What was he going to do with a gun? aIs that real?a Ava asked him.

aOf course,a he said. aWeare not supposed to let visitors hold them, but do you want to?a Ava shook her head.

He took aim at something outside the front door. aWe keep our gunpowder kegs in a room back there, if you want to see.a aNo, thank you,a Ava said, and then asked him if he knew about Buff and Suzi, and when he said no, she told him what had happened, and she told him how her mother had confronted Buff at church and that head denied doing anything, and how her father had beaten Buff to a pulp and how Buff had threatened to press charges, and how that didnat sound good, even if she wasnat sure exactly what it meant, and how her parents had reported Buffas abuse of Suzi to the police and head denied everything to them, too, and how Suzi had just been crying in her room and going to counseling appointments, and her mother had been crying, too, and her dad had either been angry and yelling or not speaking to anyone.

Travis had lowered the rifle and was frowning at her. aWhy are you telling me all this?a aSince heas your uncle, I thought youad want to know. Bobas your uncle!a she couldnat help adding.

aBuffas my uncle. Head never do anything like that. Heas a minister!a Ava couldnat believe that he was standing up for Buff. Shead thought head be on her side, on Suzias side. aYou donat believe Suzi? You think sheas lying? Sheas not a liar.a Travis lifted the long gun to his shoulder again, sighting an imaginary target across the room, and Ava felt like slugging him. It seemed very important, suddenly, to prove Suzi right and Buff wrong. But how to do it when she wasnat there with them? Actually, she knew how to do it. She could reveal her secret to Travis, about Mr. Boy taking the naked pictures of her and Buff showing her that head seen them. But if she told Travis, shead have no control over the information anymore. If Travis told anyone, more people would get in trouble, including her. But she really, really wanted Travis on her side, and Suzias side, and telling on herself was the one way she could think of to get him there.

aHey,a Travis said, hanging the musket back up on the wall. aWould you like a tour of the mission? We close in forty-five minutes so they wonat care if I leave my post. Iam in training to give tours. What I want to do eventually is work on the archaeological dig. Theyave found some cool stuffa"pottery, bowls, tools. Iam going to FSU next year and majoring in archaeology. Iam going to get my own apartment. Have you been watching the news about Hurricane Grayson? Thereas a storm warning for the entire coastline of Florida. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. First time thatas ever happened.a He started walking out of the fort, and Ava had to catch up.

Okay, so he didnat want to talk about the Buff thing, and Ava realized she was sick of hearing about it and talking about it and thinking about it, and glad not to have to tell Travis what she didnat want to tell anyone.

He and Ava went into the friary and then into the gorgeous church with the high thatched roof, which let in tiny beams of light, wisps of straw floating down, and the dirt floors and glowing religious paintings, then they walked over to the Indian council house. She could see why Travis liked it here so much. Up on this hill there was a touch of a breeze every now and then. And the traffic on Pensacola Street was just a faint murmur.

As she was walking around with Travis, she had three realizations, none of them directly related to what she was looking at. The first realization was that looking at the pictures and the places and imagining what went on in Mission San Luis felt like a key into a new kingdom. Re-creations of the past. She wanted to re-create the past. She wanted to immerse herself in history. The history of something. She would major in history. History, she realized, was what she cared about most. Shead been skirting around this knowledge for some time. Shead been most interested in the story of Elvis, in his history, even more than his music. Shead loved reading books about how horse breeds came to be, about the origins of foxhunting and what sort of people had gone in for it. The subjects werenat as important to her as the stories. What sort of history she might want to study, the time period, at what college, she didnat know yet. But she knew. History! Thatas where she wanted to be. She felt something in her settle and lift at the same time.

The second realization was that she really liked Travis. She felt happy around him. Relaxed. Even today, with all the stress at home. He was cute and smart and interesting, and she wanted to go out with him. Not out-out, like going steady, but she wanted to go on a date with him and see what happened. She hadnat had any fun dates ever. But she felt ready to try again.

The third realization wasnat so good. It struck her that shead been remiss in keeping her secret from her family, especially now that Suzi was in such a bad way. It wasnat Travis she needed to tell. She needed to tell her parents. Suzi, surprisingly, hadnat ratted on her about the naked photos, but she needed to rat on herself.

