At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories)(6)

Gramma Del walked Gracie to and from school most days but every now and then her father took over the job. Gracie hated it when her father waited for her at the corner in his dented pickup truck with the sign Taylor Construction written on the driver's door. Her father didn't like to talk much in the mornings and he didn't understand anything about matching your tights to your jumper or why peanut butter and jelly sandwiches should be on fluffy white bread, not rye with the little seeds that got between your teeth.

But oh how she loved school. For a few hours every day it didn't matter that she wasn't like the rest of them. In that little classroom, she was one of the gang. She could read what was on the blackboard before Mrs. Cavanaugh explained it. At first Laquita and Noah thought it was some kind of magic trick. Then, when they realized she could read and write the looks on their faces made her laugh. She knew the mama gerbil was going to have babies before Mrs. Cavanaugh did.

Mary Ann saved a place next to her at naptime and even though she'd much rather nap on Noah's side of the room, she didn't want to hurt Mary Ann's feelings so she stayed where she was. Besides, she could watch Noah from over there and not be afraid he was going to catch her doing it. She loved the way his thick dark lashes rested against his cheeks, the way he smiled a little in his sleep. Sometimes he seemed ashamed to be her friend but that was okay too because she knew that when Don and Tim and the others ran off, she'd still be there waiting for him.





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Noah's parents didn't argue very often. The sound of their cultured Yankee voices, raised loud enough to be heard from the hallway, scared him. He pressed himself against the wall near the kitchen and tried hard not to listen but their words found him just the same.

"Del brought her here when she was a baby," his mother said. "I don't see the difference, Simon. She was no trouble then and she'll be no trouble now."

"I have nothing against the child," his father said, "but I don't want to open the door to her father."

"She's a little girl. Do you want her safety on your conscience?"

"I'll agree," his father said, "but only as an interim measure. Del has two weeks to make other arrangements."

The silence was long and dark and Noah wondered what it was about Gracie's father that made his own father sound so serious. Noah had seen Gracie's father three times in front of school, hunched behind the wheel of a truck with swirly letters painted on the side. He didn't walk Gracie to the steps like her Grandma Del did. He didn't meet her at the corner like Noah's mother. Instead Gracie's father stayed in the car and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and when Gracie waved goodbye he just gunned the engine and drove off without waving goodbye right back.

Noah knew that there were rich people and poor people in the world. His parents had explained it to him when he'd asked why a maid cleaned their house and her own while his mother went to lunch and didn't clean anything at all. What he didn't know was why Gracie didn't have a mother or why his father didn't like her.

His parents' voices grew softer again and the shaky feeling inside his stomach went away. His mother appeared in the doorway. She smiled at him but he saw that her eyes looked sad. "There you are," she said, holding out her hand. "Breakfast is ready, then it's off to school with you."

"Are you and Father mad?" he asked as he slid his hand into hers.

The smile faded. "Why would you ask that?"

"I heard you talking," he said as they walked down the hallway to the breakfast room.

"Grownups sometimes sound very serious, honey, and it can sound like we're angry. It's just our way."

"Is Gracie in trouble?"

She stopped and crouched down next to him, taking his face between her hands.. "Nobody's in trouble," she said and he noticed the shimmer of tears in her big blue eyes. "It's just that Gracie needs a place to play after school and Del thought it might be nice if the two of you played together."

"Here?" In his whole life he'd never had a friend come over to play and the idea made him want to turn somersaults up and down the hallway. Even his birthday parties were held at a fancy restaurant in Boothbay Harbor on the water.

His mother nodded. "Not as a permanent thing," she said. "Just until Del can make other arrangements."

"Can Laquita and Don and Tim come home with me too?"