Valentine Queen

by Marci Peschke

  That gives me another idea. Maybe Miss Clarabelle’s doggie, Tess, will want to visit, too! After all, nothing cheers a person up quite like puppy kisses.

  “Ugly Brother, would you like Tess to come, too?” I ask.tor

  He jumps back up on my bed, licking my ear like I’m hiding a doggie bone in there. I am sure that means yes. I remind myself to ask Miss Clarabelle for permission. I just know she’ll think it’s a good idea!

  Before I turn out the lights and go to sleep, I add one more thing to the list of sweet deeds I’ve done so far:

  4. Share my candy with Mr. Jim

  The next day I am so sleepy! My brain was way too busy to go to sleep last night. I tried really hard to close my eyes, but there were so many things to think about.

  Usually when Momma calls up to me that it’s time to get up, I am already awake, but today she has to call me two times. It takes me forever to get dressed. I wash my face and brush my hair in slow motion.

  When I get downstairs for breakfast, Momma has everything on the table. “How did you sleep, Sweet Pea?” she asks.

  “I was too busy thinking,” I tell her. “I forgot to sleep!”

  “I have an idea that will help you wake up,” Momma says. “Why don’t you take Miss Clarabelle’s dog for a quick walk before school?”

  “Good idea!” I agree. I gobble down my breakfast and slip out the back door. It’s very quiet outside. It seems like the whole town of Jacksonville is still tucked in bed under the covers.

  Even though I tap extra quietly on Miss Clarabelle’s door, I seem to wake everyone up! Suddenly I see three cars, the newspaper boy on his bike, and two mommas out jogging.

  A moment later, Miss Clarabelle opens the door. She is wearing a housecoat with teacups on it. “What a nice surprise!” she says. “Did you come for a little visit before school?”

  “Momma sent me to see if your little doggie needs a walk,” I explain.

  “That sure is sweet of you, Kylie Jean. I am sure she would love to take a walk,” Miss Clarabelle says. “Is Ugly Brother going for a walk, too?”

  “No, ma’am, he’s under the kitchen table waiting for T.J. to drop some food,” I explain. “It’ll just be a short walk for us girls so I don’t miss my bus.”

  Miss Clarabelle clips Tess’s pretty purple leash to her collar and hands it to me. We head off down the sidewalk.

  Tess is a good little dog while we walk. She doesn’t try to run off or bark at birds singing their morning songs in the trees.

  We are headed around the block when I notice that Mr. Jones’s newspaper is lying in the road. The paperboy must have missed his front porch. Tess and I stop to help. I carry his newspaper up to the porch and ring the doorbell. Ding-dong!

  Mr. Jones comes to the door and I hand him his paper. “Here you go, Mr. Jones,” I say. “This was in the street.”

  Mr. Jones smiles at me. “Thank you, Kylie Jean!” he says. “That’s awful nice of you.”

  As Tess and I turn the corner to my street, I hear a rumbly rattling sound a few streets over. Uh-oh! “Hurry, Tess!” I say. “Mr. Jim’s bus is coming.”

  We dash up the steps to Miss Clarabelle’s front porch. “Thank you for letting me walk Tess,” I say. “The bus is coming. See you later!”

  Momma is standing at the fence with my backpack, waving for me to hurry up. I see T.J. race out the door behind her, so I’m not the only one who’s late today. T.J. and I make it to the curb just as Mr. Jim is getting ready to pull away.

  I take a seat behind Mr. Jim. “Were you waiting for me?” I ask him.

  Mr. Jim shakes his head. “I can’t wait, or everyone would be late,” he tells me. “You kids are supposed to be ready to go when I drive up.”

  I look up and see Mr. Jim wink at me. As soon as I see that, I know he did a sweet deed for me so I wouldn’t miss the bus.

  “Okay, then. Thank you anyway,” I say.

  By the time I get to school, I feel wide awake. That walk sure did the trick! I can’t wait to tell my teacher all about Oak Manor. I find Lucy, and we go talk to Ms. Corazón about my idea.

