Needle and Thread (12 page)

“Yes,” said Robby with a grin. “Practice stocking fragile items on shelves.”

Mr. Edwards filled his cup again, then said, “Robby, a few minutes ago, you made a face when you mentioned Halloween. Why was that?”

“Because Halloween is for babies and I'm not doing a baby thing like trick-or-treating.”

“You don't have to go trick-or-treating.”

“Of course not,” said his mother. “Would you like to stay home and be the one who hands out the candy this year?”

“
I
could hand it out?” asked Robby.

“If you want to. Will you miss trick-or-treating?”

“Maybe. But I'm still not going.”

“You could wear a costume when you hand out the candy,” Mr. Edwards pointed out. “Like Min and Gigi do at the store.”

Robby remembered the day when he had sat outside with Olivia and Flora and their new friend, Nikki. “I could be the Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” he said.

 

It was on the playground one chilly, gray day that Olivia, Nikki, and Flora, huddled by the doorway, waiting to get back inside the warm school building, came up with the idea to give a party for Mrs. Mandel.

“And for what's his name, the new teacher,” said Olivia. “A party to say good-bye to Mrs. Mandel and hello to — to, um …”

“Mr. Davidson?” said Flora.

“Mr. Donaldson,” replied Nikki. “That's a great idea!”

“We should tell all the other kids,” said Olivia, “and they should talk to their parents. We're going to need our parents to help out. And we should invite them to the party, too.”

“Parents or
guardians
,” said Flora.

Nikki said nothing.

After a pause, Olivia said, “Well, what should we do at this party?”

“Maybe we could say nice things about Mrs. Mandel,” replied Nikki. “Like how much she's meant to us. But you only have to stand up and talk if you want to.”

“If we do that, then we should probably say nice things to Mr. Donaldson,” added Flora. “Like how much we're looking forward to having him as our teacher. Even if we aren't. We don't want him to feel left out.”

“Maybe we could make stuff for them,” said Olivia. “We could write thank-you letters to Mrs. Mandel and draw pictures or something for Mr. Donaldson.”

“Should we give them presents?” asked Flora. “I mean, besides the letters and pictures?”

“We could make presents!” exclaimed Nikki. “They could either be for Mrs. Mandel
or
for the triplets.”

“That's a great idea!” said Olivia.

“I'm going to start sewing right away,” said Flora. “Min can help me. I'll plan three coordinating smocked outfits for the babies. Bubbles — one white, one green, one yellow. That way they can be for either boys or girls. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I hope I'll have enough time. That's a lot of sewing.”

“We
are
going to be awfully busy,” said Olivia. “Which is good.”

“Why is it good?” asked Nikki.

“Because it will take my mind off the big one-oh. It makes me too sad to think about that now.”

Nikki and Flora exchanged small secret smiles. Then the bell rang and a hundred and twenty-two students made a run for the door, leaving the playground still and empty on that damp October day.

Busy, busy, busy. Ruby couldn't believe how busy she was. Camden Falls was much smaller than the town she and Flora used to live in. Their old town was more like a little city, really. And here was teeny Camden Falls, in which Ruby had lived for less than four months, and already she was taking dance classes, singing with the Children's Chorus (preparing for a concert to be given on Thanksgiving morning), going to rehearsals for the school play and trying to memorize her lines (she was the star of the play, so of course she had more lines than anybody else), helping to plan Olivia's surprise party, and trying to stay out of trouble and keep up with her schoolwork.

Despite the fact that Ruby was seated under the watchful eye of Mr. Lundy in the very first row in her classroom, she had already had to stay after school twice. Once for talking in class, and once for concentrating so hard on drawing a picture of Alice Kendall that she hadn't realized Mr. Lundy was standing behind her, watching the drawing take shape. Also, the majority of her grades so far had been C's. In fact, all C's except for one B and one D. Min wasn't pleased, and neither was Mr. Lundy, who felt Ruby wasn't working up to her true potential and also had a slight attitude problem.

“If you want to stay in the chorus and the play,” said Min, “you'll need to pull yourself up at school.”

“Okay,” said Ruby vaguely, her thoughts on Olivia's party.

This conversation was held at Needle and Thread one afternoon when Ruby had no rehearsals scheduled.

“So I want you to sit down right here and start your homework,” said Min.

“But Flora and Nikki and I are supposed to talk about plans for Olivia's party,” Ruby protested. “And look, here they come now.”

“Ruby needs to do her homework before she can join you,” Min announced to Flora and Nikki as they dropped their school things on the couches.

“Really? But, Min, it's so hard to find time to work on the party when Nikki's around and Olivia isn't,” said Flora. “Can't Ruby help us for just a little while? Please? I promise that tonight we'll both sit at the kitchen table to do our homework. You can watch us. And you can check our homework when it's done. Please, please, please?”

“Please?” added Nikki.

Ruby made her saddest face.

Min looked at the ceiling briefly, as if for guidance, then said with a huge sigh, “Good gravy. All right. Ruby, you can work with the girls for one hour. Then you must start your homework.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Min!” cried Ruby, and she threw her arms around Min's waist.

The girls gathered at the table at the back of the store.

“Ruby, you have to stay out of trouble,” said Flora. “Really. I don't think Min will put up with much more.”

“I don't do these things on purpose,” said Ruby.

“Then you have to start thinking about what you do. You have to pay attention.”

“You sound like Mr. Lundy.”

“I can't help it. Seriously, Ruby, you need to concentrate. On something other than your lines and your music.”

