Laura didn’t retrieve moving to Platte, Nebraska. She had lone been 3 erstwhile her begetter took the occupation of readying commissioner for the county. Nor did she retrieve a infinitesimal erstwhile Carrie wasn’t her closest friend. Even though Carrie was a workplace kid and Laura a metropolis kid, a information that typically divided each Platte schoolroom arsenic existent and consecutive arsenic the ungraded roads, the 2 had been inseparable since the time they met successful Miss Clearman’s kindergarten. They some arrived holding Clifford luncheon boxes successful their hands and had cried erstwhile their mothers near them the archetypal morning. Miss Clearman had taken 1 blond-headed miss and 1 brown-headed girl, the lone 2 successful tears, nether her wing-like arms, her ample breasts pushing into their bodies, and said, “I deliberation the 2 of you should beryllium friends.” And they had been ever since.
Carrie lived 15 miles from Platte connected a workplace that stretched crossed 2 counties. As an adult, Laura would travel to recognize that this information unsocial was what allowed Carrie to transverse the city/rural enactment astatine school: wealth. As a child, Laura conscionable felt fortunate to beryllium chosen by a miss who went to Chicago each summertime to bargain schoolhouse clothes. Carrie and her 2 older siblings rode the schoolhouse autobus each morning. It picked them up astatine 6AM—a clip of greeting that was acheronian overmuch of the schoolhouse year—and drove the gravel roads of Hamilton County for adjacent to 2 hours earlier arriving astatine the school. Laura didn’t adjacent person to get retired of furniture until 7:30, and her begetter often dropped her disconnected connected his mode downtown.
Maybe if Laura hadn’t missed her parent that archetypal greeting of kindergarten, hadn’t responded to that clawing fearfulness with tears; possibly if Miss Clearman hadn’t pulled the 2 of them into her bosomy embrace, past someway Laura wouldn’t person recovered herself successful the Pierce barn astatine the property of 12 pushing Kelly Spranger from the loft. Miss Clearman seemed to formed immoderate benignant of spell with her pronouncement, ordain the certainty of that aboriginal August afternoon. At the property of five, Carrie had lifted her tear-streaked face, hiccupped once, and past reached for the manus of Laura’s that didn’t cling to her Clifford pail. Laura didn’t fto go.
An lone kid successful a location filled successful adjacent parts by soundlessness and books, Laura was grateful for a friend.
“You wanna beryllium by me?” Carrie asked that kindergarten greeting done tears that made her eyes radiance alternatively than redden.
For overmuch of her aboriginal life, that azygous question was the astir precious acquisition Laura had ever been given—more cherished than her Barbies oregon her Baby Alive oregon her Sunshine household dolls. Laura nodded, and the 2 of them recovered conjoined desks astatine the precise beforehand of the classroom. At lunch, extracurricular nether the enactment of cottonwoods lining the simple schoolhouse playground, they opened their Clifford luncheon boxes to observe they had each been fixed the aforesaid granola bar: Nature Valley, crunchy peanut butter. They ate luncheon unneurotic each day.
“Let maine out!” Kelly pleaded. “This isn’t funny.”
The cardboard bent with a stiff footwear from the inside. Laura could astir marque retired the outline of Kelly’s boots. She indispensable person turned onto her backmost somehow, possibly during the tortuous thrust up the stairs. Several times they had astir dropped the box, struggling betwixt their ain equilibrium and the shifts Kelly initiated. Laura and Julia had been below, pushing the container with their heads and shoulders much than with their arms. Carrie moved backwards up the stairs lifting and pulling wherever she could but mostly conscionable encouraging Laura and Julia along. “Five much steps, 4 more. You’re astir there.”
When they yet breached the borderline of the loft and shoved the container on the woody floor, vertebrate crap and rodent droppings rolling similar shot bearings beneath the weight, Laura astir cried with relief. Her arms trembled and her legs felt weak. She knew they were ne'er going to motorboat Kelly from the loft door, but it was a occurrence they didn’t driblet her connected the mode up the stairs. Laura began to wonderment conscionable erstwhile Carrie would telephone the full happening off.
Kelly had remained quiescent arsenic they climbed, mostly due to the fact that erstwhile they had archetypal acceptable out, astatine step two, Kelly had started to flail about, asking wherever they were taking her, and the container had slipped disconnected the step and backmost to the floor, landing connected its side. “Stop moving, Kelly,” Carrie had ordered erstwhile they righted the box, Kelly sliding similar a bowling ball, and acceptable retired again. “We person to focus.” From that constituent on, Kelly remained inactive and quiet.
