Give and Take (6 page)

B
Y MONDAY MORNING, EVERYTHING
seemed to be back to normal with Aimee and Fiona. They called and e-mailed when they said they would over the weekend. Aimee even came by with Blossom to walk Phin together. Neither girl explained why she had acted so strangely at the hockey game, but Madison didn’t require an explanation. She just wanted her old BFFs back.

Not everyone was back to their normal selves, however. Ivy was as fake as ever, pasting on her super-grin Monday afternoon when they drove to The Estates for the second official visit. She sat near Madison again—not Hart.

“I have been missing Mrs. Wood all weekend,” Ivy said as they boarded the minibus.

“Missing her? But you only just met her,” Madison said.

“Well, you know,” Ivy said with a dramatic flourish, waving her arm in the air. “I get very attached to people quickly.”

“You do?” Madison said, stifling a giggle.

“Sure I do,” Ivy said.

And you get unattached pretty quickly, too, Madison thought.

“Don’t you care about
your
person?” Ivy asked.

“You make it sound so funny,” Madison said. “Like we have them on loan from the library or something.”

“Well, Nurse Ana and Mr. Lynch said we are responsible for them,” Ivy said.

Madison smiled. “Yeah, for like an hour. Ivy, you are so …”

“So … what? I am taking my responsibility very seriously,” Ivy said. Madison could almost hear the old, familiar snarl in Ivy’s voice.

“I’ve thought about Mrs. Romano a lot,” Madison said. “She and I had fun talking on Friday. I just think she’s lonely.”

“I would be lonely, too, if I lived there,” Ivy said. “Mrs. Wood doesn’t act lonely at all.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Madison said. “Mrs. Romano seems lonely because she has no real friends. Well, except her birds.”

“Her birds?” Ivy asked.

“She watches them from the windows,” Madison explained.

“What a freak,” Ivy said.

Madison frowned. “Sometimes you can be so … so …”

“What?” Ivy asked. “So … what?”

“RUDE,” Madison blurted. “I can’t believe you’re even volunteering. Why do you bother?”

Ivy got very quiet, which surprised Madison. Normally, Poison Ivy would snap back with some obnoxious comment of her own, but she didn’t say anything at all. She just shrunk down into her gray wool coat and sulked. Madison actually started to feel a little guilty about what she’d said.

When they arrived, Nurse Ana was there to greet the seventh graders.
“Hola!”
she cried as the electric swinging doors to The Estates opened up.

Everyone filed into the conference room. Each visit required a reorientation with the social director. Davy Miller was bummed out because there were no sodas this time.

“Did everyone have a good weekend?” Mr. Lynch asked.

Señora Diaz told the kids to talk about any concerns or questions they had after the first visit, but of course no one had any. Everyone just sat around and stared. Joey O’Neill picked his nose, and ate it too, this time.

When they were finally “dismissed” to go meet their adoptive grandparents in the rooms, Ivy pulled Madison aside.

“Look,” she said seriously. “I’m sorry about what I said on the bus, okay?”

“You are?” Madison asked with disbelief.

“I bet your fake grandmother is really nice,” Ivy said. “I only said what I said because … well, just forget it.”

“Yeah, I will,” Madison said.

“And don’t tell anyone what I said, okay?”

“Okay.”

Madison promised it would be their secret. She hadn’t had a secret with Ivy since third grade.

“See you later on the bus,” Ivy said as she walked away.

Madison nodded and headed off in the direction of Mrs. Romano’s room.

Along the way, she peered into the rooms that had standard linoleum tile floors. Some had art on the walls, bookcases, and bureaus. Others had bare walls and plain wood furniture that Madison guessed belonged to The Estates.

The residents themselves were strolling through the halls or eating late lunches from rolling trays in their rooms. Madison saw a pair of older women dressed in sweatpants and T-shirts. They said hello and told her they were heading off to Seniors Yoga class. Madison laughed at that. She imagined that if Gramma Helen lived here one day that was exactly what she might be doing.

