Tallahassee Higgins by Mary Downing Hahn

Author:Mary Downing Hahn [Hahn, Mary Downing]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Social Issues, Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Values & Virtues, General, Family, Parents, Emotions & Feelings, Mothers and Daughters
ISBN: 9780618752461
Google: 6VZwWIMHKnwC
Amazon: 0618752463
Publisher: Sandpiper
Published: 1987-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

WHEN JANE AND I were nearly home, she asked me if I wanted to eat dinner at her house. "Maybe your aunt would let you stay overnight," she said. "We could stay up late and watch Creature Feature on TV. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Would it be okay with your mom? I'm not exactly her favorite person, you know."

"You wait here, and I'll go ask her." Jane left me sitting on the deck's top step and ran inside.

Since it was a warm day, the sliding glass doors were open, and I could hear every word Jane said.

I could also hear Mrs. DeFlores. "No," she said.

"Why not?" Jane asked. "You're making spaghetti, so there's plenty of food."

"I said no."

"But I told her she could stay overnight and watch Creature Feature and everything!" Jane's voice rose a little.

"Do you know what 'no' means?" Mrs. DeFlores's voice was rising, too, and I hoped Jane would give up and come back outside. If she continued to argue with her mother, she'd end up grounded for the rest of the weekend.

"But you let Judy Atwood stay overnight!"

"That was different."

"What was different about it?"

"Judy Atwood is a nice girl."

If I'd had any sense, I'd have gotten up then and sneaked back to Uncle Dan's. But no, I had to sit there and listen to everything else Mrs. DeFlores had to say.

"Tallahassee Higgins has been a bad influence on you since the day she came here. She's as common as dirt and a liar and a troublemaker. I don't want her in my house!"

"Shut up!" Jane cried frantically. "She's sitting right outside!"

I heard a sharp crack and I winced, knowing Mrs. DeFlores had just whopped Jane.

"I don't care if she does hear me!" Mrs. DeFlores yelled. "Don't you ever tell me to shut up again!"

I glanced at the door, thinking I heard Jane coming, but Mrs. DeFlores stopped her. "You go up to your room right now, young lady, and don't you come down till I call you. And you can forget about Sunday. You'll stay here and help me clean house all day."

Afraid that Mrs. DeFlores was going to come outside and start yelling at me next, I jumped off the deck and ran through the hedge. "Bye-bye, Leopard Girl!" I heard Matthew yell from the house.

***

At the dinner table that night I could hardly eat anything. Just before we sat down, I'd tried to call Jane, but her mother hadn't let me talk to her. "Jane can't come to the phone," she said. "She's being punished." Then she hung up. Just like that.

As I sat there poking my mashed potatoes, Uncle Dan asked if I was feeling all right.

"I'm not hungry," I said.

"Eat your dinner before it gets cold," Aunt Thelma said at once.

I shook my head and stared at the napkin in my lap. I could hear Uncle Dan chewing, and the clock ticking, and Fritzi clicking around in the kitchen. "I don't want anything." I pushed my plate away.

"Maybe you should just go on up to bed then," Aunt Thelma said.

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