Cutler 03 - Twilight's Child

here. They've been so quiet up there."
    "Oh? Well, that's very nice," I said. I imagined that Mrs. Boston was so involved with her dinner preparations that she wouldn't have heard them anyway. I went up the stairs quickly and was surprised to discover they weren't in Christie's room; they were in Fern's, and the door was shut.
    I started to open it when I heard Fern say, "You can touch it, Christie. It's not going to bite you."
    I hoped they hadn't brought a little garter snake into the house. Mrs. Boston would absolutely faint if she saw it, I thought, laughing to myself. But when I opened the door I was shocked to discover Christie and Gavin facing each other, both totally naked. Fern was standing with her back to me and apparently hadn't heard me enter.
    "Mommy," Christie cried. Fern spun around, her face turning beet red.
    "What in the world . . . what's going on here, Fern?" I demanded.
    "Nothing," she said quickly. "I mean . . . I don't know," she sputtered. She stepped away from the two of them. "You don't know? Why are they undressed?"
    "They did it themselves," she said quickly. "I was . . . downstairs, and when I came up I found them like this. It was Gavin's idea," she said, pointing accusingly at him. "He told Christie he would show her his if she would show him hers."
    I looked at Gavin. He stood terrified, his eyes glazed with fear.
    "Is that true, Christie?" I asked.
    She started to shake her head, but her eyes caught Fern's furious look of warning. Then she started to cry.
    "Get them dressed," I commanded. "Immediately."
    "Come on, Gavin," Fern said, pulling him to the bed, where most of his clothing lay. She lifted him up and started dressing him while I helped Christie.
    "I don't understand this, Christie. Why would you do such a thing? Don't you know it's not nice to undress yourself in front of boys?" She kept crying, but I was seething inside. I knew Fern was lying, and I wanted Christie to tell me so.
    "I'm sorry, Momma," she bawled. "I'm sorry."
    "And Gavin's momma and daddy will be very upset, too."
    "Maybe you better not tell them," Fern said. "Daddy Longchamp looks mean enough to heat the skin off him."
    "Fern!" I spun around on her. "You will have him absolutely terrified of his father."
    She shrugged.
    "Nothing happened. They just looked at each other. You don't have to tell," she insisted.
    "We'll discuss it afterward," I said. "Finish dressing him."
    As soon as the two of them were fully dressed I sent them out of the room and downstairs to wait while I spoke to Fern. She sat on her bed and stared down at the floor.
    "How could you do such a thing with children that little?" I said, forgetting for the moment that I was speaking to a girl only a little more than ten herself.
    "I told you," she said, glaring back hatefully, "I didn't do it."
    "Stop lying. I heard you just before I opened the door." She stared at me a moment, and then suddenly she burst into tears.
    "Oh, you're going to go tell Jimmy now, and Daddy Longchamp, and everyone will hate me. That's just what you want," she cried.
    "Fern, that's not so. I don't want anyone to hate you," I said, but she just cried harder and harder. "I'm not going to tell them," I said finally. "I'm not."
    Her crying stopped instantly.
    "You're not?" she asked, grinding the tears from her eyes. "No. But it was a very naughty thing to do. Why did you do it?" I demanded.
    She thought for a moment and then said, "They were playing with dolls, and Gavin wondered why the boy dolls didn't have what he had," she said. "Then Christie asked what that was, so I thought they should both know the difference. It was just educational. Like science class," she explained.
    "That's not the way to teach them, Fern, and I asked you once before not to talk about those things with Christie yet. She's too young," I said firmly.
    "Okay," she said. "You're really not going to tell?"
    "I said I wasn't, but that doesn't mean I'm not very upset. Nothing like this must ever happen again," I emphasized. She nodded.
    And then she narrowed her eyes and said, "If you tell Jimmy after saying you won't, I'll hate you forever." My mouth gaped open. The force of her threat made my breath catch in my throat. For a moment I couldn't speak.
    "It's not nice to threaten, Fern," I responded, but she didn't look away. She made her eyes blank and refused to speak. My heart pounding, I turned and left the room.
    Maybe it was a mistake, but I didn't say anything to Jimmy about the incident.