The next week flew by in a blur. Cornelia didn’t have community service that Sunday due to the holiday week. She had plenty of homework to do, so she didn’t mind. She was keeping busy. The Falcons had gone to Columbus without their cheerleaders because there wasn’t enough money in the school budget. Cornelia was glad she didn’t have to go. She couldn’t stand the idea of screaming one more cheer for the likes of David Wharton.
As it turned out, she wouldn’t have had to any way. David’s broken nose kept him off the field for the championship game. The Falcons won once again without their star quarterback. The Monday before Thanksgiving the school unveiled a new banner that declared the Falcons State Champions. It stayed there until break when it was moved to the gym. Cornelia would have felt a little bit happy about it all if Chad hadn’t been so miserable.
Chad felt terrible guilt over keeping David from playing the most important game of his high school career. The Falcons hadn’t won a state championship in a decade and Chad was certain that David probably missed some scholarship opportunities by missing the game. Cornelia didn’t have any sympathy for the pig. She thought it was exactly what he deserved. Chad tried to make her see how awful it all was, but she wouldn’t have any of that. They agreed to disagree.
Chad had a preliminary hearing where he pleaded ‘guilty’ despite Cornelia’s appeals for him to plead ‘not guilty’ or at least ‘no contest.’ Sentencing would take place the week after Thanksgiving. Cornelia was worried, but her father tried to reassure her that Chad’s family name would give him favor with the judge just as Cornelia’s name had helped her. She reminded her father that it hadn’t been her name, but the pleas of Mrs. Hakim that granted her favor with the judge and no such plea would be made by David Wharton.
Admeta and Cornelia were busy trying to convince their families to allow them to go to Mrs. Hakim’s on Thanksgiving. Admeta’s dad was fine with it since he had to work anyway, but one of her brothers overheard the conversation and tried to invite himself along with their other brothers. Admeta didn’t want Mrs. Hakim to know her brothers were in a gang and she was sure Mrs. Hakim would be able to tell right away. She was hoping her brothers would forget.
Veronica didn’t want to spend her first Thanksgiving after the divorce without her daughter. Cornelia tried to convince her that Mrs. Hakim had only invited the girls, but Veronica wasn’t buying it. She wanted to come and she wanted to bring Michelle too. Cornelia wasn’t ashamed of her mother’s new-found sexuality, but she didn’t exactly want to flaunt it either. It had already been ammunition for David and Rebekka and she didn’t want her mother hurt again.
Mrs. Hakim was going through her last week of chemo and asked the girls not to visit. The chemo was making her very sick and she didn’t think it would be polite to throw up in front of company. Admeta called her every few days to check in. Cornelia didn’t feel she had earned the right to call Mrs. Hakim to check on her, so she just kept up through updates from Admeta.
Writers on the Storm met for a short time the following Monday, but Cornelia and Admeta were having a hard time concentrating on their writing. For their favorite things, Admeta wrote about a bracelet her mother had given to her when she was very young before she went back to El Salvador. Cornelia was fascinated by Admeta’s story because Admeta rarely spoke about her mother.
Cornelia had finally decided to write about Daruma for her paper. She wanted to write about the barrette her grandmother had given her, but it was just too painful. So she told the story of the little monk who cut off his eye lids and the Turner twins laughed hysterically. She also wrote about how Chad had given it to her so she could make a wish, but she didn’t tell her classmates what she wished for, even though the twins tried to get her to.
“That’s for me to know,” she said. “Not you.”
The next assignment was to write about what they are thankful for. Both girls wanted to get a head start so they didn’t have to write over the vacation. When Cornelia asked Admeta about it on Tuesday she found out that they both had written about their families and friends. To each others’ astonishment they both mentioned the other in their papers too. They laughed about that.
“When the school year started, would you have ever thought we would be writing papers about each other?” Cornelia asked. Admeta just laughed.
“Are you going to Mrs. H.’s for Thanksgiving?” Admeta asked.
“Yeah, with my mom and Michelle. Can you let her know?”
“Sure.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going, but I might have to bring my brothers with me,” Admeta replied with dread in her voice.
“Would that be so bad?” Cornelia asked.
“Are you serious? Mrs. H. would know right away that they are gang members. I’d be embarrassed if she found out.”
“Oh,” Cornelia said. She didn’t know what else to say so she changed the subject.
“If your dad is a farmer, what does he do in the winter?”
“The farm he works for has a road-side stand that’s open from Easter to Thanksgiving. He is lucky because most of the workers get laid off in the winter, but since he’s been there longer, he sticks around to take care of the greenhouses during the cold months.”
