How Tía Lola Saved the Summer (14 page)

After a morning of swimming in Lake Champlain, they are starved. They find a picnic table and sit down, four on each side, Mami and Víctor together.

Victoria scoots in beside Mami so she can check on the you-know-what. But Mami’s hands are so busy unpacking the picnic, opening containers, unwrapping sandwiches, Victoria is going to get a cramp in her neck trying to catch them at rest. Finally, Mami lays her left hand down on her napkin. She’s wearing the mood ring on her
wedding-ring finger
! If that isn’t significant, Victoria doesn’t know what is.

“What color is it? What color is it???” Essie keeps mouthing from across the table.

Victoria is glancing all around for something the same color as the mood stone. Finally, she spots the green dish towel that was covering one of the picnic baskets. Very pointedly, she pats her mouth with it, until everyone is giggling.

Mami follows the gigglers’ gaze. Victoria is suddenly aware that Mami’s eyes are on her. Quickly, to disguise her signal, she wipes her whole face with the green dish towel. The gigglers explode into laughter.

By now, Mami is totally suspicious. “What is going on here?” she asks the whole table, but really she is looking at Víctor.

“Don’t look at me.” Víctor shrugs, laughing. He is as clueless as she is. But he’s also very pleased to see that the kids are having such a good time together, something he hopes Linda is noticing.

“We’re just really, really, really happy,” Juanita says with emphasis. “Right, Miguel?”

As usual, his sister is going to blow everyone’s cover with her heavy-handedness. But Mami especially is hanging on his next word, so Miguel has to agree that he’s really, really, really happy, too. “I’m off the charts,” he says smartly.

The girls roar with laughter, drowning out Valentino’s barking.

They drive back through town to drop off Tía Lola and Juanita and the younger Swords at Colonel Charlebois’. They’ll be riding their bikes home after another tea-and-cookies-and-stories visit.

What a shock when they stop in front of his house! A sign on the front lawn reads
FOR RENT
. Mami and Tía Lola clamber out of the van as soon as it stops moving. Has something happened to the colonel? Why else would his house be for rent? They press the buzzer over and over.

“What in tarnation?!” The colonel has swung open his door to find a mob of children, adults, and one barking dog, alarmed by the rental sign. “Of course I’m not going anywhere,” he informs them. “I just got to thinking yesterday, after such fine company, that I don’t want to be in
this big old house by myself anymore. So I’m looking for a family to move in with me.”

You could knock Essie over with a feather. “We’ll take it,” she wants to call out like someone at an auction, nervous to be outbid. She glances over at Papa with eyes that would rival Valentino’s when he is in high begging mode at the dinner table.

Papa winks at her. “How many bedrooms do you have?” he asks Colonel Charlebois.

“How many do you need?” the old man comes right back at him.

Essie knows. She counted them yesterday. Besides the colonel’s bedroom on the first floor, there are three more on the second floor and a bunch of little ones up in the attic. They could move into this house and each have a bedroom, even Valentino.

Mami listens quietly as Colonel Charlebois goes over all the details of the house. When it’s time to leave, Víctor and Miguel walk back to the van, followed by Mami, who slips her arm affectionately around Victoria’s waist. And in that moment, Juanita sees very clearly, the stone on the mood ring glows a really, really, really happy blue.

By the time the bikers arrive home, the car with New York plates is sitting in the driveway. Abuelito and Abuelita and Carmen are drinking lemonade on the back deck with Mami. Papi has already gone out to the back field to watch the tail end of the team’s practice.

Juanita races into her grandparents’ arms, exchanging
besitos
and
abrazos
, big kissy hugs. “We’ve been having camp all week,” she begins. She’s about to launch into a full report, but suddenly she remembers her manners. The two younger Swords have to be introduced to her grandparents. Carmen, of course, already knows the girls. She works with their father and is a family friend. In fact, the Swords call her Tía Carmen, even though she isn’t technically their aunt.

The three girls all start talking at once about the exciting adventures of Tía Lola’s summer camp. The visitors keep shaking their heads in disbelief. Could so much fun be packed into a single week?

When they’re done with their summer camp report, Carmen notes, “Sounds like you girls are really loving Vermont.” Cari and Essie nod vigorously.

“We really, really, really love Vermont,” Cari elaborates. “We might even move here—if the ring turns violet, that means she loves Papa.” Cari points to Mami.

Mami’s face is a mixture of surprise and embarrassment. “So that’s what’s been going on! No wonder you kids keep staring at my ring like it’s a crystal ball!” Now it’s her turn to stare. Glancing down at her hand, Mami smiles at what she finds there.

