Tuesday morning, a pale Mitzi, stood with Puccini clasped tightly in her arms. She surveyed the contents of Lolly’s closet. Her tiny fingers reached for the new dress, Lolly had not worn yet. With eyes that implored, but a mouth that did not speak, she looked silently up at her. Lolly asked, “Do you want me to wear this?”

A slight nod was all Mitzi managed.

Lolly was saving the dress for a special occasion, that hopefully included Trevor. She looked into Mitzi’s eyes. There was not any demand in them, only a silent plea. She could not refuse her. “Okay, I will wear that.”

There was the faintest spark of light in Mitzi somber eyes. She reached down and picked up the new sling back platforms. “These.”

“Okay.”

Mitzi said, “I will let you get dressed now.”

Later, when Lolly was ready for school, Mitzi told her, “You look so pretty Lolly. I wish I was as pretty as you.”

Lolly did not understand what Mitzi saw in her, but she was grateful. She gave her a big hug and a kiss on the top of the head. She whispered, “I wish I was as pretty as you.”

Mitzi said, “Maybe we are both pretty.”

Lolly smiled, “Maybe so.”

At the front door, Max said, “Hurry up or we are going to miss the bus.”

Lolly let go of Mitzi, gave Grandma Toady a kiss and followed Max outside. The platforms were hard to walk in. She could break an ankle in the things if she stepped wrong. Though she was going slow, Max walked with her all the way to the bus stop. When he got there, he didn’t stand with his friends, he stood with her. Kevin came over and joined them.

The bus rumbled into the trailer park. The boys pushed into the bus first, then Lolly went up the steps. Mrs. Anderson said, “You look lovely Lolly. Is that a new dress?”

“Thank you and yes Ma’am.” Lolly took her seat. Mrs. Anderson closed the bus doors. The bus took off with a jerk. Outside the window, the trees sped by. Most were dropping leaves, some were almost bare. Their branches were like dark lace in the morning sky.

Stop by stop, children filled the bus. When they reached Munch’s stop, he stood by the side of the road with his canvas sewing bag slung across his shoulder. He wore a Navy beret and a gray London Fog Trench coat. He looked so fancy. He always did. Once he got on the bus, he plopped down beside Lolly. He said, “Your Aunt Jessie called me last night.”

Lolly thought, That’s rich considering she did not call once to check on her child or Grandma Toady.

Munch continued, “She was still really mad. She told me that since Mitzi can’t be in the show, she won’t be able to be in the show either. So I am down two models, three if you count Puccini.”

“That sucks.”

“Yup. If only I had listened to you. I was just so sure I could handle Mitzi. Jumping Jesus I was wrong. If I could just take yesterday back I would. I didn’t know Mitzi could go off that quick. I thought I was spoiled.”

Lolly took offense to this, it was okay for her to say Mitzi was spoiled, but it was not okay for Munch to say it. “Yes, Mitzi goes off fast, but she is only four and she lives in three different houses and has to follow three different sets of rules. She gets confused sometimes. She can’t help that. Max and I think she pulled the trick on Aunt Jessie that she usually only uses on Uncle Luke and it back fired on her bad. She cried herself sick last night, and I mean LITERALLY sick.”

Munch asked, “Did she puke?”

Lolly nodded. “I cleaned it up.”

“That’s awful.” Munch said, “I can’t afford that red sequin fabric, but I found this in the bottom of one of my Goodwill bags.” He pulled a multicolored tube top with sequins from his sewing bag. "I was thinking about using this to make her a 1920’s flapper dress for Halloween. Do you think she would like that?”

“She would love that!"

“I am also going to finish the dress I started for her, and the little overalls for Puccini.”

Lolly wanted to say, Don’t give up on having Mitzi in the show yet, but she didn’t want to give him false hope. Sometimes not even Grandma Toady could get Aunt Jessie to change her mind.

Munch continued, “Unfortunately I have your Aunt Jessie's dress almost finished. Who is going to wear it now?”

Though Lolly knew she was taking a risk, she still asked, “Could, maybe your mom could wear it?”

Munch swung his head toward her and said, “What? You seriously did not say that.”

“I did. Who else could wear it?”

“Not Mama. Not my Mama. She and your Aunt Jessie are two different kinds of women. I will not put my Mama in that sexy little number.” He shook his head.

Lolly asked, “Does Max know you made his mom a sexy little number?”

Munch stammered, “It, I-it ain’t that sexy, its just curve huggin’ and you know Mama ain’t got no curves.”

“So you could alter it.”

“I guess.”

Though she knew Munch didn’t want his mom in the show, she was sure Mrs. Dutchendorph would be thrilled to be included. Since Pa intruded into his family life, Munch had been freezing out his mom big time.

