Time's Up

by Annie Bryant

  “Of course we do,” Mrs. Fields replied. “If someone does something for you, you need to return the favor. Simple as that. We’ll bring an early supper. Besides, if we skip eating, we’ll all run out of steam before the scarves are finished.”

  Katani knew her grandmother was right, but the prospect of one more delay was so frustrating. All she wanted to do was get there and finish her scarves.

  Mrs. Fields called Bluebell House on her cell to say she was going to stop for pizza and ask if there was a favorite topping, or a topping they couldn’t eat. When she got off the phone she said, “We’ll order two pies from Pizza Palace. One regular and one with soy cheese, for Natasha. It turns out she’s a vegan,” Mrs. Fields explained.

  “What’s a vegan?” Kelley asked.

  “That’s someone who doesn’t eat anything that comes from animals, like meat or cheese or eggs, dear,” Mrs. Fields explained.

  “Oh,” said Kelley, sitting back in her seat and looking thoughtful.

  Mrs. Fields dropped the girls off with the pizza at Bluebell House, and then she drove around the corner to park the Triple B. Frances opened the door and warmly welcomed Katani and Kelley. Inside, Katani busily scanned the room for her scarves. When she saw them spread over the piano like a sea of pink, she almost felt like her old self again.

  When Mrs. Fields walked in a few minutes later, Francis cried, “Why, Ruby Fields!”

  “Frances Coulson!”

  “What a small world!” Frances embraced Ruby. “I kept meaning to call or e-mail you after the New England Teachers Conference.”

  “Me too! I’m so glad to see you.” Mrs. Fields shook her head. “Just because you’re teaching in Somerville, that’s no excuse for us not to get together.”

  “It took Katani’s scarves for us to meet!” Frances exclaimed, and the women laughed.

  Kelley sat down in a navy blue rocking chair and rocked back and forth, her head tilted up to the pale blue ceiling. Katani couldn’t believe it. Here Kelley was in a strange place with all these new people and she was as calm as could be!

  “We ordered a pesto and broccoli pizza because Natasha is a vegan,” Kelley explained. “That means no cheeseburgers, hot dogs, milk shakes, yogurt tubes, Oreo ice cream, chicken nuggets, or fried shrimp ever!” she announced. Katani shook her head. Kelley was obviously intrigued with the vegan thing. She hoped her sister didn’t go on and on about it all night.

  “Well said, Kelley!” June agreed loudly. “Pizza lovers of all stripes, grab some breadsticks! A little snack will be good knitting fuel, I think. Just be careful not to spoil your dinners.” When everyone had a few bites of the crunchy bread in their bellies, June ordered, “All right, knitters, pick up your needles. We’re on a mission here.”

  Natasha gave Kelley and Mrs. Fields needles and yarn, and the Knitwits focused on their knitting. Katani had never seen people knit so quickly. It was like the Knitwits were on fast-forward. Katani settled into a big comfortable blue armchair and began adding her signature bead motif to the finished scarves. Delilah put a record on an old-fashioned record player. Then, in a sophisticated falsetto, she sang out to every single Gershwin song. Her voice was like honey—soft and smooth. Maeve would be twirling in circles if she were here right now, thought Katani. That woman can sing!

  Mrs. Fields asked, “‘I Got Rhythm’? I just love that song.”

  “I’ve got rhythm in my toes just listening to Delilah sing it,” Frances said kindly. “We’re lucky to have this songbird around the house.”

  “Delilah is a pretty bird!” Kelley repeated, laughing loudly.

  Everyone looked up at Kelley, who had propped Mr. Bear on her lap. Now that she had everyone’s attention, Kelley dramatically unzipped her green bag and pulled out a miniature version of one of Katani’s scarves. Wrapping the little pink scarf around Mr. Bear’s neck, she announced, “Starring Mr. Bear—clothes by Kelley Summers, Esquire! See?”

  “Why, that’s about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Delilah oohed and ahhed.

  “So adorable,” Frances added.

  “Smashing, just smashing,” June pronounced.