If she told her parents about her experiences with Mr. Boy and Buff, her story would add more weight to Suzias case. It would also get Ava into trouble, but was that such a big deal now? No, Suzi was her little sister, and she needed her help. Ava rarely got to feel like the big sister with Super Suzi as a sibling, but this would give her the chance. It would upset her parents even more, though. She hated to be the cause of more pain and conflict, but she had to do it.

She and Travis were standing at a display of knee-high pottery jars in the Indian council house, a large circular structure that could accommodate three thousand people, and Travis had gone quiet and was watching her. aWhat are you thinking about?a he asked her. aAre you bored? Iam sorry, I talk too much.a aI was wondering how I was going to get home,a Ava said. She wasnat, but she should have been, since Otis had roared off before she could make arrangements with him to pick her up.

aI can take you,a Travis said. aWe could get ice cream first, if you want.a aI want,a Ava said, knowing shead remember this afternoon for the rest of her life, walking around Mission San Luis with Travis, realizing that she liked him, realizing what she wanted to study in school, realizing that she had to help her sister, come what may. Two great things and one awful thing in one afternoon. And there was Hurricane Grayson, which might or might not cause a lot of trouble.

Why did the good and the bad have to come together? It seemed, often, that they did.

Finally, the day had come. He got up early, dressed, ate a hearty breakfast of twelve toaster waffles before anyone else got up, enjoying the solemn ceremonial feel of this occasion, this day, August 12, 2006. A day that would appear in future science books, in news stories, in TV specials, maybe even movies. All this wonderful fallout would take a while, but right away, at least, head be in the local news. His story would wipe Hurricane Grayson off the front page of the Tallaha.s.see Democrat and would do the same to the stories about Reverend Buffington Coffey, and give Rusty some peace and quiet.

He missed Rusty. She hadnat been around since all the fuss started with Suzi and Rustyas father. Head texted Rusty and asked her to call him, but she didnat, so he called her and left voice messages, saying that he missed her and that his reactor was nearly finished and he wanted her to be there when he put it together. When she didnat call him back, he called again and added that he was sorry for everything that had happened with her father, and that he didnat blame her and that he really, really liked hera"he didnat mention the word love againa"but she wouldnat text or call him back. There was so much he needed to tell her, so many things head had to do without her.

Shead missed out on the blowtorch. He loved his blowtorch. He loved the roaring noise, the metal mask he wore, the bright flame, and she wouldave loved these things, too. She couldave helped him take apart the replacement mantles that the two of them had stolen from Target, extracting the thorium strips. She couldave helped him dump the strips into his cast-iron frying pan, and he wouldave let her fire up his blowtorch and reduce those suckers to ash. Watching Rusty do it wouldave made it even more fun.

Next head had to isolate and purify the thorium from the ash, and head had a little chat with Granddad about how to do that. Granddad had suggested using lithium fragments to absorb the unwanted ash. Lithium batteries, his grandfather said, would be the best source.

He wanted to tell her how Granddad had become a virtual prisoner in his den, with himself as his own jailor. He was so scared of being accosted by Mrs. Archer that he never went outside anymore. He gazed longingly at the front yard, commenting on the yard work that needed to be done, but he wouldnat venture out. He wouldnat even go on walks with Otis and Parson, which had been one of his favorite things to do.

And his mother, who usually fussed over Granddad almost as much as she fussed over Ava, had stopped reading to Granddad and asking after him and bringing him snacks. It was all about Suzi now, taking Suzi to counseling, talking to Dad, in loud enough voices that even somebody who wasnat trying to eavesdrop could overhear, about the four other girls from the youth group who were also pressing charges against Buff.

