Page 66 of The Lookback

“That’s what you get for making the worst plan ever,” Tommy says.

Jed and I both laugh.

“Starving, scared, Hansel and Gretel wander around without much hope, assuming they’ll die in the forest. But that’s when they find?—”

“The candy house!” Dolores shouts. “And they eat it.”

Mrs. Lyons is starting to look irritated. “Yes, that’s also correct. They find a candy house and start to eat it, but then an old woman catches them and scolds them for eating her house. Luckily, she offers them real food if they come in, and those naughty little children follow her right inside and eat up the soup she offers them. They notice piles of messy bones in the corners of the home, but they’re so tired from their ordeal, they curl up and fall asleep right away.”

“So they stole food off her house, and then they fell asleep on the floor?” Jed shakes his head. “They kind of deserve to be eaten.”

“When they wake up,” Mrs. Lyons says, intentionally ignoring us, “Hansel, the boy, is stuck in a cage. Gretel is told that she must cook and clean for the witch until her brother is fattened up.”

“Ew,” Jed says. “Who wants fatty meat?”

Mrs. Lyons powers through. “But when it comes time to cook him, the witch prepares the oven and asks Gretel to check it. Gretel, being quite the little?—”

“Miscreant,” Jed says.

Everyone laughs.

“Yes, I suppose that, too, but being an opportunist, shoves the witch into the oven, and closes the door. Then she saves her brother and they escape. But before they do, they find a big barrel of jewels, and they fill their pockets with them, as many as they can carry. They wind up using a few of the gems to secure a ride home on the back of a horse ridden by a passerby. When they get home, their stepmother is dead, and their father is quite happy to see them. They live happily ever after with the jewels they stole.”

“Great. It’s a story about how grand theft and murder pays,” Tommy says.

“And candy houses,” I say. “Don’t forget that part.”

“We haven’t forgotten any of those parts,” Mrs. Lyons says. “In fact, we have several tasks you’ll have to complete today, and we have a panel of judges who will be scoring you on how you do. If the audience can look at their ballots, they’ll see an area where they can vote for their favorite candidate in each category. Their combined votes will be equal to one of the appointed judges. The male and female candidate with the highest scores will win.”

“But what are the activities?” I ask.

Mrs. Lyons nods at her husband. “Almost time to find out.”

He walks toward the big blue tent closest to us. “In the story, Gretel has to save Hansel. So we have asked a Hansel to be with us today, a brother of one of the candidates, but we also understand he’s someone who’s precious to quite a few of you. All our activities today will have as their goal, saving our handsome Hansel from being eaten by the witch.”

Mrs. Lyons nods at her husband. “Go ahead and reveal Hansel, who is home from college and agreed to help us out.”

Principal Lyons yanks the blue fabric down and underneath, in a very strange cage made of what appears to be scrap lumber, is Clyde Brooks. Instinctively, I whip my head sideways. All traces of the smiles and lighthearted behavior from Jed earlier is gone.

Clyde smiles his winning smile and winks at me. “Hey, Mandy. Be a doll and win prom queen. That’ll get me out of this thing, right?”

16

MANDY

Two years’ worth of work, undone with one cocky smile.

Normally, I don’t blame Clyde for what happened with me and Jed. It was Jed’s stubbornness and my misguided decision-making that broke us, but in this moment, it’s hard not to blame Clyde at least a little. He’s clearly needling his younger brother on purpose.

No matter the reason, watching Jed’s face return to being open and expressive. . .only to close off again hurts. It also makes me want to win, just so I can kick Clyde—hard. He has to know that Jed and I haven’t been speaking, and to come back and pose and smile and wink in front of most of the town. . .it feels low, even for him.

“Our first exercise will be one that will test your physical strength and the dexterity of your fingers.” Principal Lyons points at a large green tent, not far from where Clyde’s preening. “If you would all accompany me over here, we can begin.” He starts to walk.

“Dexterity of our fingers?” Tommy’s expression is hilarious. “What’s next? The strength of our sinews?” I’m chuckling as we walk closer, and that makes both Clyde and Jed frown.

Why are all men such babies? Is it reasonable to want a woman to likeonlythem? To laugh foronlythem?

Please.

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