Fabulous Five 018 - Teen Taxi

by Betsy Haynes

  "It's just weird, that's all," said Laura, and behind her, the others nodded. "I mean, whoever heard of someone's mother driving a taxi to school?"

  Melanie spun around and stomped off down the hall. "That's all you know!" she shouted back over her shoulder. She knew it sounded dumb, but it was all she could think to say. She had never heard of a mother taxiing kids to and from school before either, but she certainly couldn't admit that to Laura.

  A couple of other kids stopped her in the cafeteria at noon, but at least they asked more politely. Jana and Christie both told her that they had had inquiries, too.

  For the rest of the day Melanie waited for someone else to come up to her and make the dreaded announcement that they had heard about her mother's teen taxi. She cringed each time anyone stopped to speak to her or ask her a question, and she froze every time she heard anyone laughing behind her, afraid to turn around and find that they were laughing at her instead. And what about the teachers? What did they think? The question was on her mind when she stopped in Mr. Neal's room after lunch to talk to him about joining the yearbook staff, but if he had an opinion, he kept it to himself.

  Still, what good did it really do to postpone her total embarrassment one more day? she wondered. Everyone would have to find out about it sooner or later. Unless . . . Maybe there was still time, she thought. If she could only think of a way to talk her mother out of the whole thing.

  "Mom?" she called out as sweetly as she could when she got home from school in the afternoon. "Mom? Where are you? I need to talk to you."

  "Up here, dear," her mother called back from upstairs. "I'm in the bedroom."

  Melanie grabbed an apple from the bowl in the middle of the kitchen table and took the stairs two at a time, finding her mother sitting at her desk in the corner of the master bedroom. Papers were spread across the desk, and Mrs. Edwards was poking away at a small calculator with the eraser end of a pencil and humming under her breath. She looked up when Melanie entered the room and smiled broadly.

  "More good news," she said brightly before Melanie could swallow her bite of apple and say hello. "I've been doing some figuring, and it looks as if my new business is going to be even more profitable than I had expected."

  "Really?" mumbled Melanie. This certainly wasn't the way she had wanted the conversation to start.

  Her mother nodded. "That's right. Mr. Bell said that in Wakeman there are approximately seventy-seven latchkey kids—you know, kids whose parents work so there's no one home to drive them—who are not eligible for bus service." She pushed her glasses up and squinted at her figures. "Now," she went on, "if I can just get five passengers at twenty-five dollars round-trip per week, that's one hundred twenty-five dollars per week altogether, less car expenses. I also might be able to take another load of five students home every day when the after-school activities let out if their parents could drop them off in the morning. If I charge them fifteen dollars a week one way, that would be another seventy-five dollars." She rose to her feet with an air of triumph and waved a finger into the air. "Or a cool two hundred dollars a week. Isn't that spectacular?"

  Melanie let out her breath in one huge burst of air. It was spectacular, all right. But not at all the way her mother meant it. What was spectacular was that she was about to become the laughingstock of Wakeman Junior High so that her mother could earn a measly two hundred dollars a week.

  "Now, of course it's going to take some sacrificing on everyone's part," her mother went on. "I'll have to keep my attention strictly on my driving, so I'm going to have to ask you to ride along both in the morning and after school to supervise Jeffy."

  "What!" shrieked Melanie. "Ride along? After school? But Mom! I can't do that. I'm . . . I'm . . . I'm busy."

  Her mother nodded patiently. "As I said, it's going to take some sacrificing by everyone, but in return we get a beautiful new van, and I finally get a small career. A business of my own that will let me get out of the house some of the time and still be here when I'm needed. Of course, dinner will be later in the evening. And you're going to have to miss one or two things after school. . . ."

  "One or two things?" Melanie asked incredulously. "But Mom. What about cheerleading? You know we practice after school, and I just told Garrett Boldt that I'd be his photography assistant for the yearbook. Sometimes he has to shoot things after school."

