The Shade of the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

loved
     him, but she was his stepmother, and his father was dead. “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “Is an early breakfast that important to you?” Lisa asked.
    Jon nodded. “I’ve been feeling rushed,” he said. “And when I have breakfast with Gabe,
     we both get distracted.”
    “All right,” Lisa said. “I’ll tell Val. Next time, though, ask me first. All right,
     Jon?”
    “Thanks, Lisa,” Jon said.
    Lisa left the room, but Jon found it impossible to concentrate on his chemistry lesson.
    Grubs weren’t the only ones who lied, he thought. Slips were good at it, also.
    But Sarah was worth the lies. And once the evaluation was over, the lies would be,
     too.
     
    Saturday, May 9
     
    “I’m going into White Birch tomorrow,” Jon told Sarah as they walked to the bus stop.
     “My brother’s in town. I thought maybe we could take the bus together.”
    “Dad and I leave at five a.m.,” Sarah replied.
    “Five a.m.?” Jon said. “I didn’t know there was a claver bus that early.”
    “We have a private driver,” Sarah said. “Daddy opens the clinic at six o’clock on
     Sundays. He says we should keep the clinic open all night Saturdays because there’s
     a lot of fighting Saturday nights—knife wounds, domestic violence—but the town board
     won’t let him. They say it would encourage even more fighting if the . . .”
    “Grubs,” Jon said.
    “If the people know they can be taken care of right away,” Sarah said. “Not that it
     is right away. Did you know there’s not a single ambulance in White Birch?”
    “Ambulances take gas,” Jon said.
    “Sexton has an ambulance,” Sarah said.
    “Yes,” Jon said. “And it’s mostly used for grubs who get hurt at the job. There’s
     an entire wing at the hospital just for them. The grubs who get hurt in White Birch
     bring it on themselves.”
    “Not the wives who get beaten half to death,” Sarah said. “And then have to walk miles
     to the clinic for treatment.”
    “There are buses in White Birch,” Jon said. “They could take a bus.”
    “They charge for the buses,” Sarah said.
    “Sure,” Jon said.
    “We don’t have to pay,” Sarah said. “Not for the buses in town or the ones that go
     to White Birch. But the . . .”
    “Grubs,” Jon said.
    “The laborers, the ones who come in every day from White Birch, they have to pay.
     That’s so unfair, Jon. Can’t you see that?”
    “But it isn’t unfair,” Jon said. “Buses cost money, for fuel and maintenance and drivers.
     Clavers pay for all that. We pay for their schools and the clinic, too. I’d say grubs
     have it pretty easy.”
    “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Sarah said. “It wasn’t like this in my old enclave.”
    “How do you know?” Jon asked. “Did you ever ask your domestics if they paid for their
     bus rides? Did you ever leave the enclave to see what things were like for the grubs?”
    “No,” Sarah said.
    “Then don’t make assumptions,” Jon said. “Maybe things could be better for the grubs,
     but things could be better for clavers, too. We’re in this together. We’re all making
     sacrifices so things will be better, if not for us, then for Gabe and all the children
     to come.”
    “Do you think things will get better?” she asked. “Do you really think that?”
    Jon had no idea what he thought, but he knew what the answer was supposed to be. “Yes,”
     he said. “Things will get better for all of us.”
    Sarah took his hand and squeezed it. “Let’s make it better,” she said. “You and me.
     Promise me, Jon, we’ll work to make things better.”
    “I promise,” he said. “Okay, go.”
    “There’s no one at the bus stop,” Sarah said. “No one would see us walking together.”
    “I don’t want to take chances,” Jon said. “You go first.”
    “I can’t wait for Lisa’s evaluation to be over,” she said.
    “Me neither,” Jon said. “And Sarah? Don’t talk to the other kids the way you talk
     to me. Bus