Needle and Thread

by Ann M. Martin

  She would just have to hurry and focus on her tasks, that was all. Kitchen first, because the very last thing she wanted was for Mae to get in trouble. Then wake her mother. Then try to feed the dogs.

  “Okay, Mae. Let’s get cracking,” said Nikki, forcing her lips into a smile. “You put away the peanut butter and all the other things you took out of the cupboard. I’ll wash the dishes, you dry them, and we’ll both put them away. Is the Dustbuster working? There’s a lot of crumbs and stuff on the floor.”

  “Broken,” said Mae.

  “Oh, well,” said Nikki. “I’ll use the broom.”

  Half an hour later, the kitchen looked fairly clean. “Let me go wake up Mom,” said Nikki. “You stay here. Don’t go outside yet.”

  “Um, Nikki? I think Dad’s home.”

  Nikki had been halfway up the stairs. Now she turned around, ran back to the kitchen, and peered out the window. “Oh, no,” she said under her breath. “Mae, go sit very, very quietly in front of the TV. Keep the sound low.”

  “But what about Paw-Paw?”

  “There isn’t time to feed the dogs. Just do what I say. I have to wake up Mom.”

  Nikki ran upstairs again and shook her mother. “Mom! Dad’s home. You have to get up. You don’t want him to know you slept all day. Get up.”

  To Nikki’s relief, her mother rolled groggily out of bed and started to put on some clothes that were lying on a chair.

  Downstairs the front door opened.

  “Hi, Dad!” called Nikki cheerfully as she bounced down the steps.

  “Hi, Daddy,” said Mae cautiously from her seat on the couch.

  “Where’s your mother?” asked Mr. Sherman.

  “She’ll be right down,” replied Nikki.

  “What’s for dinner?”

  “Mmm …” Nikki mentally reviewed the contents of the fridge and the freezer. “Hamburgers and peas.”

  Mr. Sherman grunted, then dropped onto the couch.

  “Mae, come on and help me start dinner,” said Nikki.

  Later, when Tobias returned from his after-school job, the entire Sherman family sat down to dinner, something that rarely happened. They arranged themselves around the kitchen table and ate in silence until Tobias cleared his throat and said, “So how’s old Camden Falls Elementary, Nikki?”

  “Good,” said Nikki, who wasn’t prepared to talk about Mrs. Mandel’s departure while her father was around.

  “What about you, squirt?” Tobias asked Mae. “What do you think now that you’re a big first-grader?”

  Mae smiled. “It’s fun. But sometimes it’s cold on the playground. Mommy, is Mrs. DuVane going to buy me a new coat?”

  Mrs. DuVane was a wealthy woman in Camden Falls who, because she had gone to high school with Mrs. Sherman, had decided that Tobias, Nikki, and Mae were her own personal charity projects. She frequently turned up (uninvited) to take them shopping for school clothes or supplies, or out for a meal in a fancy restaurant, or to a play or other cultural event.

  At the mention of Mrs. DuVane, Mr. Sherman snorted and said, “That old bat.” Then he returned to his hamburger.

  Tobias changed the subject. “Hey, Nikki, are you going to enter any of your pictures in the art show? The one for that town birthday thing? You should.”

  “I can answer that question,” said Mr. Sherman. He took a swallow of beer. “No, she isn’t. We are Shermans and we don’t need any attention drawn to us.” He turned to Nikki. “You stay out of the spotlight, understand? Especially with any of that flaky art stuff. We are workers, not artistes.” He waved his fork through the air, pinky raised.

  Nikki nodded.

  Mr. Sherman turned to Tobias. “Get me another beer.”

  “You want another beer? Okay.” Tobias opened the refrigerator door, took out a cold can of beer, and threw it at his father.

  “Tobias!” cried his mother, and Mae screamed.

  Mr. Sherman ducked just in time, and the can crashed into the wall above the sink, leaving a mark in the graying paint. Tobias ran for the door.

