The Luck of the Buttons

by Anne Ylvisaker

  “Now, on to the business at hand! mayor, the list of essay winners, please.”

  “Progress?” said the woman behind Tugs. “I thought we were going to get a bowling alley.”

  “That’s what I heard,” said a man next to her.

  “It’s a newspaper,” said Aggie, turning to the people behind them. “Really. We’re going to have a daily newspaper.”

  “Oh!” said the man.

  “Well, I never,” said the woman.

  “. . . and the blue-ribbon essay for age thirteen and older . . .” Harvey Moore called, “goes to Florence Floyd! Where’s Florence? Come up here, Florence, and inspire us with your words!”

  “Come on,” said the woman behind Tugs. “Let’s try to intercept Mr. Moore when he comes down the steps.”

  As Florence read in her high fluted voice, Aggie turned back to Tugs.

  “What was the important thing you wanted to tell me?”

  Tugs wavered. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe Harvey really was going to start a newspaper.

  “Nothing,” she said. She held up her ribbon. “We won the three-legged, Aggie.”

  “Did you see the look on Burton Ward’s face when he came in behind us?” said Aggie. “That was worth the price of admission.”

  Tugs was suddenly hungry, and she pulled Aggie toward the Button blanket.

  But then they heard “. . . Button” over the megaphone and turned around.

  “Tugs, Tugs Button. Is Tugs Button here?” bellowed Harvey Moore. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, folks, but it appears our eight-to-twelve division winner is not present. Let’s go on. . . .”

  “Tugs!” gasped Aggie. “You won the essay contest! Come on!”

  Aggie dashed off, but Tugs’s feet were stuck. There must be some mistake.

  Then she heard Aggie’s voice ring out. Aggie Millhouse was standing on the bandstand, holding the megaphone and beckoning her to come up for her ribbon. But it was too much for Tugs. She ducked behind the nearest tree and listened as Aggie accepted her ribbon for her and read her essay aloud. Her hunger vanished and was replaced with a mix of fear and elation. She heard her own words echoing over the crowd and wondered if she’d really written them. Her face burned with the horror of it, all those people hearing her thoughts.

  She peeked out. Aggie was skipping down the steps and running back to Tugs, with Tugs’s second blue ribbon held high as she ran.

  “Here!” Aggie said. “I’ve never won two blue ribbons, Tugs. Your essay was really good.”

  Tugs and Aggie linked arms and walked back to the Buttons’ blanket, where such a commotion had occurred over Granddaddy’s betting on the horseshoe contest that the adults had missed the goings-on at the field and bandstand. Ned was sitting alone behind the Button blanket, leaning against the tracks.

  Mother Button stood up when Tugs introduced her to Aggie.

  “Oh, heavens, a Millhouse at our blanket and we’re fresh out of”— she looked around at the crumbs and empty dishes —“everything.”

  “That’s OK,” said Aggie. “I have to check in with my family. Want to come, Tugs?”

  Tugs looked at Ned, then back at Aggie.

  “I’ll catch up with you later,” she said. She watched Aggie disappear behind a group of Floyds returning to their blanket, then sat down next to Ned.

  “Can I see?” Ned asked, holding out his hand.

  “Sure,” said Tugs, and handed him her ribbons.

  “They’re shiny,” he said.

  “You can hold them,” said Tugs. She felt full-up satisfied.

  After a couple of lazy hours, Aunt Mina heaved herself off the ground and bustled about, packing baskets and folding blankets.

  “Let’s get picking up here, people. They’ve got the tug-a-war going on down there, and next thing you know, they’ll be announcing the raffle. If we don’t leave now, we’ll get caught in the going-home rush. I, for one, am ready to get home to my own four walls.”

  The Buttons started the long trek through the park. Tugs lagged behind, hoping to hear at least who did win the raffle. Had she spelled her name right? Had Mr. Pepper taken her free tickets out so that only paying tickets would be in the box? She fingered her ribbons proudly. Ribbons should be enough. But . . .

  Then the band blared and Granddaddy Ike stopped to listen. He was near the front of the Button line, so they all had to stop. The moment the band was finished with its fanfare, Mr. Pepper stood up.

