Stand Tall

by Joan Bauer

  Students nodded.

  The bus lurched through the storm.

  Outside the middle school orchestra room, Sophie was unwrapping ten layers of plastic bags from around her flute.

  “Aunt Peach says if the flute gets ruined, I don’t get another one. I told her it would be a real loss to the music world. I’ve got this big tryout and I’ve got to play dry. I want this solo bad, Tree.”

  Flute sounds came from the orchestra room.

  “That’s pretty,” Tree said.

  “That’s Sarah Kravetz playing.” Sarah Kravetz was Amber Melloncroft’s best friend. “She wants the solo, too. She can’t even hit a high C.”

  Tree listened some more. “She’s not as good as I thought.” The flute music stopped.

  “I get mucus in my throat when I’m nervous.” Sophie cleared her throat like a truck driver, spat into a tissue.

  “You’ll do great,” Tree offered.

  Sarah Kravetz walked out, looked Sophie up and down like she’d fallen off a garbage truck. Didn’t even look at Tree.

  Flounced off.

  “So, okay, I’m next.”

  Sophie cleared her throat loud as Sarah looked back, amused; Amber joined her, whispering.

  Sophie on her knees, searching through her book bag for the music.

  “I had it this morning.”

  Giggles.

  Tree wanted to punch a hole through the wall and shove them in.

  “Okay. Wait.” Sophie held Poldini’s “Dancing Doll” high so Amber and Sarah could see.

  And with that, Sophie Santack cleared her throat, spat big, and marched into the orchestra room to show what a tough kid could do with a tender instrument.

  I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  That’s what Sophie’s note said on Tree’s locker.

  He looked for her in school. Walked though the packed halls, towering over the heads of students, but he couldn’t find her.

  Sully lumbered by on his way to the principal’s office, sent there for turning his hearing aid off in social studies.

  “Haven’t seen her,” he said glumly.

  I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  She held up a sign when he was at basketball practice.

  Tree grinned at her, focused on the net, and actually made a basket.

  He tried to act like he did that all the time, but inside he was soaring.

  Sophie stomped on the bleachers.

  “I got it!” she said excitedly when he came out of the locker room. “I got the solo at assembly and I got the solo at the Memorial Day concert after the parade. I’m going to be a soldier of yesteryear and play this medley of war songs I’ve never heard before, but I’m going to know them in my sleep by May. It’s going to be a lot of pressure, but I think I’m up to it. Mr. Cloud said I had true feeling for the instrument.”

  Tree beamed. “That’s great.”

  “And I needed this, Tree, ’Cause people don’t always get where I’m coming from. Those eighth-grade girls don’t get it.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m going to bake brownies and bring them to school tomorrow. We’re going to celebrate.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  She smelled it before she saw it.

  Couldn’t figure out what the awful odor was.

  She turned the corner, holding the plate of brownies.

  She’d fixed her hair extra nice, too, with that purple barrette.

  Sophie was feeling as good as she’d ever allow herself to feel.

  But then she saw it.

  Trash bags with smelly garbage hanging from her school locker, piled around the floor, spilling the stinking mess everywhere.

  Tuna cans.

  Coffee grinds.

  Broken eggshells.

  She dropped the brownies.

  Tore the barrette out of her hair.

  Stood there frozen. Kids walked past her, holding their noses at the smell.

  “I didn’t do this, okay? I didn’t bring this here!”

  Then she saw the sign—in pink block letters.

  GARBAGE GIRL

  She tore it down just as Tree ran up.

  “Who did this?” he shouted. But he already knew. “We’ll clean it up. Sully, Eli, and me. You won’t have to—”

  Teachers were coming now.

  Students saying it was awful.

  The bell rang.

  They stood there.

  Mr. Cosgrove pushed a Dumpster into place; moved quickly. Took down the bags, threw out the garbage.

  “They’re going to explode someday from all the garbage inside them,” he told Sophie, but it didn’t make her feel better.

