September Surprises

  “Goody,” Ruby whispered to Hilary as the lights in the auditorium dimmed. “A slide show.”

  Ruby felt her glee fade, though, as she watched images of sunny streets and smiling faces and trim stucco homes become images of piles of rubble and houses that had been ripped from their foundations. There was even a photo of a mud-spattered dog, clearly lost, trailing his battered leash behind him.

  “This,” said Mrs. Samson eventually, “is Clinton Elementary before the storm.” Ruby looked at a photo of a school not unlike Camden Falls Elementary, except that it was situated in a grove of palm trees. “And here’s our school after the storm.”

  Ruby gasped. So did Hilary and most of the students in the room. Ruby could tell that the second photo had been taken from the same spot as the first. But she couldn’t find an actual building in the picture — merely a pile of crumbling stucco, a number of fallen trees, and a large amount of wet trash.

  “But,” Mrs. Samson continued, “this is what our school looks like today.” A third photo was flashed on the screen above the stage, and now Ruby saw a brand-new building. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” said Mrs. Samson. “But, as I’m sure your teachers have explained to you, our library is still nearly empty, we have only a few textbooks, and we need computers, sports equipment, and all sorts of supplies. Those are the things you’ll be helping us with this year. And for which we’re very, very grateful.”

  Everyone applauded, and Ruby joined in, but her mind was on the images of the dog minus his owner and of Clinton Elementary after the storm. For a moment, she felt tears prick her eyes, and she bit her lip. She was absolutely not going to cry here. Not with Andy Cheney sitting next to her.

  Later, Ruby applauded loudly when Mrs. Samson announced that the winner of the contest was Hilary, and she turned to hug her friend before Hilary made her way to the stage to accept the very first T-shirt with her own design on it. Ruby’s glee had vanished, however. Contests and assemblies and bake sales and new books were fine, but now Ruby knew what lay behind them.

  That afternoon when Mrs. Samson handed her a letter from her pen pal, Maya Sanchez — a very nice letter describing Maya’s family and her first day in her rebuilt school — Ruby, who that morning had mentally been composing a letter about her new tap shoes and about how much allowance money she had saved up, instead wrote the following note to Maya:

  Dear Maya,

  Hi, my name is Ruby Northrop and I’m your pen pal. Thank you for your letter. I really liked hearing from you. I am very, very, very, very, very sorry about Hurricane Donna and what the storm did to your home and your town and your school. I can’t imagine losing any of those things. We are going to work hard here in Camden Falls to help you buy books and supplies for your new school. What do you need the most of all?

  Your new friend,

  Ruby Northrop

  P.S. I’m glad your cat survived the storm. I have a cat, too. His name is King Comma. Yesterday he ate a moth.

  Olivia’s complicated schedule at Central allowed her — at least during the first quarter of the year — two study periods each week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. Olivia both appreciated them and dreaded them. She appreciated them because they allowed her to get a jump on her homework. She dreaded them because Flora and Nikki had art class at this time, and there was not a single student in the rest of the room that Olivia knew well. The other students were in grades seven through nine, and while most of them paid not a bit of attention to her, Olivia still felt little and awkward, sitting alone hunched over her papers and textbooks while around her kids talked and laughed and ran from desk to desk seeking homework help from their friends.

  On Tuesday, Olivia was deeply involved in an extra-credit math problem (math came easily to her and she enjoyed a good challenge) when she was startled by a perfumed body sliding into the chair next to her.

  “Hi!” chirped a very perky voice.

  “Melody!” exclaimed Olivia. “I didn’t know you had study period now.”

  Melody waved her hand around, indicating the large number of students in the room. “There are so many kids here. I’ve been sitting all the way over there.” She pointed across the room. “So,” she said, “how are things going?”

  “Fine,” Olivia replied cautiously. She thought the question odd, since she had already spoken to Melody several times that day.

  “Good. How’s the store?”

  “Sincerely Yours? Um, it’s fine. Too.”

  “It’s such a great place. My mom really liked her birthday basket.”

