Sophie's Stormy Summer

by Nancy N. Rue

“God didn’t write that list,” Mama said. “Kitty did.”

  Sophie felt her heart plunging right down to the pit of her stomach, where it made a hard knot. An almost-angry knot. Lacie patted Sophie’s leg under the counter and then raised her hand.

  “Can I just say one thing?” Lacie said.

  “Go for it,” Daddy said, before Mama could answer.

  “There isn’t anything on that list that goes against what God says in the Bible,” Lacie said. “And after all, it’s just hair.”

  “It’ll grow back,” Daddy said. His lips twitched. “It grows way fast.”

  Mama looked at Sophie, and the tears came. “Your beautiful hair,” she said.

  “She’ll look really cute with short hair, Mama,” Lacie said.

  “Willoughby’s aunt can cut it,” Sophie said.

  Mama closed her eyes and nodded.

  Eleven

  Sophie could hardly breathe. “So are you telling me that I can do it, Mama?” she said.

  Mama nodded again. The bacon sizzled and popped below her.

  “I’m calling Willoughby!” Sophie said, sliding off the stool.

  “Uh, Soph,” Daddy said. “It’s six o’clock in the morning. You might want to cut her a little slack.”

  Sophie thought she would go mental before Mama finally said it was a reasonable hour. Willoughby gave a couple of poodle shrieks and said she could already imagine how her aunt Heather would fix Sophie’s hair. She called back ten minutes later and said Sophie was on for one o’clock that afternoon.

  That gave Sophie plenty of time to gather Darbie and Maggie. And plenty of time to stand in front of the mirror and imagine herself without the acorn-colored hair draped across her shoulders. She pulled it all up in the back and tried to loop it so that it was just chin length.

  You have great hair, she could hear Genevieve say.

  Your hair is super thick, Willoughby said in her memory. I can do all kinds of cool things with it.

  Your hair’s thicker than mine now, Lacie seemed to whisper in her ear.

  Sophie stared at her reflection, but she couldn’t see a chin-length bob. The mirror was a blur.

  Sophie closed her eyes and imagined Kitty walking into Great Marsh Middle School wearing a newsboy cap to match her Willoughby-designed outfit — and B.J. cruising past and plucking it off her head, with Julia and Anne-Stuart screaming, “Gross!” until the entire seventh-grade class joined them in a chant.

  Sophie shook away the tears and realized she was holding a strand of hair under her nose like a mustache.

  “I won’t be able to do THIS anymore,” she said to her mirror-self. “And that’s okay — because I’m not confused.”

  So with her Corn Flakes on each side of the stylist’s chair — except Fiona and Kitty, of course — Sophie watched Willoughby’s aunt Heather cut straight through the perfect thick braid Mama had made, place it on the counter, and transform her into someone she barely recognized. When Aunt Heather was through trimming and blow-drying and curling, they all gazed with her into the mirror.

  “You’re as precious as you can possibly be,” Aunt Heather said.

  “You look so much OLDER,” Mama said.

  “I can’t wait to try different stuff with it,” Willoughby said.

  “This is CLASS,” Darbie said.

  “I liked it better before,” Maggie said.

  When they all glared at Maggie, she said, “Kitty will look good in it though.”

  Aunt Heather placed the cut-off braid in a plastic bag and then in the padded envelope Mama had brought, just like it said on the Locks of Love website, just the way the actual person had told Mama on the phone that morning. The person on the phone had also told Mama that the majority of all hair donated came from children who wanted to help other children. Mama had cried again.

  But she wasn’t crying now. She looked like she was so proud she could have made an announcement on the six o’clock news. She did the next best thing and took them all to Dairy Queen after she put Sophie’s hair in the mail.

  Sophie spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to look at herself in the mirror every ten seconds. When Daddy got home, he looked at her from all sides and said, “Looking sharp, Soph. Looking real sharp.”

  “She doesn’t look ‘sharp,’ ” Lacie said. “She looks fabulous.”

  That might have been the best compliment of all.

  The phone rang right after supper, and it was Genevieve for Sophie.

  “I have the evening off,” she said. “I thought I’d come over and see you, if that’s okay.”

