Cutler 01 - Dawn

we turned to see Clara Sue standing in the hideaway doorway, her hands on her hips, a gleeful smile of satisfaction on her twisted lips.

 
    14
VIOLATIONS
     
    "Well, Isn’t this a pleasant surprise," Clara Sue purred, sauntering farther in. "I came here expecting to find you with Phillip but instead it’s your . . ." She stared a moment and then smiled. "What should we call him? Brother? Boyfriend?" she laughed. "Maybe both?"
    "Shut up," Jimmy snapped, the blood rushing to his face.
    "Clara Sue, please," I pleaded. "Jimmy’s had to run away from a terrible foster father. He’s had a horrible time and now he’s on his way to Georgia to live with relatives."
    She whipped her eyes to me and flared them with hate. Then she put her hands on her hips.
    "Grandmother sent me to find you," she said. "Some kids had a food fight in the coffee shop, and we need all the chambermaids to help clean up." She gazed again at Jimmy, a sly smile returning to her twisted lips. "How long are you going to keep him hidden here? Grandmother would sure be angry if she knew," she said, her threatening note clear.
    "I'm leaving," Jimmy said. "You don't have to worry."
    "I'm not the one who has to be worried," she sneered.
    "Jimmy, don't go yet," I said, pleading with my eyes for him not to leave.
    "It's all right," Clara Sue suddenly said in a much softer, kinder tone of voice. "He can stay. I won't tell anyone. It might be fun."
    "It's not fun," Jimmy said. "I don't want to get people in trouble on account of me."
    "Does Philip know about all this?" Clara Sue demanded.
    "He brought him down here," I said, replacing the sneer on her face with a look of indignation. Her hands flew back to her hips.
    "Nobody tells me anything," she moaned. "You come and everyone forgets I'm part of the family. You better get inside before Grandmother sends someone else to look for you, too," she warned, her eyes turning cold and hard again.
    "Jimmy, you won't run off, will you?" I said. He looked at Clara Sue and then shook his head.
    "I'll wait," he said. "As long as she promises not to tell and get you in trouble."
    I looked imploringly at Clara Sue. I wanted to tear into her for trying to get me into trouble with the necklace, but I had to keep my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth. In order to protect Jimmy, I had to remain under her thumb.
    "I said I wouldn't tell, didn't I?"
    "Thank you, Clara Sue." I turned back to Jimmy. "I'll return as soon as I can," I promised and started out. Clara Sue lingered behind me, staring at Jimmy. He ignored her and returned to the bunk.
    "Boy, wouldn’t Louise Williams like to know he’s here. She would come right away." She laughed, but Jimmy didn’t look at her or say anything, so she turned and followed me out.
    “Please help us Clara Sue,” I pleaded as we walked up the cement stairway. “Jimmy’s had a terrible time living with a cruel man. He hitched rides and didn’t eat for days. He needs to rest up.”
    She didn’t say anything for a moment, and then she smiled.
    “Luckily Mrs. Clairmont found her necklace,” she said.
    “Yes lucky.” There was no love lost between us as we stared hatefully at each other.
    “All right, I’ll help you,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “As long as you help me, too.”
    “What can I do for you?” I asked, surprised. Mother and Father bought her anything she wanted. She lived upstairs in a warm, cozy suite, and she had a nice job in the hotel and could dress up and be pretty and clean all day.
    “I’ll see. You better hurry to the coffee shop before Grandmother blames me for not finding you and demands to know what kept me.”
    I started obediently toward the front of the building, feeling like a puppet whose strings were in Clara Sue’s hateful fingers.
    “Wait!” she cried. “I know something you can do for me right away.”
    I turned back with dread.
    “What?”
    “Grandmother’s upset about the way I keep my room. She thinks I make too much work for Mrs. Boston and I’m too messy and disorganized. I don’t know why she worries so much about Mrs. Boston. She’s just another of the help around here,” she said, wagging her head. “Anyway, when you’re finished in the coffee shop, go up to my room and straighten it up. I’ll be there later and see how you did.”
    “And don’t take anything!” she added smiling. “No necklaces.” She pivoted on her heels as if she were my drill instructor and went in the opposite direction. I felt the