by Joan Bauer
For some reason that helped.
As the election for Homecoming Queen drew closer, Elizabeth was acting strangely. She was spending lots of time in her room, and she didn’t want to pet MacIntosh because she said he might have germs.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. She was standing in the clearing in the orchard, looking at the rust-colored sunset that seemed painted across the sky.
“I know who’s going to be the Homecoming Queen,” Elizabeth told me.
“Bonnie Sue, probably,” I said. All the popular kids were handing out her brochures. “Have you seen the stickers? ‘Bonnie Sue, we love you!’” I groaned.
Elizabeth laughed happily. “Jackie’s going to win.”
As far I knew Jackie didn’t really stand a chance. Every thinking person in school was voting for Lacey, but whether she could beat Bonnie Sue’s heavily financed campaign was unclear.
“It’s a done deal, Hildy,” Elizabeth assured me. “Jackie’s got it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Elizabeth kept staring at the sunset that was being swallowed up by the night. “Madame Zobek told Jackie she was going to win.”
I stared at her. “You don’t really believe Madame Zobek’s for real, do you?”
Elizabeth kept looking at the sky. “There are things in this world that are greater than we know, Hildy.”
“Have you gone to see Madame Zobek?” I demanded.
Elizabeth shook her soft blond curls. “Of course not!” She walked quickly away.
I think that was the first time Elizabeth ever lied to me.
Something spooky seemed to hover in the air.
Chapter 15
Homecoming fever was everywhere. It was a welcome relief, too, from the creeping, crawling hype around the Ludlow house.
“You know what I love about this school?” Mr. Grasso shouted from the makeshift stage in the cafeteria. He gazed proudly at the GO BEASTS! sports banner and said, “We’ve got it where it counts! We don’t have the newest facilities, we don’t have the fanciest uniforms, but we’ve got heart! I’m calling on every one of you to rally strong for our teams during Spirit Week! Let’s cheer the Beasts on to homecoming victory!”
Among Beasts fans, Tanisha’s dog Pookie was the only true believer. She came to every pep rally and jumped with the cheerleaders. She ran across the football field during practice in her navy-and-orange GO BEASTS! sweatshirt.
Pookie also learned to pee on The Bee’s special editions.
“Right here, baby.” Tanisha pointed to the front-page article and Pookie let loose on badly written copy:
“The living room is the most haunted place,” said an undisclosed source who supposedly had been inside the Ludlow house. “And by the fireplace I could feel the spirit of Mrs. Ludlow the most. Sometimes I could hear her crying. Once I asked if there was anything I could do to help, and suddenly something tried to push me on the floor! I ran out of there fast, and when I got home, I had black-and-blue marks on my back!”
I’m sorry, this isn’t journalism.
But it got into the atmosphere just the same.
Even into Spirit Week at Banesville High. Someone added an E and O to all the Spirit Week posters, changing SPIRIT to ESPIRITO, which means “ghost” in Spanish.
The Bee had its own Spirit Week celebration.
“Homecoming isn’t just for high school,” wrote Madame Zobek. “Homecoming has at its root a deeper dimension. I sense that many spirits of the dead will find their way home to Banesville at the beckoning of the ghosts now gathered on Farnsworth Road.”
I went over to Farnsworth Road to see what Pinky Sandusky had to say about that. The leaves were changing to brilliant reds and deep yellows, but nothing, not even autumn’s beauty, could make the Ludlow house look respectable.
She showed me her 24/7 time chart of everything observed.
Assorted birds.
Assorted weirdos.
No ghosts, however.
“How long have you and your friends been watching the property?” I asked her.
“Close to three weeks.”
“And what do you think your findings mean?”
“I have no proof whatsoever that any kind of ghost resides on this property.”
“Can I quote you?”
“Honey, you can stick my words on a bumper sticker.”
Home.
I was standing outside Elizabeth’s room. The door was shut; I knocked on it.