  I tell our teacher about my plan, then say, “Getting more visitors for Oak Manor is my pet project!” Momma taught me that a pet project is the one you like the best.

  “I love your idea,” Ms. Corazón says. “I think it could it be a project for the whole class. Some of the other students might want to visit the lonely folks, too, but first we need more information.”

  “I can get more!” I offer. “I’ll ask my momma to take me to visit Oak Manor.”

  When Lucy and I get back to our desks, our friends Paula and Cara are sitting there. And there’s something else sitting there, too — a fancy heart-shaped box of chocolates and a pretty pink flower right on top of my desk.

  “What’s that?” Lucy asks.

  “I don’t know,” I reply. “I didn’t see anyone put it there.”

  “Is there a note?” Paula asks.

  I pick up the box and turn it over. But there’s nothing to tell me who it’s from. “Nope,” I reply, shaking my head.

  “I bet it’s from a secret admirer!” Lucy says. “Can I please help you open it?”

  “Can we please help you eat it?” Cara asks.

  “Sure!” I say. My friends and I just love chocolate.

  When Lucy opens the box, we find out my secret admirer likes candy, too. One of the chocolates has a big bite out of it!

  I take a chocolate for myself before passing the box to my cousin and my friends. I take a bite — mmmm! Caramel, my favorite!

  As we snack on our sweet treats, I look at the candy box again. It is super mysterious. Whoever left it didn’t leave a single clue — except for the nibbled piece of candy. I look around for a kid with chocolate on his or her face, but I don’t see a single one.

  5. Walk Miss Clarabelle’s dog

  6. Deliver newspaper

  That afternoon, Momma agrees to take me to Oak Manor to talk to Miss Betty, the woman in charge, about my idea. It is a warm, sunny day, so there are lots of folks sitting on the porch in rocking chairs.

  “Welcome!” one man calls out.

  “Who are you here to visit?” another asks.

  “I’m Mrs. Carter,” Momma introduces herself. “And this is Kylie Jean. We’re here to see Miss Betty.”

  The folks on the porch nod, smile, and wave as we go inside. Momma called Miss Betty last night to ask if we could visit, so she is waiting for us in the entryway.

  “Hello, there!” Miss Betty says, shaking our hands. “It’s so nice to meet you both.”

  Miss Betty leads us into her office. There is a big desk, large windows draped with pink, rose-covered curtains, and a wall of bookshelves. Across the room are some comfy pink chairs for company to sit in.

  “Please sit down,” Miss Betty says.

  “Thank you,” Momma replies as we both take a seat. The chairs are so big and soft. Mine practically swallows me right up!

  “I just love your office!” I say, looking around. “Pink is my color. Is it yours, too?”

  Miss Betty gives me a sweet smile. “I am very fond of the color pink!” she confesses. “Now tell me about your idea. Your momma said it has something to do with the folks who live here.”

  “My class at school is working on a Be Sweet project,” I say. “We are supposed to do fourteen sweet deeds in February. And since my bus driver, Mr. Jim, said there are lots of lonely folks here, I thought it would be sweet to visit with them!”

  “That’s a wonderful idea!” Miss Betty says. “I’m sure our residents would love some company.”

  “I told my teacher about my idea, and she thought my whole class should get involved,” I continue.

  Miss Betty looks thrilled. “We already have some volunteers,” she says, “but you can never
have too much company!”

  Miss Betty offers to give us a tour of Oak Manor. As we’re walking around, I see my friend and neighbor, Grace. She is wearing a striped apron. It is so cute!

  “Hi, Grace!” I say. “Do you work here?”

  “Sort of,” Grace replies. “I volunteer here as a candy striper.”

  “What’s a candy striper?” I ask. “Can I be one, too?”

  “A candy striper is a special kind of volunteer,” Grace says. “You have to be sixteen.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to wait!” I reply.

  Miss Betty continues our tour and shows us the dining room. It has a beautiful piano for music programs and tables so the residents can play cards and games.

  Next is the living room. It has a giant, noisy TV. Two men are watching it with the volume turned all the way up.

