Read Online True To Form by Elizabeth Berg - Free Book Online Page A

remember you. You had that sister, Diane, she was always getting in trouble. And y’all got a puppy just before y’all left.”
    I really do not need for Bubba to tell me my life history, since I am more aware than he is of how the story goes.
    â€œHow you doing?” he asks.
    Well, here I have the problem that I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to use my three minutes talking to Bubba. It turns outthat I don’t have to say a thing, though, because in the background I hear Cherylanne’s familiar voice saying, “Is that Katie Nash?” And there is her voice in my ear, saying, “Katie? Is that you?”
    â€œYes,” I say, and I am smiling so hard I can hardly talk. “I’m calling to say I’m coming to visit you, if it’s okay! For two days. On an airplane!”
    â€œYou are?”
    â€œYes, if it’s okay. I won a trip from a radio contest. I could pick anywhere, and I picked to come and see you!”
    A moment, and then, “You could have gone anywhere?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWow. I would have picked Hollywood.”
    â€œWell,” I say.
    â€œBut I’m glad you’re coming! When?”
    â€œI can come almost anytime.”
    â€œMom!” Cherylanne calls. “Katie’s coming to visit! Can she come next weekend?”
    Another pause, and then Belle is on the phone. “Well, sweetheart, how are you?”
    â€œFine, thank you,” I say, and I see my three minutes going down the drain.
    â€œWe would be delighted to have you; when are you coming?”
    â€œMy dad will talk to you about that,” I say. “I was just going to talk to Cherylanne first. I have three minutes, and then my dad will talk to you.”
    â€œOh!” she says. “Well, let me put her back on.”
    And there Cherylanne is again, her breathy “Hi!”
    â€œHi,” I say, and all of a sudden I am shy. My hand goes into a fist, like it always does when I feel like this.
    â€œDid you get my letter about Darren?” Her voice is low and a bit muffled, as though she has her hand over the phone.
    â€œYes.” Now I relax a bit and lower my voice too. I love this. Me and another person, boxed off from the world.
    â€œBelieve me, I have plenty more to tell you. And now you can meet him, too! I never thought that would happen. I swear, it just goes to show you.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWe can do a lot of things,” Cherylanne says. “What do you want to do first?”
    I think about this. We are not exactly the same as we used to be.
    â€œKatie?”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œDon’t worry. It will all be delirious surprises, okay?”
    And ding! Our talk time is over. I say good-bye to Cherylanne and hand the phone to my father. “Flight arrangements,” he is saying. “Arrival.” “Departure.” About me. Queen of Sheba. Flying through the sky on my own visit to my own friend because of something I did, by myself.

I N THE MORNING, I head over to Cynthia’s house. I have a few hours before I have to go to the Randolphs’, and Cynthia had an excellent idea. I used my baby-sitting money on a bottle of QT and we are both going to use it and then enjoy the miracle of tanning in her bedroom while we plan how to get her out of Girl Scouts. Cynthia’s mother needs to understand that when you’re a teenager you make your own kind of Girl Scout troop, because you and your friends do the stuff you care about automatically. You don’t need somebody’s mom making you do things on a checklist to earn a badge that you sew on a sash and then go around wearing like an idiot.
    When I get to Cynthia’s house, I see her leaning out her bedroom window, waving me over. “Come here!” she whispers urgently, and looks all around to see if anyone is watching. I point to the door, and she hisses, “No! Come over here!”
    I go to her window and