Little Ann

by M. L. Humphrey

  Chapter 6 - Mr. Dodd

  This was the year we moved over to Mrs. Stark's room. Only it wasn't Mrs. Stark's room any more. Brenda told me over the summer that she was going to get a new baby brother in the fall and her mother would be taking time off for that. Mrs. Starks's substitute was Mr. Dodd.

  Mr. Dodd looked just like Ichabod Crane from the "Sleepy Hollow" book we read last year. He was a no nonsense kind of guy with a large nose and quirky humor. The boys thought that he was a little to stern, but they respected him.

  Jeremy was in the seventh grade now. His father was a lawyer so he acted a little spoiled, thought he could get away with anything he wanted. Mr. Dodd wasn't short on disciplining him when he had too. He had this thing for Brenda, kept passing her notes. I think she was getting really annoyed with him. She had quickly lost any previous interest she had in him.

  "Jeremy" Mr. Dodd commanded, "If, you persist in bothering Miss Stark I'll be forced to show you what's kept in the closet." He looked down his nose at Jeremy and waited.

  Nobody knew what he really meant, but Brenda had told me last week that she had overheard her parents talking about Mr. Dodd and why he was sent here to be her substitute, something about being accused of child cruelty at his last school. She had also heard that the charges had been falsified by Mrs. Latimer, a member of the school board with an over inflated attitude. It seems that Mr. Dodd had disciplined her son when he had been unruly and she hadn't liked that.

  The sympathy had been for Mr. Dodd but the school board still had to respond to the accusation. Mr. Dodd would have to spend the year here. With overwhelming support from the community, Mrs. Latimer was forced from the school board. The next month the Latimer family packed up and moved away.

  The day after Jeremy's confrontation with Mr. Dodd, Mr. Buxton came to school with him. Mr. Dodd instructed us to attend to our lessons while he and Mr. Buxton conferred outside. We could hear some shouting but they had gone over behind the back side of the school out of sight.

  After awhile Mr. Dodd returned, and the rest of day was normal although Jeremy seemed a little unsure of himself. At the end of the day Mr. Dodd instructed Jeremy to stay after while the rest of us left. After that Jeremy stopped being such a pain. Jeremy didn't come back next fall.

  Chapter 7 - Squirt

  Brenda's little brother arrived just after Thanksgiving. They named him Hiram Granville Stark, after his grandfather. But Brenda just calls him Squirt. Mrs. Stark frowned upon that and wanted her to call him Hank.

  "But he's still a Squirt" she told me privately.

  The rest of the year passed without further incident and on the last day of school, after our final test in Geography, Mr. Dodd announced that he would not be returning in the fall. He wished us all well and said to study hard and we would be a success in whatever we decided to do with our lives.

  On the way home Rusty was walking ahead of us as usual while April quietly tagged along with us. He had reached the age where he didn't want to hang around with a bunch of girls. Yuck, he'd say but stayed in sight.

  Brenda told me her mother would not be coming back to school as the superintendent had found a permanent replacement for her. A Mr. Babcock would be coming to take over while Miss Riley continued with the lower grades.

  Mr. Babcock was a married man with two children but that's all we could find out about him. And then Brenda had found out something just as juicy about Miss Riley, she was engaged.

  "Engaged in what?" I asked her.

  "No silly, she's engaged to be married" Brenda said "to a guy over in Durango. He's a real estate agent."

  "What's a real estate agent?" I asked her.

  "Where have you been living, under a rock?" she chided me. "Real estate is land, houses, that sort of stuff. He helps people buy and sell it."

  "Oh" I said, "did we learn that in school or was I sleeping in class again?"

  "Ann!" she sounded exasperated, "how can you be so dumb? You get better marks in school then I do." She sighed, "All that time on the rez has really stunted your brain. Remind me to explain it all to you sometime."

  "Right" I complied, faking the dumb blonde attitude "remind Brenda to call me dumb." We both laughed.

  We said goodbye at her house and I followed Rusty and April back home.

  Aunt Margaret called to me as soon as she got home. "Come here Ann, I need to talk to you."