  "But we're between sport seasons right now, dear, and there aren't any games, so you aren't practicing as much. In fact, I've already spoken to Miss Wolfe about it. By the time your practices pick up again, we'll have something else arranged."

  "Like what?" challenged Melanie. "And what about times when I have to help Garrett with a photography assignment?"

  "I'm not sure yet, dear," her mother said soothingly. "But we'll work out something."

  "And what about going to Bumpers after school with everyone? I'll never see my friends except in class. You'll ruin my social life!"

  Mrs. Edwards stepped forward, encircling Melanie's shoulders with an arm and looking at her sympathetically. "I know it seems that way right now, sweetheart," she said softly. "But it won't be that bad. You'll see. As I said before, we'll work things out."

  Not that bad? Melanie thought. How could her mother say such a thing? Here she had come home, hoping to talk her mother out of the entire business of running a teen taxi, and instead, she was losing her total social life. How would she face kids at school? And what would she tell Garrett? She'd die if he needed her after school and she couldn't be his assistant. Was her mother going to wreck that, too?

  Melanie blinked and looked back at her mother, who was pacing back and forth across the bedroom, still talking up a storm. ". . . and I've even thought of adding a kindergarten run," she was saying, "except you wouldn't be available to help supervise the children, and they'd be just about as easy to control from the driver's seat as Rainbow's puppies."

  Melanie's pulse quickened at the mention of the eight little dogs. They were probably snuggled up in a heap, sound asleep in their box in the basement at this very moment. She could see them now. Beth and Katie and Christie and Jana. Scott and Shane and Garrett and Jason. A pile of fat little tummies, long, floppy ears, and soft baby snores.

  "What about Rainbow's puppies?" Melanie insisted, feeling tears spurt into her eyes. "You can't just go off and leave them alone all the time. They need to go outside sometimes and things like that." She looked at her mother pleadingly. If anything could get to her, surely this would be it.

  "Why, Melanie, you know we've been planning all along to give them away. In fact, I called the newspaper this morning to put an ad in the classified section."

  Her mother's words stabbed at Melanie's heart, and she sucked in her breath and ran out of the room. She flew down the stairs to the first floor, ignored Jeffy, who called out to her from the kitchen table where he was coloring, and plunged into the basement. In the dim light of the overhead bulb she could see the eight tiny puppies, heaped together and sound asleep, just as she had known they would be. They were beautiful, and she loved them so much that she thought her heart would burst.

  "Oh, Rainbow," she whispered, cupping the mother dog's face in her hands and looking into her gentle, trusting eyes. "What are we going to do?"

  CHAPTER 4

  The next morning Melanie had a plan. Sabotage. Plain and simple. She would talk to kids who were potential customers and convince them not to sign up. The night before she had overheard her mother talking on the phone to the parents of three Wacko students, Shawnie Pendergast, Kevin Walker-Noles, and Michelle Troyer. Melanie knew that there had to be more families her mother was planning to contact, but at least she had somewhere to start. She would try to catch each of them alone, since she dreaded bringing up the subject of the taxi in public. She wished she didn't have to talk about the taxi at all, but she didn't see that she had much choice.

  "Hi, Shawnie," she called as she sauntered onto the school ground and saw Shawnie Pendergast lingering by a tr
ee. "Has my mother called your parents about her new taxi service?"

  "She sure has," said Shawnie, bursting into a grin. "My mom's pretty excited about it. And so am I. It means I get to sleep another half-hour every morning."

  Melanie took a deep breath and crossed her fingers behind her back. Shawnie was playing right into her hands. "Well, with my mom driving, you'll certainly be awake by the time you get to school."

  Shawnie cocked an eyebrow and looked at Melanie. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

  "Oh, nothing," said Melanie with a shrug. "It's just that it's a real adventure riding with my mom. Don't tell your mom, though. Okay? She probably wouldn't let you ride if she knew what kind of driver my mom is."

