by Jean Little
“No way!” Penny yelped. “I can’t do it alone. Besides, Ms Spinelli already has us down as a duet, you nut.”
“You have a very nice voice, dear,” Penny’s mother said hastily. “And it is improving daily. Just try to throw it out at your listeners more.”
Min felt like a pitcher who is about to be sent down to the minor leagues after having a tryout with the stars.
“Start again,” their pianist ordered and began to play the opening bars. When they had sung it through twice more, she said,”I’m sure it’ll be fine on the night.”
Maybe it would be, but Min had a sinking feeling that she might open her mouth and no sound whatever would emerge.
Every class in the school had become involved and most were performing. There were lullabies and silly songs and even rounds. The French teacher had them all singing a song in French and then Ms Spinelli suggested that they insert three or four recitations.
“They’ve actually got my little brother doing ‘Wynken, Blynken and Nod,’ dressed in a nightshirt,” Jennifer told them, trying hard not to giggle. “He looks like a cherub — which he definitely is not. Mum said she would murder any of us who laughed at him, and I think she means it.”
Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday so they had their last rehearsals on Thursday and Friday. Jess had a class on Friday, but she came to listen on the Thursday afternoon. She sat at the back and told them how Jessye Norman’s mother had commanded her to “stand up straight and sing out.” Min had no idea who Jessye Norman even was, until they played a CD of her singing spirituals that evening. Her voice filled the house with mellow sound and feeling too.
“Wow,” Min murmured. “Penny and I don’t sound a bit like that.”
“I’m planning to sit at the very back on Monday,” Jess said, “and I want to hear every word. If I can’t, I’ll stand up and shout, ‘Sing out, Jessamyn and Penelope. Stand up and sing out.’”
Min giggled. “You wouldn’t,” she said.
“Don’t be too sure,” Jess said, her eyes gleaming.
Min felt more and more anxious as the time neared. She sat on the floor stroking Emily. “Maybe we will both get braver soon,” she said.
“Well, I have some good news about that little dog,” Jess said. “I went out to see how Miss Hazlitt was doing. I wasn’t going to say anything, just see if she was having troubles. And I found out she was leaving on the weekend for a month in Florida with her niece, who has rented a condo and has invited Miss Hazlitt to come along and have a rest from the snow. I told her that was wonderful and I did not tell her why. But I know she won’t be home until over halfway through March. Stop grinning or I’ll call you Minerva.”
Min leaped up and began to dance, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Emily shrank back and Jess laughed.
“Keep that up, young lady, and your rescued dog will be begging you to find her a safer place to hang out,” she said.
Then the dreaded day of the concert arrived. Min peeped through the curtains and spotted Raymah and her sister Lisa in the second row. Then she saw Mrs. Willis. No Enid, thank goodness. Laura and Baxter were there with the Dittos, who waved wildly every time the curtain twitched. Toby was nowhere to be seen. She was about to give up on him, with a pang of disappointment, when she saw him sitting beside Jess at the very back.
“Let me have a turn, will you?” Pravda hissed and Min stepped back, satisfied that everyone she cared about was there. Now if only she could make her voice strong and sure — or even just audible!
Twenty minutes later, when she and Penny walked onto the stage, side by side, and looked over at Penny’s mother and saw her wink at them, Min found herself actually excited. She was even looking forward to singing.
Remember the foundlings, she whispered to herself as the first chord sounded.
Then they had started, their voices blending, and she felt fine. As they reached the last wistful notes, she saw Jess, actually on her feet with both hands in the air, applauding like mad. Toby, beside her, was still seated and was hiding his face behind his two hands. Then he dropped them and grinned right at her.
Although Min knew, when they finished, that she was never going to be the singer Penny was, she felt thoroughly pleased with her performance.
“Boy, am I glad that’s over!” Penny exclaimed when they were safely backstage.
Min stared at her. “Didn’t you have fun?” she asked.