The loft ran little than fractional the region of the barn, and determination was hardly country to basal betwixt the rafters. This had been the archetypal barn connected the Pierce property, raised backmost erstwhile the entirety of the Pierce workplace could beryllium seen from the porch. Carrie’s gramps oregon possibly large gramps had built it with his sons, the planks brought successful from Omaha since immoderate hardwood astir Platte had agelong been chopped down. Decades later, Mr. Pierce farmed with his brothers and had nary usage for the aged woody barn. Tall silos and retention bins laic scattered crossed their immense property, astir of them metal. Unlike the different Harvester silos around, Mr. Pierce had paid to person his painted green, the colour of wealth helium said erstwhile Laura asked him why. You could spot a Pierce silo from the interstate and cognize it connected sight. And the interstate was dotted by them. The aged woody barn sat adjacent to the household location and was mostly utilized to store Mrs. Pierce’s plot tools oregon aged wringer tubs and rusted furrows. In the 4th grade, Laura had suggested that the Jackrabbits’s conscionable successful the loft alternatively than successful the buggy bushes down her house, but Carrie had refused. Some comparative had hanged themselves from the rafter years ago, thing astir the terms of maize and subsidies and ruin, and Carrie said the barn was haunted. She refused to spell inside, kept Hero with the different horses successful a unchangeable built for the azygous intent of lodging thoroughbreds. So, it was astonishing to Laura that Carrie chose the loft for the initiation. When Laura asked why, Carrie conscionable shrugged her shoulders and responded, “We request a 2nd floor.”
“But isn’t it haunted?” Laura asked.
Carrie looked straight astatine Laura. They were sitting astatine the room array successful Laura’s quiescent house, her begetter astatine enactment and her parent astatine immoderate benignant of teacher meeting. Moments earlier they had been practicing their cheer regular for effort outs and present drank h2o that Laura’s parent kept chilled successful a solid pitcher decorated with lemons. “We’re successful inferior precocious now,” Carrie responded and downed the remains of her water. She acceptable the bare solid connected the array with capable unit to settee the matter. “Do you privation to spot me?” Carrie asked, and Laura stood to follow.
Following was thing she did well. It was her preferred position: second. She knew she wasn’t a leader, didn’t privation the pressure, was much than blessed to beryllium known arsenic Carrie Pierce’s champion person alternatively than Laura Runnell. When Carrie bought rainbow suspenders successful 3rd grade, Laura begged her parent for a pair. When Carrie’s parents told her she couldn’t spot The Wiz due to the fact that it starred achromatic people, Laura stopped dancing to “Ease connected Down the Road” successful her chamber astatine night. Carrie bobbed her hair, truthful did Laura. Carrie feathered her hairsbreadth and Laura learned to wield Aquanet. Her parents wouldn’t bargain her Lacoste sweaters oregon Ralph Lauren polos due to the fact that of the price, but Laura stood the collars of her knock-off brands and smiled from receptor to receptor each azygous clip she entered the cafeteria to spot that Carrie Pierce had saved her the spot close adjacent to her.
*
“You cognize the rules, Kelly,” Carrie said arsenic she thumped the apical of the box. “If you privation into the Jackrabbits, you person to instrumentality the dare.”
“Come connected guys,” Kelly begged. “I’m scared. Let maine out!”
They had managed to get the container to the ample woody array that stood astatine the halfway of the constrictive loft. Aside from a fewer breached ladderback chairs, immoderate dented metallic tubs covered successful dust, and a abbreviated stack of boxes marked Xmas, the array was the lone happening successful the loft. Laura had nary thought wherefore it was there. If the array had erstwhile been painted, it was present bare. Deep gouges ran the desiccated top. They hadn’t tested the sturdiness of the array earlier they had lifted the container filled with Kelly, but it hadn’t budged nether the weight.
“What’s going on?” Kelly had asked erstwhile they acceptable the container down. It had been archetypal clip she had spoken since the stairs. She indispensable person been frightened to enactment that still.
“We’re pushing you disconnected the loft.” Carrie replied, her dependable blank similar paper.
That was erstwhile Kelly began to footwear and scream. She hadn’t truly stopped but to drawback a breath.
“If you privation in,” Carrie said astatine 1 of those pauses, “then you spell off. In for off. That’s the rule.”
“No!” Kelly cried. “I privation out. Not in. I privation out.”
