But Mom wasn’t in the window seat. She was on her tiptoes in the tall pantry, her head and shoulders into the deepness of it. The top shelf.
The top shelf held the peanut-butter jar. Uh-oh. More cookies. Mom was stressing out.
“Need help?” she managed.
“No, I’ve got it,” her mother said, avoiding her gaze for a moment. She turned away and then swung back toward her daughter. “No, I don’t have it. I don’t get it.” Clutching the organic peanut-butter jar to her chest, she stared at her daughter desperately. “Do you not like your name? You said you liked Annette! Why do you still think you’re an orphan?”
Then Mom burst into tears.
Never would she have wanted to hurt Mom. Never, as long as she lived. Rushing to Mom and hugging her and the peanut-butter jar, Aneta stammered, “I—I—”
For a few moments, neither of them said anything until Mom said faintly, “The peanut-butter jar is cutting into my rib cage, sweetie.”
A bubble of laughter popped up through Aneta. She let it out, and Mom laughed a gulp laugh. Mom motioned toward the family room. They walked to the couch and sat side by side.
“Can you help me understand why you think you’re an orphan, sweetie?” Mom was still holding the peanut-butter jar like a baby, close to her chest.
Aneta was silent. Why had she seen herself like Wink?
“I do not know,” she said, being very careful with her English so Mom would understand. “He does not have a home. I have a home. He looked lost yesterday. I feel—” Surprise tears pricked her eyes, hot and streaming. “I am not like a Jasper. I do not argue or win.” She studied her fingers in her lap. Would Mom send her back for being ungrateful? “I—I am grateful.”
Mom sucked in a deep breath and squeezed Aneta’s knee. “I see. I know you’re grateful, Annette—I…” Here she stopped. “Is that why you told the girls you were Aneta instead of Annette?” She paused, looking up at the ceiling. “Like you feel like Aneta and not an Annette?”
She understood. Mom understood. The hard knot in Aneta’s stomach untied, and she sagged against Mom. “Yes.”
Mom nodded. After a few moments, when Aneta was sure Mom was going to tell her she should call herself Annette, Mom spoke. “Sweetie, if you would rather be Aneta, then I want you to be Aneta. I’ll tell The Fam. If you decide in a little bit that is what you want forever, I will make the change in your name legally.” She leaned into her daughter, and her voice turned stern. “But, young lady—”
Aneta cut her eyes to her mother.
“You will always be a Jasper. No questions about that.”
“Even if I don’t argue and get in trouble and speak up?”
Mom’s rich, deep laugh flowed over the two of them. She stood, placing the peanut-butter jar on the coffee table. She faced Aneta.
“Even if you never get in trouble. I’ve actually been wondering if you ever will get in trouble. You’re so careful, I worry. We all make mistakes. It will not change you being a Jasper.” Picking up the peanut-butter jar, she waved it at Aneta. “See? I’m no longer a basket case. I’m putting the jar back on the top shelf, Aneta.”
Chapter 9
Oh No! Another Microphone!
Aneta craned her neck around the headrest in Mom’s hybrid Lexus. Her mother caught her eye and winked. Aneta grinned. Nobody had ever arrived at an Oakton council meeting like she and the girls had just arrived.
Strung out behind Mom’s car was Gram on the Pink Flamingo with a grinning Esther behind. Cousin Zeff drove his black scooter with Vee sitting straight up, her rare smile blazing. On Uncle Luke’s red scooter, Sunny was shrieking something into his hairy ear. Uncle Luke was laughing.
“I know.” Mom’s voice held the little chuckle Aneta loved. It sounded like a ripple of water down a deep brook, like she’d been to with The Fam last summer. “Nobody attends an event like The Fam.”
They parked the Lexus and the scooters side by side, with the Lexus looking like a big black mother hen next to her Easter-colored chicks. Once inside, the group gathered outside the chamber doors.
“Are we ready?” Uncle Luke had his helmet under his left arm. With his right hand, he shoved his hand through bristly short, steel-gray hair. “Aneta, you’ll do great. We’ll all be in the gallery.”
