Wally went into the house, lay down on the couch, and pulled a pillow over his head.
Nine
Oh, No!
There were no broken bones in Caroline's body, but Mrs. Malloy said she almost felt like breaking somebody's neck if anybody caused her any more trouble in the next two days. She said she didn't care if Caroline wanted to be onstage more than anything else in the world. Caroline ought to have had more sense than to go sneaking into a school where she shouldn't have been, and Mrs. Malloy told the girls' father this when he called to tell them that Ohio was really suffering in the heat wave.
“No more than we are here, George,” she said. “It's so hot, I'm almost afraid to let Eddie play ball.”
Nonetheless, she told him, as she had told the girls, the moving van was coming on schedule on Wednesday. It was due at eight in the morning, and as soon as all the furniture was out, she was turning the house over to a cleaning crew to get it ready for the Bensons' return. She and the girls had been invited to the Hatfords' for brunch before they left town, and wasn't that nice of Mrs. Hatford?
There was too much to do to even think about the Hatfords, and Caroline realized that perhaps they would see them for the last time on Wednesday and that would be that. Suddenly, after all the pranks and teasing and horseplay and fighting and laughing and swimming and walking to school together, it all would be over. Poof!
Beth was certainly happy. Her fantasy story about the Shanatee Indians had won second place in the library's short story contest. Eddie and Jake's team had tied for first place in summer baseball, and the league had called off the last game because of the heat.
But cars were pouring into Buckman from east and west and north and south because the college was celebrating its hundredth anniversary. For four days, every hotel, motel, boardinghouse, and bed-and-breakfast was full, not a single room available within thirty miles of Buckman. There were very few parking spaces as well.
“It's a good time to be getting out of town,” Mrs. Malloy said to her girls. “If your father were still working for the college, I'd have to go to every tea and dinner and concert there was. I've never been so glad to go around in shorts and sandals as I am now. We're leaving town just in time.”
Caroline tried to stay out of trouble. Her mother did not need one more aggravation, that was certain. The heat made everyone short-tempered and miserable, so people tended to stay indoors in air-conditioning. This, of course, meant that they had more opportunity to get in each other's way.
The Hatford boys did not come over, and the Malloy girls did not go over to the boys' house. No one mentioned the old coal mine, and that was just as well. The swinging bridge between them remained deserted, as the muddy river beneath it moved sluggishly downstream.
Moving day arrived. The big Mayflower truck slowly backed into the driveway, and as Caroline watched from her window, three burly men got out and walked across the yard to the front door.
“Ready to go,” Mrs. Malloy said, opening the door wide. “Everything's in boxes except the furniture.”
It was a surprise to Caroline how fast the movers worked. The couch and the dining room table went first; then the beds were dismantled and carried out. One by one the rooms were emptied, until the girls' voices echoed around the house.
The rug, the dresser, the chairs, the lamps, the chests, and boxes, boxes, boxes …
And finally … the house was empty.
“Okay, lady, we'll see you in Ohio,” the driver said.
“Be careful with my dishes,” Mrs. Malloy told them. “Some of those belonged to my grandmother.”
“We'll be as careful as if your grandmother herself was in those boxes,” the driver said.
Mrs. Malloy and her daughters watched the big truck roll slowly down the driveway, then turn onto the road and start across the bridge.
“Are you ready to say goodbye to Buckman?” Mrs. Malloy asked. “Ready to tell the boys goodbye?”
“I was ready to tell them goodbye the day we moved in,” said Eddie.
“I don't believe that for one minute,” said her mother.
They were just walking out to the car when the cleaning crew arrived with buckets and mops and brooms and vacuum cleaners. Mrs. Malloy drove the car over the bridge to the business district, then turned onto College Avenue and drove to the Hatfords' house.
“I'll bet this is the last parking space in Buckman,” she said, pulling up in front. “Did you see all those cars in town just now? This is the biggest crowd this college has ever had. It's nice of Mrs. Hatford to invite us for brunch. I doubt that we could have found a seat in any restaurant in town.”