When he heard all this talk about Buff, Otis thought of Rusty, whom he realized now mustave known something was screwy with her father. Shead called him a phony and a perv, and he felt really bad for her. She must feel so embarra.s.sed and ashamed to have everyone know. And the worst thought he had was that maybe her father had tried to do some of the same things to her. Maybe he had done them. Otis had read about men doing those things to their daughters, but head never tried to imagine how a daughter with that kind of father might feel. In fact, until he started wondering about Rusty and missing her and feeling bad for her, head never thought much about anybody other than himselfa"maybe because head never really spent a lot of time with another person, outside his own family, that is. Gotten to know her. Shared experiences with her, like stealing and vandalism and creating dangerous nuclear devices. So this is what it feels like, he realized, to let another person into your world. It felt much more dangerous than any nuclear device he could create, because he had no idea what the possible chain reaction would be. But when he thought about all the bad things he and Rusty had done, it made him happy, and he was glad of all of it. He thought about her at night, in bed, until he ached, and there was only one thing to do for that, but a different sort of ache came back right after. He missed her.

So, in order to keep the memory of Rusty alive, he went out and shoplifted lithium batteries from CVS and Walgreens and Target and Walmart, even though he couldave paid for them. Once he got them home, he cut them in half with wire cutters and removed the shiny lithium strips and dropped them in a beaker of Crisco oil to prevent oxidation. Then, donning his gas mask, lead suit, and latex gloves, he put the thorium and lithium into a sealed aluminum foil ball and dropped it into a pan of oil, cooking it on his propane stove for half an hour. When he tested the ball, after it cooled, with the Geiger counter, all indications were go.

Then he had the thorium all ready to shoot the gun at. He had the beryllium strips for part of the fuel, but his final step was to trans.m.u.te the radiuma"obtained from the clocks and the hidden tube of paint and the chunk ordered onlinea"into a workable form. He ordered some barium sulfate online and mixed it with radium and strained the brew into a beaker. In the beaker it emitted a glow that told Otis it was ready.

A few days earlier head loaded up his gun with his uranium and beryllium and tried shooting it at the thorium. Nothing happened, nothing that could be measured with his Geiger counter. He tried this for three successive days with no results, and he began to get agitated.

That night he drove by Rustyas house, looking for her, but it was shut up tight. No cars there, no lights on. Another night he walked over to her house, dressed in black, wanting to propose some Mrs. Archer hara.s.sing if she was up for it. The black SUV was in the driveway, but no lights were on. He knocked on Rustyas window, but there was no response, so he snuck across the street and did some halfhearted Mrs. Archer tormenting by himselfa"tossed some gravel at her windows, picked up a flowerpot with fake daisies in it and placed it on the roof of her cara"not very original tricks, but it was something to honor Rusty, and he slunk back home, missing her.

He discussed the problem of his gun not firing with Granddad, who suggested that in this situation one might slow the neutrons down using a filter of water and tritium, which could be obtained from night-vision gunsights. Otis looked them up online and discovered that night-vision gunsights cost more than a thousand dollars apiece. For two days after this discovery he wandered about in a daze, and one evening, when everyone else was all worked up about some new revelation in the Buff casea"a fifth girl, one from Buffas old church, had just come forwarda"Otis just walked into his parentsa room and took his fatheras credit card from his wallet and ordered three gunsights to be sent to him FedEx overnight.

When the box arrived he took it with shaking hands to his shed. He carefully pried the sights open, and when he realized that he could extract the tritium, a waxy substance, and rea.s.semble the gunsights with no evidence that theyad been pried open, he decided to sc.r.a.pe the tritium off all three of them, using coffee stirrers head lifted from Wendyas, and then return the gunsights to the company, claiming they were defective. That way, as long as his father didnat check his credit card balance until after the sights had been returned, head get away with it. A brilliant plan, if he did say so himself.

August 12, 2006. He stepped outside onto the back deck. Another coolish, airy day, sunny but not hot, scuddy white clouds blowing across the sky. A great day to complete his project. Wanting to give Rusty one more chance to be there when he made history, he stopped outside his shed and called her cell phone again. This time she answered. She didnat sound happy to hear from him. She sounded sullen and snippy, like the old Rusty used to before he got to know her. Remembering that she usually slept late, he apologized for calling at eight thirty in the morning, but she said she was already up, had been up, and what did he want already?

Otis ignored her bratty tone and asked where shead been, why she hadnat called him back; and she acted annoyed, as if he were merely pestering her. aWhy do you think?a she said. aDuh. Anyway, I donat live in your neighborhood anymore. I donat live in Tallytown anymore.a She told him that she and her mother and Angel were staying down in Lloyd, twenty miles away, with her motheras parents. Then she added that her mother was divorcing her father, whom she would henceforth refer to as the demon seed.