Some of the people walking around didn’t look as happy as Mrs. Holly Wood or other residents. An older man coughed his way past her, pushing his walker inch by inch. Another woman growled at Madison for getting in her way.

Madison finally reached Mrs. Romano’s room and found her adopt-a-grandmother lying across the bed.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Mrs. Romano said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Of course I’m back,” Madison said. “How are you?”

“Tired,” Mrs. Romano said. “My medication makes me tired sometimes. I just need to stay still. Sometimes it’s the weather that does me in. My aching bones say it’s going to snow soon.”

“I hope so,” Madison said. “I want to go skiing.”

“You ski?” Mrs. Romano said, laughing. “I bet you fly down the mountain.”

Madison smiled. “Well, not exactly. I’m just a beginner.”

“Well, someday you’ll fly,” Mrs. Romano said.

“Like your birds,” Madison said.

Mrs. Romano laughed again. “Oh yes!”

“Have you been watching them today?” Madison asked.

“There were a few cardinals out this morning. But the cold keeps some of them away, I think.”

“You should have a bird feeder,” Madison said.

“I suppose so,” Mrs. Romano said. “But they don’t let us do anything special around here. Except have special visitors.” She winked.

Madison sat down in the chair near Mrs. Romano’s bed and they talked more about the birds. Fifteen minutes into their conversation, Madison finally got the nerve to ask personal questions about family. Who was the real Mrs. Romano and what was her life like before she moved into The Estates? Madison sounded like a news reporter.

Mrs. Romano dove
way
back into her memory banks. She began to reminisce about her girlhood. She had been born in Canada on an island where her father and grandfather were fishermen. Her mother was the lighthouse keeper. One sister had died when Mrs. Romano was younger, but she had a brother who lived in Europe. Her love for birds had started when a young boy she liked once gave her a parakeet as a present.

Madison glanced over and saw the photo of the parakeet on the wall.

“His name was Wally,” Mrs. Romano explained. “Like my beau.”

Madison liked the word
beau
instead of
boyfriend.
She wondered what it would sound like to say that Hart was
her
beau.

“Did you get married?” Madison asked.

Mrs. Romano shook her head. “Never found the time,” she laughed.

“I think it’s nice that you have so many bird friends,” Madison said. “At least they can’t get all weird on you … like my friends do.”

“I’m sure your friends aren’t getting weird on purpose,” Mrs. Romano said.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m watching my life happen from the outside looking in,” Madison explained. “But I guess I’ll just get over it.”

As Madison explained the whole story, Mrs. Romano bowed her head down.

“Go over to my dresser,” Mrs. Romano said from her perch on the bed. “Get me that snow globe on top there. I want to tell you a story.”

Madison walked over to find the small globe amid a pile of silk scarves.

“Now, take it in your hand and shake it,” Mrs. Romano instructed.

Madison lifted the globe into the air and shook hard. Inside the plastic, a miniature snowman danced under a glittering snowfall. He had a black hat and green scarf, stick arms, and a carrot nose. The snow inside the globe sparkled.

“Once upon a time,” Mrs. Romano explained, “my best friend gave that globe to me. Every winter, she and I would build a snowman together. No matter where we were, we’d make time to get together and build one. She flew all the way from London, England, to make a snowman with me one year. But then another year she called to say that she had the flu and she couldn’t meet with me. She sent this instead: the perfect snowman inside that globe.”

“What a cool story,” Madison said.

“That was the last snowman we ever built,” Mrs. Romano explained.

“Last?” Madison cried. “What happened?”

“The flu turned out to be pneumonia. Yes, it was very sad. But I didn’t tell you the story to make you sad,” Mrs. Romano said.

Madison felt tears in her own eyes. “You didn’t?” she sniffled.