  “As the president of the garden club and the art guild, and as proprietor of your hometown photography store — come to Pepper’s for all your photography needs — I am proud to draw names for this year’s raffle prizes — three Kodak Brownie cameras!” He reached his hand into the hat Harvey Moore had lent him for this purpose and drew out a name.

  “Mrs. Perkins!” he called. There was applause and a squeal from Mrs. Perkins as she made her way to the stage.

  “Orion Ortner!” Another smattering of applause as the town butcher walked to the stage.

  “And last but not least, Tugs Button!”

  Tugs stood, dumbfounded.

  “Tugs Button!” Mr. Pepper said again, and Tugs ran up to the stage.

  Mr. Pepper handed her a smart little box, just like the ones she’d unpacked at his store. She opened the cover and lifted out the camera.

  “Green!” she said triumphantly. She dropped the box and manual on the step and held the camera out to Mr. Pepper. “Now what?”

  Mr. Pepper laughed. “No reading the manual for you, Miss Button?” He opened her camera and wound film into the empty spool while Tugs hopped from foot to foot, looking around to see who was noticing that this was her camera Mr. Pepper was readying.

  “Granddaddy Ike! Over here!” she hollered.

  “Now, pay attention, Miss Button, so you can do this yourself next time,” Mr. Pepper said.

  “Miss Button! Ha, ha, ha!” Tugs snorted. She could sooner fly to the moon than concentrate on Mr. Pepper’s dainty fingers. He’d called her Miss Button! She won the Kodak raffle! The camera was green! Her favorite color! The color of early wheat, and the sky before a summer storm, and moss on stones by the river, and . . . !

  “Here you are,” said Mr. Pepper, handing the camera back to Tugs. “Six pictures to a roll, so look and think before you snap. Don’t open the back before the roll is wound clear through. And come to Pepper’s to buy more film.”

  Tugs held the camera out in front of her, like a crystal egg. It was so beautiful. Her hands were suddenly slick, and she was afraid she’d drop it. Mr. Pepper laughed.

  “This here is the new aluminum model. You aren’t going to hurt it, girly. Now, go have . . .”

  But Tugs saw the Millhouses standing near the Buttons just then and left Mr. Pepper at a gallop, forgetting the box and to shout a thank-you over her shoulder.

  “Well, I’ll be a chicken’s gizzard,” said her mother.

  “Better take that girl to the track,” said her father.

  “Are you sure she’s one of us?” asked Granddaddy Ike.

  “Sure, I’m sure,” said Tugs. “I got the chompers, don’t I?”

  There was no denying it. Tugs had the teeth of a Button — square, wide, and protruding. For as long as anyone could remember, Button children had been teased about their maws. It was one root of their misfortune, the Buttons believed. While other parents sent their children off to school with a kiss and told them to do their best, the Buttons just said, “Don’t get hit by the tater truck.” Which would be nonsense to any other family, but Leonard Button, one of the Swisher Buttons, had indeed looked the wrong way when crossing Main Street some years ago. While he had survived, he hadn’t eaten a potato, mashed or otherwise, since.

  It didn’t seem sporting to document failure, so Buttons didn’t own cameras, yet here was Tugs with a fetching green leatherette Kodak No. 2 Brownie F model, loaded with film to boot.

  “Hold these ribbons, Aggie,” Tugs commanded. She aimed her Brownie and tried
to capture her winnings on film. But Mrs. Millhouse yoo-hooed just then, and Tugs snapped the shutter right as Aggie spun around.

  “Dagnabit!” said Tugs.

  “Tugs Button — such language!” gasped Mrs. Millhouse, pulling Aggie away. “Come on, sweetness.”

  “My ribbons, Aggie!” Tugs yelled. Turning to give them back, Aggie tripped over little Winslow Ward, and they both went sprawling in the dirt.

  “Figures,” Burton Ward said to Tugs as he picked up his wailing brother. “You’re such a Button.”

  “Sorry!” Aggie called as she was hustled away by her mother. Tugs picked up her trampled ribbons and tucked them in the pocket of her overalls.

  “See you next week?” she hollered.

  “Going to camp!” Aggie called as she was eclipsed by Harvey Moore and the dispersing crowd. Tugs clicked the shutter again.