  I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, we were going to move again. I held back the tears as we sat at the kitchen table. "We're going to move again" I blurted, just at the edge of tearing up. "Aren't we?"

  She smiled at me. "Yes we are. I have a permanent job in town now and the pay is good. Uncle Tom has been working for a long time in the mine and is now going to start his own business. They will be moving into Durango and they're selling this place. I've decided to buy it and settle down here. It would mean we move into the big house." She sat and smiled at me. My mouth must have been hanging open. Close your mouth dear, it's not ladylike." I still cried like a baby.

  Chapter 8 - A New Home

  So Uncle Tom and Aunt Marty moved all the belongings they could take to a house on the north side of Durango. It was a smaller house, but close to the school. They told us we could have anything of what was left over and either pack it into the cottage our dispose of it. I got a bigger bed and a large room upstairs with a real closet to fill with all the junk I wanted.

  It was a nice feeling to have a permanent home; I really could get used to this.

  A few weeks before school was to start, Brenda and I were playing in the barn when Aunt Margaret drove in. She'd been shopping and had several grocery bags in the back seat. We ran over and helped her take them in.

  As we were putting them away in the pantry and chattering away as any preteens would do, the phone rang. I watched as Aunt Margaret answered it, maybe it was for me? Nobody ever called me. Except of course Brenda and she was here with me already.

  I put the soup cans on the top shelf and the vegetables on the second shelf. The boxes of cereal went on the bottom shelf beside the flour and sugar. The produce and meat went into the fridge.

  She hung up the phone and then immediately made another quick call.

  "Brenda" Aunt Margaret called, "I just talked with your mother. Would you like to stay for supper?"

  "I'd like that Miss Landerson, but I have homework." Brenda replied soberly.

  "And it's due tomorrow isn't it?" She sighed. "I have to go out this evening. Why don't you run home and get it then you and Ann can study together. Your father can pick you up later after I get back. Besides, you girls are old enough now to stay home alone and I won't be too late."

  "Yea!" as we raced out the door and down the road to her house. When we got back supper was on the stove but there were only two places set at the table.

  To answer our unasked question she just said, "I'll be over to Uncle Tom's and Aunt Marty's for supper, they have someone they want me to meet. Now you two behave, get your school work done, and don't forget to do the dishes."

  "Yes Aunt Margaret." we answered in unison, all smiles and innocence.

  "Hrmph!" she said, shook her head and went out the door. "No strangers in the house or boys either for that matter." then she got in the car and left.

  "Oh joy, what should we do first?" Brenda asked.

  "How about we eat, while it's still hot?" I replied.

  "Oh, you're such a killjoy." Brenda always seemed so full of energy. "Then it will be dishes, then homework, clean the house, then…Ahh! Why can't we just have some fun?" as she plopped down at the table.

  Brenda could be so silly at times; must be that little brother of hers.

  "You should be an actress" I said.

  She made a few poses then a bow. "Thank you all for this academy award. I want to thank you all blah, blah, blah, etc…" We laughed until the food got cold.

  Chapter 9 - Mr. Babcock

  Summer finally came to an end and Sixth grade under Mr. Babcock was s
o much different from Mr. Dodd. Mr. Babcock was a whirlwind in a suit and he had the cutest son named Page. Now who names their son Page? That's a girl's name. But he was still cute and a little lame at times. They had moved here from Phoenix and I think he was lost in such a small school. That was before we found out his name was really Bob Page, Mr. Babcock was his step father. His real father had been killed in Vietnam when he was in the first grade.

  He and his older sister had lived with their grandparents until their mother met and married Mr. Babcock. That was when Bob was in the third grade and his sister in seventh.

  Brenda had her eye on him and told me to stay away from him. "He's all mine" she told me.

  I just laughed at her. "Now who's the dumb one? Don't you remember what Miss Riley told us about boys?" I reminded her slyly.

  "You didn't believe any of that did you?" she retorted. "Well maybe, but he's so cute, and clueless."

  "Down girl, you're starting to drool. Remember Jeremy?" I replied.

  "Oh Jeremy was a spoiled brat. Don't pay any attention to him. Besides, he was bad news."