Trevor was waiting at his stop. Lolly felt her heart pick up its beat. Would he notice her dress? Mrs. Anderson put on the brakes and opened the door. He got on the bus. This morning, he didn’t just say hi, he gave her an appraising look and asked, “Are ya’ll going to the Halloween carnival Friday Night?”

Munch said, “Yeah.”

Trevor smiled at Lolly and said, “I’ll be there.” He walked back to his seat.

Munch turned to her and whispered, “Now that was interesting!”

It was!

*

After school Lolly changed into jeans and her chucks. Max and Mitzi were with their mom so the trailer was quiet. She didn’t have to share the TV with anyone. She turned on the TV. The Million Dollar Movie was on. Just as she flopped on the couch beside Fluff, the phone rang. She groaned, she hoped it was not Aunt Jessie calling to say, she had to go to work early. She got up and answered the phone. “Hello.”

“Hey, Lolly,” it was Amber. “I turned in my paper today, thanks to you. With any luck, I won’t flunk.”

“That’s good.”

“Nobody’s here, Bill’s working, and I don’t like to eat by myself. You want to go grab a burger?”

“Uh, yeah, let me ask.” Lolly put down the receiver and went to the rummage room. Grandma Toady was tacking a quilt. She said, “Amber asked me to go grab a burger with her, can I go?”

“Yes, but its a school night so be back by 8:00.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She made her way back to the phone and told Amber, “I can go.”

“Good. I will be by in about thirty minutes. See ya!” Amber hung up the phone before, Lolly could say, bye.

Lolly went to her room. Fluff was on her bed. He opened his eyes and yawned. A glance in her mirror told her old jeans and chucks would not cut it. For the third time that day she changed. She wore her new jeans, new Adidas and a purple baseball shirt. She reached for her favorite hooded sweatshirt. It was not in the best shape, but it was her security blanket. She slipped it on and went onto the front porch to wait for Amber.

The ball, the sun, was creeping toward the horizon. It would be dark soon. The sky was turning to fire. Lolly heard Amber’s Mustang before she saw it. The Mustang skidded to a stop in the drive. Lolly hoped Grandma Toady hadn’t heard it. She jumped up, ran to the door, shouted inside, “I’m going!”

From the rummage room, Grandma Toady shouted, “Be good!”

Lolly shouted back, “I will!” She then rushed and got into Amber’s car.

With a roar, Amber backed out of the drive. Lolly hoped Grandma Toady hadn’t heard that, but she would have had to be deaf not to hear it. Amber drove them to Dairy Queen.

They went inside, ordered and got a booth. As soon as Lolly’s butt hit the booth seat, Amber started to monologue. The central topic of her monologue was Bill, her boy friend. Bill had to work that night. He worked at a gas station. Amber’s parents didn’t like Bill. Blah, Blah, Blah. Blah. As they ate their burgers, Lolly got the distinct impression that the only reason Amber had asked her to eat with her was because she wanted to hear herself talk about Bill. Finally Amber changed the subject and asked, “I have been wondering something.”

Cautiously, Lolly said, “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Amber kind of squinted like she was contemplating something. Lolly had seen this look before and she tensed up. Amber asked, “So you don’t have any hair?”

Since Lolly had been in Junior High, boys would randomly come up to her and ask this very stupid question. She knew why they were asking it, but why in the hell was Amber asking it? Lolly didn’t answer.

Amber’s face turned red. “God, that was a stupid question.”

Flatly, Lolly said, “It was.”

Amber dropped her eyes and stared at the table, “No. I’m sorry, My mother tells me I have NO social graces and I don’t. I really suck at making new friends. Trevor's really good at it, but not me. I just wanted to know more about you, and unfortunately, I spoke the first stupid thing that showed up in my brain.” There was a slight quiver in her voice as she continued, “I miss my friends in Fort Worth. I was supposed to go to school at TCU with them, but my dad had a heart attack, retired and moved us out here. My parents could afford a mansion, but they told me they couldn’t afford to send me off to school. It all just sucks.”

Lolly couldn’t help but wonder if the real reason, Amber’s parents hadn’t sent her off to school was because she didn’t seem to have much interest in it, but she didn’t say that. She did tell her, “I am not so good at friendship myself. I don’t trust people, because too often they haven’t been worthy of trust, or maybe, I haven’t given them a chance.”

Amber asked, “Could we be friends?”

The possibilities of this friendship flashed through Lolly’s brain. Every thought revolved around Trevor. Her mind came to a screeching halt. Being friends with Amber to get access to Trevor was wrong. She would not use Amber, at least she would try not to. She said “Of course.” The smile that spread across Amber’s face surprised her.