Just Grace and the Flower Girl Power

by Charise Mericle Harper

  It’s a good thing I know Mimi or I would have never been able to understand what she was saying, and that is because she said it all without stopping to take even one single breath.

  WHAT WAS DID THE REST OF THE DAY

  Mimi and I pretty much spent the whole rest of the day doing schoolwork and talking about Augustine Dupre. Mimi had one big question. I didn’t know the answer, but I was really hoping the answer was no.

  Right when school ended, Grace F. came up to me to show me her comic for Mr. Frank. It is no surprise she is in the comics club, because she’s a very good artist. Seeing her comic made me excited to work more on mine. “I’m doing one as soon as I get home,” I promised. “Oh, good,” she said. “I’m going to do another one too.” I wasn’t the only one who wanted to make Mr. Frank happy. That was nice to see.

  WHAT WAS NOT IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE

  The UPS truck, and this was a surprise. Now that I knew who Luke was, I was suddenly understanding why there was always a UPS truck parked on our street. Well, not always, but a lot. I had even seen Luke knocking on Augustine Dupre’s door, but I just always thought he was delivering a package. I never thought he was staying and visiting. That’s what’s weird about life—you have to pay attention or you miss stuff.

  SOMETIMES EVEN IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE REALLY GOOD, THEY CAN STILL SURPRISE YOU

  Since Mom was the only one home, I had to choose her as my interview person. “What kind of cool games did you play when you were a kid?” I asked. I was expecting her to say something like tag or hide-and-seek, but she didn’t. What she said was a lot more interesting. It was the kind of thing that made me want to march right upstairs to my room and draw. And that’s exactly what I did, after a snack and fifteen minutes of playing chase with Mr. Scruffers.

  When I get working on a drawing, I don’t like to stop until I am done. Lucky for me, I finished before bedtime.

  MOM'S GAME

  WEDNESDAY

  I wouldn’t let Mimi see my comic until lunchtime. I was dying to show it to her, but I wanted to save it for the comics club—that way her first day there would be even more interesting.

  When you are waiting for something to happen and you are excited about it, the waiting time part always goes by really slow. This happened today. The whole morning seemed to take six hours to go by instead of three like normal. The only good thing was that Owen 1 was wearing lace-up shoes. I noticed because when I dropped my pencil I saw him twisting his laces around his fingers.

  THE COMICS CLUB

  Mr. Frank could hardly stop smiling and used lots of words like amazing, fantastic, beautiful, creative, and wonderful. Everyone had worked on their comic, which was a big surprise. Not everyone was finished, but still they had all tried. Mr. Frank was right to feel happy. Miss Lois can’t get this much stuff done in her class unless she threatens to put people’s names on the board.

  MY FAVORITE PROJECT

  Max’s project was my favorite because it was super creative and unusual. Max said his mom wouldn’t let him take her photo, so instead, he made her face out of Legos. He took photos of the Lego face, printed them out, and used them for the project. Of course his mom looks a ton different in real life, but I like her Lego look too.

  WHAT MIMI LOOKED LIKE THE WHOLE TIME

  Mr. Frank asked for all the finished comics. He said he was going to start a school gallery on one of the walls in the library—that way other kids would see them and maybe want to make some too. I think he was like me, suddenly knowing that our little group was not going to have such an easy time making a hundred comics.

  Fifty kids making two comics each was probably going to be easier than fifteen kids making five or six comics each.

  My comic looked good on the wall. “I like it,” said Mimi. She was standing next to me. “It makes me want to do one too!” “I knew you would,” I said. I tried not to sound too excited. For some reason having Mimi do this comic thing with me was sort of important. I don’t know why.

  It was like eating something delicious and saying to your friend, “Hey, try this—it’s great.” And then both of you are eating it and loving it together.

  THE ONE BAD THING ABOUT HAVING THE COMICS ON THE WALL FOR EVERYONE TO SEE

  I was secretly hoping Sammy Stringer would not see the comics and want to make one. I like Sammy, but he has a lot of disgusting ideas. He makes things with garbage and chewed-up gum. I do not want my comic, which I love, to be anywhere near one of his creations. I would feel a whole lot better if all Sammy’s projects came to school in zippered plastic bags—maybe even taped shut to be extra safe.

  WALKING HOME WITH MAX, SAMMY, AND MIMI

  On the way home from school Mimi and I told Max and Sammy all about the UPS man and Augustine Dupre. They were not as excited as we were. Sammy’s one big question was “Does she get to ride in the back of the UPS truck?” I looked at Sammy and shook my head. Why would Augustine Dupre even want to ride in the back of a truck with a bunch of boxes?

  After that I did not mention the part about me not being the flower girl. I had a big feeling that Sammy and Max would care even less about that.

  WHAT SAMMY WOULD SAY

  When we got to my house Max wanted to come in and see Mr. Scruffers. He has this big idea that he can train her to do a backflip. He saw a dog do one on TV and has been dying to try it. Sammy was definitely not filled with joy about that idea. He is not an animal person. Instead of everyone coming in, I said I would go in, get Mr. Scruffers, and bring her out. I was pretty sure Mom would like that idea better. Mimi ran to her house to get Robert. It was nice of her to think about him. Robert would be crazy excited to see Mr. Scruffers do a backflip.