  “Oh, I’m glad,” said Olivia, feeling a pang as she remembered the skeptical looks on her parents’ faces as she handed back half her pay.

  Melody opened her science book. She opened her notebook. Olivia realized she was settling in to work.

  “Did you do our science assignment yet?” asked Melody.

  Olivia’s mind was still half in the math problem.

  “The science assignment?” she repeated vaguely. “Which one?”

  “The one that’s due tomorrow.”

  “Yes.” Olivia froze. She abandoned thoughts of numbers. Her mind was now entirely on Melody.

  “Can I see it?”

  Olivia released an inward sigh of relief. “I already handed it in to Miss Allen.”

  “You already handed in tomorrow’s assignment.” Melody said this flatly, a statement not a question. She tilted her chin and raised an eyebrow.

  Olivia nodded. “I did!” Why did she feel as though she needed to explain herself?

  “What for?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Why did you hand it in early?”

  Olivia shrugged. “Because it was done.”

  “Oh, well,” said Melody. “I guess that’s all right. If it’s done, that means you know all the answers.” She pushed her science book toward Olivia, shoving Olivia’s math book out of the way in the same motion. Then she leaned over, chin in hand, and, wielding a pen, indicated the list of questions that were to be answered. “I’m having trouble with these,” she said.

  Olivia sighed and closed her math book. She would have to finish the problem at home. “The answers to these questions are in Chapter Two —” she started to say.

  “I know that,” snapped Melody.

  Olivia sighed again. “All right. Let me show you how to figure them out.”

  Melody snorted. “You don’t understand. I don’t want help with them. I want you to do them.”

  “For you?” squealed Olivia.

  “Yes, for me.”

  “But I can’t. That would be cheating.”

  Melody snorted again, and Olivia saw that she was looking across the room at her friends. And the friends were watching Olivia and Melody.

  Olivia tore her gaze away from them and focused on Melody. “Look, I don’t have to do the problems.” She was going to add “And you can’t make me” but changed her mind.

  “No. I guess not,” replied Melody. “It’s just that the other kids thought it would be nice if you helped me out, since you’re so smart and all. They don’t know you very well. They think you’re kind of … anyway, you want friends here at Central, don’t you?”

  Olivia felt like a mind reader, understanding that what Melody meant to say was, “You don’t want enemies here at Central, do you?”

  “Well,” said Olivia in a small voice, “okay.” She peered at the first question. “The answer to this one is … do you want me to write them out for you, too? Don’t you think you should hand in the assignment in your own handwriting?”

  “Whatever.” Melody poised her hand over her notebook. “Go ahead. Dictate.”

  And Olivia did.

  “Is that really what she said?” asked Nikki incredulously. “‘Go ahead and dictate’?”

  “Pretty much,” Olivia replied miserably. She and Nikki and Flora had gathered at Needle and Thread that afternoon.

  “And so you did?” said Flora.

  Olivia nodded.


  “But why?” asked Nikki.

  “Because all her friends were watching, and Melody implied that if I didn’t help her out, I’d make enemies at school.”

  The girls were silent for a moment.

  “How much power do you think Melody has?” wondered Flora.

  “She’s not a wizard,” said Nikki, who sounded more vehement than she felt.

  “Well, anyway, you can’t tell a soul what I did,” said Olivia in a loud whisper. “Seriously. My parents would kill me. And Miss Allen would accuse me of cheating.”

  “Excuse me, but isn’t Melody the cheater?” asked Flora.

  “If I do her work for her, then I’m just as much a cheater,” said Olivia. “It isn’t like she copied my work and I didn’t know about it. So not a word to anyone. Swear. You have to swear.” Olivia’s voice wobbled.

  “Okay, okay. We swear,” said Nikki, glancing at Flora.

  “Yeah, we swear. We won’t tell anyone.”

  “Not even Ruby,” said Olivia.

  “Not even Ruby?” Flora sighed. “That’s going to be really hard.”

  “Well, maybe we’ll tell her later. But right now — pinkie swear you won’t tell anyone.”

  “We already said we swear,” said Nikki.

  Olivia nodded. “Okay.”