  Tugs looked down through her camera’s viewfinder and pivoted slowly all the way around and down and up. It was like watching a movie, seeing the bandstand, the bakery, the soft evening sky go by in that tiny frame. These were the same ordinary sights she’d been seeing her whole life, but suddenly they were sharp and beautiful, like little jewels collected in a box. To think — only this morning she’d been an ordinary twelve-year-old girl with snarly hair, gangly limbs, and a propensity for calamity, and now, just hours later, here she stood, Tugs Button: ribbon winner, Kodak owner.

  She held the camera at arm’s length, smiled into the eye of its lens, and pressed the exposure lever. Then she turned the winding key until a little number four appeared in the red window on the back.

  “Let me see.” Luther Tingvold towered over Tugs, holding out his hand.

  “Um,” said Tugs, clutching her camera close. Luther was the leader of the Rowdies.

  “I want to see!” hollered Walter Williams, stepping in front of Luther.

  “Take our picture, Tugs!” said Finn and Frankie Chacey, making ape faces while trying to shove Walter out of the way.

  “Trade you my pocketknife for it,” growled Bess McCrea, the toughest girl in town.

  Tugs didn’t know whether to be flattered or afraid. No Rowdy had ever said hello to her, much less wanted something she had. Their attention both thrilled and frightened her. She had to do something clever now, say something clever.

  “It’s green,” she blurted out.

  Finn and Frankie guffawed. Bess shook her head in disgust. Luther shrugged and turned away.

  “Last one to the fire hydrant’s a horse’s patoot!” called Walter, and they all took off running.

  Tugs aimed her Brownie after them and pushed the lever. She adored the satisfying click it made.

  “Now, don’t go getting a swell head,” said Father Button as he took Tugs’s elbow and led her back to the car. “And take your eyes outa those clouds. We got a big day tomorrow — family reunion.”

  At home Tugs cleared a spot on her dresser for her camera and tied her ribbons to the drawer pulls so she would see them first thing when she woke.

  This July Fourth fortune was good for Tugs, but over to Elmer Button’s farm the next day, where for the last umpteen years the family had been gathering to share their annual midsummer woes, the fizz wasn’t out of their Cokes before the other Buttons started grumbling. Twenty-seven Buttons took shelter under a wide oak as drizzle turned the back forty to mud and mosquitoes buzzed in the hot, still air.

  “I understand Tugs was paired with the sixth grade’s top athlete in that race,” snapped Aunt Mina. “My Ned could have won if he hadn’t been strapped with that shrimp Ralph Stump.”

  Cousin Gladdy was indignant. “I heard Mrs. Potter telling Mrs. Winthrop that my essay was best, and I’m only eight,” she said. “I bet it was rigged.”

  “She’s made a pact with the devil,” screeched Grandmother Adeline. “No one’s ever won a dang thing in this family. Who does she think she is, one of the Floyd girls?”

  “Aw, Granny,” said Tugs, patting Granny’s stooped shoulder. “I’ve got two left feet like everyone else in this family. Come on, I’ll take your picture.”

  “Humph,” said Granny, and poked Tugs with her cane. “Get away from me, devil child.”

  Tugs swatted the cane away and held the Brownie in front of her belly. She saw through the viewfinder a square of Granny coming closer. “Wait, Granny,” Tugs said. “Just smile.” She saw Granny’s scowling face, then Granny’s bony hand, then with a yank, Granny grabbed the camera from Tugs and held it to her own chest, letting her cane fall to the ground.

  “I said. I do not. Want my image taken.”

  “Hey!” Tugs protested, and reached for the camera in Granny’s clutches. Granny teetered, then toppled over, and the Brownie flew out of her hands. Aunt Mina, rushing to help Granny, didn’t see the camera and tramped on it with her sturdy shoes. The softened ground gave a bit, but not enough to keep it intact under the weight of Aunt Mina.

  Aunt Mina lifted her foot and looked at the dented cube.

  “Really!” she said, shaking her finger at Tugs. “Cameras are little glass boxes. You can’t go dropping them, Tugs. What do you expect?”

  Tears welled immediately in Tugs’s eyes. She wiped her hand across her face.

  “But I . . .” Tugs started, but by then Granny had set up a wail.

  “Old lady on the ground here, people! Oh, me! I might be broken!”

  Granny was a tiny bit of a woman, and Ned was able to lift her to her feet. He handed Granny her cane and stepped back, in case she decided to poke him, too.