  THE BACKFLIP THAT NEVER HAPPENED

  Teaching a dog to do a backflip is not as easy as Max thought it was. I brought out some dog treats for him to use but Mr. Scruffers wasn’t one bit interested. She completely ignored Max, the treats, and even me. Instead she had laser eyes for Robert and his crackers.

  WHAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE

  It was impossible to get Robert to give up any of his crackers. Mimi tried, Max tried, and even I tried. You might think that saying, “Robert, give me a cracker and I’ll make Mr. Scruffers do a backflip” would get you a cracker. But if you thought that, you would be wrong.

  Max even had the good idea of asking Mimi to go inside and get the cracker box, but he made one big mistake. He said his idea out loud in front of Robert. Robert didn’t want anyone to touch any of the crackers! Even the ones inside.

  WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA

  For the people who make dog treats to make them taste more like Robert’s favorite crackers.

  WHAT SAMMY SAID

  Sammy did not have much to say about the whole backflip thing except for asking Max, “Can we go?” every couple of minutes. I was surprised when he suddenly said, “Why is the cat walking in slow motion?” We all turned and looked to where Sammy was pointing. There was Crinkles, doing his sticky-paw walking. Mr. Scruffers was watching too. She had one eye on Robert and one eye on Crinkles, but she didn’t move or make a sound. “How do you make her do that?” asked Mimi. “Not bark or go after Crinkles?” “I’m not doing anything,” I said. “She just does it.”

  Crinkles was next to the bushes at the far side of the yard. I’m sure that Sammy was happy that he was walking away from us instead of toward us. “He’s walking like one of those horses,” said Max. “You know, the kind that do the foot-thing in parades.” “Yeah, fancy walking,” said Mimi. “Like a ... uh.” She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. Just because you want to say something doesn’t mean you can always find the right word. I shrugged my shoulders back at her, and when we looked back at the bushes Crinkles was gone.

  “Cats are creepy,” said Sammy. “Too bad they don’t walk slow like that all the time.”

  WHAT BROKE THE SPELL

  As soon as Robert popped the last crumb of cracker into his mouth, Mr. Scruffers jumped up and began sniffing around. She was ba
ck to her old self. She barked a few times at the bushes, just in case Crinkles was hiding in there. “Can we go?” asked Sammy for the millionth time. Max looked around, nodded, and they walked off to Max’s house. Mimi said she had to take Robert home too. He was not excited to leave. Mimi had to do some dragging. I listened to them talk as they crossed the yard. It was cute.

  Robert: What about the backflip?

  Mimi: Mr. Scruffers didn’t want to do it.

  Robert: Why?

  Mimi: Well, because maybe she didn’t feel like it.

  Robert: Like I didn’t feel like giving her a cracker.

  Mimi: Exactly!

  Robert: Mr. Scruffers is like me. We know what we don’t like.

  WHAT MOM SAID

  At dinner I told Mom and Dad about Mr. Scruffers and the backflip that never happened. Dad said he wasn’t surprised that it hadn’t worked out—a backflip is a complicated trick. Mom said, “It’s probably easier to teach her a trick that uses something she already knows how to do. Like sit for a treat.” I looked down at Mr. Scruffers. She was sitting next to my chair watching me eat. “Yeah, I guess that’s her trick,” I said. “And she’s excellent at it, especially if it’s for a cracker!”

  WHAT IS TRUE

  Right before bed I gave Mr. Scruffers some special hugs. “I love you even if you can’t do amazing tricks,” I said. She probably couldn’t understand me, but she liked the hugs and extra petting. That part I could tell.

  THURSDAY

  Mimi and I talked wedding-talk all the way to school. It’s sad, but Mimi is not invited to come. Mom says Augustine Dupre is having a super-small wedding of only thirty-two people. I don’t know why she can’t have thirty-three people and invite Mimi, but Mom says I’m not allowed to ask. I’m surprised, but Mimi is not sad. She said she might watch it from my bedroom window if Mom says it’s okay.

  Mimi and I talked about

  my special job—I still don’t know what it is going to be.

  my new dress—I get to have one even though I’m not the flower girl.

  wedding presents—which are surprisingly boring and not good.

  SCALE OF WEDDING GOODNESS

  WHAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL

  Sometimes I feel like there are two Miss Loises. The old Miss Lois, who was the Miss Lois we got at the start of the year, and the new Miss Lois, the one we have now. The new Miss Lois looks exactly the same as the old Miss Lois, but she is a lot more fun. She got that way because of Mr. Frank.

  Today we got to play charades all morning. We have been learning facts about the different states—there’s a lot to remember. Miss Lois said she had a big plan about how to help us. She divided the class into two teams and gave each team some cards. The cards were charade cards and had facts to act out about each state. She had the good idea to let us make sounds too, which helped a lot with the guessing. Our team lost, but I don’t care. It was 100 percent more fun than doing math problems. I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget the state bird of Texas. All I have to do is think of Sunni and I’ll remember.

