Nancy and Plum

  The next morning when Nancy and Plum jumped out of bed at the first clang of the morning bell, they were surprised not to find the usual long list of extra duties pinned to the outside of their door.

  “Oh, gosh,” Plum said. “Katie forgot to put our list up and I’ll have to go down and get it.”

  Nancy said, “The first one dressed will go down and get it. Let’s race.”

  But when Nancy, who was dressed first, went down to the kitchen Katie told her that Mrs. Monday had ordered “no extra duties for anyone. Not only that,” Katie said, “but she told me to fix an extra big lunch as she didn’t expect you home from the picnic until dark.”

  When Nancy told Plum this wonderful news, Plum said, “Miss Waverly and the principal must have really scared her. Oh, boy, I hope she goes to jail.”

  Nancy said, “Well, as long as we have plenty of time, I’ll go down to the washroom and iron my school dress for you.”

  Plum said, “But what will you wear to school?”

  Nancy said, “I’m going to wear my play clothes. They’ll do for the picnic and I’ll have on a costume for the program.”

  Plum said, “Look how nice our shoes look. I rubbed them with bacon grease and tied the knots in the shoelaces underneath so they don’t show.”

  Nancy said, “They look awfully nice but won’t they get all dusty?”

  Plum said, “We’ll carry them until we get on the school bus. I’ve put our clean socks inside them.”

  Nancy said, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had new black patent-leather party shoes, new ruffled petticoats and new dresses with full skirts that would stand straight out when we whirled?”

  Plum said, “And our hair curled and a bath in bubble bath?”

  Eunice came in their room then, stuck up her foot and said, “Look, my whole sole just came loose.”

  Plum said, “Well, at least you’ve got one to come loose. Look at my shoes.” She held up her greasy brown oxfords and showed Eunice the soles which gaped with holes as big as butter plates. She said, “I just made new soles out of my arithmetic notebook but I know they won’t last all day.”

  Nancy said, “Oh, well, after today we can go barefoot. Now I have to go down and iron that dress.”

  At breakfast, Nancy and Plum noted with envy that Marybelle wore a new pale pink dress with a sash, a full, full skirt and a ruffled petticoat and she had on brand new black patent-leather slippers.

  Plum said, “Usually I’m glad I’m smart but today I’d rather be as dumb as Marybelle and have a new dress and new shoes just like hers.”

  Nancy said, “Let’s not look at her. Let’s think about Lookout Hill and Miss Waverly and all the fun we are going to have.”

  Plum said, “I’m going to climb one of those great big enormous pine trees on top of Lookout Hill and then I am going to look around and see the whole world.”

  Nancy said, “I’m going to gather pine cones and pick bluebells and try and find a real, little mountain brook.”

  Eunice said, “I’m taking Nanela to the picnic and I’m going to make a wreath of flowers for her hair.”

  Todd said, “I’m going to throw a rock from the top of Lookout Hill into that river way down there in the canyon. I bet that’s about a million feet.”

  Mrs. Monday said, “Come, come, children, hurry with your breakfast, it is almost time for the school bus.”

  When Nancy and Plum got on the school bus carrying their shoes and socks, Mr. Harris said, “Won’t she let you wear your shoes in the house any more?”

  Plum said, “Oh, certainly we can wear shoes but I just polished these with bacon grease and I didn’t want them to get all dusty.”

  Mr. Harris said, “Here, I’ll put ’em up here by me. You did a good job of polishing. They look almost brand new.”

  Plum said, “Just take a look at the soles.”

  Mr. Harris turned the oxfords over and when he saw the huge gaping holes he said, “Well, shoes with holes in ’em are better than no shoes. What’s this writing on the inside, ‘How much carpet would it take to cover a floor 12′ × 15′7″?’ ”

  Plum said, “Oh, I made new soles out of my arithmetic notebook.”

  Mr. Harris said, “Well, that was a good idea. Now you have brains in your feet as well as your head, which is more than I can say about some people,” he added as Marybelle pranced down the aisle, her curls bouncing, her new full skirt swishing.

