Calvin by Martine Leavitt Page B

anymore—shopping carts, cars …
    Susie: You’re depressing me now, Calvin.
    Me: We’re basically walking on a big frozen garbage Popsicle.
    Susie: Shhh.
    Me:
    Susie: Thank you.
    Me:
    Susie:
    Me:
    Susie: It didn’t help.
    Me: What didn’t help?
    Susie: You shutting up—it didn’t help. When we started out you told me seventeen hours.
    Me: I said seventeen to twenty.
    She got the compass out of her pocket.
    Susie: I know how to use this thing. I know we’re not going in circles.
    Me: I wasn’t counting on slogging through deep snow in some places, and climbing snow dunes, and going around snow goons. Seventeen hours was at five K an hour. We made four yesterday, but now I’m thinking we’re down to three. Maybe.
    Hobbes: Hungry … hungry …
    Susie looked so worried sitting there on the sled that I knew I had to say something to make her happy.
    Me: So, Susie, I was going to do my biology project on the pollution in the lake. So since I’ve done all this research, do you think Mr. Ferrige would give me an extension?
    Susie (standing): Calvin!
    Me: What?
    Susie: Yes! That’s exactly what you should do. Get an extension!
    Me: Why are you suddenly so happy?
    Susie: Because! Because you’re not giving up! On school, I mean. What a relief! You need a good education … Look, all creative people are a bit crazy. But nobody worries about ten hertz as long as you do something great with it.
    Me: Okay, so all I have to do is be brilliant or great and I’ll be fine. I’ll get right on that.
    I grabbed the sled and started walking, and Susie kept up.
    Susie: Charles Dickens, he thought the characters from his books were literally following him sometimes.
    Me: Even better—I’ll work on being a genius.
    Susie stopped and looked at me.
    Susie: But you are a genius already.
    Hobbes: Hoo-boy!
    Me (laughing):
    Susie: What? You are.
    Me: Now you’re the crazy one. I am not a genius.
    Susie: Calvin, I thought you knew.
    I was impressed with my delusionary powers. Not only had I conjured up a whole girl, but she was Susie McLean, and she was saying things that were obviously all about making myself feel better about myself.
    Hobbes: Why is she talking like that? Maybe she’s just mocking you out of revenge for all those snowballs you chucked at her.
    Suddenly I could hear whispering. Nothing I could really hear or understand, but I knew the whisperer was there, South Bay Bessie, or Jenny Greenteeth, or both, just under the ice, just a thin layer of frozen water between me and them. They thought I was one of them.
    Me: I don’t belong to you.
    Susie: What?
    Me: I wasn’t talking to you.
    Susie: I see.
    Me: They’re under the ice.
    Susie: Oh, Calvin.
    Me: They’re waiting for me.
    Susie: Well, they can wait, then. I won’t let them have you.
    I stopped. I stood still. The wind was in the hollows of my ears, but the voices were gone.
    Me: You made them go away, Sooz.
    Susie: Okay. Now we know something.
    Me: We do?
    Susie: Yeah. We do.
    *   *   *
    I walked a little faster to put distance between me and the whispers, and Susie kept up until she couldn’t anymore, and then we went slow until we were beyond exhausted and it was getting dark.

 
    I tried to be cheerful about setting up the tent before it got really dark.
    Me: Okay, we’re behind schedule, but after a good sleep we’ll go faster. Maybe we will get there in time for lunch.
    We untied the tent from the sled.
    Me: Remember confidence, Susie. Believing we can do it. We packed that first, right?
    She nodded.
    Me: Okay, let’s see. Let me do my winter camp checklist. Is there wind protection?
    Susie sat on the ice as I did a full turn, examining the flat lake for wind protection.
    Me: Unfortunately, no. But is the site free of avalanche danger?
    I did another 360-degree turn. Susie put her chin on her knees and smiled.
    Me: Yes, I