A hairnet!
“Aw, Espy, Pixie just needs a comb,” said Aunt Fancy. “Girls, this is Aunt Esperanza—her name means ‘hope’ in Spanish.”
“I brought a lot of barrettes with me. I hope that will help my hair.” I grinned at Aunt Esperanza, hoping my joke would make her smile.
Aunt Esperanza stared at me. She was definitely not smiling.
I didn’t get it. Old ladies usually liked me. My mom worked in a senior residence. I played cards and mahjong with the women there. They kept candies in their pockets for me.
I decided to try one more time. “Would you like to hear a rhyme about my hair?” I asked.
Aunt Esperanza raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t much of an answer. But I took a deep breath and gave it a go.
“No spray or potion anywhere
Will tame my mess of crazy hair
Nor will hats or hairnets win
My hair refuses to give in
But if I got a wishing cake
Here’s the wish that I would make
I’d ask for hair that’s super straight
Until then, spunky hair’s my fate.”
Aunt Esperanza looked down and rubbed at a spot on her apron.
“Very nice, dear,” Aunt Fancy said.
“It sure was,” agreed Aunt Bernie. “Did you make that up just now?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear that Espy? She wrote it on the spot.”
“Of course I heard. I’m not deaf,” the old cone hat said.
Aunt Fancy put an arm around Rain and me. “We’ll see you two later. Now go and explore the rest of the place.” She lowered her voice. “And don’t mind Aunt Espy.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Ye Olde Dormmates
Perrin, Winnie, Nell, and Pip were sitting on a bench outside the kitchen, waiting for us. “How about we show you our dorm?” suggested Perrin.
“You can unpack now if you’d like,” Winnie added. “Wyatt just dropped your trunks off upstairs.”
When Perrin noticed my surprised expression, she smiled. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just that my dad is like an oak tree—tall and wide—and he struggled to carry my trunk down from my room. I can’t imagine Wyatt doing it. He’s kind of, um, scrawny.”
“Oh, he didn’t do it himself,” Pip said. “Perrin helped him.”
Princessy Perrin? That seemed even stranger to me.
“Thanks,” Rain and I said at the exact same time. It made us giggle.
We passed the second floor, which Pip explained was “the Aunts’ floor.” Our room, or dorm, as Perrin called it, was on the third. It had two perfectly straight rows of beds, which was probably how a bunkhouse at a summer camp looked. Since I’d never been to camp, it made me think of the dormitory room in the Madeline picture books, where twelve little girls did everything “in two straight lines.” I’d always thought the best parts of those books were when Madeline didn’t follow the rules.
“These two are yours,” said Perrin, pointing at the two beds nearest the door. “Each summer you’ll move up until, eventually, you get the beds by the window. That’s where I sleep now.”
“I don’t mind being by the door,” I said. “It will make it easier to sneak out if I need to.”
“Very funny,” Perrin said.
But I hadn’t really been joking.
“Let’s help each other unpack,” Rain suggested. “We can do your trunk first.”
“Can I help, too?” asked Pip. She’d been lying on her bed on the other side of Rain’s, tossing and catching a small red ball.
“Sure!” Rain and I agreed. I pulled out the top drawer of the little white chest beside my bed. Each of us had our own.
When I opened my trunk, my baby brother, Sammy, was smiling at me. The last thing I’d packed was a framed photo that had been taken when he’d turned one. He’d just eaten his first slice of cake, and there was so much frosting on his face he looked like he had a beard.
“Oh, he’s so cute!” Pip exclaimed, snatching it up. “Do you have any other pictures of him?”
“Just this.” I reached into a silk bag Mom had made for keeping items like barrettes and pulled out a silver chain with a locket. My parents had given it to me as a big sister gift when Sammy was born. I hadn’t worn it much lately, because the chain always got twisted in my hair. But I hadn’t wanted to leave it behind. “This is Sammy’s first photo,” I said as I opened it. “He pretty much looked like a newborn extraterrestrial.”
“Aw, I’m in love,” Pip cooed. I think she would have fallen for a baby naked mole rat if I’d shown her one.
