Caroline and her sisters stared.
“Be nice to usi” Beth choked.
He nodded. “Yep!” He popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and little crumbs fell from his lips onto the table. “We said we were going to let you stay in Buckman if you wanted, but Mom said we have to be nice and polite and friendly forever.”
Slowly, Eddie in her baseball uniform, Beth in her tiger pj's, and Caroline in her rosebud robe turned to grin at each other and then at Peter. The three of them sat down and crowded around him.
“What exactly will your resolution mean?” asked Eddie. “What does it mean you will or won't do?”
“Well,” said Peter, “we can't ever drop dead squirrels on your side of the river again, and we can't lock Caroline in the toolshed, and if you ever give us another pie, we can't mess it up looking for dog doo.”
Caroline tried not to laugh.
“But what are you going to do for us?” asked Eddie. “What are you going to do that's nice and polite and friendly?”
Peter bit into another cookie and chewed. Finally he took a swallow of milk, then shrugged.
“Treat you like sisters,” he said.
Three
A Little Conversation
Wally woke up the next morning to cold. The air was cold, the pillow was cold, his nose—the only thing sticking out of the covers—was cold. But the space under the blankets was toasty warm, and Wally did not want to get up again ever.
With one finger he pulled the covers down a little so he could peek out. The window was coated with frost. In fact, it made a pattern that looked like the continent of Africa, except that it had a rather large lump where a lump shouldn't be.
Wally loved to study things. He could easily stay under the blankets the rest of the day, he thought, just looking at the frost on the window or the crack in the ceiling or the spiderweb that was strung from—
“Wally, I won't tell you again!” came his mother's voice from the doorway. “Get up and get dressed. There's oatmeal on the stove if you want it.”
Wally closed his eyes, counted to twenty, then threw off the covers and, like a soldier going into battle, grabbed his clothes and headed for the warmth of the bathroom. Josh was already in there, however, taking a shower.
“Arrrggghhh!” howled Wally.
“For goodness’ sake, he'll be out in a few minutes,” said Mrs. Hatford. “For once in my life, I'd like to see four boys get themselves off in the morning without any uproar whatsoever.”
Mornings in the Hatford household were always hectic because Mr. Hatford was a mail carrier who had to be at work by eight-thirty, the boys had to be at school by nine, and Mrs. Hatford had to be at her job at the hardware store by nine-thirty. So the family showered in shifts, and the part of the morning that Mrs. Hatford liked best, she said, was when everyone else was gone and she could enjoy a cup of coffee in peace.
“Well, maybe by now things will have settled down some at the P.O.,” Mr. Hatford said as he put his blue sweater on over his blue shirt, his blue jacket over his blue sweater. He put on a blue cap with blue ear muffs, and finally, with a “Have a good day, Ellen,” and then, “You too, guys,” he went out the door.
At last the boys were bundled up, ready to go. Teeth were brushed, homework collected, lunches packed, and they set off out the door.
“Let's get to school before we run into the girls,” Jake said. “I don't feel like being nice to anyone this morning.”
“We have to be nice,” said Peter. “Mom said.”
“Just come on,” Jake grumbled, but no sooner had they got to the end of the driveway than they saw the three Malloy girls coming over the swinging bridge that crossed the Buckman River.
The river came into town from one direction, circled around the end of Island Avenue, and flowed back out again on the other side. A road bridge at the end of Island Avenue connected the few houses there to the business district only two blocks away, but the narrow swinging footbridge furnished a shortcut over to College Avenue, where the Hatfords lived.
The girls were headed for school.
“Hi,” said Josh, trying his best to be friendly, as he'd promised. He and his twin brother were as different as salt and pepper, but they really got along well. Jake was usually the ringleader of the bunch, full of energy and ideas. Josh had ideas too, but he liked to draw almost more than he liked eating or sleeping. He could draw pictures of anything, but he especially liked drawing airplanes, aliens, race cars, and horses.