“That’s lucky for him.”
“Yeah, for all of us. I can’t imagine if he didn’t work all winter. That would be awful.”
“I guess I’ll see you at Mrs. Hakim’s on Thursday,” Cornelia said and the two girls went home.
School was closed on Wednesday. Cornelia’s mother was at the Real Estate Center with Michelle studying for her tests. Apparently you have to pass some tests to get a Real Estate license. Cornelia didn’t dare sneak out in case Veronica stopped at home, so instead she spent the day on the phone trying to convince Chad to go to Mrs. Hakim’s for Thanksgiving.
“I’m trying CC, they said they’d let me know tonight.”
“Why are they torturing us like this?” Cornelia asked.
Chad laughed, “They aren’t trying to torture us, CC. They’re just afraid of what Mrs. Hakim might make as a vegetarian meal. Not everyone knows how to cook for vegans, especially if they aren’t one.”
“Can’t they just suck it up and eat turkey for one day?”
“No, CC, they can’t and neither can I. We wouldn’t be vegans if we ate meat. It kind of defeats the purpose, you know?”
“Are you making fun of me?” Cornelia asked with a faked angry voice.
“Come on, CC, you know when I’m kidding,” Chad said with a smile in his voice. He continued, “I have to go do some chores and you’d better not get caught on the phone or your mom won’t let you go tomorrow.”
“I know. I know,” Cornelia patronized Chad.
“I might see you tomorrow,” Chad said.
“You’d BETTER see me tomorrow,” Cornelia corrected and the two hung up their phones.
Cornelia spent the rest of the day doing her homework. She didn’t want to wait until the last minute on Sunday. Besides, she didn’t know what community service had in store for her yet, so she didn’t know how late it would go. It was better to get it out of the way early. She struggled with Geometry as usual, but she finished her English and History homework pretty quickly. Cornelia wasn’t sure what she wanted to do when she got older, but she was considering becoming a teacher. When she was little she always wanted to be a lawyer like her father, but his recent behavior had turned her off to that idea. Lawyers were bad people who left their wives and children behind and took up with women half their age. Cornelia would rather be more like Mrs. Hakim, making a difference in people’s lives.
Veronica didn’t come home for dinner, so Cornelia heated up a frozen pizza and curled up in front of the television. Her mom had the cable turned off, so she could only get a few channels and she kept the volume really low so she could hear her mother pull up and have time to turn off the TV before she saw her watching it. Cornelia felt like Veronica had to know tha
t she was doing things she wasn’t supposed to when Veronica wasn’t home, but her mother never said anything. Cornelia was counting down the days until she was ungrounded. That wasn’t until after Christmas.
Veronica didn’t get home until after Cornelia had already gone to sleep. The house was dark and Cornelia had left no evidence that she had been doing anything that she wasn’t supposed to be doing. She tossed and turned all night worrying about Mrs. Hakim’s reaction to her mother and Michelle. She tried to convince herself that Mrs. Hakim was fine with Steve, so she probably wouldn’t have a problem with Veronica’s sexuality either, but CC always found something to worry about.
In the morning, Cornelia went down to the kitchen for her usual breakfast. Veronica wasn’t up yet so she tip-toed over to the kitchen phone to call Chad to ask him if he was going to Mrs. Hakim’s for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Yep,” he answered. “When they found out Mrs. Hakim was Muslim they were really excited. They don’t know any Muslims, so they’re dying to meet her.”
“That’s weird.”
“Why? They love diversity.”
“I guess,” Cornelia shrugged.
“I thought you would be excited that I we get to spend Thanksgiving together.”
“Oh, I am. I just don’t want them to be throwing all kinds of questions at Mrs. Hakim. She’s still not feeling too good.” Cornelia felt badly for keeping the truth from Chad.
“Don’t worry, CC, my parents have manners.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I am very excited we’re having Thanksgiving together.”
“Have you told your mom?”
“No. I thought I’d cross that bridge when I got to it,” Cornelia replied and they both laughed.
“I don’t know, CC. She may not be happy.”
“I know. But she won’t make a scene. I won’t hear about it until we get home. No biggie.”
“If you say so,” he said. “I have to go. We’re going to the recycling center. I’ll see you tonight,” Chad said and hung up before Cornelia could even reply.
“Humph,” she said to herself. Then she thought she ought to call Admeta to tell her there would be three more for dinner. Luckily Admeta’s phone had been turned back on. Cornelia looked around while the phone rang, making sure Veronica was still in bed.