  “It’s MORE than okay,” Sophie said. It was all she could do not to tell Genevieve about her haircut. She wanted to see the look on her face when she saw her.

  But it wasn’t Genevieve’s face Sophie saw when she opened the front door. It was Fiona’s. They both screamed at the same time, bringing the entire rest of the LaCroix family running.

  “Fiona!” Mama said. “You’re home early!”

  “They couldn’t stand her at camp any longer,” Genevieve said behind her. “I had to go get her today.”

  Sophie flung her arms around Fiona’s neck. Fiona put her hands on Sophie’s shoulders and held her out at arm’s length.

  “What did you do to your hair?” she said.

  Sophie twirled around. She’d figured out that it felt cool to have her hair swing and bounce around her face. “Do you like it?” she said.

  Fiona gave a slow nod. “I think so. I have to get used to it.”

  “I have SO much to tell you,” Sophie said. She turned to Mama. “Can we go up to my room?”

  “Like we could stop you,” Daddy said on his way back to his study.

  Genevieve held up Fiona’s backpack. “We brought this just in case.”

  “You don’t even need to ask,” Mama said. “I’m going to make some welcome-home — something.”

  In seconds they were both on Sophie’s bed talking over each other.

  “I can’t believe you’re HOME — ”

  “I was totally DESPONDENT — they had to let me — ”

  “SO much stuff has happened — ”

  “Like you making a honking-huge decision without ME.”

  Sophie stumbled over her own next sentence. “You mean my hair?” she said.

  “Well, yeah. Don’t we usually discuss major stuff like that?”

  “But wait till you hear why I did it,” Sophie said.

  She told Fiona some of the things that were on Kitty’s list and all about Locks of Love and how she’d had to turn inside out to convince Mama and how Daddy and Lacie had stood behind her. When she was done, Fiona still had her arms folded.

  “I thought you’d think it was awesome,” Sophie said. “It’s for Kitty!”

  “Kitty’s hair is gonna grow back as soon as she goes into remission,” Fiona said. “Which is probably going to be any day now.”

  “I thought it was going to take at least a year.”

  Fiona finally smiled. “Since when did Kitty ever follow the rules?”

  Sophie waited for the Fiona pump-up that always happened when Fiona put things in their right places. But Sophie didn’t feel all-of-a-sudden hopeful. She felt a little annoyed.

  “I don’t think she gets to decide,” Sophie said. “Even SHE knows it’s going to take a long time.”

  Fiona tossed her head. “Only because people have been telling her that,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I couldn’t stand being away at camp. SOMEBODY has to tell Kitty not to listen to all these heinous predictions.” She got up and pulled a pen out of the cup on Sophie’s desk. “I have to get caught up with you guys on letters — I’m writing her one right now and telling her not to believe all that stuff. She’s not as sick as they say she is. I know it.”

  “Fiona,” Sophie said. “I have to tell you something else that was on Kitty’s list.”

  There was a tap on the door. “Phone for you, Soph,” Lacie said. She poked her head in and stuck
the phone out toward Sophie. “It’s Dr. Bunting. I thought she was calling for Fiona, but she said she wanted to talk to YOU. Go figure.”

  Sophie could hardly take the telephone from Lacie. When she did, her fingers were as stiff as claws around it.

  “Why is my mom calling YOU?” Fiona said.

  Sophie watched the door close behind Lacie. If she went out in the hall, Fiona would follow her. If she asked Dr. Bunting to call another time, she might not ever catch her again. And besides, Fiona would still ask eight thousand questions. There was nowhere to go and nothing else to do except what she had to do, what she’d promised Kitty — and God — she would do.

  “Hello?” Fiona said to Sophie.

  But Sophie put the receiver to her ear and said, “Hi.”

  “Genevieve gave me your message,” Dr. Bunting said. “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you sooner. What’s up?”

  She sounded brisk, like she was already doing three other things, and Sophie was tempted to tell her it wasn’t that important if she was too busy. But she took a deep breath and, under Fiona’s bullet gaze, said, “Actually — I have a message for you from Kitty.”