  As the Knitwits went on praising Kelley, Katani squeezed her hands into fists and counted to ten. Usually she could deal with Kelley being a distraction, but tonight she needed to get her scarves finished…pronto. To calm herself down she imagined how the store window at Think Pink! would look tomorrow with all her scarves displayed. Scarves gently folded over one another, scarves draped over fuzzy sweaters…wait! Maybe there was a way to include Kelley after all!

  “Kelley, that’s a fabulous idea,” Katani exclaimed.

  Mrs. Fields sent Katani the warning look, arched eyebrows and all. Katani ignored the skepticism written all over her grandmother’s face and plunged on. “We can make teddy bear–size scarves just like my people-size ones and bring them to Think Pink! for the fund-raiser. I bet people would buy them for dogs to wear too. They’d look so cute in the window display next to mine, and Ms. Pink loves pets. The matching scarf theme could be part of my project—”

  Kelley jumped up, clapped her hands, and threw her arms around Katani. “I’ll get to meet five hundred fortunate people in D.C., too!”

  “You just might,” Mrs. Fields said to Kelley, laughing. She didn’t say anything to Katani, but the warm smile on her face told Katani that she was definitely doing the right thing. Well, that settled it. Sisters are way more important than prizes, anyway, Katani thought with a smile. There would be more contests out there, but there was only one Kelley. Maybe business owners didn’t have to win contests to be really successful anyway. Katani felt happy, really happy, for the first in what seemed like a very long time.

  Natasha arranged the women like a factory line to incorporate Kelley’s bear-size clothes into the knitting project. Incredibly organized, Natasha had the knitting system down to a science within minutes, giving each Knitwit a designated job.

  “Let’s rock it, ladies!” June demanded. “You think that’s funny?” She pointed at Katani, who had put her hand over her mouth. Envisioning the gray-haired June “rocking” was just too much.

  As they all got closer to finishing, Sally couldn’t sit still. She was a first-rate Speedy Gonzales knitter, but she kept getting up to go into the kitchen. First she brought out circles of French bread with olive tapenade and roasted peppers, then marinated artichoke hearts and asparagus spears, and after that stuffed shrimp.

  “These are fabulous. What’s that herb?” Mrs. Fields asked.

  “Marjoram,” Sally said.

  “Amazing. Sally, you’re spoiling us!” Mrs. Fields took another shrimp. “Does she always feed you like this?”

  “Oh, yes. She’s trying to keep us fattened up,” Delilah joked as she came in with warm pizza on a tray. At the sight of pizza, needles stopped and everyone jumped up to grab a slice.

  The ladies listened respectfully as Katani filled them in on the details of the contest. Katani felt like a real professional fielding all the questions.

  “Would you do anything differently?” June asked Katani while looking over at Mrs. Fields.

  Katani sat back in her chair and put her paper plate down on the coffee table. She looked around at her knitting team, the women who had come to her rescue, and said, “I would ask for help at the beginning. You know, get ideas from people on the best way to do things…then I would get all my ducks in order….”

  “Quack, quack,” Kelley said as she wrapped a little pink scarf around Mr. Bear’s neck. June looked at Delilah, who bit her lip and raised an eyebrow at Sally, who stifled a giggle.

  It was too much for Katani, who let out her first belly laugh of the week. “Kelley, you crack me up! Or should I say ‘quack’ me up.”

  Kelley looked away and began knitting another scarf.

  After the pizza, Sally carried around a plate of chocolate-fudge brownies to keep everyone’s energy up, she said. They were so awesome that Katani asked her for the recipe so she could make t
hem at the next Tower sleepover. When she heard that there was puréed spinach in them, she almost fell over. Maeve collected brownie recipes, Charlotte was a true chocoholic, and Avery loved healthy food, but spinach brownies…the BSG would be so surprised when they tasted them!

  When Kelley heard there was spinach in the brownies, she refused to believe it and would not calm down until Katani told Kelley that they were special vegan brownies. Mrs. Fields’s grateful kiss on the cheek made Katani realize that managing Kelley was hard for everyone, not just her.

  “Did you have enough to eat?” Sally asked everyone. “Do you need another drink?”

  “If I eat anything else, somebody’s going to have to carry me out,” Mrs. Fields teased.

  As the women continued to knit and Delilah played records, the scarves began to multiply as if by magic. Frances was like a knitting prodigy. She whirled out the most amazing patterns.

