by Lesley Crewe
The Johnson home was only a minute’s drive from the cottage. The kids could race through the fields and woods and get there faster than a car. But they were chilled by now, and it was a relief to crawl into the plush, padded back seats of the Ford.
They returned to the main road, turned left, drove around two turns, and pulled into the Johnsons’ tree-lined driveway, passing an open gate. The trees formed a canopy over the laneway, so it was quiet and peaceful, and the air was still, a complete opposite from how it was at the beach.
An emerald-green shingled house with white shutters and a gabled roof came into view. It was surrounded on all sides with glorious trees dotted around the property, but also an enormous yard of grass and shrubbery. A very large rock perfect for sitting on poked out of the ground to the right of the house. There was a pathway lined with pine trees from the front door that went down to the main road, but it looked like no one used it. Instead the car pulled up to the back of the house, under yet another tree. The backyard disappeared into the woods. It was as if the house was all alone in the world, yet it felt protected and safe.
Joe and Eunie Johnson hurried down the back steps to greet them, as if impatient for their company to arrive. They were a little older than Annie’s parents and always friendly. Joe was a round man with hair so fine it seemed to float over his head. Eunie was even rounder and a lot shorter than Joe. Forever in a hurry and out of breath, her face was always flushed.
Eunie rushed towards them and herded them towards the house amid the hellos and introductions and hand shaking. Annie noticed how happy Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were to meet Lila. Mrs. Johnson held Lila’s hand in hers and kept patting it. Lila smiled up at her.
“May I show Lila the house?” Annie asked.
“Yes, indeed,” Eunie said. “I’ll get our lunch ready.”
So while the adults stayed and chatted, Annie and David took Lila around. Annie loved the Johnson house; it had the same feeling as home. The back porch was clean and organized, and the kitchen was the first room you entered. It had patterned wallpaper on the walls, and the wooden floors and mouldings were a deep mahogany colour.
There were lower cupboards on the left wall and frilly curtains on the window above the sink. A pantry revealed a table, a sideboard, and shelves on every wall filled with dishes, glasses, jars, and such. Bins of flour and sugar were on the floor.
The best part was the little door in the wall facing the back porch. It was beside the kitchen table and used for storage. Annie thought it was a wonderful place to hide. And there was a square in the floor that lifted up so Mr. Johnson could go down in the cellar.
The inside of the house was like a circle. You could go through the right doorway and into the parlour, with a big bedroom off of that, and then continue on to the front hallway and back around into the dining room and out into the kitchen again. There was a small fireplace with an ornate mirrored mantel above in the parlour and exactly the same one on the opposite side of the wall in the dining room. There were windows everywhere and doors panelled with etched glass that opened into the parlour, the hallway, and the dining room. The wood throughout the house was a deep reddish-brown shade that had an almost polished look after years of use.
“But this is the best part.” Annie pointed to the door to the left of the parlour’s fireplace. David opened it and let Lila go first. There were small, deep, curved steps all the way up to the top floor. You couldn’t see the room above until you walked up far enough past the first curve. And then it revealed the open upstairs. It was a sizable room that the stairway railing divided in half. There was a bedroom on each side, but you saw them both as one. The beds were large and so were the bureaus. There were a couple of rocking chairs and chests at the end of the beds for extra bedding. There was a large bookcase filled with books, chairs by the windows, a baby’s cradle, a spinning wheel, and a huge old radio.
“What do you think?” Annie laughed. “Isn’t this great?”
Lila looked around, speechless. She took in everything and then looked out one of the three windows, where a red maple was close enough to touch the glass.
David went over to the radio and turned the station dial. “I wonder if this works.”
“This is the best room I’ve ever seen,” Lila finally said.
They explored for a few more minutes, and then Eunie called up the stairwell to say that lunch was ready. The kids ran down the steep stairs holding on to the walls so they wouldn’t fall and were ushered into the dining room.
A luncheon feast was served. The entire centre of the table disappeared under plates filled with dainty sandwiches, trays filled with cheese and cured ham, bowls of potato salad and marinated carrots and macaroni salad, and finally plates of queen’s lunch squares and chocolate brownies.
Eunie served the children big glasses of milk and poured copious amounts of tea for the adults. The children were too busy eating to say much, and it wasn’t until the last crumb was gone that Eunie spoke to Lila.
“How do you like this house?” she said.
Lila grinned. “I love it. It’s the nicest house I’ve ever seen…except for Annie’s house.”
“Maybe when Annie and David come out for the summer, they can bring you along and you can come and visit.”
“That would be nice.”
“What do you like to do, Lila?” Joe asked her.
Annie knew that Lila wasn’t used to all this adult attention. She could see her starting to get nervous.
“I like to play and I love to draw.”
“Do you like dolls?” Eunie asked.
Lila turned to Annie for help. “She doesn’t like dolls. Neither do I.”
“Do you like to swim?”
“I…I don’t know how.”
Annie was surprised. “You don’t?”
Lila looked worried, as if she’d said the wrong thing.
“Lots of people don’t know how to swim,” David said. “I’m not very good either.”