Mrs. Hatford met them at the door. “Hello, Jean,” she said warmly. “Come on in, girls. Tom says he's sorry he'll miss you, but he's working today, of course. Please come and sit down at the table. I know you're anxious to get on the road, but we're so glad to have this little time with you.”
The Hatford boys were standing awkwardly around the dining room, arms dangling at their sides. There was a platter of doughnuts in the center of the table, surrounded by plates of fruit and sausages and applesauce and scrambled eggs.
“You're so nice to do this, Ellen,” said Mrs. Malloy. “I'll bet we'd find a waiting line all up and down the highway. We didn't eat much breakfast, and this looks delicious!”
Everyone took a seat at the table. Caroline had never seen her older sisters so tongue-tied. She was quiet herself, and the Hatford boys were practically speechless. They'd not had much trouble teasing and quarreling during the past year, but now that it was time for goodbyes, and mothers were present, no one quite knew what to say.
“We're going to miss you, aren't we, Wally?” Mrs. Hatford said.
Wally didn't answer.
“ I'll miss them!” said Peter, having gratefully accepted the bag of cookies Beth had made just for him.
“So will Jake and Josh and Wally,” said his mother.
“And the girls are going to find it really boring in Ohio without the boys,” said Mrs. Malloy.
The girls didn't answer. The doughnuts went around a second time. So did the sausages and eggs. The boys were occupied with stuffing their faces, and only the two mothers seemed to find anything to talk about.
Mrs. Hatford was offering more juice when the phone rang, and she answered.
“Of course!” she said. “Yes, she's right here.” She handed the phone to Mrs. Malloy. “It's your husband.”
“George?” Mrs. Malloy got out of her chair and stood holding the telephone. “Hello?” she said. There was a pause. “What?” An even longer pause. “Oh, no!” she said.
Caroline stopped chewing and watched her mother. She most certainly looked worried, and that worried Caroline. “But we can't!” Mrs. Malloy was saying. “There's no place to go!” Beth and Eddie looked up.
Mrs. Malloy turned to Mrs. Hatford. “George tells me there's been a massive power outage in Ohio because of the heat. The electricity has been off in our county since nine last night, and now the power company says they don't think they can get it restored for three or four days!”
“Oh, my goodness!” said Mrs. Hatford.
Mrs. Malloy turned to the phone again. “George, every hotel here is booked solid! Every motel for fifty miles or more is full!”
Another pause. Then Mrs. Malloy spoke to her daughters. “He says it would be foolish to go home. There's no electricity, no air-conditioning, no traffic lights or streetlights. Even supermarkets and restaurants are shutting down because there's no refrigeration. I don't know what we're going to do!”
“There's only one thing to do, Jean,” said Mrs. Hatford. “You're simply going to stay with us.”
Ten
Moving Out
Their mother might as well have told them that the basement was flooded or the roof was on fire, Wally thought. She had to be half out of her mind. The heat had affected her, too! There was no place for the Malloys to sleep! No way could they fit four more people into the
ir house!
He looked at his brothers. Jake and Josh were thunderstruck, but Peter grinned happily at the prospect.
“Oh, Ellen, how could you possibly put us up?” Mrs. Malloy protested.
“Where there's a will, there's a way. You'd do the same for me,” Mrs. Hatford said. “There's no sense in your starting out with no idea where you'll spend the night or how long you'll have to be there. At least the kids know each other, and they can play outside….”
Mrs. Malloy spoke into the telephone again. “Ellen has invited us to stay here till we get our power back, George…. Yes, I know…. It's a great imposition on them, but I don't know what else to do…. Yes…. All right…. Yes, I will.”
When she hung up the phone, she said, “You're an angel of mercy, Ellen. George says he'll call the minute the power comes back on, but almost the whole state is shut down, and so are parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”
“We're glad to have you here,” Mrs. Hatford said. “Now we'll just figure out where everyone will sleep.”
