Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony Page B

wouldn’t. Then I’d go back to my room and lose myself in music, playing Jewels for two or three hours. It was impossible to worry about Mom with the notes running through my mind.
    One night I had a horrible dream that my mother had died, and the next day, even the music wouldn’t block out the image of my sister Katie weeping and telling me I’d failed my family. I packed Jewels in her case, feeling angry that she’d let me down somehow.
    I didn’t want my grandparents to see my bad mood, so I walked down to the market in the lazy afternoon sunshine. I’d never really explored it, except the produce stalls. This time I wandered down a row of stands selling goods, things like overalls, fabric, and yarn. Most of the material was sturdy cotton, used for making work dresses and shirts, but at one stall, a woman sat in a chair and all around her drapes of silky fabrics floated colorfully on the breeze.
    “These are beautiful,” I said.
    She nodded. My hand reached out and touched a piece of sky-blue silk. It was exactly the color that Katie had been talking about me wearing at her wedding. So far I had refused to believe I might not make it back in time. I had to be there. You don’t miss a family wedding. Especially your sister’s. Tears welled up in my eyes. The idea of not being at Katie’s wedding combined with my horrible nightmare was just too much. I had to get home, and I had to do it soon.
    “Hi, Handsome Molly,” Spill said. He’d come around the end of the aisle. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
    His eyes were so warm, like he was happy to see me, and his look washed away a bit of my homesickness. I tried to smile back, but I knew it looked forced. “Hi.”
    “You okay?” he asked.
    “Yeah, sure.” I brushed at a tear. “Just dust in my eye.”
    He looked at me like he knew the truth, but he didn’t press me. “I went to the house to get you,” he said, pushing his hair away from his face, “and your grandpa said you were here. I have to make that delivery now, and I was hoping you could come along.”
    This was exactly what I needed! A chance to tell my parents I was okay, and maybe there’d even be a message from one of them. “I don’t want to get you in any trouble,” I said, “but it would be so great to email my parents. I know they’re worried. I’ve been gone almost two weeks already.”
    “No problem,” he said. “I just need to get my bike and cart.”
    We wove our way through the market into the scary part and walked past one of the tents where men were playing cards. I thought I saw Doug, but I didn’t stop to double-check. It wasn’t like I was going to talk to him if he was there anyway.
    “I don’t really like this section,” I told Spill.
    “You’re okay as long as you’re with me.” I moved a bit closer to him. “Why were you crying just now?” he asked.
    “I wasn’t.”
    “You were .”
    “Okay, I was. But . . . it’s just . . . I’m supposed to be in a wedding, maid of honor for my sister . . . and that blue silk reminded me of it.”
    “When’s the big day?”
    “Not until the end of September. The thing is, I’m good at farmwork, but I’m a really slow seamstress. I’d pretty much have to start making my dress now in order to have it done.”
    We’d reached the edge of the market, and Spill stopped at a white tent. “Wait here,” he said. A few minutes later he came out pushing his bike. He’d replaced his usual small trailer with one that was much larger than I would’ve thought you could pull with a bicycle.
    It had high sides and was wide enough that I bet you could put two big bales of hay in it. Of course, then it would be too heavy to move without a horse, so it wouldn’t do you much good. Mysterious things bulged under the tarp.
    “You’ll have to walk,” he said. “I’ll let you ride on the way home.”
    “That’s fine.”
    He rode up the hill towards my grandparents’ house, and I followed on foot. In