by Karen Rispin
Amy made shooing motions at me. I nodded and crawled out toward the opposite side of the clump of bushes from where Mrs. Jackson had gone. As soon as I was out I ran in a loop, up the hill and back around.
"Did you call me, Mrs. Jackson?" I said, panting as I ran up to her from the opposite direction of the fort.
"There you are, Anika," she said. "Your folks are here looking for you."
Without waiting to hear the rest I took off for the dorm with a huge grin on my face. At the top of the hill I almost knocked Mom down. She caught me and hugged me. I squeezed her tight. It was so great to be up tight against the smell and feel of my own mother. It wasn't like I'd been homesick or anything, but it was good to see her.
Daddy hugged me, too, and his rough cheek scratched mine when he gave me a kiss. I let go and looked at them, and realized Tianna was behind them.
"Uh, hi, Tianna," I said. It was weird to see her. It felt like one of those pictures where little kids are supposed to find the thing that doesn't belong. Tianna's head was down and she was looking at me through her bangs. Her hair was brushed and in a barrette, though.
"How did you get so dirty?" she asked.
I frowned and looked down at myself. Making a fort never was a clean job. Then a sick sort of zing went right through me. What would happen about the fort now that Tianna was here? Would we have to let her in? Maybe the rest of the kids would kick me out because of her.
"Ummm…" I said and paused.
Mom broke in. "You can talk later," she said. "Let's go get Tianna settled in."
"You're staying?" I asked Tianna. I'd been hoping Mom and Daddy had just brought her up to see what VCA was like. At least that would give me some time to get used to the idea of Tianna being there with me. It hadn't seemed real before.
"Yeah, I'm staying," Tianna said and glared at me like she was daring me to say something. I looked away.
After all, I had told her to come.
"Hazel," Daddy said, "I'll go drop off some things and talk to Glen Bishop. I should be back in about half an hour. Anika, come get a hug in case I miss you later."
In the middle of the hug, he whispered, "I'm counting on you to do your best with Tianna. We're behind you all the way, and we'll be praying for both of you."
He gave me a grin, gently bopped me on the top of my head with his fist, and left.
We started up toward the dorm, and Mrs. Jackson came over and said, "I moved Lisa to the other room so your cousin can have the bunk above you."
I looked at her in horror. Mrs. Jackson smiled and patted my shoulder. "It's nice to have a chance to let cousins be together," she said. "I'll just go finish moving Lisa's things."
I dropped back beside Mom, who was a little way behind Tianna, and whispered, "Mom! Lisa traded beds so we could share bunks. Mrs. Jackson never even asked her about this."
Tianna looked back and Mom shushed me.
Mom, please," I whispered. "I've got to go and warn Lisa or she's going to think I did it."
"Anika, that's enough fussing, "Mom said, "The first priority is making Tianna feel welcome."
Yeah, right, I thought angrily as I fell into step beside her. I had to make Tianna feel welcome while she was trashing my life.
In the dorm we started putting Tianna's stuff into Lisa's drawers. Mrs. Jackson and Mom were talking at her about how much she was going to like it at VCA, also about the rules and stuff. As usual with grown-ups, Tianna wasn't saying much. She kept looking at me, kind of hopeful and worried.
I felt sorry for her, but I had to warn Lisa. "Excuse me a minute," I said and headed toward the bathroom. You can see the door out of the dorm from our room, so I yanked open the window above the tub and climbed out. A second later I was running full tilt toward our new fort.
"Tianna's here!" I panted as everybody stared at me after I came tearing in. "It's not my fault, Lisa, really it's not."
"What's not?" Amy demanded.
"Mrs. Jackson gave Tianna Lisa's bed," I answered, then I looked at Lisa. "Mrs. Jackson has moved all your stuff into the other room already."
There was a stunned silence, then Amy said, "Maybe we'll end up sharing bunks, Lisa."
"I've got to get back. I had to sneak out to warn you," I said, turning to crawl out of the fort. "Please believe me, Lisa. It wasn't my idea," I said over my shoulder.
She just looked at me without saying anything.
I said, "Please?" one more time, then turned and ran back to the dorm.
