Lucy the Good

by Marianne Musgrove

  “Same as the egg one,” said Lucy. She stuffed her socks into her shoes and stood up.

  “The bathtub thing?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Good things sink and bad things float, so I’m going to go in the water and see which one I am.”

  Paolo looked at the creek. It crept along through a maze of rocks, rubbish, and fallen tree branches.

  “It’s not very deep,” he said.

  Lucy took off her watch. “It’s deep enough,” she said.

  “It’ll be cold,” he added.

  “Tough.”

  Lucy waded out into the creek. Paolo was right. It wasn’t very deep. The water only came halfway up her shins. She waded out a bit farther to see if it was deeper in the middle.

  “I’m not diving in to save you,” said Paolo. “I’ve got my new boots on.”

  Lucy ignored him. The water was only up to her knees, but she figured she could still float in it. Float or sink. She waded forward, feeling the rocks with her toes.

  “This is dumb,” said Paolo. “I’m going home.”

  “No one invited you anyway,” said Lucy.

  She didn’t look at him, but she heard him tramping back up the embankment.

  Lucy stepped onto a rock, which wobbled beneath her foot. She tried to get her balance back by waving her arms in the air like a bird.

  She steadied herself and stepped out once again onto a different rock. This was wobbly too, and slippery. Her foot slid off to the side. She tried to grab the air for support. It didn’t work. She fell into the water with a splash.

  Lucy had fallen on her bottom and was now wet up to her waist. Coughing and spluttering, she slapped the water with her hands.

  “I hate everything!” she cried.

  When she’d finished coughing, Lucy braced her hands on a fallen log and tried to stand up. She couldn’t. Her foot was jammed between two rocks. She yanked her leg, but it was no use. She was stuck. She hit the water again. If only she could detach her leg the way blue-tongue lizards could lose their tails! Then she could escape and her leg would grow back in a few weeks’ time.

  “Leg,” she commanded, “I order you to drop off!”

  She closed her eyes and willed it to obey her. When she opened her eyes, it was still attached.

  I am bad, thought Lucy. Dad had made her promise to never ever go down to the creek without an adult. No matter what. And what had she done? She’d gone and done it anyway! Why couldn’t she be a good girl for once? It seemed everyone was right about her. She was bad all the way through.

  “Help,” whispered Lucy, then a little more loudly, “Paolo! Help! I’m stuck!”

  But she knew Paolo must be halfway home by now. There was no way he could hear her. A sob expanded in her throat, inflating like a marshmallow in a microwave. She imagined herself stuck there all night. What if it rained? There could be a flash flood and the water would come up higher and higher. She would drown before anyone came to save her. She’d never see Mum and Dad again. She’d never see Calvin. Even the thought of never seeing Tante Bep again brought a tear to her eye.

  “This is the worst day of my life!” she howled. “I don’t want to die!”

  If only she had the power to send thought waves to Dad! Come and rescue me, thought Lucy. I’m down by the creek. Hurry, Dad, hurry, before the creek floods and I die. She closed her eyes and wished with all her might.

  “Lucy?” said Dad. “Lucy!”

  Lucy opened her eyes. Had she imagined it? Had she really summoned Dad with her exceptional mental powers? She looked up and saw him standing high on the bank of the creek, looking worried.

  “A little birdie told me you might be here.”

  It worked, thought Lucy. I’m saved!

  “Stay where you are, honey. I’m coming in.”

  “My foot’s stuck,” she cried.

  Dad scrambled down the embankment and waded straight into the creek. He didn’t care about getting his boots wet. He reached into the water and pulled the rocks apart. Lucy’s foot was free again.

  But now that she was safe, thinking of her near-death experience made her burst into tears. She could hardly see a thing for crying. She did, however, feel Dad’s arms around her as he lifted her out of the creek. She wasn’t going to die.

  Back at home, Mum fetched a large towel and wrapped it around her daughter. Lucy told her parents about her experiment. “I just needed to know if I was a good person or not,” she finished.

  “You poor love,” said Mum. “Still, you shouldn’t have gone to the creek. You could have drowned! And then what would we have done?”

