'You take my word for it, missy, and stay away from there.' She shook her head grimly, taking in my whole appearance. Her eyes lingered on my skinned knees and then moved down to focus on my bare feet.
'Girls today have no manners,' she said. 'No upbringing. They don't know the meaning of respect. They just run wild. If you were my daughter, I'd never let you out in public looking like you do.'
Leaving me too angry to speak, Miss Cooper gave Max's leash a sharp tug and the two of them went off down the street.
Not knowing what else to do, I dragged myself home through the summer heat. As I climbed the steps, I thought I saw Kristi in her treehouse, but when I called to her, she didn't answer. I was sure she was crouching behind the leaves, watching me, still mad about Anna Maria. I wondered what she'd say if I told her where I'd been and what I'd seen.
***
'Where's Kristi today?' Mom asked later while we were having lunch.
'I don't know.' To avoid saying more, I took a big bite of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but it stuck to my throat and I had to wash it down with lemonade. I wanted to tell Mom about Anna Maria and my fight with Kristi; even more, I wanted to tell her about Snowball and Louisa and the amazing thing I'd done, but I didn't know how to begin or what to say. It was all so strange I could hardly believe it myself.
'You didn't quarrel, did you?' Mom finished her yogurt and buttered a piece of raisin bread while she waited for me to answer.
'She's only seven years old,' I said after I'd choked down the last of my sandwich.
'What's that got to do with anything?'
'I'm almost eleven,' I reminded Mom. 'I don't like playing with babies.'
Pushing back my chair, I took my plate and glass to the sink. 'Do you want me to wash the dishes so you can get back to your typing?' I asked Mom.
'Are you changing the subject, Ash?' Mom stood up, too, but as she passed the window she glanced down into the yard.
'There's Krisd now,' she said, 'talking to Miss Cooper.'
I ran to the window Sure enough, Kristi and Miss Cooper were standing in the driveway under Kristi's treehouse. While I watched, Krisd pointed to the garden and she and Miss Cooper set off across the lawn. As they disappeared into the shrubbery, I felt my knees go weak.
Mom turned to me. 'What on earth are they doing?'
I bit my lip hard as they came back into sight. Kristi was still talking, trotting along beside Miss Cooper, but the old woman was ignoring her. In Miss Cooper's hand was Anna Maria's empty box, and she was looking up at me, her face clenched like a wrinkled fist.
Chapter 11
Miss Cooper's Demand
MOM LOOKED AT ME. 'Ashley, what have you done now?'
'Nothing,' I whispered as I listened to Miss Cooper's feet thump slowly up our stairs.
Mom went to the door and opened it just as Miss Cooper stepped onto the porch.
'That girl,' the old woman said to Mom, 'took something of mine and I want it back!' She was out of breath from the climb to our apartment, but her eyes bored into me with such anger I drew back frightened.
Mom turned to me. 'Ashley?'
'I didn't take anything of hers,' I said.
Miss Cooper shoved the empty box under my nose. 'Where's my doll?'
'I don't know.' I wasn't used to lying, and my voice sounded like someone else's, weak and trembly, almost a whisper.
'You're lying, missy! You stole her and hid her away somewhere, and I want her back.' Again Miss Cooper was eye to eye with me, and I felt like a bird facing a snake.
'Miss Cooper,' Mom said, 'please tell me what you're accusing Ashley of.'
The old woman swung her head toward Mom. 'There was a doll in this box, a valuable antique doll, and your girl stole it.'
'A doll?' Mom sounded confused.
'In the garden,' Miss Cooper said. 'My garden where I told them they had no right to play. But she and that Smith child, they went in there and tore things up, flowers and all, just destroyed everything, and this one stole the doll.'
'Ashley, is this true?' Mom's face was pale, and her eyes probed mine.
'We were fixing the garden up,' I told Mom, 'making a place to play. We didn't pull up anything but weeds.' I started crying then, I couldn't help it. If Miss Cooper got her hands on Anna Maria, I'd never be able to return her to Louisa.
Mom put her arm around me, and I pressed my face against her side, ashamed of my tears. I hadn't cried for a long time, not since Daddy first got sick.
'Don't you hide behind your mother!' Miss Cooper's voice rose angrily.
Just then the telephone rang in the living room. 'Excuse me,' Mom said as she went to answer it.
'Give me what's mine!' Miss Cooper hissed at me.
'She's not yours,' I sobbed, 'she's Louisa's!'
Miss Cooper stepped backward so fast she almost stumbled over Oscar. 'What did you say?' she gasped.
'I said she's Louisa's doll.' I stared at the old woman, puzzled. What did she want with a doll anyway? And how did she even know about her? Unless she'd buried her there herself. My hand flew to the old scrap of paper in the pocket of my shorts, but I didn't need to look at it. I knew who had signed the letter.
In the silence, I stared at Miss Cooper. 'You're Carrie,' I whispered, sure I was right. 'You're the one who stole the doll, not me!'
Miss Cooper grabbed for the edge of the table. Her face was white and her mouth sagged open. Trembling, she sank down on a kitchen chair.
At that moment Mom came back into the room. 'Are you all right?' she asked the old woman.
Watching Miss Cooper, I tried to see the freckle-faced little girl Louisa had described, but all I could sec was the old woman she had become. Nothing of the child Louisa had known remained.
Suddenly Miss Cooper got to her feet. 'You get my doll,' she said to Mom. 'And bring her down to me, or I'll have you out of my house tomorrow.'
Refusing to let Mom help her, Miss Cooper opened the back door and began making her way down the steps.
I ran after her but stopped at the edge of the porch. Looking down on her, I could see her scalp through her wispy hair. 'I have a message for you,' I called softly, hoping Mom wouldn't hear me. 'Louisa wants Anna Maria back. You Ye had her long enough.'
Miss Cooper ignored me till she reached the ground. Scowling up at me, she said, 'Either you're a lying little hussy or you're the devil's child.' Then she vanished around the side of the house.
The screen door opened and shut behind me, and Mom touched my arm. 'Maybe you'd better tell me what's going on,' she said. 'Do you have Miss Cooper's doll?'
As tears welled up in my eyes, I tried to wipe them away with the back of my hand. 'It's not hers, Mom,' I said. 'It belongs to somcbody else.'
'But you have it?'
I nodded.
'May I see it, please?'
I led Mom back to my room and carefully lifted Anna Maria out from under my sweaters. Wordlessly I laid her in Mom's arms.
'What a lovely doll,' Mom said. 'Did you really find her buried in the garden?'
'Kristi and I dug her up when we were trying to pull out a thistle. Its roots had gone down deep and it left a big hole in the ground. Kristi saw the corner of the box sticking out of the dirt.'
