Savvy

The kids search the bus, but Samson isn’t aboard. They beg Lester and Lill to turn the bus around and return to retrieve the boy. Lester figures he’s doomed either way, and Lill insists it’s the only thing they can do. They head back.

At the trailer park, the sky grows dark and windy as Fish tries to control his feelings. Sirens approach. The kids rush to Carlene’s door, demanding Samson, but she tells them that they’re trespassing and that “the boy is safe and sound and locked up tight until the officers get [t]here” (273). Smugly, she guards the door, but a blast of Fish’s storm wind pushes her back, and everyone piles into her trailer. They search everywhere; Samson isn’t there.

As police cars screech to a halt outside, Mibs realizes she knows how to find Samson.

Mibs reaches for her pen but then remembers that Will has it. She locks the front door against the police and finds Will in the bedroom battling with Carlene over a bed cover. Mibs demands the pen. Will lets go of the sheet, and Carlene topples backward into a laundry basket.

The kids hold Carlene down while Mibs draws a simple face on one of the woman’s feet. Mibs demands to know where Samson is; Carlene’s thoughts come forth from the face drawing: “I just latched the panel so that he couldn’t get back out” (280). Mibs asks to know which panel, but Carlene realizes Mibs knows something and goes quiet.

A new voice enters her mind: “I’m in the wall” (281). It’s Samson; he keeps repeating the message. Mibs rushes from the room, listening as Samson’s voice gets louder until she’s standing at the trailer’s bar. Beneath it is a sliding panel; Mibs opens it and finds Samson crouched inside, holding a pen, doodles scrawled all over his arms. Mibs hugs Samson. She hears his thoughts: They’re a medley of “beautiful music.”

At that moment, the police kick open the front door.

The storm abates, and more police arrive. Neighbors peer at the trailer. Officers take the adults outside to interview them. Mibs tries to explain that the entire fiasco is her fault, and investigators take notes, but she fears they don’t believe her and will blame Lester and Lill. She asks for information about her father, but none of the authorities offer an answer.

State troopers arrive. One of them is Bill Meeks, who hugs Bobbi and Will. He chides Will for getting into trouble like his dad, and Mibs realizes that Bill is Will’s father and that Pastor and Rosemary Meeks are Will’s grandparents. Trying to protect Lill and Lester, Mibs tells Bill that everything is her fault. She bursts into tears.

Mibs sobs uncontrollably. Will takes her hand. Mibs and the others explain everything to Bill. Samson finally asks, “Is our poppa okay?” (295) Bill goes to find out. He returns grim-faced and says Poppa’s condition remains critical and the children should visit him immediately. He adds that the kids are in trouble, but no one was hurt, and Lester and Lill meant well and won’t be charged.

Bill will drive ahead as an escort, and the bus, including Lester, Lill, the kids, a child welfare worker, and a police officer, will follow. Lester is nervous about the officials onboard, but Lill distracts him with talk about how Lester can start his own Bible delivery service. Lill learns from the kids how they fooled her about calling their parents. She hugs each of them and says, “The world had better watch out for all of you. You’re big trouble in the making” (301).

The bus makes its way south through the lush springtime toward Salina. The Beaumont kids silently worry about their father. Lill wipes off the ink on Samson’s arms. As she does so, his many thoughts fade from Mibs’s mind until just one remains: “Strong for Poppa. Strong for Poppa” (304-05).

They arrive at Salina, where the stop lights have been blasted out by Rocket as he mourns his father’s condition. A Fish cloud hovers over the bus. At the hospital, Momma, Rocket, Grandpa, and Gypsy greet them, along with Pastor and Rosemary Meeks. Momma hugs her children fiercely and fusses over them. Rocket says he wasn’t worried, but Mibs knows he was, and she feels guilty about it. Grandpa has tears on his cheeks; Mibs hugs him and says everything is ok.

Miss Rosemary keeps hugging her kids while Pastor Meeks stands with eyes closed as if praying a thank you. Bill Meeks appears, and the pastor hugs him. Bobbi says hi to Rocket, who says hi back, and a spark flies off his fingers. Miss Rosemary pulls Bobbi away, warning her that she’s in enough trouble already. Lester and Lill stand outside, watching the proceedings with big smiles. The Meeks leave for home; as he departs, Will winks at Mibs. The Beaumonts wave goodbye to everyone and head upstairs.

In the elevator, Rocket asks Mibs about her new savvy. She says it’ll be fine once she gets a complete handle on it. They go to Poppa’s room. At the doorway, Momma warns them that their father might not recover but says they can pray hopefully for him. She waits to see if Fish creates a storm, but only a few raindrops splatter against the outside windows.

A man replaces a light bulb just outside the door; Rocket promises to control his savvy, and Momma relents and lets him in. She asks Mibs if her new power might cause trouble inside the room; Mibs assures her it won’t.

The entire family enters Poppa’s room, where he lies unconscious.

Poppa is covered in bandages, wires, and tubes. Machines nearby help keep him alive. Grandpa gives a sound jar to Rocket, who opens it and lets Momma and Poppa’s love song pour out. Fish points to his arm and reminds Mibs about their father’s tattoo, Miss Mermaid. She realizes she completely forgot about it. She touches the tattoo and listens, but she hears nothing.

Mibs leans down and whispers to Poppa, saying he, too, has a savvy: “You never, ever give up” (328). Samson stands next to his father, tears falling from his eyes.

Mibs hears a voice in her head: “I don’t...give up” (329). She sees the mermaid tattoo begin to move. She shouts for Poppa to wake up. Rocket tries to stop her, but she shrugs him off. Suddenly the machines go berserk, and Poppa’s heart monitor flatlines. Nurses appear and try to clear the room, but Mibs insists that Poppa needs her.

She hears her father’s voice in her head: “Mibs?” She answers aloud, “It’s Mibs, Poppa. I’m here” (332). Poppa’s eyes flutter open.

Many weeks pass before Poppa returns home. “On account of Poppa’s head still not always working right” (334), he builds the long-promised porch swing with a lot of help from his children. On her 14th birthday, Mibs gets the cake she wanted a year earlier, but what she enjoys most is sitting with her father on the swing. As they rock, Poppa’s tattoo asks Mibs to get a push from Fish. Fish is busy stopping Gypsy from eating dandelions in the yard, but he turns and creates a wind gust that pushes the swing.

Rocket is upstairs, packing for a summer-long visit to his Uncle Autry’s family in Wyoming, far from big electrical systems. Rocket still feels bad about causing havoc in and near the hospital the previous year. Fish is now strong enough to attend high school in Hebron. Mibs will study at home for a couple of years as a safety measure.

Miss Mermaid asks if Will plans to drop by for Mibs’s birthday; Mibs says yes. The tattoo also asks after Bobbi, and Mibs says she’ll also attend to say goodbye to Rocket. Poppa always pretends to be huffy about having outsiders know about the Beaumont savvies, but Mibs hears his thoughts, and Poppa is happy about his children’s friendships.

Things will be peaceful at the Beaumont home, except Mibs knows a secret that might rile the place up. While on the phone, Momma wrote some information on the back of her hand, and the ink told Mibs that Momma might be pregnant again. On her birthday, though, Mibs is content to keep the secret and simply enjoy the beautiful day.

She wishes again that her savvy was reversed: “If only I could draw a smiling sun on the back of my hand, then everyone around me could know exactly how I felt, exactly how happy I was at that perfect moment” (344).