Otis told her he was sorry, but he didnat know if that was the right response to her parentsa getting a divorce.

aSeriously, donat be,a she said. aItas a big relief, right? Now I donat have to lock my door.a Otis felt a chill, even though it was plenty hot in his backyard.

aI meant Iam sorry about all of it,a he said. aIam sorry it happened.a There was a sniffling sound. Was she crying? He hadnat meant to make her cry, so he started talking, quickly relating the trial-and-error process head been through in the past few days, the gunsight scam, shoplifting the batteries, and how today was the day he was a.s.sembling the entire thing and how he knew, just knew, it was going to work.

He heard the sniffling again, which puzzled him, but then he realized she was laughing. aWhatas so funny?a aOh, nothing. You. Youare so a I donat know. Earnest.a aOkay.a Otis didnat know why that was funny, but he realized he was smiling, too. aI wish you were here,a he said.

aMe, too. Good luck with your whatsit. Iall be there in spirit, cheering you on.a aWhen are you coming back?a She sighed. aNothingas been decided. I wonat be living in Canterbury Hills again, thatas for sure.a aYouall visit, though. Youall come see me. I could drive down to Lloyd.a aUhmm. Donat think my mom would be too glad to see anyone from your family right now.a Otis protested that he hadnat had anything to do with the ascandala and that it wasnat fair to blame him, and Rusty agreed and said it wasnat fair but that nothing was and that she had to go now and please donat call for a while. aI took one of your radium paint chips,a she told him. aFor my medicine bag.a aDonat!a Otis said. aDonat put it in your bag. Throw it away.a Why was he getting so upset?

aSheesh,a said Rusty. aOkay, s.p.a.ceman.a She hung up.

So, on the big day, Otis went into his shed alone and, feeling something of a letdown, after head put on his lead ap.r.o.n and mask and plastic gloves, he wrapped the uranium powder and beryllium in little foil cubes and arranged them around a block of carbon inside the lead gun, then wrapped the thorium ash in foil packets and distributed them around the outside layer of the gun, next to the packets of uranium and beryllium. Then he wrapped the whole thing up with duct tape and weighed it. It weighed two pounds. He set it down and left the shed, locking the door behind him. The deed was done.

Although everything had changed for Otis, he didnat feel it was the right time to break the news about his invention. Not until he knew for sure it was working, he told himself. For the next couple of days, three times a day, he checked the level of radiation in his shed with his Geiger counter, recording his findings in his logbook. Every time the reading was higher, until finally the needle went to the top of the dial, which meant at least 50 mrems. He hadnat decided how and when to reveal to the world what head made, and he wished he could talk to Rusty about it. He didnat want to announce his accomplishment until head made good and sure it was working.

One day he decided to measure the levels outside his shed, and he picked up radiation all over the backyard. How much was too much? Head never cared enough to find this out. But when he saw Parson sniffing around in the yard, right where head been picking up radiation, he grew uneasy. He scooped her up and brought her inside.

That night he visited his grandfather in his den and posed that question. How much was too much?

For once his grandfather looked at him straight on. aWhy are you asking, son?a Otis, settling himself into the chair, was startled. His grandfather had never directly questioned him like this.

When Otis didnat respond, his grandfather, who was staring at him, said, aYou arenat actually thinking of making one of those things, are you? Because that would be very foolish.a Otis felt himself flushing.

aYou donat want to endanger peopleas lives. Make them sick.a Otis nodded, but he thought of Rusty and Parson Brown, and he himself felt sick inside. Did this mean his grandfather would not be proud of his accomplishment? If his grandfather wasnat proud, would anybody be proud? He didnat intend to endanger lives. He wanted to prove that it could be done, and done safely.

aYou worked with radioactive materials and it didnat hurt you,a Otis said. aYou said it was a lot safer than people realized.a His grandfather turned back to the TV set, to the news hour that he watched every evening. aBad business about your sisters,a Granddad said. aTerrible. Your mother just told me. I knew something was wrong around here. Why did she feel she had to protect me? Iam their grandfather!a aI donat know,a Otis said. Had the news about his sisters jarred something loose in Granddad? He seemed more with-it than he had in a long while. He pictured Granddadas head full of marbles, shaking and clacking.

