Shadows on the Lane (7 page)

Silently Jessie thanked her dad for not making a big deal out of her “date.”

* * *

That night, in her dreams, she saw Bryce and blue cars. At one point, she and Sunny were playing the piano together. And she heard Phillip laughing and shouting, “Look at Jessie.”

It was still dark outside when Jessie opened her eyes and sat straight up in bed.
Oh my gosh! That’s IT! Why didn’t I think of it before? She looked at her clock. It’ll be hours before I can call Bryce.
She tossed and turned until the early sun peeked through her window.

At eight-thirty, she called the Petersons’. The housekeeper answered the phone. Jessie could hear violin music in the background. “Could I speak to Bryce?”

“He’s practicing. May I take a message?” said the woman.

“I hate to ask this, but would you please interrupt him? It’s very important. Tell him Jessie is calling.” She heard the housekeeper lay down the receiver.

“Jessie?” said Bryce. “What’s happening?”

“Bryce, in the middle of the night, I thought of the duet that you and Cami played just before the accident.” Jessie twisted the cord nervously. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”

“Oh, my gosh!” Bryce said. “I didn’t think of it either and
I
was the one playing.”

Jessie said, “Do you think you and Cami could play the same piece again at your house? We’d be real casual about it. Pretend like it’s just a little get-together, to listen to music.”

“I’ll call Cami and set it up,” said Bryce. “Thanks, Jessie. This could be the key to Sunny’s memory!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“How was the band concert?” It was Monday and Jessie’s mom was folding clean clothes on the kitchen table. Phillip sat at his little desk by the window and worked a wooden puzzle.

“It was great! Lots of drums and horns.” She retrieved a blue bowl from the cupboard and poured cereal into it. “We saw the hit-and-run car, Mom! But we couldn’t get to it fast enough to see the license plate.”

“Oh, no! Aren’t they ever going to find that car?” said her mom. “Honestly, this is ridiculous!”

“I know,” said Jessie. “I can’t believe it either!”

“Did you have fun with Bryce?” Her mother leaned over to help Phillip fit a piece into his puzzle.

“We had a really good time,” Jessie mumbled. She could feel her face getting hot and glanced at her mom.
She’s not saying anything. Maybe she didn’t hear what Phillip yelled from the window.

“I have to do some work at the office today,” said her mom. “Mrs. Winter will be here to take care of Phillip.” She picked up a stack of clothes and started up the stairs. “Watch him for a minute, will you?”

“Sure,” said Jessie.
What a relief.
The phone rang and she answered it in the hall. “Hello?”

“Hi, Jessie,” said Bryce. Her knees felt weak, hearing his voice and remembering the kiss. “It’s all set. Cami’s coming this morning at eleven o’clock. She’ll just drop by casually to see Sunny.”

“This is great!” said Jessie.
My voice sounds pretty confident. Not like some mooning cow.

“Thanks for going with me yesterday,” Bryce said.

She felt like she was melting—actually oozing onto the floor.
So much for confidence. “
It was fun, Bryce. And I haven’t heard any embarrassing remarks from Phillip.”

He laughed. “I wonder what your folks did to keep him quiet.”

“Bawled him out I hope. He deserves it sometimes.” She didn’t want this conversation to ever be over, but she could hear Phillip making a fuss over his puzzle. “Gotta go. See you at eleven.” They hung up and Jessie ran to the kitchen and diverted her brother from a full-blown tantrum.

* * *

Before she went to Bryce’s, Jessie searched the house for Mrs. Winter and finally found her in the back yard by the sandbox.

“Please don’t throw the sand outside the box, Phillip. It kills the grass,” said the babysitter.

Phillip looked up at her, filled his little shovel with sand and poured it slowly onto the grass, all the time watching Mrs. Winter.

The sitter lifted him from the sand and said, “I think you’ve had enough of this. I guess you need a nap.”

He launched into a full howl, kicking at Mrs. Winter who held him firmly and carried him across the lawn.

