The Class Menagerie

down on it once. Right on the barn. They always go for the red pieces.“
    They sorted edges, rescued red pieces from the cats, and watched television for a while. “How come you aren’t over at what’s-it tonight?“ Mike asked, fitting two long sections together.
    “The reunion? Shelley let me off duty.“
    “I don’t get it. Reunions,“ Mike said. “Once I’m through with high school, I’m gonna be through. There’s nobody I’ll want to see again.“
    “Not even Scott?“
    “Oh, I’ll never get rid of Scott,“ Mike said with a laugh. “But we aren’t friends ‘cause we go to school together. We’re just friends.“
    “But you wouldn’t really go to a reunion?“
    “What’s the point? Those are the people who knew you when you were a dumb kid. I want to really be somebody, without a bunch of people reminding me how I accidentally dumped a lemonade all over my first date, or having a good laugh about putting the mouse in my tuba and I threw up when I discovered I’d been blowing the thing around in there. Or how I failed my driver’s test because 1 ran a red light—“
    “Mike! You told me you failed the written part!“
    “I lied, Mom. It was for your own good,“ he added with a grin. “But, geez, who wants to be reminded of that stuff?“
    “I don’t understand reunions either,“ Jane admitted. “But then, I didn’t go to one school for long enough to even remember my classmates. I think, though, that some people like them for just the reason you said. They grew up and got to be ‘somebody’ and they come so that everybody else will know it. And the ones who didn’t become somebodies probably come so they can pretend that they are.“
    “Waste of time,“ Mike pronounced judgment. “I figure this is the worst time of my life. At least this week is. It’s gotta get better and I don’t want to relive this. Todd said he heard one of those women died. I told him he was full of it.“
    “One of them did,“ Jane said.
    “What was it? Heart attack?“
    “I don’t know, exactly,“ Jane said. She didn’t want to tell him it was murder because he’d worry about her needlessly. Whatever the reason, it had nothing to do with her, so she was in no danger. Besides, the reunion was nearly over. A picnic tomorrow afternoon, a dinner dance at the country club, and Sunday morning they’d all go home and, with any luck at all, Jane would never see any of them again.
    Mike burrowed back into the sofa with his books and Jane continued working on the puzzle, plucking a green piece off Willard’s nose as he went by. She blotted it on a napkin and put it in place.
    At about nine-thirty, the doorbell rang. “Shelley, what are you doing here?“
    “Hiding?“
    “Come in.“ The phone rang as she was walking past it. She answered it, listened, and said, “Mike? It’s for you.“ She covered the phone and mouthed, “It’s a girl.“
    She waited until he’d picked up on the upstairs extension, then gently hung up. “I wonder what would happen if I said to one of them, ‘Look here, you little hussy! Leave my son alone!’“
    “Not much. Paul’s mother’s still saying that to me.“
    Jane laughed. “Would it help if I told you that you looked smashing?“
    “Not much, but you can try. Jane, we need to talk—“

- 17 -

    “So you let her go on a date?“ Shelley asked a few minutes later when she’d taken off her shoes and knocked back half a glass of diet Coke.
    “The date from Hell. Hazel and I are hoping.“
    “So she’s made up with Jenny? What was their fight about?“ Shelley was leaning back in her chair and had her eyes closed.
    “Jealousy. The new’ girl. I think.“
    “Isn’t it amazing the things kids can get worked up about?“ Shelley said.
    “Oh, I don’t know that they’re so bad. Neither of them put anything in the other’s deodorant. Unlike some adults I know.“
    “Isn’t it a nightmare?“ Shelley said.
    “Who do you think is playing the tricks? Not to mention killing Lila....“
    “You think it’s the same person?“ Shelley asked.
    “I assume so. Unless you’ve got two nut cases.“
    “I think they’re all nuts!“
    “Do you really?“
    Shelley sat up. “No, I really don’t. That’s what’s so weird about this. They’re all very distinct, some with strong personalities, but none of them seems like the kind to play stupid stunts, much less murder anybody. I still think it must have been someone from outside. It had to be,