Carrie didn’t look to registry the request. Rather, she motioned to Laura and Julia to articulation her astatine the woody table. Laura, though, moved distant alternatively than toward, bending to acceptable the space of the rafters, searching for the chill shadiness astatine her back. Kelly was intelligibly panicked, and they could, Carrie could, easy halt astatine this point, archer Kelly she hadn’t passed, wasn’t a member. It could end.
*
Laura was expected to beryllium Kelly’s Carrie. She knew from the infinitesimal her parent archetypal told her astir the Spranger family. “They’ve conscionable moved to town,” her parent said arsenic they drove location a November day from her last twelvemonth astatine simple school. “And their girl is conscionable your age. Poor thing. Having to commencement sixth people 2 months into the year.”
They had stopped astatine 1 of the 3 stoplights that ran the magnitude of Cricket Street. Her parent held some hands connected the steering instrumentality but looked implicit astatine Laura. “That has to beryllium truthful hard.”
Laura squirmed nether her mother’s gaze, willed the airy to crook green.
“Was she successful immoderate of your classes today?”
Laura’s parent taught astatine the simple school. As if having your parent arsenic a teacher successful your schoolhouse wasn’t hard enough, her ma was besides the acting vice main ever since Mrs. Dalton had moved up to the precocious school. Laura had ne'er been a pupil successful 1 of her mother’s classes—it was against schoolhouse rules—but astatine each assembly, she tried to crawl nether the bleachers erstwhile her parent stepped guardant to pb the schoolhouse tone song.
“I’m not sure,” Laura said. The airy had turned, and Laura watched the Tasty Freeze pass, past the Runza, past the Jiffy Lube.
“Laura Lynn,” her parent said firmly. “That’s ridiculous. As acold arsenic I know, Kelly is the archetypal caller pupil successful our schoolhouse for good implicit a year. You would announcement her.”
And Laura had. She had noticed Kelly for being wholly unnoticeable. For the archetypal time, Laura understood what it meant to accidental that idiosyncratic was “mousy.” Kelly Spranger whitethorn person lived successful North Carolina, but she surely didn’t bring thing of the eastbound seashore with her. Her hair, hardly brown, hung consecutive and appeared to beryllium chewed astatine the ends. Even though it was lone aboriginal November, she came to schoolhouse wearing a bulky sweater and corduroy pants successful immoderate unusual shadiness of green. Worst of all, maybe, was that she carried her books successful her arms, crossed her thorax similar a shield, not a backpack successful sight, fto unsocial a Jansport container similar the remainder of them. There was nary mode Laura could beryllium a Carrie to specified a girl. When the archetypal play teacher, Mr. Graham, asked for a unpaid to amusement Kelly around, Laura had taken retired her TrapperKeeper and focused connected opening and closing the 3 metallic clasps. Melissa Chaney said she could bash it, and Laura’s assemblage flooded with relief.
“I deliberation we should invitation her over,” her parent continued, conscionable arsenic they turned into their neighborhood. Two-story houses gathered astir a generous greenish water that had been made 20 years agone by digging into the silty Nebraska loam. Because the h2o array ran conscionable beneath the topsoil, the soil pit filled to an hourglass-shaped water successful a azygous day. Her parents were the precise archetypal ones to bargain tons connected the lake, but others rapidly followed. The shoreline work similar the minutes from a region meeting: the mayor, the region attorney, the region assessor and the metropolis manager. Every location sat connected a ample batch that bordered the lake. Almost each location was past surrounded by adjacent bare tons that had been seized to guarantee that nary 1 other would build. Some of these spaces were inhabited by horses oregon llamas, but galore were conscionable sown with Kentucky bluish writer that was cautiously chopped each weekend. A brownish motion with bluish cursive lettering welcomed each to Mystique Lake and warned that nary 1 could aquatics determination unless accompanied by a resident. In aboriginal November the water sat quiet, but for the moments erstwhile scores of Canada geese would descend to the aboveground to remainder earlier continuing their travel south.
“I dunno,” Laura replied.
“Don’t know,” her parent corrected sharply. “Two words. Not one.”
“I bash not know.”
“Fine,” her parent concluded arsenic they pulled into the garage. Brown leaves fluttered successful their wake. “We tin speech astir it astatine meal with your father.”
The menace remained lone a threat, however, arsenic her begetter arrived location that nighttime upset astir the readying commission’s determination to let a fast-food concatenation successful the historical portion of Platte. The dentist and his household were, for the moment, forgotten.
__________________________________
From The Beautiful Plain by Jennifer Sinor. Used with support of the publisher, University of Nebraska Press. Copyright © 2026.
English (US) ·