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked.
“Just Wyatt.”
“He’s your brother?”
“Yes, unfortunately,” she said, but she couldn’t help grinning.
I ran my finger around Sammy’s tiny face. “You’re lucky you get to have your brother here.”
“Actually, we’re orphans. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Even though Pip didn’t sound upset, I felt as if I’d said the wrong thing. “Oh, sorry! Um, my mom was an orphan, too,” I babbled. I began stuffing clothes into drawers without paying attention to what I was doing.
“It’s okay. I live here all year with the Aunts. It’s like having four mothers.”
“That sounds fun,” I said, although I wasn’t so sure about Aunt Cone Hat.
I reached back into my trunk and pulled out the most important thing I’d brought from home, my quilt.
“Ooh, pretty!” Rain exclaimed.
Perrin was brushing her hair in front of the mirror, but she stopped to see what Rain meant. “That is a beautiful quilt,” she agreed. “Did someone sew it for you, Pixie?”
“Yes, my mom. She made it out of patches from her old costumes.” I’d brought the quilt so I’d have a little piece of my mother with me. But as I ran my hand over a patch of green velvet, I felt homesick. I must have looked it, too, because suddenly the other girls crowded around me.
“Show us what else you brought,” said Winnie. “You can tell a lot about a person by the things she chooses to pack.”
“Um, okay.” I plucked a tiny red cowgirl hat from my trunk. “This is Destiny’s favorite hat. It’s really too small for her now, but I like keeping it anyway.” I set it on the chest next to Sammy’s photo.
“What’s this?” Pip was holding the rolled-up drawing I’d hidden at the bottom of the trunk.
“That’s personal,” I replied, but she was already smoothing it out on my bed.
“Oh, a drawing of you. I like the cinnamon-colored hair and your chocolate-sprinkle freckles.” Pip studied the signature at the bottom. “Who’s Leo?”
“A boy in my class.” Quickly, I began rolling it up again.
“I thought Gray was your boyfriend,” she teased.
“They’re both just friends,” I insisted. “Gray and I have known each other practically forever.”
“Pip! Don’t make her mad or—” Suddenly Nell put her hand over her own mouth. The other apprentices sent her disapproving looks.
I stared hard at all of them. “Or I might what? Freeze someone?”
“Pixie, no one thinks that,” Perrin said. “We know you wouldn’t hurt us.”
Nell twisted a curl around a finger. Her chin was quivering. “I’m truly sorry,” she murmured. “They call me Nervous Nellie sometimes.”
I reminded myself that my power was scary, even though I wasn’t. “Look, I never meant to shatter Raveneece Greed,” I said, trying to explain. “But she’d trapped Destiny and me in this cave underground and she was going to keep us there until I taught her to rhyme. It was impossible! I would have been there forever.”
“Holy goose!” Pip exclaimed. “How did you escape?”
“Destiny pretended to play dead. Then she surprised Raveneece by biting her nose so hard that she let go of her. I snatched Des up and began climbing a really high ladder, which was the only way
out. But Raveneece grabbed the ladder and shook it so hard, I almost fell off. So I chanted a rhyme that made her stiffer than a statue and I got away. But she didn’t shatter into pieces till I accidentally dropped a key on her. I didn’t even know it could happen.”
The apprentices were staring at me as if they’d turned into statues.
“Um, who is Raveneece Greed?” asked Rain while the others were quiet.
I took a deep breath. “A relative of ours, but not a good one. She’s descended from Mother Goose’s four siblings, the Sinister Sisters.”
“Raveneece is horrible. She has green hair and orange teeth,” squeaked Nell.
“Actually, she has orange hair and greenish teeth,” I said.
“She only appears at night, like a vampire,” Pip added.
I shook my head no. “Unfortunately, she can appear anytime.”
Nell gasped and grabbed onto Winnie’s arm.
“Like Mother Goose’s greedy sisters from long ago, Raveneece wants to bake wishing cakes to sell,” I added.
“But that would spoil our mission,” said Rain.
