by Nan Sweet
Chapter 4
Barry's birthday was two days after Halloween. He came to school Monday of that week with a handful of invitations. His family lived fifteen miles out of town in a two-story farmhouse roomy enough for a fun birthday Halloween party. His mom made invitations for every student in the class, although Barry would just as soon Joe and David didn't show. He would forever be known as Barfy Barry after an unfortunate incident in the third grade.
Carrie stayed over with Ivy that Friday night. Ivy's mom agreed to be the chauffeur for Nicole and Trista who were also town kids. The party started at eight in the evening.
It was Nicole's turn with the egg. When her mom pulled up to the sidewalk, Nicole ran out with the box in one hand and a bag with a present for Barry in the other.
“What's that?” Ivy's mom opened the trunk for Nicole.
“The egg project from class. We're supposed to take care of it.” Nicole gently lowered the box to the trunk, lifting the lid to look once at the egg.
As Nicole climbed in the back, Ivy's mom gave her the parental look adding the additional insult of a raised eyebrow and said, “Ivy never mentioned an egg project.”
“I didn't sign up.” Ivy hoped the conversation would stop there. She didn't even tell Carrie about the strange dreams she'd had or why exactly she felt nervous about the egg. Something was bothering her about the whole thing and she wasn't going to be the one to accidentally kill a baby dragon.
“Honey, it's important that you participate in class activities.” They were just turning onto Main Street. Ivy hoped her mom wouldn't use the whole drive to lecture her on school projects, especially in front of Nicole and Trista who were her second-best friends.
Carrie intervened with the details for Ivy's mom, “Mrs. Huffity is really cool. We're babysitting an egg and if we pick a day to watch it, we can skip turning in one assignment for that day. Two if we have the egg over the weekend. I was out that day. When I came back, I signed up.”
“You chose to do all your assignments rather than watch the egg?” Her mother had a thoughtful expression on her face. Ivy couldn't quite tell if she was pleased or wondering why. It didn't really matter. Ivy and her dad did homework together when he came home from the office, and she actually looked forward to it. He'd always make fun things out of it, like the time they raced doing times tables or the way they made a crossword puzzle together for spelling words. Carrie was with them one night and said Ivy took a lot longer doing her homework, but Ivy didn't really care much if she did.
The wind was blowing and it was twilight when the girls arrived. Three cars were already parked in the dirt near the shop while several people milled about in the front yard. Most of the parents were standing in a small group near a table set up with three large red and white juice dispensers and plates of cookies. With the wind blowing, the plastic wrap from one had already picked up and flown off the table while Barry's mother chased after it. A large cake under tin foil was set to the side. Barry and a group of boys were at the fence, throwing rocks into the field while two of the girls from their class sat on the steps talking.
Once the guests had arrived, Barry's father announced a scavenger hunt. The kids lined up to pick a number out of a hat. Ivy was secretly relieved that neither David nor Joe had come. Not that they would. Large signs with numbers were posted around the yard. The kids found their number, picked up a list of the scavenger hunt items and a pencil, and went to their group. Carrie drew a number four. Ivy was disappointed when she drew a seven. They moved off to their separate teams and waited for everyone to finish drawing.
Ivy's mom agreed to watch the egg. She and Barry's mother sat in lawn chairs in coats with the egg box in between them. Noticing the gleam of egg from where she waited, Ivy ran over before the hunt started and pulled the fleece blanket that was sandwiched to the side of box to cover it. “Mom, you have to keep the egg warm.”
Her mother tweaked a few of her bangs. “We'll take good care of it. The game is starting.”
Barry's mother laughed. “Barry's already had a turn at it. He almost forgot to take it back to school. I'm pretty sure it sat in his closet all night.”
Ivy missed whatever her mom had said because the whistle for the start sounded. She ran to catch up with her group. With the night coming, they all had flashlights and moved out in every direction, along the fence line to the barn and hayloft while a few kids went to the shop. Others ranged closer to the house, looking along the tree line or in the shrubs.
Ivy found the purple ribbons. They were tied to a hook on the barn. She could hear squeals and laughter in the dark and jumped when Barry, who was on her team shouted, “I found the red rock.”
No one grumbled that Barry was allowed on a team, even if the scavenger hunt was held at his home. After all, it was his birthday party. Barry's two older brothers, wearing creepy skeletal Halloween masks jumped out at Ivy's group as they left the barn. Ivy and Maeve screamed and jumped back, laughing.
The sun went down and a chilly wind blew across the fields. Ivy stopped her team long enough to zip up her jacket. By the time the scavenger hunt was over, Ivy was tired but happy. They lost having only found ten of the fifteen items on the list, but they'd spent much of the time giggling or running from Barry's brothers. When they returned, Ivy noticed the egg sitting by itself under the chair. The two women had moved inside, taking a plate of cookies with them.
The kids all stopped for refreshments. Ivy ignored the cookies and moved straight toward the lawn chair. Barry followed. As she reached down to pick up the box, he said, “There's a really warm place in our laundry room where I kept it when I was outside feeding the lambs.”
She looked up startled and smiled shyly, “We can take it there. Thanks.”
Barry led the way to the front porch. Nicole waved her thanks when Ivy pointed to the box and the door. Ivy smiled and nodded. Inside the front door was a mud room filled with boots and sneakers. A washer and dryer sat along the wall next to the door to the kitchen. A large shelf with detergent and fabric softener, a feather duster, and light bulbs had an open spot. The box fit perfectly.
“It is warm in here,” Ivy said. The dryer was running, a sound that she loved. She thought the egg would be happy here in this little room, at least for a while.