  “They can’t hear very well, so they like the volume loud!” Miss Betty shouts.

  Next, Miss Betty shows us where all of the residents live. Each resident shares a room with one other person. The rooms are nice and big with room for two beds and a little sitting area. Most of the rooms are decorated with photos, paintings, books, and other little treasures to make them feel like home.

  At the end of our tour, Miss Betty says, “I am so happy that you picked us for your pet project, Kylie Jean. Having so many young people around will really make our residents happy.”

  Miss Betty gives Momma a list of the residents. It’s for me to take to school so my teacher can see how many students we’ll need. Then she shakes Momma’s hand and mine, too. “Thank you so much,” she says.

  On the way home, we pass the fire station and an idea hits my brain like chocolate on fudge. “Momma, can we please bake those nice firemen some cookies?” I ask. “It’d be a sweet thing to do.”

  “You are full of sweet ideas!” Momma says. “Okay, but only if you don’t have too much homework and promise to help clean up after.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal!” I say.

  As soon as we get home, Momma and I mix up a big batch of chocolate-chip cookies for the firefighters. The whole house smells so yummy!

  When T.J. gets home, he hangs out with us for a while. I can tell he’s hoping to get a cookie. “It sure smells tasty in here,” he hints.

  Finally, Momma gives in. “Okay, T.J., you can have a cookie.” she says. “But only if you drive Kylie Jean over to the fire station so she can drop them off. I need to cook dinner.”

  T.J. looks and looks, but he can’t find the keys to his truck. We look everywhere. T.J. checks his pockets. Momma looks by the front door. I dig through his backpack.

  Suddenly I spot them — in Ugly Brother’s dog dish. Silly brothers are always playing tricks on each other!

  T.J. and I drive over to the fire station and deliver the cookies. Those firefighters sure are grateful — and hungry! The cookies are almost gone before T.J. and I even leave!

  After dinner, Momma helps me write a letter to my teacher. We include all the things we learned today from Miss Betty about Oak Manor, including the residents who need visitors.

  When we’re finished, I make two new additions to my list of sweet deeds:

  7. Make cookies for the firemen

  8. Find T.J.’s keys

  The next day, Momma gives me the letter we wrote for Ms. Corazón. I put it in my backpack so it’ll be safe. I can’t wait to give it to my teacher so we can get started on our class project right away!

  On the way to school, I sit in my favorite seat, right behind Mr. Jim. “Did you go to Oak Manor yet?” he asks.

  “Yup! I sure did!” I tell him proudly.

  “Did you meet my momma?” Mr. Jim asks.

  I shake my head. “Not yet, but maybe today I will.”

  When I get to my classroom, I tell Lucy, Cara, and Paula all about Oak Manor. I am so busy talking that I almost forget to give Ms. Corazón the envelope from Momma! Luckily, I remember to hand it to her right before the late bell rings.

  As soon as the morning announcements are over, we start math practice. I watch as Ms. Corazón opens the letter and reads it.

  Lucy leans over and whispers, “You’d better stop staring and do your math or you’ll get a bad grade.”

  I sigh. “I know, but I’m so excited about this project and the big anniversary party that it’s hard to think!” I whisper back.

  At last, Ms. Corazón announces that she is going to assign students to residents at Oak Manor for our class project. Right away I raise my hand in the air. I do a little beauty queen wave too, just for practice . . . nice and slow, side-to-side, with a dazzling smile.

  Ms. Corazón notices my wave. “Yes, Kylie Jean, do you have a question?”

  “It’s not really a question. It’s a request,” I tell her. “Please, please, can I be assigned to Miss Rose? She is the best friend of my bus driver’s momma.”

  “Okay, Kylie Jean. Since this is your pet project, you may work with Miss Rose,” Ms. Corazón says. “Now who wants to be Kylie Jean’s partner?”

  Lucy and Randall Jeremiah Johnson raise their hands right away. They both want to help Miss Rose, too, but Lucy gets picked to be my partner. We celebrate with a quick squeezy hug.