Ruby sighed. If only she could memorize dates and facts as easily as, say, a new song. Just the other night, when she was supposed to be working on division problems, she had discovered that she knew the entire second verse to “The Lonely Goatherd” from
The Sound of Music
. It was Ruby's dream (one of her dreams, anyway) to play the part of Brigitta in
The Sound of Music
. Gretl was actually a better part, as far as Ruby was concerned, but Ruby thought she was too old to play Gretl. And it made her feel quite sad to think that at age nine she had already missed a great opportunity.

“Ruby?” said Flora. “Ruby? See, you're not paying attention
now
. I'm talking to you about paying attention and your mind is … where is it?”

“With Gretl in
The Sound of Music
.”

“Ahem,” said Nikki. “Could we please get back to the party? I can't stay very long this afternoon.”

“All right,” replied Flora with one last glare in Ruby's direction. “Here's the big news. Yesterday when Mrs. Walter came into the store I talked to her about a pet for Olivia.”

“Ooh, what did she say? Did she think it was a good idea?” asked Nikki.

“Yup,” said Flora, rolling a spool of thread across the table. “But she said it has to be a small pet, not a dog or a cat.”

“You mean like a hamster or something?” said Ruby.

“Yes. And what Mrs. Walter thinks Olivia would most like is a guinea pig. So — and this is the great part — if we buy a guinea pig for Olivia, her parents will get the cage and other supplies. Then all Olivia will have to buy is its food.”

“Excellent!” cried Ruby.

Nikki caught the spool of thread as it rolled by her, and she peered at it with great interest. “How much,” she said, “do you think a guinea pig will cost?”

Flora glanced at her sister. “I'm not sure. But I don't think it will be very much. And Min might help us out. Also, Min promised to give us supplies from the store for making gifts and decorations. So we shouldn't have to pay for much stuff at all.”

“Okay,” said Nikki, relaxing.

“So,” said Flora, “the invitations have gone out.” (Ruby had made the invitations on her computer.) “Let's just hope everyone can keep the party a secret.”

“It's a good thing the party is going to be held here,” said Ruby, “because if we had it at our house, Olivia might get suspicious.”

“It'll be easier to decorate here, too,” added Flora. “Olivia doesn't come into the store as much as she did before school started.”

“So what should we do today?” asked Nikki. “Work on decorations or on the presents we're going to make Olivia?”

“Presents, I think,” said Flora. “They'll take more time. Do you guys know what you're going to make?”

“I do,” said Nikki, “but I might need you to help me, Flora. I want to make Olivia a bag to carry all her school stuff in. I saw a really pretty one in the window of Flare last week when I was waiting for Tobias to pick me up, and I thought, ‘I could make that.' But I do think I'll need a little help.”

“What did the bag look like?” asked Flora.

“Sort of patchworky. But otherwise it was just a plain bag with a handle. It was the fabric that made it so special.”

“Oh!” said Flora. “That's a great idea. You get a pattern for a simple tote bag, but you piece together different fabrics to make the sides. I could help you with that. We can take fabric from the scrap bin.”

“Do you think there's any velvet in the scrap bin?” asked Nikki. “That's one of the things that made the bag so fancy. Velvet.”

“There is,” replied Flora. “But velvet is hard to work with because of its nap. It makes it kind of slippery. You know what's much easier to work with and looks almost as nice? It's this kind of very fine corduroy. I think it's called featherwale. I'm not sure, but I know Min and Gigi have some. We could use that. Or velveteen.”

“This is going to be fun,” said Nikki.

“What about you?” Flora asked Ruby. “What are you going to make?”

“I was thinking of making her a beaded necklace and bracelet. But I might need some of your beads, Flora.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you,” said Ruby. “And what are you going to make?”

“Well, I've been planning this for a while now. I decided to make Olivia a wish pillow.”

“What's a wish pillow?” asked Nikki.

“Something I made up.” Flora reached for a pencil and began sketching on a piece of paper. “See, I'm going to divide a pillow into nine sections by sewing down rows of ribbon and rickrack. And then in each square I'll sew a button or something that's meaningful to Olivia. The pillow is going to be off-white, and the ribbons will be purple. I'm also going to put a purple satin ruffle around —”

“Oh! Oh!” cried Nikki. “I just thought of something. I'm sorry to interrupt you, Flora, but this is a really great idea.”

“What? What is it?” asked Ruby.

“Well, I was thinking about the guinea pig. I mean, I was listening to you, Flora, I really was. But I was also thinking about the guinea pig, and how great it would be if Olivia could choose the exact one she wants.”

“But it's supposed to be a surprise,” said Flora.

“I know. And this is the great part. I thought, what if we go to the Cheshire Cat with Olivia one day after school? We'll say we just want to look around. And then I could stand in front of the guinea pig cage and say, ‘Aren't these cute? If you guys could have one, which would it be?' And then we could each choose one, and that way we'd know which one Olivia wants.”

“And we can ask Sharon to hold it for us until the day of the party!” exclaimed Flora.

“Who's Sharon?” asked Nikki.

“She owns the Cheshire Cat. I know she'll do this for Olivia.”

“Maybe we can go tomorrow,” said Ruby.

“I'll call Olivia tonight,” said Flora.

Then, with the guinea pig plan taken care of, the girls got down to the business of making Olivia's birthday presents.

 

When school let out the next afternoon, Flora, Olivia, and Nikki met up with Ruby, who said casually, “I don't have any rehearsals this afternoon. Let's go walk around town. Can you come, Nikki?”

“Sure. And you know what? I've always wanted to look in the Cheshire Cat, but I never have.”

“Well, let's go there,” replied Flora. “Okay, Olivia?”

“Okay. I love the Cheshire Cat.”