Best Friends (Nancy Pearl's Book Crush Rediscoveries) Read online

  Mr. Langdon said, “Now, if you will each open the package in front of your places, you will receive a present from Co Co because you have all been so kind to her.”

  They opened their gifts and found that each one had a ballpoint pen with his or her name on it.

  Meanwhile the girls had been whispering excitedly to one another. Suzie and Co Co asked to be excused and went into the house. They came back carrying a large package which they placed in front of Miss Morrison. Co Co said, “Dear Mademoiselle Morrison—this bath—pardon—shower—is for you from the class with best wishes.” She giggled helplessly when Miss Morrison opened a set of bath towels embroidered with a large “W.” “Pardon, please pardon, but the present. It is also for the shower.” She leaned against Suzie and laughed until the tears ran down her face, as she told her father about the two kinds of showers.

  Meanwhile, Bravo, who had been happily swimming in the pool all through dinner and catching bits of hot dog and hamburger, decided he must be missing something. He came out of the pool, walked up to Mr. Langdon, and shook himself.

  Mr. Langdon laughed. “This is still another kind of a shower, Co Co. Who owns this sopping wet, but delightfully friendly dog?”

  Rich said that he belonged to their whole block, but nobody really owned him.

  Co Co said, “Papa, could we own Bravo so he would not have to go to the Pound Hotel?”

  Mr. Langdon shook his head. “Well, I’d planned to get a hunting dog and Bravo isn’t exactly my idea of a hunter, but I’ll think it over.” He turned to the children. “Co Co and I wish to thank you for a delightful housewarming. We hope you will come and swim and play tennis as often as you like. Miss Morrison says you have a very important day ahead of you tomorrow, and I promised her I wouldn’t keep you up late. So if you will gather up your bathing suits, we will drive you home.”

  Rich and Ray walked over to him. “We think you should know that Bravo belongs on our block. We all take care of him. He doesn’t need another home. Thank you very much for the party. We had a nice time.” They each took hold of one of Bravo’s ears, and marched out of the garden.

  Johnny Allen asked Suzie, “How come they’re so huffy all of a sudden?” But Suzie didn’t pay any attention in the flurry of good-byes.

  When they had all left, Suzie and Co Co helped carry the things into the kitchen, thanked Mrs. MacGregor for all her trouble, and told her it was the best food they’d ever tasted. Then Suzie said, “I know—let’s lie in the garden chairs and pretend we’re movie stars and have on beautiful fluffy party dresses and we’ve just come home from a great big dance.”

  Co Co sighed and sat down in a garden chair and stared out over the pool.

  Suzie asked, “What’s the matter? Didn’t you like the picnic?” She saw two large tears on Co Co’s cheeks.

  Co Co sniffed. “Yes, it was delightful, but Rich is angry with me.” She turned her head away.

  Suzie said, “Oh, he’ll get over it. He always does.” But she was much more worried than she sounded. Co Co was the first best friend she had ever had and she dreaded to ask the question she knew she must ask, even if it meant that she would lose her friend.

  Suzie felt just as if she were holding her nose and jumping off the fifty-foot board as she said, “Co Co, you’re not turning boy crazy are you?”

  Co Co sobbed, “I—don’t—know. Rich is the first American boy—who was kind to me and now—I know in my heart—he does not like me—anymore.” She buried her head in her arms and cried harder than ever.

  Suzie felt lonelier than she had ever felt in her life as she patted Co Co’s shoulder. “Oh, I’m sure he likes you, Co Co. I’m sure he likes you best.”

  Chapter Eight

  May Day

  May Day morning when Suzie looked out the window to see if Co Co was up, she found the mountains invisible and the garden shrouded in a thin white mist. “Oh darn! Everything happens to me lately!” She pulled the covers up over her head. “First, Co Co will get boy crazy, then she’ll put her hair up in pin curls and wear lipstick, then she’ll join the Select Seven and act snippy and have secrets. I just can’t stand it if Co Co begins to act that way.”

  Jet whined and scratched at the door to tell her breakfast was ready. Suzie shuffled over to let him in. “A lot you care whether it rains. You always wear the same outfit. I’ll bet Co Co won’t even remember to wear her new dress, she’s so busy thinking about Rich and being boy crazy. Boys make me sick—period!”