“Mo … ther!” Jake said earnestly in a low voice.
Mrs. Hatford ignored the protest. “The twins have the largest bedroom, so I think I'll put the four of you in there. They have twin beds, and I'll get an air mattress that sleeps two that we can squeeze onto the floor.”
“That will be absolutely fine,” said Mrs. Malloy.
“Mo-ther!” said Jake in despair. “What about us?”
“One of you boys can take your sleeping bag into Wally's room, and the other can sleep in Peter's,” Mrs. Hatford said.
Wally tried to imagine the Malloys living in their house. “There's … there's only one bathroom! For ten people!” he choked.
“Plus the powder room here on the first floor. We'll make do. There just won't be any long showers, that's all. In fact, you boys may want to forget showers for a day or two,” his mother said.
That was fine with Wally. But the thought of waiting in line to use the toilet, and everybody knowing what you were waiting for, did not appeal to Wally at all. Jake and Josh were still in shock.
“They'll sleep in our beds!” Wally heard Jake whisper.
“They'll look in our closet!” Josh whispered back.
Wally glanced across the table at Caroline, Beth, and Eddie. They didn't seem any happier about it than his brothers were.
“Okay,” said Mrs. Hatford determinedly. “We're going to make this as painless as possible, and who knows? Maybe it will be fun!”
Like going to the dentist is fun, Wally thought.
“We'll do all we can to help,” said Mrs. Malloy.
“Jake and Josh,” said their mother, “go get some of your clothes to wear for the next few days. Take your sleeping bags, too. They're in your closet. And a few games might be nice. Wally and Peter, go to your rooms and make sure everything's off the floor so the twins can put down their sleeping bags.”
Like robots—all but Peter, who practically skipped to the stairs—the boys rose from their chairs and started toward the hall.
“I'm so sorry to impose like this,” Wally heard Mrs. Malloy say. “I know how the kids must hate it.”
“It's not much trouble, really!” said Mrs. Hatford.
She lies, Wally thought.
At the top of the stairs, Jake said, “This can't be happening! It's my worst nightmare! Worse than my worst nightmare! Eddie will be sleeping in my bed! I'll have to decontaminate it, practically, before I can sleep in it again.”
“I'm taking my own pillow,” said Josh. “I don't want anyone sleeping on my pillow.”
“I'm not sleeping in Peter's room, either,” said Josh. “ Wally, you can sleep in Peter's room and Jake and I will take yours.”
This always happened. Wally had known it would happen. But he opened his mouth and said, “No way.”
“What do you mean?” said Jake.
“ Nas in noodle and O as in Oreo,” said Wally. “It's my room and I'm sleeping in my own bed.” There. He'd said it. Jake looked like he might punch him in the mouth, but he didn't.
“Well, then we're both going to sleep on your floor,” Jake said. “We'll put all our stuff in Peter's room, but we're not sleeping in separate bedrooms.”
“Okay by me,” said Wally. Amazing how great you feel when you stand up for yourself, he thought.
He went into his room and kicked all the extra stuff under his bed. The worn underwear, the new sneakers, the National Wildlife magazine, the kickball … Then he went across the hall and stood in his brothers' doorway, watching them yank stuff out of their desk drawers before the girls got upstairs.
“Don't let them see any old papers!” said Josh.
“Don't let them see any school stuff at all,” said Jake.
“Look at this!” Josh said, holding up a picture he had drawn in kindergarten—a boy with a head as big as a pumpkin and a strange smile on his face. There must have been dozens more, all crammed into a bottom drawer.
“And this!” said Jake, checking his middle desk drawer. There was a report card from second grade, and the teacher had written at the bottom, Jake could be a better student if he tried, but his temper and impulsiveness sometimes get in the way.
“You'd better take that along,” said Josh. “Who knows what else you've got in your desk? Probably something even worse.”
“We should move the desks!” Jake said in despair. He was busy loading up his arms. “Take any money you've got lying around—all your state quarters, Josh. Your stamp collection, too.”
