Cousins by Virginia Hamilton

Author:Virginia Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
Published: 2010-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

6

IT WAS AN agonizing time before the doll-making was over. Cammy made her way through it, feeling awful inside. But before it was over, Elodie got what was coming to her, too. Patty Ann lost interest in her, or forgot that she was paying Cammy back for the other day, when Cammy was over there during the rainstorm. When Cammy said bad stuff to Patty Ann and ran away from Aunt Effie, too.

Patty Ann got back at Cammy and then she and Larry just up and left Elodie. And then, everybody at that table shied away from Ms. Eloise Odie.

Cammy watched it all. Larry and Patty Ann finished their dolls first. Then everybody else finished, except Elodie, who sat there looking like somebody had stolen her heart and then cut it up and ate it. Big eyes, all misty and sad. Cammy almost felt sorry for her, but not quite. Elodie turned around and looked over at Cammy. Cammy stared right back. She smirked. But then, she turned away.

Elodie did come back to Cammy’s table. Too late. They weren’t quite friends anymore but they would probably play together.

“Can I still come over after camp? Remember, you said I could,” Elodie had the guts to ask.

Kid, you’ve got a lot of nerve! Cammy should’ve said, but she didn’t. She was still too mad, and upset, she had to admit. “Should of thought about that before,” was what she managed to say without her voice trembling.

Elodie’s eyes brimmed with tears. Then the tears kind of sank back.

Cammy let her stew. Maybe she would let her come on over. Maybe she wouldn’t. Nothing said she had to tell just now, so she didn’t.

And then, things happened, one after the other, the way they always did at camp. Just regular like ABC. They finished their dolls. Each was given a sack to put each one in with the owner’s name on it. They were told to take them home to show the dolls to their parents. It was nice to have a doll for the table way on to Thanksgiving time. Cammy smelled the air, to see if she could smell cold Thanksgiving coming. She couldn’t. It was still late August. Still hot and steamy.

They went for their nature walk. Ms. Devine always went with them. She was the last one, because she was so big and slow. Sometimes, the helper, Tim, who had been in college but quit, came a little later.

“Let’s go down!” kids shouted. “Yeah! Yeah! Let’s do!”

“Too far, you won’t feel like swimming after,” said Ms. Devine.

“No it’s not! We need a good walk. We need to skip rocks! Ooh, yeah!”

“She just doesn’t feel like moving herself down that far,” Cammy murmured to no one in particular.

Elodie was right there, grinning in her face.

“Step aside, kid,” Cammy said. She didn’t care if she did hurt Elodie’s feelings. This was her walk. She could pretend she was by herself, if only Ms. Devine would let them go down.

“I will let you if you listen to me good,” Ms.

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