The Marble Queen

by Stephanie J. Blake

  “You have to play with me,” I argued. “I want to win my taw back.”

  Daniel glared at me. “Maybe you shouldn’t have played keepsies with it last time.”

  “Here.” Esau stepped forward. He rummaged through his marble sack and took out my blue taw. “I won it off Jacob.” He dropped it into my hand.

  I peered into my taw. Not a scratch on it. It was still perfectly blue and sparkly inside. Still mine. I was so happy I kissed it. “Thank you, Esau.”

  He shrugged. “I guess I’ll be playing against you at the competition?” He rubbed at the back of his neck like he does during a tense game.

  Jacob pushed his face near mine. “Ha! She won’t be there. Girls can’t even enter!”

  I yelled right back at him, “The announcement in the paper didn’t say anything about that!”

  Esau said, “Well, I guess we’ll know soon enough.”

  Jacob grabbed his brother. “Are you done talking to this poodle girl? Let’s go already. I’m freezing.”

  Esau looked right into my eyes. “See you around, Freedom.”

  His brother punched him on the arm and said, “You’re it.” And they raced from the park. Wally ran after them.

  Anthony trailed along behind. “Wait for me, fellas.”

  Daniel kicked at the dirt. “I’ve got to go, too. I’ll bet my dinner’s almost ready.” He shivered a bit. I knew darn well his mom wouldn’t be home until after six, but I didn’t challenge him on it. “See ya,” he said.

  I watched him walk away, his back hunched.

  “Daniel?”

  He turned around. “What?”

  “You want to come over for supper? I’m sure Mama won’t mind. And the kitchen will be nice and warm until your mama gets off work.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll be okay.”

  Part of me wanted to grab him and make him come home with me. But the other part knew that things had changed between us. I just didn’t understand why.

  “Suit yourself,” I said.

  He walked off.

  I peered through my blue taw one more time before dropping it into my pouch. I skipped all the way home.

  When I got there, Mama was setting the table. The air in the kitchen smelled like baked apples. Higgie was in the bathtub. I could hear him singing one of his nonsense songs.

  “It’s almost five. Where have you been?” she said.

  “I had to stay after school.”

  Mama started in, but I held up my hand. “It wasn’t only me! The whole class had to stay and work on vocabulary.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Did Mrs. Thompson send a note home?”

  I stared at the floor. “No, Mama.”

  “It smells good in here,” I added.

  “I made applesauce for dessert. Get washed up for supper. Daddy should be home any minute.”

  I closed the door of my room and hid the marble pouch under my bed, near the wall, promising myself I’d put the marbles back in Mama’s drawer as soon as possible.

  Except for the blue taw.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A Spooky Night

  OCTOBER 31, 1959

  I’ve almost forgiven Daddy for the night he wrecked the car. Now we share a secret. When Mama was bathing, he caught me with my hand in her dresser drawer.

  He snuck up behind me. “What have you got there, Sugar Beet?”

  I snatched my hand away. “I was just checking on my marbles, that’s all.”

  He was grinning, but I felt bad. I wasn’t stealing them. I was putting them back.

  I’d been stealing the pouch in the afternoon and practicing my shot in the bathroom every night when I was supposed to be getting ready for bed. And every morning I’d been putting the pouch back the first chance I got.

  I shuffled my feet. “Daddy, I still want to be in the marble competition, and I’ve been secretly practicing.”

  “What if your mama catches you?” he asked.

  I said, “She won’t.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. I could see the scar from where he’d had the stitches removed. “You know she can’t be bothered with any trouble now that it’s almost time for the baby.”

  He didn’t say it, but I also knew that the entry form was in the Chevy. In the junkyard.

  “Okay.” My chin dipped down.

  I was nearly out of the bedroom when he added, “It’s as good a time as any to tell you that I’m sorry, Freedom.”

  I knew what he was talking about. “Thanks, Daddy.”

  “I’m gonna do better.”

  I thought about the new bottles of beer in the Frigidaire. “I know.”

  “Now you need to get out of here. It’s almost candy time!”

  Halloween night is my favorite holiday, next to Christmas. I went to my room to put on my costume. I was going to be a cat. I put on a black leotard and black tights. Mama had glued felt ears to a headband and sewn a long felt tail to the bottom half of my leotard.

