The Different Girl

because of the plank with three holes.”
    “‘We can’t take the chance!’” May shouted, and swatted at the grass with her feet. “What do you think that means ?”
    I braced myself to be kicked like the grass, but May didn’t come near me. She stumbled farther up the hill and angrily swung her arm as if it could push us all away.
    “But the boat hasn’t come, May.” It was important for her to know. “That’s why we need the rain trap. Because we don’t know when there will be more supplies. There may never be a boat again.”
    “It doesn’t matter!” called May, retreating farther.
    “But what about the storm? May! You won’t be safe!”
    May broke into a run. I tried to follow, but I moved too slowly. I had only gone a few yards before she was lost between the trees. She hadn’t understood me at all. I needed to explain how she was wrong.
    I turned to something touching my arm. It was Robbert. I hadn’t heard him. Had May?
    “Let her go, Veronika. We have to get back.”
    “But she might get hurt.”
    “May will be fine. She knows she can come back any time. She knows you’re her friend.”
    “She thinks you and Irene want to put her on the boat.”
    “Is that what she said?”
    “Or even worse.”
    He frowned at me. “What do you mean?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t know, but bad.”
    Robbert sighed. “Veronika, you know we only want to help her, don’t you?” I nodded. He gently turned me around and started us both back down the path. “You know that. And you can tell her so when you next speak. But now we have to go home.”
    “But May—”
    “Look at the sky, Veronika.”
    I looked. The clouds beyond the beach had become a high dark wall, advancing straight toward the island. Irene and the others were already indoors.
    “Quick as you can, now,” said Robbert. The wind had risen, a chilled hiss cutting through the palms.
    I went as fast as I could, though downhill is harder than going up. Robbert put a hand on my shoulder. The dark clouds came quickly and the light began to dim.
    “Did you finish the rain trap?”
    “We did. Let’s hope it holds together.”
    I stopped at a sudden, unexpected impact. The center of my smock was darkened by a blotch of wet cotton. A raindrop. I looked up and another spattered on my face. At once Robbert was towering over me, his body shielding mine as he tore at his white coat.
    “Don’t move, Veronika. Don’t worry. Tuck in your arms.”
    I pulled both arms tight to my sides. Robbert draped his coat over my head and torso. I stood for a moment in soft darkness, and then felt a hand behind my knees and another across my back. The raindrops probed against the coat, isolated taps growing into a ragged, continuous volley. Robbert grunted with the effort of lifting me, and I shook with the heavy lurch of his steps. I felt the thud of his feet on the grass and then the harder surface of the stairs. The rain slapped on the porch. The wet coat clung to my body. The screen door wheezed and then we were inside, Irene helping to set me down and both of them wiping me with warm towels and making sure I was fine.
    The others were on their cots, asleep. Outside the rainfall grew to a roar. It had happened so fast. I hoped May had reached her hiding place, and I hoped it kept her dry.
    • • •
    Every few weeks—the exact time depended on what we’d been doing, especially how much time we’d spent near the beach—Irene and Robbert would talk to each of us alone, asking simple questions and making us do all sorts of simple things, like moving our arms in different directions, picking up objects of different weight, making different sounds, and that was just the start. This was called “basic diagnostics.” On the shelf in the classroom were four blue binders, one for each of us, where the details of every basic diagnostic had been noted down, all the way back to our beginning.
    After they made sure I was dry, Irene asked me diagnostic questions, and when I was able to answer they had me walk across the room and move my arms and legs and lift things and read small type and identify sounds they made behind my back. When I did all of it, just like always, Robbert let out a big sigh and sank onto a chair. He ran his fingers through his hair and asked Irene if she wanted any tea, which was also his way of asking Irene if she would make it. I offered to make it instead, but Irene was already filling the kettle from the filter. She set the pot