Hannah's Bright Star

by Lisa Schroeder

  “Is he going to be all right?” Elsie asked. “I mean, it’s not serious, is it?”

  “Grandpa says as long as he cleans it a couple of times a day and we keep it bandaged so it can heal, he’ll be fine.”

  “I’m sorry to add to your worries,” Elsie said, picking up her hamburger. “But hopefully we’ll find the bracelet this weekend, and you won’t have that to worry about anymore.”

  Hannah went back to eating her sandwich. She didn’t want to tell Elsie what she was really thinking.

  What if someone found the bracelet and took it home?

  * * *

  Friday night, Mrs. Crawford insisted Hannah go to the beauty shop the following day. She said it wouldn’t do any good for Hannah to mope around about Stardust and the lost bracelet.

  Elsie had told Hannah she’d call her as soon as they got back from the church. She hadn’t found it in the van, which is what Hannah had been hoping for. To Hannah, it seemed like the chances of finding it in such a public place were close to zero. Her mother, however, felt differently. She believed if someone at church found it, that person would do the right thing and turn it in to the office.

  If only Hannah had the charm bracelet to help bring a little bit of luck into the awful situation, she thought, as they drove to the beauty shop on Saturday. All she could do was cross her fingers and hope for the best.

  The three of them were the first ones to arrive, so Hannah went in the back room and got to work folding towels. Louanne and the receptionist, Martha, arrived a few minutes later. Hannah knew this because she could hear the two of them chatting away up front. A few minutes later, Louanne appeared, looking like she’d seen a ghost. She huddled up against the wall, next to the doorway, trying to stay out of sight.

  “What’s wrong?” Hannah asked.

  “Oh, Hannah, I can’t do it. I just can’t.”

  Hannah set the towel she’d been folding down and went over to where Louanne stood. “What do you mean? Do what?”

  “There’s a woman out there I’ve never seen before. She’s my first appointment and she’s …” Louanne wrinkled her face up.

  “She’s what?”

  Louanne leaned in toward Hannah and whispered. “Repulsive. She’s got burns on her face or something. I’m not exactly sure. Can you go and tell your grandma I’ve come down with a stomach bug? That I need to go on home? Maybe she or your mother can fit her in.”

  Hannah had had just about enough of Louanne and her judgmental ways. After all the stuff that had happened the previous week, Hannah just couldn’t take one more frustrating thing. She just couldn’t.

  So Hannah smiled sweetly and said, “No, I will not do that. I would never do that. That woman deserves a nice haircut like anybody else. Can’t you please stop being like this?”

  “Being like what?” Louanne asked, looking positively shocked at the way Hannah was speaking to her.

  “Acting like Miss High and Mighty because you’ve got a prettier face than most folks,” Hannah said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Maybe I was a bit like you at first when it came to Stardust, but I’ve learned my lesson. You really and truly can’t judge a book by its cover. So please, go cut that woman’s hair, and be nice to her!”

  Louanne stood there, speechless.

  A moment later, Mrs. Crawford appeared. “Louanne? You do know you’re keeping your client, Susan, waiting, right?”

  Louanne picked up a couple of towels from the pile. “Sorry. I’m coming.”

  Once Hannah was alone again, she did a fist pump in the air. After all, it felt good to have something finally go her way.

  Louanne did an amazing job on Susan’s hair. She had thick brown hair that just needed someone to put a style to it. Louanne shaped it into a long bob and it looked really nice. Everyone in the salon told Susan it looked wonderful, and she left with a smile on her face.

  In the car later, Mrs. Crawford asked Hannah if there was anything she and Grandma should know about the conversation she’d been having in the back room with Louanne. Despite the feelings Hannah had toward Louanne’s sometimes-obnoxious behavior, Hannah didn’t want to get Louanne in trouble. After all, in the end, Louanne had done the right thing.

  “She was a bit nervous about talking to the new client today,” Hannah said.

  “Because of the burns on her face?” her grandma asked.