  “You get back here!” Mr. Sherman was on his feet in a flash, but by the time he reached the door, Tobias had disappeared into the darkness. “He’d better not come home tonight,” said Mr. Sherman, who slammed the door so hard a picture fell off the wall. Then he took his place at the table again, leaving the beer can on the floor.

  The Shermans finished their supper in silence, and that was the way Nikki’s bad day ended.

  The month of October became one of the busiest times in Camden Falls that Flora and Ruby could remember. Everyone seemed to be planning something or getting ready for something — making lists and phone calls, sewing, shopping, and baking. Halloween costumes took shape. Rehearsals were scheduled. Meetings were held, some in secret.

  At Min’s house, Flora and Ruby and Nikki gathered to discuss the surprise party for Olivia’s big one-oh. At school, Olivia and Nikki and Flora got the idea to give a hello/good-bye party for Mr. Donaldson and Mrs. Mandel, and to make presents for the triplets. At the Edwardses’ house, Robby and his parents talked about what Robby might do after he graduated from school next spring.

  The official planning for Olivia’s party got under way in Flora’s bedroom on a Saturday morning when Olivia and her brothers were spending the day with their grandparents.

  “The main thing,” said Flora, sitting at her desk with a pad of paper on her knee, “will be keeping this a secret from Olivia. Are we all going to be able to keep this huge secret?” Flora looked in Ruby’s direction and raised her eyebrows.

  “Why are you looking at me?” Ruby cried.

  “At you? You mean at Ruby Jane Beanspiller?” said Flora.

  Nikki giggled.

  “It’s not funny!” said Ruby.

  “Yes, it is,” said Nikki. “Ruby Jane Beanspiller?”

  “That’s what our parents started calling her almost as soon as she learned to talk,” said Flora. “She blabbed everything to everyone.”

  Nikki’s smile faded. She never knew what to say when the subject of Flora and Ruby’s parents came up. Nikki didn’t care much for her own father, but she couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if both of her parents were taken away — snap — in a single unexpected moment.

  “Well, anyway,” said Ruby, glaring fiercely at her sister, “I can keep this secret, and I think we have more important things to do. Like make plans. Where are we going to have the party?”

  “Yeah, and how are we going to pull it off as a surprise?” asked Nikki.

  “We should make lists,” said Ruby. “For food, supplies, guests.”

  Flora held her pad of paper aloft. “That’s why I have this.”

  “What about gifts?” asked Nikki.

  “She wants a pet,” said Flora.

  “A pet? I — well, you know I don’t have much money. How can we get her a pet?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to talk to her mom and dad. I thought we could make most of her gifts anyway. We can get supplies at Needle and Thread. And look at all my craft stuff here. You can make cards — I’ve already made one for her — and some of the decorations, too. Olivia wants everything in silver and pink. I have lots of ideas. Now, here’s what I think we should do. We should meet —”

  Ruby interrupted her. “You sound like Olivia!” she said.

  Flora smiled. “Do I?”

  “Yeah,” said Ruby. “It’s nice. All bouncy like Olivia. Not sad.”

  “Well, anyway,” said Flora, flushing and looking down at the pad of paper, “I thought we could meet on the afternoons when Olivia’s at Whiz Kidz.”

  “But I have rehearsals some of those days,” said Ruby.

  “And I don’t know if I’ll always be able to come into town,” said Nikki. “Sometimes I have to go home after school. It kind of depends on … things.”

  “What things?” asked Ruby.

  “You know. My father …”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Ruby,�
� said Flora, a warning in her voice.

  “It’s okay,” said Nikki. “My father — he drinks. Mom, too. And sometimes my father has a job, sometimes he doesn’t.”

  “What does he do?” asked Ruby. “I mean, when he has a job?”

  “Lots of things. Carpentry, yard work, house painting.”

  Ruby was going to ask Nikki another question, but she glanced at Flora and saw her shake her head ever so slightly.

  “So,” said Flora, “we can try to meet on Olivia’s Whiz Kidz days, and if we can’t, well, maybe Ruby and I can just call you sometimes, Nikki, to see if you could come over.”

