The Summer I Saved the World ... in 65 Days (23 page)

“I
knew it!” Mrs. Millman says as the IPIT truck pulls away. “I have a sixth sense. People have always told me that.”

Beanie barks, as if she agrees.

Jorie's dad is shaking his head. He looks like he's going to say something, but Mrs. Chung starts singing in Korean. Beautiful words in a high, clear voice. Everyone's quiet. Even Beanie.

Then she sings two lines in English: “Just as there are many stars in the clear sky … there are also many dreams in our heart.”

She stops. “I used to sing this to my children. And my father sang it to me.”

“That was lovely,” Jorie's mom says.

“I can sing too!” Thomas says.

Everyone laughs, and Mrs. Millman sighs happily. “The neighborhood is back to normal at last.”

Mr. Millman dashes outside. “It's a girl!” he shouts.

“Oh my God.” Mrs. Millman jumps from her chair. “Heaven help her, with three older brothers!”

“What's her name?” Jorie's mom asks.

Mr. Millman is beaming. “Julia. Julia Rose Cantaloni. They think she's eight pounds, maybe more!”

“Big baby!” Mrs. Chung says.

“You were eight pounds, two ounces,” Mom says to me.

“I was?”

“Uh-huh.”

Then Julia Rose and I have something in common. I like her already.

“You have a baby sister,” Jorie's mom calls to the Cantaloni boys, who have continued to play this whole time. “How do you like that?”

“She better learn how to play baseball,” Jack says.

“She could pitch,” Jeremy suggests.

“I'm the pitcher,” Jordan says, and stamps his foot.

“Let her learn to walk first,” Mrs. Millman says.

“And baby and Mom are both doing fine,” Mr. Millman reports. He turns to the house. “They're taking them to the hospital. Come quick!”

Mrs. C. is being wheeled out on a stretcher, Mr. C. walking by her side. Mrs. Bennett is carrying the baby in a blanket. Everyone else walks over. Julia has a head full of dark hair, like her brothers, and her eyes are squeezed shut. She's the smallest person I've ever seen. The boys fall over each other, running to see their new sister.

Mrs. Bennett hands the baby to one of the paramedics.

“Guys,” Mrs. Cantaloni says to her boys. “You're staying the night at Thomas's house. Dad will see you in the morning, okay? I hear Thomas has a few extra swords.”

They jump and scream, “Hooray!”

Mrs. Chung is standing next to me. “Nothing in the world like a new baby,” she whispers. “Makes everything possible again.”

The neighbors drift back to their chairs as the ambulance, fire truck, police car, and Mr. Cantaloni pull away. The Com Ed truck is still here, working on getting the power restored. I kind of like it this way, though. Quiet, dark, the cul-de-sac lit only by the glow from flashlights.

Mom's eyes are red. “I remember when you and
Matt were born like it was yesterday.” She sniffles. “Oh, what's the matter with me?”

Dad hands her a tissue. “I told my brother we're taking him up on his offer to use their cabin. A vacation! No arguments.”

Mom nods. “Okay.”

She and I sit back down on the love seat.

She pulls something from her pocket. “I found it.”

“What?”

“The recipe.”

“The carrot ring? Really? Where was it?”

“Scribbled on the back of another recipe.” She hands it to me, and I look it over.

“I'll never be able to make it like she did.”

Mom puts her arm around me and gives me a little squeeze. I don't know if that qualifies as an actual hug, but I'll take it.

“Maybe not,” she says, “but you'll make it your way.”

If that's not a Simple Truth, I don't know what is.

Mom can be hard to love. But that doesn't mean I don't.

I'm sure that's how Grandma felt too.

“I love you,” I say.

She sniffles and smiles and sighs and says, “I love you too, Nina.”

Sixty-four.

I
am wearing shoes. Beautiful strappy, silvery shoes with the highest heel I've ever worn. So high, I'm not sure I can walk that well.

