Marigold by Heather Manheim (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

cell had a small bubbling fountain, intended to be both her shower and her drinking water. It tasted vile, though, and she only used it to drink when she felt parched and to clean what she could on her face and body.

When the fifth pebble got moved to the pile, Davis started to think of how she could kill herself. She could simply stop eating or drinking water. But she didn’t know if she had the strength to do that. As thirst and hunger plagued her, she greedily ate without thought when her one meal a day arrived. The “bathroom” they provided her was simply a deep hole in the ground. It looked endless; Davis dropped a pebble to see if she could hear it fall, and she could not. Although it would be unpleasant to plunge herself down it, she imagined it would be quick; as soon as she hit bottom, that should be it. She felt like the opening was on the narrow side, though, and while the corset and bodice still pinched her waist, she didn’t want to get stuck in the hole halfway down.

The cell didn’t even have the benefit of blue light. It was dark and dimly lit with a few old broken crane candlesticks and electric candles, some no longer emitting light. Davis thought at one time those candleholders were so beautiful; now they just looked like the twisted, broken mess that she felt like her life had become.

Davis was just about to put the sixth pebble in the pile when she was startled by the door opening suddenly. In walked her mom, Ruby.

~

“Oh, my dear…what did you do? What did you do?” Her mom rushed toward her. Thankfully, her mom had brought a bucket with water and a cloth. Ruby started cleaning Davis’s face and hands, dunking the fabric until both the water and cloth were filthy, and there was no more progress to be accomplished. It hadn’t made much of a difference, but her mom helped her, which made her feel better. Her mom brought a pair of jodhpurs and a tunic she could change into, and after Ruby loosened the back of the dress and the corset, that was what Davis did. She noticed they were not the fancy jodhpurs and tunic the presidential wives wore and that Ruby herself was now wearing. But they were clean, and she was grateful. And so far, she didn’t have a stunning record of being Everett’s wife, so it made sense. Her mom had also brought her socks for her feet.

“I don’t know, mom. I’m sorry. I never meant to do something so drastic or put you in this position. I don’t want you to be implicated in this crime because you came to see me. Why did they allow you to see me?”

“I’m friendly with the jailer. He doesn’t usually have anybody around, so he comes around and talks to all the ladies, but Amelia—” This startled Davis that this was the name her mom used, and she interrupted.

“Is he dead?”

Ruby paused, and a look of sadness washed over her face. “Yes, he died from his injuries,” her mother said morosely. “Amelia, there is talk. Duffy and Namaguchi came in and said that President Everett was brainwashing us. With the Marigold Injection! I just don’t know; it seems so absurd. They… Is it even possible? I don’t think so. I’ve felt pretty ill for a few days; they’re not giving the Marigold Injection anymore. And I was due the day after the wedding.”

“Do you feel better now?”

“A little, but not much. It’s not just me, though. Many people are sick.”

“Has anyone died?”

“No, nobody besides President Everett.”

“So, mom, I think it’s true what Namaguchi and Duffy are saying. I don’t have all the answers, but the government told me you died as I was growing up. And, you were told I died. I don’t think Everett has been truthful.” Davis then relayed all the information she had learned at the bunker. When she finished, she asked Ruby if she knew if she would be leaving jail or if she would be executed.

“Namaguchi is working on it. It seems as if he’ll become the president. But you did assassinate the last president. It might be tricky.”

“Can you send Namaguchi to see me? Please, I need to tell him something important.”

“I’ll try, but nobody is supposed to see you right now. The jailer will be kinder to you now, though, as he knows who you are. Can you tell me, in case I can’t get Namaguchi down here?”

“Just tell him Brookshire was the one who destroyed our first plan, that any trust in him is misplaced.”

“Oh dear…if what you say is true, we might have trouble. Namaguchi is proposing that Brookshire should be his second-in-command.”

“Tell him, mom, please…tell him.”

Before Ruby walked out, she hugged Amelia and left with the promise she would speak to Namaguchi.

The jailer came in soon after with an additional biscuit, clean glasses and a pitcher of drinking water, and a clean wash bucket and cloth.

~

Amelia did not have to wait much longer. She only moved three more pebbles into the pile when Namaguchi came to see her. He spoke first, “Davis, I’m sorry you were kept here, like this. I was trying my best to get you out. But, many of the officials were fighting for your execution. Now that everybody is pretty much off the brain control drug, and Ringo and his family, as well as everybody in the bunkers, have come out and started telling their stories, people are starting to see the truth.”

“Did Ruby and Duffy tell you about Brookshire?” Amelia asked nervously.

“Yes, they did, I never imagined…” Namaguchi was nervous and sad. “I would have never put you in the position if I thought, for a minute, he was capable of what he did.” Davis noticed a glistening in Namaguchi’s eyes, and while she was too tired to appreciate it fully, she felt a stirring in her heart.