  She left Shawnie standing in the middle of the school ground with a strange look on her face. This is working, she thought gleefully. The next person she looked for was Kevin Walker-Noles. He was definitely a candidate for the taxi service. He had hated being a latchkey kid so much that he had harassed Christie on the homework hot line just to get attention. She knew he rode his bike to school, but his parents were doing everything they could for him now that they understood his problem.

  She found Kevin locking his bike into the rack by the side of the building. "Hi, Kev," she said, trying to sound casual.

  "Oh, hi, Melanie," he said, snapping the lock in place and walking toward her. "Guess I won't be doing this much longer," he added, nodding toward his bike. "I'll probably start riding with your mom."

  "Really?" Melanie concentrated on putting a worried expression on her face. "What's your first class in the morning?"

  "Biology. Why?"

  Melanie shook her head. "Wow. That's too bad. You'd better explain to Mr. Dracovitch that you'll probably be late most mornings. My mom's never been on time a day in her life."

  "Late?" Kevin burst out. "I can't be late to biology. Besides, homeroom comes before first period. There's no way your mom would be that late."

  "You don't know my mom," said Melanie.

  She spotted Michelle Troyer sitting alone on the steps a few minutes later. Michelle was terribly shy and never spoke up in class and never never talked to boys. Taking a deep breath, Melanie approached her.

  "Hi, Michelle," she called out. "I heard my mom talking to your mom last night. Are you going to ride in the teen taxi?"

  Michelle nodded, but she didn't say anything.

  "Great," said Melanie, plastering a big grin on her face. "It's going to be a blast. The way Mom's signing up riders, we'll be packed in like sardines. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up sitting on each other's lap, but that's okay. She's signed up mostly boys."

  Melanie felt a twinge of guilt as the color drained out of Michelle's face. "Boys?" Michelle whispered.

  "Right," said Melanie. "Hunks from the football team and a bunch of other cute guys. I can't wait, can you?"

  "Um . . . I'll see you later," Michelle stammered as she got to her feet and gathered her books in her arms. "I have to go to my locker."

  Melanie's friends were already at their usual meeting spot by the fence, so after she left Michelle she hurried to them, telling herself that even though the things she had told Shawnie, Kevin, and Michelle were big fat lies, she had had to do it.

  "How's baby Jana and the rest of the puppies?" Jana asked the minute she walked up.

  "Okay, but Mom said the ad to give them away will be in the paper tonight." Melanie moaned. "I just can't stand the idea. Poor little Christie and Beth and Jana and Katie and Scott and Shane and Garrett and Jason!" she said, all in one breath. Gulping in more air, she went on, "How will we know if the people who take them will be good to them? I've read awful stories about people getting pets and then mistreating them."

  "Maybe you won't be able to give them away," offered Beth. "Remember how much trouble we had finding homes for the dogs and cats from the animal shelter?"

  "And all of those animals were paper trained and had their shots," added Jana.

  "Maybe you're right," Melanie mumbled. "But Mom's going ahead full steam with her taxi business just as if she already had homes for the puppies. She got the sign put on both sides of the van yesterday and spent all evening making calls to parents who might want to use her service."

  "How many riders did she get?" asked Katie.

  Melanie shrugged. "I didn't ask. Believe me, it's the last thing in the world I want to talk about. But I did overhear her telling Dad that she wants to start up her taxi service next Monday morning."

  "Wow," said Christie. "This is Thursday. That doesn't give you much time. Does it?"

  Melanie smiled slyly. "Maybe, and maybe not. I've been doing some work on my own."

  Her friends looked at her quizzically.

  "You know how my mom drives," she said.

  "Yeah," said Beth, nodding her head and laughing. "She certainly doesn't poke around."

  "Exactly," said Melanie. "She's always above the speed limit. And you also know how often she's running late. Well," she said slowly, ". . . I've just been spreading the word to kids who might sign up for the taxi service, among other things."

  "Melanie! You haven't," shrieked Katie.

  Melanie nodded and grinned at her friend. "What's wrong with that? I didn't lie. At least, not very much. And besides, they ought to know what they're getting into."

