“Well, then, we give ’em all the diamonds we have left and hope it’s enough.” Mamma said.
“Do more than hope, Mamma. Pray. If this doesn’t work, those destructive cousins of the Nomes are going to cause the biggest disaster the States have ever seen.”
“What can we do, Clint?” Adam demanded.
“Grab our tools and get out there for when they start trying to get the road back. It’s easy enough to wreck something, but they don’t drive cars, and I’m not sure they’ll know what has to be done to really make it driveable. And shut off the fence. They’re not going to come after us now that they know us.” I felt my eyes trying to shut. “But me and Jodi have to get some rest.”
“Lord, of course you do,” Mamma said. “Why, it’s been almost twenty-four hours you’ve been up, and most of that either hiking the caves or facing Mr. Rokhaset, which must have been about as scary as anything!”
“Get up to bed,” Father agreed. “Need your strength later.”
Jodi and I didn’t argue. We knew there wasn’t any way we were staying awake much longer. I stumbled up to bed, feeling my feet get heavier with every step. The clothes I peeled off seemed to be made of lead, and I don’t really remember hitting the mattress.
* * *
I woke up with a hoarse shout, as the ground quivered underneath the house. “JODI!”
“A CHORBN!” I heard the Yiddish curse echo all the way down the hall. “What? Did they move up the schedule?”
By then, I was out of bed and down the hall, bursting through Jodi’s door. The shaking was already over. “No, no, that was just a little one. But Holy Mother, did that scare me!”
“And I was calm, you think? Oy!” She was still in the bed, nude from the waist up since the sheets had slid down when she sat up abruptly. The view was on the spectacular side. Her long, curly, lustrous black hair was spilling over her shoulders, framing her chest. Jodi was basically a slender woman, but not everywhere. I was a little transfixed, for a moment. Memories . . .
She looked me up and down, suddenly grinning. “You look as nice as I remember, too, neshomeleh. But you might want to put some clothes on before your family decides we caused all that shaking and bouncing around.”
I looked down. I was nude from the soles of my feet up.
“Oops. Hey, look, I was startled. Gimme a second.”
By the time I got back to her room, with my bathrobe on, Jodi was already out of bed and wearing her own robe. In that respect, if nothing else, she certainly didn’t fit the stereotype of a Jewish-American Princess. Jodi was always punctual and could get dressed faster than a fireman. How she manages that, I’ll never know, because the end result was never sloppy. Every item of clothing was on right, buttons square, zippers zipped, hair brushed, the works. Even the many times I’d watched her do it, I’d never really been able to figure out her secret. She just seemed to pour herself into her clothes, shoes and all—hell, work boots and all—and she had the kind of magic hair that, despite its length and thickness, immediately fell into place at the touch of her fingers.
When I walked in, she was muttering something to the effect that the much-vaunted stability of the nation’s conservative inner regions compared to decadent Manhattan was obviously a be-damned lie. About a third of the words were in Yiddish so I didn’t catch all of it. But the last phrase came through clear as a bell: “—least the ground doesn’t mug you!”
“C’mon,” I chided, “what’s the big deal?” I imitated her accent. ” ‘The trucks on Fifth shake my apartment harder than that!’ ”
She giggled despite herself. “Okay, wisenheimer, you’ll get yours. But only after I get a shower.”
We both needed showers badly after the last day. If I hadn’t been so dog-tired I’d have showered before going to sleep, but collapsing in a shower isn’t the best idea.