  LUNCHTIME

  There is one good thing about not having a brother or a sister and that is, you never get the wrong lunch. I was sitting across from Marta today. Poor Marta! She got her sister’s lunch. I don’t know how anyone could like pickled herring, but I guess her sister does. Marta was pretty upset!

  WHAT HAPPENED IN THE AFTERNOON

  We had a regular school afternoon. The morning part was much better.

  WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY HOME

  Mimi told me the story about a game her dad played when he was a kid. I was pretty surprised to hear it, because her dad as a grownup seems super nice and kind. The game was called Let’s Find Rory. When Mimi’s dad was little, Rory was a super-annoying kid that lived next door to him. The game was for Rory to hide and then all the kids would try to find him, only the truth was, they never tried to find him. They just pretended they were trying. Mimi’s dad said it was a good way to get rid of Rory for a couple of hours. I guess all the kids were super good actors, because the Rory kid never figured it out. He just always thought he was an amazing hider. Mimi’s dad said everyone loved that game—especially Rory;

  Mimi said she was going to do her comic about the Rory game. As soon as we got home Mimi ran inside. She sure was excited to get started on her comic. I was secretly wondering if she was going to sew something. Mimi is crazy for sewing things.

  MOM'S BIG BAD PRESENT

  After Mr. Scruffers had barked about three hundred times and jumped on me for about ten minutes, I was finally able to get my stuff out of my backpack and put it away like Mom likes. Mom was sitting at the counter, looking at her computer. “Grace, come help,” she said. “I can’t decide. Which of these do you think Augustine Dupre would like better?” I looked over her shoulder. Mom was looking at two silver bowls. They looked almost the same. “I know she wants a silver bowl, but I’m just not sure which one to get. Which one do you like?” I looked again. They were both not exciting. “I don’t know, Mom. Why are you buying her a bowl?” Mom looked up and smiled. “It’s a wedding present ... from all of us.”

  WHAT I SAID TO MOM

  “A bowl? That’s our present? That’s the worst present ever! She doesn’t want a bowl! You have to give her something good! Something important! NOT A STUPID DUMB BORING BOWL!”

  WHAT MOM SAID

  “GRACE STEWART! I will not tolerate that tone of voice from you! For your information, Augustine Dupre told me she wanted a silver bowl, so that means she will like getting a silver bowl, and these happen to be very expensive, nice silver bowls that I am sure she would be thrilled to own! If you do not like the gift we are giving her as a family, then you are welcome to buy your own gift! Now go upstairs and do not come down unless it’s to apologize.” Mom turned around and with a mad finger tapped her keyboard. From where I was standing with my head down I could see the little arrow on her computer. It was right on the word buy.

  I turned around and stomped upstairs. I was never apologizing. I was just going to live in my room forever!

  WHAT IS NOT EASY

  THE WORLD’S WORST PRESENT

  I counted my money. I had $13.57. It’s probably not easy to buy a great wedding present for under $20.00.

  WHAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE

  I looked at my bookshelf. It was filled with comic books—I had lots of thoughts in my head.

  I had read them all, and now most of my money was gone.

  WHAT I SAID TO MR. SCRUFFERS

  “Mr. Scruffers, this is the worst day ever!” I tried to be cozy with her on the bed, but she squirmed away and ran over to the window. It was her superpower working, because there was Crinkles, carefully walking across the grass—like he was in a parade, like he was on stage, like he was walking down an aisle. And

  THE BEST WEDDING PRESENT THAT I EVER THOUGHT OF IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE THAT AUGUSTINE DUPRE IS GOING TO 100 PERCENT LOVE AND REMEMBER FOREVER

  I am going to train Crinkles to walk down the aisle in Augustine Dupre’s wedding!

  WHAT I DID NEXT

  I ran downstairs to set the table for dinner and apologize to Mom. At first she still seemed kind of mad, but after I said, “I really think a silver bowl would look nice with Augustine Dupre’s fancy French dishes,” she seemed better. "And,” said Mom, “if you want to do something special you could make the card to go with it. You’re so good at drawing.” “Sure!” I said. “Plus I might do something else too.” Mom smiled. “I’m glad you’re happy again.” “Me too!” I said.

  FRIDAY

  What I know about training a cat:

  Nothing.

  What I know about how a wedding works.

  Nothing.

  Mimi and I were definitely going to have to do some research at the library at school.

  I waited outside on the path for Mimi. I could tell that she was about to come outside because Robert was at her door opening it and closing it—plus he had pushed her backpack outside. I c
ouldn’t tell if he was mad or just trying to help her get out of the house fast.

  Finally Mimi came bursting out the door. “Run,” she whispered. “Bye!” she shouted. She waved behind her and raced off down the street ahead of me. I followed as fast as I could. Mimi can run fast when she wants to. “Why are we running?” I gasped. I was out of breath and not super happy.

  MIMI'S BIG EXPLANATION

  Mimi’s explanation took up the whole walk to school. I didn’t get a turn to talk and tell her about Flower Cat. As soon as we got to school, the bell rang and there was no more time for chatting. The whole thing made me feel grumpier than I wanted to be.