Dancing Through the Snow (15 page)

Then Penny’s whisper reached her. “If we put on a concert, you and I might sing a duet or something.”

Min stared at her new friend in horror. Sing! In front of a lot of people! She had never dreamed of doing such a thing and she was sure she would make a total mess of it if she agreed to try. Yet maybe a duet would not be so bad as having to sing alone. In Min’s opinion, her singing a solo would be a catastrophe. I’d die first, she told herself.

When it was time for morning break, she found herself walking out with Penny and a stringbean of a girl named Jennifer.

“Jen, come over here,” Penny said.

Going along, Min felt slightly sick. What was Penny going to say?

“Min hates Laird too,” Penny muttered, tugging Min into an out-of-the-way corner. “Tell us why, Min. And we can tell you what
we
think of the toad.”

Min had a hard time starting. She did not want to begin new friendships by confiding the things Laird had yelled at her. She wanted to leave those nicknames behind. But, bit by bit, she got out enough of the truth for them to pick it up and start telling her what they thought. Nobody liked him.

“He calls me Gingersnap,” Penny said, her eyes flashing. “And Chocolate Chip. But he whispers and he never gets caught. I’ve tried telling Mrs. Wellington, but she just sighs and asks if I don’t think I could handle it myself. As it is, he’s sent to the office almost every day by somebody.”

“He’s a worm,” Jennifer declared. “Like a giant slug — or do I mean a giant sloth? Whatever.”

Min almost laughed out loud. “Giant sloths are extinct,” she said. “At least, I think they are.”

Jennifer snickered. “Okay, he’s not extinct, but he is a stinker. And if he doesn’t watch it, one of these days he’ll be on the endangered species list and nobody but his mother will lift a finger to rescue him.”

“He pushed Alessia’s little brother face down into a snowbank the week before the holidays,” Penny put in. “The kid isn’t even in kindergarten yet and now he’s afraid to go outside by himself. I told my cousin and he promised to tell me a way to teach Laird a lesson. He’s away, but the moment he comes back, I’ll remind him.”

Min hoped it would happen. But she still managed to stop short of telling them Laird’s nicknames for her. She hated them and they weren’t true.

“Where do you guys live?” she asked instead, amazed at how easily she was talking to kids her own age, nice kids. She had hardly ever exchanged friendly words with one other girl, let alone two. Had being Jess’s foster daughter changed her somehow, made her braver? How? She saved the question to think about in bed.

Both girls lived not far from Jess’s house. Jennifer, her brother Pete and their parents lived in a ground-floor apartment in an old house on Exhibition Street. Penny and her family had a whole house to themselves. It was three storeys tall and yet, according to Penny, it was barely big enough.

“My sisters, my brothers and my parents have to fit into it and my auntie and her teenage daughter Cora are staying with us too, until she gets a job with enough pay to take care of renting their own place.”

Jennifer hooted at Min’s stunned look. “It’s loads of fun over there,” she said. “Her little sisters are like stair steps — three, four and five years old — and into everything. They’re wild.”

“They sound great,” Min said, thinking of the Dittos.

“You wouldn’t say so if they were your sisters,” Penny said, with a sigh that fooled neither of the other girls.

“I think I saw you outside Dr. Hart’s last week,” Jennifer said. “You were with that boy who goes to Willow Road. Tony? Something like that. He’s sure good-looking.”

Min swallowed an attack of giggles. She didn’t meet the other girl’s eyes. Jennnifer had to mean Toby. She supposed he was good-looking, although by now she knew him too well to see him the way Jennifer obviously did. Wait until she got old Tobe alone.

“His name is Toby. He’s Dr. Hart’s godson,” she told them.

“Do you live with them?” Penny asked.

“She’s adopted me,” Min said boldly, shocked at how easily the lie slipped out of her mouth. Well, Jess had spoken of her as her daughter more than once. It was her fault Min was coming to believe her.

“Hey, that must be neat,” Penny said. “She’s a real live heroine, my mother says.”

The bell rang, to Min’s relief, and she rushed to line up. She felt like a balloon filled with helium, floating up into the sky. Maybe, just maybe, she was actually going to have friends. But how could she invite them over to Jess’s when one of them might let slip that she had said she was adopted? If it should happen, what would Jess say?