  We said goodbye at her house and I walked up the road to my house. Jeremy had moved away right after the school year ended last year. We learned later that his father had sent him off to a private school. Good riddance.

  When I got home another car was parked beside Aunt Margaret's.

  Chapter 10 - Mr. Halsey

  I could hear voices in the living room as I closed the kitchen door and put my books on the table.

  "Ann" Aunt Margaret called, "come in here please."

  There was a man sitting on the couch with Aunt Margaret. He got up and offered his hand to me.

  "Ann, this is Mr. Halsey. Jake, this is my ward Gisselle Lyndes. You may call her Ann." I still stared at his hand not knowing what to do. "Oh for goodness sakes Ann. Just shake hands with him. He won't bite."

  We shook hands and he settled back on the couch. I went back to the kitchen and took my books upstairs to study. I could still hear them faintly talking as I started doing my Algebra assignment. Later on I'd go back down to Brenda's and help her with hers.

  Brenda was better in Civics and History but not so good in Math and Science so we helped each other. Mr. Babcock didn't mind students helping each other. He told us that it helps you to learn by helping others, not only with direct subjects like Math and Science, but also with indirect subjects like history and civics which were more subject to personal interpretation. He said it was like looking at a problem from different viewpoints. He said it was like adding another dimension; I just nodded.

  After awhile Mr. Halsey left and Aunt Margaret started supper.

  "Who is Mr. Halsey?" I asked her.

  "Jake?" she replied slowly. "Oh!" She cleared her throat before continuing.

  "Mr. Halsey has recently moved to Durango from Boulder. He was an engineer with the Bureau of Mines." Her thoughts were definitely somewhere else. "His parents died just recently and he's inherited their properties. He lives in the house right behind Tom and Marty Sue. "

  "Tom use to work for Jake's father. They introduced us last week." She turned to me with questioning look. "What do you think of him?"

  I shrugged my shoulders, "He seems OK. Do you like him?" I replied.

  She got a funny look on her face. "Well, I think he's a nice person. We'll just see how things go." She turned to the stove to stir the soup. "I have to go out again tonight. Do you think you can manage to stay out of trouble until I get back?"

  "You're going to leave me here all by myself?" I asked, "I'll be bored to tears. Can I watch TV?" I asked eargerly.

  "After you do the dishes and finish your homework. I may be late, make sure you're in bed by nine."

  "Yes Ma'am." That got me another strange look. Wait till I tell Brenda about this.

  Chapter 11 - Reflections

  It was strange how the last few years had gone by so quickly. Little George had gone from a toddler to starting first grade next year. We would visit Uncle Tom and Aunt Marty Sue quite frequently and they had been over here on several occasions. It was funny to see how Rusty had changed since they had moved over to Durango. He was into sports and was even on the gymnastics team. He liked football and Hockey and I noticed that April was beginning to tease him about girls.

  Jake was over here quite frequently and as often Aunt Margaret would be out late at night. Once he even took us both to a movie. I wanted to see "Shakespeare in Love", but we ended up at "Mulan". I liked it anyway as I got to sit with Brenda while Aunt Margaret and Jake sat further back.

  "Do you think they're in love?" Brenda asked me after the movie ended and we were standing outside.

  "Brenda, it's only a movie. I've read about this movie and most of it is pure fiction." I replied.

  "You simp! I wasn't referring to the movie" she exclaimed while looking sidewise behind us.

  "Oh! You mean…?" as I copied her movements.

  "Well?" she giggled, "tell me all about it. Aunt Brenda wants to know."

  "I don't know" I replied haughtily. "She doesn't tell me anything unless I ask her, and then she's evasive about it." I snorted. "Sometimes she thinks I'm just a little girl that doesn't know anything."

  "Well you are" Brenda chided me.

  I gave her a simmering look and she backed up. "OK, we both are. Simmering idiots we are."

  "And what about Bob?" I shot back. "Hmmm?"

  She got a wistful look on her face. "He's still dreamy but it's so hard to get him to talk to me."

  "Now who's the idiot? I think he's scared of you." Just then we were interrupted.

  Aunt Margaret and Jake had caught up to us outside the theater.

