Staying Together (18 page)

Now, if you need some exercise, come along for a hike into the countryside. Several miles away, set back from the county road, is a small house that was once far shabbier than Main Street ever looked. It, too, has had a coat of paint recently, though, missing pieces have been replaced, and crooked things have been set straight. The house belongs to Nikki Sherman and her family, and on this late afternoon, Nikki is in charge of starting supper. She wants it to be ready when her mother returns from work and her brother returns from his summer job at College Pizza. As she removes a head of lettuce from the refrigerator, her little sister, Mae, says to her, “Once upon a time a girl had a father. Then he disappeared.” She looks at Nikki. “Do you like my fairy tale?”

“Is that the whole story?” Nikki asks.

“No. It ends with ‘And she lived happily ever after.' But a lot of other things happen first.”

Find your walking stick and return to Camden Falls. In a neighborhood not far from where Min Read lives with her granddaughters is a small house on a street with other small houses and plenty of children and babies and bicycles and dogs and wading pools. Walking across the street toward this house is a man who has just left his own home. He knocks on his neighbor's door and lets himself inside before the knock is answered. “Ready to go?” he calls. And a few minutes later, the man and a woman and a baby are strolling along the streets, calling hello to their neighbors. The man and the woman hold hands and smile at each other, and the baby calls out the second word she has learned: “Da-da!”

It's time to return to Main Street now. You will finish your tour at Needle and Thread, where earlier you met Min Read. The air is growing cooler as the light begins to fade. Stores are starting to close and shopkeepers call good night as they lower grates and turn keys and head for home, satisfied with the day. The door to Needle and Thread stands wide open. Inside, two young girls have flopped on the couches by the window. They are Flora and Ruby, Min's granddaughters. The rehearsal at the community center is over and Ruby is saying dramatically to her sister, “I'm exhausted! Simply exhausted!”

Flora grins. “Are you too tired for a sleepover?”

“What?”

“Min said we could have a sleepover tonight. I just called Nikki. Tobias is going to drive her over here.”

At that moment, a wiry girl runs into the store and throws herself onto the couch next to Flora. This is Olivia. She and Flora and Ruby wait while their grandmothers close up the shop.

“There's Nikki!” Olivia cries suddenly.

Nikki climbs out of Tobias's car and runs to Needle and Thread. Flora and Olivia and Ruby are waiting for her. The girls link arms and walk down Main Street as a new moon rises over Camden Falls.

Belle Teal

A Corner of the Universe

A Dog's Life

Here Today

On Christmas Eve

P.S. Longer Letter Later
written with Paula Danziger

Snail Mail No More
written with Paula Danziger

Ten Kids, No Pets

The Baby-sitters Club series

Main Street #1:
Welcome to Camden Falls

Main Street #2:
Needle and Thread

Main Street #3:
'Tis the Season

Main Street #4:
Best Friends

Main Street #5:
The Secret Book Club

Main Street #6:
September Surprises

Main Street #7:
Keeping Secrets

Main Street #8:
Special Delivery

Main Street #9:
Coming Apart