“All the boys here are special. Most of them come from families just like yours.”
“You mean where their parents are divorced?”
“Exactly. And most of the boys here didn’t want to live with their mothers anymore and didn’t like the schools they were going to. So their fathers sent them here, just like your father sent you.”
“But where is he?” Randy’s face darkened belligerently, and as he watched her, he could see that she wasn’t going to answer him. That was the trouble with grown-ups, even his father. When they didn’t want to answer your questions, they never even explained why not. They just said you weren’t old enough to know. Or sometimes they just pretended they hadn’t heard the question, which was what Randy thought Miss Bowen was about to do.
“Wouldn’t you like to meet the other boys?” she asked, confirming his suspicions.
“I want to talk to my father,” Randy replied, his voice turning stubborn. He was sitting uncomfortably on a high-backed wooden chair, but he folded his arms, and his eyes sparked angrily. “Why can’t I call him? I know his number at work.”
“But he’s out of town. That’s why he sent me to pick you up. He couldn’t come for you. But hell be back in a few days.”
“How many days?” Randy demanded. He was beginning to squirm in his chair now, and his face was flushing. The woman opened her desk drawer and took out a small bottle filled with white tablets. “What’s that?” Randy demanded.
“It’s some medicine. I want you to take one of these.”
“I’m not sick, and I don’t ever take pills.”
“It’s just to calm you down. I know all this is very strange, and I know you’re frightened. This pill will help.”
“What’ll it do to me?” Randy stared at the pill suspiciously. “Will it make me go to sleep?”
“Of course not. But you won’t be frightened anymore, or worried.”
“I won’t take it, and you can’t make me.” Randy’s mouth clamped shut, and his body stiffened. His eyes began darting around the room as he searched for a way out. There was none. The woman was between him and the door, and there were no windows in the office.
“Then you’re going to sit there until you change your mind,” she told him. “You can make up your own mind. Take the pill, and come with me to meet the other boys, or sit there all day. It’s up to you.” She set the pill in the center of the blotter on her desk and picked up a file folder. Five minutes passed.
“It won’t make me go to sleep?” he asked, coming to the desk and picking up the pill, studying it as if it were an insect.
“It won’t make you go to sleep.” She got up to go to the water cooler, keeping her eyes on Randy in case he tried to bolt out the door. He didn’t.
She handed him a cup of water, still watching closely to be sure he really swallowed the pill. Ten minutes later, when he began to relax, she took him outside and introduced him to his schoolmates.
There were five of them, and they eyed Randy with all the suspicion of preadolescence, silently daring him to pick a fight. He watched them, trying to decide which of them to challenge, but none of them stepped forward, nor did any of them back away. Only when Miss Bowen left them alone with the newcomer did any of them speak.
“Did she give you the pill?” one of them finally asked. His name was Peter Williams, and when he spoke, his voice was neither friendly nor belligerent.
“Uh-huh,” Randy replied. “What is it?”
“I think it’s Valium,” another of the boys said. “My mom used to take it when she was nervous.”
“Do you have to take it every day?”
“Nan. Only the first day. Then they don’t make you take anything. How come you’re here?”
Randy thought about it before he answered, and when he finally spoke, he avoided the others’ eyes. “My dad sent me. Mostly to get me away from my mom, I guess.”
There was a silence as the other boys exchanged glances and shrugs. “Yeah,” Peter said at last “That’s why we’re all here, except Billy.” He gestured toward the skinny brown-haired boy who stood slightly behind him. Billy stared at his shoes, as Peter explained importantly. “His mom sent him here to get him away from his dad. But who cares? It’s better than being at