  Nancy said, “Gosh, Marybelle looks beautiful.”

  Mr. Harris said, “Well, in my opinion it takes more than fine feathers to make a fine bird. I also say that beauty is as beauty does and as far as I’m concerned even if Marybelle Whistle was dressed entirely in diamonds and emeralds, she still wouldn’t hold a candle to you two.”

  Nancy said, “Oh, but, Mr. Harris, look at our old fadey clothes and our hard ugly pigtails.”

  Mr. Harris said, “That isn’t what I see when I look at you, Nancy. I see a little girl with red hair, my favorite color, sweet dreamy gray eyes, gentle ways and dimples around her mouth. A beautiful little girl. One I’d be proud to have for my daughter.”

  Plum said, “What do you see when you see me?”

  Mr. Harris said, “I see two yellow pigtails, my favorite color, big laughing blue eyes, a merry mouth that’s quick to answer back and a child that’s got so much spirit that she glows. A beautiful little girl. One I’d be proud to have for my own.”

  Plum said, “What do you see when you see Marybelle?”

  Mr. Harris said, “I better get this school bus started or we’ll all be late to school.”

  Miss Waverly had Nancy’s tree costume all ready for her and to distinguish her from the other trees, she and Miss Dowd had made Nancy’s headdress and branches out of white dogwood blossoms. Nancy looked so beautiful in her costume that when she began to sing:

  “I think that I shall never see

  A poem lovely as a tree,”

  Miss Waverly and Miss Dowd had to wipe tears out of their eyes and Mr. Harris blew his nose so loud he almost drowned out the music.

  The only mishap in the program was when Plum won the spelling match. She got so excited she kicked her foot in the air and little pieces of her arithmetic notebook jumped out of the hole in the bottom of her shoe and fluttered all over the stage like white moths. All the children laughed and Plum’s face got as red as fire and Nancy was afraid she might be going to cry. Then Miss Waverly hissed at her, “Laugh, Plum. They think it is part of the program.” So Plum laughed and kicked up the other foot and scattered more papers and everyone clapped and clapped.

  The picnic was perfect. Not in the least like Miss Gronk’s. Miss Waverly skipped and laughed and talked with the children. Even took a swing on Plum’s branch, although she really was too heavy and the branch thumped her up and down on the ground.

  When they got to the top of Lookout Hill, Miss Waverly let them all try to throw stones down into the river before they had their lunch. After lunch they played games, had throwing contests, took walks, gathered wildflowers and pine cones, fed the squirrels, climbed trees, looked for gold and pretended they were explorers.

  It was while they were being explorers looking for water that they heard the noise in the underbrush as though some animal were running away. It could have been a deer of course, but the children wanted it to be something more exciting, so Miss Waverly said that it probably was either a big black bear or a mountain lion. All the little girls shivered and squealed and held hands and the little boys swaggered around pretending they had guns, saying, “Just let an ole bear come around me, that’s all I ask.” Or, “I bet I could hit a mountain lion right between the eyes with this big rock, just like this, see.”

  Miss Waverly told the boys that because they were so fearless and brave they had better walk ahead of the girls on the way back to the lookout point. Of course, the boys hid behind trees and jumped out roaring like lions or climbed up on high rocks and screamed like eagles. It was wild, exciting fun made more so by
the fact that Miss Waverly didn’t care how loud they yelled.

  When they grew tired they threw themselves down on the springy pungent pine needles and shading their eyes with their arms stared up through the hairy arms of the pines to the clear blue sky.

  “How far away is the sky?” Eunice asked and one of the boys answered quickly, “The nearest star is twenty-five trillion, five hundred billion miles away.”

  An eagle appeared in the sky, sailing in slow majestic circles, and then right after him an aeroplane, the sunlight on its silver body like slivers of glass.

  Plum said, “I feel sorry for that eagle. He used to be the king of all this sky and now aeroplanes come roaring through all the time and compared to an aeroplane an eagle is like a gnat.”

  Nancy said, “I hate eagles. They eat baby birds and baby mice.”

  Plum said, “Well, look at people. They eat baby sheep and baby cows.”