By the time I got back, Mrs. Jackson had gone. Sabrina Oats and Esther Mills were sitting on their beds staring at Mom and Tianna as they unpacked.
"There you are, Anika," Mom said and looked at me hard. "I'm going to walk up to Sandy's dorm so I can see her before she leaves for supper. Your dad will know where I've gone."
I nodded. Mom gave Tianna a hug, but Tianna stood stiff as a stick, so she let go and said, "Remember we'll be praying for you, Tianna. We really do care."
Tianna gave one jerky nod and turned back to the drawer she was arranging.
Then Mom reached for me. While she was hugging me she whispered, "You know we pray for you all the time. I think you wanted to help Tianna by inviting her to come. It won't be easy, but she needs your friendship. Look up Galatians, chapter six, and read the first few verses, OK? You can do it."
She gave me another squeeze and left.
I took a deep breath, looked at Tianna, then thought, OK, I will be her friend. I won't cop out.
"Do you want some chow?" I asked Tianna.
"Some what?" she asked, turning around.
Sabrina Oats and Esther Mills laughed, and Tianna whirled on them. "I don't know who you two think you are, but where I come from it's not polite to stare or eavesdrop."
"This is our room, too," Sabrina said. "What are we supposed to do, put our heads under the pillow so we can't hear you?"
"Come on, Tianna, let's get out of here," I said. "It's almost suppertime anyway."
Suddenly I could think of a hundred things I wanted to ask her.
"What happened?" I asked as soon as we were out the door. "I mean, how come you got to come?"
She shrugged and looked away from me. Then she said, "You know, you really conned me. So far Kenya is the pits."
"It is not!" I half yelled.
"It is," she said, yanking out the barrette in her hair and marching across the yard. "That mission station where your parents live is the world's most boring place! No TV, no mall, no nothing. They took me down some stinky little red dirt track covered with cow pies to see these men hacking at hunks of wood."
"I like watching the carvers at Mavivia," I said loudly, following her.
She sat down on the edge of the hill behind a bush so no one could see us from the dorm and kept right on talking. "And this place, so far it looks like some second-rate Bible camp. That woman—what's her name?—Mrs. Jackstoned? All she talked about was rules. You actually like this place?"
"Why don't you just go home then?" I said, jumping to my feet and facing her. "You didn't have to come here!"
Suddenly she put her head down on her knees and started sobbing. I stood looking at her for a second, then sat down beside her. I hugged my knees and looked at her out of the corner of my eye, wondering what on earth to do.
"I did!" she said between sobs. "I did have to come.
Mom left without even saying good-bye, and Dad didn't want me either."
She sobbed even harder. "He said it was because he had to go up north on a job, but that was just an excuse."
"How did he know you could come here?" I asked. "I never told him."
She drew two big whooping breaths and looked up at me. "I asked him," she said, and ducked her head and started crying hard again. "But I didn't want him to say yes."
I shifted uneasily. My seat was beginning to feel cold because the grass was damp. I tried to imagine what it would be like for my parents not to want me.
"Um," I said, "I want you, Tianna," and tr
ied to swallow the guilty, not-wanting-her feelings.
She lifted her head and glared at me through red puffy eyes. "You think I'm stupid?" she demanded. "I heard what you said about me making your friend move."
"I do want you. I promise," I said. "I decided when Mom was talking to me that I will be your friend, no matter what."
She stared at me for a second, like she was trying to decide if she believed me.
"Tianna! Tianna!" somebody yelled. I looked up. Sandy was running across the yard toward us at full tilt.
"What happened to my kitten?" she said, panting, as soon as she was close enough.
Tianna looked away, and I said, "Leave her alone."
"What happened to Jake?" Sandy yelled. "I came right after supper. I'm out of bounds to come here, but I had to know."
Tianna didn't look up. Before I could stop her, Sandy grabbed Tianna's shoulder and shook her, yelling, "What happened to Jake? What did you do to him?"
I shoved Sandy back, and she hit me. I got mad and shoved her as hard as I could. She fell down but got right back up.
