A Good Place for Maggie by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman

Author:Ofelia Dumas Lachtman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arte Público Press
Published: 2002-02-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

“You didn’t go, did you?” Sheila said Monday at lunch.

Maggie and Cat were sitting at a table with some of the seniors when Sheila spoke.

“Yes, I did,” Maggie answered.

“Really?” Sheila said, tossing her long golden hair over her shoulder. “That must’ve been a blast.”

Maggie thought of not answering, but she gave in to her better nature. “Actually,” she said, “I sort of enjoyed myself.”

“I guess you would,” Sheila said and changed the subject. She tilted her head toward the table farthest from them. “Why aren’t you two over there with your class planning our Last Year Party?”

“Because we’re not on the committee,” Cat said. “Nance is in charge. She’ll put us to work when the time comes. Trust me.”

Greg came in the door, waved to them, and walked over to sit at their table. He smiled at Maggie. “I see you made it through the inquisition.”

“If you mean yesterday’s inquisition,” Maggie said with a mischievous glance at Sheila, “it wasn’t bad. They were really pretty nice to me.”

“They must want something,” Greg said.

“From me?” Maggie wanted to say, I don’t think so; instead she said, “Well, maybe.” Now wasn’t the time to push things. Now was the time to cool it and see what happened.

Over the next two weeks Maggie’s days fell into a routine. At school she became used to having her subjects all taught in the same classroom by the same teacher. Mrs. Gilliam moved from civics to math to English composition with ease. Every now and then Mr. Wagner would wander in to sit on one of the rear seats to watch, then fall asleep.

There was a routine at home, too. In the afternoons, she studied while her grandfather worked. And then there was supper and a quiet evening with him and their books. It was during those long evenings that Maggie truly missed the telephone. Seeing the kids at school was fun, but there were always little things popping into her mind that she wished she could share with Cat. Sometimes, instead of reading, she wrote letters. To her mother. To Lorena and Mim. Later, when she thought of it, she realized that those letters were filled with descriptions of the mountains and the streams and of her new friends, nothing about the lack of new movies, a telephone, or TV.

She was glad that the kids from the Elk Meadow picnic (the “Change Campaign Group” she called them in her mind) were all still friendly. If they were going ahead with their plans, she heard nothing about it.

On Fridays she went to the movies. “Mary Poppins” and then “The Sound of Music.” Considering that this was the third time she had seen “The Sound of Music,” it held up pretty well. There was ice cream at The Pink Polly after the show and lots of talk about the Last Year Party. The seniors kept prodding the juniors for the theme, with no success. Maggie had begun to feel that she was a part of Twisted Creek.

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