  The gray weather that had descended on Camden Falls the previous week had lifted on Tuesday, only to return the next morning.

  “It figures,” said Flora sullenly to herself as she and Nikki and Olivia walked to Main Street after school. She scuffed her feet through falling maple leaves.

  “You know what I like about gray days?” asked Nikki cheerfully.

  “What?” said Olivia.

  “They make all the colors look brighter than usual. Especially the colors of the leaves.”

  “Definitely,” replied Olivia.

  Flora said nothing. She stared at the sidewalk.

  Nikki poked her. “Something the matter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, are you going to tell us what it is?”

  “I guess. You’ll find out sooner or later, anyway. Let’s go to Frank’s Beans and get something to drink. I’ll tell you there.”

  Frank’s was featuring a fall drink called Pumpkin Spice Chai, and Flora and her friends each ordered one, then found an empty table at the back of the store.

  Olivia sipped her drink. “Huh,” she said. “It’s … huh …”

  Nikki tried hers. “Pumpkin-y.”

  Flora looked blankly at hers. She swirled her straw through it. At last, she said, “Tonight Min and Mr. Pennington are going on a date.”

  Olivia let out a yelp and Nikki spit a mouthful of chai across the table.

  “What?” cried Olivia. “Seriously?”

  Flora nodded. “Seriously. Min told Ruby and me at breakfast this morning.”

  “They do spend a lot of time together,” said Olivia slowly. “Min and Mr. Pennington, I mean. They go out to dinner and stuff.”

  “But I never thought they were dating,” said Flora.

  “I didn’t know old people could date,” said Nikki, wiping the table with a napkin. She tossed the napkin in a trash can. “How old is Min, anyway?”

  “Seventy-two,” Flora replied.

  “And how old is Mr. Pennington?”

  “I don’t know. Like eighty or something.”

  “Why are they going out on a date on Wednesday night?” asked Olivia. “Why not on Friday or Saturday?”

  “Could we focus here?” said Flora. “That is not the issue.”

  “If you’re going to be touchy,” said Olivia, “then I’m not going to discuss this with you.”

  “Sorry,” muttered Flora.

  “You know, this is surprising news,” said Nikki, “but it’s a good thing. Isn’t it? Why are you so upset, Flora? You love Min. You love Mr. Pennington. Why don’t you want them to go on a date?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t.” Flora stared at her chai. “I don’t think I want this after all.”

  Min left Needle and Thread earlier than usual that afternoon, and Flora and Ruby walked back to Aiken Avenue with her, Ruby peppering her with questions.

  “Where do you think you’re going to go tonight?”

  “Fig Tree, most likely,” Min answered. “That’s sort of our special place.”

  “You already have a special place?” exclaimed Ruby. “Cool. What are you going to wear?”

  “Why don’t you help me choose something?” said Min.

  Daisy Dear gave Flora, Ruby, and Min a joyous and very wiggly greeting when they opened the door of the Row House. Flora took her on a walk up and down Aiken Avenue, and by the time she returned, Min was wearing the emerald-green dress Ruby had chosen for her and was standing at her bureau, considering her jewelry.

  Flora stood in the doorway, one hand on her hip. “When,” she said, “did your dinners with Mr. Pennington turn into dates?”

  Min eyed her in the mirror. “I don’t have an exact timetable for you, Flora.” She paused, started to say something else, then closed her mouth.

  Flora looked at Ruby, who was lying on her stomach on Min’s bed, watching the getting-ready-for-a-date process. And she remembered when she was younger than Ruby and had liked to sit in the armchair in her parents’ bedroom in order to watch her mother get ready to go out with her father. Her mother had had a dressing table with a white skirt around it and a blue stool that slid under the table and hid behind the skirt. She would pull the stool out and sit on it while she applied her makeup and poked through her jewelry box. At last, she would scrutinize herself in the mirror (the one with photos of Flora and Ruby stuck under the edges of the frame) and she would spin around on the stool until she was facing Flora and say, “What do you think?”

  And Flora would reply, “What about perfume?”

  And her mother would say, “You choose.”