  “I didn’t really think about it prop’ly,” said Lucy.

  Mum kissed her on the forehead.

  Calvin handed her his favorite yellow truck. “How long were you stuck in the creek?” he asked.

  “Ages,” said Lucy. “It was really uncomfortable too. The creek bed had lots of stones in it.”

  Lucy paused. If she was sitting on the creek bed, that meant she’d sunk, not floated. In all the excitement, she’d forgotten about the experiment!

  “I’m a good person!” she cried in surprise.

  “Of course, you are,” said Mum. “Did you really believe you weren’t?”

  Lucy thought about it some more. Sure, she screamed sometimes, but she did other things too. She always made sure Calvin stayed away from food that might make him sick. She let Tante Bep have her bed (even if Tante Bep didn’t appreciate it). She looked after the chickens, and she always tried hard at school, especially with her drawings and poems. It was a pretty impressive list of good things, now that she thought about it. Lucy may have sat in cold water all afternoon, but she began to feel warm inside.

  “Eggs and humans are very different things, love,” said Dad. “Floating or sinking doesn’t work that way for us. And anyway, I don’t need any experiment to tell me what you are. You’ve got a good heart, and that’s the most important thing.”

  Dad gave her shoulder a squeeze, then turned and glared at Tante Bep.

  “Lucy,” said Tante Bep, holding her hand across her mouth. “Oh, Lucy.”

  She got up and left the room.

  “Your great-aunt’s very shaken up,” said Mum. “We all are. Tante Bep didn’t realize you’d take that Black Piet story so seriously. She was wrong to scare you like that.”

  “If I’d known she was telling you such tales,” said Dad, “I would’ve—”

  Mum shook her head.

  “What?” said Calvin. “What would you have done, Dad?”

  “Let’s just say she was very naughty, and she shouldn’t have done it,” he finished.

  Lucy was amazed at the idea that an adult could be naughty. She wondered if Mum and Dad would tell Tante Bep off. She liked the sound of that.

  Lucy spent the next hour telling her parents everything. She told them about her problems at school. She told them how she’d tried to be good but couldn’t seem to get it right. She told them about Jacinta and Ms. Denny and her camel pictures and show-and-tell and seeing Black Piet everywhere. Mum and Dad didn’t say much. They just listened.

  “You know what?” said Lucy. “When I scream and scream, it all gets worse.”

  Mum and Dad looked at each other and smiled in a relieved sort of way.

  “I’m just thinking, is there some way you could get your anger out in a quieter way?” asked Mum. “Something that would help you feel calmer.”

  Lucy paused for a moment. “The other day, I ripped up the old phone book, and that made me feel better.”

  “Ah ha,” said Dad, rubbing his hands together. “What say I scout around, gather up a few phone books from around the neighborhood? You could rip them up to your heart’s content.”

  Lucy smiled. It was worth a shot.

  Tante Bep didn’t join them for supper. She stayed in Lucy’s room with the door shut. When it was time to go to bed, Lucy tapped on the door softly. She felt funny about sharing a room with Tante Bep tonight.

&n
bsp; “Come,” said Tante Bep.

  Lucy pushed open the door with one finger. Tante Bep was sitting on the bed with the coal sack draped across her lap. Lucy took a step back.

  “Wait,” said Tante Bep. “Please, I want to show you something.” She picked up a pair of scissors lying on her lap. Mum’s good scissors. Snip snip snip. She cut the coal sack in two. Then she took those pieces and cut them in two as well. Snip snip snip. She cut up the rest of the sack. Neither of them spoke until the floor was covered with scraps of material. Enough to make a patchwork quilt.

  “Please come here, Lucy.” Tante Bep patted the bed beside her.

  Lucy took a big step over the sack scraps and sat down.

  “You and I,” said Tante Bep, “we have not been the best of friends, have we?”

  Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

  “It’s okay,” said Tante Bep. “It is my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to scare you like that. It was very wrong of me.”

  Lucy said nothing. Secretly, she was enjoying a grown-up saying sorry to her, rather than the other way around. She wanted it to last a bit longer.

  “To think I could have lost my great-niece today.” Tante Bep shut her eyes and shuddered. “Nee. I could not bear that.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Lucy. “Dad saved me.”

