Best Friends (10 page)

It was a silent group of girls who gathered at the fairgrounds outside Camden Falls on Sunday morning. Flora and Annika had said little to each other the previous evening, but they'd been at Ruby's performance, so they hadn't had much opportunity to talk. When Mrs. Walter brought her car around to the front of the Row Houses on Sunday and tooted the horn, Flora and Annika had walked slowly outside and slid into the Walters' car, where they had found a very quiet Olivia. Barely a word was spoken on the drive to the fairgrounds.

“Everything okay, girls?” Mrs. Walter asked later as they were climbing out of the car.

“Yeah,” said Olivia.

“Yup,” said Flora.

“Mm-hmm,” said Annika.

“You're sure?”

“Yes!” said Olivia.

“Well, all right. I'll see you later. Olivia, your dad's working at the store today, but I'll bring Henry and Jack here at noon. Look for us at the information booth. I'll want to check in with you then, okay?”

“Okay.”

The girls approached the entrance to the fair. Nikki was waiting for them. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” said Flora, Olivia, and Annika.

After a long and very uncomfortable silence, Flora finally said, “What should we do first?”

This was met with three shrugs.

“The midway?” suggested Flora.

A pause. Then, “I guess,” said Olivia.

“Don't be so enthusiastic,” said Annika.

“Look who's talking,” said Olivia.

Nikki cleared her throat. “Does someone want to tell me what's going on? You guys were quiet all day yesterday. Are you mad at each other? Did you have a fight?”

“No,” said Olivia, Flora, and Annika.

“Then what
is
it? Are you going to act like this all day? Because if you are, Mom and Mae are here, and I could have a lot more fun with them.”

“So go find them,” said Olivia.

“All right. Maybe I will.” Nikki turned around.

“Wait, don't go,” said Flora. “You know what, you guys? I think we need to talk.”

“About what?” asked Annika sullenly.

“About us. Look. Annika, this is your first visit here. And Olivia, I think it's bothering you that Annika was my best friend before I moved to Camden Falls. And Annika, I think it's bothering you that Olivia and Nikki are my best friends now.”

There was another pause, and then Nikki said, “And, Flora, I think it's bothering you that your friends aren't getting along.”

“It is!” Flora exclaimed, and suddenly felt tears coming on. She swallowed a sob. “I love all of you. You
are
my friends. And I was looking forward to introducing Annika to you. And you to Annika. But this is” (Flora now let out a sob she couldn't control) “this is horrible.”

Olivia put her arm around Flora. “I think we can work things out, though, don't you?”

“I hope so,” said Flora.

“Well, if what you just said is true — that we're all friends and you love all of us — then I'm pretty sure we can.”

Through her tears, Flora saw that Annika and Olivia were crying now, too. “This is so embarrassing! We can't all cry here in front of everybody,” Flora exclaimed, eyeing the groups of people who kept hurrying toward the entrance to the fair.

“We need to go somewhere to talk,” said Olivia, looking around. The fairgrounds, which on ordinary days were the town playing fields, consisted of a large grassy area surrounded on three sides by woods. Not far from where the girls stood was a graceful spruce tree, its sweeping branches spreading low. Olivia pointed to it. “Let's go sit under the tree. We can face the woods. That will be pretty private.”

The girls walked shakily to the tree, sniffing and hiccupping, and now Nikki was wiping her eyes, too. “Are you sure we need to talk?” she asked. “That doesn't always work well at my house. I mean, it didn't when my father was around. No matter what anybody said, you couldn't win an argument with him. And then he and my mother would get madder than ever at each other and finally Dad would go crashing out of the house, yelling at all of us.”

“Well, we're not your father,” said Flora gently. “This talk isn't going to end that way.”

The girls sat down in a circle behind the tree.

“I hope someone has Kleenex,” said Annika, wiping her eyes.

“I do,” said Olivia, reaching into her pocket with a trembling hand.

“All right. Let's start at the beginning,” said Nikki.

“What's the beginning?” asked Flora. “I mean, what's the beginning of … this?”

Nikki said slowly, “I think the beginning was a couple of months ago when you told us that Annika was going to visit.” She glanced at Olivia.

Olivia, her cheeks reddening, said to Nikki, “Yeah. I knew Annika was Flora's best friend before she moved here. And now
we're
best friends — I mean, you and Flora and Ruby and I are — but I was afraid that when Annika came, Flora would see what she was missing.”

“What do you mean?” asked Flora.

Olivia shrugged.

“No, really. What do you mean?” asked Nikki. “This is important, Olivia. If we're going to talk about this stuff, then we'd better
really
talk about it. Because if we don't, we're going to create distances.”

