I wake up from my state of semi-consciousness to find Julia’s hand still closed around me, but the light blocked off by her bulbous lips pressed against the opening.

                “Eaten it yet?” she whispers, blowing in a massive amount of hot air as she speaks.  After doing this, she opens her hands slightly so she can see.  It’s suddenly much cooler.  She shakes her head disapprovingly yet again.

                “I’ll let it slide this time, Jack.  Next time you’re eating it whether you want to or not.”  Her other hand picks up the bread ball and pockets it before coming back for me.  Using only her thumb and pointer finger, she gets me around the midsection and picks me up.  She only ever holds us like this to make a point, because I’m frankly dangling completely at her mercy over the ground.  She raises me to right in front of her face, near her mouth.

                “Understand?” she says, the hot wave hitting me again.

                “Yes.”

                Her fingers raise a bit, and she takes me to right below her nose; I can see right up it into the darkness.  She inhales deeply, then lets it out like steam, her nose hairs tremoring as she does so.

                “You’re sweaty,” she says slowly, poking her tongue out of her mouth in a thinking sort of way.

                “It was hot in there,” I say matter-of-factly.

                Her lip curls downward into a smug smirk and she chuckles, but it’s a kind sort of laugh, as if she thinks I’m funny; she relaxes and places me back in her cupped palm in a laying down position, curling her fingers protectively around me and smirking smartly at me.  I seem to have made it through.  “Not my problem,” she answers.  “I guess you’ve been in there for a couple hours, though.”

                “Yeah,” I say.

                “You need a bath.  Come to think of it, all of you need a bath,” she says looking down at the class in their desks.  The day must be just about over.

                “All right!  Everyone load up for the bus to go home!  Except you two…” she says, looking at me in her cupped palm and down at Gina, who shudders ever so slightly.  She gingerly places me back in the classroom and loads the other three up in the bus, taking them back to the house for a break before dinner.  After lowering them back inside the house and closing the house back up inside her room’s closet, she saunters back to the classroom and rests her chin on the classroom edge.  I’m still standing here, but Gina has remained in her seat, still scared.

                “Gina, get over here please,” she says.  Gina silently stands up and scurries over to stand next to me.  “Thank you for listening this time.”  She studies us for a moment, pursing her lips out in a pucker.  Thinking again.  “I hope you both will remember today and try to do better tomorrow.  I really don’t like having to punish you, but I have to if you’re going to act like this.  Understand?”

                “Yes,” we say in unison.

                “Good.  Now, today for your detention, I’m going to have you doing a little tidying up for me.  You see…” she begins, reaching under the desk.  She then brings up a tall black high heel and deposits it on the desk, laying it on its side so we can see the inside.  “I wore my heels for Sunday mass and I walked through a HUGE mud puddle and, well, I sort of made a mess.  It got inside it, too.  So I’d like you two to make this shoe look spotless again.  Understand?” she says again.  She likes using that word: “understand.”  Gina and I both breathe a mental sigh of relief.  This is much better than we were anticipating.  “UNDERSTAND?”

                “Yes,” we both say together again.  She smiles.

                “Good.  Now, I’ll give you these to make it easier,” she says.  She reaches into her other pocket and takes out a moist towlette package.  Tearing it open, she rips off a couple little pieces small enough for us to pick up and use, placing them at our feet.  “I’ll be back in an hour.  Do a good job, and maybe I won’t have to be angry.”  She leans back, pushing the chair away, and steps briskly out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

                “Okay.  I guess it’s better than it could have been,” I shrug.  Gina looks at me worriedly.

                “Are… are you okay?” she says.

                “Yeah.  I’m all good,” I say.

                “But it’s just that… she just… I don’t know, she just gets so rough with you.  She doesn’t do that to anyone else, even when she’s mad, but with you she’s practically tossing you in the air.”

                “She’s careful.  I don’t know, I guess I don’t really complain about it.”

                “Did you?  Before?”

                I consider this.  “Sure.  A lot.  So she kept picking me up more.  I’m practically her trained three inch puppy now,” I say sarcastically, but Gina goes silent, so I can tell this made her nervous.

                “I’m kidding.  But really, you just have to get used to it.  I mean, you’re really okay.  She won’t drop you.  I promise,” I follow up quickly.  Gina shakes her head and picks up a towel piece.

                “But… I don’t WANT to get used to it.  I want to get out of here…”

                “I know.  But there’s nothing we can do right now.  We’ve tried before.  There’s no way.  Anything we try would leave us barely in one piece, and then she’d come in and catch us easy.”