  She grabbed a smelly tuna can and stormed off.

  “Sophie,” Tree shouted.

  She kept walking.

  Tree ran after her. “Where are you going?”

  “I’ve got someone to see.” She was almost running, holding that can.

  Pushed into first-period geometry—her class—stormed right up to Amber Melloncroft and Sarah Kravetz, who looked away, trying not to smile.

  Mr. Pelling, the math teacher, said, “You can’t walk in here like that.”

  Sophie slammed the can down on Amber’s desk.

  “If you and your friends ever do that to me again, you’re going to be sorry!”

  Amber shouted, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and take your lunch off my desk!”

  Sophie picked up the can, shoved it under Amber’s upturned nose. “This is a smell you know real well.”

  “That’s enough!” Mr. Pelling shouted.

  “She’s threatening me!” Amber wailed.

  “No.” Tree stood tall. “She’s telling the truth about what you did. Now everybody knows.” He stepped closer. “I want to know why you did it.”

  “Get away from me, you overgrown freak!”

  “What made you think you had the right?”

  “In the hall!” Mr. Pelling pointed at Tree and Sophie.

  He marched them to the principal’s office.

  “Threatening a student,” he told Mrs. Pierce, the administrative assistant.

  The principal was on the phone with the superintendent.

  They had to wait.

  “Dr. Terry,” Tree said to the principal, “Sophie didn’t threaten anybody. Those girls have been mean to her for a long time.”

  Dr. Terry leaned back in her chair. “Several teachers told me what happened with the locker. It was an awful thing to do. I apologize to you, Sophie, on behalf of this school. That is not what we’re about. But you should have come in here to talk to me as soon as it happened.”

  “I never think about principals when I’m mad.”

  Dr. Terry smiled. “I understand.”

  “I don’t know if you do, Dr. Terry. You didn’t see it.”

  “Sophie, something like this takes time to fix. I’m going to talk to Amber and her friends. I’m going to talk to their parents and to this school community at large. There is zero tolerance for cruelty at Eleanor Roosevelt. I’ll call your parents, too, so we can work this out together.”

  Sophie looked down. “I don’t think I want to come back to this school.”

  Tree’s heart just broke for her.

  Dr. Terry leaned forward. “I’m asking you to give me a little time to make this right.”

  “I’m in eighth grade, Dr. Terry. Unless I flunk, you haven’t got much time.”

  Aunt Peach arrived at the school, folded her considerable arms, and eyed Sophie like a prison guard.

  “What are we going to do about your temper?”

  “They put garbage on my locker, Aunt Peach!”

  “That was a cold, cruel thing to do.”

  “And I let them know it. Sometimes you’ve got to shout the truth and wake people up.”

  “Sophie, I like to think that truth doesn’t need to be shoved down people’s throats.”

  “In eighth grade, Aunt Peach, truth needs all the help it can get.”
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  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “I told Aunt Peach I’d rather eat dirt for a week than come to ballroom dancing, but she said it’s going to help me socially.” Sophie folded her arms tight. “Like there’s hope.”

  Sophie stood miserably in a red dress near the wall of the YMCA gym, as far away from Amber Melloncroft and Sarah Kravetz as possible.

  Tree stood next to her.

  Sully and Eli were out front, hiding in the bushes.

  Coach Glummer’s cousin Sheila tossed her head; Lazar tossed his.

  They stood cheek to cheek, arms extended, knees bent.

  “The tango,” Sheila said, “is making a comeback, and I want you to experience it.”

  They rotated dramatically, not smiling. Lazar bent Sheila back.

  “The tango is about passion.”

  The boys started laughing, especially Jeremy Liggins. The girls giggled.

  “The tango is about despair and emotional power. It was born during a time of great economic hardship. People danced it to express the sadness in their hearts.”

  Sophie looked at Tree, who knew he wasn’t up to this.