  I had wanted to be a lion, but she told me a lion head was too hard to make out of felt. I never said I wanted her to sew the costume. I wanted the one I’d seen hanging on the rack at Woolworth’s.

  I suppose it didn’t matter, because I’d be wearing a coat over the whole outfit.

  Everyone was in the kitchen. Mama had baked a spice cake, and it was cooling on the counter. Daddy was at the table, folding up my UNICEF box. I planned on collecting as many nickels as possible for those kids in Africa. I also hoped for lots of bubble gum in my pillowcase.

  I tried not to think about how easy it’d be to get the competition fee from that UNICEF box at the end of the night. If I could even find a way to enter on my own.

  “Meow!” Daddy said when he saw me.

  Higgie was slapping everything in sight with his pillowcase.

  “Stand still, Higgie,” Mama said. She buttoned up the back of his clown outfit and helped him into his coat. I was glad to be rid of that clown costume after wearing it two years in a row. Mama had painted his nose with red lipstick like she used to do for me.

  “Ready for your makeup?” Mama asked me. I stood still while she drew kitty whiskers on my face with her eyeliner pencil. I also got a black nose. It tickled as she drew it on, and I giggled.

  We stood in front of the television while Mama snapped a photo. She kept calling Higgie “precious.” And he kept tugging on my tail.

  Precious, my eye.

  You couldn’t see Higgie’s bright red-and-yellow costume except for his legs, because he was bundled up so tight in his coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. His red nose was peeking out. It was already smeared.

  Mama asked Higgie if he wanted to go to the bathroom one more time. She acted as if we were going on a long car ride.

  “Oh, come on and let’s go already,” I said. “The neighbors will be out of nickels by the time we get to them.”

  Daddy put a nickel in my UNICEF box and shook it. “There’s something to get you started.”

  “I’ll be right here waiting,” Mama said. She rubbed her belly like it was a genie’s lamp.

  Higgie yelled, “Let’s go scare the neighbors!”

  “Start with Mrs. Zierk,” Mama said.

  Daddy winked at Mama and pulled on his thick winter gloves. The door slammed behind us, and we were off.

  The streets were covered in a light dusting of snow, and the wind was blowing. Our oak tree’s branches were waving around the dark sky like skeleton fingers. A few brown leaves danced ahead of us on the sidewalk. Most of the porch lights on our neighbors’ houses were glowing. Except for Mrs. Zierk’s. As usual. You could see the glow coming from her old black-and-white television instead.

  Higgie said, “You are walking too slow, Freedom.”

  Daddy chuckled as Higgie zigzagged up Mrs. Nelsen’s yard and stood with a bunch of big kids waiting at the door.

  Higgie yelled, “Trick or treat!” and got his candy. He didn’t even say thank you before he ran on to the next house.


  I looked up at Daddy, and he said, “Go on! Get your candy!”

  He waited on the sidewalk while I ran up the steps to Mrs. Nelsen’s before she could shut the door. A row of jack-o’-lanterns beamed on the steps.

  By the time we got to the end of Lilac Street, my pillowcase was already bulging. I had a popcorn ball, a couple of store-bought cookies wrapped in cellophane, and a rainbow lollipop along with some Smarties and Tootsie Rolls. I peered into my pillowcase. Some of it looked like old people’s candy: peppermints, throat lozenges—that kind of stuff. I’d give them to Mama for her church purse. I smiled when I spied a whole pack of bubble gum near the bottom of the pillowcase. I’d have to hide it when we got home. Mama can’t stand it when I blow bubbles.

  I got a Tootsie Roll from Mrs. Coyle. She patted me on the head and told me to have fun and stay warm. Maybe she still likes me, after all.

  We went to the last house on our street. Mr. Swanson put a quarter in my UNICEF box, but he said it was only because he wasn’t giving out candy this year.

  I begged Daddy for one more house, and he agreed. But we shouldn’t have bothered. Most of the porch lights were already off, and a little gray-haired lady that I didn’t know gave Higgie and me an apple each but no nickels for UNICEF. I had walked all that way for an apple when Mama had a bowlful at home. The icy wind was biting my cheeks. My fingers were going numb. But I wanted to collect two dollars for UNICEF, and I had only about a dollar fifty, if I’d counted right. I couldn’t wait to dump out my pillowcase on the living-room floor and divvy up the loot. I planned on swapping anything I could with Higgie for his pack of bubble gum.

