Rare Birds by Kathleen Novak

Author:Kathleen Novak
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781579625351
Publisher: The Permanent Press
Published: 2017-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

v.

When Claus arrived, Betty did not want to look like she was just sitting around waiting for him. She also did not want to be in the middle of some big project like baking cookies or cleaning out the refrigerator. She didn’t like him to see her mending, because it was so menial, and she certainly wasn’t about to clean and get herself all dusty. Most of the time she had no idea when he’d show up and so had to proceed looking as nice as she could, while still getting her work done. This time she planned to ask him about spending more time with her, like the McCall’s article had encouraged, and that made her feel extra alert and on edge.

She’d almost forgotten that he’d said only that he would try, that he’d see what he could do. She’d busied that whole response out of her mind as she made Elise an elaborate dinner the night before and played with her and planned what she might wear today. By the time she woke up that morning, she’d blocked out any notion that Claus wouldn’t come to see her. She kept vigil while pretending she was not. She changed her shirt from the crisp white sleeveless cotton that seemed right when she first woke up to a black knit with short sleeves that she didn’t usually wear in summer, especially not on a Sunday. But the mirror affirmed her choice. The black deepened her coloring, so that her hair and eyes seemed to shine more.

Betty finally decided to make her own greeting cards. She found two bundles of old cards in her stocking drawer, which she set on the table with scissors, glue, and the colored construction paper she kept around for Elise. She cut out images that she liked from the old cards and placed them artistically on the colored papers to create new cards. This turned out to be so much more fun than she’d expected, that she was able to lose several hours. While she worked, she played a Peggy Lee album and drank three cups of coffee, forgetting to check on Elise or to panic that Claus had not yet arrived.

Midafternoon she rinsed her coffee cup, touched up her lipstick, and stretched out on her bed for a short rest, still believing that Claus would come. She’d never asked him before, and she had so much on her mind to tell him, about poor Gertrude and the rough boys and Elise’s new friends and to coax him, too, to come more frequently and stay longer and maybe do a puzzle or listen to Peggy Lee or even Pat Boone, whatever he liked.

She needed him now. Elise was already in school and busy and the rest of life stared back at Betty with hard eyes these days. She needed Claus, and so she was certain that he would do the things she asked, as though her need could conjure action and there he’d be at her

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