  As Katani looked on, Frances explained to her the knitting and purling techniques she used to achieve different textures. Katani was thrilled to be learning so much. She settled into her chair, feeling right at home. Kelley was busy knitting tiny scarves for the fund-raiser. When the Knitwits said they couldn’t believe Kelley had just started knitting, Kelley announced that she was “a Knitwit too.” Katani felt a warm happiness for her sister. Kelley didn’t often get compliments on her achievements.

  Just before the final push, Kelley decided to count the scarves. She stopped next to her grandmother. “What is this?” Kelley held up the lopsided scarf, full of holes.

  “Oh, it’s fine,” Frances said. “It just needs a little, um, straightening.”

  “Just a tad more work and it’ll be fine,” Delilah and Natasha agreed.

  “Fine?” June asked. “It looks like moths have eaten through it.”

  “Poor Grandma Ruby,” Kelley said sadly. “Maybe you should read Katani’s knitting book.”

  They all laughed, including Mrs. Fields. Kelley, who wasn’t really sure what was so funny, just shook her head at her grandmother.

  “Another brownie, Ruby?” Sally offered.

  “Oh, a small piece, I guess,” Ruby answered. “It’s my consolation prize.”

  Katani tucked away the scarf her grandmother had knitted, separating it from the pile for Think Pink! She secretly decided to bead her grandmother’s scarf into something beautiful to give Mrs. Weiss as a thank-you for introducing her to her rescuers, the Knitwits.

  As she looked around the blue room, all of a sudden Katani realized the anxiety that had been plaguing her for days was completely gone. Her scarves would be finished in time! Even better, being here with the Knitwits was just like being with the BSG—an excuse to hang out and have a good time together.

  “Almost there,” June announced, looking at her watch.

  Kelley stood up and, clutching Mr. Bear, pronounced in a loud voice, “Time’s up, ladies!” Katani looked around. Would the ladies think her sister was being rude?

  But there were chuckles all around before June answered in a softer voice than Katani had heard her use, “We’ll have you over again real soon, Kelley, but I don’t think we’ll be knitting fourteen scarves next week.”

  Katani smiled at Kelley. Neither of them wanted the night to end. When it was time to leave, the normally reserved Katani gave each Knitwit a big hug and a thank-you, and promised that she would visit soon.

  CHAPTER 18

  With a Little Help from My Friends

  On Saturday morning Katani woke to a delicious smell of coffee, cinnamon toast, eggs, and bacon. Ray Charles was on the stereo. That meant her grandmother was up and about. Ray Charles was her grandmother’s favorite Saturday morning music, and “Georgia on My Mind” was one of her favorite songs in the world. It was a happy morning. Katani hugged herself. The scarves were done and life was good.

  Still in her teddy bear pajamas, Kelley was at Katani’s desk and counting scarves for about the hundredth time. “Twenty,” she announced. “Twenty of yours and twenty of Mr. Bear’s.”

  Isabel’s older sister Elena Maria had dropped off Mrs. Martinez’s three scarves last night. Katani would have to call today to thank her. She smiled and got out of bed. She usually laid out her carefully chosen outfits the night before, but the night before, Katani had been so exhausted that she fell right asleep. This morning, she grabbed a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. “There’s still a lot to do.” She hugged Kelley. “But I’m starving. Aren’t you?”

  “Yes.” Kelley’s face turned serious. “You know, Katani, I like vegans, but I love pepperoni, too!”

  “Me too,” Katani said. “Let’s go get some eggs and toast.”

  When they got downstairs, Mrs. Fields was sprinkling cinnamon sugar on buttered toast. Katani’s dad was pouring cups of coffee, and her mother was setting plates and glasses of juice on the table.

  “I heard it went well last night,” Mrs. Summers said, smiling.

  “It was beyond great, Mom. We finished the scarves—all fourteen I had left to do—and made scarves for teddy bears, too. That was Kelley-the-knitting-genius’s idea. They’ll be at the fund-raiser too—on display side by side.”

  Mrs. Summers pulled Katani tightly to her. “I’m proud of both my girls,” she said. “Better sit down and eat. We have a big day ahead of us.”

  When they sat down at the breakfast table, Mr. Summers asked Katani, “So, boss, what’s the game plan?”