"Stop it!" Tianna said. "I don't know. Jake was still there when I left. Dad said he would take him back out to Parkers', but he doesn't always do what he says."
"Leave her alone!" I said to Sandy. "Can't you see she's crying?"
"Oh," said Sandy. She looked like she was going to cry, too. Something inside me twisted, and I wanted to keep Sandy safe. I wished I hadn't pushed her. She said "Oh" again, then whirled and ran off.
"Sorry for pushing you," I yelled after her. She didn't even slow down.
Then it sank in. She said she came after supper. Tianna and I had missed supper. Well, at least we still had chow from home.
"Come on, Tianna, let's go in and get some chow," I said.
She just shook her head without looking up at me.
"I'll bring you some, then," I said and headed for the dorm.
Chapter Nine
I was standing staring at the note I'd found in the cookie crumbs on the bottom of my empty chow tin when Lisa walked in.
"Look at this!" I hissed, waving the note in Lisa's face. I felt hot from head to foot, and the paper shook in my hand.
Lisa took the note out of my hand and read it out loud: "'This chow has been taken as part of the payment for my unicorn. Hope it doesn't poison me. Sabrina Oats.'"
"Those turkeys!" she yelled. "That's stealing! Amy! Muthoni! Look at this!"
"I bet she knew we missed supper, too," I said. "Did she take Tianna's?"
Tianna's box was empty, too. Her note said, "The Bible says we should take care of our relatives. You just helped pay for my unicorn, which your cousin broke."
I slowly shut Tianna's chow tin and put it back. Amy, Muthoni, Lisa, and I just stood there staring at each other for a second. Then Lisa said, "I'm going to get Mrs. Jackson."
"That's telling!" Amy called after her.
"I don't care," Lisa called back.
We looked at each other uneasily. "Well, you don't have to go hungry, anyway," Muthoni finally said. "We snuck you some food."
She reached into her pocket and brought out a couple of hunks of bread with a piece of gooey meat in between. "Here," she said, handing it to me.
Amy took more bread and meat out of her pocket. "It's for Tianna," she said. "We prayed and decided to even let her into the fort."
Lisa, Muthoni, and Amy deciding to be nice to Tianna was the only good part of that whole evening. Tianna took one look at the gooey meat and bread they'd snuck out of the dining room for her and pitched it down the hill. Mrs. Jackson yelled at Sabrina Oats and told her to give the chow back. She said she'd eaten all of it. Ha!
We couldn't get Tianna to come in the dorm until Mr. Jackson practically marched her in for devotions. I forgot to tell her about her missing chow before we went to sleep that night.
Crash!
I sat bolt upright in bed.
The noise had come from the bathroom. It was the middle of the night and pitch dark. Somebody started swearing at the top of her lungs.
"Tianna?" I asked. It was her! "Tianna!" I yelled and started climbing out of bed.
Sabrina screamed and then yelled, "Stop it! Let go of my blankets!"
There was a thud, and Tianna hollered, "You thief! You'll find out you don't mess around with me!"
I started across the floor toward the light and tripped over something soft and lumpy. I was trying to get up when the light came on.
Muthoni was by the switch, blinking. Sabrina and Tianna were tangled on the floor in a blanket, hitting at each other.
I grabbed Tianna and tried to pull her away. Sabrina's nose was bleeding.
"What is going on here?" a deep male voice said. Mr. Jackson was standing there in his housecoat, glaring at us.
"She attacked me!" Sabrina yelled, pointing at Tianna. "She swore out loud and attacked me for no reason." Sabrina wiped at her face with her hand and then stared at the blood and started howling.
"No reason?!" yelled Tianna. "This creep stole my food!"
"I'll deal with these two," Mr. Jackson said, taking a step forward and grabbing both Sabrina and Tianna by the arm. "The rest of you clean up this mess and get back to bed."
Mr. Jackson left, taking Tianna and Sabrina with him. We stared at each other wide-eyed for a second. Everybody from both rooms was there. Then Amy went over and picked up one end of Sabrina's mattress, which was on the floor, and said, "Come on, you guys. Help."
Esther Miller grabbed the other end, and we got busy cleaning up.
