Shoeshine Girl (2 page)

Sarah Ida met Rossi's mother. Mrs. Wigginhorn was pretty in the same way Rossi was. She had pale hair and a sweet smile.

She said, “I hope you'll enjoy your visit here.”

Rossi showed Sarah Ida her room. “My daddy made this shelf for my library. These are all my books. Any time you want to borrow some—”

“I don't read much,” said Sarah Ida. She was looking at something else. She was looking at a blue and white pig on the dresser. “What's this?” she asked.

“That's my bank,” said Rossi.

“Is there anything in it?”

“About five dollars.”

Sarah Ida picked up the pig. It was heavy. She turned it from side to side. She could feel the coins move.

“I need four dollars,” she said. “Will you lend it to me?”

“I—I'm saving for a present for my daddy,” said Rossi.

“It's just a loan. I'll pay you back.”

Rossi looked unhappy. “I'm not supposed to lend money.”

“You said I could borrow your books. What's the difference?”

“I just don't think I'd better.”

“All right. Forget it.” Sarah Ida went to the door.

“No. Wait. You can have it.” Rossi was feeling in the top drawer of the dresser. She took out a tiny key on a string. “But don't tell anyone.”

“Don't you tell, either,” said Sarah Ida.

There was a lock on the underside of the pig. Rossi unlocked it. The coins fell out on the dresser. They were mostly quarters and dimes.

Sarah Ida counted out four dollars. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” said Rossi.

“Well, then, good-by,” said Sarah Ida.

“Don't you want me to walk back with you?” asked Rossi.

“You don't need to.” Sarah Ida left her. She walked out of the house and up the street. The coins jingled in her pocket. She was whistling when she got back to Aunt Claudia's.

She awoke late the next morning. There was sunlight in the room. She looked at the pictures on the walls. For the first time she almost liked them. For the first time in weeks she felt almost happy.

The feeling was quickly gone.

The door opened, and Aunt Claudia came in. Her face was like winter.

She said, “You took money from Rossi yesterday—didn't you?”

Sarah Ida sat up in bed. “How—?”

“Mrs. Wigginhorn called me. She said most of the money was gone from Rossi's bank. She said you would know about it.”

“I didn't—” began Sarah Ida.

“What happened? I want to know.”

“I borrowed the money. That's what happened. I
borrowed
it.”

“You hadn't known poor little Rossi even a day, and already you were borrowing her money.”

“Poor little Rossi said I could.”

“She's such a friendly child. She didn't know how to say no.” Aunt Claudia asked, “Is money so important to you? What do you need it for?”

“I told you. I like to have money in my pocket.”

“Do you think that's a good reason?”

“It is to me.”

“It isn't to me. Get your clothes on and take that money right back.”

Sarah Ida hadn't known Aunt Claudia could sound so fierce. She got up and dressed. The money was in an envelope under her pillow. She stuffed it into her pocket.

She went down the street to the Wigginhorns'. Rossi opened the door. Her eyes and nose were red.

“Sarah Ida—”

“Here.” Sarah Ida almost threw the envelope at her. “I might have known I couldn't trust you.”

“I couldn't help it,” said Rossi. “Mother saw the key on the dresser. She picked up the bank and found out it was almost empty. She kept asking questions till I had to tell her.”

“Just forget it,” said Sarah Ida coldly. “Forget the whole thing.”

She walked away.

Back at Aunt Claudia's, she started up to her room. Aunt Claudia called her. “Your breakfast is ready.”

“I don't want any,” said Sarah Ida.

“Come here, anyway,” said Aunt Claudia.

Sarah Ida stood in the kitchen doorway.

“I shouldn't have lost my temper,” said Aunt Claudia, “but you don't seem to understand that what you did was wrong.”

“I don't see why it was wrong,” said Sarah Ida.

“It's wrong to take advantage of someone. And you took advantage of Rossi.”

“If you'd let me have some money, I wouldn't have had to borrow.”

Aunt Claudia's lips closed tightly for a moment. She said, “This is a game, isn't it?”

“A game?”

“You're trying me out, to see how far you can go.”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“I think you do. Money really isn't that important to you, is it? You're just using this whole thing to get what you want. At the same time, you're trying to strike back at me, because—”

“The money
is
important!” cried Sarah Ida. “And if you won't give me any, I'll—I'll go out and get some!”

“How?” asked Aunt Claudia.

“I'll get a job.”

“Where?”

“I don't know, but I'll find one. But if I did, you wouldn't let me keep it. You want to keep me under your thumb.”

“Sarah Ida, stop this!” said Aunt Claudia. “If you could find work and earn some money, I wouldn't keep you from it. But ask yourself—what could you do? Who would give you a job? I don't want you under my thumb. All I'm trying to do is—”

“I
know
what you're trying to do. And if you think I'm playing a game, I'll show you!”

