MRS. BYRNE HAD DOROTHY BRING NEW OLD CLOTHES to Pilar and me one morning and said we should get ready for something special. She gave me a nice blue skirt and a red shirt and even a white sweater. She gave Pilar a dark blue skirt and a white shirt and a red sweater.

We got dressed and I told Pilar, “We’ll match in different places.”

We sat on a couch just next to where Mrs. Byrne worked, but she wouldn’t tell us about the something special.

“It’s a surprise,” she said. “I can’t tell you about a surprise. Or it wouldn’t be one.”

“Whatever you tell us will be a surprise,” I told her, “because we don’t know it,” and Mrs. Byrne scrunched up her eyes, like she was angry. But I knew it was a joke.

“Oooh,” said Mrs. Byrne. “You’re smarter than me. But I still won’t tell you. You’ll know the surprise—well, two surprises, maybe—when they walk through that door.”

“When will that be?” asked Pilar, and Mrs. Byrne scrunched her eyes again.

“That’s a surprise, too.”

“That’s 1, 2, 3 surprises,” I told Mrs. Byrne.

She just scrunched up her eyes.

Pilar and I sat and sat and heard the sounds from upstairs. Power-plus! Smooth and satisfying! Eight great locations all over the tri-state area! Fuel yourself all day!

There was a loud buzz that made us sit up, and then the door opened. Dorothy stood there with a woman who had short brown hair, very short, like a boy, and milky blue eyes. Then I saw…

“Mary!”

Mary.

I think she knew it was us, too. We looked at her eyes. She had new old clothes, too, a bright yellow coat, a white shirt, black pants, and new old red shoes.

Dorothy helped Mary walk into Sunnyside Plaza. She looked around but didn’t move very easy. She didn’t talk. But she looked at us.

“Mary can’t speak. Yet,” Dorothy told us. “Maybe later. Maybe not much, ever. But she hears you. She hears everything. She doesn’t miss anything.”

“Still Mary,” I said, and took her hand.

“We’ll bring Mary upstairs. To our room,” said Pilar, but Mrs. Byrne shook her head.

“I count only one surprise so far, don’t you? Stick around, what’s your hurry?” she asked, and before we could think up anything to say or guess at another surprise, we heard the buzzer buzz again and Mrs. Byrne nodded her head toward the door.

The door rocked open again and stayed open.

Javvy came in first. Then Miriam. And then Esther Rivas, and then Rob Bartlestein.

And then London Bridges. And then Ferne Green.

“Mary is here!” said Esther Rivas. “Mary is back!”

“Cute new hairdo, too,” Ferne Green said, and Mary smiled. She smiled and smiled and held my hand.

“I’ll get Darnell, Tony, and Shaaran all ready,” I heard Dorothy say, and then Esther Rivas came close to me and asked, “Can we talk for a minute, Sal?”

I sat back on the couch, and Esther sat on the long puffy arm of the couch and put a hand on my arm. She came even a little closer and kept her voice low.

“I don’t know what will happen with… that…guy. George Nellos,” she said. “But I know that whatever happens, he won’t be able to do what he did to anyone again. You cracked the case. You figured it out. You, Sal Gal,” she said. “And Pilar, Darnell, Tony—all of you.”

“George is different,” I told her. “Not nice.”

“That’s right for sure,” said Esther. “And one of the things—one of the many things—I like about you is the way people can be nicer just by meeting you. With all that goes on in your world, Sal—how many times you might be annoyed at something you can’t do, or don’t understand—and you stay so nice. You can do so much, and understand so much. Especially people.”

Then Esther squeezed my shoulder.

“I admire you, Sal Gal,” she said.

“I… I…,” I didn’t know what to say. But Rob Bartlestein came over and leaned down over Esther’s shoulder.

“Hello, Rob Bartlestein,” she said with a smile. Rob Bartlestein smiled back.

“We thought we’d go to another ball game today, Sal,” he said. “You and Pilar—and Mary. We play the Dodgers this time. We should have called to ask, but we wanted to surprise you.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” I told him.

Javvy came over and said, “You can help us keep score, Sal Gal.”

“You remember the hot dogs?” asked Miriam.

Pilar said, “I’ve never been to a baseball game,” and I told her, “Don’t worry. I’ll show you. I’ll show you everything to do. The whole story is on the big green board.”

“Lon and Ferne are going to take Darnell, Tony, and Shaaran, too,” said Esther. “We got seats together.”

“Darnell will have hot dogs,” I told her. “1, 2, 3.”

“Well, that’s fine. We’ll keep cash handy. And after the game we thought—well, do you remember Peking Duke’s?”

“The red pig!” I said. “Egg rolls!”

“Duke is expecting us,” she said. “He says he’s got lots of great new fortunes for you. And Lon and I—we’ve been talking to some of the other people at the station house. A lot of folks would like to come over and get to know people here. Mrs. Byrne likes the idea. What do you think?”

“If everyone is as nice you—and Lon—everyone will think it’s great.”

“Well, I think—and you and your friends taught me this, Sal—that sometimes life puts people in front of you because you’re not supposed to just walk past them.”

I said, “I… I… I…,” again, and Esther just put a soft hand against my cheek. I could barely feel it, but her hand made me turn pink, I’m sure.

We walked out of the door of Sunnyside Plaza. Rob Bartlestein and Javvy were first, then Mary and Miriam, then me and Pilar and Esther Rivas in a clump. We had to be careful trying to walk because the whole street was crowded. Everyone wore blue. Everyone was excited. People yelled, but happy yells. Hey, over here! T-shirts! Ice-cold! The train above the street roared and rumbled. Rubber shoes rubbed and squeaked in the streets. Windows were open and people looked out, leaned out, and waved, even though they didn’t know us.

“What a crowd!” said Javvy.

“We’ve also been thinking, Sal,” said Esther, “that maybe once a month or so, you and Pilar and Mary could join us and go somewhere.”

“A game again?” I asked.

“Well, sure,” she said. “But there are shows you might like to see. And movies. And museums. There’s a big museum along the lake with dinosaurs.”

“Aren’t dinosaurs mean?” Pilar asked, and Esther smiled.

“Not these. They’re dead and stuffed. Or maybe they’re just big plastic models of dinosaurs. There are also big museums with pictures. And churches with beautiful music. And concerts. And parks and picnics. And sometimes, maybe you could just come to our apartment again. When there’s a holiday, like Seder, or Easter, or Christmas, you could stay over. Or you just staying over would make it a holiday.”

“With Javvy and Miriam?”

Miriam heard us and turned around from where she walked with Mary.

“You guys can stay in my room,” said Miriam. “There’s plenty of room. I’ll move into the room with little squirt. And all his smelly socks, eeew,” she added. “If we’re lucky, our father will make pancakes in the morning. From a mix, so he doesn’t get too inventive. Like with walnuts or corn or cantaloupe.”

“That was an awful invention,” said Esther. “I remember.”

“And if you’re really lucky,” said Miriam, “our mother will drag herself out of bed and make chilaquiles.”

Esther took the soft blue sweater from her shoulders and pretended to swat Miriam as she laughed. Miriam pretended to guard her head from being swatted, then held on to Mary’s hand. Pilar and I laughed to see Miriam get swatted. Javvy turned around from in front of us all and held out his arms from side to side along the sidewalk.

“Boy, all these people,” he said. “I’ve never seen such a crowd. We better get there.”

“Yes, we sure should,” Rob Bartlestein told all of us. “It’s family day.”