“It’s me,” I said.
“Just a minute,” Elizabeth said nervously.
It sounded like she was putting things away. I never do this, but I walked in anyway.
There was a tray on the bed with photos of her mother in antique frames; Elizabeth and her mom looked so much alike. Next to the photos were candles. I could tell they’d just been blown out—the wicks were smoking.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Her heart-shaped face was furious. “Who gave you permission, Hildy, to just barge in here?”
“What are you doing?” I asked again.
Tears came to Elizabeth’s eyes. She gathered up the photographs of her mother. There was a big pile of money on her dresser, too.
“What’s the money for, Elizabeth?”
“Leave me alone, Hildy.”
“Are you seeing Madame Zobek?” I persisted.
“No! I already told you! Leave me alone!”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.” I sat on her bed. “What’s going on?”
Elizabeth’s hands started shaking. She dropped to her knees on the hooked rug, crying.
“I only went to her two times, Hildy. She said my mother wanted to talk with me, but something was preventing it…”
“Madame Zobek told you this?”
She nodded, weeping.
“What else did she tell you?”
“She said that there were special candles she could get me that would help set Mom’s spirit free so she could come to me.”
I looked at her bed. “Are those the candles?”
She bit her lip; nodded.
“How much are you paying her?”
“Not that much.”
I looked at the money on her dresser. Elizabeth had sponge painted that dresser in white and silver last year. It was beautiful.
“And what is she charging for the candles?”
“A hundred dollars, okay? But she gave me the special sale price and—”
“You gave some woman in a cape a hundred dollars!”
“You weren’t there, Hildy. I was. You didn’t hear her—I did. You knew your father, I never knew my mother, and if she’s trying to get back to give me a message, I’m going to spend everything I’ve got to hear her!” She threw a lace pillow across the room.
I stood on the porch, trying to figure out what to do. I could see my breath in the air, floating like a wisp.
I had to tell, I knew that.
I hated having to do it.
When Elizabeth and I were younger, I used to tease her that she was part apple because her emotions bruised so easily. I didn’t want her to get hurt in any way.
Felix had gone to bed early. Nan and Mom were at an Apple Alliance meeting.
Nan was the one who needed to talk to Elizabeth. Nan understood her gentleness better than anyone.
It was 10:45 when Mom and Nan walked through the door, exhausted. Apple Alliance meetings are grueling.
Mom flopped into the floral chair by the fireplace. “Why do I do this?” she asked me.
“To make the world safe for apple buyers everywhere,” I reminded her.
Nan took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “Dear Lord, forgive me, but when Eve Lundquist starts talking about expanding the market for fruit, she just goes on forever.”
“I need to talk to you both about something important.”
Nan kicked off her clodhoppers. “Go ahead, darlin’.”
I told them about Elizabeth, the money, and what Zack had found o
ut about fake psychics.
Nan stood up. “We’re stopping this before it goes any further. Is Felix awake?”
“He went to bed.”
Nan went to wake him up.
Mom shook out her ponytail. “You did the right thing telling us, Hildy.”
Then why did I feel like an informant? Because Elizabeth and I normally didn’t tell on each other—that’s why.
I watched as Nan, Felix, and Mom climbed the round oak staircase up to Elizabeth’s room.
I listened as the voices grew louder, as a foot stomped down hard and shook the ceiling above me.
I waited for them to come downstairs; they finally did.
Felix looked like he’d been hung out to dry. His shoulders drooped like he couldn’t bear the weight of them anymore.
“I didn’t know Elizabeth was so in need of her mother,” he began. “I’m going… well, I’m going to have to figure out what to do about that.”
He walked toward his bedroom.
Nan said, “Hildy, it’s best to give Elizabeth some space with all this. She’s not thinking right now, she’s just feeling.”
“Laurie liked blue. She was quite an artist,” Felix said to my mother at the breakfast table the next morning. He was talking about his wife, Elizabeth’s mom.