  Suzie jerked on her clothes, pulled her new plaid dress over her head, and sat down in front of the mirror. The face that looked back at Suzie was all crumpled with sleepiness. Her mouth turned down at the corners, her eyes were little blue slits, and her bangs were every which way like spilled toothpicks.

  She yanked the brush through her hair. “I don’t care if everybody in the world except me turns boy crazy. I just hate boys!”

  She shuffled down the stairs and into the kitchen, grumbled, “Morning,” to her grandmother, and glared out the window toward Co Co’s house.

  Grandmother said, “It seems kind of lonely, now that Co Co’s moved home, doesn’t it? What’s the matter? Did you get up out of the wrong side of the bed?”

  “You can’t expect me to say good morning, when it’s obviously just about the worst morning anybody ever saw.”

  Grandmother shook her head. “Tsk-tsk! ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.’ Yesterday was beautiful with a bright red sunset and today will be just as nice.”

  Suzie sat down at the table. “Just my luck. Every single year it’s been sunshiny, and now, just because we’re graduating, it’ll probably pour buckets.” Suzie’s mouth was full of French toast, but Grandmother could still make out “darned old rain! Sopping wet Maypoles—everything happens to me!”

  Grandmother began her count-your-blessings lecture, but Suzie went right on muttering.

  Just then Co Co pushed open the back door. “Bonjour, Grand’mère, Hi, Suzie! Even the mist is keeping the May Day a surprise. You wear your new dress—I wear mine also.” Her eyes shone and her hair twinkled with mist droplets. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

  She talked on about sleeping in her new bed and taking a bath in her new bathroom and how Suzie must hurry and sleep in her new room to see if it was as comfortable as Suzie’s room at home. She didn’t seem to notice Suzie’s gloomy silence.

  Meanwhile Suzie was looking her over very carefully for the obvious signs of boy craziness. Co Co’s hair was still straight and shining, she didn’t seem to be sad, and although she had already eaten one breakfast, she was busily eating French toast. She certainly wasn’t one bit like Millicent.

  Co Co went right on talking while she took a second piece of French toast and put three large spoonfuls of wild blackberry jam on it. “Ummmmm, this is delicious. Now, if I were in Paris, I would know that the sun is hiding his head and would wake up at noon and come smiling out. But in Seattle . . .” She shrugged.

  Grandmother laughed. “Rain or shine, Co Co, I never saw a child relish food the way you do. I declare, you must have a hollow leg.”

  Co Co stuck her legs out and looked at them. “Hollow? That means empty, does it not? No, Grand’mère, they are the same as the legs of Suzie.”

  At last Suzie giggled. Rain or shine, boy crazy or not, Co Co was the neatest, most fun, best friend anybody ever had.

  They finished their breakfast and Grandmother kissed them both. “Now, on your way to school, look over Mrs. Medlin’s hedge. That woman is a regular barometer. If she’s working in her garden, I absolutely guarantee it won’t rain.”

  They stopped and peeped over the hedge and there was Mrs. Medlin, wearing a floppy garden hat, dark glasses, and a sleeveless sweater.

  Co Co grabbed Suzie’s arm. “Look, Bravo is in the rhododendron!”

  Sure enough, Bravo was winding in and out of the flower beds, sniffing the blossoms as he passed. “I hope she doesn’t turn around.” Suzie gasped. “She’ll have a
fit and call the dogcatcher.”

  “Quick Suzie, whistle to him. He will hate it in the Pound Hotel.”

  Suzie gave a short low whistle, and Bravo cocked his ears, saw the girls, and barked. Then he ran over and leapt on Mrs. Medlin, knocked her over, and licked her face. She roared, “Get out! Get out, you gray horror. I don’t see how you get in the yard all the time. I’m going right into the house and calling the pound.”

  Suzie whistled again, and Bravo came bounding toward them, scattering rhododendron blossoms like snowflakes in his wake. Mrs. Medlin grabbed a rake and started after him.

  Suzie called, “Come here, Bravo, quickly. You’ll have to go to school with us. Hurry—run!”

