Confessions from the Principal's Chair

by Anna Myers

  "Could I buy you both outfits?" Grandma asked.

  For an instant I saw Rendi stiffen, and I was afraid she would make some comment about Grandma not thinking she dressed decently. I reached out real quick like, took Rendi's hand, and squeezed it. "That would be nice, Mom," she said.

  We ended up both buying pants, boots, and sweaters. They weren't alike or anything. That would have looked dumb. I thought the new clothes made us look really cool. Grandma was pleased. "Take their pictures, Horace," she told Grandpa when we were back at the house.

  Rendi and I stood in front of the fireplace, and Grandpa was about to push the button when Rendi called, "Wait." She held out her hand to Grandma. "Come stand with us," she said, and Grandma did.

  "All three of my girls together," said Grandpa. Then he took the picture.

  Rendi wore her new outfit the next weekend. On Thursday evening, she was working in her studio when the phone rang. I was still hoping then that Richard might be calling, so I sort of hung around the door of the sunroom to hear. I could tell she was being invited somewhere. "Okay," she said just before she hung up. "I'll be ready at seven."

  She looked up at me. "You wouldn't mind if I went out with Coach Pickle, would you? I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable about it."

  "It's fine with me," I said. I did not tell her the whole date thing had sort of been my idea.

  When Coach Pickle came to pick Rendi up, I was amazed. He had on nice slacks and a yellow shirt. There was no whistle around his neck. His hair was all combed, and he looked really good for a man his age. "I never thought I would be dating the principal's mother," he said just before they went out the door, and he winked at me.

  I curled up on the couch for a long evening of phone conversation. Rendi had bought me a new cell phone, and I could call Katie and talk as long as I wanted on weekends. "What are you doing?" I asked when she answered, and she gave the usual reply. I told her all about Rendi's date and how nice Coach Pickle looked. We talked about Kash, who had actually called me on the phone twice during the week before and had asked me to go with his church when they went ice skating in Tulsa the next week.

  Katie talked about her history project, and just before we hung up she said, "We got a new girl in our math class yesterday." I just made a grunting sound and waited because I could tell there was more. "Ivory wrote me a note right off about how absolutely dorky her clothes were."

  "Good old Ivory," I said. I had given up trying to talk Katie into dumping the Six-Pack. I was always hoping, though, that she would.

  "You know what?" said Katie. "On Monday, I am going to go over to the new girl before class and talk to her. If Ivory doesn't like it, so what?"

  "Let me know how that turns out," I said.

  Katie and I talked the next Saturday for a long time, but she never mentioned the new girl. I didn't ask because it was obvious that she had lost her nerve. Someday, though, she would break away from Ivory, and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be very much longer.

  Life has settled down in Prairie Dog Town. I spend lots of time at the City Café. Would you believe the phone bill was five hundred dollars? From now on I'll get my psychic advice from fortune cookies. Mostly, I am Angie's assistant. She was pretty hard on me in the beginning. "Working here ain't going to be no latte," she told me on the first day, but gradually she started to like me. I've even gotten used to her gum chewing, and sometimes Rendi will let me go to Ponca City with Angie to see a movie.

  In the spring, there was a big unveiling of the statue Rendi had made for the town square. Lots of people came from art galleries, and there were newspaper people and even a television camera. My insides swelled with pride when they took the cover off the prairie dog. Oh, I guess most people would say that a prairie dog isn't nearly as big a deal as a pioneer woman, but I really felt that it was. For just a second, I closed my eyes, remembering the day we first drove into town. I opened my eyes to glance around me. The whole place looked so different to me now. It looked like home. Kash was standing beside me. I leaned over to him and whispered, "I love prairie dogs."