Muthoni found Tianna's chow tin on the floor. One side was all dented in. She picked it up, turned it over, and said, "I bet she got up and took this into the bathroom because she was hungry. Then she found the note and got mad."
"Did she ever!" I said.
Just then Mr. Jackson marched Tianna and Sabrina back in. "Tianna," he said, "this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable here, no matter what the provocation. Is that clear?"
Tianna nodded and gave Sabrina a dirty look through her bangs.
Mr. Jackson stood and watched until everyone was in bed, then said, "For Pete's sake, get back to sleep!" and left, slamming the door.
"That man washed out my mouth for swearing!" hissed Tianna. "I'll kill him!"
"Shhh!" half the people in the room shushed. I lay in the dark, as stiff as a board, wishing I was back home with Mom and Daddy.
For breakfast the next morning we had birdseed. Well, it was really hot cereal, but it looked like birdseed, so that's what we called it. I like it. It's bumpy and warm in your mouth and tastes kind of like nuts.
Tianna picked up a spoonful and let it drip off in little globs. Then she did it again, lifting her spoon even higher.
"This stuff is gross!" she said, blobbing her spoon up and down on the top of her cereal. "I can't believe you're eating it."
Lisa giggled. "That's what I thought, too," she said, taking a bite from her bowl. "Actually, it's not as bad as it looks. It's better than glue or fingernails."
"They feed you glue and fingernails?" Tianna said in a squeak.
We laughed, and I said, "Wait and see."
Tianna had made me late for breakfast. She wouldn't get out of bed, and when she finally did she just pulled some clothes on and didn't brush her hair. It was a good thing I'd read Galatians 6:2 like Mom had suggested, otherwise I probably would have just left.
The first verse of the chapter had been talking about what to do when somebody else was being bad. It said we should gently try to help them do right. Then it said, "Share each other's troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord's command."
"Come on, Tianna, brush your hair," I had said. "Your mom can't see you here, and it's Sunday."
"Mind your own business," she had snapped and headed for the door.
Lisa, Muthoni, and Amy had saved us a place at their table, so it could have been worse.
After breakfast we walked up to Sunday school. The sun was shining, and I look
ed up at the dark green hill high above us. The bright edge of a white cloud showed above the top of the hill. It was so pretty against the deep blue sky. I spun and walked backwards to look at the valley. The wind blew the ends of my now-short hair into my face.
Amy giggled. "This wind makes me feel like I have no hair."
I laughed and shook my head so my hair flew around. "My hair's like a horse's mane," I said, running and picking my feet up really high like I was trotting.
"Race you to the fig tree," Muthoni yelled, and took off at a dead run. I quit trotting and tore after her. Her thin brown legs flashed, and she beat me by two steps.
Muthoni and I were still laughing and breathing hard when we went in to Sunday school. Lisa, Tianna, and Amy came in a couple seconds later when we were already singing, "Praise the Name of Jesus." I liked that song and I sang with all my might. "He's my rock…" My hands stung from the clapping. "He's my fortress, he's my deliverer, in him will I trust…"
I remembered how God had kept Lisa and me safe several months before. We'd been swimming in the ocean and had gotten caught in Mida Creek, a very strong current that can grab you and carry you away from shore before you even know it. We'd been carried pretty far—I could still remember how scared we were. But God had been watching over us, and we made it to shore, and back home, safely.
I looked over at Lisa, and she saw me and grinned. Then I looked at Tianna. She was just standing there with her mouth shut. For a minute I thought she was just being mean. Then it hit me that she probably didn't know any of the songs.
As soon as the song was over, Miss Garrett stood up to teach. She's a bossy old lady with legs that look like cigars. Once she gave Darren Brown a demerit for chewing gum. "We have a new student in our class this morning," she said, "but before I introduce her, I'm going to ask her to go and brush her hair." There was a shocked silence, and I slid way down in my seat. Nobody moved.
"Well," said Miss Garrett, glaring at Tianna. "Are you intending to be insubordinate as well as sloppy? At VCA we don't come to Sunday school with our hair looking like a rat's nest."
A couple of boys giggled. Tianna got up and bolted from the room. She didn't come back.