She rushed out of the house. Aunt Claudia's voice followed her. “Come back! Stop!”

Sarah Ida didn't stop. She cut across the yard and ran up the street.

She came to Grand Avenue. She was out of breath, and there was a pounding in her ears.

She stopped in the doorway of a drugstore and looked up and down the street. People were walking by. Cars were passing. Palmville was bigger than she'd thought. In all these stores there must be someone who would give her some work to do.

There was a dress shop across the street, with girls' dresses in the window. She might try there. But she wasn't even wearing a dress, and she didn't look very neat.

She used the drugstore window as a mirror and tried to comb her hair with her fingers. Inside the store a woman was watching her. She looked friendly. Sarah Ida went in.

“Can I help you?” asked the woman.

“I—” Sarah Ida began, and she couldn't go on. How could she say “I want to work for you”? What kind of work could she do in a drugstore?

“Yes?” said the woman.

“I'm just looking,” said Sarah Ida. She looked at the candy, but she couldn't say, “I'll have this and this,” because she didn't have any money.

She went outside. She walked past a restaurant, a bank, a hardware store. She came to a pet shop. There were puppies in one window and kittens in the other. She put out her hand to the puppies. One of them came to the window and put his nose against the glass.

She went into the shop. A man and woman were there. All about the shop were animals in cages. There were birds, and in one cage was a green and yellow parrot.

“Do you need help here?” asked Sarah Ida.

The parrot began to squawk. “Polly, Polly! Pretty Polly! My, oh my!”

“What?” asked the woman.

“I said, do you need help!” shouted Sarah Ida.

“Be quiet!” said the woman. “Not you, little girl. I mean that silly bird.”

“Silly bird!” said the parrot. “My, oh my!”

The woman threw a cloth over the cage, and the parrot was quiet.

“Now. What was it you wanted?” she asked.

“I wanted to work for you,” said Sarah Ida.

“Oh,” said the woman.

The man spoke. “What do you know about animals?”

“Not much, but I could learn.”

The man said, “Come back when you're a little older.”

“How much older?”

“About six years,” said the man.

“Do you know where I
could
get work?” she asked.

“What can you do?”

“I—I don't know.”

“You might try Al,” said the man. “He's got a sign up.”

“Yes,” said the woman. “He's had it up for a long time.”

“He's on the corner.” The man pointed. “Why don't you have a look?”

Sarah Ida left the shop. She was sure the man and woman had just been trying to get rid of her. She thought they were probably laughing at her, too.

She went on down the street. And there on the corner she saw the sign. It wasn't very big, and it was stuck to a folding door. It said “Help Wanted.”

The folding door was at one end of a shoeshine stand. The stand was a kind of shed with a platform in it. There were four chairs on the platform. Above the chairs was a big sign: “Al's Shoeshine Corner.”

A man sat on one of the chairs. His face was hidden behind the newspaper he was reading.

Sarah Ida looked at the “Help Wanted” sign. She looked at the stand. This was the place, she thought. This was just the place!

She would tell Aunt Claudia, “I have a job.”

“What kind?” Aunt Claudia would ask.

“Working at a shoeshine stand,” Sarah Ida would say. “A shoeshine stand on Grand Avenue.”

“Oh, you can't do that!” Aunt Claudia would say.

“You said you wouldn't keep me from earning some money,” Sarah Ida would say.

“But you can't be seen working at a shoeshine stand on Grand Avenue,” Aunt Claudia would say. “I'll
give
you some money!”

Sarah Ida spoke to the man. “Are you Al?”

He put down the newspaper, and she saw his face. He was not young. His hair was thin and gray. His eyes looked like little pieces of coal set far back in his head.

“Yes, I'm Al.” He slid down off the chair. His shoulders were stooped. He wasn't much taller than she was. “You want something?”

“I'm Sarah Ida Becker,” she said, “and I want to work for you.”

“What do you mean, work for me?”

“Your sign says ‘Help Wanted.'”

“I put that up so long ago I forgot about it,” he said. “Nobody wants to work for me. People don't like to get their hands dirty. They want to do something easy that pays big money.”

“Will you give me a job?” she asked.

“You're not a boy.”

“The sign doesn't say you wanted a boy.”

A man came by.

“Shine?” asked Al.

The man climbed into a chair. Al shined his shoes. The man went on.

Al looked at Sarah Ida. “You still here?”

“If I worked for you, what would I have to do?” she asked.

“Shine shoes, same as I do. Some days I get more work than I can take care of. Then I need help. But whoever heard of a shoeshine girl?”

“Why couldn't a girl shine shoes?”

“Why don't you go on home?”