  Flora would leave the chair and stand beside her mother, looking over the row of glass bottles. She always chose the same perfume. She didn’t know what it was, but it came in a bottle the exact color of the roses on the bush by their front door.

  Flora’s mother would put one drop behind each ear and then Flora would pronounce her “Perfect.”

  Flora now looked at Min, who had selected a pair of earrings that Flora thought looked cheap and also too big. She turned away and retreated into her bedroom.

  “Flora’s jealous!” she heard Ruby call.

  “I am not!” Flora shouted. But she thought Ruby might be right. She just didn’t know whom she was jealous of — Min or Mr. Pennington.

  Or why.

  Shortly before Mr. Pennington arrived to pick up Min, Aunt Allie walked through the front door. “How are my favorite nieces?” she asked.

  Ruby giggled. “We’re your only nieces.”

  “Well, you’re still my favorites. And I’m glad I get to spend the evening with you. How are you, Flora?”

  “Fine.” When Flora heard the doorbell ring a few minutes later, she stomped up to her room and stayed there until she heard the front door close and the sound of a car starting on the street below her window. When she went downstairs again, Aunt Allie was on the phone with College Pizza.

  “We get to order pizza for dinner!” announced Ruby. “Min said so. You missed hearing her because you were sulking in your room.”

  “Uh-huh,” replied Flora.

  “So,” said Aunt Allie after she hung up the phone, “tell me what’s going on. Tell me everything.”

  Ruby launched into a detailed account of Clinton Elementary and Maya Sanchez and the T-shirts that were being made up with Hilary’s design on them.

  “My goodness,” said Aunt Allie. “That’s a lot of information. What about you, Flora?”

  “Flora’s mad because Min’s on a date,” said Ruby.

  “Ruby,” said Aunt Allie.

  “Sorry.”

  “I am not mad,” said Flora, and she tried to think of something cheerful to tell Au
nt Allie, just to prove how not mad she was. “Guess what,” she said after a moment. “The kids at school liked the idea of our summer book club so much that we’re starting a book club at Central. A lot of kids want to belong to it. Isn’t that great? And it’s all because of you.”

  “Why, Flora. I’m — I’m honored,” said Aunt Allie. “Truly. That means a lot to me.”

  Flora could feel her good humor start to return. She ate pizza with Ruby and her aunt. She tackled her homework. She phoned Nikki. When Aunt Allie asked if she and Ruby wanted to have an overnight at her house on Friday, she said yes. And when Min walked through the door just before nine-thirty, she apologized for her earlier behavior and told Min she loved her.

  Ruby could remember in great detail the dramatic fire that had destroyed the Marquis Diner at the beginning of the summer. She remembered being jerked from sleep in the middle of the night by the sound of sirens and the smell of smoke, remembered peering out her bedroom window and watching fire engines shriek around corners and turn onto Main Street. Ruby didn’t know Hilary or any of the Nelsons then. Neither did most people living in Camden Falls. But by the end of the summer, nearly everyone knew them and in some large or small way had helped them rebuild the diner.

  Now it was September (just three months since the fire, thought Ruby with wonder), the diner had been rebuilt, and this evening the Nelsons planned to hold the grand re-opening. Ruby, dressed and ready to go, kneeled on her bed and looked out her window across Aiken Avenue toward Main Street. By now she could easily find the window of Hilary’s bedroom, although she did have to strain to see it. In winter, when the trees were bare, the view would be better.

  “Ruby? Are you ready?” called Flora from downstairs. “Min and I are waiting for you.”

  “Coming!” called Ruby. She clattered down the steps, saying, “Oh, this is going to be so exciting. A party! Everyone will be there. And tomorrow the diner will be back in business. Hilary said there are going to be door prizes tonight.” She paused. “What are door prizes? Oh, well. I guess we’ll find out. Not actual doors, I hope. That would be weird. And everyone who comes is going to get a coupon for a free sandwich…. Come on, you guys! Hurry up. We don’t want to be late.” Ruby hurried out the door ahead of Flora and Min, whom she left smiling in the hallway.