When the “Ode to Joy” doorbell rang, Rose opened the front door, and there was Amanda Simm.
“I’m selling raffle tickets for my swim team,” Amanda said. “To raise money for our meet in Birmingham.”
“How much are they?” Rose asked.
“They’re five dollars each, and there are a bunch of prizes, including a weekend time-share condo in the Smoky Mountains,” Amanda said. “Will you ask your mom?”
“Um, sure. Just a minute.”
Rose found her mother on the screened porch, reading, and told her about Amanda’s raffle tickets. Her mother said she would buy five.
When Rose returned to the front door with the money, Amanda thanked her and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Rose said.
Amanda waited.
“Um…” Rose shifted from one foot to the other. In her head, she argued with herself.
Ask her.
Don’t ask her.
Ask her.
Don’t ask her.
And then she did.
“Can Mavis and I borrow your bike?” she asked.
Amanda narrowed her eyes. “What for?”
“Um, just to ride.”
“Ride where?”
Then Rose argued with herself again.
Fib.
Don’t fib.
Fib.
Don’t fib.
And then she did.
“To ride around Magnolia Estates,” she fibbed. “Maybe we could come to some of your swim meets.”
Amanda cocked her head and had skeptical written all over her face. If she didn’t answer soon, Rose was going to slam the door and run up to Grace’s room.
But then Amanda said, “Sure. I guess so.”
* * *
Rose couldn’t wait to tell Mavis that she had asked Amanda about borrowing her bike. She was so proud of herself that she called Grace and told her about Mavis’s crazy plan to go to Wonderland.
“No way!” Grace said.
“Yes, way!”
“Rosie, that’s awesome,” Grace said. “I’m so glad you have a friend like Mavis.”
“Yeah, me too.”
But of course, Rose didn’t tell Grace that she didn’t really want to go to Wonderland. That the thought of riding her bike across the highway gave her a stomachache. That she could never be as brave and adventurous as Mavis was.
* * *
That evening, the Magnolia Estates Garden Club sat on the Tullys’ patio, sipping sweet tea and talking about Mr. Duffy.
Rose sat on the window seat in Grace’s room and listened with a knot of dread growing inside her.
“Sometimes I wonder if he’s going deaf,” one lady said. “I specifically told him my niece was coming last Tuesday, and he swears up and down I never did.”
“When Wanda Lawrence came to hang my new drapes,” another lady said, “she told me he had been sleeping when she stopped at the gatehouse.”
The others mumbled things like “good heavens” and “seriously?”
Rose could picture them down there, nibbling on their quiches and nodding at one another.
And it made her feel terrible when she realized they were right.
But was Mavis right?
If Mr. Duffy had another dog to love, would he really be like his old self again?
And could he ever love Henry the way he had loved Queenie?
But that didn’t matter anyway because Henry belonged at Wonderland.
Still, Mavis had a point.
If Henry wasn’t racing, why was he there?
Then one of the ladies down on the patio said, “Well, personally, I think it’s time to discuss Mr. Duffy at our next board meeting.”
Those words hit Rose hard.
Like a punch.
So she made a decision right then and there.
She would go to Wonderland with Mavis.