Penelope Crumb Is Mad at the Moon by Shawn Stout

Author:Shawn Stout
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

So I give him one back that says There Can Be, If We Try.

12.

Littie Maple is at my door with her hands full. I tell her to come on in and then I say, “Did you find some?”

She spreads out the papers on our coffee table. “Of course. You can find anything on the Internet. Even instructions on square dancing. I also found a list of calls,” she says. “Calls are the dance steps that you’re supposed to do.”

I tell her I know what calls are, thanks.

“Now, I figure I’ll be the Caller,” says Littie. “We just need to get you a partner.”

I look at the clock on the wall. “He’s supposed to be here by now.” I gave Hugo Gordon my address after the Window Incident and he didn’t actually say he would come, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t, either.

“Until he does, how about I do some calling and you do some dancing,” says Littie. “Stand in your square.”

I tell her okay and then face the front door.

Littie reads from one of the printouts: “It says, ‘Bow to your partner.’” She looks at me and the empty space beside me and says, “Well, we can probably just skip that part.” She goes on. “Heads forward and back.”

“Am I a head?” I say.

“I don’t know,” says Littie. “Are you?”

“Mr. Sanders didn’t say anything about being a head.”

Littie says, “Do you want to be a head?”

I shrug.

Littie says, “You could be a side. If you’re not a head. Apparently you can be a head or a side. If I were you, I would be a head. I’m just saying.”

“Do you have to do more dancing when you’re a head? Because maybe a side would be better for me.”

Littie looks at the paper. “It doesn’t say anywhere here that the heads have to do more dancing.”

“I bet they do. Because you know how when you go to a restaurant and there is the main meal and then the sides?” I say. “You know, like mashed potatoes or applesauce. Sides.”

Littie says, “I know what sides are, Penelope.”

“Macaroni can be a side, too. But it can also be the main meal that you order. It can be both,” I say. “Except for macaroni, sides aren’t as important as the other food on the menu. They just aren’t.”

“And is that a good thing?” asks Littie.

“Only if they don’t have to dance as much.”

Littie Maple gives me a look that says I’m Lost.

So I tell her, “Okay, I’ve decided. I’ll be a head as long as I can be macaroni.”

She shakes her head at me I don’t know what for. “Okay, macaroni, go forward and back.”

I step into the center of the square with one big step and then go back.

Littie tells me that’s fine and then says, “Now do-si-do.”

I do. Sort of. And I have to say it’s a lot easier to do when there’s nobody to do-si-do around. But Littie says, “I don’t think that’s right. But it’s hard to say for sure without a partner.

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