while they slept.”
“That’ll work,” Thelma agreed.
The new girl, Rebecca Bogner, was about eleven. She and the Ackersons obviously were not sympatico. Listening to Laura and the twins, Rebecca kept saying “you’re weird” and “too weird” and “jeez, what weirdos,” with such an air of superiority and disdain that she poisoned the atmosphere as effectively as a nuclear detonation.
Laura and the twins went outside to a corner of the playground where they could share five weeks of news without Rebecca’s snotty commentary. It was early October, and the days were still warm, though at a quarter till five the air was cooling. They wore jackets and sat on the lower branches of the jungle gym, which was abandoned now that the younger children were washing up for the early dinner.
They had not been in the yard five minutes before Willy Sheener arrived with an electric shrub trimmer. He set to work on a eugenia hedge about thirty feet from them, but his attention was on Laura.
At dinner the Eel was at his serving station on the cafeteria line, passing out cartons of milk and pieces of cherry pie. He had saved the largest slice for Laura.
On Monday she entered a new school where the other kids already had four weeks to make friends. Ruth and Thelma were in a couple of her classes, which made it easier to adjust, but she was reminded that the primary condition of an orphan’s life was instability.
Tuesday afternoon, when Laura returned from school, Mrs. Bowmaine stopped her in the hall. “Laura, may I see you in my office?”
Mrs. Bowmaine was wearing a purple floral-pattern dress that clashed with the rose and peach floral patterns of her office drapes and wallpaper. Laura sat in a rose-patterned chair. Mrs. Bowmaine stood at her desk, intending to deal with Laura quickly and move on to other tasks. Mrs. Bowmaine was a bustler, a busy-busy type.
“Eloise Fischer left our charge today,” Mrs. Bowmaine said.
“Who got custody?” Laura asked. “She liked her grandmother. ”
“It was her grandmother,” Mrs. Bowmaine confirmed.
Good for Eloise. Laura hoped the pigtailed, freckled, future accountant would find something to trust besides cold numbers.
“Now you’ve no roommate,” Mrs. Bowmaine said briskly, “and we’ve no vacant bed elsewhere, so you can’t just move in with—”
“May I make a suggestion?”
Mrs. Bowmaine frowned with impatience and consulted her watch.
Laura said quickly, “Ruth and Thelma are my best friends, and their roomies are Tammy Hinsen and Rebecca Bogner. But I don’t think Tammy and Rebecca get along well with Ruth and Thelma, so—”
“We want you children to learn how to live with people different from you. Bunking with girls you already like won’t build character. Anyway, the point is, I can’t make new arrangements until tomorrow; I’m busy today. So I want to know if I can trust you to spend the night alone in your current room.”
“Trust me?” Laura asked in confusion.
“Tell me the truth, young lady. Can I trust you alone tonight?”
Laura could not figure what trouble the social worker anticipated from a child left alone for one night. Perhaps she expected Laura to barricade herself in the room so effectively that police would have to blast the door, disable her with tear gas, and drag her out in chains.
Laura was as insulted as she was confused. “Sure, I’ll be okay. I’m not a baby. I’ll be fine.”
“Well... all right. You’ll sleep by yourself tonight, but we’ll make other arrangements tomorrow.”
After leaving Mrs. Bowmaine’s colorful office for the drab hallways, climbing the stairs to the third floor, Laura suddenly thought: the White Eel! Sheener would know she was going to be alone tonight. He knew everything that went on at McIlroy, and he had keys, so he could return in the night. Her room was next to the north stairs, so he could slip out of the stairwell into her room, overpower her in seconds. He’d club
“That’ll work,” Thelma agreed.
The new girl, Rebecca Bogner, was about eleven. She and the Ackersons obviously were not sympatico. Listening to Laura and the twins, Rebecca kept saying “you’re weird” and “too weird” and “jeez, what weirdos,” with such an air of superiority and disdain that she poisoned the atmosphere as effectively as a nuclear detonation.
Laura and the twins went outside to a corner of the playground where they could share five weeks of news without Rebecca’s snotty commentary. It was early October, and the days were still warm, though at a quarter till five the air was cooling. They wore jackets and sat on the lower branches of the jungle gym, which was abandoned now that the younger children were washing up for the early dinner.
They had not been in the yard five minutes before Willy Sheener arrived with an electric shrub trimmer. He set to work on a eugenia hedge about thirty feet from them, but his attention was on Laura.
At dinner the Eel was at his serving station on the cafeteria line, passing out cartons of milk and pieces of cherry pie. He had saved the largest slice for Laura.
On Monday she entered a new school where the other kids already had four weeks to make friends. Ruth and Thelma were in a couple of her classes, which made it easier to adjust, but she was reminded that the primary condition of an orphan’s life was instability.
Tuesday afternoon, when Laura returned from school, Mrs. Bowmaine stopped her in the hall. “Laura, may I see you in my office?”
Mrs. Bowmaine was wearing a purple floral-pattern dress that clashed with the rose and peach floral patterns of her office drapes and wallpaper. Laura sat in a rose-patterned chair. Mrs. Bowmaine stood at her desk, intending to deal with Laura quickly and move on to other tasks. Mrs. Bowmaine was a bustler, a busy-busy type.
“Eloise Fischer left our charge today,” Mrs. Bowmaine said.
“Who got custody?” Laura asked. “She liked her grandmother. ”
“It was her grandmother,” Mrs. Bowmaine confirmed.
Good for Eloise. Laura hoped the pigtailed, freckled, future accountant would find something to trust besides cold numbers.
“Now you’ve no roommate,” Mrs. Bowmaine said briskly, “and we’ve no vacant bed elsewhere, so you can’t just move in with—”
“May I make a suggestion?”
Mrs. Bowmaine frowned with impatience and consulted her watch.
Laura said quickly, “Ruth and Thelma are my best friends, and their roomies are Tammy Hinsen and Rebecca Bogner. But I don’t think Tammy and Rebecca get along well with Ruth and Thelma, so—”
“We want you children to learn how to live with people different from you. Bunking with girls you already like won’t build character. Anyway, the point is, I can’t make new arrangements until tomorrow; I’m busy today. So I want to know if I can trust you to spend the night alone in your current room.”
“Trust me?” Laura asked in confusion.
“Tell me the truth, young lady. Can I trust you alone tonight?”
Laura could not figure what trouble the social worker anticipated from a child left alone for one night. Perhaps she expected Laura to barricade herself in the room so effectively that police would have to blast the door, disable her with tear gas, and drag her out in chains.
Laura was as insulted as she was confused. “Sure, I’ll be okay. I’m not a baby. I’ll be fine.”
“Well... all right. You’ll sleep by yourself tonight, but we’ll make other arrangements tomorrow.”
After leaving Mrs. Bowmaine’s colorful office for the drab hallways, climbing the stairs to the third floor, Laura suddenly thought: the White Eel! Sheener would know she was going to be alone tonight. He knew everything that went on at McIlroy, and he had keys, so he could return in the night. Her room was next to the north stairs, so he could slip out of the stairwell into her room, overpower her in seconds. He’d club
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