The Model President by Brian Tacang

Author:Brian Tacang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Twelve

Millicent pulled into her driveway with the din of the student assembly still ringing in her ears. She’d run out of the auditorium, not wanting to look back, not caring whether she missed the remaining afternoon of school, and not even caring if she got into trouble for cutting. Now her foremost thought was simply to get into the house. From there, she’d decide what to do.

Aunt Felicity was kneeling in the flower bed near the porch, pulling weeds. Tiptoeing up to the front door, Millicent paused to see whether Aunt Felicity had seen her. She had.

“You’re home early,” Aunt Felicity said. She stood, took off her muddy gloves, and walked over to Millicent. She placed her hands on Millicent’s shoulders first, clasping them as if they were as fragile as porcelain eggs. “I hear that sometimes occurs,” she added.

“What does?” Millicent asked.

“You coming home early,” Aunt Felicity said, giving Millicent a hug.

“Rarely,” Millicent answered. She hugged Aunt Felicity back lightly. Millicent took in the smell of freshly tilled soil on her. Uncle Phineas hadn’t done much gardening over the years.

“It happens when you have a bad day, according to your uncle,” Aunt Felicity said. “Not a good enough reason to run away, if you ask me. You’re lucky you’re smart, though. You can afford to miss a few hours of school.”

“I’m not running away from anything,” Millicent lied. She felt the sides of her face get warm. She hoped Aunt Felicity hadn’t detected her red cheeks.

Aunt Felicity turned back around and put her trowel and clippers into her toolbox. “This anything you’re not running away from wouldn’t happen to be a Pretty Liddy, would it? What was her name, again? Fiona?” Millicent didn’t answer. “Pretty Liddy herself almost made me run away from the circus.” She turned toward Millicent. “And you thought people only ran away to join the circus.”

Millicent sat down on a front porch step, suspecting she’d be there for a while.

Aunt Felicity joined her, asking, “You sensed a story coming, didn’t you?”

Millicent nodded.

“You were right. But I’ll make it short because I think you have a more important story to tell me,” Aunt Felicity said. “I consider myself to be a strong-willed person,” she continued.

Millicent couldn’t argue that. Compared to easygoing Uncle Phineas, Aunt Felicity seemed downright feisty sometimes.

As if she’d read Millicent’s mind, Aunt Felicity added, “I’ve even been called feisty—can you imagine?”

Millicent shook her head.

“But many years ago,” Aunt Felicity said, “during a run the Sprightly Sisters All-Women Circus had in a town up north called Dairytown—known less for its butter than the fact that its residents taught their cows how to press the crosswalk buttons—Pretty Liddy had me over a barrel. Or, more precisely, in a barrel.”

“In?” Millicent questioned.

“You may be aware that Dairytown is very close to Tumultuous Falls.”

“Ooooohhh, yeah,” Millicent moaned. “Seven hundred feet tall.” She knew that a story that had a barrel and a waterfall and a woman named Pretty Liddy in it couldn’t end happily.

“As I said the other day, Pretty Liddy was jealous of the performers she thought attractive.

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