  Miss Waverly said, “All of life is a contest. The weak against the strong—the stupid against the clever—the honest against the dishonest.”

  Plum said, “And Nancy and me against Mrs. Monday.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Plum, haven’t you and Nancy ever seen your uncle since he left you at Mrs. Monday’s?”

  Plum said, “No. I guess he doesn’t care much about us.” Then suddenly she remembered about the Christmas box. She looked to be sure Marybelle was not within hearing, then told Miss Waverly about it.

  Miss Waverly said, “Of course, Pamela, Mrs. Monday could be telling the truth but I think I’d write and ask your uncle about it.”

  Plum said, “We have written to Uncle John but he never answers the letters.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Do you have the right address?”

  Plum said, “Of course, but we’ve always given the letters to Mrs. Monday to mail and maybe she didn’t mail them.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Oh, I think she mailed your letters. Your uncle is probably a very busy man.”

  Plum said, “Well, just in case she didn’t mail our other letters, I mailed our last one a new way. I tied it to a chicken.”

  Miss Waverly laughed and said, “Tied it to a chicken? What do you mean?”

  So Plum told her about her carrier pigeon idea and how the chicken had disappeared.

  Miss Waverly said, “I think an easier way to mail your letter would have been to take it to school and let me mail it for you.”

  Plum said, “We didn’t like to bother you.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Well, anyway the program is over now, Nancy looked beautiful in her tree costume, you won the spelling match and here we are on Lookout Hill. Even Uncle John couldn’t have improved this day.”

  Plum said, “Except I wouldn’t mind having a pair of new shoes.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Oh, well, in summer you go barefoot all the time anyway.”

  Plum said, “It’s just that Nancy and I would like to know that somebody really cares about us.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Well, Plum, dear, I do and I know that Miss Appleby does. That’s two people.”

  Plum said, “But you’re gone all summer and we only get to see Miss Appleby once a month on Library Day.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Oh, well, in summer you have the birds and the flowers and the trees and the crickets and the fireflies and Buttercup’s calf. You don’t need people. My goodness, it must be getting late. See how dark the shadows have grown. Go round up the children, Plum, we had better be starting back.”

  But when the children were rounded up, Eunice couldn’t find her doll. She said that she remembered leaving Nanela on the parapet looking at the view while she and Nancy picked wildflowers. She said, “She wasn’t there when I came back and I thought Molly or one of the other children was playing with her.”

  Miss Waverly and all the children began a hunt for Nanela but they couldn’t find her. They went way back to the mountain stream. They searched on every little trail. They looked behind rocks, under trees, everywhere. It was quite dark and Eunice was crying when finally Marybelle shouted that she had found Nanela in the brush just to the left of the place where Eunice had left her.

  Eunice said, “Oh, thank you, thank you, Marybelle. You were wonderful to find her.”

  Plum said, “It seems funny to me that Nanela should be in a place where nobody but Marybelle went.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Now, Plum, let’s not be suspicious. Maybe Nanela fell off the wall. There was so much rough play this afternoon.”

  Plum said, “If Nanela had fallen off the wall she would have been in that river way down there. I think Marybelle hid her.”

  Marybelle, whose normally gray face had suddenly turned quite red, said, “I did not. I did not. I did not.”

  Miss Waverly said, “Come on now, children. Gather up the baskets and let’s race down the hill to the sign. The first one down gets the last two cupcakes.”

  Even though they ran all the way down the hill and even though it was June, it was very dark by the time the school bus deposited the children in front of Mrs. Monday’s.

  As they went in the gate, Plum said, “Look at the taillights of that car going down the road. They look like the eyes of a dragon.”

  Nancy said, “I wonder if that could be Old Tom going out to look for us.”

  Plum said, “Watch the dragon going up the hill. See how his fiery breath lights the way.”

  Marybelle said, “You kids are so silly. That isn’t any dragon. That is your Uncle John’s car.”

  Nancy said, “Our Uncle John’s car? How do you know?”

  Marybelle said, “Because Aunty Marybelle told me so this morning. She said that he was coming out this afternoon at four and for me to see that Miss Waverly didn’t bring you home early. That’s why I hid Eunice’s doll.”

