Sally, Shelby and Andrea were walking home from school. Sally was careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk. Shelby went out of her way to step on every one. When they reached the corner Shelby said, “Bye… see you tomorrow… I’ve got to go to the dentist this afternoon.” She went up the walk to her house.
As soon as she was gone Andrea said, “Can you keep a secret, Sally?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course!” Sally said.
Andrea stood still and faced Sally. “Okay… I’ve decided to tell you and only you because you came up with the idea for Omar’s collar… but if anybody ever finds out…”
“I can keep a secret!” Sally insisted.
“Okay.” Andrea took a big breath. “I’m in love.”
“You are?”
Andrea started walking again. “Yes… hopelessly.”
“Is that good or bad?” Sally had to hurry to keep up with her, skipping over every line in the pavement.
“It all depends,” Andrea said.
“On what?”
Andrea shrugged, as if she wasn’t sure herself.
“Who is he?” Sally asked.
“He’s called Georgia Blue Eyes… he’s new… he’s in Mrs. Wingate’s portable.”
“Oh… that’s right next to Shelby’s… maybe she knows him…”
“This is a secret, remember?”
“Don’t worry… I won’t give you away,” Sally said. “What’s his real name?”
“I don’t know… but he’s from Georgia and he has the most beautiful blue eyes you ever saw.”
“Nicer than Omar’s?”
“Omar is a cat.” Andrea said this as if Sally didn’t already know.
“I thought you liked Latin lovers best… with dark and flashing eyes.”
“I do, sometimes,” Andrea said quietly, and then she became annoyed. “Will you stop jumping like that… you look like a kangaroo.”
“I don’t want to step on any cracks.”
“Don’t tell me you believe that garbage about your mother’s back… that’s the silliest superstition.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Then stop jumping!”
“I like to jump.”
“Sometimes you act younger than a fifth grader… you know that… and I was going to ask you to come to the park with me this afternoon… but now I’m not so sure…”
“And sometimes I act older… you said so yourself.” Sally waited for Andrea to agree with her. When she didn’t, Sally asked, “So what’s at the park today?”
“Georgia Blue Eyes… I heard he’s playing ball there this afternoon.”
“Oh,” Sally said and she stopped jumping.
“Can I go to the park with Andrea?” Sally asked her mother. “Please… I’ll be very careful.”
“Walking or on bicycles?” Mom asked.
“Bicycles… but I’ll watch out for cars… I promise… please…”
“All right,” Mom said. “But be back by five… that means you have to leave the park no later than quarter to…”
“Okay…”
She and Andrea rode their bicycles to Flamingo Park. When they got to a field where a bunch of boys were playing ball Andrea’s face flushed and she said, “There he is!”
“Which one?” Sally asked.
“On first base… isn’t he the most beautiful boy you’ve ever seen?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know? Look at that hair… oh, I’d love to run my fingers through it.”
“He might have nits.”
“Are you crazy?” Andrea asked.
“Some people do, you know.”
“Not nice people.”
“Even them…” Sally said.
“Never! Nits are what dirty disgusting people get from not shampooing and Georgia Blue Eyes isn’t dirty or disgusting!”
“Maybe…” Sally paused for a minute, not wanting to go deeper into that subject. “So, you want to ride around or just sit here and watch?” she asked Andrea.
“Hmm… I guess we should ride around for a while. We can circle the field… that way he might notice me.”
They rode around three times but if Georgia Blue Eyes noticed Andrea he kept it to himself. Then Andrea decided they should ride around the rest of the park and come back to the field later, when Georgia Blue Eyes wasn’t quite so busy.
They rode past the tennis courts, past the food stand and through the wooded area. Mr. Zavodsky was there, sitting on a bench, reading The Forward. Andrea called, “Yoo hoo… Mr. Zavodsky…” and when he looked up she waved.
Sally caught Andrea’s arm and held it down. “Cut that out!” Andrea said, shaking Sally off. “Got any candy today?” Andrea called to Mr. Zavodsky.
“For you… always…” He beckoned to her.
“Don’t go,” Sally said, under her breath.
“Why not?” Andrea asked.
“I don’t trust him.”
“Why?”
“He offers us candy and we’re… practically strangers…”
“We are not… he knows us.”
“He doesn’t know me at all!”
“Oh, Sally… quit being such a jerk!” Andrea got off her bicycle, kicked down the stand and ran across the grass.
You monster! Sally thought. Reading The Forward, a Yiddish newspaper… pretending to be Jewish… and after you’ve made lampshades out of Jews’ skin! I hate you… I hate you… you think you’re so smart, coming to Miami Beach to retire, like everybody else… I’ll bet you think this is a great hiding place… well, you’re wrong…
Andrea came back with a handful of rock candy. “Want some?” she asked Sally.
“No!” Sally said and rode off.
Andrea caught up with her. “What’s wrong with you this time?”
Sally didn’t answer. She just kept pedalling.
“Are you sick or something… you look funny…”
“I… I…”
“Do you have to throw up? Because if you do I’m getting out of the way… I can’t stand it when somebody throws up…”
“I’m not going to throw up!” Sally said.
“Then what?”
“I just got hot… that’s all…” She mopped her forehead with the tails of her shirt.
“Well, don’t fall off your bike,” Andrea said. “You’re riding so wobbly.”
“I won’t.”
“Have a piece of candy… it’ll make you feel better.”
“No! I already told you I wouldn’t eat his candy… it could be poison.”
“Are you crazy?” Andrea said.
“No, I’m careful… and you should be too… I’ve never seen him eat his candy, have you?”
“How can he… he’s got false teeth!” She crunched another piece of rock candy.
“You’re going to ruin your teeth and wind up with false ones too!”
“Since when are you my mother?” Andrea asked.
The next morning, at breakfast, Sally said, “Whatever happened to Hitler?”
“Nobody’s sure,” Douglas answered, his mouth full of cereal. “Some people say he killed himself and others say he escaped to South America.”
“What do you think?” Sally asked Mom.
“I think he’s dead.”
“He should be,” Ma Fanny said. “If anybody deserves to be dead it’s him.”
“I think he got away,” Douglas said. “I’ll bet he’s in Argentina right now…”
“Or he could be here, in Miami Beach,” Sally said. “I’ll bet you never thought of that.”
Douglas coughed some cereal out of his mouth. “Boy, are you a card.”
“What an idea,” Mom said. “Hitler in Miami Beach…”
“God forbid,” Ma Fanny added.