“Hi,” said Beth, smiling back.
No one frowned at anybody, and Peter looked from one to another, happy that finally, it seemed, his brothers, whom he loved, and the Malloy girls, whom he liked very much, appeared as though they might possibly get along.
When they had gone another half block and nobody had said anything particularly mean, Peter chirped, “Isn't it nice that we're all being friendly?”
“Shut up, Peter,” muttered Jake.
But Caroline said, “Well, I think January's going to be wonderful, because guess what? Buckman is celebrating its two hundredth anniversary. The Buckman Community Players are putting on a play, and I'm going to be in it.”
“You?” said Wally. “What are you going to be? The dog?”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized that this did not sound friendly or nice at all, so he added quickly, “I mean, is this a play about people or animals?” He tried to make it sound as polite as possible.
“People, of course!” said Caroline. “About the founding of the town of Buckman.”
“Whoop-de-doo! Now, that ought to be a real sellout!” said Jake.
“They're looking for two boys,” Caroline added. “Why don't some of you try out for the parts?”
“I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out one by one,” said Jake.
Beth studied him. “That's funny. Eddie said she'd rather have her teeth pulled out than get up on a stage.”
“I don't want my teeth or my fingernails pulled out!” Peter declared warily.
The sky was gray, the air was cold, and the snow that was left: on the ground was old and dirty. It seemed to Wally as though the new year could at least bring in some new snow. Why should they have to keep going to the same old school in the same old town in the same old snow that had been around for days?
He didn't know much about how Buckman got started, but he didn't think the two hundredth anniversary could be all that great a celebration. “Wait till June when we have the strawberry festival,” he said. “Now, that's worth seeing. There's a strawberry parade, a strawberry float, strawberry ice cream, strawberry pie….”
“Is there a strawberry princess?” Caroline wanted to know. “If there is, I'm going to try out for it.”
“Ha!” said Wally, and he would have said more, but he remembered he was supposed to be nice to the girls. It was just that Caroline really bugged him sometimes. Whenever there was a part to be played center stage, Caroline wanted to be there, in the spotlight if possible.
The old brick building loomed up ahead, and he tried to prepare himself for Miss Applebaum, who always had a pile of work waiting.
The girls went on ahead; Peter followed, then Josh, then Wally, then—
Wally turned around.
Jake was a few feet behind him, packing a huge ball of dirty snow in his two gloved hands.
And just as Eddie put her feet on the top step and reached out to open the door, Jake drew his arm back and took aim.
“Jake!” Wally warned him.
“Treat them like sisters, remember?” Jake said, and let the snowball fly.
At that exact moment Eddie opened the door and stepped back to let Peter go through. The snowball went flying right through the doorway and into the face of the principal.
Four
Big, Big Mistake
Caroline, Beth, and Eddie could only stare.
The big fat snowball positively exploded in Mr. Kelly's face. Clumps of snow skittered do
wn his shirt-front, then onto his shoes.
The principal leaned forward, removed his glasses and shook them, then pulled a handkerchief from his pants pocket and wiped his face.
Out on the sidewalk, the Hatford boys froze like toy soldiers facing the enemy. When Mr. Kelly put his glasses on again, his eyes fell at once on Eddie, who was still holding the door open.
“I'm sorry,” said Eddie. “I missed.”
Caroline gasped in astonishment.
“You missedi” the principal repeated.
“Yes. That snowball was thrown to me and I didn't catch it.”
Beth and Caroline looked at each other. Out on the sidewalk, the Hatford boys' mouths fell open one by one, first Jake's, then his brothers'. Why was she covering for Jake?
“You know the rules about snowballs on the playground!” Mr. Kelly thundered.
“Yes, sir, but we were only practicing for the baseball team. We weren't having a snowball fight.”
Caroline blinked.
Mr. Kelly stepped to the door and looked out at the Hatford brothers and the other children who were waiting to come in. Then he looked again at Eddie.