  "I don't know," said Christie. "I'm not sure you should have done that."

  "Me, either," said Jana. "You know your mother takes her responsibility seriously. She's never driven dangerously. I'm sure she'll stay under the speed limit and always be on time with her new taxi service."

  Melanie sighed and shook her head woefully. "But I already told you about having to ride along after school," she wailed. "I can just see all of you going to Bumpers every day without me. I keep seeing pictures in my mind of other girls flirting with Scott, Shane, and Garrett." Her eyes narrowed in anger. "I've got to do something."

  "We'll call you every night and tell you what happened at Bumpers," Christie offered sympathetically.

  "And if we see anybody flirting with those guys, we'll do our best to break it up," promised Beth.

  Melanie was glad when the bell rang. She didn't want to talk to her friends anymore about her predicament. They didn't understand how it felt. Their mothers weren't wrecking everything by embarrassing them at school, messing up their social lives, and giving away eight of the sweetest puppies ever born. She would just have to handle the problem on her own.

  CHAPTER 5

  On Sunday night Melanie tossed and turned in bed, imagining what it would be like to arrive at school the next morning. Would kids laugh when the van saying EDWARDS'S TEEN TAXI pulled up to the curb and other kids got out? Would they snicker behind her back when she walked through the halls and make jokes about her mother's being a taxi driver?

  When she came down to breakfast the next morning Mrs. Edwards was sitting by the phone, frowning and tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter.

  "I've just had another cancellation," she said in an agitated voice. "I don't understand it. I had four students lined up to ride today, and three of their parents have called and canceled. And when I asked them why, they hemmed and hawed and wouldn't really give me a reason."

  Melanie's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, faking concern. Little tingles raced up her spine. Her campaign to sabotage the taxi service had worked. Now surely her mother would give up if no one wanted their children to ride.

  "At least we still have one customer," said Mrs. Edwards with a sigh. "But I'll need to find more if this taxi business is going to succeed. We'll never be able to make the van payments with only one rider."

  Melanie knew she shouldn't feel so jubilant. Her mother really wanted to make her new business work, not just for herself, but for the whole family's benefit as well. But why couldn't she start a business selling her fabulous homemade brownies instead? she wondered. She might get rich. Look what had happened with Famous Amos's cookies, or Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
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  "Hurry with your breakfast, dear," her mother called, interrupting her thoughts. "We'll need to leave in ten minutes."

  Melanie's optimistic mood vanished, and she scowled after her mother, who hurried off to get Jeffy ready for the trip. Melanie couldn't even make something as easy as toast and get it eaten in ten minutes. It was just one more example of what was wrong with running a taxi service. Her mother was more interested in her career than in her daughter's nutrition!

  She downed a fast glass of milk and stuffed the last bite of a banana into her mouth as she climbed into the van ten minutes later.

  Her mother looked up from buckling Jeffy into the front passenger seat and said, "Now, honey, don't forget that you are in charge of your little brother beginning the instant the young man steps into our van."

  "Young man?" Melanie echoed, sliding into the seat directlv behind her mother, her interest suddenly piqued. Perhaps she should have asked more about her mother's riders after all.

  "Yes," said her mother as she started up the engine, backed out of the driveway, and headed down the street. "I'll need your help watching for his street, too. It's Pebblestone Road. His mother said it is four blocks south of here and six blocks west. Then it's the fifth house on the left . . . JEFFY!"

  Melanie gasped as her little brother popped the buckle on his seat belt and rolled out of his seat, heading for the back of the moving van as fast as he could scramble. Just as Melanie leaned forward to grab him, her mother pulled to the curb and hit the brakes, sending her lurching onto the carpeted floor beside Jeffy.

  "Jeffy! You get back in your seat!" shouted Mrs. Edwards. Then she turned her glare on Melanie. "You were supposed to be helping me. Now we can't have things like this happening while we have passengers in the van. Get into the front seat, please, and hold Jeffy on your lap."