“And don't forget all your baseball caps,” said Josh. “Eddie would love to get her hands on those.”
They grabbed jeans and shorts from their closet, then pushed the remaining clothes as far back in the corner as possible, so that the girls' clothes wouldn't touch theirs when they hung them up.
There were footsteps on the stairs, and the twins left their bedroom just as Mrs. Malloy and Mrs. Hatford appeared at the top.
“Let me help you with the sheets,” Mrs. Malloy said.
“If you'd like,” said Mrs. Hatford, taking a stack of pillowcases out of the closet and handing them to the girls' mother. “If you could put fresh sheets on the beds in the twins' room, I'll make sure we have plenty of towels in the bathroom.”
Wally and his brothers fled back downstairs and found themselves alone with the Malloy girls in the kitchen.
“Talk about a bummer!” Eddie said at last.
“I'd rather turn over my room to a hippopotamus,” said Jake.
“Thanks for nothing,” said Eddie.
“Are you guys going to start fighting again?” asked Peter from the doorway, his hands on his hips. “ Ithink this could be fun!”
Everyone looked at Peter as though he had just stepped out of a spaceship. Fun? Having girls in their bedroom? Using the same bathroom, too? Having to get up in the morning and face each other across the breakfast table?
But there was some truth in what Peter was saying, Wally had to admit. The chief offenders were Jake and Eddie. As long as they were fighting, it was hard for anyone else to get along.
Eleven
Stop Complaining!
“Well, I guess we're stuck,” Beth said. “We'll have to make the best of it.”
“Yeah!” said Peter. “No more fighting!”
“So who's fighting?” asked Jake. “I just don't want them sleeping in my bed, that's all.”
“Don't worry,” said Eddie. “I wouldn't sleep in your bed for a million dollars. I'll be on the air mattress, you can bet.”
“It must be awful at home,” said Beth. “Mom said Dad told her it was ninety-six degrees in our upstairs. By tomorrow, all the food in the refrigerator will be spoiled. Ugh.”
“It's supposed to be a hundred and four here tomorrow,” said Josh. “What are we going to do today?”
“We could trap flies in the sun and put a magnifying glass on them and watch them go crazy,” said Eddie.
“That's cruel!” Caroline declared. “Besid
es, I don't want anything to do with bugs.”
“At least we can go swimming if it gets unbearable,” said Beth.
“Not!” said Eddie. “We packed our bathing suits, remember. We thought we'd be home by tonight.”
“I know!” said Peter. “We could make peanut butter and banana milk shakes! And bake cookies!”
“It's too hot for cookies, Peter,” said Beth.
“We could take Caroline's school picture and make copies of it at the library and turn them into Wanted posters at the post office,” said Jake.
“Not!” said Caroline.
“We could make lemonade and sell it at a stand out front,” Beth suggested.
“We've tried that, but people don't come down our block much,” said Wally. “Monopoly?”
“Bor-ing!” said Eddie.
What happened was that when the bedrooms were finally ready, with sleeping bags on the floor of Wally's room, fresh sheets on the beds in the twins' bedroom, and an air mattress there on the floor, the girls shut themselves up in the boys' bedroom for the afternoon, sprawled out on the beds, with books and magazines for company, and Wally and his brothers spent the afternoon on the porch.
By five o'clock, Mrs. Malloy insisted that the girls come downstairs and be sociable. And if they couldn't be sociable, she said, they could at least ask Mrs. Hatford what they might do to be helpful.
“Well, you could set the table for dinner,” Mrs.
Hatford replied. “Your mother and I have been cooking extra meals, because I have to go back to work tomorrow. Hopefully, even if it gets hotter here in Buckman, we'll have enough food prepared that we won't have to use the oven again for several days.”
“What if it turns out we can't go home for a week, Mother?” Eddie said worriedly.
“I doubt it will be a week,” Mrs. Malloy told her. “I called your father this afternoon, and he said the power company hopes to have power restored to all of Ohio in four days at the most.”