  “Oh?” The three other things Dr. Bunting was doing seemed to stop. “What’s going on?”

  Sophie closed her eyes so she didn’t have to look at Fiona. “She asked me to ask you to call her. She said you’re really nice to her, and you explain things the way nobody else can.”

  “Ah. She has some questions then. Her mother said SHE was going to call me if Kitty needed me.”

  Sophie squeezed her eyes shut tighter. “She said her mom wouldn’t because she thought you’d be too busy.”

  “Never too busy for this. I’ll call her. Let’s see — what time is it — it’s not that late. I’ll call her right now. Thanks, Sophie. Is my daughter over there driving your parents up a wall?”

  “She’s here,” Sophie said slowly. “Do you want to talk to her?”

  Dr. Bunting gave a short laugh. “Tell her she’s busted for breaking out of camp early. No — don’t tell her that. Put her on, would you?”

  Keeping her eyes down, Sophie held the phone toward Fiona. “She wants to talk to you now.”

  “Well, I don’t want to talk to HER,” Fiona said.

  Sophie put the phone back to her ear. “She said — ”

  “I heard.” Dr. Bunting sighed. “All right, tell her we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  She hung up. Sophie took her time doing the same.

  “I wanted to tell you, like, right before she called,” Sophie said. She still wasn’t looking at Fiona.

  “Sophie, how COULD you?” Fiona put her hand out and jerked Sophie’s chin up. “You PROMISED me.”

  “But I promised God I would do anything he asked me to do — you know, through Jesus. I didn’t know he was going to ask me to do THIS.”

  Fiona’s face was almost purple. She paced the floor at the foot of the bed, waving the gel pen. “So your promise to GOD means more than your promise to ME.”

  Sophie blinked. “Well, yeah,” she said.

  The phone rang, but Sophie didn’t pick it up. They could hear Mama talking downstairs and then hurrying up the steps. Fiona and Sophie were still staring at each other when Mama burst through the door, talking like she was out of breath.

  “That was Dr. Amy again. She just talked to Kitty’s mom. Kitty gets to come HOME in two days!”

  There was a chorus of squeals, which Lacie and Zeke joined, even though Zeke probably had no idea what was going on.

  “We have to get that house in perfect shape,” Mama said. “So get some sleep tonight.”

  The moment the door closed again, Fiona turned to Sophie. “See?” she said. “She wouldn’t be coming home if she weren’t getting better.”

  “I guess not,” Sophie said. She wished for the first time all day that she had her long hair again so she could pull it under her nose. She was that confused.

  “Okay, so I forgive you,” Fiona said. She slung an arm around Sophie’s neck. “I can see how you’d be pulled in. Stick with me, Soph.”

  There was so much happy excitement over the next two days that Sophie started to believe that Fiona was right after all. Now that all the Corn Flakes were back together, with Kitty on her way, they went to work at full Corn Flake speed, finishing their Mission: Kitty film for her private viewing, making “Welcome back, Kitty!” banners, and fixing up Kitty’s room.

  They were putting on the final touches when the Colonel and Mrs. Munford pulled into the Munfords’ driveway with Kitty in the backseat. Mama had told them to wait until the K-sisters had a chance to do their thing, and then they would have their chance.

  That didn’t actually take as long as it would have at her house, Sophie was sure. Kandy and Kelly and Kendra and Karen and Kayla each gave Kitty a hug and then didn’t seem to know what to say.

  And actually, for a moment, Sophie didn’t either. Seeing Kitty took all the words away.

  She looked sort of puffy in her face, and even her china nose looked swollen. But the rest of her was as thin as a stick, and although she was smiling, her eyes somehow seemed thin too.

  On her head she wore one of the hats Senora LaQuita had made for her, quilted with a turned-up brim and a silk daisy on it. There was no hair sticking out. Not anywhere.

  “Supper’s ready for you,” Mama said to Mrs. Munford. “Kayla can warm it up when you’re set to eat. She has dinner duty tonight.”

  Mrs. Munford’s eyebrows went up. “Dinner duty?” she said.

  “Kayla?”

  “We’ll leave you alone to get settled,” Mama said.