The man on the news houra"the old guy with the bags under his eyesa"was going on about Hurricane Grayson, which had made landfall again over Naples and was moving northeast across south Florida, flooding everything and drowning people. There was nothing about the war in Iraq, but lots of interesting facts about the hurricane.

aAreas in Florida have already received up to twenty-five inches of rain, causing serious flooding. Alligators were seen in flooded neighborhoods after high water forced them from their habitat. Hundreds of homes were flooded in Brevard and St. Lucie counties; some locations were inundated with up to five feet of standing water. Early estimates from Brevard County show ten to twelve million dollars in damages to homes and infrastructure. Hurricane Grayson had caused the drowning of one person swimming off Neptune Beach and another swimmer in Duval County. Three people were killed in traffic accidents. A twenty-eight-year-old kite surfer was critically injured in Fort Lauderdale when winds a.s.sociated with Hurricane Grayson slammed him face-first into the ground and then dragged him through streets until he hit a building.a Otis got caught up listening to the report and when his grandfather said something to him again, head almost forgotten what they were talking about.

aI was involved in a research study, a long time ago,a his grandfather said. aWe thought we were doing the right thing, but we werenat. We hurt lots of innocent people. Caused deaths. I donat want you to ever take those chances.a aI wonat,a Otis said in a matter-of-fact voice, but his ears were humming and he couldnat concentrate on either his granddad or the news show.

aHow about a game of checkers?a Granddad asked him.

Otis told him maybe later. He got up and walked out of the room and through the empty housea"everyone was gone these daysa"out the back door and down to his shed. There was a full moon, and the sky was unusually clear, smattered with stars. He got his Geiger counter from the shed, turned it on, and began sweeping it around the backyard. The dial on the Geiger counter glowed in the dark, and Otis saw that the radiation levels in the yard were now up to the top of the dial, just like in the shed. But all this meant was that if he stood there beside the reactor for fifteen minutes head be absorbing 50 milligrams of radiation. A dental X-ray was equal to 150 milligrams, and that was way safe! The only thing was that this particular Geiger counter didnat measure levels higher than 50. It was a piece of c.r.a.p. So he actually had no idea of the true level being emitted.

His insufficient instrument registered top of the dial radioactivity three houses away.

There was always the Marines. A good option, if it werenat for the Iraq war.

Anne Frank was her go-to girl. Suzi stayed in her room as much as theyad let her, rereading Anne Frankas diary for the millionth time so that she wouldnat feel sorry for herself. After all, all that had happened to Suzi was that 1. Shead hurt her knee playing soccer and had missed Olympic soccer camp; and 2. Shead given a grown man a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b. Big deal. It wasnat like head raped her or shead been forced to hide in an attic for years. And she hadnat done it to protect Ava, as shead told her mother. That idea had occurred to her only after the facta"that shead been protecting Ava.

She was glad that it had happened to her and not to Ava, because Ava had already had enough counseling and attention and hand-wringing focused on her. Now it was Suzias turn. Shead always thought of Ava as the weaker one of the two of them, but she was thinking differently now. Now she admired the way Ava had told Buff to buzz off. Ava had had no problem telling Buff to forget it. That boded well for Ava in the future, shead heard her mother saying to her father one night in the kitchen. (This was another good side effect of the acrisisaa"her father was no longer working late every night.) But what did her behavior say about her future?

The fact that her parents thought that Buff had forced her to do it, or talked her into doing it, made Suzi feel bad, because, actually, as shead told Nance and Ava, it wasnat that way at all. Shead seen an opportunity, and shead taken it.