  From the corner of my eye I see Randall Jeremiah stick out his tongue at Lucy. How rude! I guess he just doesn’t understand that best cousins like to do everything together.

  Once all the students and residents are paired up, Miss Corazón hands out permission slips to the class.

  “We’ll be visiting Oak Manor after school tomorrow,” she tells us. “You’ll all need to get your permission slips signed if you want to go.”

  When I get home, I call Miss Betty right away to tell her we are coming the next day after school.

  “That’s wonderful, Kylie Jean!” Miss Betty says. “We can’t wait to see you and your classmates tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I can’t wait either!” I tell her.

  Time is not my friend, because it will not hurry up! I have to wait all evening, all night, and all the next day at school until I can go meet Miss Rose. Finally the last bell rings, and it’s time to go.

  Momma is waiting for Lucy and me outside. She’s going to drive us to Oak Manor. Mr. Jim will miss us, but he only stops at kids’ houses, not retirement homes.

  Lucy and I sit in the backseat next to the flowers Momma brought for us to give to Miss Rose. On the way, we talk about Nanny and Pa’s surprise anniversary party.

  “We need to get our invitations sent out soon,” Momma says. “Otherwise there won’t be very many guests to shout surprise!”

  Lucy and I look at each other. “We’ll help!” we say at the same time.

  Momma smiles at us. “Okay, let’s work on them together.”

  Miss Betty is waiting for us on the porch when we pull up. She is holding a clipboard with notes and wearing a suit the color of pink bubble gum.

  “Miss Betty’s color is pink, too!” I whisper to Lucy as we walk up.

  “I am glad to see you girls!” Miss Betty says. “Grace is going to take you to meet Miss Rose. I have to stay here and greet the other students.”

  Momma hands us the flowers. Lucy and I walk over to Grace, who is waiting by the door in her candy-striper apron.

  “Miss Hattie and Miss Rose live in room number two,” Grace tells us as we walk down the hall. She stops outside a door. “Here we are. Two ladies in room two with two volunteers to visit them!”

  Grace opens the door. “Miss Hattie, Miss Rose, you have some visitors!” she says. “Meet Kylie Jean and Lucy.”

  I can guess right away which one is Mr. Jim’s momma. Miss Hattie is tall, just like Mr. Jim, and has gray hair. Miss Rose is tiny with white hair. I notice that their room smells good, like lemon drops and lavender.

  I hand Miss Hattie a sunny
bouquet of daisies, and I let Lucy give Miss Rose the bouquet of pink roses.

  “Thank you, girls,” Miss Rose says, accepting the flowers. “That is just so sweet of you.”

  “Miss Rose, would you like us to read to you, or do you want to have a little chat first?” I ask.

  “How about we do both,” Miss Rose replies. “First we’ll talk a bit and then you can read to me.”

  I tell Miss Rose all about my family and Ugly Brother. “Maybe I can bring him to meet you someday,” I offer.

  Miss Rose tells us she used to be a librarian. On her side of the room are three tall bookshelves full of books. “Books are like friends,” she says. “They can keep you company.”

  Lucy and I go to the shelf to choose a book to read. There are so many books to choose from! Some of them look too hard for us, but then we see The Secret Garden.

  Lucy and I sit on the floor right beside Miss Rose’s chair in a pool of yellow sunshine and take turns reading. We can tell Miss Hattie is listening, too.

  When it is time to go, Miss Rose gives us both big hugs. “You girls have two kind hearts,” she says.

  I give her a big squeezy hug back. I also have two new things to add to my list:

  9. Bring flowers for new friends

  10. Read to Miss Rose

  After I get home that night, Momma and I get right to work on the invitations to Nanny and Pa’s surprise party. We spread all our supplies out on the table.

  We choose a pretty pink invitation. It has a shiny silver border around the edge and silver writing on it.

  “What do you think?” Momma asks.

  I study the invitation. “It looks great!” I say. “But . . . why does it say Linda Jo and Johnny?”

  “Well, none of my parents’ friends call them Nanny and Pa or Momma and Daddy,” Momma explains. “So Aunt Susie and I decided to use their first names.”