A Matter of Trust

Chapter 36





What’s shaking, dude?” Zach said in Gabe’s ear. “Ready to have some fun?”

Gabe had been getting out of his stupid funeral suit with its pregnancy rubber band when his cell phone rang. So far the day had been filled with one bad thing after another:





A. Having to wear this suit that reminded him so much of his dad’s death.

B. Having the suit not fit anymore—but not because he was taller, or his biceps had bulked up, but because his gut was bigger.

C. Having to sit in a crowded, too-quiet church next to his mom while she couldn’t stop crying.

D. Trying not to remember what it had been like hearing the harsh, wet-sounding breaths that had been the last sounds Colleen had ever made.

E. Learning that some crazy person in Seattle was targeting prosecutors.

F. And that, hello, his mom didn’t even care.





Now Gabe told Zach, “I’m more than ready.”

Three minutes later he was standing in front of Grandpa, who was in the family room watching a black-and-white documentary about World War II. Brooke was still asleep upstairs.

Grandpa tilted his head. “So your mom said you could go out with your friends?”

Gabe had this feeling like he was hovering above himself. If he said he hadn’t asked her, then his grandpa might say no. Or Grandpa might call his mom, who would probably still say no.

But if he just went out for a couple of hours and then came back, his mom might not ever find out. She would probably stay a long time at Colleen’s, maybe until the end so she could help clean up.

“Yeah.” Gabe nodded briskly, focusing on a spot on his grandpa’s forehead just above his eyes. He was fourteen. Old enough that he didn’t need to check in with his mommy every minute. Young enough that he should be allowed to be a kid, at least every now and then. Since his mom went back to work, it was like he had a job too, only no one ever paid him.



“So are you in?” Zach asked. The four of them—Zach, Gabe, Rufus, and Eldon—were sitting on the steps in front of a real estate office that was closed on weekends. It was just a couple of blocks from their high school. Around his neck Zach was wearing a blue bandanna, which looked a little weird.

“In for what?” Gabe asked. Rufus and Eldon looked at each other.

Zach punched him in the arm. “You know. The fun.”

“Sure.” Gabe felt the first brush of uneasiness.

“Good. I’ll alert the troops.” Zach pulled out his phone and began to send a series of texts. Gabe tried to follow what he was typing with his thumbs, but it was too fast. And the screen was upside down, so he couldn’t read it.

“Your T-shirt’s tight, dude,” Rufus said, pointing.

Gabe looked down at his chest. “My friend Sadie made it for me last year.” It was the one his mom hated, with the impossibly cute kitten and the words I hate everyone. She said it sent the wrong message. Which was one reason he had pulled it on as soon as he heard her car back out of the driveway.

“I’ve seen that girl around. She’s hot,” Eldon offered. “Even if she is just a freshman.”

Gabe shrugged. He and Sadie had known each other since kindergarten, and for Gabe there was no mystery.

Instead he said, “What about that blond cheerleader, the one with the curly hair? She’s all kinds of sexy. Ellie Something.” Gabe wanted to find out her last name so he could Facebook-stalk her.

“Wallace, I think.” Rufus rolled his big head around as if his thick neck was tired of holding it up. His baseball cap started to fall off, but he caught it in time.

Zach was still typing. Surreptitiously Gabe looked from him to Rufus to Eldon. The other three guys looked more like men, with muscled chests and thick arms, and here Gabe was wearing a T-shirt he’d gotten in eighth grade. And it was still loose across his skinny chest and arms, despite the peanut butter sandwiches and the cans of tuna and the protein drinks and the reps and everything else he was doing.

Yesterday Gabe had bought three magazines on weight lifting. The guys on the covers were oiled and tan, and it looked like someone had stuffed whole plucked chickens under the orange skin of their thighs. Although Zach, Eldon, and even Rufus looked nothing like the men in those magazines, they could still lift way more weight than he could. And Coach Harper played all three of them regularly. Gabe was beginning to wonder if he would ever get off the bench.

Zach slid his phone back into his pocket.

“So exactly what is it we’re going to do?” Gabe asked.

“You know what a flash mob is?” Zach’s eyes were bright.

Gabe thought of stuff he’d seen on YouTube. “You mean like when those groups of people suddenly start singing or dancing?” He’d seen videos of people at a shopping mall singing Handel’s Messiah, and pedestrians on a city sidewalk suddenly breaking into the dance from Thriller.

“That’s one kind, right,” Rufus said with a grin that made him look like he had a secret.

Gabe hoped they wouldn’t make him do something he couldn’t, like break-dance or sing in a high-pitched voice. If it was a bunch of people doing the same thing at the same time, he could probably manage that.

“Just follow our lead,” Zach said.

In the next five minutes a dozen more kids gathered on the steps. They nodded, and a few said “hey,” but nothing more than that. All guys except for two girls. A couple were from the football team. Gabe thought he’d seen most of the rest at school, but he wasn’t sure. He saw another guy with a bandanna around his neck, which again struck him as weird. His stomach was starting to feel queasy.

“Okay,” Zach said, getting to his feet. “Let’s go.”

All of a sudden Gabe got the reason for the bandannas, as Zach and the other dude pulled theirs up over their noses. Other kids tugged down the bills of their hats or pulled up sweatshirt hoods. And then the mass of people moved across the street as one.

Gabe was reminded of ants or bees. Wasps. Using their hive mind, making a single decision. Only instead of stinging someone to death, he realized, with growing horror, they were about to swarm the convenience store across the street. The Sunshine Mart wasn’t part of any chain, just one of those stores with some Asian guy behind the counter. One of those stores that catered to people who bought snacks and cigarettes and the occasional half gallon of milk two days away from its expiration date.

They poured inside and began to stream up and down the aisles. Just before Gabe walked in the door, he ducked his chin and pulled his T-shirt over his mouth and nose. He didn’t like what he thought was about to happen, but even more than that, he didn’t want to get caught. At some signal that he must have missed, the other kids began to laugh and whoop, snatching and grabbing what they could. A bag of Cheetos fell to the floor, and then someone stepped on it with a loud pop and an explosion of orange powder. Ahead of him, some dude was laughing as if it was all really funny.

Gabe met the eyes of a guy on the other side of the aisle and saw that he didn’t look like he was having a good time. He looked terrified. And then Gabe realized he was looking into a strip of mirror, mounted at the top of the shelf and running the length of the aisle. He was looking at himself.

A girl skipped past him with a giant bag of Cool Ranch Doritos clutched to her chest. She wore a green hat shaped like a frog. Brooke had a hat like that, but it was a cat hat. She called it her Cat in the Hat hat.

Gabe’s mind was filled with nonsense and his hands were empty.

The store owner had his own hands in the air and was yelling, “Stop! Stop!” while he turned in circles, shaking his head in disbelief. A tiny woman that Gabe assumed was his wife grabbed the back of his green polo shirt and pulled him back behind the counter.

They were afraid of the kids. Of what they could do.

But Gabe didn’t feel powerful.

He felt scared.

Zach tossed him a Mars bar and he caught it. He didn’t even like Mars bars. He stared at it for a long moment and then let it drop on a shelf that still held a few Hostess pies. An arm reached around from behind him and grabbed the candy bar and the pies. In the distance sirens began to wail. Kids grabbed up more things, then pushed and ran. Gabe followed.

In less than ninety seconds it was all over. Gabe looked behind him as he ran out the door. The shelves were stripped bare of candy bars, jerky, and bags of chips.

He sprinted outside and around the corner. His teeth were chattering even though it was warm outside.

What had he just done?