what’s the matter with you, Tiwanda? Carlson would just send them back. They’re running, can’t you see? Ain’t nobody ever run from nothing.”

  “But it’s dark out there.” Tiwanda looked into the woods with real fear.

  “We’re not afraid,” said the boy.

  “Oh, honey, there’s wolves and bears and stuff out there. We can’t just let you go. She’s scared. Don’t you see?”

  The boy looked at the girl. Her dark hair was coming down over her face, concealing her eyes. She wouldn’t look up at him. He wanted to tell her that it was all right, that they would be safe out in the dark, but he didn’t know how to begin. The idea seemed so simple to him, and yet so difficult to explain.

  “Look,” said Calvin. “Why don’t we just keep them with us for the night. We can decide what to do in the morning. Nobody would care. They might just have signed up at the center at the last minute. Nobody knows everybody, not even Carlson. Who’s in your cabin? Could you make it right?”

  “I don’t know,” said Tiwanda doubtfully. She looked at the girl. “Where are you running to? I mean, have you got somewhere to go, or are you just running?”

  “We’re going to meet my mom. On Saturday. In Ahlburg.”

  “Ahlburg? Where’s that?”

  “It’s a town. It’s near here.”

  “Why don’t your mom come get you right away?”

  “She couldn’t. She … she wanted to, but she had to work.”

  Tiwanda tilted her head back and looked at the girl skeptically. “That don’t seem right,” she said. She reached out and brushed the girl’s hair away from her face. “Is that the truth, honey? Or are you just putting me on?”

  “No, it’s true. It’s really true.”

  Tiwanda wrinkled up her nose and stared out into the dark. Behind them they could hear doors opening and closing, people talking and laughing.

  “Come on, Tiwanda,” said Calvin. “What’s the big deal?”

  “Well. All right,” she said. “For tonight, anyway. I’ll take her. Susie Burns is in my cabin. She’s going
to make a fuss.”

  “That’s okay. Just lean on her a bit. What are you guys called, anyway?”

  They wouldn’t say. They stood waiting to see what Calvin would do next.

  “Oh, man, you are sly. Don’t trust nobody. That’s okay. You think it over. Here,” he said to the girl. “You go with Tiwanda. Clyde here and me will meet you at the dining hall for supper.”

  “We’re supposed to stay together,” she said.

  Calvin laughed. “You’re cane sugar, you are.” He bent over her so he could see into her face. “You can’t stay together tonight, don’t you see?” he explained. “Carlson’s got us all segregated. Boys and girls. Tiwanda can slip you in with her all right, but I think somebody might notice if Clyde’s there, too. You get it?”

  As they turned back toward the buses, they saw that a boy was standing in the light coming from the latrine, watching them. He was close enough to have been listening, yet no one had noticed him. He was very pale, with pale hair and eyes. He had long arms and was dangling a white suitcase in front of him.

  “Hey, Pardoe,” said Calvin. “How’s it going, man?” The pale boy didn’t seem to think Calvin’s question needed any answer. He lifted his head slightly and pointed with his chin.

  “Who are they?” he asked. His voice was soft and dark, like a bruise.

  “Hey, Pardoe, you know them.”

  “No, I don’t. I never seen them before.”

  “What you mean you never seen them? They’re hanging round the center all the time. This is Bonnie and her brother, Clyde.”

  The pale boy looked at them, thinking. It wasn’t pleasant to watch him think. His face was very still and gave nothing away.

  “Right,” he said finally. He turned, pushing his suitcase in front of him with his knees as he walked away alone.

  “Come on,” said Calvin. “Let’s move. Don’t worry about Pardoe. He’s got to know everything, but he never gave anything away.”

  “You stay away from him, you hear,” Tiwanda whispered to the girl. “He’s no good. No good at all.”