Coming Up Roses by Catherine R. Daly

Author:Catherine R. Daly [Daly, Catherine R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-545-38821-4
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

As soon as we got home, I sent Rose up to the attic to get the dress form. The rest of us gathered the other supplies. After I located Mom’s dress shears in the cutlery drawer (don’t ask), I went upstairs to see if Rose needed help.

“Rose?” I called into the shadowy attic.

“Over here,” she said. I found her sitting on the floor. She looked up, a smudge of dust on her cheek. She was sifting through a box marked ROSE’S PLAY PROGRAMS. “Remember when I was Annie?” she said wistfully. She started to sing. “The sun will come out …”

“I remember,” I said, cutting her off. Rose had adored being the little redheaded orphan and had remained in character throughout the whole production. There had been far too many “gee whiskers!” and “leapin’ lizards” for my taste. Plus, she had insisted on calling our dog, Buster, “Sandy,” which totally confused him.

But Rose looked so sad I couldn’t say anything to her about wasting time. So I tried distraction. I saw a weird headband that kind of looked like Martian antennae with sparkly red hearts on top and put it on to make her smile. Then I helped her put the scrapbooks away and finally, behind a large, wire birdcage in a dark corner, we located the dress form. It loomed in the darkness, ghostly white and headless.

“Kind of spooky,” said Rose.

As we left the house, Poppy held the sewing basket on her arm like she was Little Red Riding Hood, off to visit her sick grandmother. Aster was carrying the dress and a bag of chocolate-chip cookies we had found in the kitchen. Rose and I carried the dress form — she held the base and I had my arms wrapped around the shoulders. We were quite an odd sight.

We giggled self-consciously as we made our way to the store. We got a lot of curious looks and one woman even slowed down her car and pointed us out to her kid in a car seat in the back. Finally, we reached Fairfield Street.

“Oops. We forgot one thing!” I said, backtracking half a block to Nellie’s Notions on Pine Street.

I sent Aster and Poppy inside for the big sewing needles and a couple of spools of the waxed thread that Mom had requested. Rose and I stood outside with the dress form, feeling slightly ridiculous. As a joke, I threw my arm around the form’s shoulders.

“Well, isn’t this a cute picture,” said a voice.

I groaned.

Ashley Edwards always seemed to show up at the most embarrassing times. It was a special gift she had.

She stood on the sidewalk in front of us with her two matching best friends.

“Del, this must be your new friend,” Ashley said snarkily, pointing to the headless form.

To my surprise, Rose laughed. I gave her a dirty look.

“Hello,” I said. I decided to be polite. “This is my sister Rose.”

“Oh, I know Rose,” said Ashley, waving her hand. “I see her at school all the time.

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