Clementine for Christmas

by Daphne Benedis-Grab

  “Yeah,” Zuri said with an easy smile. “And I’d love to round up some of our crew to help you out.”

  “Fabulous,” Gabby said, beaming at them. She whipped out her phone to add them to the list while the two workers headed off.

  “Sorry about that,” Josie said weakly. Her face was still on fire from the mortifying incident.

  “Yeah, that was kind of a disaster,” Gabby said. The words were blunt, but she was looking at Josie sympathetically. “I guess I didn’t realize how hard it would be for you.”

  “So now you’ll do the asking?” Josie asked. She was sure Gabby would say yes now that she’d seen what a failure Josie was.

  But Gabby was shaking her head. “The only way to get over a fear like this is to confront it,” she said. “You are definitely going to be doing the asking from now on.”

  “But we won’t get any more volunteers,” Josie wailed. “I’ll scare everyone off.”

  Gabby laughed. “No, you’ll learn how to put together a sentence even when you’re nervous. And then you’ll thank me for changing your life.”

  “Josie, Gabby, come sing,” Henry called from down the hall.

  Josie glanced up at the clock. “Kids are waiting for us,” she said. “We should probably go perform.”

  “Okay, but you’re not leaving this hospital until we talk to the X-ray techs,” Gabby said.

  They headed back to the lounge. Josie assumed they were just going for Clementine and Oscar, but as soon as they got there, Gabby headed for the costume closet. “Help me pick something fun,” she said to Josie.

  Josie looked at Oscar, sure he’d be as taken aback by this as she was. But he was still slumped on the sofa cuddling Clementine.

  “Sure,” Josie said. She followed Gabby into the closet, where she figured Gabby would choose one of the more elegant outfits, like the shimmery angel gown. But after going through the rack, Gabby held up a brightly striped candy cane outfit bedecked with bells. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I think I can’t believe that Gabby Chavez, queen of the sixth grade, would ever wear something like that,” Josie said. As soon as the words were out, Josie pressed her lips together. But of course it was too late.

  Gabby was silent for a moment, and Josie could feel herself shrinking down in her costume. She’d probably ruined everything with her thoughtless remark. It was true of course, but that just made it worse.

  Finally, Gabby gestured to Josie in the Mrs. Claus outfit. “I guess we all have a secret side,” she said. “You with that voice of yours. Oscar being a super spy. And me getting silly with little kids.”

  Josie still couldn’t help feeling that there was more to it, but she was going to keep her mouth shut. All that mattered was that Gabby liked helping. Plus, she had a point about the hospital and secrets.

  “And really, Aisha’s the queen of the sixth grade,” Gabby added as she pulled on the candy cane costume, which jingled loudly. “I’m just one of the crowd.”

  It wasn’t true, but Josie didn’t care. The kids were waiting, and she was ready to sing.

  AN HOUR LATER, they were back. Gabby flopped down on the sofa, clearly tired from all her dancing. Oscar went over to the window and looked out, Clementine at his heels. The little dog had only left his side to greet patients, and now she pressed against him, her short tail wagging. Oscar knelt down so he could give her ears a good rub.

  After a moment, Gabby sat up. “So now we need to go to X-ray,” she said. “But first I want to know how it’s going with the sibling act.”

  She and Josie looked at Oscar, who obviously hadn’t been listening. “What?” he asked, as though coming back from a very faraway place in his mind. Josie figured he was thinking about his parents, and she wished there was something she could say or do to help.

  “The sibling act,” Gabby said evenly, though she was tugging rather hard on one of her curls and making the bells on her costume ring. “Have you started asking kids or planning what you want the kids to do?”

  “Not yet,” Oscar said vaguely.

  “But we really need to get going on that,” Gabby said. “We have to give the final list to Ms. D’Amato in six days. Josie and I are doing everything we can, and you need to help out, too.”

  Oscar gave Clementine one last pat and then stood up. “I’ll take care of it,” he said. “But I need to head home now.”

  Gabby shot him an irritated look. “You can’t just stay for five minutes to plan this?”