  “Can’t they stay for a little while?” Kitty said. Even her whine seemed thinner.

  “You have to rest,” her mother said. “Or you’re going to be right back in the hospital.”

  Kitty whispered something in her mom’s ear, and Mrs.

  Munford sighed and whispered into Mama’s ear. Sophie’s stomach got queasy.

  “Tell you what,” Mama said. “I’ll take the rest of the girls home and come back for you, Soph.” She smiled and headed for the door. “Let’s go, Corn Flakes.”

  They all gave Kitty and Sophie longing looks as they followed Mama, except for Fiona, who looked downright angry.

  “You have to go in your room and lie down though,” Kitty’s mom said to her. “And no horsing around.”

  Kitty sprawled across her bed with a look of pure delight on her face. “I’m home,” she said.

  “I missed you,” Sophie said. “We all did. Fiona TOLD us you would get better fast, and I have to admit, I didn’t believe her — ”

  “Don’t believe her,” Kitty said. Her puffy face was serious. “I’m only home until my next treatment, and there’s going to be a bunch more. That’s why I have to ask you something before your mom comes back.”

  Sophie sat carefully on the edge of the bed. “Ask me anything,” she said. “ANYTHING.”

  Kitty looked straight at her. “Did you know I might die?” she said.

  “No!” Sophie said. “You aren’t going to die!”

  “I might.”

  Sophie could feel her eyes narrowing. “Did Dr. Amy tell you that?”

  Kitty shook her head. “Sebastian told me when I asked him. And the doctors at Portsmouth said it too, and the counselor that comes to talk to me. It’s the truth. I could die from leukemia.”

  Sophie could hardly get her mouth to move. “I didn’t know that,” she said. And she wished she didn’t now.

  “So here’s my question — and this is really important.” Kitty got up on her elbows. “I know you talk to God and Jesus all the time, so you could tell me, Sophie. If I die, am I going to go to heaven?”

  Twelve

  Sophie could do nothing but wish Jesus would appear right there, in Kitty’s room — or at least Mama. Kitty’s father did come in and say Mama was back.

  “But we didn’t get to talk long enough!” Kitty wailed.

  The Colonel motion
ed Sophie out of the room. “Tomorrow,” he said. “Oh-nine-hundred or after.”

  Sophie had no idea what that meant. She kissed Kitty’s cheek, and Kitty whispered, “Come back soon. I really need to know.”

  Sophie nodded and escaped.

  When they got in the car, Mama said, “Talk to me, Sophie.”

  Sophie couldn’t get the words out fast enough. Mama’s hands kept getting whiter on the steering wheel, and she didn’t say much until they got in the house and talked to Daddy. His face turned as white as Mama’s hands were.

  “I just don’t think Sophie should be the one to talk to Kitty about death,” Mama said, holding on tight to Sophie. “Cutting her hair is one thing — but this?”

  Daddy pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and closed his eyes. “Okay — here’s the game plan,” he said. “We call Dr. Peter tomorrow, and we all sit down and discuss this.”

  “Is he back?” Sophie said.

  “Got in a few days ago,” Daddy said. “He called to see how you were doing.”

  Sophie’s stomach knot loosened up a little. “Can we do that, Mama?”

  “All right,” Mama said, although she was giving Daddy a very hard look. “But the final decision is ours.”

  “Dr. Peter would be the first one to agree,” Daddy said.

  Sophie didn’t say anything. There was no arguing about it this time.

  Mama didn’t let Sophie go over to Kitty’s the next day, and then she said she would rather not have a house full of Corn Flakes because she needed some quiet time to think.

  Sophie couldn’t find anything to do to pass the weeklong day. She could only see Kitty in her mind, hear her saying, I might die.

  How could she die? Sophie thought. She’s only twelve years old!

  And if she did, what would that be like? She’d always thought heaven would be a place where you could do whatever you wanted and not have anybody think you were weird. But now that somebody she knew, somebody she really loved, might actually leave the earth — it didn’t sound so wonderful.

  Kitty wants to go to middle school, Sophie thought. She wants to have a boyfriend — someday — and have sleepovers with us until she graduates from high school. She can’t do that if we’re not with her.