  “Don’t be afraid of passion and despair,” Sheila shouted. “We all have deep rivers running through us. This dance will help you find them.”

  “I’m there.” Sophie grabbed Tree’s hand and marched onto the dance floor.

  After sixty minutes of tango practice, Tree had found despair.

  He was too tall for this dance.

  To look directly into Sophie’s eyes, he had to bend low.

  To fully extend his arms with Sophie’s, she had to grab his elbow instead of his hand.

  He almost dropped Sophie when he had to lean her back.

  And the worst part was, Sophie loved it.

  “Okay, we’re going to connect to our deep rivers of despair, Tree, and get so sad, we can hardly stand it. We’re going to let all the garbage that’s been thrown at us come out and show these people what’s what.”

  Tree was absolutely certain he couldn’t do that.

  But Lazar picked Tree and Sophie and Amber and Jeremy to demonstrate.

  They walked to the middle of the dance floor.

  Amber looked at Sophie, held her nose.

  “Mr. Cosgrove should have put you in the Dumpster,” Sophie snarled.

  “You are so pathetic!”

  “You think so?”

  Tree stood tall, stared at Amber. “Stop it!”

  Amber looked away.

  Silence from Jeremy.

  “Together with the eyes,” Lazar shouted.

  Sophie’s dark eyes fixated on Tree.

  “Okay. From that, young peoples, we find our sadness!” Hands on hips, Sophie stepped defiantly past Amber, who was having trouble finding anything. Sophie tossed her head, posed with pain.

  A big part of the tango is posing.

  She did a little twirl around Tree, who almost went in the right direction.

  He stood there like a stage prop, trying to keep his deep rivers to himself.

  Sophie stomped her foot, her red skirt flared up. She glared at Amber, who looked down.

  “You see from that?” Lazar shouted. “The girl, she becomes the dance.”

  Painful music swelled.

  And Sophie Santack owned that dance floor.

  She didn’t really need a partner, but Tree wasn’t giving up his slot. She came close: “We’re going to try that cheek-to-cheek thing and pray to God we don’t mess up.”

  Tree prayed.

  Bent down to reach her cheek.

  “Stand tall,” Sophie told him. “Wear it proud.”

  They danced cheek to chest, which was a whole lot easier.

  Tree bent her back for the finish.

  The music ended.

  But not the pain.

  That’s the point of the tango.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The only thing the continuous rain was good for was Eli’s little sister, Rachel, whose feather allergies got better, and the doctor said Fred could come home.

  Grandpa had complicated feelings about this.

  He hadn’t once gotten the parrot to say he was a genius.

  “Back off, Buster” was all he got. That bird was stuck like an old record.

  He’d hoped to bring Fred to a new level of communication, but it wasn’t meant to be.

  “I would like us to begin a new level of communication.”

  Tree’s mother said this on the speakerphone in her kitchen to Tree’s father, who was at work.

  Tree was in his mother’s living room, listening.

  Mom scrolled down her computer screen. She’d typed out exactly what she wanted to say.

  “I think we’re strong enough to do this now, Mark. I know it will be important for the children.”

  Silence. She geared up for the next line:

  “I know that we are forever linked to each other because of the kids. We need to be able to talk together and make decisions together without all the old stuff getting in the way.”

  Tree’s father didn’t say anything because his stockperson had just dropped a box of golf balls and the balls were rolling everywhere.

  “Are you still there?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Dad stopped a golf ball with his foot.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you.”

  “It would be nice if you at least acknowledged you heard me.”

  “I heard you.” Dad stopped three balls with a hockey stick. He didn’t like talking about important things on the phone.

  Mom lived on the phone. “Well?”

  This, thought Tree, is the old stuff.

  Mom and Dad decided to talk about it next week at dinner. At Dad’s house, so she could say hello to Grandpa.

  They said good-bye in that edgy way.

  Tree wondered if they would ever talk to each other easily again.

  He walked into the kitchen.

