need to see them this late at night. Not one that wouldn’t make Trixle suspicious anyway. First thing tomorrow I’ll deal with it. I’ll go in and talk to Janet. Tell her Jimmy is going to make her a much better carousel. He wants to take hers and use it as a model. Then when we get it to the Mattamans’ we’ll switch out the bar spreader and get rid of it for good.
In the morning when I get up, the trim on 64 building is being painted, the extra dock equipment is being hauled out of sight, the steps to 64 are swept, the windows washed, the roof of the dock tower is being scrubbed, the bird turd removed. The
I find Bea at the canteen stacking cans of tomato sauce in a perfect pyramid. “Where’s Janet?” I ask.
“We took her down to Monterey to visit her cousins. They have a horse,” Bea tells me, as if this explains everything. But that’s all I get out of her. Bea is in no mood to chat. She was gone yesterday and the deliveries have backed up. She needs to get the new groceries out, she tells me, plus there’s the party preparation and hairstyling to do. It seems suddenly as if the visit of Hoover and Ness has commandeered all the adults’ attention.
In the afternoon, on the way back from getting their hair done at Bea Trixle’s, Piper and Annie knock on my door. “We need to talk,” Annie says. Her hair looks odd, as if it has been curled and pinned into a position entirely against its wishes. Even in her baseball pants, Annie does not look comfortable. Piper’s hair is styled the same way, but on her, it looks glamorous.
We go back in my room and close the door. It feels awkward and small in here and stinky with the goop Bea Trixle put on their hair.
Annie sits on a crate, Piper sits on my bed, and I stand up, not sure what to do with myself.
“I’m going to the party,” Piper informs me.
“Of course you’re going. You’re performing,” I say.
“Yeah, then I’m supposed to leave, but I’m not going to. I want to see Scarface.” Piper seems more like her usual self today. That’s good, I guess, but it’s also bad.
“And you’re going to stay with me.” Piper points at me like she’s shooting me with her finger.
“No, I’m not.”
“You owe me and
“Why?” Annie wants to know.
“I can’t stay with you. I have to watch Natalie,” I tell her.
Piper smiles. “Already taken care of. Mrs. Caconi is going to do it.”
“My parents won’t agree to that,” I tell her.
“They already have.” Piper gloats. “My dad asked them. They can’t turn my dad down.”
“Wait a minute. You told your dad you want to meet Scarface and he agreed?”
“No, stupid. I told him I wanted you to see our performance.”
“What’s that have to do with Scarface?”
“Nothing so far as he knows. We’ll hide, then we can watch. Capone is supposed to be the waiter. And he’ll definitely put on a show. That’s what Buddy said.”
“I’m not getting in trouble. My dad’s on probation.” I glare at her. “We’d be kicked off the island if I were caught.”
“Then our deal is off.”
“You’re heartless, you know that?” I tell Piper.
“What deal?” Annie insists.
“None of your business,” Piper snaps, scratching at her hair. “Look.” She turns to me. “If I’d been a boy my dad would have let me sit at the table. You can bet that.”
“What’s that have to do with anything?” I ask.
“Don’t act like you’re stupid as a stump.” She snorts. “Look, you might as well give up. I got your dad on probation, I can get him fired too.”
Annie’s mouth drops open.
“Guess Annie knows now,” I tell Piper.
“Yeah, so… what do you say?” Piper turns to her.
“You got to do what she wants. You don’t have a choice,” Annie answers in a gentle voice that seems as unlike her as her hairdo.
Piper smiles triumphantly. “Did you hear that, Moose? Even Annie agrees with me.”
26. AL CAPONE IS THE WAITER
Sunday, September 8, 1935
The warden is out this morning making sure everything looks just so. He had the Black Mariah polished up shiny as patent leather. It’s sitting ready to drive J. Edgar Hoover and Eliot Ness up the hill to tour the place. The dock itself was scoured, the underside scrubbed with bristle brushes. The stink of moss and rotting algae has been replaced with the good smell of clean laundry and Ivory Soap. You’d think Hoover and Ness were royalty, the way the warden is acting.