And the blue dress, which was miraculously still in the store when Mom took me to the mall. So it was meant for me.

Sariah was there buying a dress too. A really pretty dark green. She said, “Frog green.” We cracked up, but the salesgirl didn't think it was funny. Sariah's going with a group of girls and we'll be at the same after-party. I can't wait to see how she looks.

Jorie took my advice. She looks amazing in the red dress. Like she's about twenty. Hair piled up in curls, French manicure and pedicure, spray tan.

Mom has told me a hundred times that I look beautiful, but I kind of knew that.

Almost everyone is outside. Same eight houses. Brown, white, tan. But nothing is the same.

Mrs. Chung has turned on her Christmas lights so her trees sparkle in the September sunset. Tonight, the neighborhood looks like something out of a fairy tale. If it wasn't already.

The air is cool, and summer is almost gone. Mrs. Cantaloni holds Julia in a blanket, and I'm glad to see that Mrs. C.'s stomach is returning to normal. The Millmans are there, with a healthy-looking Beanie by their side. Mr. D. sent me a note that he was sorry to miss everything, but he put a couple of the delicate, sky-blue forget-me-nots in a pot and left it on our doorstep. So a part of Grandma is right outside my door.

And Eli. In a suit and light blue tie. Wow.

He grins and says, “Nice shoes, Neen.”

I laugh and take his hand.

“Nice everything,” he says.

Mrs. Chung brings each of us a marigold. “It's a flower of love,” she says.

Mrs. Bennett and Mom make us pose for a hundred
pictures; Mom is texting some to Matt. He left a few weeks ago, promising me he won't break into anything at college. And he said he'd miss me and I'd better visit. He said we'll play poker but he won't let me win so fast.

Grady and Jorie are taking pictures in her driveway. He's wearing red Converse shoes with his suit. They look cute together. They fit.

I suddenly think,
Sixty-five! I forgot to do the sixty-fifth good thing
.

But then I look around, and realize sixty-five is right in front of me. It's everything.

I hold out my arms and spin around, our circle of houses blurring, my dress floating. Grandma's wedding band is snug and secure on my finger. There isn't a vanishing point in a circle. At least that I can see.

Mr. Millman points to the Dixons'. “Someone bought the house!” A sticker on the For Sale sign says
SOLD
!

“Oh, boy,” Mrs. Millman says. “We'll keep an eye on that place, won't we, Beanie?”

Beanie barks. Mrs. Chung nods and says, “Me too. I'll bring lunch.”

Everyone laughs.

Without a doubt, this is number sixty-five.

Thomas is at my side. He got a buzz cut for kindergarten and he looks so much older that I catch my
breath. But I'm happy to see the sword tucked into his shorts.

“Mystery Girl!” he shouts. “You look so pretty!”

I lean down. “Shhh! You're not supposed to tell anyone.”

“Aw. Everyone knows.”

Eli and I get into the back of his mom's car, and I put the marigolds on the seat between us.

Because that's how everything started.

“Ready?” he asks.

I am.

(Hid from Sariah in store. Go back ten spaces.… )

If I did it, anyone can.

I started this story with a question: does doing good really do any good? Random acts of kindness are everywhere, but I wondered, do they really have an effect on people? Can small acts of goodness change our world? I also worried that the dizzying variety of electronic communication available at our fingertips was actually making families and neighborhoods more disconnected than connected. Out of these thoughts grew
The Summer I Saved the World
.

My enormous gratitude to Wendy Lamb, who urged me to go deeper and brought out the best in me and this story. In the early versions, I think she knew more about the story than I did! To Dana Carey, for her many reads and spot-on advice, and to Samantha Rodan for sharing her enormously helpful comments. To Heather Daugherty for her amazingly gorgeous cover design and Bara MacNeill for her meticulous copy editing. And to Alyssa Eisner Henkin, agent extraordinaire, who loved this book from the very start and saw its potential. I would happily do sixty-five good things (and more) for all of you!