  Tree wasn’t sure he should confess. But he did.

  “I kind of overheard, Mom.”

  “Your dad and I don’t want to let our problems stand in the way of doing the best for you and your brothers.”

  Tree nodded. That was nice.

  “I’m not going to let years of misunderstanding stand in the way of being a forgiving adult.”

  She wasn’t done.

  “Your dad and I shared important moments. I’m not going to let them get buried.” She said that pretty fast.

  “It’s good you can talk,” Tree offered.

  She turned off her computer, sighed. “It’s going to be hard for me to go to the old house.”

  “I know, Mom.”

  “I haven’t seen Grandpa and Bradley for . . .”

  “They miss you. We all do.”

  Her eyes teared up. “I’m crying so much these days. I’m sorry. I see a baby and I cry. I see a kitten and I can hardly stand it. I see a commercial with a happy family eating vegetables and I fall apart.”

  “Maybe we should stop eating vegetables,” Tree offered hopefully, handing her a box of tissues.

  She blew her nose. “Should I bake something for next week? Anything you’d like?”

  Tree laughed. “You should probably bring the whole dinner, Mom.”

  Twisting the tissue. “Your dad said he’d take care of dinner. I don’t want to insult him.”

  “Your mother’s coming for dinner.”

  Tree’s father said this at six o’clock.

  Tree was shocked. “I thought she was coming on Thursday.”

  “We changed it.” Dad checked his watch. “She’ll be here in thirty minutes.”

  Tree looked around—no food on the stove, in the oven. “What are we eating?”

  “I don’t know.” Tree’s father wrung his hands.

  “Sophie’s coming over, Dad. Remember? We’re going to watch that TV show on lizards since her TV’s broken. You said it was okay.”

  “It’s okay.” Already Dad regretted this whole even
ing.

  “But Mom’s coming.”

  “That’s okay, too.”

  He picked up the phone to order pizza.

  For men, there’s always a simple solution to dinner.

  “Well . . .”

  Mom sat at the dining room table, looked at the empty walls, the shadows of where the hutch had been.

  Remembered how they’d fought about who got the hutch.

  Studied the clothesline and pulley system on the ceiling. Felt a tightness in her chest.

  “It was an experiment, Mom.”

  “I’m sure it was.”

  She smiled at Tree, looked kindly to Grandpa, patted Bradley’s old, loyal head. Bradley hadn’t left her side since she’d walked through the door.

  “We haven’t sat at this table together for a long time,” Mom said quietly.

  Dad moved a can of motor oil off the table to make room for the pizza.

  “Sausage or veggie?” he asked too loudly.

  Mom’s smile grew thin. “I don’t eat sausage. I never have.”

  “Right.” Dad cut into the veggie pizza, slapped a huge piece on a paper plate, looked at his ex-wife. “We’ve got salad.”

  “Please.”

  Salad plopped on the plate. Too much dressing.

  Lightning cracked in the sky; the hanging light over the table flickered just like in a horror movie.

  Mom turned sympathetically to Grandpa. “How are you, Leo?”

  “Sausage or veggie?” Dad asked Grandpa.

  “Whatever’s easy.”

  Dad froze. He needed facts.

  “Give him one of each, Dad.” Tree said this miserably. “I want sausage. No salad.”

  “You should have salad,” Mom said.

  “I’m not hungry, Mom.”

  “Give him some salad.”

  A teaspoon of salad dropped onto Tree’s plate.

  Dad made a pizza sandwich—slapped two pieces of sausage pizza together facedown; took a huge bite.

  Mom looked away. She hated it when he did that.

  Grandpa asked, “How’s it been going for you, Jan?”

  She picked at her salad. “I’m traveling a lot. Teaching more seminars. We’ve been streamlining the curriculum. I have to do a three-day workshop in a day and a half now. I’m not sure everyone is learning what they need. It’s frustrating. Not as frustrating as what you’re dealing with, Leo.”