CHAPTER XIX
THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT
When Mimi pranced into Tumble Inn and did a fan dance using her tennisracquet for a fan, Chloe jerked something off the table and stuck it inher portfolio. Betsy and Sue stepped between Chloe and Mimi, making ascreen.
"Wouldn't keep anything from me, would you, pals?"
Mimi zipped her finger across her neck making a cutthroat gesture.
Chloe paled but Sue giggled. Betsy told.
"We were having a private art exhibit."
"But why can't I see it?"
"You might not appreciate it as much as we."
The elephant-child's curiosity was on a rampage now. Mimi, and theother girls too, knew that there would be no peace until Mimi saw.
Hesitantly Chloe slipped the paper from its hiding place and handed itto Mimi.
A tense pause, then Mimi laughed. She doubled up and rolled over on thebed.
"You've got me exactly, Chloe. I didn't know you were that good."
On the paper was a charcoal sketch of Mimi awkwardly sprawled out onthe icy lake at Wildwood. Chloe had caught the humor amazingly well.
"Why did you hide it? That's the first time I ever posed for an artistand I'm pleased."
"We didn't intend for you to see it."
"What were you going to do with it?"
No one answered.
"What were you going to do with it?" Mimi shouted.
Still silence prevailed.
Knowing all the vulnerable points, Mimi made for roly-poly Sue andbegan to tickle her.
"We--were--wrapping it--to--please, Mimi, please, I'll tell--to mail toHonky."
"You're worse than traitors," Mimi cried.
"Hold her, Sue," Betsy called. Snatching up the picture, she and Chloefled.
As soon as Mimi wrenched herself free, she hunted high and low andcould not find them. They had succeeded in making a getaway. For thirtyminutes Mimi stood guard in the post office. Then she gave up. She hadsomething else to look for besides two silly girls. She had lost two ofDit's good tennis balls practicing, and if she didn't find them, itwould take the rest of her week's allowance to buy new ones. Forty-fivecents apiece. Two times forty-five was ninety cents! Mimi ran towardthe tennis courts.
She had lost the first one on a hard serve. That was all right, butlosing the second had been unnecessary. Taking Jill's advice she hadsent the second ball after the first. That meant she had stood in thesame place and served the second ball as nearly like the first aspossible. It had gone wild, too, and disappeared before her very eyes.She'd be glad when her serve was under control, when she could serveboth balls hard the way Dit did. The way Mimi served now, she battedthe first one as hard as she could, but in case it did not go in theproper court, which was more than half the time, she eased up on thesecond. She could drop an easy serve anywhere in the court she pleased.
Her game was improving. She was hopeful of getting at least toquarter-finals in the tournament unless she drew a crack player for herfirst sets. There were not enough Preps interested in tennis for themto have a separate tournament. Those desiring to enter must take theirchances against the college girls, too. Mimi turned over her chances inher mind as she went around behind the backstops and burrowed in theleaves for the balls. She could not find them. Goodbye ninety cents.She gave up and hurried in for her shower bath.
On the way, she poked her head in the office and asked the girl on dutyto order two Wright and Ditson balls from Sweirs.
"Come in, Mimi. We've been wanting to see you. The girls have beentalking so much about those grand bean-hole beans you cooked and didn'tget to eat, that I want the recipe."
"I'm glad you liked them."
"Glad _I_ liked them! The whole school has been raving about them.Don't tell me you didn't know? I've decided that if you will write downthe recipe and the full instructions for digging the hole, etc., thatI'll mimeograph it and give the girls copies."
"Keen!"
Mimi was delighted. Heedless of the fact that supper time was near, sheplopped down in a swivel chair and demanded paper and pencil. No timelike the present to get a job done.
After supper the girls went to Miss Bassett's office and drew for theirplaces in the tournament. Mimi was lucky. She drew a bye. The matcheswere still three days off and Mimi would have four days.
She was spending all her spare time on the courts. She watched thecollege girls play. She studied the lazy, relaxed manner Dit had whenshe addressed the ball; how careful she was not to "foot fault"--stepinside the base line when she served. More and more she wasunderstanding that points were won by thinking the ball out of theopponent's reach rather than by "main strength and awkwardness" as theadage goes.
She was developing an effective base line drive and Dottie would neverrecognize her serve. Wait 'til she got back to B.G. She'd make them situp and take notice.
The first day of the tournament, Mimi led small groups on the sidelines in cheers. The preliminaries were not very interesting as thecompetition was not keen. Dit mowed her opponent down without gettingup a sweat. A free-for-all tournament had to get well under way beforethe players were fairly matched. Mimi and her group moved from court tocourt where the matches were the hottest.
Not playing that first day, Mimi kept her eyes open and learnedtournament etiquette. She also had time to stir in her trunk and getout her white linen shorts with the red pin stripe which she had wornfor "bests" at camp. She cut the sleeves out of a shirt and faced thearm holes. When she appeared on the courts for her first match, shecould hear girls complimenting her costume. Then before them all, shepulled a navy bandana from her pocket and tied her hair back. Shethought of Dottie's beloved red bandana at camp and smiled. She wishedDottie and the other campers were here to root for her. However, shehad a group of supporters--Madge, Olivia, Chloe, Sue and enough othersto make considerable noise were huddled on the side lines of the numbertwo court where she played and won her first match.
She won again next day and for three straight days, she moved up abracket. This landed her in the quarter-finals. She couldn't wait anylonger to tell how well she was doing so she wrote Honky and Dottieboth. If she had not written before the quarter-final match, she wouldnot have written at all, for she was defeated.
At least Mimi did not cry like Jill did when she was defeated. Nor didshe accuse her opponent of cheating. She was defeated fairly andsquarely and went down smiling. She was pitted against a college girlwho played rings around her.
Mimi was licked before the set was called. The girl across the net fromher was taller, stronger and a far more experienced player. In the faceof such odds, Mimi battled spunkily. The few times she didscore--oftener by her opponent's poor playing rather than her own goodplaying--Olivia and the other rooters whooped loud and long.
Mimi hated to lose at anything but when Sue put a sweater around her atthe end of the match, she knew she had done her best.
"Nice match, girls," Miss Bassett said in passing.
That helped but something else helped more.
The day Mimi lost out, Dit moved up to semi-finals. The next day sheadvanced another bracket and the day she played in the finals the wholeschool, faculty and all, turned out. Mimi had far more than half ofthem marshalled in her section to cheer for Dit. Sometimes she was soenraptured watching Dit serve and volley and chop that she forgot toyell. Someday she would be able to play like Dit. Dit was no happierthan Mimi when after three grueling sets she was declared winner.
Mimi rushed up with her white sweater and threw it around Dit'sshoulders, shouting her congratulations. She took Dit's racquet fromher perspiring hands and put it in the brace. Then she retrieved theballs and put them in the box before joining the procession whichtrailed Dit in to the showers.
The morning the trophies were awarded in assembly, Mimi scrambled for afront seat. She didn't want to miss a word. She knew she would be ableto hear Dr. Barnes and Miss Bassett no matter where she
sat, but shewanted to hear what Dit mumbled. Some day she would be winning atournament and she wanted to know how to accept it. When Dit said,"thank you," and reached out her hand for the trophy, Mimi tingled tothe tips of her toes.
She was even happier weeks later when the Annual was out to makeanother discovery. Instead of her picture on Blue Boy being in thebeauty section by Chloe's, it was in the sports section opposite Dit's.That was even better.