  “It would be better if you asked me at school,” said Nikki, “because our phone doesn’t always work.” This was met with silence, so finally Nikki said brightly, “But look. Here we are together right now. Let’s start making a list of guests first. Write down our names. And then write down …”

  On this same Saturday, three doors down at the Row Houses, Robby and his parents sat around the kitchen table. Robby liked Saturday mornings very much, because often both of his parents were at home. They made a pot of coffee, something Robby liked to smell although not to taste. The coffee was poured into big brown mugs that Robby had bought his parents for Christmas the previous year. One mug said HIS on it and the other said HERS, and they had cost Robby more than sixteen dollars, but he had been happy to spend it on his parents.

  “Robby,” said his mother, setting the HERS mug on the table, “you know, we have something very important that we need to start thinking about.”

  “Christmas?” asked Robby.

  His mother smiled. “Well, we probably should start thinking about Christmas, but I had something else in mind.”

  “Halloween?” Robby scowled.

  “No. I was thinking about your graduation next year.”

  “When Margaret Malone graduates, she’s going to have a party. She said so.”

  “That’s a very nice idea,” said Mr. Edwards. “Would you like to have a party, Robby?”

  Robby nodded. “For all my friends, like David and Bradley and Amanda from school. And Olivia and Margaret and Flora and Ruby.” He paused. “Well, I don’t want a party with all girls, though!”

  “We’ll get back to the party in a bit,” said his mother. “What I was thinking about, Robby, is what you’re going to do after you graduate.”

  “And after I have the party?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ve talked about your getting a job,” said Mr. Edwards. “But you know, you can stay in school for a few more years if you’d like.”

  “But I want to graduate with all the other people who will be eighteen,” said Robby.

  “I know. And you will. You can go to graduation. It’s all set. But after that, you can continue with your schooling, just like most of the other students will.”

  “They’ll go to college,” said Robby. “Will I go to college?”

  “No. But you can stay on with Mrs. Fulton.”

  “In her class at the school for babies?”

  “Robby,” said his mother.

  “But I don’t want to stay there.”

  “That’s fine. Then let’s think about a job.”

  “A job! Yes! That’s what I want to do. I want to work at Stuff ’n’ Nonsense.”

  “With Mrs. Grindle?” asked Mr. Edwards. Mrs. Grindle, the owner of Stuff ’n’ Nonsense, took a dim view of children in her store and also considered Robby to be a child.

  “I’m glad you’ve been thinking about this,” said Mrs. Edwards. “But what if Mrs. Grindle doesn’t have a job available? Is there anywhere else you’d like to work?”

  Robby looked at the ceiling. “At Needle and Thread?” he suggested.

  “So you want to work in a store,” said his father.

  “Yes.” Robby paused. “I am very definite about that.”

  “Well, then, we’ll talk to your teacher,” said Mrs. Edwards. “We want to make sure you understand how to make change and stock shelves, things like that. Maybe you can practice those things with Mrs. Fulton this year.”

  “Yes,” said Robby with a grin. “Practice stocking fragile items on shelves.”

  Mr. Edwards filled his cup again, then said, “Robby, a few minutes ago, you made a face when you mentioned Halloween. Why was that?”

  “Because Halloween is for babies and I’m not doing a baby thing like trick-or-treating.”

  “You don’t have to go trick-or-treating.”

  “Of course not,” said his mother. “Would you like to stay home and be the one who hands out the candy this year?”

  “I could hand it out?” asked Robby.

  “If you want to. Will you miss trick-or-treating?”

  “Maybe. But I’m still not going.”

  “You could wear a costume when you hand out the candy,” Mr. Edwards pointed out. “Like Min and Gigi do at the store.”

  Robby remembered the day when he had sat outside with Olivia and Flora and their new friend, Nikki. “I could be the Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” he said.

  It was on the playground one chilly, gray day that Olivia, Nikki, and Flora, huddled by the doorway, waiting to get back inside the warm school building, came up with the idea to give a party for Mrs. Mandel.

  “And for what’s his name, the new teacher,” said Olivia. “A party to say good-bye to Mrs. Mandel and hello to — to, um …”

  “Mr. Davidson?” said Flora.