Then it was Penny’s turn to stare. “I was petrified,” she said.
Jennifer’s little brother brought the house down with his recitation. He really did look like an impish cherub.
When it was all over, and the money was counted, the students had raised over nine hundred dollars. The parents matched the amount and boosted it a bit so that two thousand dollars went from Victory School to help all the orphaned babies.
When they got home, Min wanted only to fall into her bed, but her attention was caught by what she saw on the wall on either side of the long mirror. On the left hung the framed Christmas tree picture she had given Jess. On the right, also beautifully framed, was her Rock-a-Bye, Baby poster.
“Oh, Jess, they look so … so …” she started.
But she could not find the right words.
“Professional,” Jess said calmly. Then she added, with a twinkle, “To think I kidnapped you without ever suspecting I was getting myself such a gifted daughter.”
Min blushed and then went to bed humming a song. The tune was from Oliver! but she made up new words that started, “Here is love.”
18
The Trouble with Eavesdropping
“YOU KNOW WHAT, JESSAMYN,” Jess said a few days after the concert, “I think we get along almost too well.”
Min, who was busy drawing a picture of the dogs, was startled.
“What …?” she began.
“Well, I read once that Anne Shirley is much too sunny to have gone through such an unhappy time before coming to live with the Cuthberts at Green Gables,” she said. “The writer claimed that Anne showed no trauma, and she should have. But you and I are happy too. Maybe we are about due some trauma.”
Min snorted and went back to her picture. Anne Shirley was a bit of a nut, she thought, always mixing up bottles. She was fun, though, and Min liked her being happy-go-lucky.
“If Anne were real —” Jess began again.
“She seemed real to me,” Min said and held up her drawing for an opinion.
At the end of the first week in March, Jess told Min that Toby and his family would be coming over for supper on Saturday.
“It’s the twins’ birthday,” she said. “Laura plans and runs the children’s party and I put on a family dinner afterward. They’ll be five this year. She’s done a Year of the Horse theme for them at home, with a pair of those big, bouncy rocking horses on springs for presents, a cake with a horse on top and a bunch of horsey videos. I’ll bet you’re broken-hearted that you and I weren’t invited.”
Min laughed, but she felt a pang of disappointment too. She probably would have found it babyish, but she had never attended such a party. In all her several foster homes, she had somehow missed out on them and she herself had no idea what her own birthdate was. The Children’s Aid had given her August first, the date she was found. But, to Min, it was the date on which she was abandoned too, and she hated it. She had never felt it was a day to celebrate, although by the time she was old enough to have explained this to Mrs. Willis, she knew she would be invited to choose another one, and there was no other date she felt was special.
I don’t even know if my mother bothered to take me home from the hospital, she thought bitterly. I’ll bet she didn’t.
As she helped set the table for the twins’ dinner, Min felt a small seed of resentment take root inside her. She stamped it under and began to fold the special napkins. They had prancing ponies on them, she noticed. So Jess wasn’t as scornful of Laura’s decorations as she pretended.
Sh
e asked Jess if Grace and Margaret could be trusted not to terrorize Emily, and Jess said they definitely could not.
“Take Emily and her bed up to the attic. She can stay there until they’ve gone,” she said. “We can hook that door shut — they aren’t tall enough to undo it. We had it put in as soon as they began to toddle about.”
Emily struggled, but once she was put in her own bed, she settled down and lay still.
“I’ll come for you the moment they go,” Min promised and went back down.
Everything went as well as could be expected. The little girls, in ruffled dresses, were smiled at and fussed over. The rocking horses had been an enormous success, although Laura claimed that, if she had known they neighed, she would have looked for something quieter.
“They make a racket when they are bouncing backwards and forwards too,” Baxter remarked, gazing at his lovely but noisy daughters. The twins ignored this and continued to make a huge mess of the table, spilling juice and mushing up the devilled eggs they were supposed to adore.