“I'm afraid that if we
do
talk we're going to create distances.”

“Not if we're already friends,” said Flora. “And we are.”

Olivia drew her breath in and said, “I never had a best friend before. No one liked me, not really. I skipped a grade, and I'm smaller than everyone in our class, and I'm interested in things no one else cares about. So I never expected to have a best friend. Then I got three, but I was always afraid that everything could be taken away. Why should you guys like
me
so much? So when Flora said Annika was coming to visit and she talked about all the great things Annika used to do, I felt like I —” Olivia stopped talking suddenly.

“What?” asked Annika. “Like you what?”

“Like I wasn't going to measure up,” whispered Olivia. “Like Flora would see Annika again and realize what she was missing.”

“But I was afraid
I
wasn't going to measure up!” cried Annika. “Flora e-mails me about the great friends she has in Camden Falls and all the things you guys do together. So I guess I —” Now it was Annika's turn to stop talking.

“It's okay. You can tell us,” said Olivia.

“Well, I was jealous of you and Nikki. I'm even a little jealous of Camden Falls.”

“Of Camden Falls?” repeated Flora.

“Yeah. You're always going on about how wonderful it is here —”

“She is?” said Nikki.

“Yes. And, Flora, I want you to be happy and everything. I do. But — and I know this doesn't make sense — somehow I didn't want you to be happier here than you were — I mean, I didn't want you to forget — it's just that I didn't want to lose you.” And with that, Annika burst into tears and buried her head in her hands.

Then Nikki started to cry.

“Why are
you
crying?” asked Olivia, bewildered.

“Because a year ago,” said Nikki, sobbing, “I could never, ever have had this kind of talk with anyone. I didn't have any friends, either, Olivia, and now I have three best friends. You guys, think about why we're crying. It's actually because we have so
many
friends. Annika, Flora can be friends with us and with you. Olivia, Flora can be friends with Annika and with us. Right?”

“Right,” said Annika and Olivia.

But now Flora began to weep. “You know why I was so upset when my project only won second place?” she said.

“I truly have no idea,” said Nikki. “I've been wondering about it since yesterday.”

“It was because I wanted Annika to see how happy I am here. I wanted her to see that I fit in. I thought if I could win first place with a project about Camden Falls and my family and everything, then I could
prove
that I fit in, and that I belong here.”

Olivia started to laugh.

“It isn't funny, Olivia!” cried Flora.

“Well, this is: I wanted to win first place with my photos so I could impress Annika.”

“Oh, for the love of Mike,” said Flora, sounding so much like Min that Annika and Nikki began to laugh, too, and then finally so did Flora.

“You guys!” Annika exclaimed.

Olivia looked at her watch. “It's nearly eleven o'clock,” she said. “We're missing the fair.”

“And it's Annika's last day here,” said Flora.

“Somehow I think our talk was more important,” said Nikki. “We really needed to have it. Is everybody clear on everything?” she added. “Annika, I think Flora is always going to be your friend. You're not going to lose her. And, Flora, Annika sees that you're happy. Olivia, whether you like it or not, you have best friends for life.”

“Same goes for you,” said Olivia to Nikki.

Nikki stood up and brushed off her jeans. “Well, all right, then.”

Olivia, Flora, and Annika stood, too, and the girls put their arms around one another and headed back to the entrance to the fair.

“We have four hours before we have to meet Min and Annika's parents,” said Flora, “and then Annika will have to go home.”

“What should we do first?” asked Nikki.

“Midway,” said Olivia. “And I have to remember to check in with my mom.”

“After that we'll get lunch,” said Annika.

“Oh, look!” exclaimed Flora. “There's one of those photo booths. Let's see if we can all fit in it.”

They could, just barely. And the strip of photos, when it was ready, showed most of Flora's head, the right side of Nikki's head, the left side of Olivia's head, and the top of Annika's head.

“Who's going to keep it?” asked Annika.

“We all will,” said Flora. “I have an idea. Let me have it for now.”

Flora had to wait until Tuesday, after she had said good-bye to Annika and her parents, after the second performance of Ruby's play, after another day at the fair (this time with Nikki and Olivia and Ruby), after an impressive fireworks display, and after school had begun again, before she could carry out her idea. Then she took the strip of photos to Camden Falls Art Supply, Xeroxed it three times, carefully cut out the strips of photos, and asked to have each strip laminated.

“There,” she said that evening as she showed them to Min. “Four bookmarks. One for each of us to remember the fair by. I'll give Olivia and Nikki theirs tomorrow.”

Flora put Annika's bookmark in an envelope and added a note that said “
Friends forever and always
” and mailed it to her the next day.