  “There is more,” said Tante Bep. “Your mother told me about your brother. She say he has allergy to eggs. She say everything you say to me is true.”

  “It is true,” said Lucy.

  “Please let me apologize for saying you are greedy. You are not a greedy girl, Lucy. Nee, you are not. You are very generous. You let me share your room and your bed, and I don’t even say thank you. Let me say it now. Dank je wel. Thank you.”

  Once more, Lucy felt warm inside.

  “I’d like us to be friends,” said Tante Bep. “What do you say about that?”

  Lucy thought for a moment. A long moment. She didn’t want to forgive Tante Bep too easily. “Maybe we could bake some more speculaas,” she said at last.

  “Ja, I’d like that,” said Tante Bep. “I could teach you some other Dutch recipes also, ja?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “Goed so,” said Tante Bep. “Good.” She reached over and patted Lucy on the hand. Lucy noticed Tante Bep didn’t assume she would get a hug. Maybe in a couple of weeks, thought Lucy. I might let her hug me then.

  “Now,” said Tante Bep. “Let us set out the clogs by the fireplace. Sinterklaas comes tonight, and he need somewhere to put the chocolate letters. But don’t worry,” she added, “he will not bring Black Piet.”

  “I should’ve been there,” said Harriet. “You could have died!”

  “I know,” said Lucy, smiling. The thought of almost dying was really quite exciting. “I prob’ly would’ve if it wasn’t for Dad.”

  “And me,” said Paolo, coming over to the classroom steps to join them. “I was the one who told your dad where you were.”

  Lucy smiled to herself. She knew the truth: Dad had come because of her mental powers.

  “Did someone almost die?” said Jacinta.

  She climbed the steps and sat down too. So did Kate and Amal and Priya.

  “Lucy did,” said Harriet.

  “Yeah,” said Paolo. “She almost drowned, ’cept I went and got help.”

  “My foot got trapped in the river,” said Lucy, “and the water was rising and rising. It was almost up to my neck and I was about to go under. But Dad turned up just in time and rescued me.”

  She paused to sip from her bowl of milk, sneaking a look at Jacinta to see how she was taking it. Jacinta was staring at Lucy with eyes as big as hockey pucks.

  “I wish I’d almost died and been rescued just in time,” said Kate wistfully.

  Some other kids came over and joined them—Blake and Girang and Tran. Lucy noticed the trend for drinking milk the Dutch way had caught on. Several of the kids had brought bowls from home and were sipping chocolate milk out of them.

  “I got a present from the Dutch Santa Claus too,” said Lucy. “It’s Sinterklaas Day today.”

  She reached into her bag and took out a large chocolate letter L with a bite taken out of it.

  “I wish I was Dutch,” said Kate.

  Jacinta looked longingly at the chocolate.

  As Lucy nibbled a bit off, Ms. Denny appeared in the doorway of their classroom. Miniature red and green parrot earrings hung from her ears, each parrot swinging on its own perch.

  “Lucy,” said Ms. Denny. “Could I have a word with you before class?”

  Lucy looked at Harriet and grimaced. Here we go, she thought. I’m in so much trouble for everything I’ve done.

  Ms. Denny showed Lucy into the classroom and shut the door.

  “I’ve just been speaking to your dad on the phone,” she said. “I tried to ring him yesterday for a chat, but he said the phone had been off the hook all night for some reason.”

  “Oh?” said Lucy.

  “He explained quite a few things to me, actually, about why you’ve been getting so angry.”

  “The last time I threw a tantrum, you were trying to make me go to the bathroom, and everyone was picking on me, and Jacinta wouldn’t let me touch her unicorn,” Lucy blurted out.

  Ms. Denny was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry, Lucy,” she said. “I didn’t fully realize what was going on, and I was flustered. Let’s just say I didn’t handle the situation at all well, and you bore the brunt of it. How about this: I promise to listen to you if you promise that any time you’re about to yell, you come and talk to me first.”

  “It’s usually too late then,” sighed Lucy. “The yell is already on its way.”

  “Where does the yell begin?”