“Min and Toby will clear away the dishes and bring in the dessert,” Jess said. “You’d better stay on your chairs, girls, if you want some ice cream.”
Grace and Margaret, who had been sliding under the table, scrambled back up and resumed their angel faces. They spilled ice cream and they crumbled cake. Nobody said a cross word to them. Min, who could tell they were being bad on purpose to embarrass their parents, longed to smack them, but knew she would never be forgiven.
“Maggot is so bad,” Grace said after Margaret dipped her finger in the chocolate syrup and tried to draw on the tablecloth with it.
Everyone but Min laughed.
After the candles were blown out and the feasting was over, Toby and his stepfather drove the twins, kicking and screaming, home to their babysitter, and went on to attend a peaceful basketball game. Min was left at home with Laura and Jess.
“Let’s go and gab in the living room,” Jess said to her friend. “Min can deal with this mess.”
Min did not mind usually. She knew how to operate the dishwasher, and the dishes they had used for the first course were already in the kitchen. She would only have to clear away the ice cream bowls and cake plates.
But she caught the look Toby’s mother shot at her, as though she had doubts about trusting Min with the job. She also did not like the way Jess had announced she would take care of things. As though there was no need to say please, no need to ask.
Now I’m a scullery maid, she thought, like poor Becky in A Little Princess. Ever since she had read the book last year, she had felt Becky and she were fellow sufferers.
As the women left, she began to clear away the dessert bowls, making as much noise as she dared. Then she remembered Emily shut upstairs. Leaving the dishes half stacked, she climbed to the attic. Emily looked pleased to see her. Min lifted her out of the small fleece-lined bed and ran down to Jess’s room with it. An instant later, she was back to collect Emily before she could panic. The little dog was so relieved to see her that she did not even struggle to jump out of Min’s arms, but licked her ear fondly on their way down the stairs.
Min left her back in the bed. Putting off the dishwashing job a few minutes longer, she tiptoed up the hall to check on Cassie, who had been asleep in Min’s room after fleeing from the Dittos’ overly rough petting. She moved as quietly as she could, not wanting to interrupt the women gossiping.
As she neared the door into the living room, she stopped short. She had just heard Laura’s cool voice say, “I still don’t understand what made you take in that girl, Jess. I remember clearly that you said you had no intention of adopting a baby after Greg died. If you wanted household help —”
“Min is not here to give me household help,” Jess snapped. “Neither is she a baby, in case you haven’t noticed.
Min did not want to eavesdrop on this conversation but, as she eased backwards, she could not help catching the next few words.
“I know her story,” Laura said frostily. “Tobias is up in arms about it. But it still seems risky. You know nothing about her background.”
“You sound just like Mrs. Lynde in Anne of Green Gables,” Jess said, decidedly annoyed now. “Next thing you’ll be telling me she’ll murder us all in our beds, too.”
Min stood in the shadowy hall fighting for breath. Then she silently opened her bedroom door, slid through, closed it behind her as soundlessly as she could and lay face down on the bed.
“I won’t clean up their mess,” she hissed into Cassie’s sympathetic ear. “I won’t and she can’t make me. I hate that Laura. I’m not Jess’s slave. I am tired and I didn’t invite them over. I don’t feel like cleaning up after such brats. Why should I?”
She lay curled into a ball, silently fuming at everyone she knew. A few minutes later she heard the two women laugh and she was positive they were laughing at her. She gritted her teeth and waited for Laura to leave. Finally, she heard the front door open and Jess calling farewell. She turned her back to the door and closed her eyes tightly. Let Jess come in and check. She, Min, would be sleeping.
Jess knocked softly.
Min did not stir. Cassie gave a short yip, but hushed.
Jess opened the door a crack, peered in and without speaking or coming in further, closed it quietly.
Min still did not move hand or foot but she strained her ears. What would Jess do next? Time crawled by. There was no clink of dishes, no whir of the dishwasher. She sneaked a quick look at her watch and went on waiting. At eleven o’clock, feeling her eyelids growing heavy, she could not stand it another minute. She slipped out her door and peered across the hall into the living room.