“I’m sure Elizabeth would like to know that,” Mom said encouragingly. “Do you have any of Laurie’s drawings?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to look later.” Felix got up to head to the fields.
“Daddy, wait.”
Elizabeth was standing in the doorway in her pajamas. She didn’t look at me.
“Morning, honey,” he said.
“What kind of blue did Mama like?” Only an artist would ask that.
Felix looked confused. “How many kinds are there?”
Elizabeth sat down as far away from me as possible and ticked them off. “There’s azure blue, and teal, and robin’s egg, and sky blue, baby blue, midnight, navy, cobalt…you know…”
Felix didn’t know. “Well… I’m sure she liked them all.”
Elizabeth’s face fell.
Felix gulped. “What’s your favorite blue, honey?”
“Sky blue,” she whispered.
Felix leaned against the back door, relieved; sky blue is something a grower can connect to.
“Well now, it seems to me I remember your mama taking you outside all the time and pointing up to the sky.”
“You do?” Elizabeth grinned.
“Yes, ma’am. You two had cloud blue in common.”
“That’s sky blue, Daddy.”
He coughed and headed out the door to the orchard.
“That’s a nice memory,” I said to Elizabeth, but she wouldn’t look at me.
That afternoon at school, Mr. Grasso stood on the stage in the cafeteria flanked by Bobo Liggins and Dave Hargrove, two large, ferocious football players, and announced to one and all the Homecoming Queen winner.
Mr. Grasso shouted, “Lacey Horton, come on up here. You’re our new queen!”
A cry of joy rose in the cafeteria as Lacey came forward.
Elizabeth and Jackie sat there shocked.
“Long live the queen!” Darrell shouted.
I was standing and clapping next to Zack, who was shouting and whooping.
I looked over at Bonnie Sue’s face; it was flushed with fury. The in-crowd girls crowded in around her.
But mostly I was looking at Elizabeth, who was sitting there with Jackie, not clapping, not entering in. I walked over to them.
Jackie’s eyes were red. Elizabeth was pressing her temples like she had a headache.
“I’m sorry,” I told them.
Elizabeth looked up angrily. “Aren’t you going to say you told me so, Hildy?”
“I didn’t come over for that. I came over for this.” I hugged her. She didn’t hug me back much. That was okay for now.
We’d work our way through this.
Chapter 16
“Okay, we are going to rock it tonight and we are going to get down and out and over and all around, so get ready!”
Lev shouted it into the DJ’s microphone. Lev had painted half his face orange and the other half blue in honor of our school colors, because this, after all, was the homecoming dance.
Orange and blue balloons hung everywhere in the gym. The basketball hoops had been decorated like huge trees with hanging crepe paper apples.
True, the Beasts lost the football game by a field goal, but there was something much more important to celebrate.
The dateless had moved into the seat of power.
True to her word, Lacey Horton had come to the dance alone.
“Everybody dance,” Lacey shouted from the stage. “Alone, together, whatever!” She ran to the floor and started a line dance. Pookie, all dressed up in a sequined dog outfit, ran across the dance floor. Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Roddy, did the Electric Slide. Lev did his strutting rooster as people clapped. Tanisha, T.R., Darrell, and I did some swing-dance moves. No one knew if Bonnie Sue was coming. Jackie had stayed home.
The music pounded. I was surprised to see Zack here. He’d told me he hated dances. He seemed paralyzed on the dance floor.
“I don’t exactly dance,” he whispered to me.
“Can you sway?” I asked him.
“I’m not really a swayer.”
“But the universe is always moving, right? Planets in rotation, atoms bouncing around.” I danced around him a little. I was wearing my great blue dress from last year. It hugged my hips and had a superb twirling skirt.
He stood there. “Well, actually, atoms move and bond with each other faster than we can imagine—one trillion times faster than the blink of an eye.”
“Really?” I blinked my eyes fast and laughed.