                “I know…” she says.

                “C’mon, let’s get started,” I say.

                “I don’t really want to go in there…” she says apprehensively.

                “Why not?  Too stinky for you?” I say jokingly.

                She looks back at me, and I see a trace of a smile cross her lips.

                “I’ll get it, don’t worry,” I say and bravely step into the shoe, beginning to wipe the great deal of mud coating the inside.  It honestly doesn’t smell, what I smell more is the leathery interior, but you can definitely detect a distinct, light odor only a sweaty foot could give off.  Julia hasn’t worn these in a week, though, so it’s sort of worn off and it’s not so bad.  Gina, meanwhile, gets to work on the spike of the heel, which took a lot of dried mud damage too.

                We get the shoe looking pretty squeaky clean, and true to her word, Julia swings her door open an hour later, taking a seat at the desk chair.  We both back up from the shoe for her to get a good look.  Her eyes widen.  “Wow, you two.  Good job.  Let’s just see if…” she begins, picking the shoe up and inspecting it.  “Whoops.  Missed a little spot in there…” she says squinting, showing us the spot she’s talking about in the shoe.  It’s inside the shoe, near the well-worn toe section.

                “I’ll get it,” I say, stepping forward.

                “No, Jack.  I want Gina to get it.”

                “But I can…” I start.

                “No.  Gina.  Get in here,” says Julia, placing the shoe back on its side.  She’s starting to get miffed again, and Gina can tell, so she steps forward.  I pat her shoulder as she walks by.  She clambers inside and walks to the toe of the shoe.  And I can already see what’s coming next.  With Gina still inside the shoe, Julia quickly snatches it up off the desk and stands up, holding it in the air, still on its side.  She puts her eyes up to the shoe.  I can hear Gina’s muted gasp, even from down here.

                “Keep going, Gina,” says Julia, nodding at her.  She waits another minute.  “Got it all?  Good,” she says before tipping the shoe’s opening straight downward. 

I take a step forward instinctively, although there’s literally nothing I can do to help her.  Gina, shrieking, falls out of the shoe and is in midair (for us) for the equivalent of eight feet or so before landing in the palm of Julia, which quickly closes around her.  She raises her to her face, right in front of her lips, just as she did earlier for me.

                “You’ve got to get over this fear thing, Gina.  When I want to hold you, I’m going to hold you.  I hope you can see that I know what I’m doing.  You’re completely safe.  Okay?” she says, her voice angry at first but becoming gentler as she speaks.  I see Gina’s small head, the only thing poking out from the mighty fingers of Julia, nodding her head very quickly.  “Are you sure?”

                “YES!” screams Gina, clearly not over the fear.

                “I’m not convinced…” says Julia, her voice much calmer but still scary.  She’s in that mode where she’s trying to teach a lesson, and you really can’t predict what she’s going to do.  “When I tell you to get in my hand, what are you going to do?”

                “Get in.”

                “What are you going to do?”

                “Get in your hand.”

                “Louder.”

                “GET IN YOUR HAND!” screams Gina again, and she starts to cry.

                “Ohhh… now, now…” says Julia, her voice drastically changing to that of a concerned parental figure.  It really is terrifying how fast she changes.  “It’s all right.  It’s okay now.  I’m not going to hurt you, Gina.  All I’m trying to say is that you have to listen to me.  See, here…” she says, and her other hand quickly grabs for me after putting down the shoe.  In her gentle fist, I am raised up to the same level as Gina.

                “Jack’s here.  He’ll help you.  Jack, help Gina.  Tell her it’s okay.  Tell her you’re safe,” says Julia, heat hitting my neck.  I try to smile at the sobbing Gina.

                “Gina, it’s okay… Shhh…” I try to whisper.  I reach out my arm across the two layers of curled gigantic fingers separating us.  Wiping her face, Gina reaches out and takes my hand, clenching my fingers tightly as if she was a child getting a shot at the doctor’s office.

                This doesn’t last long, as Julia quickly pulls us apart and puts me back on the desk, turning her attention back to the now quietly crying Gina.  “Shhh… see, it’s all okay now.  It’s okay.”  Her finger begins to stroke the top of Gina’s head.

                After another moment of Julia’s probably unsuccessful attempts to calm Gina, she plucks me back up again and takes us back to the house for our break.  Dinner will be soon, so we don’t have long to get a change of clothes.  We are both deposited without another word into the house.  Gina rushes to her room and falls onto her matchbox bed, and I follow her, letting her cry onto my shoulder.