Ice Cream Sandwiched

by Coco Simon

  “Frog and toad? They like slimy animals?” Noor asked.

  “ ‘Frog and Toad’ is the name of a series of books for kids learning to read,” I explained. “You can read the book out loud, and then I’ll help Ian and you help Alex try to read it on their own.”

  “That sounds good,” Noor agreed.

  I spent the next hour happily reading Frog and Toad Are Friends with Ian and Alex. They were the rowdiest kids in the group, and sometimes it was hard not to get swept up by their energy. I had introduced the series to the two boys a few weeks before, and I was secretly thrilled that they both loved the stories. The Frog and Toad books had been some of my favorites when I was little. Frog was kind and patient, and Toad worried about everything and could be a little dramatic, but they were the best of friends, and they always helped each other out.

  Alex started losing his concentration toward the end. He kept on chatting about the new pizza parlor he had visited with his parents. His comment stung a little when I realized that I couldn’t go on pizza outings with my parents anymore.

  “I do not like pizza,” Noor told Alex. “It is very greasy.”

  “WHAT?” Alex screeched. He pretended to fall onto the floor. “You’re totally missing out! You have to go to this pizza place and it’ll blow your mind!”

  Noor smiled. “Thank you, but I think I am okay with disliking pizzas. Now, can you read the next page to me?”

  Alex turned back to the book. I was impressed with how Noor had calmed him down. She had totally shrugged off the fact that she didn’t like a food that practically everyone I knew loved. I wished I had her confidence.

  “This was a very good book,” Noor said when we were finished. “It made me think of my new friend, Mari. She is very kind like Frog.”

  “You made a friend already? That’s nice,” I said, with a little twinge.

  Noor nodded. “We are going to the sixth-grade dance together. My parents both said I could go. I do not know any American music, but I am excited to meet new people at the dance. And I am wearing a new dress.”

  She sat back down at the table and took a notebook and pencil from her backpack. Then she started to sketch a dress with a long skirt, a collared neck, and long, puffy sleeves.

  “It will be blue, and my head scarf will match,” she said. I could feel her excitement, and it almost made me want to go to the MLK dance after all.

  “That’s a beautiful dress,” I said sincerely. “I hope you have a great time. And I hope I will see you again next Tuesday.”

  “I will be here,” Noor replied.

  Then I said something that I felt like I had to say. “I’d like to be your friend too, Noor.” I know it sounded corny, but it felt like the right way to say it.

  “Yes, we are friends,” Noor said. “Are you a Frog or a Toad?”

  I had to think about that. “Mmm, maybe a Frog.” I paused. Lately I might have been acting more like cranky Toad, though.

  Noor smiled. “Then we can be Frog and Frog,” she said.

  I smiled back.

  Then Noor and I said good-bye, and I hopped onto my bike and headed home to the beach house. The whole way, I kept thinking about Noor. She was so comfortable being Noor, if you know what I mean. She was living in a world really different from where she’d come from, but she wasn’t worried about changing to fit in. She was just being herself, and she was doing great. She’d made friends, and she wasn’t worried at all about fitting in at the dance—she was happy to be wearing a dress that she liked.

  Can I just be myself, wherever I am? I wondered. But then again, where am I? I’m still in two places.

  I could feel my phone buzzing in my pocket as I was riding, but I resisted the urge to stop and check it. When I got inside, I yelled, “I’m home!” and found Tanner watching TV in the living room and Mom flipping burgers on the stove. Mom being home, dinner together at home—it was kind of like things were normal again, or whatever normal was these days.

  “Hey, Allie,” Mom said. “Dinner in a few. I’m glad you’re home.” She came over and gave me a quick hug.

  “Great!” I said, noticing that she’d put a little emphasis on the word “home.” “I’m glad to be home too,” I said, hugging her back. I felt bad about stomping out in the morning. “Let me drop off my bag and I’ll come help.”

  I dumped my backpack in my bedroom and checked my phone. I had a bunch of texts.

  One was a selfie that Tamiko had sent, of her posing in her cross-country uniform.

  Third place today!!!!!

  Awesome! I texted back.