  “No,” Oscar said, slipping on his coat and grabbing his backpack. He pushed the door so hard, it triggered the mechanism that kept it wide open, but he didn’t stop to close it. He just headed out, his shoulders hunched and his hat pulled low.

  “Whatever,” Gabby huffed, standing up. She looked at Josie. “Let’s go talk to the X-ray technicians.”

  “Stay,” Josie told Clementine, who sat obediently on the sofa. Josie thought about closing the door but figured it would be nice for Clementine to see people passing by, so she left it as it was.

  “He’s not going to get it done,” Gabby complained as they waited for the elevator.

  “I think he will,” Josie said. She wasn’t sure, but she wanted to give Oscar the benefit of the doubt.

  Gabby waved a dismissive hand as the elevator doors opened. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of it if he doesn’t.”

  “I really do think Oscar will handle it,” Josie said. “He’s just having a bad day today.”

  “He seems to have those a lot,” Gabby said with a sniff.

  Obviously, Josie couldn’t tell Gabby what was going on with Oscar, but she wished Gabby would be just a bit more understanding.

  As they made their way to the X-ray lab, Josie’s chest began to fill with butterflies.

  “Breathe,” Gabby told her. “And imagine that the people you’re talking to are naked.”

  “Ew!” Josie exclaimed.

  Gabby giggled. “I read that’s what you’re supposed to do if you get nervous speaking to big groups,” she said. “That way you aren’t intimidated by the people you’re talking to.”

  “No, just totally mortified to be in a room full of naked people,” Josie said.

  Gabby laughed harder, and Josie couldn’t help joining in. Gabby was fun. It was hard to imagine that Josie had ever been intimidated by her.

  “Okay, this is it,” Gabby said as they got to the lab. “You can do it.”

  Josie wasn’t so sure, but she opened the door and walked in. A woman sat at a desk in front of a closed door, behind which Josie figured the actual X-raying took place. The woman was packing up her briefcase, and she frowned slightly when she saw them.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  Josie took the big breath Gabby had advised and almost choked on it.

  “Are you okay?” the woman asked.

  “I’m fine,” Josie said, her eyes watering. “I’m Josie, and we’re here to ask you about the Christmas Festival.”

  She’d managed a full sentence! But the woman was looking at her blankly.

  “Um, every year the hospital has this kind of Festival,” Josie said. “It’s on Christmas Eve and it’s a, uh, Festival with performances and stuff.” It was no longer going as well.

  The woman tipped her head to the side as she stared at Josie. “I know about the Festival,” she said. “Is there a reason you’re telling me about it?”

  “Yes,” Josie said, taking a second to try and calm the butterflies that were beating furiously in her chest. The way the woman was tapping her fingers on the desk impatiently was not helping at all.

  “We’re signing up performers,” Gabby said, nodding at Josie to go on.

  “And we wondered if some people in your department,” Josie said. “People like you, I mean, would want to help.”

  “Help backstage?” the woman asked, her brows drawing together.

  “We were thinking you could make up a skit about a skeleton Christmas since you guys do stuff with bones.”
She wanted to cringe at how dumb that sounded, but then the woman actually smiled for the first time.

  “Cute idea,” she said.

  “So you’ll do it?” Gabby asked, pulling out the phone.

  But the woman shook her head. “I’m more of a backstage person,” she said.

  Josie’s hopes were instantly squashed.

  “But I can ask the others,” the woman said. “We have a few drama queens around here. Maybe some of them will want to help out.”

  “Thanks,” Josie said, trying to sound appreciative instead of dismal.

  “That wasn’t bad,” Gabby said once they were back in the hall and heading up to the volunteer room.

  “You don’t have to be nice,” Josie said, her feet dragging in her Mrs. Claus boots. “I know I was awful.”

  “I mean it,” Gabby insisted. “You actually managed to ask her, and that’s a big deal.”

  “Except for the part where she said no,” Josie said. They were back on the ward, and she was eager to get to her dog. Clementine always made her feel better.