I nodded. “That’s why Mother Goose made a wish that took away her sister’s rhyming ability forever! No Sinister Sister since then has been able to rhyme.”
Perrin’s eyes lit up. “Aha! That’s why she needed you to help her rhyme.”
“But you didn’t do it,” said Nell, “so you are a hero.”
I shook my head. “Not really. I was desperate to get Destiny back and get away. Aunt Doris thinks the Sinister Sisters will want revenge for what I did to Raveneece.”
“Do you think they’ll come here?” asked Pip. She sounded excited. She still didn’t understand how dangerous Raveneece was.
I shrugged. “She might. I’m really sorry.”
Winnie put an arm around me. “That’s okay, Pixie. If it wants to, trouble can always find its way. It doesn’t need a reason. No one here is mad at you.”
“Aunt Cone Hat is.”
Perrin’s smooth face scrunched up. “Aunt Cone Hat?”
“She means Aunt Esperanza!” said Pip. She and Nell began to giggle.
But Perrin didn’t say a word or make a sound. Her silence made them quiet down. “Aunt Espy’s been on this farm forever,” she explained. “She’s worried that the Sinister Sisters will try to destroy it. But it’s right that you should be here. You’re part of our family. We’ve got to protect you.”
I ran a hand over my favorite square of quilt, a print of the cow jumping over the moon. “That’s because you have no choice,” I said hoarsely.
“No!” Perrin protested. “It’s because we wanted you with us from the moment Aunt Doris told us about you. You’re part of the family.”
I felt bad about being such a grump, but I still felt grumpy anyway. I think it was because deep down, I was afraid I wasn’t good enough to be a Goose Girl.
“There’s something else you should know,” Winnie said. “That great big cone hat Aunt Espy wears is really precious. It belonged to Mother Goose herself! It’s been passed down from descendant to descendant all these years. To be its keeper is a very great honor.”
I nodded as if I understood. I really didn’t, though. Not until it was too late.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ye Olde Pertinacious Me
In the family photo Rain took from her trunk, her mom was holding a beagle, her dad had a parrot on his shoulder, and River was cuddling a turtle. Rain had one arm around a little gray goat while hugging Drizzle with the other. Three cats—one striped, one orange, and one black—sat at their feet.
“Wow, you live with a menagerie,” I said.
She nodded. “My mom’s a physician and my dad’s a veterinarian. They have a clinic called United Pets and People.”
Pip took the photo from her hands for a closer look. “You mean the clinic treats animals and humans?”
“That’s right,” Rain said proudly. “It was always my parents’ dream.”
While she unpacked her clothes, the apprentices began telling stories about animal emergencies—cats throwing up hairballs big enough to be in Guinness World Records, dogs that gobbled Thanksgiving turkeys and Halloween candy, and geese that were addicted to eating socks and tights. Pip told the story of how Aunt Esperanza’s goose, La Blanca, tried to bite the mail carrier. Just before she got him, the poor guy jumped back into his truck, so instead La Blanca bit the mail truck. She actually dented it. After that the mail carrier refused to come back.
Those stories made me laugh so hard my stomach began to hurt, though a little part of me worried that La Blanca would decide to pick on Destiny.
“I have an idea, let’s play speed rhyming,” Pip said when the giggles ran out.
“Perfect,” agreed Perrin. “Everyone come sit on my bed.”
“And mine.” Winnie grinned at Perrin. “We don’t want your bed to collapse like it did last year.”
“That was because everyone was jumping on it at once,” Perrin reminded her. “Anyway, I’m almost fifteen. I’m getting too old for jumping on beds.”
“Well, I’m not!” exclaimed Pip.
Winnie tickled her in the ribs. “You’ll probably be jumping on beds till you’re ninety.”
“How do you play?” asked Rain.
“One person chooses a word to start,” Pip explained. “Then we each add a rhyming word. We keep going until someone can’t think of one. That person gets a point. Then we start another round. At the end of the game, the one with the most points is the loser.”
“And the words get harder with each round,” Perrin added. “We start with three-letter words and go on to four-, five-, and so on.”