If Mrs. Willis found out about Min’s lie, she would have set the girls straight right away. But Jess was different. She had snatched Min out of the CAS office on a whim. She had said so herself, hadn’t she? Or had the word
whim
come from Mrs. Willis? Anyway, Jess was a person full of surprises. You could never be certain what she would do or not do.

Seeing the complications ahead, Min longed to take the words back, but could not risk losing Penny’s friendship.

When they began the brainstorming the next morning, Min found herself speaking up in a very small voice.

“Can you speak a little louder, Min, so we can all hear?” the teacher said quietly.

“I just thought we might … I guess it’s dumb maybe … make it a concert of songs for the children … like lullabies or even funny ones. I don’t know,” she finished, flushing and wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

“We could do ‘Skinnamarink’ and ‘Baby Beluga,’” a girl named Sally Anne said.

“My mother sings us a Punjabi lullaby,” another girl murmured. “She could teach me. I think it’s a great idea.”

“My mum used to sing ‘Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee,’” another girl offered. “It’s really nice.”

“Min and I are singing ‘Where is love?’ as a duet,” Penny said, as though Min had promised. “My mother will coach us and play for us on the night.”

“Great!” their teacher exclaimed.

“I could play ‘Brahms’ Lullaby’ on my saxophone,” Tyler said.

It was settled. Everyone thought the idea was great. Ms Spinelli asked if someone would offer to make a poster and Min said maybe she could. Jennifer said she would too.

“I’ll talk to Mrs. Wellington about a good date,” the teacher said.

“I know one!” Josie offered, bouncing with excitement. “It’s a while away, but it would be so perfect. Valentine’s Day — A Valentine for Lost Babies.”

“Start practising,” Miss Spinelli said, smiling at them. “I think it will be splendid.”

The next few days passed without the word
adoption
being mentioned, and Min calmed down. As time passed, the subject would be less and less likely to come up, and the girls might even forget what she had said.

Then Penny produced the words to “Where Is Love” from the musical
Oliver!

“It’s perfect,” she said. “You can just imagine all those orphans singing it, looking all sad and wistful.”

Min scowled. At last, however, she nodded in spite of herself — Penny was right; it was a great orphan song. After all, as Toby had pointed out, Oliver Twist was a foundling — just like Min.

Toby’s family had come home when school began again. His father was still doing relief work and writing reports in Indonesia. Min was amazed to find that she missed Toby’s living with them. The pets helped fill in the empty space though. Emily remained hidden in her dark corner most of the time, but finally began venturing out to sit in front of the floor-length mirror in the hall, gazing at her own reflection for long periods. Maude Motley watched her with curiosity and Cassie kept nosing her with what looked like anxiety. At night, Emily slept in a small, round, fleece-lined dog bed in a corner of Jess’s bedroom. But she still spent most of the day hiding behind Jess’s chair or staring into the mirror.

“What do you think she’s seeing?” Min whispered to Jess, as they watched the mesmerized dog.

“I think perhaps she’s used to seeing other dogs, but not people,” Jess said slowly. “So the dog in the mirror, although it doesn’t smell right, still looks like those she has known, the ones who ate first from the dog dish. I’m considering going out there and seeing what dogs they try to sell me.”

“No, don’t!” Min yelped, her face going stiff with fright. “That man has a gun —” She broke off abruptly and tried to ignore the way Jess was staring at her.

“How would you know that, Min?” Jess asked softly, her eyes fixed on Min’s averted face.

“Mabel …” Min started and then stopped.

If only Toby were there with her, she thought, gulping. If only Jess did not seem to be looking right into the secret centre of her being. If only Jess had not ordered them to keep away from that kennel!

“Mabel must have said …” she began again in a voice that did not fool Jess for a moment.

Then, like an answer to a prayer, Toby came bounding into the house. “Hey, you guys, what’s up?” he demanded.

But Jess was not sidetracked by him. “Sit down, both of you,” she said. “I want some answers, truthful ones.”

It all came out then — their plotting, their fright, their meeting with Miss Hazlitt. Neither of them told about Miss Hazlitt’s lost dog, but they told everything else.

Jess glared at them first and then shook her head. “People are always telling me I’m too trusting,” she said softly. “I guess maybe they’re right.”