“You were practicing for the baseball team?”
“Yes, sir. And usually I'm very, very good. If I'd been the pitcher instead of the catcher, this wouldn't have happened.” She gave him her most winsome smile.
But Mr. Kelly still had a big red mark on his forehead. As much as Eddie wanted to make the team, come April, Caroline could not believe she had taken the blame for a snowball meant for her.
“Who were you playing catch with?” Mr. Kelly asked.
“I threw it,” said Jake, stepping forward suddenly.
“You will not go down to the gym for morning recess,” the principal said. “You will stay in your classroom, and Eddie will write / will not play catch with snowbalL one hundred times on the blackboard while Jake watches. Jake will wipe it off. Then you will both stay in your classroom for afternoon recess. Jake will write / will not play catch with snowballs one hundred times while Eddie watches. Then Eddie will wipe it off. And if I see you throwing snowballs again on the playground, you will both be banned from the team. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” said Jake.
“Yes,” said Eddie, and Caroline didn't think she had ever seen her sister look happier.
Mr. Kelly went on down the hall. The Hatford boys scattered as soon as they got inside, but Caroline and Beth crowded around Eddie as she stopped by the drinking fountain.
“Are you out of your mind?” asked Beth. “Why did you take half the blame for Jake? He wasn't being nice to us at all! You know he tried to hit you with that snowball. So much for his New Year's resolu-tion.
But Eddie's eyes were shining. “Didn't you hear what the principal said? If I throw any more snowballs on school property I'm banned from the team. That means if I don't throw any snowballs, I'm not banned. I can try out! He practically said so.”
So that was it, Caroline realized. Eddie's mind was as quick as her pitching arm. She herself would never have been able to think up something so fast.
Eddie grabbed her sisters’ arms. “But I'm not through with Jake yet! Wait for me after school at that big oak tree just off the playground. We want to be waiting when the boys go by.”
Caroline had two wonderfully exciting things to think about all day—the tryouts for the Buckman Community Players that evening, and what Eddie was going to do to Jake that day after school.
Wally, however, who sat in front of Caroline in Miss Applebaum's class, seemed completely baffled by what Eddie had done. As the other kids were hanging up their coats, he turned around in his seat and asked, “What got into Eddie?”
Caroline shrugged and looked as innocent as she could manage. “I don't know! I guess she was just feeling … well, a little sisterly today, that's all.”
When the fourth-graders went out for recess that morning, Caroline went by the sixth-grade classroom, and there was Eddie writing / will not play catch with snowbalh one hundred times on the blackboard, while Jake, looking as puzzled as Caroline had ever seen him, watched.
When the fourth-graders went out for recess that afternoon, Caroline went by the sixth-grade classroom again, and there was Jake writing / will not play catch with snowbalh with Eddie watching, and Eddie still had a sly little smile on her face.
Caroline had her books all ready at three o'clock, so as soon as the bell rang, she grabbed her jacket and was the first one out the door.
She was halfway across the playground before anyone else even came out of the building, and was soon joined at the oak tree by Beth and Eddie.
“What's up?” asked Beth.
“You mean, what's down,’ said Eddie, her eyes beginning to glower. “Or, what's going to be down. Jake's going to be down, that's what.” She led her sisters over to a hedge just beyond the school property. “We're going to wait here,” she said, “and when the Hatfords come by, we're going to leap on Jake— all three of us. Before Wally and Josh can even think of stopping us, we are going to stuff Jake so full of snow he'll think he's a snowman. Beth, you push snow down his collar; Caroline, you rub snow in his face; and I'm going to cram a snowball right into his mouth. As soon as you're done, run like crazy and I'll meet you at home.”
When Eddie got even, she didn't fool around.
Beth looked at her older sister uncertainly. “Isn't this just going to start the war all over again?”
“All over again?” asked Eddie. “It never stopped! If the war was over, how come Jake was trying to plaster me against the school door with a giant snowball?”