  “Yes,” Hannah said.

  “What’d you tell her?” Mrs. Crawford asked, turning around and looking at Hannah in the backseat.

  Hannah shrugged and looked out the window, trying not to make a big deal out of it. “I don’t really remember. I think I said something about Stardust teaching me you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

  “That was a good thing to say,” her grandma replied. “And completely, one hundred percent true.”

  “Are you planning to ride Stardust in the Valentine’s Day parade, then?” Mrs. Crawford asked.

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said. “That’s up to the 4-H leaders. At first I didn’t care whether I did or not, but now, I’ll be upset if they tell me I can’t ride him.”

  “You’ve dreamed about it forever, it seems,” Mrs. Crawford said. “I hope they do the right thing.”

  “I hope so too,” Hannah said as she reached for the charm bracelet out of habit. Without the lucky bracelet to help her, though, she wasn’t feeling very confident.

  * * *

  When they got home, Hannah found a letter from Libby waiting for her. Instead of getting happy and excited when she saw the envelope, dread filled her. She didn’t open it. In fact, she took it to her room and stuffed it into her top desk drawer.

  Elsie hadn’t called yet, and Hannah wondered why. She decided she couldn’t wait any longer to hear from her. She dialed her number. It rang once, twice, then three times before someone answered.

  “Hello?” a little voice said.

  “Hi. Who’s this?”

  “This is Minnie.”

  “Oh, hi, Minnie. This is Hannah, Elsie’s friend? Is she home?”

  “Yes. She’s in her room. She was sad when we didn’t find your bracelet at church. So she came home and said she wanted to be alone.”

  Hannah’s heart fell to her stomach. “Oh. I see. Well, never mind. I don’t want to bother her. I’ll just talk to her at school on Monday.”

  “Okay. Bye.”

  “Bye,” Hannah said.

  So that was why Elsie hadn’t called. She didn’t want to tell Hannah the bad news. Hannah stood up and paced her room, trying to figure out what to do next. Should she write her camp friends letters and tell them everything? Get it over with? But what if the bracelet mysteriously appeared sometime in the next couple of weeks? Maybe Elsie hadn’t looked everywhere at home and someone would find it in a strange place. Like in a shoe. Or between the pages of a book. Or behind the jar of peanut butter.

  That was the problem. There were a million places to look, and it would be impossible to look everywhere. If only a magical arrow would appear and point the way.

  Hannah decided she had to get out of the house, or she was going to go crazy thinking about the bracelet. She put on her heavy coat and changed into her old boots so she could go out and check on Stardust.

  Outside, the temperature had warmed up a bit, and the moon that was almost full looked pretty in the clear, dark sky. Lots of stars twinkled and she wished she had Elsie there to point out another constellation. Instead, she picked the brightest star, stared at it, and made a wish.

  Star light, star bright

  first star I see tonight

  wish I may, wish I might

  have the wish I wish tonight.

  She closed her eyes and wished for the charm bracelet to come back to her. Please, she thought, please, don’t let it be gone forever.

  As she walked to the barn, thinking about the bracelet, she realized the reason she missed it wasn’t because it seemed to be lucky sometimes, it was because it made her feel close to her camp friends,
Caitlin, Libby, and Mia. The four of them had shared that bracelet, had bought charms for it, and had each taken turns wearing it since they’d left summer camp. It kept them connected in a way nothing else could.

  If the bracelet was truly gone, if she couldn’t find it, Hannah knew her friends would forever look at her differently. She’d decided they would eventually forgive her, because they were awesome like that, but there would always be that one little thing about Hannah that they couldn’t forget. And she just knew things would never be quite the same between the four girls again.

  When Hannah reached Stardust’s stall, it was as if he’d been waiting for her. He nodded his head at her as she came close, and then lowered it and stepped forward to greet her. Without saying a word, Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her check against his soft, warm coat, and let the tears fall.

  Monday morning at school, Crystal was giving Hannah the cold shoulder. With everything else going on, it was the last thing Hannah wanted to deal with.