Annie knew this was wrong. David swam like a duck. She was about to correct him when Mom placed her hand on Annie’s arm under the table, a signal to be quiet.
After a very nice visit and fond goodbyes, the Macdonalds and Lila piled into the car to go home. Eunie came running out with a bag of molasses cookies. She gave them to Lila. “I hear they’re your favourite.”
Lila took the bag, nodded, and smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome, honey.”
Annie thought Mrs. Johnson looked like she was going to cry. She and Mom held hands through the window before Dad started the motor. Then they were off.
After all that food and excitement, it wasn’t long before the kids drifted off in the back seat.
CHAPTER THREE
Annie hated school—that was a well-known fact—but she wasn’t afraid of school.
Lila was.
On this November morning the routine was the same as always. Breakfast with David and then off to school. Mom had bundled them up against the damp cold. David always took off the scarf Mom made him wear and stuffed it in his school bag the minute he was out of sight. Annie never told on him.
As soon as Annie stepped outside, she knew it would snow. The sky had a dark and brooding look, even that early in the morning. David went ahead and Annie waited for Lila. She wasn’t coming and Annie knew they were going to be late, so she went up to Mrs. Butts’s door and knocked. She heard Mrs. Butts yelling inside for Lila to hurry up.
Lila came to the door and Annie didn’t think she looked very good. She was pale and didn’t smile.
“Are you okay?” Annie asked.
Lila nodded and fell into step. They didn’t say much as they walked to school with other friends from the street. Annie’s cousin Dorothy asked Lila if she wanted to go to her house after school, but Lila shook her head no. Dorothy seemed hurt, so Annie went up to he
r. “Mrs. Butts is making Lila stay in after school today.”
“Oh.” Dorothy brightened up.
The morning passed by in the usual fashion, and that afternoon Mrs. Coombs had the students come up to the front of the class and recite their compositions. The topic was their families. Annie suddenly wondered what Lila would say.
They went by rows. Annie counted how many would go before Lila. Maybe they would run out of time before they got to her. Annie tried to catch Lila’s attention, but Lila was frozen in her seat and wouldn’t acknowledge her.
Annie had to go first.
“I am Annie Lucy Macdonald. We spell our last name with a little d, not a big d. My dad says our family was from Scotland, the Isle of North Uist, and we belong to Clanranald. My father works and my mom makes bread. I have an older brother named David and another older brother who died before I was born. I also have a friend named Lila and she is part of our family. The end.”
Annie tried to catch Lila’s eye when she went back to her desk, but Lila had her head down. Miss Coombs called out Lila’s name. When Lila didn’t move she called her again. Lila took her exercise book and walked slowly to the front of the class.
“You may start.”
She opened her book and stood there.
“Lila, read your composition.”
Annie willed Lila to open her mouth. Just say a few things and it will be over.
“I’m waiting.”
The kids in the class started to fidget nervously. Lila was like a statue. Miss Coombs got out from behind the desk and walked over to her student, but Lila didn’t acknowledge her. Annie could tell then that the teacher was mad.
“Lila, look at me.”
She didn’t.
“You are to read your assignment. Everyone else in the class has done it. Why should you be the exception?”
Lila didn’t even blink. She stared at her page and didn’t move a muscle.
Miss Coombs bent down close to Lila’s ear and hissed, “You spineless jellyfish.”
It happened so fast, none of them were prepared for what followed. Lila ripped the page out of her book and threw it in Miss Coombs’s face, then another and another until she shredded the entire scribbler. The teacher was horrified; she grabbed Lila by the hair and hauled her out the door. Annie jumped up. “Don’t! You’re hurting her!”
Miss Coombs turned around and stabbed her finger in the air. “Annie, sit down this instant and don’t you dare move, or you’ll get the strap.”
Annie sat down.
There was a commotion out in the hall, but in only a few moments, Miss Coombs was back in the classroom, her face flushed and her manner agitated. She stormed to her desk and sat down. “Hughie Beaton, read your homework.”
Hughie got up carefully and read his assignment as fast as he could. Miss Coombs didn’t seem to notice.
There was still an hour of school left. Annie wasn’t sure she’d be able to sit through it, but she didn’t want to call attention to herself and risk detention. She wanted to get out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang and run to the principal’s office and be there for Lila.
It was agonizingly slow, but finally the bell rang and the students were dismissed. Annie ignored Miss Coombs and hurried out. She walked as fast as she could to the office, expecting to see Lila sitting in the chair by the principal’s door, but she wasn’t there. Was she still in the principal’s office? That would be very bad.
As Annie looked around, unsure what to do, the principal’s door opened and she walked out with papers in her hand, intent on getting somewhere fast.
“Excuse me. May I see Lila?”
The principal looked down at Annie. “Lila?”
“She got in trouble but she didn’t mean it and I’m here to walk home with her.”
“Lila Phillips? I haven’t seen her all day.”
“But where is she?”
“I don’t know. Are you sure you have your facts right?”
Annie didn’t wait to give her an answer. She ran down the hall and grabbed her jacket and boots. As soon as she opened the door to go outside, a rush of feathery snow came in the door too. The ground was completely white and snow filled the air.
