Read Online The Girls Get Even by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Free Book Online
Authors: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
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for our dinner and hoped we’d enjoy it? Why did she have to say she baked it herself? And then, to call it pumpkin chiffon, when pumpkin chiffon pie is at least two inches high. If this is the way they do things in Ohio, I’m glad I don’t live in Ohio. Boys, wash up. We’re having dinner soon.”
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Nine
•
Thank-you Note
I t was when Caroline was brushing her teeth the next morning that Wally returned the plate. She had been standing in front of the mirror practicing her lines for the play—” Wait, little elf. Maybe your idea is a good one¡ Maybe it would be more fun to do good tricks this Halloween and surprise the village people!” —when she heard the doorbell.
“Why, good morning, Wally!” came her father’s voice. “Or is it Jake or Josh or Peter? I’m never sure.”
“I’m Wally,” came a second voice. “I just wanted to return Mrs. Malloy’s pie plate and tell her thank you very much. The pumpkin chiffon pie was delicious!”
“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Father said. “Jean makes it every year. I like a big piece after a football game. Provided we win, of course.”
Caroline carne down after she heard the door close.
‘‘Well, now maybe we’re all friends again,” Mother said to her. ‘One of the Hatford boys returned my pie plate and said the pie was delicious, so I guess they really enjoyed it. Let’s try and keep things this way, huh? Stay friends ?”
“Why not?” said Caroline. At the moment Wally and his brothers were the last thing on her mind. It was the play that was important. Never mind that the fifth and sixth grades wouldn’t see it. The others would, along with all their teachers, and people would remember her, so that when they were looking for someone to play a starring role in fifth or sixth—
“Good grief¡ Have some bread with your peanut butter!” Mother said, watching Caroline make her lunch. “You have enough peanut butter on that bread for three sandwiches, Caroline. Pay attention.”
“Dost thou talk to thy queen in such a manner?” Caroline asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I dost,” said Mother. “And don’t forget to pack some carrots and celery, m’lady.”
•
“Well, class, we’ve got one week to the Halloween play,” Miss Applebaum said, facing thefourth graders in her apple-red dress. “I still need three more boys, however, and if I don’t get any volunteers, I’m going to have to volunteer for you. Come on, now. It’ll be fun. Your audience is only little kids, after all. Don’t let it scare you. If you forget a line, so what? It’s not the end of the world.”
Finally one hand went up, then another.
‘Okay, I’ve got everyone we need except a footman, and we need somebody strong. Wally Hatford, I choose you. Lunch-hour rehearsal. Don’t forget.”
Wally Hatford¡ A footman¡ Right¡ thought Caroline.
When she stood on the stage at lunchtime, Caroline remembered that the last time she was here, having sneaked in after lunch, Wally and some of the other fourth-grade boys had sneaked in, too, unknown to her, and were sitting in the dark in the back row, listening to her read a beautiful passage from The Wind in the Willows. But now she was supposed to be here, with the lights shining down on her, and Miss Applebaum smiling in the second row, and sometimes, when Miss Applebaum was showing someone else where to stand, or how to gesture when he talked, Caroline tipped back her head and studied all the ropes and pulleys and lights and switches and knew that this waswhere she belonged, that she was doing what she was born to do.
There was only one line, at the very end of the play, where someone had a better part than Caroline. That was when the Fairy Godmother of All the Woods and Glades came to the Goblin Queen and said, “Isabelle, all these years your hair has been matted and your skin
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Nine
•
Thank-you Note
I t was when Caroline was brushing her teeth the next morning that Wally returned the plate. She had been standing in front of the mirror practicing her lines for the play—” Wait, little elf. Maybe your idea is a good one¡ Maybe it would be more fun to do good tricks this Halloween and surprise the village people!” —when she heard the doorbell.
“Why, good morning, Wally!” came her father’s voice. “Or is it Jake or Josh or Peter? I’m never sure.”
“I’m Wally,” came a second voice. “I just wanted to return Mrs. Malloy’s pie plate and tell her thank you very much. The pumpkin chiffon pie was delicious!”
“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Father said. “Jean makes it every year. I like a big piece after a football game. Provided we win, of course.”
Caroline carne down after she heard the door close.
‘‘Well, now maybe we’re all friends again,” Mother said to her. ‘One of the Hatford boys returned my pie plate and said the pie was delicious, so I guess they really enjoyed it. Let’s try and keep things this way, huh? Stay friends ?”
“Why not?” said Caroline. At the moment Wally and his brothers were the last thing on her mind. It was the play that was important. Never mind that the fifth and sixth grades wouldn’t see it. The others would, along with all their teachers, and people would remember her, so that when they were looking for someone to play a starring role in fifth or sixth—
“Good grief¡ Have some bread with your peanut butter!” Mother said, watching Caroline make her lunch. “You have enough peanut butter on that bread for three sandwiches, Caroline. Pay attention.”
“Dost thou talk to thy queen in such a manner?” Caroline asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I dost,” said Mother. “And don’t forget to pack some carrots and celery, m’lady.”
•
“Well, class, we’ve got one week to the Halloween play,” Miss Applebaum said, facing thefourth graders in her apple-red dress. “I still need three more boys, however, and if I don’t get any volunteers, I’m going to have to volunteer for you. Come on, now. It’ll be fun. Your audience is only little kids, after all. Don’t let it scare you. If you forget a line, so what? It’s not the end of the world.”
Finally one hand went up, then another.
‘Okay, I’ve got everyone we need except a footman, and we need somebody strong. Wally Hatford, I choose you. Lunch-hour rehearsal. Don’t forget.”
Wally Hatford¡ A footman¡ Right¡ thought Caroline.
When she stood on the stage at lunchtime, Caroline remembered that the last time she was here, having sneaked in after lunch, Wally and some of the other fourth-grade boys had sneaked in, too, unknown to her, and were sitting in the dark in the back row, listening to her read a beautiful passage from The Wind in the Willows. But now she was supposed to be here, with the lights shining down on her, and Miss Applebaum smiling in the second row, and sometimes, when Miss Applebaum was showing someone else where to stand, or how to gesture when he talked, Caroline tipped back her head and studied all the ropes and pulleys and lights and switches and knew that this waswhere she belonged, that she was doing what she was born to do.
There was only one line, at the very end of the play, where someone had a better part than Caroline. That was when the Fairy Godmother of All the Woods and Glades came to the Goblin Queen and said, “Isabelle, all these years your hair has been matted and your skin
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