After dinner, the girls retreat to Juanita’s room to work on their posters for tomorrow’s game. They can’t be real cheerleaders, but they can hold up signs cheering on Charlie’s Boys.

Miguel is on his way upstairs to get all his gear ready for early tomorrow morning. At eight sharp, Charlie’s Boys will assemble at the town’s baseball field, where the game will be held. Juanita’s door opens. Essie peeks out and frantically gestures for Miguel to come in while the coast is clear.

“Cari blew it!” Essie tells him. She has already told Victoria. All their efforts have come to nothing.

“I didn’t mean to.” Cari is close to tears. Sometimes she just forgets something is a secret, and she’ll tell because she loves to share.

“Maybe it’s just as well,” Victoria says, in part to make her little sister feel better. “Besides, I just finished helping your
mami
clear the dishes, and she’s still wearing the ring. So even if she knows we’re watching, she hasn’t taken it off.”

“Did you see what color it was?” Juanita asks. She has already reported that the stone turned blue over at Colonel Charlebois’ house. From green (calm) to blue (happy) is progress.

“It was still blue,” Victoria has to admit. “But like a really weird blue, the way the sky looks when there’s going to be a rainbow.” Rainbows are on her mind. For her poster, Victoria has drawn a huge one arcing over a field with a baseball flying way up above the scene. The poster reads
HEY, CHARLIE
’
S BOYS, HIT THEM OVER THE RAINBOW!

“That is so cool,” Essie says, momentarily distracted by one sister’s masterpiece from the tragedy brought on by another sister’s blabbing. “Mine is so blah.” There it is again, the glass half full. Poor, pessimistic Essie. Growing up is not going to change her.

“I
love
your poster,” Juanita protests. “It is
not
blah at
all!” In fact, Essie’s poster is the opposite of blah; it’s downright bloody.
KILL THE PANTHERS!
it reads in big, bloody letters dripping into a sea of red. Essie will probably not be allowed to hold it up at the game. The coaches always give a little speech about good sportsmanship. Odd that Juanita should love Essie’s gory poster, as hers is what Miguel would call lovey-dovey. A big, bold
WE
is printed at the top;
CHARLIE
’
S BOYS
, at the bottom. In the middle, Juanita has drawn a big red heart. All around the borders, Cari has been coloring little red hearts, as Juanita invited her to do a poster together.

There’s a knock at the door that makes them all jump. Essie tiptoes over and cautiously cracks it open. “Oh, Tía Lola!” she cries in relief, letting her in.

Tía Lola has the look of someone with a secret to tell. “I come to report.” Tía Lola holds out her right hand. Sitting in the center of her palm is Juanita’s mood ring. “She took it off.”

“But why?” Essie’s voice is almost a wail.

“She said she already knows how she feels. She doesn’t need a ring to tell her.”

Miguel could say “I told you so.” But right now, like the Swords, like his sister, all he wants to know is, what
is
Mami feeling?

“So????” Essie is already bracing herself for the worst.

Tía Lola shakes her head. “She wouldn’t say how she feels.”

The girls all groan. Even Miguel feels frustrated. Although he wasn’t sold on the ring plan, he has gotten caught up in the girls’ enthusiasm.

Just then there’s another surprise knock on the door. The room goes absolutely still. “I know you’re in there,” Mami calls. “May I?” she asks, pushing open the door. In her hand is her sword, like she’s come upstairs to cut off their heads for making so much noise.

“We were just, um, just finishing our posters, um,” Victoria stammers, blinking furiously. She may as well take one of those markers and write
LIAR
across her forehead.

But Mami is too bent on her mission to notice. “Could I borrow the red marker, if you’re finished?” she says, holding out her sword.

Victoria is relieved that’s all Linda has come for. “Sure,” she says, handing it over.

Essie, of course, is too curious to leave it at that. “What do you want it for?”

“To paint something on my sword.”

“Like what?” Oh, Essie, give it up.

“Just some gore,” Mami says happily. And then, seeing that they are all baffled, she adds, “You know, blood and gore like when you kill a monster.” Mami waves her sword in the air. Then, just as mysteriously as she appeared, she disappears out the door.

Everyone is in bed early tonight. The newly arrived guests are exhausted after their long ride. Tomorrow will be a long and exciting day, especially for Miguel.

Perhaps that’s why Mami comes upstairs to his room tonight. Miguel doesn’t need tucking in, he’s too old for
that. But she has something special to tell him. “Whatever happens,
mi’jo
, my son, I want you to know I am so proud of you. You were such a good sport about the injury, so generous with Essie. And according to Víctor, you’ve come back playing better than ever. You’re already a winner.”