Kristi nodded, but then she frowned again. 'We still don't have Anna Maria,' she reminded me.
'We'll get her somehow,' I said, 'even if we have to sneak in Miss Cooper's house and steal her.'
When Brian bellowed for Kristi, I scrambled down from the tree house and slowly climbed the steps to our apartment.
Mom was waiting for me on the porch. 'Miss Cooper has complained again,' she said wearily. 'She told me you were rude to her. You rang her bell and banged on the door and then ran into Kristi's yard and hid. Is this true, Ashley?'
I stared down at my bare feet, too ashamed to look Mom in the eve. Without meaning to, I'd upset her and interrupted her work again. Why was I always making her unhappy?
In the growing silence, Mom sighed. 'Are you still angry about the doll?'
'She doesn't belong to Miss Cooper!' I stopped and bit my lip. How could I make Mom understand? Thinking carefully, I asked, 'Do you believe in ghosts?'
Mom looked puzzled. 'What do ghosts have to do with Miss Cooper and the doll?'
'Just tell me,' I said. 'Do you believe in them?'
'Sometimes,' Mom said. 'Especially after your father died. There were mornings when I woke up, sure he was sleeping beside me; times I'd walk into a room positive he'd just left - I'd even smell his pipe smoke, hear his footsteps, catch glimpses of him on crowded streets.' Her voice trailed off and she slid her arm around me, hugging me close.
As she held me tightly, I was afraid to look at Mom. I knew how hard she tried to hide her feelings from me, to be brave.
'Did you ever think, though,' I asked her, 'that maybe he still exists in another time and you could go back to the years before he died and see him again?'
'Oh, Ashley, it was my own memories of Fred, not his actual presence, that haunted me.' Mom sighed. She had said all she was going to say on the subject. And she had heard all she wanted to hear.
For a while we sat together, side by side but a million miles apart. If only I could tell her how angry I felt at Daddy for making us so sad, but I was sure she wouldn't understand.
***
That night, I woke up after midnight. Oscar was prowling back and forth on the windowsill, his tail twitching, and Max was barking.
'What's out there?' Miss Cooper cried. 'Go get it, Max.'
Pressing my face against the screen, I saw Snowball standing in a square of light shining from Miss Cooper's kitchen window. Then Miss Cooper's door opened, and Max charged outside. Snowball stood his ground, and to my surprise, Max retreated while Miss Cooper called, 'Shoo, shoo, get away from here!'
While I watched, Snowball stalked toward the house. Like a cat in slow motion, he moved one paw ahead, then another. His bushy tail stood straight up and his fur puffed out, making him look twice his normal size. Even though I knew he meant me no harm, he frightened me.
'Go away!' Miss Cooper begged. 'Go back where you belong!'
Her door slammed, and the kitchen light went out. Although the lawn was swallowed up in shadows, I could see Snowball's white fur glimmering. As my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, I watched him pace back and forth, gazing up at the house. It wasn't me he was looking at this time, and when I called his name he didn't respond.
Twitching his tail. Snowball began to meow. Gradually he worked himself up into full cry and yowled until he woke Mom.
Joining me at my window, she asked, 'is that the cat you were talking about?'
'Isn't he beautiful?'
'Frankly,' Mom said, as Snowball continued yowling, 'beautiful isn't the first word that comes to my mind when a cat wakes me up at one A.M.'
Shoving the screen up, Mom stuck her head out. 'Shush!' she yelled at Snowball, 'Scat!'
The cat looked up at Mom and me just as Miss Cooper hurled a bucket of water out the back door. He spun about and hissed, then turned and ran across the lawn. While we watched, he darted under the hedge and disappeared into Louisa's yard.
'Old witch,' I muttered as Miss Cooper's door slammed.
'Oh, Ashley,' Mom sighed. Her hand lingered on my hair, smoothing it as it tumbled down my back. 'If she hadn't done it, I'd have thrown the water myself. I need my sleep, and so do you.'
She kissed me good night, and I crawled back under my covers, too tired to worry about Louisa. 'Don't cry any more tonight,' I whispered to her. 'Please don't cry. I'll get the doll, I promise.'
Chapter 16
Talking to Miss Cooper
WHILE I WAS eating breakfast the next morning, Kristi came thumping up the steps and barged into the kitchen. Taking a seat, she helped herself to a slice of bread and spread a thick layer of jam on it. 'Did you hear Snowball last night?' she asked.
'I think he's mad because Miss Cooper won't give Anna Maria to us,' I said. 'That's why he was yowling at her.'
'Miss Cooper must be scared,' Krisd said.
'Maybe we should try talking to her again,' I said. 'She might give us Anna Maria just to get rid of Snowball.'
Kristi wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, smearing blueberry jam across her cheek. 'Not me,' she said, 'I'm never speaking to that mean old woman again.'
'We have to get Anna Maria,' I reminded her.
While I rinsed my breakfast dishes, I watched Kristi help herself to another slice of bread and jam. She was acting very nonchalant, but I knew she was trying hard to think of some reason not to visit Miss Cooper.
When the kitchen was clean, I opened the back door and started down the steps. Kristi pattered behind me, mumbling to herself.
'You don't have to come with me if you don't want to,' I told her. 'You can hide in your old tree house like a baby and spy on us.'
Kristi glared at me. 'Just because I'm younger than you doesn't make me a baby,' she said.
While Kristi hesitated, Miss Cooper suddenly appeared in person. Leaning heavily on her cane, she confronted us in the driveway. She looked fiercer than usual, and I backed away from her so fast I stepped right on Kristi's bare toes.
'That white cat,' she said abruptly. 'You girls put him in my yard last night, didn't you? You were trying to scare me.'
'You know who that cat is and where he comes from,' I said. I was feeling pretty brave, but my voice sounded shaky. 'He's here to get Louisa's doll, and you better give it back before it's too late!'
Miss Cooper gripped her cane tighter and backed away from me. 'It's already too late,' she said. 'Louisa's been dead since 1912. Nothing can change that.'
She paused a moment, breathing heavily. 'If you don't believe me, go to Cypress Grove Cemetery and see for yourself, missy. Just look for the pink angel her aunt put up for her!'
Kristi looked at me, her eyes full of tears, and I glared at Miss Cooper. 'How could you be so mean?' I asked. 'Louisa was an orphan, and she was sick. You must have known she was going to die, but you took Anna Maria anyway.'
'You had no business digging that doll up!' Miss Cooper snapped at me.
'And you had no business burying her!'
Miss Cooper looked from me to Kristi, her mouth pursing and unpursing. 'I just borrowed the doll,' she said at last and lifted her chin, daring us to contradict her. 'I meant to give her back, but that aunt of hers wouldn't let me in the house. She said Louisa was too sick for company; she said to come back when she was feeling better. I didn't think Louisa was going to die. What does a child know of death?'
'Why didn't you just give Anna Maria to Aunt Viola?' I asked.
