The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt (12 page)
Read The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt Online
Authors: Patricia MacLachlan
“No!” says Minna, grinning.
It is not until Mrs. Willoughby-Fiske barrels on stage with bouquets of red roses, her pearls swinging murderously from side to side, that they realize that they have won.
They have, Porch tells them later, forgotten to take their final bow.
“The end was in tune, you know,” says Minna backstage. “No one heard.”
“I heard,” says Porch fervently, his arm around her. “
I
heard!”
There is noise everywhere; platters of food and punch, and laughter. Minna's mother and father hug her. Mrs. Ellerby holds a moist handkerchief to her eyes. Mr. Ellerby kisses Lucas with a noisy kiss, causing Lucas's eyes to widen. Imelda's parents are there, her mother short and serious, her father with red hair. Everything they say seems important. Orson's parents come with his younger brothers, four smaller Orsons. One brother eats up the entire contents of a dish of chocolate truffles. Lewis waves at Minna. Emily Parmalee's sequins drop everywhere, like rice after a wedding.
“You didn't get your vibrato, did you?”
Minna turns.
“No,” she says, smiling at McGrew.
“I didn't think so,” says McGrew, matter-of-factly.
“McGrew?”
“What?”
“The note helped.”
“I know,” sings McGrew.
Lucas beckons to Minna and they walk out of the noise into the quiet hallway, where, tucked into the instrument cases and coats and umbrellas, Willie and Twig stand with their arms around each other.
“. . . and in the evening,” says Willie, “when Mama is asleep and the stars are out, I go out in the cornfield to play. The corn stalks are like an audience of music lovers, like the people on the street of the city. I can almost see the music winding down the rows, from stalk to stalk. Will you come with me? As soon as we have the money?”
“Yes,” says Twig, reaching up to touch his hair. “As soon as we have the money.”
Minna and Lucas stand there, not daring to move, as Willie and Twig kiss. They kiss for so long that finally, with a sigh, Lucas takes Minna by the hand and they leave.
Hidden behind the stage curtain, Minna takes out the envelope that Mrs. Willoughby-Fiske has given her. A one hundred dollar bill is tucked neatly inside.
“Tomorrow?” Minna says to Lucas.
Lucas nods.
“You'll have to do it,” says Minna, handing him the envelope. “He always gives me back the money.”
“I'll do it,” says Lucas. He takes his money out and adds it to Minna's. “For Twig,” he says. “Now they can both go.”
They walk into the hallway again, where everyone is leaving.
“Good-bye, luv,” says Minna's mother to Mrs. Ellerby.
“Good-bye, luv,” echoes Mrs. Ellerby, startling herself.
“Call if you get a vibrato,” whispers Lucas to Minna.
The house is still when Minna wakes in the night. But it is not dark. Moonlight streams in the window. It falls across her bed and onto the rug, and touches the mirror on the wall. For a while Minna watches it. Then, suddenly, she leans over the edge of the bed to touch her cello, lying by her bed like a sleep-over guest. She plucks a string. Slowly she sits up, sliding out from under the covers. She picks up her cello and bow and pulls a wooden chair over into her closet. She adjusts her end pin and tightens her bow. She pulls the light cord so that the light goes on above her. She begins to play, very softly at first, then a bit louder. Minna smiles at the new rich sound. She turns to watch her hand, vibrating on the strings. Finally, after a while, she stops, sitting silently in the lighted closet. She reaches up and turns off the light. She lays the cello by the bed again, the bow across it, and slips back under the covers. For a moment she doesn't move. She lies there staring in the moonlight. She looks at the clock on her night table. Twelve thirty. She hesitates, then picks up the phone and dials.
On the first ring a phone is lifted.
“Congratulations,” says Lucas.
Photo by John MacLachlan
PATRICIA M
AC
LACHLAN
is the celebrated author of many timeless books for young readers, including
Sarah, Plain and Tall
, winner of the Newbery Medal. Her novels for young readers include
Arthur, For the Very First Time
;
The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt
;
Skylark
;
Caleb's Story
;
More Perfect Than the Moon
;
Grandfather's Dance
;
Word After Word After Word
; and
Kindred Souls
. She is also the author of many much-loved picture books, including
Three Names
;
All the Places to Love
;
What You Know First
;
Painting the Wind
;
Bittle
;
Who Loves Me?
;
Once I Ate a Pie
;
I Didn't Do It
;
Before You Came
; and
Cat Talk
âseveral of which she cowrote with her daughter, Emily. She lives with her husband and two border terriers in Williamsburg, Massachusetts.
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Arthur, For the Very First Time
Through Grandpa's Eyes
The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt
Mama One, Mama Two
All the Places to Love
What You Know First
Three Names
WRITTEN WITH
EMILY M
AC
LACHLAN CHAREST
Painting the Wind
Bittle
Who Loves Me?
Once I Ate a Pie
Fiona Loves the Night
I Didn't Do It
Before You Came
Cat Talk
Cover art © 2002 by Barbara McGlynn
Cover design by Andrea Simkowski
Cover © 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
T
HE FACTS AND FICTIONS OF MINNA PRATT.
Copyright © 2013 by Patricia MacLachlan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacLachlan, Patricia.
The facts and fictions of Minna Pratt.
p. cm.
“A Charlotte Zolotow book.”
Summary: An eleven-year-old cellist learns about life from her eccentric family, her first boyfriend, and Mozart.
ISBN 0-06-024117-9 (lib. bdg.) â ISBN 0-06-440265-7 (pbk.)
EPub Edition March 2013 ISBN 9780062285737
[1. MusiciansâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M2225Fac 1988 | 85-45388 |
[Fic] | CIP |
 | AC |
12 13
LP/BR
20 19 18 17 16 15
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