red hill - jamie mcguire

that we normally discussed. Somehow everyone knew to protect our house, our secrets, and our
family from strangers. Even from a waif of a man and his strange little girl.
Kevin was the first to finish. “Man, I am tired. About what time do you all turn in around here”
“It depends,” Scarlet said. “You can go ahead.”
Kevin put his hand on Elleny’s. “You ready for bed”
She took another bite.
He patted her hand. “Come on, now. I think you’ve had enough. Time for bed.”
She scooped up more rice. “I’m still really hungry,” she said, her voice just a breath.
Kevin became annoyed. “You’re not that hungry. I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.”
Scarlet leaned her elbows on the table. “I realize you don’t know us, but Nathan and I are parents.
We wouldn’t let anything happen to Elleny. Once she’s finished, we’ll send her that way.”
Kevin’s coolness left him for just a moment. “I’ll wait.” Elleny took another slow bite, and we all
tried not to give in to the ensuing awkwardness.
After another ten minutes, Kevin stood and pulled Elleny up by the arm with him. “You’re
finished. Let’s go.”
Elleny went with him, but reluctantly. “I’m . . . still . . . ,” she said, but he shushed her before she
could finish.
They disappeared into the bedroom. Kevin shut the French doors and we all stood up to clean up
after dinner.
“That was weird,” Joey said, turning on the faucet.
We all agreed, and tried our best to continue as usual, even with our strange houseguests. Scarlet
was scrubbing the plates and pans as if she were trying to work off nervous energy. At one point, the
dish she’d just finished crashed into the others. She put the sides of her fists on the counter, took a
breath, and then began again.
“Slow down, would ya” Joey said as he rinsed and dried. “I can’t keep up.”
“Sorry,” Scarlet said, still scrubbing with subdued fury.
“What’s up” I said, walking up behind her. My chin was just above her shoulder, but she didn’t
seem to mind.
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“There’s something off.”
“I agree.”
I walked Zoe downstairs and pulled down her covers while she changed into pajamas. She
crawled into bed, and I tucked her in.
“Hum, Daddy.”
One corner of my mouth pulled up. I hadn’t hummed to Zoe since before everything went to hell.
One reason was that we’d had such full, tense days, she usually fell asleep immediately. The other
was because I couldn’t carry a tune to save my life. I never hummed anything in particular, I just let
my voice go up and down, and somehow that was relaxing enough for Zoe that she’d fall asleep.
I began to hum, and Zoe closed her eyes. I don’t know why I kept referring to this time as when the