“Hola,” a male voice said. Cornelia hesitated for a moment.
“Um, is Admeta there?” She asked.
“Maybe,” the voice replied.
“May I speak to her?” Cornelia asked, annoyed by what she assumed to be the same brother she had met the day Mr. Vasquez gave her a ride home.
“That depends,” replied Jorge.
“Can I just please speak to Admeta?” Cornelia begged, trying not to blow up at Admeta’s brother.
“What will you give me for it?” Jorge asked and then laughed like a hyena. Cornelia heard a scuffle on the phone and some shouting in Spanish. Admeta was wrestling the phone away from Jorge and saying something that Cornelia was certain wasn’t very ladylike. She waited for the outcome. Thankfully she then heard a female voice on the line.
“Hello?” She said in an annoyed way.
“Admeta?” Cornelia asked.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Jorge is a douchebag!” She yelled half in the phone and half at Jorge who was walking away, still laughing. Cornelia could hear him reply in Spanish but she had no idea what he was saying.
“Grow up!” Admeta yelled, and then turned her attention back to the phone, “sorry.”
“It’s o.k. I don’t know what it’s like to have brothers. I’m kind of glad I don’t,” Cornelia said with a laugh.
“Yeah, you’re lucky,” Admeta replied and laughed too.
“I just wanted to make sure you told Mrs. Hakim that I was bringing my mom and Michelle and Chad and his parents are coming too. Do you think that will be o.k. with her?”
“Oh yeah, I told her Chad’s family might be coming. I made sure she knew they are vegetarians,” Admeta replied.
“Oh cool.”
“I wonder what she’ll make.”
“I didn’t ask. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to slip out without my brothers tagging along.”
“They didn’t forget?” Cornelia asked.
“Nope. Jorge mentioned it this morning. I’ll see what I can do.”
Just then Cornelia heard Veronica’s bedroom door open.
“Oh my God, my mom’s up, I gotta go. See you tonight” Cornelia whispered and this time she hung up before Admeta could reply. She placed the receiver down as quietly as she could and tip-toed over to the refrigerator to get milk. Just then Veronica walked in wearing a white robe and slippers.
“Morning, CC,” Veronica said with a yawn.
“Good morning. You were out late last night.”
“Yeah, Michelle was helping me study.”
“Is that what they’re calling it now?” Cornelia asked.
“Oh, very funny, CC, you know we were actually studying.”
“I’m just joking, mom.”
“Well don’t.”
“Whatever,” Cornelia replied, and then fixed her breakfast while Veronica searched the cupboard for something to eat. She finally decided on cereal and mother and daughter had breakfast cluttered with small talk about what they were going to do before dinner and what time they would leave.
Neither ate lunch because they knew they would be eating a lot for dinner, so Veronica spent her day studying and Cornelia finished up her writing assignment for Writers on the Storm. She also finished reading “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” her new favorite book. The Widow Douglas reminded Cornelia of Veronica. She was always trying to correct Huck and teach him manners, just like Veronica did to Cornelia. Huck’s drunken father reminded her of what people said about Steve’s parents. Cornelia could see similarities between the way Huck first treated Jim, the runaway slave, and the way she had treated Mrs. Hakim. She was ashamed, but she was glad that Huck had helped Jim and became his friend. She thought there was hope that she and Mrs. Hakim could reach a friendship of sorts. Tom Sawyer even reminded her of Admeta. Cornelia laughed at that thought. She liked the book so much she wanted to read the prequel, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
When she closed the book she realized it was time to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. She didn’t even know what she was going to wear. She flew off her bed all a flutter and searched for her closet for just the right outfit. She decided on a plain black dress with black pumps. Then she meticulously applied her make-up and fixed her hair. She pulled the front part of her hair back into the diamond barrette her grandmother had given her. Veronica didn’t know why Cornelia was getting so dolled up for dinner with her teacher. Little did she know that Chad and his parents were going to greet them at Mrs. Hakim’s house.
Veronica got ready and Michelle soon arrived. Both were wearing black pants and sweaters with loafers. Cornelia fought the urge to laugh. Then she thought about Mrs. Hakim. She just couldn’t tell them about her cancer. She felt it wasn’t her place. If Mrs. Hakim wanted them to know, she would tell them herself. Cornelia was hoping that since Mrs. Hakim’s chemo had ended perhaps no one would notice how sick she was. She kept her fingers crossed as the women headed out the door into the cool afternoon air.
Chapter 24
Thanksgiving
Writers on the Storm Page 23