  As they all tore down the street, they could hear Mrs. Medlin shouting, “It won’t do you girls one bit of good to take that dog to school with you. I’ll tell the dogcatcher where he is.”

  Co Co called over her shoulder. “Old witch! You will not catch Bravo. We will hide him. Old witch!”

  When they got to school Suzie was worried. “I hope she doesn’t call the principal. If she makes enough fuss, Mr. Wagner will have to call the pound.”

  Co Co stamped her foot. “Name of a name! I will tell Mr. Wagner that he would not dare!” Co Co was showing all the signs of working herself up, her eyes were blazing, her face was white, and she was breathing fast.

  Co Co began to mutter in French, and Suzie was greatly relieved to hear the bell ring. Co Co stamped into the line. “I will also stamp on the rhododendron of Mrs. Medlin. I will pick the flowers and throw them on the ground. If she chases me, I will throw her some dirt. I will . . .”

  Rich turned around. “Wow, you sound dangerous this morning! What’s the matter?”

  Co Co waved her arms, spoke half French and half English, and stamped her foot. She certainly wasn’t acting one bit like Millicent, and she certainly didn’t seem to be boy crazy.

  Rich said, “Take it easy, chum. Relax. It won’t be the first time somebody has called the dogcatcher for old Bravo. He’s been to the pound a couple of times. But he’s plenty smart. The minute he sees that old green truck, he just fades.”

  When they got into the classroom, Miss Morrison handed out the May Day duty slips. Suzie and Co Co opened the door to go down to the kindergarten room, and Bravo sneaked in, grinning foolishly.

  Miss Morrison said they did not need Bravo’s assistance on May Day of all days and asked Rich and Ray to take him home and lock him up.

  Rich and Ray promised to put Bravo in their furnace room. They took hold of his ears and again he slid, moaning, to the door.

  The class spent the rest of the morning, checking costumes for the various groups and clipping programs together. Millicent was so busy bossing the seating arrangements for the banquet that she didn’t have much time to whisper, but did say to Dorothy, “Guess what? Ten called eight and his mother said she’d tell the telephone company if she called anymore and ten said . . .”

  Co Co leaned forward and seemed to be listening to Millicent with great interest. Suzie’s heart dropped again.

  What if she is just memorizing the number code? Suzie thought. What if she decides to become a Select Seven?

  She was quiet for such a long time that Co Co finally noticed her silence. “Suzie, do not disturb yourself. I think Seattle is like Paris and the sun is hiding in the clouds.” Suzie said, huffily, “I’m not worrying about the sun.”

  “You are quiet today. What is it that disturbs you?”

  Suzie sighed. “Promise you won’t get mad if I tell you?” Co Co nodded and Suzie put her hand in front of her mouth so Millicent couldn’t hear. “You remember last night—when you said Rich didn’t like you anymore? I asked you then but you didn’t answer. Well, do you think you are turning boy crazy?”

  Co Co didn’t answer for a minute. A little smile played around her mouth, and she looked through her lashes at Suzie. “I do not behave like Millicent, but yes, I like Rich the best.”

  Suzie slumped in her seat. “Honestly! I just don’t think I can stand it if you talk in code and wear pin curls.”

  “No, Suzie, no! This is what I believe. You are not pleased when Ray appears to prefer Millicent. I also am not pleased when she calls Rich on the telephone. I would like to scratch her. Yes, I like Rich the best and I think if you will look in your heart, you like Ray the best also.”

  Suzie heaved a large sigh of relief, and they finished clipping their programs in silence.

  The May Day program began at two o’clock. Just as the children marched out onto the playground, the sun burst through the clouds and shone on the schoolyard, spotlighting the cheerful costumes. The trees sparkled with raindrops, the mothers smiled with anticipation, the Maypoles stood proudly, their ribbons blowing in the soft May wind, and the rings of children looked like wreaths of brilliant flowers.

  “Now the school appears like your beautiful picture! You are indeed an artist, Suzie.” Co Co danced along beside Suzie at the head of the kindergartners.

  Miss Daly played “London Bridge” on the piano, but the little children stood perfectly still and begged Co Co to sing for them. Then two of them spied their mothers and started toward the audience. Suzie ran after them and Co Co tried to put her arms around the rest. “Quick, Suzie, I cannot hold them all. Aren’t they adorable in their stiff little frocks and pantaloons? They make me think of a flock of butterflies.”