“Yeah. But listen, Jess,” Toby said. “My dad’s supposed to phone here in the next little while. It’s easier to talk without the twins around. Can we discuss the dog place later?”

Silence lay over the room like a thundercloud. Min struggled to keep back tears. She had known, from the start, that Jess would find out someday that she was not the nice girl she believed her to be.

Then the phone rang and Toby and his father talked. Somehow, listening to the call, Min felt better. After he hung up, they filled in most of the gaps.

“Great,” Jess said finally. She glanced at Min. “Don’t look so nervous, Min. I actually do understand how it happened. But I’ll take a police presence with me when I pay them a visit. Now, are you having supper with us, Toby?”

“Did you say you’re having spaghetti?” Toby asked, licking his lips.

“I don’t remember saying any such thing, but I suppose it may have slipped my mind,” Jess said, and headed for the kitchen while they laughed.

Two days later, Penny invited Min to come home with her for supper. “My mother will play while we practise our song,” she said.

Min did her best to act cool, as though she were forever being invited out, even though it was the very first time. They had just finished their ice cream when Penny’s mother turned to look at Min and said, “I remember when you were found. What a sad story! Colleen Bentham reminded me. Did they ever discover who had left you there?”

Penny stared from her mother’s expectant face to Min’s frozen one. “What are you talking about, Mum? Mrs. Bentham is that awful Laird’s mother. You just shouldn’t listen to anything she says.”

“Oh, Penny, you are too quick to judge — although I admit I am not drawn to the woman. When she reminded me about you, Min, she did say some unkind things. I set her straight, I can tell you. Penny, you are too young to remember. A little girl was abandoned in a public washroom at the Ex, years back. Nobody knew who she was and nobody came to claim her. Wasn’t that how it was, Minerva?”

“My name is Jessamyn Randall,” Min said at last, getting her voice to squeeze out past the hard knot in her throat. “I go by Min. But the rest is true — they never did find out who I was.”

Penny gave a bounce on the couch. Her eyes were gleaming. “Min, you could be
anybody
,” she cried. “A princess, a gypsy, anybody.”

Min was grateful, but she knew, in her bones, that she was neither a gypsy nor a princess. Shirl and Bruno would never have been handed a princess and she was sure gypsies had black curly hair and big dark eyes. She had never met one, but that was how the ones in books looked. Her hair was a deep brown and she had dark brown eyes.

Penny stared at her, clearly dying to know more.

Thinking of her past did not hurt nearly as much as it had before Jess had swept her out of the Children’s Aid office and told the veterinarian, “This is my foster daughter.” All the same, it wasn’t just a story in some book. She was real and she was not a gypsy or a princess either.

She was just Min.

“No, they never did find out. But I don’t like to think about it,” Min said, not looking straight at Penny or her mother. “Penny is right about Laird, though. He’s meaner than … than a black widow spider. Now I’d better go.”

“Wait until we practise our duet,” Penny said. “I already set the music on the piano, all ready.”

Min, half rising, sank down again.

“Mum promised to play for us, didn’t you, Mum?” Penny demanded.

Min thought she might throw up, but Penny’s mother rose and went right to the piano in the corner of the family room. Without stopping to talk it over, she began playing “Where Is Love?”

Penny was a strong singer, which was a relief. Min trailed along half a beat behind.

Penny’s mother said Min would grow more confident. “You have a nice voice,” she said. “It will just take practice on your part to bring it out.”

“I guess,” Min said doubtfully.

Penny laughed. “I’ll walk you home,” she said, pulling her coat down from its peg.

“I’m sorry my mother listened to that old bat,” she said as they walked. “My dad says she keeps her foot permanently in her mouth, and sometimes I think he’s right. But she never means any harm.”

“Forget it,” Min mumbled. “It doesn’t matter. I like your mum.”

She did, too. Penny’s mother had spoken when she shouldn’t, but Min knew the difference between honesty and cruelty. As the two girls strolled along through the snowy afternoon, dimming into dusk, they did not speak again for a couple of blocks. Then Min looked across the lawn and saw Grace and Margaret in front of Jess’s house. They were leaping and whirling, kicking up a cloudburst of snow.

“Look,” she said softly. “They’re Toby’s little sisters. They are wicked — well, at least Grace is — but very cute. They’re dancing through the snow.”