  Sierra had sent me a silly meme of a cat playing with a balloon. I texted her back a whole bunch of hearts.

  Amanda had texted me five photos of cute Boston terriers, and I had a text from Colin reminding me of the next newspaper deadline.

  Okay, so I had friends, new and old. That was good. And just then I realized that I’d called out “I’m home.” Because I was. This was my new home. Or one of them at least.

  I took out my journal and wrote a new version of my last haiku.

  Life in the middle

  The ice cream in the sandwich

  And it’s not all bad.

  I decided right then that I was definitely going to the MLK dance, and the Vista Green dance. Staying home would just mean I would be sitting home by myself, and that didn’t seem like any fun. Maybe Noor was right, and change could be good. I still had one problem to solve: getting a dress. But I had an idea about that too.

  During dinner I talked to Mom about it.

  “Mom, I’ve been thinking about the dress,” I said.

  “I have too, Allie, and I have an answer for you—” Mom said.

  “It’s okay,” I interrupted her. “I’m not going to get the dress from Glimmer. But I still need to go to the mall. Can we go tomorrow?”

  Mom sighed. “I need to work late at the shop tomorrow. Your dad was going to take you guys for dinner.”

  “Then he can bring me to the mall,” I said.

  Mom studied me. “I wish I could go with you, but I have to get everything ready for the birthday party on Thursday,” she said. “We can see if Dad can take you instead. But do you promise you won’t get anything too mature?”

  “Promise,” I said. “Besides, if Dad is with me, he won’t let me get anything too short!”

  Mom laughed. “Yeah, he definitely won’t. Okay, Allie. I trust you. I’ll fill Dad in, but I think he can handle helping you.”

  “Mom,” I said. “Dad is great at a lot of things, but maybe not dress shopping.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “Okay, how about you see if Sierra and Tamiko can go with you? Does that work?”

  I leaned over and threw my arms around her neck. “Thanks, Mama!”

  Then I started chattering about what Tamiko and Sierra were thinking about wearing, and how at Vista Green they had a DJ and everything. Mom smiled as I talked, and I could tell that she was really listening, not just half listening while she tried to answer work e-mails.

  “Oh, my baby girl is all grown up and going to dances,” Mom said. She looked at me with this sappy expression on her face. “But I’m so glad you’re acting like yourself again.”

  Tanner looked up from his burger. “Who else is she supposed to act like? That makes no sense.”

  I laughed. “You know what, Tanner? You’re right!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  TOTALLY ALLIE

  Thanks to a few texts after dinner, I arranged for Dad to drop off me, Tamiko, and Sierra at the mall after school.

  “Tanner and I will be back here at five thirty,” Dad said from the front seat of the car when we got to the mall. “And then I thought we could stay here and go to the Bombay Café for dinner. I’m craving vindaloo. Tamiko and Sierra, can you join us? Otherwise I’ll bring you home.”

  “Are you kidding? They have the best samosas,” Tamiko said. “I’m texting my mom right now!”

  “I think I can do it too,” S
ierra said as she texted on her phone.

  “Great! Have fun dress shopping,” Dad said, and we got out of the car. “And remember what you talked to Mom about. We trust you’ll get something appropriate.”

  “Mr. Shear, are you giving fashion advice?” Tamiko said. I realized I hadn’t filled them in on the dress drama.

  “Don’t worry, Dad,” I said as we walked away toward the store.

  “It’s nice to go out to a restaurant in the middle of the week,” Sierra remarked. “That’s really cool of your dad.”

  “He takes us out to eat a lot,” I said as we walked through the Commons. “I don’t think he likes cooking very much.”

  “That’s funny. My dad loves to cook,” Sierra said. “Even more than my mom, I think.”

  “Your mom is the best cook, though, Allie,” Tamiko remarked. “I really miss her chicken. You need to invite me over for dinner sometime.”

  I nodded. “I will, when things calm down for Mom,” I said. “She’s been really crazy with the new business.”

  “Well, I think it’s really brave that she took a risk and opened a new business,” Tamiko said. “Kai says that fifty-nine percent of all new hospitality-based businesses fail in the first year.”

