Chapter 5-3
1020 Words
Penny left Sullivan’s an hour later with two new books under her arm; a compilation of classic ghost stories for her and a fantasy story for the girl in the park. The lone girl in the park was as good a place as any to start trying to make new friends. They had one thing in common at least.
“Give this to her,” Susan said, shoving the book into Penny’s hands, “tell her it’s from you and Susan at Sullivan’s.”
Penny walked down to the end of the short block, pausing at the crosswalk for several seconds before stepping into the street. She wasn’t accustomed to light traffic and had to convince herself that traffic wouldn’t materialize the second she stepped into the road.
She crossed at a run and made it to the other side unscathed. A look back over her shoulder showed empty blacktop in both directions, with a handful of cars and trucks parked along the main street. Somewhere, distantly, she could hear the sound of running cars, but the sound of shouting and laughing children in the park drowned it out a moment later.
She scanned up and down the street, checked the distant park and school playground carefully, but couldn’t see the fox anywhere.
“Probably imagined the whole thing,” she said to herself, and set off toward the park. But when she arrived, the girl was gone. A small bag lay beneath the tree, but the girl and her book were gone.
A shout from the group of kids farther along made her look up, and Penny saw the girl standing in the middle of the group of boys she’d seen playing baseball. They had abandoned their game in favor of another sport.
Most of them stood in a rough circle, watching and laughing, while three of them threw her book into the air to each other, making her run for it, jump for it, but throwing it before she could get it back.
“Give it back!” She lunged for it as a boy Penny recognized held it aloft, jumping when her fingers brushed the spine, and throwing it to one of his pals.
Penny dropped her books next to the girl’s bag and ran toward them.
The boys didn’t see her coming until she was a few feet away. A few of them pointed and laughed.
“Who invited the leprechaun?” A tall, skinny boy leaning on his baseball bat like a cane smirked at her. She kicked the bat out from under his hand as she passed, making him stumble.
Rooster turned and saw her, his eyes going wide a second before the book sailed his way again, whacking him on the back of the head.
“Ouch!” Rooster shouted and turned to see who had thrown the book.
Penny reached up and grabbed him by the ear, giving it a twist and bringing him to his knees.
“Leave her alone,” Penny said, giving his ear another twist when he tried to rise.
“Ouch! Let go,” Rooster shouted, flailing, grasping at her long red hair.
“No you don’t!” The girl, almost a foot taller than Penny, with long dark hair and deeply tanned skin, grabbed Rooster’s arm and forced his fingers open, releasing Penny’s hair. She twisted his arm behind him and sat on his back, forcing his face into the grass.
One of Rooster’s friends stepped forward and Penny scooped up the bat, holding it in her hands casually and grinning. The boy stopped and gave her a wary look.
Most of the others simply stood around, looking amazed and amused at the turn of events.
Still holding the bat, Penny bent down and picked up the book.
“Let me up,” Rooster said, his voice muffled by the grass.
“I think you should apologize first,” the girl said, and gave his arm a twist. “It’s not nice to pull a girl’s hair.”
“Sorry,” Rooster shouted. “Oowee!”
Smirking, the girl let him go and stood next to Penny. “Thanks,” she said as Penny handed the book over.
“No problem,” Penny said, still keeping her eyes on the boys around them.
“So,” said one of the boys, kneeling down to help Rooster up. “This must be Susan’s orphan.”
“Yeah, so what if I am?” Penny glared at him.
The boy gave her a cold look and jerked Rooster to his feet by his armpit. “You better watch yourself, new girl. Both of you.”
“Or what?” Penny and the other girl said in unison.
He only smiled at them.
“Come on, little bro,” he said to Rooster, and led him back to their makeshift baseball diamond.
Penny threw the bat down and followed the girl back to her tree.
“Thanks. I’m Zoe.”
“Penny,” Penny said, catching up to her.
Already Dogwood was turning out to be more exciting than she had expected.
Penny arrived at the big tree just behind Zoe, who bent to pick up her bag, eyeing the new books in the grass. Penny picked them up and handed one to her.
“From Susan … at the bookstore.”
Zoe regarded the offered book for a moment before taking it. “What’s this for?”
“Susan thought you’d like it,” Penny said—because It’s a bribe to make you be my friend, while more accurate perhaps, was too embarrassing to admit out loud.
“Oh … thanks,” Zoe said awkwardly. She tucked it under her arm with the other book and glanced around, as if searching for an escape. “Listen, I gotta get home before my grandma has a fit.”
Zoe dashed across the street without looking, pausing briefly on the center line to regard Penny again. “Tell Susan I said thanks.”
Then she was off again, sprinting down the sidewalk.
Penny stood alone at the edge of the park and watched Zoe disappear around the corner of the block, wondering if she’d done something to offend her.
A new silence in the park made her look around, and she saw Rooster and his older brother watching her.
Time to go back inside.
Penny spent the rest of the afternoon in Susan’s shop reading, and went home that evening feeling a little disappointed. For the few minutes they were together, giving Rooster a taste of his own medicine, it was like having a friend again, something she’d not had since leaving her apartment in the city behind.
She didn’t see the fox at all that evening.
- Writer