  Lucy pointed to her tummy. “In here,” she said. “Then it goes up here.” She pointed at her chest. “And here.” She touched her throat. “And comes out here.” She opened her mouth.

  “I wonder,” suggested Ms. Denny, “what if you let me know when it’s in your tummy?”

  “Before it starts going up, you mean?”

  Ms. Denny nodded. “We might be able to stop it then.”

  Lucy had never thought of that before. It was worth a try. “Okay,” she said.

  “There’s one other thing,” said Ms. Denny. “Your father said you think I don’t like your pictures. What makes you believe that?”

  “You always hang them up in the back where no one can see them.”

  “Oh, Lucy.” Ms. Denny looked at her kindly. Her parrot earrings swung back and forth, and Lucy wondered if they might start squawking. “Here,” she said. “Come and sit in my chair behind the teacher’s desk. I want to show you something.”

  Lucy went over and sat down slowly. It felt strange being in the teacher’s seat. But good strange.

  “I spend a lot of time sitting or standing behind this desk,” said Ms. Denny. “I want you to imagine you’re me. You’re the teacher.”

  “Okay,” said Lucy uncertainly.

  She imagined everyone sitting in their seats. She imagined teaching them new words and organizing craft time. She imagined sending Jacinta to the Time Out chair.

  “Now,” said Ms. Denny, “tell me what you see.”

  “Chairs,” said Lucy. “Tables, pencils.”

  “What else?” said Ms. Denny.

  “Windows, lights.”

  “That’s right,” said Ms. Denny. “Here, have a peppermint.”

  Lucy reached into the tin and took one. Now she really did feel like Ms. Denny.

  “Anything else?”

  Lucy peered at the back wall, sucking slowly. The peppermint was very strong and made her eyes water.

  “I can see my camel picture,” said Lucy. She paused for a moment to consider this. “Ohhh, I get it. You can see my camel picture when you’re standing here teaching us. You like my drawing!”

  Ms. Denny nodded, and Lucy sat up a little straighter. When the bell rang, she stood up.

  “Before you go back to
your seat,” said Ms. Denny, “just so you know, I don’t think you’re a bad person, Lucy. I think you’re rather a character, but that’s quite a different thing.”

  Lucy smiled to herself, a wide grin that lit up her face. Yesterday had been a Bad day but today, she thought, today was shaping up to be quite a Good one.

  And that made sense. She was, after all, Lucy the Good.

  GLOSSARY OF DUTCH WORDS

  DANK JE WEL (dahnk yay vell): thank you

  GOED SO (khood sew): good

  JA (yah): yes

  LEKKER (leck-er): yummy

  NEE (nay): no

  NIET (neet): not

  PRACHTIG (prakh-tikh): great, fantastic

  SINTERKLAAS (sin-ter-clahs): the Dutch version of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas

  SPECULAAS (spek-you-lahs): a delicious Dutch spiced cookie

  TANTE (tahn-teh): aunt

  ZWARTE PIET (tsvahr-teh peet): Black Piet, Sinterklaas’s helper

  SPECULAAS

  Ask an adult to help you make these delicious Dutch spiced cookies. This is an old family recipe translated from the cookbook of my aunt Maartje Bijl.

  INGREDIENTS

  ¾ cup all-purpose flour

  cup dark brown sugar

  1½ teaspoons baking powder

  a pinch of salt

  1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

  ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

  ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

  5 tablespoons unsalted butter

  1½ to 2 tablespoons milk (or more, if needed)

  slivered almonds (optional)

  METHOD 1 (if you have a speculaas mold)

  Preheat oven to 325°F. Flour speculaas mold. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices together. Add butter and rub into flour mixture (with your fingers) until it looks like bread crumbs. Add milk. Knead ingredients together to form a firm dough. Add more milk if too dry or more flour if too moist. Chill in fridge for at least half an hour. Press the dough into the mold. Drag a knife across the top to remove excess dough. Tip the mold over and bang it on the back till the dough pops out. Repeat until you have used all the dough. Lay the cookies on a greased baking tray. Add slivered almonds on top (optional). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (sometimes less, depending on your oven) or until golden brown.