Aneta, who had been clutching the original sketch of Wink, jerked her head up toward him. “Who, me? I am not talking. They are talking.” Those three would be good at talking. With Melissa here tonight, their group needed to be at their best. The girl could cause Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies some serious trouble. She didn’t know how. She just knew Melissa. With another look at Wink and his sad puppy eyes she’d caught so well with her pencil, Aneta looked at Vee.
“Be sure to tell them—” she began.
The three girls looked surprised. Vee raised her right eyebrow. How did she do that?
“Tell them what?” Esther said. “You’re presenting our idea.” Esther grabbed Aneta’s elbow on the left. Sunny claimed her right side, and they propelled her toward the double doors of the council chambers.
“Oh no. Not me.” The vivid recent memory of her freezing onstage and Melissa sniggering made her stomach start to twirl around like the teacups ride at Disneyland.
“You saved us with the Basset Waddle. You tell them,” Vee’s voice hissed behind her, and then they were banging through the council chamber doors.
A voice came from within. “We will get started in just a couple of minutes if everyone will find their seats.”
The large, dark-paneled room resembled the courtroom in which Aneta had been adopted. For a moment, she couldn’t move. The memory of that day washed over her like a shower. All The Fam, a judge who smiled a lot. People asking her if she understood what was happening. Nodding her head, clutching Mom’s hand.
A microphone screamed. “Ouch, Justin. You’d think by now you’d learn how to turn on that silly thing.” Jerked back to the council chambers, Aneta saw a trim woman in a dark-blue suit clap her hands over her ears. She was sitting with the other council members at the raised curved table with a podium in front of it. A laptop lay open in front of her. The man at the podium rolled his eyes. Aneta smothered a grin. That lady must be grumpy a lot. He was a short man with half-glasses and a yellow, collared, knit shirt. He had a kind face. Maybe she wouldn’t have to say anything. They had already given a piece of paper telling what they wanted to do. Vee and Esther called it a proposal.
“If everyone will take their seat, we’ll get the meeting started.” The council president leaned into the microphone. It shrieked again. Aneta jumped, her heart revving up higher than it ever had racing Mom in the pool. What on earth would she say?
She glanced toward the man. One side of his mouth twitched upward. He caught Aneta’s stare and winked. Even in the midst of her panic, she had to smile back. She was pretty sure now that the shrieking mic was on purpose to annoy Miss Blue Suit. The woman’s voice sounded sort of familiar.
She tried to relax, forced herself to lean back, and smoothed the pencil drawing of Wink. She’d finished it the day after the girls had agreed on their project. Monday, Mom went in late to work and took the four girls to a copy place to create the poster with Wink’s picture on it. Tuesday and Wednesday, the Scooter Patrol, consisting of Gram, Uncle Luke who was retired and bored, and Cousin Zeff who worked it around his courier route, went to every business in town. So Aneta could join in with her new friends, Aunt Jardine drove in from Jackson in her minivan with the shelf behind it that toted her scooter. They had laughed, eaten hamburgers and ice cream, and Vee and Esther hardly even argued.
“Tonight let’s move the Oakton Founders’ Day business to the front so the kids can leave after they present—” The man peered over his glasses at the gallery. The Fam waved wildly to Aneta. Her cheeks burned. “Please state the community program you’re supporting and then give a brief overview of your fund-raising plan.”
Overview. Fund-raising plan. What did that ha
ve to do with making Mom fall in love with Wink? The whole point of the poster was to have Mom see Wink wherever she went. Then she remembered the meeting yesterday by the pool where Vee and Esther argued over proposal bullet points and lists. Sunny had kept reminding her to pay attention. That was why they wanted her to pay attention? She was supposed to lead the group?
“You can do it.” Sunny gripped Aneta’s arm and smiled her big smile.
Sunny was wrong. Aneta knew she would never be able to stand up at that podium and speak. Her English would fail her, just like it had at the poster awards. She glanced down. Her hands were already trembling so much the drawing of Wink rattled. She just might throw up. Really.
“Go ahead, please.” His smile was nice.
Her knees locked her into her chair, rooted between Esther and Vee. Of the three, she wished the encouraging Sunny were sitting next to her. I can’t move.
