Slow Dance in Purgatory

If people were looking at her strangely and wondering why she was acting a little off, Maggie hardly noticed and never cared. Even her strained relationship with Shad was not enough to pop the bubble she floated in, day after day. Shad hadn’t talked to her for several days after their argument, but he had eventually thawed and resumed his endearing, if slightly obnoxious, ways. He was definitely more suspicious though, and watched her more possessively than he ever had before.

Johnny stayed away after school if she was working alongside Shad or Gus, making it possible for her to concentrate on her work and her friends. But she missed him desperately when he did, and sought more and more opportunities to work alone so he would join her. Shad complained that she was never around and when she was, she was constantly daydreaming and never listened. One afternoon, he even made snide comments in front of Gus about sneaking off to see her boyfriend.

“Who’s this boyfriend, Miss Margaret?” Gus was taken-aback. “Did I miss some big news?” he teased her good-naturedly.

Maggie tossed a withering look in Shad’s direction. He stuck his tongue out at her and folded his arms insolently.

“No boyfriend, Gus. Shad’s just being really stupid.” Maggie enunciated the word ‘stupid’ and turned away from Shad. His antics were getting old.

“Oh, yeah? What about Johnny, Maggie? I thought he was your guy. Or hasn’t he asked you to go steady yet? Hasn’t he given you his class ring? That’s the way they used to do it in the ‘50s, right, Gramps?”

Maggie gasped in outrage and reeled back in shock. Shad’s chin quivered as if he realized he had crossed a line. Gus looked back and forth between them, confusion wrinkling his brow.

“What’s going on with you two? You’ve been at each other for weeks now. And what’s this talk of Johnny, Miss Margaret? He ain’t been up to his old tricks again, has he? He been givin’ you trouble?”

Gus’s frank belief in Johnny’s existence was gratifying, but useless. Maggie would never confide in him, not about this. He might fire her, or worse, tell Irene. No one wanted a crazy foster kid. She might lose her home…again. She might lose Johnny. Fear clogged her throat and sealed her lips. Years of guarding her emotions and trusting no one could not be undone in months.

“Johnny hasn’t been giving me trouble, Gus,” Maggie sighed and turned away. “Shad is just messing with you and trying to irritate me, right Shad?” Maggie glared hard at Shad, and he just walked away without a word.

Maggie gathered her supplies and trudged angrily to the cafeteria. Shad had better not be there. Hopefully Gus would assign him to scrub the boys’ bathroom floor…with his vicious tongue! What was his problem?!

Maggie filled her bucket with soapy water and was just about to heave it down from the oversized sink when Johnny stepped around her and lifted it easily to the floor.

“Just in time! My hero!” Maggie batted her eyes and grinned up at him.

Johnny smirked back, but his eyes were shadowed and his smile fleeting.

Maggie followed after him as he wheeled the heavy mop bucket to the cafeteria. Without comment, he helped her move the tables and chairs to the far edges of the room. He took the mop from her hands and began sliding it back and forth across the dirty tiles in a steady swath. Maggie had seen him clean the floor with a thought when they had gotten carried away in conversation, and Maggie had hours of work still to complete. He obviously wanted to do it the old-fashioned way tonight. She didn’t mind. She always felt a little guilty when he made it too easy for her.

Grabbing another mop, Maggie dug in, and she and Johnny mopped side by side without speaking for a considerable amount of time.

“What was Shad so upset about?” Johnny said after a while.

“Shad is a little weasel.” Maggie had not forgiven him yet. “He claims to be my friend! He claims to be more than my friend, yet he is constantly on my case.”

“He’s just worried about you.”

“Ha!” Maggie cried, mop in hand, hand on hip. “He is jealous and nasty!”

“He is jealous….but he’s worried about you too,” Johnny insisted, not breaking his rhythm.

“I don’t understand why he’s jealous! He has no claim to me, and he thinks he has it all figured out. What does he know, really?”

Maggie resumed mopping, angrily swiping at tiles that she had already cleaned.

“He does have it all figured out, Maggie. That’s why he’s acting the way he is.”

“Why are you defending him? And what does he possibly have to worry about, anyway?” Maggie suddenly felt like bursting into tears, and she blinked her eyes furiously, not wanting Johnny to see her cry.

“Maggie…Maggie, stop.” Johnny wrestled the mop from her hands and threw it. It landed perfectly upright next to the suds bucket and his mop, which were already neatly lined against the wall. Pulling her into his arms, he slid into a cafeteria chair and held her in his lap. Maggie collapsed against him with a snarly sigh.

“He is worried about you because you are acting like you are in love with a ghost.” Johnny forced her to meet his eyes.

“Well, I am,” Maggie said in a tight, small voice.