“Don’t forget about the jumping part,” said Pip. “When you add a word, you have to jump on the bed.” Pip sprang up to demonstrate, but Winnie pulled her down.
“No jumping, only bouncing on your butt,” she warned.
“Oo-kaay.” Pip sighed. “Let’s play already! First word is . . . pip.”
With a lot of shouting and bouncing, we came up with twenty-four words that rhymed with pip. Any minute, I thought, one of the Aunts would come in and scold us. The game slowed down as we began running out of words. On my next turn, I couldn’t think of anything, so I shouted, “BEAN DIP.”
Perrin, Winnie, and Nell burst out laughing. But Pip said, “You’re out! No two-word answers allowed.”
“Oh, Pip, we never explained the rule about two-word answers. Or said that compound words are okay,” said Nell. “Pixie should get a do over.”
Perrin and Winnie nodded in agreement.
“Ooo-kay,” Pip said. “Try again, Pixie.”
But I couldn’t come up with the twenty-fifth word that rhymed with dip. So I got a point.
“It’s okay. You’re just learning,” Pip said a little too sweetly. “Let’s try another round. The new word is . . . push.”
“Bush!” Rain shouted so fast, she surprised me.
“Smush,” Perrin added.
Nell hesitated a second. “Um, ambush.”
“Gush,” said Winnie next.
Perrin sent her a big, gooey smile. “You’re pronouncing it wrong, cousin. It’s g-uh-sh, not goosh.”
“No, it’s goosh. Like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with too much filling.”
Nell put a hand on each of their shoulders. “In the interest of Goose Girl unity, I think we should accept it.”
Perrin nodded. Reluctantly.
It was my turn. But all the words that rhymed with push had been used up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pip grinning again.
I flashed her a smile and bounced hard on the bed. “Platypush!” I yelled.
The Goose Girls stared at me.
“Oh, is that a cousin of the octopush?” Rain asked, making everyone, including me, laugh.
But I still got another point.
Winnie shook her head. “What Aunt Doris told us about you is true, Pixie Piper. You are pertinacious!”
I was going t
o have to look that one up.
CHAPTER SIX
Ye Olde Dinner of Doom
At four o’clock I followed the girls downstairs for Sunday dinner. It was the same time the senior ladies at the nursing home ate, which seemed pretty weird. But Perrin explained that it was so we could be in time to watch Good News of the Week on TV. No one wanted to miss it.
“I don’t think we have that show at home,” I said.
“Oh, it’s our favorite around here.” Perrin smiled mysteriously. “You’ll see why.”
The dining room felt like a museum. The walls were covered with framed pictures of birthday cakes. There was one that reminded me of a photo I’d seen of a skyscraper disappearing into the clouds. It had so many layers they didn’t all make it into the picture. Another frame held a picture of a strawberry shortcake that looked like a royal crown, frosted in whipped cream swirls with pointy tips that were studded with jewel-like berries. But the one that held my gaze the longest was a simple, round cake—the two-layer kind—with frosting that wasn’t snow white but more the delicate color of old lace. The only decoration on top was an X formed by two reddish brown cinnamon sticks. I could practically smell its sweet, nutty scent wafting right out of the picture.
We were just sitting down on a bench at the long oak table when the boys came in and sat across from us. Gray looked happy. Before I could ask him how Destiny was, the Goose Ladies—or Aunts, as they called themselves—came in carrying bowls and platters. After they’d arranged them on the table, Aunt Doris, Aunt Fancy, and Aunt Bernie settled on the same side as the boys. Aunt Esperanza sat in a high-backed chair at the head of the table. She was still wearing the traffic cone on her head. I gazed at the big bowls of spaghetti, sauce, and cheese. Everything smelled delicious, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. We’d just begun serving ourselves when Pip exclaimed, “What happened to your nose, Wyatt?”
“Just a little bite,” he answered, lifting a hand to the bandage over the top of his nose.
“Really? Which goose?” asked Aunt Esperanza.
Pixie Piper and the Matter of the Batter Page 2