“Davy! Davy!” She leapt off the bottom step into the schoolyard and ran over to where David usually waited for her in bad weather. That was one of his jobs, to make sure Annie got home safely in the winter months.
He turned around as she ran up to him.
“Lila’s not here!”
“What do you mean?”
“She got in trouble and I thought she went to the office, but the principal didn’t see Lila all day.”
“She probably went home.”
“But she doesn’t have her coat or boots.”
“Let’s go.”
The siblings ran as fast as they could. As they neared their house, David shouted he’d check with Mom and she should check with Mrs. Butts. Annie ran up to their door and knocked. When nothing happened, she knocked louder with no result. In desperation Annie turned the doorknob, but it was locked. She pounded on the door.
“Just a minute!” Mrs. Butts finally stood there looking like she’d just woken up.
“Is Lila here?”
“Of course Lila’s not here. She’s in school. You should know that.”
Annie turned around and ran down the stairs, just as David and Mom came out of the house, Mom with her coat thrown over her shoulders. “She’s not here! Is she over at Mrs. Butts’s?”
“No.”
Mom looked panicked. “Where could she be?”
“Wait, I know where she is!” Annie started to run through the field and the other two followed her. “Lila! Lila!” She got up to the rock pile and went behind it. There was Lila, curled up in a ball and shaking, her dress and sweater covered with snow.
“Oh my god!” Mom ran to her and covered her with the coat. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.” She picked Lila up in her arms and ran back to the house with her, Annie and David at her heels. When they got into the house, Mom started to shout orders. “Annie, get some blankets and wool socks. David, fill up a warm water bottle and there’s tea on the stove. Put a few spoonfuls of milk and honey in it.”
Annie raced up the stairs and tore the quilts off her bed and opened her sock drawer. Down she ran and found her mother in the parlour with Lila’s shivering little body against her. Lila’s arms and legs were wrapped around her so tightly that she wouldn’t let go.
Mom sat on the sofa and rocked Lila back and forth. “You’re fine now. You’re safe.” Mom gestured for Annie to give her the quilts, so Annie passed them to her mother and she placed them over Lila.
“Take her shoes off and put these socks on her.”
David came in the room with a full hot water bottle and a cup of warm sweet tea. Mom placed the water bottle on Lila’s back. “Lila, you need to take a sip of this.” She held the cup to her mouth and Lila drank a little. The shivering subsided.
Mom gave Lila a warm bath, dressed her in one of Annie’s cozy flannel nightgowns, and tucked her into Annie’s bed. Then she came up with a tray of hot buttery toast, two boiled eggs, and warm milk. Annie sat at the end of the bed and kept Lila company while she ate, but soon Lila’s eyes closed and she was asleep.
At the supper table, Annie retold the story to her father in between bites of corned beef hash, green tomato chow-chow, and cornbread. Dad listened carefully and nodded, sometimes glancing at Mom for confirmation of the facts.
“So I yelled ‘Don’t! You’re hurting her!’ but I don’t think that was wrong because I was sticking up for an injustice being done to my friend. Lila was being abused.”
Everyone stopped eating to look at her.
“Isn’t that right, Dad?”
“That’s right.”
“Miss Co
ombs should’ve told the principal that Lila ran out of the building,” David said.
“Yeah,” Annie said, “she came back in and pretended nothing was wrong.”
Mom sighed. “I feel so guilty that I wasn’t home. I went to Muriel’s for twenty minutes. Why didn’t she just open the door and walk in? It wasn’t locked. I should’ve told her that. And God only knows how long she knocked at Bertha’s door before she gave up.”
Dad didn’t say much after that, but Annie heard her parents talking in the bedroom while she was brushing her teeth, and after she slipped into bed beside the sleeping Lila, she heard their low mumbling until she closed her eyes and drifted off.
The next morning Lila stayed in bed. Mom said she wasn’t ready to go back to school.
“You’re lucky,” Annie grumbled as she got dressed. Lila didn’t say anything, as if she had no energy to speak. Going out the door, Annie turned back. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay.” Lila turned her head to the wall.
Annie and David were in the playground waiting for the bell to ring when they saw their father walk up the road towards the school. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Their father was missing work.
He walked by and gave them a quick nod but didn’t speak to them. All the rest of the kids looked at him too. It wasn’t often that a parent came to school, unless it was for a concert or grading day.
David whistled under his breath. “Miss Doom is going to be in big trouble.”
Annie and David never did find out what Dad said to the principal or Miss Coombs, and they knew better than to ask him. All Annie knew was that when Miss Coombs walked into the classroom, she looked as white as a sheet, and she steadfastly refused to look Annie in the eye. Annie knew her father was a quiet man who never lost his temper, so she wouldn’t have been a victim of a tongue-lashing, but whatever he said did the trick. Annie never had a problem with Miss Coombs after that.
When Annie and David got home from school, Mom asked David to chop some kindling. While he was doing that, Mom beckoned Annie. She thought they were going to see how Lila was, but Mom directed her into her bedroom instead.