“And the atoms we’re made of move with us,” he added.
“So I’m not just dancing here with myself,” I said. “I’m dancing with my atoms.” I raised my arms.
Zack looked embarrassed. “I’ve never thought of science quite this way, Hildy.”
Neither had I!
Suddenly, the music changed to a fast Latin beat.
Zack couldn’t handle it. “I’m going to stand over there and be inconspicuous.”
A hand rested on my shoulder.
“Come on, Hildy. Dance with me.”
It was Lev. I shook my head, started walking away. “No…”
Lev was already moving to the rumba rhythm. We’d taken salsa dance classes together last year. “Come on.”
Kids formed a circle around us, clapping us on.
Oh, why not? I shook back my hair and strutted toward him.
Lev was grinning. My hips were swinging. He twirled me fast and bent me back low.
“See, you can trust me.”
Only in public. Back on my feet now.
Lev took my right hand with his left, put his right hand firmly on my back.
I put my left hand on his shoulder; we looked each other in the eye.
“I don’t trust guys with blue-and-orange faces,” I told him.
He laughed.
Step forward…
Step back…
Rock forward…
Hold the beat…
He dipped me back, did a toe-heel swivel.
I danced away and danced back to him as the crowd cheered.
I don’t know how long we were dancing; my heart was beating fast. Finally the music ended. Everyone applauded. Lev bowed dramatically and kissed my hand. Then he headed to Jenny Johns, his date, who was not amused.
Tanisha came over to me. “You slammed that one, Hildy.”
I was glad I had danced with Lev, but I didn’t want to dance with him anymore. Now I could honestly say I was over him.
I went to find Zack as the cast of Desperate People did a lip sync to “I’m Desperate for You.” He was standing at the food table, looking like he’d just seen an alien.
“Hi,” I said, breathless.
“Hi.”
“Lev and I used to go out,” I explained.
“I figured.” He put his food plate down.
“Lev and I are over,” I assured him.
“Are you sure?”
I watched Lev showing off his lip-synching moves on center stage. “Absolutely.”
“I could never dance like that, Hildy.”
I smiled. “That’s okay. You’re an ace at fighting evil.”
Zack laughed. “Maybe I should get a cape.”
Just then the lip sync ended, and Bonnie Sue Bomgartner paraded in with her date, Bobby Most. She was wearing a hot pink dress and a cold, forced smile. She walked straight to Lacey, clicking off the steps into her stiletto heels. Pookie, ever vigilant, raced to Lacey and jumped up into her arms as Bonnie Sue approached.
Lacey smiled at Bonnie Sue. “I’m glad you came.”
“Is this your date?” Bonnie Sue asked sarcastically, indicating Pookie.
“We’re just friends,” Lacey said warmly.
Pookie yipped and reached out for Bonnie Sue to hold her. Bonnie Sue’s face melted as she held Banesville’s best little white dog.
Just then thunder boomed outside and fierce rain began to fall, just like the National Weather Service had predicted.
After that, the music started; a slow dance this time.
“Come on,” I said to Zack. “This doesn’t require much.” I took him by the hand, and we walked to the dance floor.
I put my hand on his shoulder. He put his hand on mine and smiled. He was really very cute when he smiled.
“I almost didn’t come tonight,” he said, swaying briefly.
“I’m glad you did.”
I’m glad we all did—dateless and dated.
Lacey glided by, happily dancing with Pookie. They won the dance contest hands down.
Go Beasts!
Chapter 17
MAYOR TO UNVEIL PLAN
TO REVITALIZE BANESVILLE
The Bee reported that a plan that had been months in the making would bring enormous relief to Banesville’s lagging tax base. “We need to move into the twenty-first century,” Mayor Fudd declared. “We’ll be having a Town Hall meeting on November 17 to discuss it. I’ve never been more excited about what Banesville can give to the world.”
I called the mayor’s office to ask what that was exactly.