  “More like an anthill right after you’ve poked it. Oh, what are we going to do?” Suzie grabbed wildly in all directions.

  Miss Daly left the piano and said calmly, “Let us play Clap, Clap, Curtsy, the game we play before we go home—remember?”

  At this familiar suggestion, the children began enthusiastic off-key singing, stamping and bowing, and then clapped much more loudly than their mothers when they were through.

  Co Co was delighted but Suzie mopped her brow. “Wow! I’m glad that’s over.” They distributed the little children to their mothers and settled down to enjoy themselves.

  The first and second grades did folk dances, and Co Co clapped and shouted, “Bravo! Bravo!”

  Mr. Wagner, in cowboy boots and a ten-gallon hat, was caller for the third- and fourth-grade square dances. Suzie said, “Boy, Mr. Wagner would be good in a Western movie! He doesn’t look old at all today.”

  During the relay races, touch ball, and volleyball, Co Co roared, “Bravo! Bravo!” But in the baseball game between the fifth- and sixth-grade boys, she screamed, “Don’t walk him—don’t walk him—you knucklehead!” just as if she’d been on an American playground all of her life.

  When the music started for the Maypole dances, Suzie and Co Co gathered up the kindergartners again and kept a weather eye peeled for trouble. To their amazement the little ones clutched their ribbons and wound in and out without a single mistake. Then the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grades followed. Each Maypole dance was a little more complicated than the last, and each was completed perfectly.

  The sixth-grade dance was the most difficult of all. They knew their routines and everything would have been just fine, had Bravo not appeared and joined in.

  When Rich saw him he said, “Gosh, I’ll bet the window was open!”

  Bravo barked and wound around their legs. He bit the ribbons and tried to play tug-of-war. Before the Maypole was half wound up, the sixth grade was in such a tangle they appeared to be binding one another to the stake. Miss Morrison tried to help them, but she, too, gave up as wave after wave of laughter swept the audience.

  The sixth grade obviously couldn’t move, let alone finish the dance, so Mr. Wagner announced over the loudspeaker that if the graduating class would stand still, he would like to have everyone join in the farewell song.

  All year long Suzie had been dreading this sad part of the May Day program. She was afraid she might break down and cry and disgrace her class and her mother. Just as the song reached the saddest part—“We’re proud of you—And we’ve seen you through . . .” Bravo sa
t down, threw back his head and howled like a wolf.

  Rich and Ray tried to stop him and in the process, tipped over the Maypole, and pulled everybody to the ground. As a result, instead of being sad, the sixth grade received their final salute, giggling and looking more like an old trampled football pompon than a proud graduating class.

  They were still heaving and struggling to get free when the audience poured onto the playground to congratulate them for the program. Millicent was the first to jerk herself loose. With one disdainful look and, “Honestly, I’m so ashamed I could die!” she rushed across the playground and disappeared.

  It was time to set the tables for the banquet. Suzie and Co Co were counting chairs when Miss Morrison stopped them. “Have you girls seen Millicent? I’ve asked everyone else. She has the list for the seating arrangements, and I can’t seem to find her.”

  They searched in the halls and in all the rooms and in the bathrooms and in the cloakrooms. “Do you think Millicent was so ashamed she went home?” Co Co asked.

  Suzie shook her head. “She wouldn’t dare. She’s in charge of seating, and the graduating class always stays right on the school grounds. We’ll just have to start at the top of the building and look again. If we don’t find her, we’ll have to put the place cards around by ourselves, and then she’ll really be furious.”

  When they finally found Millicent, it was so late the mothers and fathers were beginning to arrive. She was crouched down behind the galoshes rack in the third- grade cloakroom, crying as if her heart would break.

  “What on earth is the matter? Nobody cares if the Maypole got mixed up,” Suzie said, and Co Co added, “Come, Millicent. Miss Morrison is waiting for you. It is time for the banquet.”

  Millicent just sobbed harder than ever.

  Suzie tried again. “We all feel bad about leaving Maple Leaf, but we’ll be together in junior high next year.”