Miss Blue Suit spoke, her discordant voice with the nasal twang blasting across the council chambers. “If you are not prepared, we will move on to the next person on the list, who I happen to know is prepared.”
“Did you girls have your project to tell us about?” The man’s voice boomed over the mic, and it squealed again. A boy in Aneta’s class had squeaked a balloon at a classroom birthday party at the end of the school year. It sounded like that, only so loud it hurt her ears.
She glanced over at the gallery where The Fam whispered to each other. Mom gave her the thumbs-up, a smile, and a nod. If Aneta could not get herself out of this chair, she would shame the entire family. And they had driven the string of scooters to cheer on the girls’ idea of Dog Daze during the Oakton Founders’ Days park festival. If she didn’t get out of her chair and make the council see that they had a good idea, Wink would not be the poster dog, and Mom would not learn to love him. And what would happen after that is her heart would smash in a million tiny pieces.
She stood. Well, almost stood. She fell back into the seat.
Two rows back, a voice sailed across the silence that was getting heavier and heavier.
“I’m prepared as a Junior Event Planner, Mr. President.”
Turning her head, although she already knew that voice, Aneta saw Melissa leap from her chair, a briefcase in one hand. It was nearly as big as Mom’s.
“Oh, please.” That was Sunny, and a snort of laughter followed the mutter. “Like she needs a briefcase?”
Making her way to the front, Melissa stood at the podium like she went there every day and loved it. She probably does, thought Aneta.
Her father walked with her to the podium and then drew a square box out of the briefcase. Melissa removed a laptop from the other side of the briefcase and set it on the podium. A murmur began among the watchers.
“Oh, please.” This time it was Vee. “She’s got a PowerPoint presentation complete with projector?” She glanced at the list in Aneta’s sweating right hand and the drawing of Wink in her left. Her face descended into a frown. She knows I cannot do this.
“Mr. Council President, my group will support the food bank by conducting a food drive at the park during the Oakton Founders’ Days. My father will, of course, provide a matching donation from Snipp’s Super Saver grocery store.”
The president tipped his head and peered around Melissa. “Where is your group, Melissa?”
Melissa didn’t reply. With a remote she pulled from the briefcase, she clicked through a colorful, well-organized slide presentation with pie charts they had learned about in math last year. Each slide prominently displayed the Snipp’s Super Saver logo.
“Excellent,” Ms. Blue Suit said with a sidelong look at the four girls. “Wonderful job.”
Melissa dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Thanks, Mom.”
The four girls’ heads swiveled between Melissa and her mother. Sunny muttered under her breath. Vee’s frown hadn’t lifted. Esther chewed the inside of her bottom lip.
“It looks like a crummy commercial for Snipp’s Super Saver groceries.” Sunny frowned and turned to Aneta. “You better un freeze your legs and wow them with your drawing, or we’re toast as Junior Event Planners!”
Melissa tossed a triumphant look at the four girls. “I will now take questions.”
The president spoke. “Thank you, that won’t be necessary, Melissa. We see how thorough you are. But where is the rest of your group? What role will they play in the project?”
“Oh, I’ll find something for them to do that they can’t mess up. If a leader is strong enough, she can make any group work.” Another sideways glance at the four girls. “Whereas with a bad leader—or worse, no leader—nothing gets done.” With that, her father darted forward, and the two of them repacked the briefcase. Melissa sat across the aisle from the girls. To Aneta, her look said, “See if you can top that” as clearly as Aneta knew Gram drove a pink scooter.
At that moment, a high, wispy howl rolled through the chambers.
Aneta jerked toward the back, where the double doors had opened. Frank and Nadine walked in, both holding leashes. As they neared the front, a happy swell surged through Aneta. Wink! She jumped to her feet the same moment the other three did.
The little puppy with the squinty eye trotted up to the front row, bumping into the larger, older basset with a white muzzle. The big basset nosed Wink back into the aisle. Frank and Nadine glanced over at the girls and stepped into the row behind them. Aneta couldn’t take her eyes off Wink. The black patch of fur on his back, now dry and shining, looked like a saddle. The long, droopy ears, tripping him as he investigated the carpet with his nose to the ground, were a rich caramel brown, the color split by a white blaze down the middle.