Over and done in a flash.

That was how Ruby thought of Camden Falls's 350
^th
birthday celebration. How, she wondered, was it possible to plan for something for so long, to prepare for it, to look forward to it, to dream about it — and then to find yourself on the other side of it so quickly? This was exactly what happened with her birthday every year. And with Christmas. And even with summer vacation, which lasted much longer than any of those other things but still managed to fly by, so that when it was over, Ruby found herself shaking her head in wonderment.

The celebration was truly over. The posters were gone. Store windows now advertised gas grills and inflatable swimming pools. The town decorations had been replaced with … “Nothing,” said Ruby glumly. With the exception of the pots of flowers, the decorations had simply been taken down and put away. And the Camden Falls Elementary auditorium was preparing for sixth-grade graduation. All signs of
The Witches of Camden Falls
had disappeared.

Over and done in a flash.

At least I have the newspaper article and the program from the play, thought Ruby. She looked at them frequently. She thought of them as her moment in the sun. When she mentioned this to Min, Min smiled and said, “I have a feeling you'll be having lots more moments in the sun, Ruby. You're only ten years old.”

Ruby, who was thinking that she was
already
ten years old, said nothing and went into the backyard to sit on a lawn chair and reflect on her life.

She was ten. Fourth grade was almost over. In the fall, she would begin fifth grade. It had been a good year for Ruby, if you didn't count her report cards. Ruby's report cards were never the sort that made grown-ups smile and congratulate her. They were more the sort that made her teachers shake their heads and discuss her attitude and potential. But oh well. There had been the play, and riding on the Needle and Thread float in the parade, and several performances of the Camden Falls Children's Chorus, and talk of moving Ruby to the advanced tap class (the Turbo Tappers) at her dance school. Ruby decided she could be proud of her life so far. And Min was probably right. There would be many more moments in the sun.

The one thing that felt off-kilter to Ruby was Aunt Allie. Ruby decided that she and Aunt Allie were like C and C sharp on the piano. Individually they were fine, but put them together and they sounded like King Comma on his way to the vet. Ruby and her aunt had had some good moments, it was true. After all, Aunt Allie had congratulated Ruby on the opening night of
The Witches of Camden Falls
and sounded as if she meant what she'd said. But mostly they crabbed at each other.

And now — in just two weeks — Aunt Allie would be moving into her new house. So why didn't Ruby feel happy about this? Aunt Allie would be out of her hair. C sharp would be gone. But when Ruby thought about moving day, she felt a small sadness, which she now realized was due to the fact that she believed she had failed where her aunt was concerned. She and her aunt
ought
to be able to get along. They were family. And yet …

Ruby's head was beginning to ache. Still, she felt quite mature for coming to the conclusion that she, Ruby, contributed to the problems with Aunt Allie — much as Ruby would like to place all the blame on her aunt.

Flora joined Ruby at the lawn chair then. “Scootch up your feet,” she said. “Let me sit on the end.”

Ruby obliged. Then she yawned and said, “Feels like summer.”

“Pretty soon it will be summer for real,” said Flora. “Can you believe it? And then we will have been here for one entire year.”

“I actually can't believe it,” said Ruby. “It doesn't feel like a year.”

“It feels like a year since Aunt Allie got here, though,” said Flora.

“
Shh!
” hissed Ruby, giggling. “Her window's open.”

“Oh, she's clacking away at that computer of hers. She'll never hear us.”

“No she isn't,” said Ruby. “I mean, she isn't writing. She's packing.”

Flora was quiet for a moment. She reached down to stroke Daisy Dear, who had crawled under the lawn chair — even though she barely fit and her back was jammed up against Ruby's bottom. “What are you doing there, Daisy?” she asked.

“Daisy wilts in the heat. She's a shade seeker,” said Ruby wisely.

“I like Aunt Allie's new house, don't you?”

Ruby nodded. “Her new old house.”

“I guess it is her new old house,” replied Flora, smiling.

The house Allie bought had been built in 1897.

“I wonder if it has any ghosts,” said Ruby.

“Oh, no. Don't say that!” cried Flora. “I'll think of it every time we go over there.”

“Which hopefully won't be very often.”

“Anyway, the Row Houses are older than Aunt Allie's house, and we don't have any ghosts.”

“That we know of,” said Ruby.

Flora shivered.

 

The next two weeks were busy ones for Aunt Allie. She called the phone company. She called the electric company. She changed her address. She traveled to New York City to supervise the packing of the remainder of the things in her old apartment. She cleaned the new house, finished packing up the things in her room at the Row House, then cleaned the room. To Allie's surprise, Ruby offered to help with the last two of these chores.

