“One of the girls in Bible study said that only very good people die young. Annamay wasn’t that good. She just wasn’t that good.”
“You’re going to be hearing many things throughout your life. You’ll have to decide what’s reasonable and what isn’t. I have no doubt you can do it. You’re a bright girl.”
“No one else thinks so.”
“Everyone thinks so.”
“No, they don’t. I got a bad report card this semester. I know because when they were handing out the reports on Wednesday only two of us didn’t get ours, me and Mary Jo, and Mary Jo is the class ass.”
“I have your report card in my pocket,” John said. “Want to see it?”
She shook her head.
“Oh, come on, have a look. It’s not so bad. I’ve seen worse. In fact, I’ve had worse.”
“Not really.”
“Scout’s honor. Now let’s sit down at the table, you and I and the marmalade man, and study the report card and see what’s the matter.”
“What’s the matter is the teacher doesn’t like me.”
“That could be a factor but probably not a very big one.”
“If the good die young she’s going to live forever,” Dru said. “The kids all call her Dragon Lady.”
“What do you call her?”
“In front of her or behind her?”
“In front of her will do for starters.”
“Isabelle.”
“You address her as Isabelle?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I like to see her face get all red. It’s very interesting. The red begins at the neck and climbs up until even the tip of her nose is as pink as a bunny’s.”
“Oh Lord,” John said. “Holy cats.”
“It’s a good clean scientific experiment, I think.”
“Obviously Miss Thomson doesn’t agree.”
“She has no sense of humor.”
“I’m losing mine in a hurry. Come on.” He helped her to her feet and they sat down at the round glass table with the report card and the kitten in front of them.
“You’re an excellent reader,” John said. “Why the C in English?”
“Isabelle—”
“Miss Thomson.”
“Miss Thomson wants me to read what she wants me to read and I want to read what I want to read.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to take Miss Thomson’s side on that one. It’s her job to educate the students, not vice versa.”
“A little vice versa doesn’t hurt.”
“Not every teacher appreciates vice versas, Miss Thomson being one of them. And frankly, I’m beginning to have considerable sympathy for the woman.”
“Grown-ups always take each other’s side.”
“Look at the facts, Dru. You haven’t done the required reading and you’ve been behaving toward the teachers in an insolent manner. Is that a fair statement?”
“It’s true but it’s not fair because it doesn’t include how funny she looks when her face gets red, and also how she has no sense of humor.”
“It includes your being a pain in the neck in class. You’ve been deliberately causing trouble, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess because it’s fun.”
“For a girl who’s having fun you don’t appear very happy.”
“What does everyone expect me to do, go around laughing all the time and getting A’s on my report card and looking like a movie star?”
“I don’t expect—”
“Mom does. She expects me to be even perfecter than Annamay.” She took the ribbon out of her hair and tied it around the kitten’s neck. He was too drowsy to protest and went to sleep in the crook of her arm. “If she doesn’t let me keep him I’m going to tell on her. There are plenty of things you don’t know.”
“And don’t want to hear.”
“Like how she was so disappointed when I was born that she had herself fixed so she wouldn’t have any more children.”
“That’s not the reason she did it. What gave you that idea?”
“I figured it out.”
“You figured wrong. The doctors advised her against any more pregnancies.”
“Oh bull. She just didn’t want any more like me. Well, I don’t care. Little brothers and sisters are a nuisance anyway. I’d rather have a cat.” She pressed her cheek against the kitten’s head. “Do you suppose when he wakes up and finds himself wearing a ribbon he’ll feel silly?”
“More likely he’ll be frightened.”
“And maybe run away?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll take it right off.” She removed the ribbon so gently the kitten barely stirred. “You like him too, don’t you, John?”
“Oh yes. Very much.”
“Then it’s you and me against her if she says no. And two yeses count more than one no. That’s simple arithmetic. So we win. Say it, John. We win. Please.”
“It won’t do much good to say it. We’ve got to try a little psychology. How about telling her you won a horse? Then she might be quite happy to settle for a kitten.”
“That’s awfully clever.”
“Thank you.”
“A grown-up horse or a pony?”
“A grown-up might have greater shock value.”
She let out a small giggle, then immediately became sober again. “John, do you think a person’s true character shows in her face?”
“No.”
“It could be true anyway. And if it is, which do you suppose causes which? Is the character there first and then you get your face from that? Or is your face first and that causes your character?”
“Physical features are inherited. Character is also inherited but is more subject to environmental influences. That’s my opinion.”
Dru thought this over carefully, then closed her eyes. “What color are my eyes?”
“Is this a new game?”
“What color?”
“Blue,” he said. “Blue-ish.”
“They’re green. Ugly mean green with brown specks in them. Also they’re small.”
“No, they’re not.”
“I have small mean green eyes,” Dru said grimly. “Now what if you met two girls and one of them had big blue eyes and the other had small ugly greens, which one would you want for a daughter?”
“The heck with both of them. I pick you.”
“Not really.”
“Scout’s honor. Gaze into my small ugly browns and see if I’m telling the truth.”
“You can be terribly silly sometimes. You don’t have brown eyes. They’re blue.”
“That’s to fool people so they won’t suspect I have an ugly brown character.”
“You don’t have an ugly brown character either.”
“Sure I do. Brown with a spot of black here and there, traces of purple, a few patches of gray. Boy, am I a mess.”
She looked at him severely. “I think you should treat me more like an adult.”
“Okay, Miss Adult. Here’s your report card. Take it and study it. And this semester cut out the smartassing and get down to business.”
Vicki had come out of the house and was crossing the patio, her heels making peevish little taps on the flagstones. She was obviously perturbed because she didn’t even notice the kitten, or at least pretended she didn’t.
“Mr. Hyatt, Howard’s father, is here and wants to see Dru. I’m not sure what he has in mind but it might be connected with Annamay’s palace.”
“I don’t know anything about it,” Dru said.
“Tell him that.”
“He won’t believe me.”
“Go and talk to him anyway, dammit. I can’t have him parked outside the front door for the rest of the day.”
“I don’t want to.”