“Are we too late?” Frank hissed over Melissa’s mother’s insistence that they go through the list and return to the
“unprepared group” at the end.
Stepping around the edge of her row, Aneta sank to her knees next to Wink. She tipped his puppy head up and fell in love all over again. The velvety ears slipped through her fingers. Mom! Mom could see Wink. Over her shoulder, she saw Mom’s head turned toward Uncle Luke. She hadn’t seen him!
“Girls.” It was the council president.
Aneta kissed the top of Wink’s head and stood. She would do this. She would do this for Wink. She rose from the floor, walked to the chair, picked up the drawing and the list, and walked to the podium.
“M—my name is Aneta.” She raised the drawing of Wink up toward the faces on the curving high stand. This was good. She had opened her mouth. “This is our—” Our what? She glanced down at the list. What was she supposed to say next? Vee’s neatly typed bullet points swam in front of her eyes. Oh no. At least she’d been right about one thing. This was not like the poster awards. This was worse. Her head began to swim and not in a good way.
“We are the group who will support the Oakton Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies.” It was Esther’s voice, loud as ever.
Aneta felt the others brush against her. Sunny snatched the poster from her and shoved a warm, wriggling Wink into her arms.
“We will have a Dog Waddle fund-raiser for the Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies who help dogs. Anyone can come from anywhere and parade a basset hound in a costume during the Oakton Founders’ Days parade. They participate for a donation and fill a pledge sheet for how many turns around the Waddle course. We’ll have a King and Queen of the Waddle.” It was Vee’s quiet voice. How did she do that? Aneta was still shaking, and she’d stopped speaking! “Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies does a great job. We want to help.”
“And here’s our reason for the Basset Waddle!” Sunny said. She dug an elbow into Aneta’s side. “Hold him up!” she hissed.
Aneta’s hands, full of puppy, shot into the air, as though fired from a gun. He obliged his audience with a wobbly howl. The chamber erupted into laughter.
“Thank you, girls. You have a real team effort going on there. We look forward to the Waddle.” The president smiled.
“Thank you, God,�
� Esther said softly, letting out a big breath.
Sunny turned to her. “You were praying, too?”
Aneta knew she would have if she’d thought of it. Her head cleared on the way back to their seats. The Melissa girls who couldn’t agree on anything had saved the day. Wink had saved the day. She had failed, but they’d won anyway. She drew in a deep breath and turned toward The Fam in the gallery. They were standing, clapping. Cousin Zeff had his fingers to his mouth, poised for his ear-splitting whistle of approval. Mom was looking at Wink, who was now happily howling and wriggling in Nadine’s arms. Uh-oh. Mom’s face wore that peanut-butter cookie look.
Chapter 10
Big Plans, Big Trouble
So, let’s make this”—Esther was standing with her hands on her hips again, but this time she was smiling and gesturing to the right—“the judges’ stand.”
She pointed toward one side of the park lined with tall oak trees, some of them grown from the beginning days of Oakton. Running parallel to the trees ran Park Street and five houses. Since today was the beginning of the July Fourth weekend, picnickers and families having reunions in each of the three pavilions made the park lively with running children, Frisbees, and lawn chairs next to colossal coolers.
Aneta, walking Wink in a matching red harness and leash—a present from her and Gram—was sort of paying attention. She was lost in a haze of happiness. Wink stomped along, often on his ears, at the end of a leash in her hand. According to Vee’s plan, and Esther’s grumpy agreement, the girls had met at the library to head over to the park. Fortunately, none of their families were going out of town for the holiday weekend.
There they would figure out “which way to Waddle,” as Sunny said. Vee informed them she would be twenty minutes late. Esther asked why, and Vee froze her out with the slit-eyed glare, the Vee Stare. At the library, little Wink slept in a small wire enclosure behind Nadine’s desk as a children’s librarian. He awoke, however, at the sound of the girls’ laughing voices. The little basset tripped over his ears hustling his short legs to get to Aneta and offer his belly for love rubs.
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