Marilyn Kaye - Finders Keepers

At the video club she picked up movies that she wouldn’t have been allowed to see in a cinema. Not dirty stuff — just sophisticated films that were ‘restricted to over-eighteens’. She brought her goodies back to Margaret’s apartment and had a very enjoyable evening all by herself.

She told herself that on Sunday she’d do more ‘adult’ things, like go to a really fancy restaurant. Get a pedicure, or maybe have her legs waxed. Find a club where she could dance.

In the end, she spent all of Sunday doing what she did on Saturday night — eating junk food and watching movies. And totally enjoying herself. This was the kind of adult life she could handle.

On Monday morning she learned what Margaret did for a living. The phone woke her at seven a.m.

‘Miss Robinson, this is Eastside Elementary School. We have a teacher who just called in sick. Could you substitute today?’

Amanda wasn’t even tempted.‘Oh, I’m very sorry, but I’m sick myself. I’m about to have my tonsils out.’

She didn’t even have to lie! Because right now, at the hospital across town, someone who looked like Amanda Beeson — who was Amanda Beeson, physically at least — was being put to sleep before her operation.

Yes, it was a very pleasant weekend. But now she had to return to the present, and she looked at Ken across the table. His eyes were shut tightly, and he was gripping the hand of the young boy, Stevie.

‘I can’t seem to reach your father, Stevie,’ the medium said, ‘but I can feel him getting closer. We’ll try again tomorrow.’

Ken opened his eyes. He glanced at Margaret, but his eyes didn’t linger. He doesn’t have a clue , Amanda marvelled. Wait till he hears this is me !

Once again, she didn’t get the opportunity to tell him. When they rose from the table, Cassandra spoke to her.

‘I must have a word with you, Margaret,’ she said. ‘Could you stay back for a minute?’

‘OK,’ Amanda said. ‘I just need to—’ but by then, Ken was already out of the apartment. Stevie was gone too.

Cassandra waited until Dahlia had left and then she turned to Amanda. Her tone changed dramatically.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she asked shrilly. ‘What’s the matter with you?’

Amanda was startled. ‘Huh?’

‘Look at you! Nobody’s going to believe you’re a grieving daughter! And you didn’t behave today the way we practised. Do you want to blow this whole thing?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I brought you in on this to make it look like a real seance. You’re supposed to be looking for your dead mother and I’m pretending to talk to her for you. You were fine last week — why are you screwing up tonight?’

As she spoke, Cassandra tugged at the scarves that veiled her face.

‘I–I don’t know …’ Amanda sputtered, but she didn’t finish the sentence. She was suddenly speechless.

Because the last scarf had come off, releasing long, thick blonde hair, and Amanda recognized the face that had been hidden. The last time she’d seen that face, its owner had been hypnotizing Emily in an effort to learn the next week’s winning lottery numbers.

Cassandra the medium was Serena Hancock, the student teacher.

KEN HAD WANTED TO stay behind and talk to the medium, but Stevie looked so upset when he ran out that Ken had to go after him. On the street in front of the medium’s building, he could see disappointment written all over the younger boy’s face.

‘Are you OK?’ Ken asked.

‘Yeah … well, no, not really. I thought she would have made contact with my father by now.’

‘It’s not that easy,’ Ken said. ‘Sometimes the spirits of dead people are totally open to communicating. You don’t even have to look for them — they’re there. Others are harder to find. Your father might not even be aware that he can get a message to you.’

Stevie looked at him curiously. ‘How do you know so much about it?’

Ken couldn’t meet his eyes. ‘I’ve read a lot.’

Stevie stared at the ground. ‘My youngest sister, Dena, she keeps getting these rashes. My mother thinks she might be allergic to something, and she wants to take her to a doctor for tests. Only we can’t afford it. We don’t have any medical insurance. And my other sister, Cindy … she’s growing so fast, and now she’s complaining her shoes are too tight. Only there’s no money to buy her a new pair.’

Ken could see he was close to tears. ‘Listen … you know the public library, on Slater Street?’

‘Sure.’

‘Well, I need a bunch of books for — for an English assignment,’ Ken said. ‘And I don’t have time to go there. If you could go for me, and check out the books, I’d pay you for your time.’

Stevie gazed up at him. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah. Here, I’ll give you a list.’ Ken dived into his backpack. He didn’t really have an assignment, but his English teacher had given everyone in the class a list of ‘suggested reading’ — not required — which meant nobody was going to read the books. But Stevie wouldn’t know that. He handed the list to the boy.

‘If you could get me, like, five of these and bring them to the seance tomorrow night, I could give you forty dollars.’ He’d been stashing portions of his allowance every week for the past month, trying to save up for an iPhone. There had to be at least forty dollars in his desk drawer. ‘Maybe more,’ he added.

‘Just to go to the library and check out books?’ Stevie asked.

‘Yeah. You’d be doing me a big favour. Like I said, I don’t have the time. It’s worth the money to me.’

Stevie’s eyes were shining. ‘Hey, thanks! See you tomorrow.’

Ken watched as he took off. Forty dollars, maybe fifty. That wouldn’t pay for new shoes and a visit to the doctor. And it wasn’t like Ken could provide money like that on a regular basis. Stevie and his family needed more. They needed that lottery ticket.

He was about to climb into bed that night when he remembered Jack’s latest request. Opening the drawer of his desk, he poked around through the junk he stashed in there and finally found the iPod Jack had left behind. So he’d have to talk to Lucy again. At least this time he could make it clear that he was only doing this for Jack and she’d realize that Ken wasn’t interested in her that way.

He went to sleep thinking about Stevie, and he was still thinking about him the next morning. By the end of the afternoon, when he entered the gifted class, he’d made a decision.

He wanted to talk about it, but he didn’t get the opportunity right away. Emily was practically bursting with news.

‘Tracey and I went to see Amanda at the hospital yesterday evening,’ she told Madame and the class.

‘How is she feeling?’ Madame asked.

‘The girl we saw is feeling OK,’ Emily said, ‘but it wasn’t Amanda.’

‘It was that fake-Amanda who takes over when the real Amanda is in someone else’s body,’ Tracey reported.

‘Are you sure?’ Madame asked.

Emily nodded vigorously. ‘She had that blank expression, like there weren’t any thoughts in her head. And she kept looking in a mirror and putting on lipgloss.’

‘And filing her nails,’ Tracey added.

‘Sounds exactly like the real Amanda to me,’ Jenna commented.

‘Nah, I could see the difference,’ Tracey said. ‘I had the real one in me, remember? I can’t explain it, but I could feel that it wasn’t really her.’

‘Does she know where the real Amanda is?’ Sarah asked.

Tracey shook her head. ‘No. I even tried asking her, but she just looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. It was definitely the robot-Amanda or the other-Amanda — whatever you want to call her.’