  “Will you please tell me what I’ve done wrong?” Hannah asked at their locker before first period. “You’re mad at me about something, I can tell.”

  “I’m not mad,” Crystal said matter-of-factly. She looked really cute in a striped white-and-yellow sweater and jeans paired with her blue boots. “I’m just giving you space. You seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind lately.”

  “You’re right as rain about that,” Hannah said with a sigh.

  “I remember the good old days, when I used to be your best friend, and you’d tell me what was bothering you. But I guess since Elsie’s come along …”

  “Since Elsie’s come along, what?” Hannah said, crossing her arms. “What have I done? Tried to be nice to her since her family’s struggling while her daddy tries to find a job? Invited her over to ride Stardust because she’s the only one who seems to like him? Well, yes, yes I have, and there’s no law against any of that, is there? You’re still my best friend, Crystal, but geez, I just wish you’d give the girl a chance. I think the three of us could have a lot of fun together.”

  “She really likes your mule?” Crystal asked.

  “Yes,” Hannah said. “And just so you know, I do too. I’ve been riding him lately. Well, not the past few days, because we’re letting his hoof heal. But before that, I was riding him. And I can’t wait to ride him again.”

  “You’re serious?” Crystal said, looking at Hannah like she’d just told her the sun was green and the sky was orange.

  Seeing her best friend, standing there, it was really important to Hannah that Crystal become more involved with what was happening in her life. It seemed that lately, Crystal was like an outsider, looking in. Just thinking about her like that made Hannah upset.

  “Yes. And I want you to meet him, and see for yourself that he’s really sweet,” Hannah said.

  “Wait. Does this mean you’re inviting me over?” A smile slowly spread across Crystal’s face. “Seems like I haven’t been to your house in ages.”

  “I know,” said Hannah, realizing she felt the same way. “So I was thinking maybe you’d want to do the science fair with Elsie and me. We’re doing an astronomy project. The form is due tomorrow, so I can get it filled out and then the three of us can all meet at my house to talk about the project and make a plan.”

  Of course, Elsie hadn’t gotten back to Hannah yet about whether she wanted to do the project or not. Hannah figured she’d probably just forgotten about it because she’d been so focused on trying to find the bracelet. Well, Hannah figured there was no harm in assuming she wanted to do it if she was able to stay in Soddy-Daisy.

  Crystal’s smile disappeared when she heard Hannah’s suggestion. “That’s not what I really had in mind.”

  “Please don’t be like that,” Hannah said. “We’re going to have a good time!”

  Crystal took a deep breath. “Okay. If you say so. But do you promise that one of these days we can do something together, just the two of us? The cake decorating class was so much fun, and I know you would have loved it.”

  Hannah realized she hadn’t even asked Crystal about the class. She’d totally forgotten about it. Suddenly, Hannah felt like a bad friend. Maybe she had been kind of ignoring Crystal these past few weeks. She hadn’t meant to, of course. It’d just happened, with everything else going on.

  “Is there another class at the craft store we could take together?” Hannah asked. “Or maybe we should bake a cake and decorate it, so you can teach me what you learned?”

  “I’ll have my mom check the schedule and get back to you,” Crystal said, her posture relaxing. “I’d love to take a class with you.”

  Hannah smiled. “That sounds good. In the meantime, the three of us can look at constellations together. It’s fun. You’ll see.”

  * * *

  It wasn’t until later that Hannah discovered Elsie wasn’t at school. Hannah hoped she wasn’t so sick about not finding the bracelet that she’d stayed home to avoid talking about it. She decided it was time to call her and get the awkward conversation over with once and for all.

  “Hello?” said a male voice on the other end.

  “Hello, is Elsie there?”

  “Yes, just a minute, please.”

  It was only a few seconds before Elsie said, “Hello?”

  “Hi, it’s me, Hannah.”

  “Hi.”

  “Are you … okay?” Hannah asked hesitantly. “You weren’t at school today.”

