Faye Kellerman - Day of Atonement

Trying to hang out, trying to fit in.

But always looking over his shoulder, making sure no one would see him.

Decker put back the box springs and mattresses. He remade the beds, then checked the pillows. He unzipped a slipcover and felt a hard flat surface about the size of a playing card. He thought it was probably a calculator, but it turned out to be a miniature Nintendo game—Octopus. Sammy had the same game. The idea was to score as many points as you could before a tentacle squeezed you to death. He showed it to the brothers.

Boruch said, “Some of the kids at school have them. Hey, wait. Doesn’t Shmuli have this game?”

Decker nodded.

“He’s lucky.” Boruch looked at Decker with longing. “Abba won’t let me buy one, even with my own money. Says it’s a waste … which I guess it is.”

For the first time, resentment had crept into the boy’s voice.

“But if a friend brings them over,” Boruch went on, “like when Shmuli brings it over? Abba’ll let me play with it. As long as I’ve finished my schoolwork.”

Decker said, “So your abba doesn’t know that Noam has this.”

“Definitely not,” Aaron said. “Abba’s pretty strict on what we can have. But it’s not like he doesn’t like us to have fun. If we have free time, he likes us to get exercise. We have basketballs, baseballs, footballs. He even plays with us sometimes. Especially basketball.”

Slightly defensive tone. Decker said, “Well, with all you boys you must have quite a team. Noam join along?”

“Sometimes,” Boruch said.

“You know, Noam’s a little taller than me and all,” Aaron said. “But he’s not real coordinated. He’s slow.”

“He also has trouble keeping his mind on the game,” Boruch said. “I’d pass him the ball and it’s like he’d be on Mars. The basketball would bounce off his chest. Lucky he’s so big; otherwise he’d be knocked down all the time. He doesn’t play with us too much anymore. Guess it isn’t fun for him.”

“Guess not,” Decker said, thinking of his own youth. Always a head taller than anyone else, he was a natural choice for center. But like Noam, he also had weight. Lumbering across the court, it was especially embarrassing because everyone expected him to be so good. Agility was never his forte. He gave up basketball in his freshman year of high school, moved on to football. Made State All Star six months later. All he had to do was mow over the opposition—a piece of cake. At the age of sixteen, he’d been six two, one eighty-five.

He pocketed the Nintendo game. If Noam had run away, why had he taken his T-shirt but not this portable video game? Surely he didn’t forget it.

Decker thought about it for a moment.

Maybe the kid was subconsciously leaving behind clues.

Even if that wasn’t the reason, the game served the same purpose as if it had been left behind intentionally. Now Decker knew that Noam liked rock and roll and played arcade games. The shirt and the game indicated places to search.

Decker said, “I can walk you guys back to your bubbe’s now.”

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