Iona Moon Read Online Free Page A

her, so she was lucky in a way, not like Sharla Wilder, who’d been locked in the cellar for a solid week.
    â€œNo end in sight,” Jeweldeen said when Iona got off her bike. “Every morning he goes down there and asks her who done it, and every morning she gives him the same answer. Yesterday he took a stick to her legs, said he’d beat the truth out of her. She said ‘Everett Fry’ about a hundred times before he stopped.”
    Hearing Everett’s name out loud made Iona touch the back of her own head.
    â€œI broke the cellar window with a rock,” said Jeweldeen. “You can look at her if you want.”
    Sharla sat crushed in the corner, exactly where she’d been the last time Iona had looked. “Does she ever move?”
    â€œYou should see her jump when she hears Daddy on the stairs. And she was sure dancing yesterday when he whacked her with the stick. You never saw a fat girl move so fast.”
    â€œWhy doesn’t she bolt the lock from her side?”
    â€œHe’d bust down the door and whup her good if she tried that.” Jeweldeen peered through the jagged hole in the glass. “Hey, Sharla,” she said, “somebody’s here to see you.”
    Sharla shuffled over to the window, old already, dress torn at the shoulder, legs blue with bruises.
    She climbed on an empty crate. “More cake,” she said.
    â€œIt’s all she’ll eat,” said Jeweldeen. “I made her one yesterday and one the day before, and they’re both gone. Daddy would thump me if he knew. He means to starve the truth out of her.”
    â€œI’m hungry,” Sharla said, raising her hands toward the window.
    â€œHonestly,” said Jeweldeen, “you’re gonna drive me straight up this wall with your begging.” She banged her fist on the side of the house. “I already told you, cake’s gone. You ate it, Sharla, the whole damn thing.”
    Sharla stared at her sister. “You talk to her,” Jeweldeen told Iona. “I’ll go see if I can find her something sweet.” She wagged her finger at Sharla. “But I am not making you another cake. You’re too fat anyway.”
    Jeweldeen was right about Sharla being too fat. Her breasts and belly were already bloated, twice their usual size. “You can tell me,” Iona said. “I won’t breathe a word to your daddy; I won’t even tell Jeweldeen.”
    Sharla cocked her head and her brow wrinkled. She put her hand over her mouth and Iona saw the chipped red polish on her nails. Living in the dark, eating nothing but cake, waiting for her father to come down the stairs—no wonder Sharla was starting to go off. “I know why you’re acting this way,” Iona whispered. She remembered the day her father put Angel down. Hannah wanted him to wait. Dry a year , he said, and now she’s worrying the others . But he was sorry to do it, and Iona saw him in the field, stroking Angel’s head.
    Jeweldeen returned, carrying two slabs of bread with butter and sugar. Sharla snatched them from her sister, stuffed a whole piece in her mouth and scuttled to the corner. No amount of coaxing could lure her back to the window.
    â€œI’ll bring you another slice,” Jeweldeen said. “With honey this time. Or strawberry jam. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Sharla squatted and chewed. “Forget it, then,” said Jeweldeen. She grabbed Iona’s arm. “Honestly,” she said, “I don’t know what you find so interesting.”
    Iona found everything about Sharla Wilder interesting. Maybe she did make love to Everett Fry before he shot himself. Maybe it felt like being with the ghost of a man and now she couldn’t get it out of her head. No matter how many times her daddy smacked her legs she was going to keep on telling him the same name. Everett Fry. What good was the truth? No one in his right mind was