  As Tugs bent down to pick up her camera, she overheard one of the Swisher Buttons say, “That’ll teach her to show everyone up. I mean, two blue ribbons and a Kodak? Serves her right.”

  Something snapped in Tugs then. Why shouldn’t she have a brand-new camera? Why shouldn’t she be the lucky one? She was tired of being a Button. Tired of being the one who comes up short, loses the ball for the team, gets blamed for everything. She stood and faced her grumbling kin.

  “Would all you people just . . . CLAP your TRAPS!”

  There was a collective gasp and then a stunned silence. Aunt Mina put her hands over Gladdy’s ears. Tugs had surprised herself, too. But she stood tall and spoke into the hush.

  “You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. All you do is complain, every one of you.”

  “What kind of parents are you?” Granny hollered to no one in particular. “Shut her up, will you?”

  “Granny!” Aunt Mina exclaimed, and clamped her hand over Granny’s mouth.

  Tugs ignored them. “Burton was wrong. I am not such a Button. I am lucky. And I’m going to go on being lucky. You just watch.”

  The Buttons gaped at Tugs as if she’d declared herself Swedish, or musical, two of life’s many impossibilities.

  “Hear, hear!” exclaimed Granddaddy Ike, waving his cap while the rest of the Buttons resumed their squawking.

  “Well, now,” said Father Button. “Well. There’s our girl. Well.” He put his arm around Tugs’s shoulder and they walked out from under the tree. “Come on, Corrine,” he said to Mother Button. “Let’s go home now. Mina, you can drop Granny off later.”

  “What did she say?” demanded Granny. “Plucky? She’s not a plucky Button. I’m pluckier than the whole lot of you nincompoops. Why, I’ve been a widow since aught seven, and . . .”

  “Bring that girl back here to apologize,” interrupted Aunt Mina. “Shoving and sassing and foul language cannot be tolerated!” But Tugs and her parents trod on.

  Tugs was rolling down her window when Ned ran up.

  “Me, too!” he whispered into the car. “Help me be lucky, too!” Then he turned and said, so that everyone else could hear, “And don’t you ever mess with our Granny again!”

  Tugs sank into the backseat, her Brownie on her lap. The silver exposure lever was stuck. The tiny glass viewfinder was cracked. The side was dented. But remarkably, when she held it up to the window, she could see Buttons large and small, all split and angle
d like a kaleidoscope.

  “Click,” Tugs said. There was her family. Then the car lurched forward and she saw fractured fields of corn fly by. She angled her Kodak upward and saw the weight of the fractured clouds. A dismembered crow crossed the frame.

  The Buttons bumped along the muddy rutted road, windows down to lure a breeze. Tugs waited for reprimand, but none came. She supposed it wasn’t the best luck to begin her lucky life by yelling at her elders. But it was done, and despite the ache her damaged camera produced, she felt surprisingly free and light. Lucky. She was lucky. Her heart sat high in her chest, and she would have sung a tune if she could have thought of a tune to sing. Buttons were not singers.

  Come to think of it, there were a lot of things the Buttons weren’t. Buttons weren’t dancers. They weren’t athletes or readers or jokesters or artists. They weren’t good students or good listeners or standout citizens. The only time a Button had made the Goodhue Gazette, back when there was a Goodhue Gazette, was when Granddaddy Ike accidentally set the town hall on fire with a cigarette, when he nodded off in the lobby next to a full trash can. Not much chance of Buttons appearing in the new Goodhue Progress, either.

  Just as quickly as it came, Tugs’s euphoria evaporated. Was she just a Button, as Burton said? She looked at her mother’s long neck, her father’s unruly hair, and recognized herself as their miniature. But while she couldn’t name it, Tugs had felt a sense of possibility today as she made that small speech, and there had to be a way to get that feeling back.

  It was while lying atop the covers the next morning, mulling over Aunt Mina’s admonishment that cameras were little glass boxes, that Tugs remembered what she’d left at the park on the Fourth of July: the Kodak box and the manual with it. If she had the manual, maybe she could fix her camera.

  Tugs played over the scene again in her mind. The new aluminum model, Mr. Pepper had said. Aunt Mina was wrong. Cameras were not little glass boxes. And there was an instruction manual somewhere to guide her.