  There was a pause. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I just couldn’t figure out how to tell you that I couldn’t find it.”

  “I know. I figured. And I understand. Is that why you stayed home?”

  “No. My dad didn’t get the job, so we’ve started packing. We’re moving to Houston in ten days.”

  Hannah’s heart sank. “Oh, Elsie. I’m so sorry.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. When Elsie spoke again, her voice was shaky, like she was trying not to cry. “Honestly, it seems like all that bracelet did was bring me bad luck. I wish you’d never given it to me. Why’d you have to go and do that, anyway?”

  Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What? I didn’t —”

  Elsie interrupted her. “I’m sorry, Hannah, I gotta go. My mom needs to use the phone. Please tell Stardust I said good-bye. I’m going to miss him.” She paused. “And you too. A lot. Bye.”

  Before Hannah could say anything in return, Elsie hung up.

  When Mrs. Crawford called the family down for supper, Hannah decided she wouldn’t go. They were having chili and cornbread, and Hannah loved cornbread the way a bear loves fish, but she just didn’t feel hungry. She couldn’t get Elsie’s hurtful words out of her head.

  It seems like all that bracelet did was bring me bad luck. I wish you’d never given it to me.

  Just as she was about to call downstairs that she didn’t feel well, Mr. Crawford walked into Hannah’s room.

  “I got a surprise for you, sweetie,” he said, and handed Hannah a small picture frame with two photos side-by-side. They were the pictures Elsie had taken of Hannah riding Stardust.

  As Hannah stared at them, tears filled her eyes. “Wow. The photos are amazing.” She looked at her dad. “Thank you. I love it.”

  He reached out and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re welcome.” When he pulled away he gave her a curious look. “You all right?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been a strange afternoon.”

  “Well, let’s go have some supper. Some of that cornbread you love so much will surely cheer you up.”

  Hannah set the frame on her dresser and decided to do as her father said. Maybe a little bit of food would make her feel better. It certainly didn’t seem like it could make her feel any worse.

  Everyone else was already seated when Hannah and her father walked into the dining room. Bowls at each place at the table had been filled with chili, and little swirls of steam with a spicy aroma made th
eir way into the air.

  “Oh, shoot,” Mrs. Crawford said. “I forgot the butter. Hannah, can you grab it, please?”

  She went to the fridge and took out the butter dish. When she sat down, she could feel her mother’s eyes on her.

  “We heard about Elsie,” Mrs. Crawford said as she passed the bowl of shredded cheddar cheese to Adam. “It’s awful sad news, I know, but I want to tell you something. Today Louanne proposed our little town come together and do something for their family. So we are. This Saturday, at the salon.”

  Hannah put a napkin in her lap. “What do you mean, do something for them?”

  “We’re going to hold a fund-raiser. Try and get them enough money to pay the rent they owe. If we can just buy them a little more time, maybe Mr. Weston can find work around here.”

  “What kind of fund-raiser?” Adam asked while he sprinkled cheese over his chili. Hannah was glad he’d asked, because she was thinking the same thing.

  “It was Louanne’s idea, and it’s a real good one, I think,” Mrs. Crawford said. “We’re going to turn the salon into a carnival, like the elementary school used to do every year before they decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. Silly administrators. Anyway, we’ll have a cakewalk, a fishing pond in one of the sinks, a bean bag toss in the other, face painting, and whatever else we can think of.”

  Eric passed the basket of cornbread to Hannah. “So people will buy tickets?”

  “That’s right,” Mrs. Crawford said. “The more games and whatnot we can come up with to play, the more tickets we can sell. So put your thinking caps on.”

  “You should use the parking lot too,” Eric said. “Lots of space out there, if you ask people to park on the street and walk over.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Mr. Crawford said. “I know a guy who rents out bouncy houses. Could probably get him to donate a rental for the day.”

  Hannah’s eyes got big. “What if we offered a mule ride? And maybe for extra money, people could pay to get their pictures taken?”