“I'm a good packer and a good cleaner,” she announced. “And if you want me to do things a certain way, I'm good at following directions.” This was not quite true. Ruby was only good at following directions onstage, but why split hairs?

“Well … thank you,” said Aunt Allie. “I could use a little help. Why don't you start by packing up the books? You can put them in those cartons that are under the window. Just don't fill them too full or we'll never be able to lift them.”

“Aren't the movers going to carry them?” asked Ruby.

“Yes, but we have to get them downstairs first. The movers are going to start out in Manhattan and then drive up here. I told them we'd have these things waiting by the front door.”

So Ruby packed books and wrapped breakable things in newspaper and dusted shelves and tried not to appear too crabby when Aunt Allie asked her if she was certain she shouldn't be doing her homework instead.

“Why don't you help, too?” Ruby asked Flora on the evening before the big move.

Flora, who was sitting at her desk, working on a report about the wives of the presidents, replied by saying, “Isn't it weird that there are no husbands of presidents? That doesn't seem quite right.”

“Flora?” said Ruby.

“What?”

“I said, why don't you help Aunt Allie, too? If you did, it would be good karma. Besides, it's Friday night. You have all weekend to finish your homework.”

“I don't like moving,” said Flora flatly.

Ruby stepped all the way into Flora's room. “But you'd be speeding Aunt Allie on her way.”

“Ruby!” Flora spun around in her desk chair. “I want her gone as much as you do,” she said in a loud whisper, “but I don't like packing and vans and cartons and everything. It reminds me of — oh, never mind.”

“What? You can't not tell me,” said Ruby.

“It reminds me of when we moved here, okay?” said Flora. “And that was not my best time. I'm happy to be here, but moving makes me think of Mom and Dad and all the stuff we left behind. So stop talking about it.”

Ruby backed out of the room.

 

On Saturday, Ruby said to her sister, “Are you going to be okay today?”

“I guess. I'll just be happy when it's all over. When the room upstairs is back to normal and when Aunt Allie's house is set up. What time are the movers supposed to get here?”

“Right after lunch, I think.”

The movers arrived at one-thirty. They added the boxes stacked in the front hall of the Row House to the van and then followed Aunt Allie (proudly driving her new Subaru) through Camden Falls to her home. Min, Flora, and Ruby followed the van in Min's car. The van backed into Allie's driveway, and Allie and Min parked on the street in front of the house.

Ruby and Flora emerged from the car to find their aunt in tears on her front porch.

“What's the matter?” they asked. Ruby wondered why on earth adults had to cry. It was so unsettling. Why couldn't they leave the crying to kids?

“Oh,” said Aunt Allie, searching her purse for Kleenex, “this is just silliness. It's a happy day. But I can't believe I've left New York for good. I lived there for so long, and I considered myself a city person, and now here I am back in a small town.”

“But I thought this is what you wanted,” said Ruby.

“It is.”

“Oh.” Aunt Allie, Ruby thought, was not only C sharp, she was also a big knot of yarn that you couldn't untangle. Even if you found one of the ends and pulled on it, the rest of the yarn would just bunch up more tightly.

Aunt Allie wiped at her eyes, put the Kleenex back in her pocket, and said, “Girls, there's something I want to show you, and I think now is as good a time as any. Come upstairs with me.”

Ruby and Flora followed Aunt Allie through the front door of her house, into the empty first floor, and then up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, Allie stepped aside and said, “Go to the room at the end of the hall.”

Ruby glanced at her sister, then walked down the hall, her footsteps echoing softly. The door to the room was closed. “Go ahead. Open it,” Ruby heard Allie say.

Ruby opened the door and found a room that was already furnished, right down to the knickknacks. “It's beautiful!” exclaimed Ruby softly. She and Flora stepped inside and admired the twin beds, each covered with a purple chenille spread and awash in brightly colored pillows. Between the beds was a white bookcase, filled with books. One wall of the room had been painted with a scene from Paris. On a dresser sat china figurines and framed photos of Min and Aunt Allie and Flora and Ruby's parents, and even Olivia and Nikki.

“Whose room is it?” asked Flora in a whisper.

“Yours,” said Aunt Allie. “Yours and Ruby's. I made sure it was ready first. It's yours for whenever you want to visit. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Flora.

“Thank you,” said Ruby.

Ruby was envisioning dinners of tofu and kale at Aunt Allie's, and evenings spent completing crossword puzzles and homework assignments. Still, she gave her aunt an awkward hug, joined by Flora.

“This was a very good surprise,” said Ruby solemnly.