Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

Author:Sharon Creech
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins

CHAPTER 28

MRS. TREPID

Mrs. Trepid was standing by her bedroom window, staring at two empty trash cans rolling against the curb. Clank, clank, clank. She wished someone would pick up those cans and stop that annoying noise. Clank, clank, clank.

A young woman walked past, her arms swinging loosely, oblivious to the clanking trash cans. Look at her, Mrs. Trepid thought, walking along without a care in the world. She wanted to throw something at the woman, to jolt her out of her little dream world.

Mrs. Trepid’s gaze shifted to the porch below. It was on that same porch that the twins had first appeared in a box. She’d even seen the woman who left them. From this very window where she stood now, Mrs. Trepid had spotted the woman, bundled in a tattered and faded green dress, bending over the box. The woman had leaned down so close to the box, and then she had rushed down the walk, her hands pressed to her face.

And then Morgan called up the stairs to say that it was babies in the box, two babies. Twins!

Mrs. Trepid talked her husband into ripping up the forms they were supposed to submit to the authorities, reporting the twins’ arrival. “Let’s not tell, yet,” she said. “Maybe these could be our babies.” The more she thought about that, the more she feared that the woman in the tattered green dress would return and claim them. When Mrs. Trepid was out walking the babies in the buggy, she was always watching, terrified that the woman would appear and snatch the twins away.

When people came to the Home to meet the other children, Mrs. Trepid tried to keep the twins hidden. Once, when a couple saw the twins and inquired about them, Mrs. Trepid said, “They’re already taken.”

Even as infants, Florida was the squirmy one, and Dallas the quieter, dreamier one. Mrs. Trepid was intrigued by the way they clung to each other, and the way they responded to each other’s gurgles, and the way they reached for each other when they were separated. Two babies who came into the world at the same time. Sometimes Mrs. Trepid felt a little jealous of them. They’ll always have each other. They’ll always have one person who understands them completely.

At first Mrs. Trepid didn’t want Morgan or Mr. Trepid to help care for the twins. She wanted to do it all herself. But she had so little patience, and always one of them needed attention, and she hated when they howled and squirmed. So much trouble every single day.

She started wishing the woman in the tattered green dress would come back and claim her twins. After one particularly trying day, Mrs. Trepid snared her husband. “File the forms!” she ordered. “Tell the authorities that these twin kids just arrived and are available!”

To her surprise, though, people were wary of taking on twins. “Twins?” they’d say. “Who would want to take two at once? Lovely idea, but no thanks.”

By the time the twins were toddlers, Mrs.

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