  "Miss Stark?" Jake asked Brenda, "would your parents mind taking Ann back with you. We've somewhere else to go but we won't be long."

  "Yeah sure, Dad's supposed to be here anytime. I'm sure he won't mind." she replied.

  "Good." He turned to Aunt Margaret. "This shouldn't take to long, if you don't mind?" She just nodded then gave me that look she always had when I was supposed to toe the mark or there'd be consequences.

  He turned to Aunt Margaret, "Shall we?" She smiled back at him and they walked off together.

  "I wonder if they're going parking?" Brenda said.

  "Parking?" I gave her a quizzical look.

  "Go somewhere secluded and make out?" She could see I still didn't understand.

  "Making out. Kissing and hugging. Get it?" She started to smile as I slowly understood. There's got to be some interesting thinking going on up there under that red hair of hers.

  Just then Mr. Stark drove up. We climbed in back and giggled all the way home. He just shook his head.

  Chapter 12 - Time Passes On

  Seventh grade passed uneventfully and at the end of the school year I was looking forward to my fourteenth birthday. I was spending a lot of Saturday nights home alone, although Brenda would stay over as often as her mother would allow. Some nights I'd stay with her and we'd babysit her little brother while her parents went out for the evening.

  Sometimes Jake would come over for supper and stay until I had to go to bed. Next year Aunt Margaret said she would allow me to stay up until nine thirty, but I was holding out for ten.

  One night while Brenda and I were babysitting her brother, she asked me what it was like living on the rez. I gave her a questioning look.

  "I never knew if I should ask," she mused. "You never mentioned it and you looked so defensive when any mention of it came up."

  She seemed cautious about broaching the subject. I didn't say anything, but she could probably read the range of emotions on my face.

  "Mom told me about your parents and that you've been living with your Aunt Margaret ever since" she prodded.

  "And how did you handle it?" the voice asked. I had almost forgotten about him. Him? Who is this voice anyway?

  Calmly it spoke again. "Miss Lyndes. Please continue."

  I rolled over on the rug and stared at t
he ceiling. Brenda had just put Squirt to bed and I could hear him fussing. After a few minutes he fell asleep.

  "We moved around a lot before we came here" I started. "I remember going to this school and that school before we came to the rez. I was nine when she took a job as a bookkeeper at the casino. I was the only white kid at the school but I had a friend that lived next door.

  Her name was Mary, Mary Deering. But the police came and took her brother away. Shortly after that her family moved away. Then I had no friends at all. That's when I met Silent Runner. He taught me about the Indians and their history.

  But then he died and everyone hated me because Aunt Margaret blew the whistle on some tribal elders that were embezzling money from the casino." I rolled over and looked at Brenda as she lay watching me with her head propped up on her arm.

  "We left the next day and came here." I rolled back over and stared at the ceiling again. "And I don't ever want to move again."

  "Did you tell her about the box?" the voice asked? I ignored the voice, this was my story. I'll tell it my way.

  Brenda lay there staring at me. I could feel her eyes boring into my skull.

  "Do you remember your parents?" she asked quietly.

  "Not really, they died when I was only five and I've been living with Aunt Margaret ever since." I heard a car drive in so I got up off the floor and went to the bathroom. When I came back her mother was hanging up her coat, Mr. Stark was waiting outside to take me home.

  "It's late and there's a storm coming in" he told me, "Be best if I give you a ride home."

  Brenda hugged me and whispered in my ear. "Ann, any time you want a shoulder to cry on I'll be here for you." I sniffed and thanked her then went out the door to the car.

  Over the next few weeks before school started we talked about all sorts of things. She told me things about herself that I'd never known. We became inseparable after that. That was to be a big benefit in the years to come. Boys were going to be a big problem for both of us.

  Chapter 13 - Sad Goodbye

  I can hardly believe it has been five years and we haven't moved. I have lots of friends both here and at school. Mr. Babcock was an excellent teacher and all of our class would be going to high school in Durango next year; that is except for Joey Brewster. His family was moving out of state and we'd probably never see him again. On the last day of school Mr. Babcock had us give him a send off party. Joey was always the tough kid of the class, but I saw him cry that day. I liked him and kissed him on the cheek.