Ivy laughed to herself. Everyone would think she was crazy if they knew she was treating the egg like a living being. All of the other students joked about Mrs. Huffity's egg and her stories about baby dragons.
Once the box was tucked safely away on the shelf, Barry said, “Do you want to see my dad's saltwater aquarium? It's really cool. We have anemones, clown fish, even shrimp for cleaning the tank.”
Ivy pushed a strand of hair away from her forehead nervously and adjusted her glasses, “I'd love to.”
Barry liked to talk about his dad's aquarium. Whenever a class project allowed it, he picked marine mammals, sea creatures, or tides. He always picked something to do with the ocean. His father was a wheat farmer and raised cows, pigs, and lambs, but he took Barry and his mother to the coast last year. They went on a whale watching tour and everything. His dad couldn't even buy anything for the aquarium unless he drove two towns over.
The aquarium was huge, massively huge, taking up a whole wall in the living room. The mothers chatted at the kitchen table while they snacked on cookies and drank coffee. Barry's mother waved them in when Barry asked if they could go to the living room.
“I think Barry has a crush on her. Isn't it cute?” Barry's mom asked in hushed tones that both Barry and Ivy overheard.
Ivy could feel her face warming and glanced at Barry who was looking at her in horror to see if she'd heard. Then Ivy heard her mom say, “They grow up so fast.”
She didn't want Barry to feel bad. He looked like he was ready to run right out of the house. Ivy said quickly, “I wouldn't mind being friends if you want to.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You don't car
e that Joe and David call me Barfy?”
Ivy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “Why would I care what those two jerks think?”
A smile spread across Barry's face, “Okay, we'll be friends. Come check out the aquarium.”
Barry pointed out the shrimp at the bottom and the bright fish darting through the coral. He showed her the pumps, “A proper saltwater aquarium has to have pumps so the water moves across the aquarium like the tide. The fish need something to swim against. See the anemones?”
“Wow,” Ivy said in a hushed tone. His tank was larger than the ones in the pet store, larger than anything she had ever seen and it took up the whole wall. “It's so big. You've even got crustaceans.” She tried out the word she'd heard from Barry's report on crabs and lobsters.
“My dad likes having it, but he did say it was a lot of work. Also, since we put it in, it will be harder to sell the house if we move.”
“Are you going to move?” Ivy felt horrified. She and Barry had just decided to be friends and now he was talking about moving.
Barrie shrugged. “The wheat prices have been down a while. It makes farming tough.”
It was something Ivy heard a lot. Many of the farmers in the area had already gone out of business and moved away. The problem with Dusky Hollows was that there wasn't much to do for work. The town had the schools and a small nursing home, a pharmacy, grocery store, a few restaurants, one gas station, a building for the forestry service, and some banks. So when people wanted to look for work, it wasn't very easy to find. She knew that Barry's mom had taken a job with the post office when Mrs. Harvey retired.
They spent a few minutes watching the fish when Ivy thought she heard something. She got an eerie feeling. It was like a drop of water splashed right in the middle of her back, one that rolled down her spine leaving a strange, creepy feeling. “Did you hear that?” She whispered.
Barry was watching an angel fish swim through the coral, “Hear what?”
“It's like someone breathing with a cold. You don't hear it?” Ivy had been hearing a lot lately that no one else heard.
“No. Do you know where it's coming from?” Only one light was on in the living room casting strange shadows about the room.
Ivy pointed back to the kitchen.
Barry said, “Let's investigate.”
Relieved that Barry didn't give her a funny look and ignore her, Ivy followed him into the kitchen and out onto the porch.
“Do you hear it now?” Barry asked, his voice low. He had a gleam in his eye and seemed to be enjoying the mystery.
She turned to look into the back of the little room and there detaching from the shadows was a creature with a sharp beak and rasping breath. “Tell me you see that.”
Barry stared at the empty spot where Ivy pointed. “See what?”
“Hmmm...” Ivy's heart pounded while she took that first step toward the creature. She didn't want to do it. But right now the creature was closer to the egg than she was. It looked at her only once, and then the strange face turned up toward the shelf, calculating the best method of climbing to the egg.
Barry stormed onto the back of the porch sending the creature that scared Ivy skittering back. It chittered angrily at him. He almost ran right over it. He asked, “What is it? What do you see?”
Swallowing, Ivy stepped closer to Barry, trying to figure out where the creature went and not wanting to admit that she could see something he couldn't. He would think she was crazy! That wasn't a good way to start out a friendship. Neither was lying, so she told Barry the most gentle truth she could. “I'm not sure what I saw.”
Barry reached up and grabbed the egg from its perch on the shelf. “Do you want to see more of the aquarium or go back outside?”
“The aquarium...unless you think you need to return to the party.” Ivy said.
When they walked back through the kitchen, Ivy's mother exclaimed, “Oh, that egg box. I promised the girls I'd look after it.” She took the box from Barry and set it under the kitchen table. Ivy wondered if the creature she'd seen would just crawl right into the kitchen while her mom was oblivious to everything and steal the egg and eat it. She had heard the strange breathing all the way to the laundry room. Maybe if she stayed close, Ivy would hear it again.
They went back into the living room and watched the fish swim for a while. Ivy strained to listen for the sounds of the strange beaked creatures.
The rest of the party was uneventful, except that Ivy found a new friend. Barry turned out to like the same music and the same books, except for The Little Princess, but Ivy could hardly blame him for preferring Where the Red Fern Grows. Carrie was tolerant of his inclusion. At first Ivy worried that she might be jealous, but Carrie was worried about stuff at home and they were such good friends, Ivy knew nothing would hurt their friendship.