The Doll in the Garden

Miss Cooper turned her head away, her eyes seeking Louisa's yard. 'That woman didn't like me. Nobody did. I was always in trouble. Do you know what Papa would have done if he'd known I'd taken the doll?'

The old woman stared at me, and I shrugged and looked down at my bare feet. I was starting to feel sorry for her, and I didn't want to. Not when she'd been so mean to Louisa.

'He'd have beaten me with his belt,' Miss Cooper said, 'and then he'd have locked me in the coal cellar and left me there in the dark till he was sure I'd repented.'

'Is that why you buried her?' I asked. 'So no one would know you took her?'

Miss Cooper nodded. 'When they told me Louisa was dead, it seemed the right thing to do. I sneaked out of the house late at night and buried her under Papa's best rosebush. I knew nobody would dare dig near its roots.'

She paused a few seconds and then added softly, 'I even said the right words, the very ones I heard at Louisa's funeral.'

Miss Cooper rummaged about in her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled handkerchief. She blew her nose carefully. 'Don't you think I haven't felt bad about it all these years?' she said. 'You're too young to know, but the things you do when you're a child stay with you all your life.'

'But you can change it now,' Kristi said. 'You can give Anna Maria to Louisa.'

'How can I do that?' Miss Cooper peered at Kristi as if she thought she was crazy. 'Louisa's been dead over seventy years. Time doesn't run backward, you know, and things that have been done can't be undone, no matter how hard you wish.'

'But Snowball can take us through the hedge to Louisa's garden,' I said. 'The house is there, and she's there, and so is Aunt Viola. We've seen Louisa and talked to her, that's how we know how much she wants Anna Maria.'

'Why are you telling me lies?' Miss Cooper's voice rose and quavered as she leaned toward me. 'You are a wicked child.'

'I'm not lying!' I was getting angry. 'Just give us Anna Maria so we can take her to Louisa before she dies.'

Kristi began crying. 'Don't you see?' she said to Miss Cooper. 'If she gets the doll back, maybe she won't die. We want to save Louisa's life.'

I don't know what would have happened if Snowball hadn't come walking across the grass at that moment. Miss Cooper saw him first. 'Louisa's cat,' she hissed. 'Get him away, get him away!'

Picking Snowball up, I caressed his white fur. 'He won't leave till you give Anna Maria back,' I said. 'Won't you please get her? Please!'

The three of us stood facing each other like children frozen in a game of statues. At last Miss Cooper said, 'The world's full of white cats. They all look just the same.' Her voice was shaking and the hand clutching her cane trembled.

'But they have shadows, right?' While she watched, I set Snowball down on the grass. 'All except this one.'

Miss Cooper, Kristi, and I looked at the ground at Snowball's feet. His fur shone in the sunlight, his pink nose glistened with health, his big green eyes stared up into ours, but no shadow anchored him to the earth. Meowing softly, he took a few steps toward Miss Cooper and she backed away.

'I knew it all along,' the old woman whispered, more to herself than to us. 'But I didn't know what they wanted. I told myself they were just tormenting me because I didn't go to see her before she died.'

Miss Cooper paused and Snowball rubbed against her legs, purring. She flinched a little, but she didn't move away. Slowly she bent down and ran a hand lightly over his fur. 'You feel so real,' she said.

Then she straightened up and looked at me. 'You say it's the doll. If Louisa gets her back she'll rest quiet and leave me be?'

I nodded, and the old woman sighed. 'All right,' she murmured. 'All right.'

Letting out my breath in a long, slow sigh of relief, I watched Miss Cooper hobble around the side of her house and climb her steps. Krisd clutched my arm, and Snowball purred as he watched the house, too, waiting for Miss Cooper to come back with Anna Maria.

Chapter 17

Louisa and Carrie

AFTER WHAT SEEMED like a very long time, Miss Cooper opened her front door and walked slowly toward us. She was carrying Anna Maria as if she were a real baby, and I noticed she'd washed the doll's face and clothes and curled her hair. Except for the chip on her nose, Anna Maria looked almost as good as new.

When I reached for the doll, though, Miss Cooper shook her head. 'No,' she said, 'I'm going with you. If there's any truth in this, I want to see it for myself.'

'But Louisa won't know who you are,' I said. 'She thinks you're still a little girl.'

Miss Cooper frowned and stuck her Up out as if she were Kristi's age. 'If you want the doll returned, you have to let me do it.'

I could tell by the expression on Kristi's face that she didn't want Miss Cooper to come, but to me it made sense. Since she had taken Anna Maria, it seemed right for her to give her back to Louisa.

'Maybe it won't work if she comes,' Kristi said to me.

'Maybe it won't work if you come.' Miss Cooper clutched Anna Maria and scowled at Kristi.

While the two of them glared at each other, Snowball brushed against Miss Cooper and meowed. Forgetting everything else, the three of us followed him around the house and across the backyard. As we approached the gap in the hedge, I looked up at our apartment, hoping Mom wouldn't see us parading across the lawn. She was nowhere in sight, but I could hear the clatter of her typewriter.

'He's waiting for us.' Kristi tugged at my arm and pulled me toward Snowball. The cat was standing by the hedge. His green eyes were huge as he watched Miss Cooper walk slowly toward him and stop a few feet away.

'Come on,' I took the old woman's arm and tried to pull her toward Louisa's yard.

'I'm afraid.' Miss Cooper resisted me. In the hot sunlight, she looked as old and fragile as the doll she held in her arms. 'What will happen to me if I go with you?'

Kristi and I looked at each other. 'Nothing,' I said, but how did I know?

'What's Louisa like?' Miss Cooper asked. 'Is she a ghost? A spirit?'

'She's just as real as I am,' I said. 'She's thin and small and her hair is long and golden, the color of honey.'

Miss Cooper's mouth twitched, but she didn't say anything. Lowering her head, she caressed Anna Maria's curls. 'I fixed her up the best I could,' she said, 'but I couldn't do anything about her nose. I hope Louisa won't be mad about it.' Miss Cooper looked at me. 'Do you think she'll forgive me for treating her so badly?'

From what I knew of Louisa, I was sure she wouldn't bear anyone a grudge. Gently, I led Miss Cooper toward the hedge, and the three of us followed Snowball into the dusky world on the other side.

***

The first thing I noticed was the darkness. It wasn't twilight this time but mil night. The moon shone high overhead, and Snowball's fur shimmered as he ran through patches of shadow toward Louisa's house. The air was cool against my skin and a breeze made me shiver.

Kristi grabbed me. 'She's gone,' she whispered. 'She didn't come after all.'

'Miss Cooper?' I looked behind me into the dense shadows near the hedge. The leaves stirred and rustled, and, as Kristi and I watched, a little girl appeared. She was shorter than I was, and her long straight hair tumbled around her thin face. In her arms was Anna Maria.

While Kristi and I stood staring, the girl gazed at the house, her eyes scanning the upper story. One light shone from a window. In the silence, I heard her draw in her breath.

Clutching Anna Maria, Carrie Cooper walked right past Kristi and me. Without looking at us, she slowly climbed the back steps and paused at the door where Snowball sat waiting. Cautiously she turned the knob and slipped inside with Kristi and me behind her.