My dad spends half an hour polishing the badge on his hat with special cream my mother bought in San Francisco. And then he starts on his shoes.
“Lookin’ good,” I tell him. “But not as good as when Capone does ’em.”
My father snorts.
“Any idea what his trick is?”
“Couldn’t venture a guess,” my father says.
My mother is going to wear a brand-new rose-colored dress that the cons made for her in the tailor shop.
“Did a nice job, didn’t they, Moose? Though I guess I should have given you a chance at it. Cam, did you know Moose likes to sew?”
“I do not, Mom, cut it out.”
“That’s not what I hear. According to Annie’s mom, he’s got a knack with a needle and thread.”
“She did not say that.”
“Oh yes she did. Thinks you have a hidden talent you’re afraid to show.”
Mothers are so embarrassing sometimes. The whole lot of them, I swear. Even so, before Natalie got accepted at the Esther P. Marinoff, my mother never would have kidded me this way. Things are changing. They really are.
After my mom is done ribbing me, she heads for Bea Trixle’s, where she spends half the day getting her hair done. I know because I knocked on the door at least three times looking for Janet, who still isn’t back. I have to get the bar spreader off the island, for good. But I can’t figure out how to do that until Janet gets home.
Only Natalie seems oblivious to all the fuss being made. Her big concern is who she can get to play button checkers with her. I don’t know how Theresa knew Nat would love this game, but she did. She beats everybody every time. She’s clearly a better match for herself than any of us are for her, but she likes to play with us and she gets angry if we don’t give the game our all. It can’t be too easy for her to win.
By nightfall, the brand-spanking clean Black Mariah sits waiting to take Hoover and Ness up to the Officers’ Club and there’s a hum of excitement from one end of the island to the other.
“As soon as Piper and Annie are done singing, you need to come straight back here because Mrs. Caconi will have her hands full. You understand?” my father asks as he straightens his hat.
“Yes,” I say, watching my dad, wishing I could tell him what’s going on.
When Nat and I get to the Mattamans’, I pretend everything is fine between Jimmy and me. He’s been touchy lately. And I always seem to be on his bad side. I hope getting Mr. Mattaman off probation will make up for whatever else Jimmy thinks I’ve done wrong.
I do trust Jimmy though, and he definitely knows what he’s supposed to do. We talked it all out this afternoon. He and Theresa will help Mrs. Caconi watch Natalie while I stick by Piper.
“You won’t let her throw a tantrum or anything, right?” I ask Jimmy. There’s no way to prevent Natalie from throwing a fit. We both know that, but I ask anyway.
“Theresa plays with her all the time. And if we start having problems I brought a bunch of rocks up and I’ll let her sort them for my rock machine. You know she loves that,” Jimmy tells me.
“Okay, then, I’m gonna go. You’re all right, right?” I ask again.
Natalie jolts upright, her body suddenly rigid.
“Not you, Nat. You’re going to stay here with Theresa.”
Nat seems to take this in; a tiny darting smile flashes across her mouth. Theresa’s whole face bursts with joy. “Did you see that, Moose? Did you? She wants to stay here with me.”
When I close the Mattamans’ door, Mrs. Mattaman is already gone. She went to the Officers’ Club with my parents. Mr. Mattaman is on duty in the dock guard tower. Mrs. Caconi has settled in, knitting booties for the warden’s new baby, Natalie is twirling a globe, and Theresa is lying on the floor, pencil in hand, ready to draw the country Nat calls. This is a new game Theresa just made up and they are having a lot of fun with it.
Everyone is content. I don’t need to worry anymore.
By the time I get to the Officers’ Club the place is almost completely transformed. Chairs are set up facing a main concert stage draped in blue. Piper and Annie are