Jess was sitting in her reclining chair, still fully dressed, and she appeared to be sound asleep.
Min stood and stared at her. Was she faking — the way Min herself had done earlier? Apparently not. After another full minute, Min tiptoed down the hall. The dirty dessert dishes still sat on the dining table just where she had left them.
Moving without a sound, Min carried them out to the kitchen. Then she loaded the dishwasher. She put in the detergent. She almost turned it on and decided the noise would wake Jess. She went back to check on her.
The reclining chair was empty. Min stood stock still and stared at it for a long moment. Then she went back down the hall to Jess’s bedroom door and opened it a crack. Jess was in bed. Her back was turned to the door. Min could have sworn she was not asleep, but she was doing a good imitation, breathing deeply and evenly. Then she gave a gentle snore.
That snore was definitely phony.
Choking with laughter, Min backed out and took herself to bed. She was asleep again before she had a chance to think the evening over. The only thing she noticed was that she had stopped being mad.
She woke when Jess called her to breakfast. Min hesitated, then went down the hall to face her foster mother.
“Good morning, Jessamyn,” Jess said.
Their eyes met.
And, the next instant, they were collapsing in a fit of mutual laughter.
“But I am not household help!” Min got out.
“That’s what I told Laura,” Jess said. “But you were, you know! Thank you so much. You worked like a Trojan — and so silently.”
And the hug she gave Min made up for everything.
A little later, as they ate, Jess said in a voice that was both serious and amused, “Do you think we’ve done it now?”
Min took a spoonful of raspberry jam and then looked up. “Done what?”
“That trauma we were failing to have?”
Min put down her knife and stared straight at her. “Maybe,” she said steadily, “but Laura doesn’t like me — and I am not keen on her either.”
“Laura gets mad at me too. She feels I somehow stole her baby from her, even though she did not want him at the time. I suppose she now thinks you might be stealing me from Toby. Oh, who knows? She’s not an easy friend to have. But, prickly or not, I’m stu
ck with her unless I want to lose Toby.”
Jess’s voice halted. Min bit into the toast while she thought over what she had just heard. She found she knew exactly what Jess meant. She didn’t want to lose Toby either.
“I guess we’re both stuck with her then,” she said quietly.
Jess rose and leaned over to give her a swift hug. Her words, when they came, were husky.
“Bless you, my Min,” she said.
19
Dancing Through the Snow
MARCH WAS ALMOST OVER when Jess mentioned, in a quiet, steady voice, that Emily was looking much better.
“While you were at school, I took her to see Jack,” she said, reaching to stroke the little dog curled up next to her chair. “She weighs almost ten pounds now and her mouth is healed. No more colitis. She’s eating like a regular dog too. I actually offered her a bite of egg this morning and she gobbled it down.”
Min stared out the window and said nothing. She knew what Jess meant. She had been expecting it. But she wasn’t ready.
“She’s still strange,” she got out after a couple of minutes had crawled by.
“Perhaps she always will be,” Jess said. “But she is very lovable, isn’t she? It’s up to you, Min. You found her and it is because of you that she’s well now. But you do have Cassie and I think Miss Hazlitt is lonely. She would doubtless deny it, but that is my guess.”
“What if Emily ran out again and got caught by those people or by a coyote …?”
“I thought we could make sure that Miss Hazlitt’s backyard is fenced to keep Em safe. You think about it, honey. There’s no rush. Remember, Miss Hazlitt still has no idea we have her.”
Min thought about Cassie suddenly. What if her darling Cass was lost and, instead of returning her, the people who found her kept her? She loved Emily, but Cassie was hers in a way Emily had never been. Cassie knew Min was her person.
Did Emily feel that way about the old lady?
Min remembered how Miss Hazlitt’s voice had cracked when she spoke about Daisy. She knew then that it was settled. Daisy was going back.