  I stopped short. “Really?” I asked. “That sounds like a lot.”

  “Your mom is not going to fail,” Sierra said confidently. “Tamiko shouldn’t have said that.”

  “What? It’s a fact. It’s math,” Tamiko protested. “And anyway, I didn’t say Mrs. S. was going to fail. She is obviously not going to fail. Remember, she has us working for her!”

  “And her business is going to explode after the MLK dance on Friday,” Sierra said. “Once everybody tastes her ice cream, they’ll be hooked.”

  “Yeah, I hope so,” I said nervously.

  “So, why aren’t we going to that boutique in Upper Springfield?”  Tamiko asked. “Glitter Glammer Glommer?”

  “It’s Glimmer,” I corrected her, and I shook my head. “I’m not getting that dress.”

  “Thank goodness!” Tamiko cried. “That dress was awful.”

  “Tamiko!” Sierra scolded her.

  “What? I know you agree with me,”  Tamiko shot back.

  Sierra frowned. “Well, I do. But there’s a nicer way to say it.”

  I’d been a little nervous about inviting Sierra and Tamiko to the mall. They’d been bickering so much recently, and they had sounded so upset during the conversation I’d overheard. But Sierra and Tamiko had both agreed to come dress shopping with me, so I wasn’t going to press them about their argument. I hadn’t wanted to go alone, and Dad had seemed pretty relieved when I’d asked if Tamiko and Sierra could go instead of him.

  “Come on with me to Daisy’s,” I said now. “There’s a dress I want to show you.”

  The night before, I had checked online for the dress I’d found a couple of weeks before, the one that Amanda and Eloise had told me not to get. But thanks mostly to Noor, I no longer cared about wearing the “right” dress to the Vista Green dance. I only wanted to wear a dress that felt like me.

  “Ooh, I love this place,” Tamiko said when we walked inside. “I have been eyeing a scarf here for ages.”

  “And they have the flowy kind of long skirts I love. I think they’re called ‘boho skirts,’ and they’re on sale!” Sierra said.

  “Can I please show you the dress first?” I asked. “I want to make sure they still have my size.”

  “Of course,” Tamiko said. “To the dress!”

  I spotted the dress hanging on the wall, and Tamiko and Sierra followed me to it—the pink-and-purple dress with a scoop neck, and ruffles on the sleeves and the skirt.

  “Hmm,” Tamiko said. “It’s very ruffly. But it’s totally Allie!”

  “Try it on!” Sierra urged.

  Thankfully, the store had my size. I went into the dressing room and tried it on. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I wanted to squeal. The dress was perfect. It wasn’t last-year Allie, or MLK Allie, or Vista Green Allie. It was just right for the new Allie, the girl who lived in two worlds and was trying to make the best of both of them.

  I stepped out to show Tamiko and Sierra.

  “Oh, I love it!” Tamiko explained. “Those colors are great with your complexion. It looks much better on.”

  “You look beautiful, chica,” Sierra said. “You have to get it.”

  “I’m getting it!” I cried.

  “So, is this dress for the MLK dance, or for the Vista Green dance?” Tamiko asked.

  “Well, actually, I’m thinking I could wear it to both dances,” I said. “I mean, I love it so much, and what’s the point of just wearing it once?”

  “I’m not sure how cool it is to wear the same dress to two dances, though,” Tamiko said.

  “Who cares?” Sierra asked. “Just don’t post it on SuperSnap, and nobody will know.”

  I considered this. “I’m going to do it,” I said. “I just need to send a picture of it to Mom and Dad. Then I need shoes.”

  “Okay, but first I need to go check out those scarves,” Tamiko said. “Meet you at the register!”

  Mom texted back right away, Beautiful dress for a beautiful girl. Then Dad and Tanner came in and waited with me while I paid for it. Then we went to the shoe shop, but Dad had to take Tanner somewhere else because he threw a fit. “Shoes!” he groaned. “So many shoes. Ugh!”

  At the shoe store I found a pair of pink flats that matched the dress perfectly. And the best thing was that after paying for the shoes, I still had some of the tip money I’d saved up.

  “Where should we go next?” Sierra asked. “We still have some time before we meet back up with your dad.”