  “Mr. Donaldson,” replied Nikki. “That’s a great idea!”

  “We should tell all the other kids,” said Olivia, “and they should talk to their parents. We’re going to need our parents to help out. And we should invite them to the party, too.”

  “Parents or guardians,” said Flora.

  Nikki said nothing.

  After a pause, Olivia said, “Well, what should we do at this party?”

  “Maybe we could say nice things about Mrs. Mandel,” replied Nikki. “Like how much she’s meant to us. But you only have to stand up and talk if you want to.”

  “If we do that, then we should probably say nice things to Mr. Donaldson,” added Flora. “Like how much we’re looking forward to having him as our teacher. Even if we aren’t. We don’t want him to feel left out.”

  “Maybe we could make stuff for them,” said Olivia. “We could write thank-you letters to Mrs. Mandel and draw pictures or something for Mr. Donaldson.”

  “Should we give them presents?” asked Flora. “I mean, besides the letters and pictures?”

  “We could make presents!” exclaimed Nikki. “They could either be for Mrs. Mandel or for the triplets.”

  “That’s a great idea!” said Olivia.

  “I’m going to start sewing right away,” said Flora. “Min can help me. I’ll plan three coordinating smocked outfits for the babies. Bubbles — one white, one green, one yellow. That way they can be for either boys or girls. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I hope I’ll have enough time. That’s a lot of sewing.”

  “We are going to be awfully busy,” said Olivia. “Which is good.”

  “Why is it good?” asked Nikki.

  “Because it will take my mind off the big one-oh. It makes me too sad to think about that now.”

  Nikki and Flora exchanged small secret smiles. Then the bell rang and a hundred and twenty-two students made a run for the door, leaving the playground still and empty on that damp October day.

  Busy, busy, busy. Ruby couldn’t believe how busy she was. Camden Falls was much smaller than the town she and Flora used to live in. Their old town was more like a little city, really. And here was teeny Camden Falls, in which Ruby had lived for less than four months, and already she was taking dance classes, singing with the Children’s Chorus (preparing for a concert to be given on Thanksgiving morning), going to rehearsals for the school play and trying to memorize her lines (she was the star of the play, so of course she had more lines than anybody else), helping to plan Olivia’s surprise party, and tryi
ng to stay out of trouble and keep up with her schoolwork.

  Despite the fact that Ruby was seated under the watchful eye of Mr. Lundy in the very first row in her classroom, she had already had to stay after school twice. Once for talking in class, and once for concentrating so hard on drawing a picture of Alice Kendall that she hadn’t realized Mr. Lundy was standing behind her, watching the drawing take shape. Also, the majority of her grades so far had been C’s. In fact, all C’s except for one B and one D. Min wasn’t pleased, and neither was Mr. Lundy, who felt Ruby wasn’t working up to her true potential and also had a slight attitude problem.

  “If you want to stay in the chorus and the play,” said Min, “you’ll need to pull yourself up at school.”

  “Okay,” said Ruby vaguely, her thoughts on Olivia’s party.

  This conversation was held at Needle and Thread one afternoon when Ruby had no rehearsals scheduled.

  “So I want you to sit down right here and start your homework,” said Min.

  “But Flora and Nikki and I are supposed to talk about plans for Olivia’s party,” Ruby protested. “And look, here they come now.”

  “Ruby needs to do her homework before she can join you,” Min announced to Flora and Nikki as they dropped their school things on the couches.

  “Really? But, Min, it’s so hard to find time to work on the party when Nikki’s around and Olivia isn’t,” said Flora. “Can’t Ruby help us for just a little while? Please? I promise that tonight we’ll both sit at the kitchen table to do our homework. You can watch us. And you can check our homework when it’s done. Please, please, please?”

  “Please?” added Nikki.

  Ruby made her saddest face.

  Min looked at the ceiling briefly, as if for guidance, then said with a huge sigh, “Good gravy. All right. Ruby, you can work with the girls for one hour. Then you must start your homework.”

  “Thank you! Thank you, Min!” cried Ruby, and she threw her arms around Min’s waist.