Chapter 14

Justine came through the door and put her bag on its hook before coming into the kitchen.

"Hi Dad," she said. "Sorry I'm late, but I got talking to Drasil and forgot about the time."

"Well," Patrick said, "you aren't very late. I just have the noodles on."

"OK." Justine set the table. "He was telling me about some people he knew. They never fight at all, and they always let people come in the door. It was something about hospitals ... hospi something."

"Hospitality."

"That's it. Anyway, they want people to feel at home so they're safe."

"They sound like interesting people," Patrick said.

"Drasil thought so. He thinks they are very special."

"So this Drasil is a person after all? You keep saying he."

"Well, 'he' sounds much nicer than 'it'."

"True. Can you tell me more about this Drasil?"

"Not really. I'd have to ask him first."

"That's fair enough." Patrick set the plates on the table.

"Thanks for the food." Justine prayed as she always did, "and say hello to Mom."

"How was school?"

"Same old, same old." Justine shrugged.

"Where did you learn that?"

"The other kids say it. It is exactly what school is like."

"It describes work too some days."

"See?" Justine said.

"Kelly isn't bothering you?"

"I don't pay any attention to her, so she doesn't bother with me anymore. I'm no fun. It's something Mz. Balanteen said that when I get angry at Kelly it's like giving her a reward. She taught me some breathing stuff to help stay calm. I had to do lots of breathing at first."

"That's something I guess. So, it's just learning now."

"You won't believe what I learned about frogs today."

"What?"

"Some of them freeze solid in the winter, then thaw out in the spring; and their eyeballs freeze first."

"Frog-sicles?"

"Ewwww, you're not supposed to eat them."

The weekend passed and Justine spent her time drawing room designs and baking.

Patrick realized he never heard his daughter talk about any friends before this mysterious Drasil. He decided that he ought to talk to Lee about it after Justine had gone to bed. He looked around the house and saw that she had been gradually changing it to match her own style. The hooks in the hall for their coats and her bags, different pictures hanging in the kitchen, even cushions she had sewn for the living room. Yet for all the changes there was still a sense that Ingrid was just around the corner.

He called Lee.

"I've never heard Justine talking about any friends, Lee, have you?"

"She plays with some of the children here," she said, "but I wouldn't say they were friends. Some kids don't have many friends; some have dozens. I wouldn't worry about it for now, or you could ask Grace, that's Mrs. Balanteen."

"Thanks, I might do that."

On Monday Justine came home and wandered into the kitchen.

"Drasil took me to see his friends today."

"I would prefer you asked me first."

"Sorry, Dad." Justine hung her head. "I won't go if you don't want me to."

"As long as you're safe and you let Ms. Palenz know if you're going to be late, it's OK."

"Thanks, Dad."

"So tell me about Drasil's friends."

"They live in these neat little houses made of logs. They're so cool, but hard to decorate with all that wood. They pack the cracks between the logs with moss. It keeps the wind and the bugs out. Marisha made tea from some moss too, but it was a different kind of moss. It was kind of funky. I like hot chocolate better. She made biscuits too, I want to try them; they were sooo good."

"I'm glad you made some new friends. Are there any children there?"

"Loads. Marisha and Davvad have three kids, and there's lots more. They're teaching me some of their games."

"What kind of games?"

"Some of them are like ours, you know, tag, hide and seek, but others are really different. There's one called guest or wolf. We keep asking are you guest or wolf. If they say guest that we say, 'Welcome and be at peace in our home and hearth.' If they say wolf, then you run away and they try to catch you."

They ate supper while Justine talked about her new friends. He wondered at all the stuff she talked about doing in the short time between school and going to Ms. Palenz, but decided that he didn't want to spoil the mood.

The next day he got a call from the school.

"Hello, Mr. Constance, it's Mr. Houston from school."

"How can I help you?"

"I wanted to check on Justine after what happened on Monday."

Patrick felt his stomach sink.

"You'd better tell me what happened."

"Mrs. Hall's class has been working on some art projects. Justine handed in a project where she showed how she redecorated a room. It was a very good looking project. Ms. Hall decided that Justine's project deserved to be put up on display in the hallways for other students to see. Unfortunately, on Monday someone tore her project down and ripped it to pieces. They taped up a note with a very crude message printed on it. I was shocked that any student in the school would use such language.

"Justine saw the note and ran out of the school. One of the teachers saw her sitting under a tree sobbing, but when she went to investigate, Justine told her to go away. Since she was safely on school property, we let her stay there as long as she needed to.

"I told her personally that we would try to find out who did it, but she said it didn't matter. I told her it mattered to me and we left it at that."

"Thanks for your call, Mr. Houston. I'll talk to Justine about it."

"She didn't tell you?"

"No. She made some new friends on Monday and that must have pushed it out of her mind."

"Well, if there is anything I can do, please call."

"Thanks, Mr. Houston. I will do that."

When Justine came home she was humming a tune. She spread out her homework and was soon lost in her math. Patrick noticed that her hair was different. She had a braid on one side of her face and it was tied with a scrap of green wool.