  Lowering her head, Plum butted Marybelle as hard as she could in the stomach.

  Marybelle went “Ugh” and sat down on the grass.

  Plum said, “You sneak, you horrible little sneak. Why didn’t you tell us Uncle John was coming?”

  Marybelle, who had quite a time getting her breath, began to snivel and said, “Because Aunty Marybelle told me not to. She told me she would spank me if I told.”

  Plum said, “Well, a spanking would be better than what I’m going to do to you.”

  Nancy said, “You’re not going to do anything to her. You’re coming in with me to see Mrs. Monday.” She grabbed Plum’s arm and jerked her up the front steps, through the front door and to the door of Mrs. Monday’s sitting room. Nancy raised her hand to rap. The door opened and Mrs. Monday, smiling broadly, said, “Did you have a nice time today, girls?”

  Nancy said, “Why didn’t you tell us Uncle John was coming?”

  Mrs. Monday said, “It must have slipped my mind. Anyway, didn’t you tell me that nothing would keep you home from the picnic?”

  Nancy said, “Mrs. Monday, Uncle John is our only relative and we have been waiting over six years to see him.”

  Mrs. Monday said, “You see, if you hadn’t carried tales to school and made trouble for me with the principal, you would have been home here when your uncle arrived.”

  Plum said, “Oh, no we wouldn’t, Mrs. Monday. You would have arranged it some way.”

  Mrs. Monday said, “Your uncle was terribly disappointed. He waited and waited.”

  Then Marybelle came in rubbing her stomach and crying, “Plum butted me in the stomach. I think she’s broken some bones.”

  Plum said, “You don’t have bones in your stomach, Woodenhead.”

  Mrs. Monday said, “Go in and wash your face, Marybelle. Pamela and Nancy, go to your room.”

  When Plum and Nancy got upstairs, all the children were waiting outside their door to hear what Mrs. Monday had said.

  To their surprise, Plum asked them please to go away and she and Nancy went inside and shut the door. As soon as the door was closed, Plum spread a handkerchief out on the bed and began going through her drawers, gathering up all her small treasu
res and tossing them in the handkerchief.

  “What are you doing?” Nancy asked.

  Plum carefully laid a large dried june bug and an empty snake’s skin on top of her blue beads and said, “I’m gathering up my things. We are running away tonight.”

  9

  The Escape

  PLUM WHISPERED, “Just sit on the window sill for a minute, Nancy, until your eyes get used to the dark, then I’ll tell you exactly where to put your feet. I’m so used to going up and down this old tree, I could do it with my eyes closed.”

  Nancy said, “But my bundle of treasures is so bulgy I don’t think I can hold on to it and a branch, too.”

  Plum said, “Here, hand it to me. I’ll take them both down and put them under the tree and then I’ll come back up and help you.”

  Rather timidly and holding tightly to the edge of the window with one hand, Nancy leaned forward and handed Plum her bundle. Plum grabbed it and disappeared into the maple tree.

  “How can Plum be so brave?” Nancy said to herself as she looked down fearfully into the deep scary darkness below her dangling legs. It was a very quiet night and the air was so heavy with the fragrance of summer that she felt as though she could reach out and get a handful of it.

  The back door opened, squeak! shut, bang! and Nancy could almost see Katie reaching out with her fat red arms to get the mop. The pale yellow moon came up behind the barn and for a moment or two silhouetted the weathervane against it like an evil sign. The back door opened and shut again and Nancy knew that Katie had put the mop back, standing it upright with its thick strings flopped forward like a woman who has just washed her hair. Somewhere an owl said, “Whoo, whoo,” and far down the valley a dog began to howl at the moon. Nancy shivered and wished Plum would hurry.

  Then suddenly at her feet she heard Plum whisper, “Nancy, hurry, I just saw Mrs. Monday go into the front hall and she may be coming up to our room.”

  Nancy listened and sure enough, down the long hallway she could hear the approaching slap, slap of Mrs. Monday’s big black oxfords.