It just happens, Mom said.
So she doesn’t like hearing people that much, most of them, and the jury is still out with this woman Dana, but it’s looking pretty good for her. Dana signs a little slow, and it’s hard not to get impatient talking to her, but she’s been nice and she’s funny, and she doesn’t break eye contact the way most hearing people do when you try to talk to them. People who can hear, Athena has learned, don’t like it when you keep looking them in the eye. They get uncomfortable the longer you do it. People who can hear don’t understand that it’s the eyes and the face and the thousand microgestures and movements coming from each that make up communication.
Best of all, Dana doesn’t do any of that bullshit silly embarrassed awkward stuff that people do when they’re uncomfortable around Athena and her friends. Dana’s going to be a senior at UCLA and she wants to be a teacher of the deaf, and when they were talking after the Timeless River Cruise, she told Athena she has a boyfriend who works here in WilsonVille, too. When Dana told her that, she kind of blushed, and it made Athena laugh. Dana laughed, too, and that scored her major points, because sometimes when Athena laughs, people stare, and she understands why; her mother explained that to her once, too.
Because of how you sound, Mom said. A surprising sound to them.
Bad?
No! Not a bad sound, Mom said, and she spelled out “no” instead of just shaking her head, totally meant it. Never! Beautiful sound your voice even if you cannot hear it you laugh when you like all you like. Anybody has a problem with that they can take it up with your father and me.
Athena had smiled when she said that, and not just because Mom is fierce, but because Dad wasn’t at home; he was someplace he wouldn’t ever tell them, fighting Bad Guys. There was a lot about her dad that Athena didn’t understand, not even now, but she understood one thing, and she understood it without ever having to be told. Her dad was a soldier, he was a warrior, and he went to fight a lot of Bad Guys, and he always came back.
Bad Guys did not want to mess with her dad.
Dana didn’t even make a face or anything when Athena laughed, didn’t even try to tell her or any of them to quiet down. Dana grinned at her and winked when she saw Joel holding her hand on the Timeless River, as Mr. Howe and Mom had their backs to them. After, when they were getting smoothies at Thyme’s Fruit Stand, Dana caught her eye and signed to her, keeping it close, whispering through gesture.
Joel’s cute.
Athena nodded, sneaking a look at Joel, who was joking with Leon and Miguel. Signed back to Dana, Yours cute?
To me!
They couldn’t decide where to go next, because the boys all wanted to go to the Pyramids of Ke-Sa, but Athena and Lynne and Gail all wanted to visit the Euro Strasse and maybe buy some stuff, and then go on Lion’s Safari. So the boys said they should vote and the girls said there wasn’t a point, because it’d still be a tie. Mr. Howe suggested they split up, that he could take the boys to the Pyramids and Mom could take the girls to the Euro Strasse, but Mom vetoed that right away. Then Dana said she’d be glad to take one of the groups, and that seemed to Athena to make fine sense, but Mom shot that down, too. So then Mr. Howe asked to talk to Mom, and the two of them stepped off by the side of the Forest Friends Feed Shack to have “a conversation.”
Athena didn’t catch all of it, partially because they were far enough away to make it hard to see their mouths, and also because she didn’t want to be obvious about trying to read them. Mom knows how well she can read lips, too, and so when she’s saying something she doesn’t want Athena reading, she turns away. But Mr. Howe doesn’t know or maybe he forgets, and Athena caught enough, guessed enough, to make her uncomfortable.
Because she’s pretty certain that Mr. Howe and Mom were talking about Dad.
She didn’t know what to think of that. It made her tense, made her angry, and she wasn’t sure whom she should be angry at. Then they came back, and Mom had the fake smile, the one that’s too bright, and she told them that they’d all go to the Pyramids first, because the girls had gotten to choose already. This was true enough. They’d gone into Wild World when they arrived, and that’s about when Dana had joined them. She had said that if they wanted to see the Flower Sisters Mystical Show, going early was best, because the animals got tired later in the day. The boys had objected, but they’d been overruled. Dana had been right about the show; it had been awesome. There was a jaguar, and a lion cub, and Athena had fed a real meerkat with Lilac’s help. Joel held a python-he wanted to hold the cobra but nobody thought that was a good idea except Joel-and they’d all gotten to meet Lilac and Lily and Lavender and have their pictures taken with them. When the show was finished, and since they were already in Wild World, they went to Lilac’s Secret Garden, and then, after that, on the Timeless River Cruise.
So it wasn’t that Mom was wrong about it being the boys’ turn, and Athena knew that. But she was angry anyway, even if she couldn’t exactly say why, and when Mom tries walking with her, Athena ignores her and then takes three quick steps to catch up with where Dana is walking with Gail and Leon, leading the way across the bridge into Desert Oasis. Leon is really trying to impress Dana, and Athena can tell he’s already got a crush on her.
Dana looks at her, then cants her head, showing the question. Something wrong?
No.
Angry?
No.
No? In WilsonVille I know when someone is angry or sad. My job to know. I can lose my job if you do not tell me why you are not happy.
Athena gives her a look, or tries to, but there’s the hint of a smile in it. She can tell Dana’s lying, too, that she won’t lose her job if they’re not all having a good time.
I see you smiling. Tell me.
Athena sighs, throws up her hands. Because my mom and my dad are stupid divorced and I think and she stops here, throws a glance over her shoulder. Mom is walking beside Mr. Howe, at the back of the group, and they’re talking to each other. Mr. Howe has that same expression he uses on the class when he’s telling them to be reasonable. The look on Mom is the same one she wears when she argues with Athena about what she’s wearing to school because she thinks it’s “inappropriate.”
Athena turns back to Dana, continues, I think Mr. Howe likes my mom and she spells the word, because she wants this absolutely and unequivocally clear. G-R-O-S-S.
Dana puts a hand to her mouth, trying to hide her laugh. Lowers her hands, asking, Your dad?
What about Dad?
Dad where?
Here.
Dana looks at her curiously. They’ve come off the bridge, and there are palm trees and fake ruins here, and rising behind them are the tips of three pyramids in a line, the center one the tallest. There are plenty of people about, but it’s not so crowded that they’re interrupted every time they talk. Sometimes that happens, when Athena’s somewhere and it gets really busy, people will cut in between her and Mom or her and Joel or her and whoever she’s trying to converse with, not realizing that it’s the exact same thing as if Athena had just decided to interrupt their own conversation by putting her hands over their mouths.
Here what do you mean “here”?