  Counting my extra money had given me an idea. “Can we go to the bookstore, please?”

  “That is such an Allie answer,” Tamiko teased, but she didn’t argue. I knew that she loved to haunt the DIY section, looking for inspiration for her projects.

  The bookstore was a cute little independent shop called the Book Nook. They had a tiny café in the front where you could buy lattes and sit and read if you wanted. Normally I loved to browse the shelves, but that day I had a specific book in mind.

  I found the shelf marked “Series” and picked up the newest book in the Secret Sisters series. I was going to lend it to my new friend Noor so that she could read it first.

  We walked around the Commons, and then we saw Dad and Tanner coming toward us.

  “Who wants some Indian food?” Dad asked.

  “Me!” Tamiko replied loudly.

  We all went to the Bombay Café and ate potato-stuffed dumplings called samosas, and rice and chicken in a sauce that wasn’t too spicy (except for Dad’s, which was really spicy). And we laughed and talked, and it reminded me of the days when we all lived closer together. But the funny thing was, I didn’t miss Mom. I mean, of course I would have liked her to be there, but for once I didn’t spend the whole dinner wishing she were there and wishing things could be the way they used to be. And that was nice. It was just kind of the way it was now.

  After dinner we dropped Tamiko and Sierra off at their houses. Then I realized something. I had gone to the mall right after school, and I didn’t have an overnight bag for Dad’s apartment.

  “Dad, can we stop at Mom’s house?” I asked. “I need to get my overnight bag.” Dad had decided at the last moment that I should stay over.

  “Sure, Allie,” he said. Then after a second he said, “I’m sorry if it’s making your life difficult, having to go back and forth between places.”

  I thought about this. It was kind of difficult. But Dad was saying this after he’d left work early in order to take me and my friends to the mall, buy us dinner, and then drive everybody home. He really was trying to make things easy for us too.

  “It’s all right, Dad,” I said. And then I qualified it by saying, “mostly,” because I didn’t want him thinking that everything was perfect.

  “I think we
need a better system,” said Dad. He was really into charts and systems, so I braced myself. But he just said, “Let’s get each of you two sets of almost everything you need. I know that sometimes you’ll still need to pack up clothes to take back and forth, but we can probably do a better job of keeping things at both houses so that you feel more settled.”

  Tanner piped in, “Like two game systems?

  “Nice try,” said Dad. “I mean like socks and underwear, pajamas, maybe even an extra pair of jeans each and sneakers. You should always have at least one outfit at my house so that you don’t need to go home to get something.”

  I thought about what he’d said. “Dad,” I said softly. “You said ‘go home.’ Is Mom’s house our home?”

  Dad pulled the car over and turned around. “No. No, I don’t mean that at all. You have two homes now, one at Mom’s house and one at mine. But the thing is, they are both your houses too. You will be at home in whatever house you’re in.”

  “That’s confusing,” said Tanner.

  “It is,” Dad agreed. “And it’s hard. And I know you kids are trying really hard. Soon enough it will feel more natural. You’ll see. These changes will get easier for all of us.”

  I blinked hard because I could feel the tears coming. There was that word again: “change.” Would it ever be easier to say good night to Dad on the phone instead of in person? It was quiet in the car as we all thought.

  “Are we sleeping here tonight?” asked Tanner, looking around. “Like a campout in the car?”

  “No,” said Dad, laughing. “You’ll sleep at home. But first we can stop at your other house so that Allie can get an outfit for tomorrow.”

  He started up the engine, and we pulled back onto the street. I looked into the other houses as we drove by. I could see families at dinner and watching TV, things we had all done together in our old house. Mom’s house was dark when we pulled up. Wow, she really was working late at the store.

  Dad opened up his car door. “I’ll go in with you and help you get the lights,” he said, and I was glad. I punched in the code for the door, and it flung open. Dad stepped in and flicked on the lights. I ran up and grabbed some stuff, then paused. In Mom’s room I left a note on her pillow. “Love you, and we’ll be home soon. XXOO Allie and Tanner.”  Then I left the front hall light on so it wouldn’t be totally dark when she came home.