He reached out and grabbed a shoulder of her sleeveless sundress. “Gotcha!”
They matched strides, linked by his arm.
“Let go!” I yelled at him.
“Stop!” he yelled at her.
He didn’t let go. She didn’t stop.
I reached out and grabbed the back of Rusty’s shirt collar. I was about to give it a sharp tug when Bitsy suddenly let out a squeal.
Rusty’s body blocked my view of her. When I saw her again, she was careening sideways out of control. Rusty must’ve jerked her shoulder.
I heard Slim yell, “Jesus!”
Letting go of Rusty and trying to slow down, I twisted my head around and caught a glimpse of Bitsy spinning like a frenzied figure skater. Her arms were flung out Her skirt was twirling high.
I lost track of her for a moment as Rusty and I nearly collided.
By the time I saw her again, she must’ve just crashed to the ground. She tumbled wildly, flipping over a couple of times, and came to rest on her back.
We hurried toward her.
She was gasping for air. Her arms and legs were spread out as if she hoped to make snow angels in August The top of her sundress, buttons ripped open down to her belly, was hanging off one shoulder and showing her bare right breast. Her skirt had gotten shoved up so it covered nothing below her waist. I thought at first that she was wearing some sort of tight, skin-colored underwear. Just as I realized my mistake, Slim crouched beside her, blocking my view. She shut Bitsy’s dress top and lowered the skirt just before Rusty and I got there.
Rusty scowled down at her. “Y’okay?” he asked.
She just kept gasping.
“It’s your own stupid fault,” he said. “I told you to stop.”
In a gentle voice, Slim said to Bitsy, “There was no reason to run away.”
“Yeah,” Rusty said. “We weren’t gonna hurt you.”
I glared at him. “Why’d you have to throw her down?”
“All I wanted to do was make her stop running away. She wasn’t supposed to get hurt.”
“Fucker.”
It wasn’t a very nice thing for Bitsy to call her brother, but I was glad to hear it. For one thing, I felt the same way. For another, I didn’t think she’d be making cracks like that if she had sustained any really serious damage.
Rusty scowled down at her for a while, then said, “Look, you weren’t supposed to get hurt. Okay? I’m sorry. It was an accident.”
“Like fun,” Bitsy muttered.
“Why don’t we get you off the ground?” Slim said to her. “We can go back inside and see if you need to be patched up. I happen to know Lee has a medicine cabinet full of first aid supplies.”
“No,” Bitsy said. “I don’t wanta.”
“I know,” said Rusty. “You wanta go to the movies.”
She shook her head. “I wanta go home.”
Chapter Forty-two
Go home?” Rusty said. “No way.”
“Wanta bet?” Using one hand to hold the top of her dress shut, Bitsy shoved at the ground with her other hand and managed to sit up.
“I’ll drive you home,” Slim said. “But you don’t want your mom and dad to see you looking like this. Let’s go in the house first, and....”
“Huh-uh. I wanta go home. Right now.”
Rusty looked pitiful. “Man, it’s gonna be my ass.”
“Should’ve thought of that,” I said, “before you threw her down.”
“It was an accident. Anyway, if you hadn’t grabbed my shirt...”
“Oh, so now it’s my fault.”
With Slim holding her steady, Bitsy rose to her feet. “Let’s go in the house,” Slim said.
“I don’t wanta.” She tried to pull away, but Slim held on.
“You’re not going home looking like this,” Slim said, her voice firm. “We’ll clean you up first and see if you’ve got any injuries. Then we’ll do something about your dress. Then I’ll take you home. Maybe.”
I almost applauded.
Hobbling toward the front door in Slim’s custody, Bitsy started to cry again.
Rusty and I stayed back. By the time we entered the front door, they were out of sight. Soon, we heard water running.
Rusty shook his head. “I’m really gonna get it,” he muttered. “They’ll ground me so long I’ll be gray before they let me outa the house.”
“You should’ve kept your hands off her,” I said.