Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

about that. It will stay closed.”
    “No, ma’am.” I stuck that ma’am in to be polite, like Emma taught me. “We saw the sign, didn’t we, Jesslyn?”
    For a quick minute, a worried look crossed my sister’s face. “We saw a sign,” she said, frowning. “It seemed real.”
    “A sign saying the pool’s opening by July Fourth, my birthday. Frankie showed us,” I said. “And his daddy’s on some committee, too.”
    Jesslyn said, “Somebody important must’ve read what you wrote, Glory. I bet it’ll be in the paper next week.” She looked right at Mrs. Simpson. “Daddy’s taught me a lot. He says the newspaper is one good way to learn what’s happening in the world.”
    But Mrs. Simpson had crossed her knife and fork on her plate decorated with gold leaves and pink roses.She’d folded her napkin by her iced tea glass. “The pool is closed,” she said again. She rang a little bell for the maid to come take our plates, and even though I smelled something sweet as chocolate cake coming from inside the kitchen, it didn’t seem like dessert was on the menu today.
    “I don’t believe you,” I said, just waiting for my daddy to hush me up. But he didn’t. Across the table, Jesslyn looked real happy to be my big sister. “My letter, that’s why we’ll be swimming at the Community Pool on the Fourth of July,” I said. “You’re right, Jesslyn — somebody important read my letter.”

L aura came to my house the next morning saying Miss Bloom needed us to help at the library. I grabbed her hand and headed out the front door.
    “The pool’s opening up! Maybe today. Let’s go see the new sign.” We headed for the library by way of the Community Pool. I was talking nonstop about my pool party in five more days and how we’d have water balloon races and eat orange sno-cones and Emma’s special cake, and how much I hoped she’d come. But when I saw Jesslyn and Robbie at the pool, I stopped dead still. Jesslyn squinted across the sidewalk at me. My heart sped up when I thought about Robbie’s secret I’d blabbed to Frankie. But Frankie was nowhere in sight. Maybe I was safe for now.
    Jesslyn stood in front of the pool sign with one hand on her hip and her nose wrinkled up. A few kids in bathing suits dry as a bone held rolled-up towels and elbowed each other. Inside the fence, nobody was splashing, belly flopping, or playing loud radios.
    “What’s happening?” I asked Jesslyn. “Is the pool open? Or do we have to wait till July Fourth to swim?”
    “We have to wait longer than that.” She pointed to the sign that said Pool Closed Until Further Notice .
    My stomach tied itself in a knot bigger than those dry towels. “‘Further notice’? What’s that mean? That’s a mistake for sure. We were here yesterday. If it’s not open yet, it will be soon.”
    Jesslyn said, “Just like that busybody Mrs. Simpson told us, it was a lie that the pool would open. Nobody’s admitting to putting up that sign yesterday, about the pool opening. Maybe it was a trick.”
    Robbie leaned against the fence, staring inside. “Your friend Frankie has a mean streak in him. He’s the one who pulled a prank.”
    “Frankie?” I looked up at the new sign. “ He did it?”
    “As a joke. I heard talk, just now.” Robbie shrugged his shoulders. “Some people said his brother, J.T., dared him.”
    I took a deep breath, smelling the chlorine and the coconut suntan lotion, trying to remember hot dogs frying on the snack bar grill, and the lifeguards’ whistles. I stood between Jesslyn and Laura with the warm sunshine beating down on my neck.
    “You remember last July Fourth?” I asked Jesslyn. “The watermelon race? Me and you and Frankie and our cousins at my birthday party? And that cake you and Emma made me, shaped like a cat? Remember?” They weren’t really questions I was asking Jesslyn. I just needed us to remember.
    “I’m sorry, Glory,” Laura said.
    “I don’t think the Pool Committee’s