As she walked away, Jessie shouted, “I’m going to the Petersons’, Mrs. Winter. Good luck.”

The sitter nodded her head and disappeared into the house.

Thank goodness I don’t have to watch him today. He’s being a real pain.
She crossed the street, ran up the path to the cottage and rang the doorbell.

Bryce opened the door and said in a loud voice, “Well, hi, Jessie! Come in.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her across the threshold. “Cami’s here visiting Sunny.”

“You should join the drama club,” Jessie whispered. He kept a hold of her hand. She felt dizzy.

In the living room, Bryce said, “Look who’s here. We should have a party!”

Jessie sat down by Sunny and said to Bryce, “While Cami’s here, why don’t you play that Beethoven piece, you know—“Spring Sonata”? It’s so beautiful the way you play it together.”
Oh, like in my dream. Only it was Sunny and I playing a duet.

Cami pretended to be thinking about it. “I’d need a page turner.”

Sunny stood up with her crutches. “I’ll turn pages.” She hobbled to the piano where Bryce helped her get settled into a chair next to the keyboard.

“Okay,” said Cami. “Do you have a copy of the piano music for the piece, Bryce?”

Bryce rummaged through the sheet music in the piano bench and pulled out a thick book with a gray cover. “Look, here it is!” he said.

Sunny frowned. “I didn’t know we had that,” she said. “I’ve never seen it in the bench before.”

Bryce and Cami exchanged nervous glances.

“I must have left it here one time,” Cami said. She looked inside the cover. “Sure. Here’s my name on it.” She sat down at the piano while Bryce tuned his violin.

Brother, we better get this show on the road before Sunny figures out what we’re doing.
“Okay, your audience is ready,” said Jessie.

They began to play. Jessie was thrilled with the music and hearing Bryce play. She watched Cami at the piano and wished she’d started lessons years ago. It was hard to keep from being envious of Cami. Sunny was engrossed in page-turning.

When it was over, Bryce and Cami bowed and Jessie and Sunny clapped vigorously.

But the look on Sunny’s face told Jessie the child had made no connection between the music and the accident.

They moved their little party out to the patio. The housekeeper brought a plate of goodies and iced tea. “When do you get your cast off, Sunny,” Cami asked as she helped herself to a thick frosted brownie.

Sunny’s face lit up with a beautiful smile. “Tomorrow! I can hardly wait!”

When Jessie got home, she called Bryce. “What do you think?” she twisted the phone cord between her fingers. “Do you think it reminded her of that day at all?”

Bryce sounded discouraged. “Not that I can tell. I wonder if the accident will always be a blank.”

“Maybe it needs a little time to sink in,” said Jessie. “Don’t give up yet.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

That evening, when Jessie called Tina, there was silence in the background. “Where are the twins?”

“My folks took them for a ride in the car,” Tina said. “They’re hoping it will lull them to sleep. The quiet is heavenly!”

Jessie told Tina about re-creating the music from the day at the museum to see if it would jog Sunny’s memory. “But, I don’t think it worked. We are so discouraged.”

“Yeah,” said Tina. “It doesn’t sound good. Speaking of Bryce. How’d it go yesterday? I waited for you to call.”

“I couldn’t talk. Everyone was here,” sighed Jessie. “But actually, no one said anything—except Phillip, of course. When Bryce kissed me, Phillip saw us from the window and shouted the news all over the house and the neighborhood too, no doubt.”

“WHAT?” Tina screamed. “He
kissed
you? Tell me every detail!”

“I can’t now. Big ears everywhere. I’ll tell you when I see you, if that ever happens again.”

“You cannot leave me hanging,” said Tina. “Just tell me—what was it like?”

“It was only on the cheek, but I thought I was going to faint,” whispered Jessie.

“Ohh,
cool
!” Tina said. “Listen, Mom wants me to take the twins for a walk tomorrow. I thought I’d visit Sunny. Will you be there?”

“Yeah, at ten in the morning. Sunny’s getting her cast off at nine. I bet she’ll love those babies.”