  But Gabby put a hand on her arm. “She didn’t say no,” she corrected. “She was tired and wanted to go home, but she still liked your idea and said she’d ask around. I wouldn’t be surprised if she found some people and we actually get our skeleton Christmas skit.”

  “You really think so?” Josie asked.

  Gabby nodded, her face serious. “I do,” she said. “And really, Josie, you did a great job asking.”

  It turned out Gabby could make people feel better, too. Josie was smiling as they headed into the volunteer lounge. But then she looked around, and the smile evaporated. The sofa was empty.

  “Where’s Clementine?” Josie asked, her throat tightening, her voice shrill.

  “I thought she was here,” Gabby said, coming in behind Josie. “Did she just go into the closet?”

  But Clementine wasn’t there.

  “She has to be somewhere,” Gabby said, resting a hand on Josie’s arm. “I bet she just smelled cookies down the hall or something.”

  Josie’s heart was skittering wildly in her chest and it was getting hard to breathe. Clementine always stayed when Josie told her to stay. Always. There was no way she’d just wander off.

  “Josie,” Gabby said, her voice calm as she looked right into Josie’s eyes. “We’re going to look for her and we’re going to find her.”

  The soothing way she spoke allowed Josie to take a shaky breath. “Okay,” she said.

  Gabby headed straight for the nurse’s station. “Clementine is missing,” she announced to Nurse Joe.

  His eyes widened. He turned to the other nurses. “We need to find Clementine ASAP.” Then he looked back at Josie and Gabby. “When did you realize she was gone?”

  Josie wasn’t sure she could talk with her throat squeezed so tight, but it turned out she didn’t need to.

  “We went down to the X-ray department about twenty minutes ago,” Gabby said. “Clementine was on the couch in the volunteer room when we left, but she wasn’t there when we got back.”

  “Could she have somehow opened the door?” Nurse Joe asked.

  “The door was wedged open,” Gabby said.

  There was a tray of gingerbread cookies on the desk next to them, and the smell made Josie’s stomach churn. Why hadn’t she closed the door when she left Clementine in the lounge? How could she have made such a terrible mistake?

  “Okay, so she probably just wandered off,” said Nurse Joe. He gave Josie a steady look. “And we’re going to search every inch of this place until we track her down.”

  “We’ll help,” Jade said, coming up with Ed and leaning over to squeeze Josie’s arm. They were dressed in their regular clothes, ready to go home, and Josie was dimly aware that she felt grateful they were staying to search for her dog.

  “We’re going to find her,” Ed said firmly.

  Josie nodded, even though she thought she might throw up. Or faint. Or both. But Gabby and Nurse Joe took charge. Calls were placed, and soon every nook and cranny of the hospital had someone assigned to search it for Clementine.

  “We’re in charge of the peds ward,” Gabby announced when everywhere else had been assigned. So she and Josie went into each room, asking all the kids and their parents. But not a single person had seen Clementine.

  “I’m sure someone else found her,” Gabby said as they went back to the nurse’s station thirty long, terrible minutes later. But Josie could hear the waver of doubt in her voice.

  The bright colors of the ward had dimmed for Josie, as though she were walking through a gray fog that had seeped into her skin and filled up her chest, making her clammy and cold, inside and out.

  “I bet someone found her snacking on treats in the cafeteria, and they’re bringing her up right now,” Gabby said. But she was pulling on a curl as she spoke, her eyes darting around, looking to see if someone, anyone, was bringing back Clementine.

  They stood at the nurse’s station, Josie leaning against the desk because it was too much to stand, Gabby with a warm hand resting on her back.

  The elevator doors opened, and Nurse Joe stepped out.

  Josie drew in a breath, ready to ask, but then she saw his face and that told her everything.

  “I’m so sorry, Josie, but Clementine just isn’t anywhere in the hospital,” he said.

  “Then where could she be?” Gabby asked, wrapping an arm around Josie.

  “She’s gone,” Josie said, her voice breaking. “Someone stole Clementine.”

  And then she burst into tears.

  “Gabby, what do you think?” Jasmine asked.