Suziad decided not to try and correct her parentsa version of the events, because she had the feeling that they would see Suzi as the innocent party no matter what. And she didnat want them to think she was some kind of overs.e.xed s.l.u.t. Shead thought Buff was attractive, and the truth was that she was just curious to see how far head go, and what it would be like with an experienced guy. She was curious! Did that make her a s.l.u.t? Were s.l.u.ts just curious? s.l.u.t wasnat a word shead ever imagined applying to herself, but then most s.l.u.ts probably didnat think of themselves that way either. She hadnat wanted to do anything much with her ex-boyfriend Davis or any boys her own age. They were so goofy and clueless and easily embarra.s.sed and self-centered and insensitive and wouldave blabbed all over school. Buff never wouldave told a soul. It was her fault it had all come out in the open. If only she hadnat told Ava. But she had to tell somebody besides Nance, whoad been horrified but had tried to hide it. And Ava was the only person she knew who wouldnat judge her, who would listen and ask for details, but in a nonjudgmental way. She hadnat told Ava the whole truth, though. She hadnat taken off her clothes and posed for Buff. The b.l.o.w. .j.o.b was the only thing that actually happened.

And now four other girls from the church, girls she didnat know, had come forward and told on Buff. He did this all this time, apparently, which made Suzi feel as special as a booger. Howad he even have time to write sermons when he was so busy pushing his p.e.n.i.s on people?

Now she wished, wished so much that she hadnat done it, because the more she thought about it, the more unnecessary the whole thing seemed. She couldave happily gone her whole life without smelling that oniony rubbery thing which was like a persistent thin-skinned animal trying to slide down her throat. And she couldave happily gone her whole life without enduring Buffas treatment of her. He hadnat hugged or kissed her or even looked her in the eyes. He hadnat removed any of her clothing or his. Didnat turn off his office light. Just unzipped his pants, pushed her down until she was sitting on his desk and then got down to business. He hadnat even acted like he enjoyed it. It was more like he was performing some grim duty, encouraging himself with nasty words, which made Suzi feel really icky. And then afterward, there was his refusal to even pretend it meant something to him. Head driven her home without saying a word, and she was so stunned by his behavior, and hers, that she didnat speak either.

What had she expected? Shead expected hugging and kissing and professions of love, and maybe undressing and fondling, if they hadnat been in an office. But what had happeneda"she hadnat even known that men acted like that. She had to wonder: Did other men do such things? She found herself staring at the men walking past her house, in the car beside hers, her friendsa fathers, her own father! Grown-up, painfully ordinary men. Surely not!

For years shead been warned repeatedly, boringly, about perverts, and had never thought much about what a pervert might do once he got hold of you, but now she supposed she knew at least some of it. She was ashamed, and disappointed in herself for not following Officer Friendlyas advice. She hadnat run away or yelled or kicked him in the b.a.l.l.s. Which shead just a.s.sumed shead do. Shead a.s.sumed she was brave and bold. She was Suzi! But, no, shead stood there like a wimp and did as he asked, even though it made her sick. And the worst thing wasa"shead asked for it! But why? Why had she?

When she got brave enough to ask her mother these questions, her motheras response, after hugging Suzi, was to get on the phone. She called around, polling people about counselors; and many of them recommended Doris as the best person in town for athis sort of thing.a Doris was the calmest woman Suziad ever meta"soft-spoken and kind but no-nonsense and unflappable. On the old side. On the nondescript side. But Suzi kept watching Doris and marvelinga"Doris was a real counselor! Like the kind Ava went to!

Doris had told Suzi in no uncertain terms that it was a very good thing that her mother had overheard, because this kind of thing needed to come out in the open and not be a secret. That was the worst thing about it. The secret part. And Nance shouldave told her mother right away, Doris said. She said that Suzi really needed her parentsa protection against men like Buff.

When Suzi explained that shead started it, that shead told Buff she was available, Doris explained that Suzi was too young to understand the ramifications of what she was doing. Shead gone along with Buff because she didnat know what would happen, and once she got into his office she was too intimidated, too frightened to act. Buff obviously had a lot of problems and was so immature he felt it was okay to act out the way he did.

When Suzi thought of Buffas behavior, his heavy breathing and dirty talkinga"had he really compared her mouth to a p.u.s.s.y?a"and his violent pumping away as aacting out,a Suzi wanted to giggle, but she stifled it because Doris was so serious. The thing was, Doris said, Buff was the adult, and head abused his position of authority that the church had given him, not just with Suzi and Ava but with all those other girls. It was a good thing, for everybodyas sake, that his behavior was discovered and stopped. Suzi was not responsible for any of the pain this was causing anyone. No, the blame lay squarely on Buffas shoulders.