“We never know from moment to moment how loveable they’re going to be,” moaned Tina. “Gotta go. They’re back. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

* * *

In the morning, Jessie practiced her lesson and then found Phillip. “Shall we go see Bryce and Sunny?” she asked him.

“Okay,” he said with a big smile.

On the way to the Petersons’, they stopped and waited for Tina, who was pushing a double baby buggy up the sidewalk. The buggy looked bigger than Tina.

When Tina caught up with them, Jessie lifted up her little brother for his first peek at the twins. “Aren’t they cute, Phillip?” She studied the babies. “Which is which? I can’t ever tell them apart.”

Tina pointed to one baby. “That’s Pam. She has a little red birthmark on the back of her hand. “This is Victoria. We call her Tory.”

“Cute,” said Phillip.

They all headed for the house where Bryce was helping Sunny along the brick path.

Phillip ran to Sunny. “Where’s your white leg?”

“I got my cast off!” said Sunny. “Pretty soon I’ll be running around just like you. Oh, are these the twins?” She looked into the buggy. “They’re angels!”

Tina rolled her eyes. “For now. Just give them a few minutes.” She rocked the buggy back and forth. “When they realize we’ve stopped moving, they’ll start screaming.”

“We don’t have to stop,” Sunny took Bryce’s arm. “I’m supposed to exercise. Let’s walk around the museum. All the flowers look so pretty.”

They formed a little parade. Jessie and Bryce were on each side of Sunny, and Phillip helped Tina push the buggy. When they came to the main entrance to the museum, Sunny said, “The grass looks so cool and the flowers…”

Jessie looked at Sunny to see why she’d stopped speaking. The girl’s face had lost all color. “We’d better sit down, Sunny. You don’t look so good”

Bryce guided her to the stone steps of the museum. “What happened?”

Sunny looked up at them. “I just remembered something.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jessie felt a chill cross her scalp. “What?”

“I remember throwing a ball back and forth with a boy, I think. Who
was
that?” Sunny searched Jessie’s face. “When I missed catching it, the ball rolled toward the street and I chased it.” She wrung her hands. “That’s all I remember.”

Jessie looked at Bryce. She could tell he was excited but trying to be calm.

“I saw you that day, tossing the ball.” Jessie said. “But I don’t know the boy.”

“The ball had two colors and it was big but not heavy,” Sunny said.

“It was a beach ball,” Bryce said. “Red and white. This is great! Wait till Dad hears.”

“But it doesn’t tell who hit me,” Sunny said. “Maybe I’ll never know.”

Jessie sat on the step next to Sunny. “I think you will. Remembering
anything
is just the beginning.” She took her hand. “I’ve been reading up on amnesia at the library. The books call this a ‘breakthrough..’ I guess it’s like pulling a thread on a sweater—you get it started and the rest just comes along.”

Sunny said, “You mean my brain will unravel?”

Everyone laughed and Phillip laughed loudest, though Jessie was sure he didn’t know what was so funny.

“Let’s go back to the house,” Bryce said. “I want to call Dad and tell him what’s happened.” He took Sunny’s arm and tried not to go too fast for her.

Jessie walked with Tina and Phillip. “This is amazing, isn’t it? I just
knew
we could get her memory going with the music.” She smiled at the babies in the buggy. “Do you think Sunny will remember any more?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Tina.

“I’ve been trying to think of a way to get Sunny out to Mrs. Livingston’s farm,” Jessie said.

“Uh-oh,” said Tina. “I can’t wait to hear
this
one!”

* * *

That night, when Jessie’s father heard what had happened, he visited the Petersons to have a talk with Sunny. Jessie waited impatiently for him to come home and tell her everything.

“Dinner’s ready,” said her mom through the screen door. “Standing on the porch won’t get your dad here any faster.”

Jessie went inside and found Phillip in the living room sitting on the piano bench. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t look at her. Gingerly, he touched a white key with his tiny finger. “Play?”