“You should always tell your friends what’s really on your mind. Don’t waste a moment. What’s given to us can be taken away just like that and we need to treasure it.”

“Wow,” Madison said. “That’s something Gramma Helen would say.”

“Come sit by me,” Mrs. Romano said. “When you visited last week, I was so grouchy. But you made me happy. I wanted you to know that.”

“You’re welcome,” Madison said.

“Sometimes I’m not myself,” Mrs. Romano said. “Well, that’s what Nurse Ana and some of the other aides tell me. And I don’t have many visitors these days. I have early Alzheimer’s disease. They did tell you that, didn’t they?”

Madison nodded. “I’m not really sure what it is though.”

“Sometimes I forget things,” she explained. “Once I forgot my own name and I wandered off down the street. Don’t ask how I got off the property! I don’t even know. But that only happened once so far. I’m afraid it will happen more often as I get older.”

“That sounds really sad,” Madison said.

“Oh listen to me, complaining!” Mrs. Romano said. “You’ve done nothing but keep me company, and I tell you depressing stories. Shame on me! I’m fine now. Let’s talk about happy things. Tell me more about your friends.”

Madison laughed. “I’m so lucky I got paired with you. You are so smart. Can I ask you something?”

Mrs. Romano nodded. “Of course. You can ask me anything you want. This adopt-a-grandmother thing goes both ways. You give to me and I give back.”

Madison began to babble even more—about her parents this time.

“So mom and dad got divorced and this Christmas they’re acting so angry about everything. They both want me to spend the holidays with them as usual, but of course I can’t be in two places at once. What am I supposed to do if they’re fighting a lot? I know you don’t know them or anything, but they always seem to put me right in the middle of their problems and you seem to know so much—”

Mrs. Romano held up her hand. “Hold it right there,” she said. “About your parents: here’s what I think. Sometimes when people love you so much they get all worked up about it. They both want you to be with them. That’s understandable.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Madison asked.

“Tell them how you feel. Be yourself,” Mrs. Romano said.

“That’s it?” Madison asked.

“Being in the middle is great if you’re in a hug,” Mrs. Romano said. “Otherwise it’s for the birds.”

They both laughed and looked over at the wall with all the bird pictures.

Later that night back at home, Madison hooked up her laptop in the kitchen. That way, she could type
and
keep Mom company while Mom made dinner.

Of course, Madison ended up writing in her files way more than chopping vegetables.

The Estates


On the bus home from The Estates today, Ivy was acting all shmoozy again. I just don’t get it. She’s like a totally different person all of a sudden. Of course, she’s still the same old evil Poison Ivy at school.


Mrs. Romano is way cool. She told me that if Ivy is behaving like two different people then she’s probably just insecure. Could that be true? Ivy? Mrs. Romano also has an answer for everything. She even loaned me this very cool matched hat and scarf set that she knit a long time ago. It has an orange pom-pom on top—can you believe that? My favorite color in the world!


I am so glad that I volunteered at The Estates. It is nice to know that not everyone is acting bizarre around the holidays. Mrs. Romano may be the one who is supposedly sick but she’s making more sense to me these days than Mom or Dad or my BFFs.


“Maddie,” Mom asked. “Would you keep an eye on this boiling pot while I go make a quick phone call?”

Madison nodded and opened up her e-mailbox. She’d watch the pot out of the corner of her eye, but she had something more important to do first. She had someone she needed to say something to—right at that exact moment.

It couldn’t wait.

From: MadFinn


To: GoGramma


Subject: Guess what?


Date: Mon 10 Dec 5:53 PM


I love you. Thanks for being such a nice grandmother. I was thinking about you today a lot. I don’t tell you that enough.


Xoxxo


Maddie


After she hit
SEND
, she searched for Bigwheels online, but her keypal was nowhere to be found. But surprisingly, Madison did find Aimee and Fiona. They were in an online chat room together. Madison considered jumping into their chat, or even just observing them …