  The wind picked up. The clouds cast a spooky haze over the neighborhood. Somewhere, a branch scraped at the side of a house. If I wasn’t with my daddy, I’d have been a bit scared.

  Higgie started whining.

  Daddy said, “Let’s go home and see what Mama has in store for us.”

  We always have a pot of hot cocoa on Halloween night. I also thought about that freshly baked spice cake, served with two dollops of whipped cream. Daddy would tell us a ghost story or two, and we’d get to eat some of our candy before bed.

  When we rounded the corner by our house, there weren’t many trick-or-treaters left. We walked by Mrs. Zierk’s. I sucked in my breath when I saw her silver mailbox in pieces on the street. Someone was up to Halloween pranks.

  We stopped. Sure enough, we heard giggling and rustling in the bushes around us. Daddy peered into the dark. “Who’s there?” His voice was gruff.

  An egg went splat on Mrs. Zierk’s front door! I saw a shadow move in her bushes. I stared at the egg as it slid down, leaving a shiny trail of egg snot.

  Another egg sailed through the air and hit the house. Daddy whirled around, yelling, “Stop that!”

  Higgie grabbed for my hand. It was all I could do not to run.

  Mrs. Zierk’s porch light turned on, cutting a line in the darkness. Another egg went sailing over my head. It landed on her doormat.

  Suddenly Mrs. Zierk was at the screen door, shouting, “Get off my property!” She shook her broom. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought she was a witch. Her hair was falling out of its bun, and her eyes were wild.

  Daddy stepped into the light. “Good evening, Henrietta.”

  “Who’s that sneaking around in my bushes? Are you throwing eggs at my house? You’d better get out of here, you hooligans! Do you hear me?”

  Daddy held up his hand. “Now, Henrietta, it’s probably just a couple of kids playing around.”

  Mrs. Zierk stood on her porch in a faded housecoat and slippers. She was sputtering and shaking.

  A roll of toilet paper went sailing by and got stuck in the branches over our heads. Another landed with a plop on the roof, then unrolled into the gutter, leaving a trail of TP waving in the air like a flag. It would be a terrible mess to clean up.

  Mrs. Zierk clutched at her shoulder and gasped. Daddy just about caught her before she fell.

  Just about.

  Mrs. Zierk collapsed in a heap on the steps, wheezing like an old vacuum cleaner. Her eyes were closed, and there was spittle on her lips.

  Daddy put his coat around her. “Run home, Freedom! Tell your mama to call for the doctor.”

  I dropped my pillowcase and ran for home as fast as my nearly frozen legs could carry me.

  As I burst through the door, Mama stood up from the kitchen table. “Slow down, Freedom Jane!”

  “Daddy needs you at Mrs. Zierk’s house!” I yelled.

  Mama grabbed her coat from the hook. “Is it Higgie?”

  “No, Mama. It’s Mrs. Zierk. She fell down, and Daddy is trying to wake her up.”

  Mama knew what to do even though I was too out of breath to tell her. While she called the doctor, I waited by the stove. The oven door was ajar, so I held my hands out to warm them. My toes felt itchy and tingly in my socks. I wiggled them and looked around the kitchen. The spice cake sat uncovered. I stuck a finger in the icing and licked it, but I was so nervous, I couldn’t taste it.

  Poor Mrs. Zierk.

  Mama hung up the phone. “Grab the blanket from the sofa, and let’s go!”

  Mama was off, the blanket flapping around her like bat wings. She moved quickly despite her size.

  When Mama and I got next door, Mrs. Zierk was sitting up on the steps. The color was back in her face. She still had Daddy’s coat around her shoulders. He must’ve been freezing to death without it.

  Higgie started crying when he saw Mama. He was holding onto Daddy’s pant leg.

  I spotted Jacob and Esau Mooney sitting on the porch swing. They both had their heads down and their hands in their laps. I’d never seem them so quiet in all my life.

  Higgie whispered, “Those boys got yelled at while you were gone.”

  I grabbed his hand. “Shush!”

  Mama put the blanket around Mrs. Zierk. “Henrietta? Are you all right?”