“Yeah, but if we try to get even, then they'll try to get even, and it will just go on and on.”
“Trust me,” said Eddie.
So the girls hid behind the hedge, backpacks firmly secured so they could make a quick getaway. When other kids passed, they pretended they were just standing there having a casual conversation, but when they heard the Hatford boys coming down the sidewalk, they flattened themselves against the bushes and prepared to jump.
“… I told you they were nice!” Peter was saying.
“I can't understand it,” came Josh's voice. “If Eddie hadn't taken part of the blame, Jake, you would have been toast!”
“I don't know….” Wally's voice now. “I have a feeling they're up to something. Eddie wouldn't do something like that without—”
The boys passed the hedge and the girls leaped.
Eddie tackled Jake's legs.
Beth sat on him.
Caroline grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it in his face.
It was hard to tell what was happening because the boys were yelling, feet were kicking, arms were flying, and the next thing Caroline knew, Beth and Eddie were running in two different directions. Caroline herself headed for the backyard of the nearest house as fast as her legs would carry her.
Around a tree, under a clothesline, through a gate, over a fence, but the boys were still gaining.
Why were they all after hen It had been Eddie's idea, after all. Yet here came the Hatfords, howling like hyenas, and before she knew it she was in the Hatfords’ own backyard, backed into a corner next to the house.
Five
Trapped
Caroline looked more frightened than Wally had ever seen her. She looked like a cat trapped by a pack of wild dogs. She looked, in fact, as if she were about to die. To cry, anyway.
It was Peter, though, who was crying.
“We're supposed to be friendly/’ he wept, afraid of what they might do to Caroline. “We're supposed to be nice”
“Was it friendly of them to stuff snow down my neck?” Jake bellowed.
“But that was probably Eddie's idea, not Caroline's,” Josh reminded him.
Jake was confused. Why did Eddie take part of the blame for smacking the principal in the kisser with a snowball? And if she was willing to do that, why did she turn on him and practically suffocate him with snow? There was absolutely n
o understanding girls.
“I think you're crazy, all three of you!” he told Caroline. “I think the Malloys are all a little bit nuts.”
“Okay/’ said Caroline meekly. “Can I go home now?
“Yeah, Jake, let her go,” Wally said, eager to get inside and have a snack. “You know—treat her like a sister.”
“Oh, no, she's not going to get off that easy,” said Jake. “Bring her in the house.”
So Caroline, with Josh on one side of her and Wally on the other, was escorted up the back steps. She waited while Jake opened the door with the house key.
“Sit down on a chair,” Jake commanded, throwing his backpack on the table.
Caroline sat.
“Whose idea was it to ambush us?” asked Jake.
“Whose idea was it to throw that snowball at Eddie?” Caroline retorted.
“Mine, but I didn't hit her. If I'd hit her, I could see why she'd want to fight, but I missed her!” Jake said.
Caroline shrugged. “I guess you'll have to ask Eddie,” she said. “Can I go now?”
“No, you can't go! Eddie has to learn she can't go around tackling people!” Jake yelled.
The phone began to ring.
“Mom!” said Wally.
Their mother always called from the hardware store to see if everything was all right if the boys didn't call her the minute they got in the door. She had to be sure a murderer hadn't followed them home.
“Don't answer!” said Jake. “Caroline will start yelling and Mom will know she's here.”
Riiiing went the phone again.
“Tie a dish towel around her mouth,” Jake instructed Wally.
“Make it a clean one,” Caroline murmured.
Wally sighed. This always happened. Jake thought up some crackbrained scheme, and it was Wally who had to carry it out. If he tried to tie a dish towel around Caroline Malloy's mouth, she'd probably bite him.
“Hurry up!” Jake yelled, one hand on the phone. “If we don't answer in five rings, she'll probably call the police!”
Wally grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around Caroline's face while Josh bound her arms to the chair with his jacket. Caroline sat as still as a frog on a log.