“Entertainers have classes. And since when do we want to encourage her to pursue this cockamamie idea she has of becoming the next Ruby Keeler?”
Natalie held her breath when he said “Ruby”—how did he know? How could he possibly know?—but when he said “Keeler,” Natalie understood he had no idea about her Ruby.
“We have to save her, Corinne.”
“If we can’t save her here, how can we save her there?”
“We have to try. I’m begging you to reconsider.”
“And I’m begging you to forget this crazy idea. Who’s behind it—Longy? And when it fails—and you come home begging for forgiveness—and there’s nothing left of your practice or our marriage, then what? How will we live? How will we pay for treatment for Natalie, send Steve to college and Fern to Vail-Deane? You expect my family to support us? You’ve always resented my family money but now, all of a sudden, it smells clean to you? You’re a fool, Arthur. I never thought I’d say that but it’s the truth.”
“I don’t think you understand, Corinne. Natalie is very sick. If we don’t do something we could lose her.”
Corinne breathed in, teared up, waved a hand at her husband. “Don’t ever say that again! There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s just sensitive. It’s all been too hard on her. That’s why she stopped eating.”
“And I’m saying get her out of here so she doesn’t have to worry about planes crashing into houses, into schools, so she doesn’t have to think about death and dying.”
Natalie slumped to the floor of the car, her hands over her ears.
Elizabeth Daily Post
FATHER OF ELIZABETH CRASH VICTIM SUES FOR $250,000
FEB. 18—Thomas Granik of Sunnyside, L.I., filed suit today in Federal Court against Miami Airlines, Inc., for the death of his daughter, Ruby. She was a passenger in the airplane that crashed on Dec. 16 in Elizabeth. Mr. Granik said that the 22-year-old woman, a nightclub dancer, was the sole support of his family.
25
Miri
At school the following Monday, as Eleanor and Miri walked to English class together, Eleanor asked, “Are you still best friends with Natalie?”
Miri hesitated. “Yes,” she said, but the truth was, she wasn’t sure.
“Why was she absent all last week and again today?”
“I don’t know. When I saw her last Sunday she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“No.”
“Her parents?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve called a bunch of times but there’s never any answer.” She didn’t say she’d talked to Steve or that she hadn’t believed a word of what he’d said.
“I don’t like the way this sounds,” Eleanor said. “Why don’t we just go over, ring the bell and ask what’s going on?”
“I don’t think that’s the best idea. I think if they wanted us to know, they’d tell us.”
She could see Eleanor digesting that. “Maybe you’re right. Anyway, we’ve got a paper to put to bed.”
Miri said, “I meant to tell you, I wrote a feature story.” She hadn’t planned to say anything about the story she’d started on the night of the meeting at City Hall.
“What’s it about?”
“The situation.”
“You mean the situation?”
“Yes, that. Not about Natalie.”
“When can I see it?”
“I’ll clean it up tonight and bring it in tomorrow.”
“Good. We could use an interesting story about the situation.”
—
THAT NIGHT Miri took the story she’d written from her desk drawer. Her own indignation spilled out as she quickly made changes, adding the latest crash to the story. She copied it over in ink. Then she took a bath, using Rusty’s citrus bath salts. She slept well for the first time in a long time.
The next morning she handed the story to Eleanor. When they met in the cafeteria at lunchtime Eleanor said, “I like it. It makes you think. We can get it into the spring issue if we hurry. I’ll run it by Tiny this afternoon.”
Later, Tiny took Miri aside in homeroom. “Good story, Miri,” she said. “Provocative.”
“Thank you,” Miri said. She wasn’t sure provocative was a compliment but good story was.
“I’ll have to show it to Mr. Royer.”
“Mr. Royer…why?”
“As principal he has a veto over controversial stories.”
“You think my story is controversial?”
Tiny smiled. “Don’t you?” She didn’t wait for Miri to answer. “But I’m on your side, so stop worrying.”
Until then she hadn’t been worrying.
—
ON WEDNESDAY, Tiny reported to Miri that after reading her story Mr. Royer said they couldn’t run it in Hamilton Headlines.
Miri was speechless.
“He doesn’t think it’s appropriate. It could be seen as inflammatory.”
When Miri still didn’t respond, Tiny said, “I’m so sorry, Miri. I tried to explain but he was adamant. No stories about the crashes.”
“That’s crazy!” Miri said, finding her voice. “All the kids are talking about it. He can’t pretend those airplanes didn’t crash.”
“I think he’s concerned about how the parents might react.”