  Mrs. Zierk sighed. “Been better.” Her voice was shaky.

  Mama began yelling at the boys. “You are going to scrub every speck of this mess off her house, or I’ll get Chief Wilson on the telephone!”

  Daddy said, “Now, Willie.”

  “Why are you throwing eggs at her house anyhow? That’s a waste of food. Are you trying to kill her?”

  “No, sir. I mean, ma’am,” Esau said.

  Jacob said, “We’re just having some fun.”

  “Fun? You are sure going to have fun cleaning this up.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Esau.

  Daddy said, “You boys better get home. Come into the house, Henrietta.”

  Higgie and I sat on Mrs. Zierk’s sofa. Higgie kept wiggling, but I sat absolutely still. At least it was warm inside. Daddy was pacing, running his hands through his hair.

  Higgie leaned up against my arm. “I want to go home,” he said.

  I was too worried to think. There was a knock at the front door. Daddy let in Doc Brooks. The doc took off his hat. “What happened?”

  “She says it’s probably her heart,” Daddy explained.

  “Is she going to be okay?” I asked. I realized how much I’d miss Mrs. Zierk if she didn’t live next door.

  “The doctor here will fix her right up,” Daddy said.

  I peeked through the bedroom doorway at Mrs. Zierk, who was lying down with Mama at her side. She looked so small in her big wrought iron bed. Mama had piled four blankets on top of her.

  “Let’s go home,” Daddy said. “Mama is going to stay the night. She’ll call if there’s any news.”

  Higgie jumped into Daddy’s arms. I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave, but I was awful tired.

  As we trudged home, I asked, “How come Mama always says bad things about Mrs. Zierk but helped her tonight?”

  Daddy said, “Good neighbors help each other in times of trouble, no matter what.”

  “Yes, but Mama hates Mrs. Zierk. Doesn’t she?”

  Daddy stared down at me. “Freedom, your mama has a
heart of gold, even though she can’t show it all the time. Her parents were real tough on her. She’s doing the best she can.” He stopped and put his hand on the top of my head. “That’s all any of us can do.”

  I thought for a moment. Mrs. Zierk needed Mama tonight. And maybe Mama needed Mrs. Zierk. “So, Mama’s got a hard shell on the outside, but she’s really soft in the middle? Like M&M’s?”

  He squeezed my hand. “That’s right, Sugar Beet. Mama is like an M&M. And sometimes she can be so sweet. Can’t she?”

  I thought about hot cocoa and spice cake and my cat costume—and how Mama had looked while she was tending to Mrs. Zierk in the bedroom—and for once I didn’t argue. “Yep.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  A Meeting of Minds

  NOVEMBER 8, 1959

  This morning Mama wasn’t feeling well. She’d mixed up a coffee cake at 6:00 but had gone back to bed while it was baking. She was hot when the rest of us were cold, and her nose wouldn’t stop running. Her ankles were swollen. She’d tossed and turned all night with a wet washcloth over her face. She said she was sick of being pregnant.

  “Your mama is simply worn out,” Daddy told me.

  It turned out that Mrs. Zierk had herself a mild heart attack on Halloween. That night Mama practically adopted our neighbor, and we’ve been feeding her and waiting on her hand and foot ever since. Seems like Mama is always sending me over there with something: cookies, tea bags, soup, carrot cake, newspapers, and more.

  Mrs. Zierk has to be feeling better by now. I know she’s awful strong—and clever. If you ask me, she’s acting frail to get free help for as long as she can.

  The Meanie brothers have been raking leaves, shoveling snow, cleaning out gutters, and helping her with anything and everything else she needs done. Daddy says that Mama has them “in her back pocket” as long as she doesn’t call Chief Wilson about what they did that night.

  Yesterday Daddy built a new mailbox for Mrs. Zierk. He also sweeps off her steps every evening. It must have something to do with Mrs. Zierk being “alone in the world.” I heard Mama telling Aunt Janie that.

  Funny how it never bothered her before. But then, she never really got to know Mrs. Zierk.

  I got ready for church all by myself today. Well, Daddy zipped me up, but that’s it. I even did my own hair. I parted it on the side and clipped it with a tiny barrette. My hair looked real shiny because I’d brushed it until all the poodle curls calmed down. I was wearing a pale pink dress with my polished-up saddle shoes.