  Before she’d gone to bed, Katani had made a list of everything she had to do to get the application off today and prepare for the Think Pink! fund-raiser. As they ate, Katani went over the plan with her family. Katani couldn’t believe that even Patrice was giving up her Saturday morning to help with the contest project.

  “You know, I really appreciate all of your help,” Katani told her family. “What would I do without my best fam?” She snapped her fingers in the air.

  “We want to help you, Katani. That’s what we’re here for,” her dad spoke slowly. He took a long sip of coffee. “I remember my dad saying the same thing to me once a long time ago. When I was fourteen. I had this job painting houses for the summer. I was pretty good at it too. One of the guys was afraid of heights, so he’d send me up to the top of the house. I always got stuck painting the roof trim.” He shook his head and drank more coffee.

  “Anyway, at the end of the summer a neighbor made me an offer. He said if I painted his whole house in a week, he’d give me two hundred dollars. I know that doesn’t sound like much now, but it was a lot then, as much as I made practically all summer. If I didn’t finish, I’d get nothing.” He bit into a piece of bacon and chewed thoughtfully.

  “It wasn’t a big house but it wasn’t small, either. I said yes even though I had a paper route going and school was starting that very week.” He looked up at Katani. “Do you know how long it takes to paint a house?”

  Katani shook her head.

  “A long time. I ruined my school clothes and had to skip the first days of school.” He chuckled. “I wasn’t even close to finishing, but I wanted that money more than anything. Of course Dad caught me. I broke down and told him about the job. I was sure he’d make me quit right there and yell at me. Dad was kind of a yeller back then. But, instead, my father said to my brothers, ‘Tomorrow we’re all going over to that house and we’ll stay until it’s painted.’”

  Mr. Summers’s eyes circled his family. “That’s what we’re going to do today.”

  “Dad, we can’t paint a house today. We have to finish the contest!” a worried Kelley blurted out. “Time’s up, you know.”

  No one laughed, as they all knew Kelley hadn’t meant to be funny. They could hear the urgency in her voice.

  “No, we won’t paint any houses today,” Mr. Summers said. “We’ll help Katani until her project is finished.”

  “And me,” Kelley protested.

  “Of course you,” Mr. Summers said as he teasingly tugged one of Kelley’s pigtails.

  “All right, let’s do it!
Let’s get this application in the mail!” Mrs. Summers declared, and started clearing the table.

  Grandma Ruby brought out her trusty old typewriter and plunked it on the end of the dining room table to write up a recommendation. She said that typing on the old Remington made her more creative. Mr. Summers proofed Katani’s essay and business plan one final time. Then he added a new ink cartridge to the printer so Katani could print out copies. Mrs. Summers helped arrange the scarves for Patrice to photo-graph, and Patrice made a bunch of eight-by-ten copies of the best shots. Kelley put the Think Pink! boxes for the scarves together, counting the total boxes and the total scarves again as she spread them in a line across the dining room table.

  “Still twenty of yours and twenty of Mr. Bear’s!” She danced around the kitchen happily.

  As each item on her list was completed, Katani checked it off. She folded the scarves so the beaded hearts showed on the top, wrapped them in tissue, and packed them in boxes to take to Think Pink! Her mother and Patrice had offered to drop them off at the store later that day.

  Next, Katani called Mrs. Martinez to thank her. “No es nada,” she said. Isabel said that sometimes, too. It meant “it’s nothing” or “no problem.”

  “It’s a lot,” Katani told her. “I never would have gotten the project done without everyone helping me. Actually, do you mind if I tell Isabel about it now?”

  “Of course!” Mrs. Martinez replied. “I will get her.”

  A minute later, Isabel picked up the phone. “Hey Katani. What’s up?”

  Katani took a deep breath. Would Isabel be mad that Katani hadn’t told her about how her mom was helping?

  “Izzy, I just wanted to let you know how your mom really helped me this week,” Katani began. “I was trying to do too much by myself, knitting all those scarves for the contest, so your mom offered to help me by knitting a few.” Isabel was silent, so Katani pressed on. “You’re really lucky to have her as your mom. So…thanks, I guess. For letting me benefit from a little of her mom-ness too.”