ECOMASTERS Chapter 14

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SPEAKER_01 1:05

Chapter fourteen When I get back to the building, Mr. Dobbins eyes me like a puppy who just peed in the house again. I start to lower my head, and then I realize I don't care what he thinks. I have important things to do, too important to waste time feeling badly. He opens the door and then holds up one gloved finger, clearly expecting me to stop and listen. Thank you, I say, in my nicest note, and then hurry past him. No one can say I was rude, I tell myself and jump into the elevator. By the time the elevator doors open, I'm not feeling quite as brave, but then I picture Mrs. Rodriguez and her face, and I remember what she said about my dad's company, and I stand a little taller. Whatever the truth is, I need to know it. I hear Peeves' tags jingling as I put my key in the lock. Poor boy, I wonder if my dad even took him out at all. He's waiting, tail wagging when I swing the door open, and right behind him stands my dad. His expression is exactly what I expected, and though my pounding heart doesn't seem as convinced as my head, I realize I don't want to run away this time. People are getting hurt. My friends are getting hurt, and I deserve to understand why. I don't see any books, he says, and folds his arms around his chest. I stuff my keys back into my pocket and stare at him. Books? He sighs and frowns, turning his mustache into an angry stash across his face. Yes, books. Summer reading books. Isn't that what you said you were doing? Oh yeah. At this point it seems like I told that lie weeks ago. I lift my hands into the air. You caught me, I say. I made that up. You don't say. I had a good reason, though. His face gets even scrunchier, and he shakes his head like he's disgusted with me. There's never a good reason to lie, Coral, especially to your father. I wince. Because I know he was just gonna say parents, but I guess I see why he corrected himself. Jasper's in the hospital. He unfolds his arms and leans his shoulder against the wall. Your friend Jasper? Do we both know another Jasper? I guess we don't. I'm really sorry to hear that quarrel. Why didn't you just tell me? I stare at him for a long time, trying not to let that make me mad, but I just can't do it. Seriously? You won't even let me go to his house or the community garden. Well the hospital is different. Yeah, it sure is, I say, and walk past him to the kitchen. Did you feed Peev or even take him out? Peave is your responsibility, Coral, he says as he follows me into the kitchen. I turn on him, feeling like fumes might be coming off my head. So then, that's a no I do not like your tone, young lady. I shrug, then bend down to scratch between Peeves' ears. I think you should explain your attitude. I'm pretty sure I already did, I say, glaring at him. I'd like you to explain the work that your company is doing in Jasper's neighborhood. His face falls slack for a minute, and he cocks his head like he didn't hear me right. What does that have to do with anything? Jasper's mom seems to think that there is a connection. A connection to what? To Jasper being in the ICU, Dad. They think he's sick from the water in his neighborhood. Something happens to his face just then. Kind of a mashup of feelings that move too fast for me to read. Then he narrows his eyes and looks hard at me. What exactly did Jasper's mom say to you, Coral? Pretty much what I just told you. She said everything was fine until Marchant construction started tearing things up. He exhales long and hard. She needs to be very careful about making accusations like that. My head feels like a marshmallow on a roasting stick. She wasn't making an accusation. She was talking to me, telling me what she thinks happened to her son, my best friend. Tears fill my eyes, and I wonder if they'll turn to steam when they hit my skin. 'Cause I'm so hot. I just don't know if I've ever been this angry. My dad seems to gather himself and he stands a little straighter. It's so terrible to hear that Jasper is so ill, but it has absolutely nothing to do with me or my company. In fact, it sounds like she's been listening to those ecoterrorists who have been making my life hell lately. Ecoterrorists? Yes. These environmental zealots are complicating things at every turn, trying to make my efforts to help people in this city and everywhere else look suspicious. Why would they do that, Dad? Because they're single minded and clueless and unable to see past their own ineffective tree hugging agenda. Though I understand the words he's using, I suddenly feel like my dad is speaking a different language. I think back to when I was little, to how proud I used to be that my daddy built things people needed, homes and offices and schools and banks, like magic. He made buildings out of empty space. But now an eerie feeling washes over me, like a huge world, sits behind the one I've been looking at my whole life. Are you doing something to hurt people, Dad? He blinks over and over like he just can't believe what he's hearing. His face does that shifty thing again, and then he folds his arms around his stomach. Do you really believe I could do that? I don't know what to believe, I tell him, hating the weak, shaky sound of my voice. That's why I'm asking. He studies me, looks down at Peev, and then back at me. I'm trying to help people, not hurt them, Bug. That's what I've always done. Bug He hasn't called me that in ages. It makes me want to hug him. And then for just a second, it makes me wonder why he'd call me that now. Why today? All I can do is nod. I want to believe him, but a weird pressure behind my eyes makes me feel like I just can't trust anything I see right now. I look at him, I realize he believes himself. Too much has happened in the past several days. Okay, Dad, I tell him, suddenly certain that making things okay is going to be up to me now.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Hi everyone, it's Lucy, and just to recap this past chapter, um, so this is Coral returning back from the hospital after seeing Jasper, and so she's basically um going to confront her dad, and so she walks in the front door and her father is suspicious as to where she had been because she had previously told him that she was going to get go and get um summer reading books from the library, but when she returns with no books, her father's suspicious. And Coral's in a really bad mood right now because she had just found out that her friend is really, really sick, and so she's kind of um a little blunt with her father in the moment, and her father is asking why she's has such an attitude, and that's when Coral flat out says, like, oh, Jasper is extremely sick, and her mother is saying that it's due to the construction from your company that's happening um in their neighborhood. And so her father is kind of dismissive about it. He he says that it's not his fault and that what his company is doing is good, and he blames it. Um he kind of puts the blame back on Coral's parents for making this ac strange accusation um on his company, calling them eco-terrorists almost. And it's just interesting to see how defensive he got and how he thinks that he's right and how he couldn't possibly be in the wrong. And even Coral kind of senses it. She says that she had this strange feeling, um, this eerie feeling within her when he's talking. So she kind of feels like he's not fully telling the truth and that he's not fully in the right. So I'm just excited to see where this storyline goes and what else we'll learn and and and unfold about her father's company.