Tears sprang to Suzias eyesa"againa"and she felt so many conflicting things, it made her dizzy. She felt so grateful to be sitting there, talking to Doris, able to unburden herself to somebody who knew how to respond. And she knew that Doris was right. It was Buffas fault. But was she entirely innocent?

Doris kept talking, asking her things, and Suzi answered as best she could, but one thing she could never tell was that she was relieved to be there with Doris not just because she could unburden herself but because, at last, she was the one who needed help and support, she was the one in need of attention, she was the one with the problem, and most important, now she had her motheras undivided attention. She felt guilty about this, and a little angry. Did you have to get yourself s.e.xually abused (as Doris called it) to get some attention in her house?

The s.h.i.t hit the fan again with Avaas revelation. After Ava told their mother about Mr. Boy and the nude photographs their mother blew another gasket. She went down in the bas.e.m.e.nt and told their father, who was monitoring Hurricane Grayson on his computer. He came up and called the police and reported Mr. Boy, whose real name was Mr. Boyle. Both her parents were furious at Nance and blamed the nude photo thing on her. They invited the poor woman over without telling her why.

It was early evening when her parents, Suzi and Ava, Nance, and her grandfather sat down in the living room. Nance, for some reason, had insisted that Granddad be there. The two of them sat next to each other on the couch, Suzi next to Nance, with her b.u.m leg propped up on the coffee table, and her parents sat in armchairs. Ava sat on the ottoman in her baggy pajama shorts and huge sleep T-shirt, even though it was only seven oaclock. Her face was dotted with three big blobs of white acne medicine, even though she had no acne now and had never had any. You could point this out to Ava until you were blue in the face and it never sunk in.

Otis was wandering around the neighborhood with his Geiger counter, thank G.o.d. This whole thing would embarra.s.s him; and he wouldnat understand it, having never had a girlfriend, or even had a crush on a girl, in his entire life.

Nance, looking sporty in a navy-and-white-striped dress, admitted that shead taken Ava to the photographeras, and said shead only done it to help Ava, because Ava really wanted to go on Americaas Next Top Model.

aAs if!a Suzi barked out.

aI never really cared about the Next Top Model.a Ava, ignoring Suzi, addressed Nance. aIt was mostly your idea. You paid for it.a Nance looked down at her white veiny hands, and they all waited to hear what she was going to say. She didnat say anything.

aRegardless,a said her father. He had stubble on his cheeks and the hair on his crown stuck up in wisps. How long had it been since head taken a shower? He was obsessed with the hurricanea"staying up all night to check on it like it was some bad kid he was keeping tabs on. He had to know exactly where it was, where it was going, how big a troublemaker it was. All day yesterday Grayson had churned across the Florida peninsula, he told his family, moving very slowly, gaining strength over landa"very unusuala"causing ma.s.sive flooding. The flooding was so bad that President Bush had declared the entire state of Florida a Federal Disaster Area.

This morning head informed them that Grayson had swept through Melbourne, breaking a record for the amount of rainfall acc.u.mulated, and back out into the Atlantic again. Where would it go now? Who cared, as long as it didnat come here. But it might come here. It might! It was a screwy storm, zigging and zagging all over the place as if it were toying with the entire state.

Right now it was sunny and clear here in oblivious Tallaha.s.see. The air-conditioning in the house had shut off for a while, and the birds in the hedge by the living room windows could be heard twittering idiotically through the closed windows; and there were morons out walking their dogs and jogging as though there werenat a huge storm nearby. Hide! Hide! It might be coming! Suzi wanted to yell. Parson was sleeping under the covers on Suzias bed. She was no fool. Okay, Suzi was officially losing her mind. She wished she could hold Parson now, smelling her comforting doggy smell, kissing her pointed snout.

aYou should never have done that without our permission.a Her father was lecturing Nance in an angry voice about the photo session.

aI realize that,a Nance said. aIam so sorry.a aIam over eighteen!a Ava said. aI donat need your permission. G.o.d!a Her mother wouldnat let Ava take any blame. She addressed Nance. aYou shouldnat have let that creep take nude photos of her,a said her mother, who was sitting in her favorite red chair by the window. aNow theyare all over the Internet. What were you thinking?a Her mother looked spooky because of her short hair.