  Gabby and her friends were at their usual prime table in the cafeteria surrounded by loud conversation, laughter from the tables around them, and the overpowering smell of sloppy joes, today’s lunch special. Gabby had opted for grilled cheese, but the bread had been over-toasted and was now more like a brick than a sandwich. Gabby wanted to go get something else to eat, but instead she dutifully checked out the sweater Jasmine had picked up at Mulligans and decorated with sequins.

  “It looks great,” Gabby said, and the others now nodded in agreement. “I love that shade of green.”

  “I wonder if it would look good on me,” Becky mused.

  “I don’t think so,” Aisha said. “Your skin is too washed out.”

  Becky’s face, which had never seemed particularly washed out to Gabby, turned red. Aisha didn’t notice but Gabby did and she felt a flash of sympathy for Becky. Aisha was tart—everyone knew that. It was part of what made her fun. But Becky, who was pulling her napkin apart, did not seem to be enjoying herself much right now.

  “I really have to get to Mulligans,” Isabelle announced. “Let’s go tomorrow after school,” she said, looking at Gabby. “My mom can drive us.”

  “Great idea,” Aisha said. “Count me in.”

  Tomorrow Gabby would be at the hospital finding the final acts for the Festival. But of course she couldn’t say that. “I have family stuff,” she said, adding a note of regret to her voice. “We do a lot around Christmas.”

  “Maybe we could go sometime over winter break,” Isabelle said.

  “If you aren’t stuck babysitting again,” Aisha added, twirling her spoon around in her yogurt.

  Yogurt looked good to Gabby, or maybe she just needed a little break from the conversation. She stood up. “I’m going to get more food,” she said. “Anyone need anything?”

  She hadn’t realized how abrupt she’d been until she saw her friends’ faces.

  “Sorry, I’m just hungry and that sandwich is totally gross,” she said, putting on her dazzling smile.

  Her friends smiled and all was well. She had taken care of things. But as she wove through the packed tables, passing a group of girls sneakily looking at a phone and a table of guys building a truly disgusting food sculpture, she couldn’t help thinking how tiring it was to be so careful all the time. For a moment she remembered being at the hospital the day before
, visiting Melanie and Henry, who had clapped along while Josie and Gabby made up silly verses to “Deck the Halls.” That was way more fun than talking about sweaters and watching every word that came out of her mouth.

  She paused as she realized that she wasn’t being completely open and honest at the hospital, either. Josie and Oscar still didn’t know the real reason she had first volunteered to help with the Festival.

  There were only a few other students in the buffet area, so Gabby was able to grab a blueberry yogurt and pay pretty fast. As she stepped back into the large sitting area with its harsh fluorescent lighting and stained linoleum floor, she looked around. It was a moment before she realized she was looking for Josie. Which was funny because she generally made a point of avoiding Josie in school. She hadn’t wanted to mix Josie and her friends, what with Josie knowing her secret. Josie’s basement-level social status didn’t help, either.

  But right now Gabby couldn’t make herself care about that. She trusted Josie to keep her secret and knew how much Josie was hurting over the loss of Clementine. Gabby wasn’t sure what she’d do if she found Josie—would she actually walk over to her and say something?

  After a minute, she realized Josie wasn’t there, anyway. Which was probably for the best—it was safest just to keep her hospital work in its own package, separate from school.

  AFTER SCHOOL, GABBY walked briskly through the gray afternoon, heading for the hospital. She was feeling good these days—Dr. Klein had her on new meds that were less draining than the last ones had been. And so far no signs of another seizure.

  As she turned the corner of Buttercup Avenue, a block away from the hospital, she saw someone walking ahead of her, nearly swallowed up in a big blue down jacket.

  “Josie,” Gabby called, running so she could catch up to her.

  Josie turned, and Gabby’s breath snagged in her chest. Josie’s eyes were dull and red-rimmed with dark circles underneath. Her normally pink cheeks were pale, and her face, usually so animated, was lifeless.

  “You haven’t found her yet,” Gabby said more than asked.

  Josie’s eyes filled with tears, and she swiped at them. “My mom and I drove around last night and then this morning before school, but no sign of her.” Even her voice was leaden.