Nance kept worrying her hands in her lap. When was she going to start defending herself? What could she say? There really was no excuse for what Nance had done, Suzi thought. None. And shead thought Nance was so sensible.

Vic sat back, folding his arms on his chest. aIad like to strangle both of those f.u.c.kers with my bare hands.a He pinched his mouth together. Shead never heard her father talk this way, use this kind of language. aShould have killed that a.s.shole while I had the chance,a he muttered. Buff had gotten a restraining order against her father.

aJust let the police handle it,a Suzi suggested. aThose creeps arenat worth it.a This was a line shead heard on a CSI, she realized as soon as shead said it.

aPlease donat kill them, Daddy,a Ava said, her face s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up like she was ready to cry. She thought he was really going to do it! Ava was so naive.

aWhen I think of what those men did, itas all I can do to sit here.a The short haircut made her motheras eyes look larger and angrier. She was rocking slowly back and forth. aIad like to cut their b.a.l.l.s off. They both deserve it.a Suzi couldnat believe that her parents were talking about wanting to kill people and mutilate their privates. Her parents!

Granddad appeared to be listening to all this and understanding it. aCome on now, you two,a he said. aYouare scaring the kids here. Itas not right, this ugly talk.a Nance finally looked up and started talking, and what she said was so astounding that Suzi could barely believe it. She told them all that shead been one of the women in Granddadas radiation experiments in Memphis in the 1950s, and that shead suffered health problems ever since and lost her eight-year-old daughter, Helen, to cancer, because shead been tricked into drinking radiation for Granddadas study.

What?

aI knew it,a Caroline crowed. aI told you, Vic!a Nance went on talking, saying shead testified in a government investigation during the Clinton era and had been financially compensated, but years later shead found out that Granddad was living here in Tallaha.s.see and had decided to come here and kill him. The way head killed Helen.

Head killed Helen. Granddad killed Helen? And Nance was going to kill Granddad?

Suzi looked at Ava. Ava was staring at her with a frozen face, but Suzi could tell she was just as shocked as she was.

aMy G.o.d,a Suzias mother said to Nance. aAre you kidding? You were planning to kill him?a aSheas not kidding,a Suzias father said.

aI was never more serious about anything in my life,a Nance said.

Kill Granddad? He was the sweetest thing in the world, or at least head been five minutes ago, before she found out head killed Helen in his experiment. That was beyond what even Suzi could imagine. What was wrong with all the adults in this room, all former or wannabe murderers?

aDid you kill her daughter?a Ava asked Granddad.

aOf course not!a aYou did, Dad, indirectly,a her mother said. aYou know you did.a aHe wonat admit it,a Nance said.

Granddad just shook his head.

aI guess you blame the U.S. goament,a her father said sarcastically.

So her mother and father already knew all about Granddadas experiment. What else had they been hiding around here?

Nance spoke up again and added that when she realized that Granddadas memory wasnat right and that he was just a harmless old man, she decided that it wouldnat be worthwhile to kill him, so shead decided to get even with the whole family. Shead targeted Ava and tried to get her involved in modeling because her parents wouldnat like it and tried to turn Suzi into a religious freak because her parents wouldnat like that either, but none of it was satisfying because she really liked both girls and didnat want to hurt them.

Nance said all this really fast, and it was too much for Suzi to take in at once. But Suzi kept thinking, She wanted me to be a religious freak? Thatas why she invited me to church? She scooted as far away from Nance as she could get, scooted until she was smashed up against the arm of the couch.

aBut see what I ended up doing,a Nance said. aBy trying to get revenge, I hurt lots of people. People I care about.a She turned and smiled a suck-up smile at Suzi, but Suzi just made a disgusted face, an expression Mykaila had perfected.

aWhat did I tell you?a her mother said to her father. aI told you she was one of Dadas subjects. Maybe youall believe me next time.a Her mother, once again, was focusing on the wrong thing.