Doris Ray begged and whined and pleaded and she finally got to wear one of Roxanne’s silver high heels with her Easter dress, which was made out of a stiff blue stuff that stood out like a tent and squeaked when you rubbed against it.

“How can you let her go to the party like that?” I asked Mama. She looked ridiculous, plus she could trip and break her other leg.

“There’s going to be no arguments tonight. No matter what. I haven’t danced with your daddy in four years, and a high-heeled shoe will not ruin my night.” Mama went on to say Doris Ray had agreed to be pulled in the wagon, so she wouldn’t be running around.

It struck me that Mama really looked forward to the party. I noticed, too, how pretty she looked in her pale green dress the one she wore every year in the spring. Her hair, which she usually pulled back with bobby pins, waved around her face and shined golden brown. Even Daddy dressed up. He wore his dress boots and the bolo tie with the longhorn clasp on it. The boys had on navy slacks and suspenders.

Everybody but me seemed excited. It’s not that I didn’t look all right. Mama had let me pick my own pattern and material for my Easter dress this year, and it was simple and white. I liked it. My hair still looked pretty from Roxanne’s fixing it and I even had on a little lipstick. It was just that so much depended on everything going right tonight.

When we got to Mr. Arthur’, Elma was already letting people in. She was standing just inside the basement door handing out some extra leis she’d bought at the dime store. I could tell she was enjoying acting real important.

She wore a plastic grass skirt over her yellow pantsuit, and she had big white carnations stuck in her hair, one over each ear. Her lei hung around her neck with her camera.

“Come right on in,” she said to us. “Welcome to Hi-wa-ya. Y’all feel free to mosey around and have some refreshments. There’ll be dancin’s pretty soon.”

She tossed a lei to each of us, then pulled me over. “That Roxanne’s not here yet.”

“She might be a little late,” I told her. I glanced around, hoping I’d see Frankenstein. “I’ll get the music started.”

The wheels on Doris Ray’s wagon creaked as we went across the cement floor, which Mr. Arthur had painted blue a long time ago. With all the twinkling lights, it almost looked like water.

We walked past Queen Elizabeth and on into the big room where lots of people were milling around. There was Frankenstein, sitting at the table with the disciples.

“Need some help?” came a familiar voice from behind. I whirled around.

“Hello, Jesse, dear.” It was Mrs. Noble and her husband. She looked real different in a shimmery silver dress. I’d never seen Mr. Noble before. He was bald except for a little tuft of hair over each ear, and his body was short and round. He laughed like Santa Claus.

“Jesse,” he said, laughing as he spoke, “Shirley has told me that you’re in charge of this great party.” His eyes sparkled. “Did you do all this decorating or did you hire a designer?”

“I helped,” I said, “along with my friend Roxanne and Debbie.” I pointed toward the punch bowl where Debbie was standing filling cups.

“Wow! Wow! Wow!” Doris Ray piped up. “It’s so pretty in here!”

“So are you the mistress of ceremonies tonight?” Mrs. Noble asked me, looking around and smiling at everything.

“No. That’s Roxanne. She’s a lot better at speaking in front of people than I am. When she gets here, she’ll give the goodbye speech.”

I searched the room, hoping to see her in a corner somewhere. Earlier that afternoon when she was doing my hair, I’d asked her if she’d written the speech yet. She’d said it doesn’t do any good to write down heart things.

Debbie waved and walked toward me. “Look at you!” I said. She was wearing a beautiful black dress that had super-thin straps. “Are those real diamonds?” I asked, touching, the sparkling stones dangling from her ears.

“My mother’,” she said, smiling. “Where’s Roxanne?”

“I wish I knew.” Someone walked up from behind and tapped my shoulder. I jumped.

“Wanta dance?” It was Rodney Grey, the cute guy I’d hoped was Roxanne’s son.

I was about to say I guessed so when Elma butted in. She said, “I’m turning the music off, so you can be heard. I got Daddy buckled into his chair, obvious reasons. I’ll put him up there next to you.”

“I’m not giving the speech. Roxanne is,” I said.

Elma wrinkled her nose and cleared her throat. “Well, I think just about everybody’s here, and Daddy’s being pretty good right now, but he’s not gonna last forever. He’s even keeping his party hat on.” She gestured toward where he sat in a chair wearing a little pointed birthday hat and a lei.

Like a bulldozer, Elma pushed me toward the center of the room while I gave Rodney a look that said I was sorry.

“Go on,” Elma whispered. I looked around again, making sure Roxanne hadn’t come in. Mr. Arthur rocked back and forth in his chair singing something.

“It’s too noisy,” I complained to her. “Let’s wait.”

She stepped on top of a chair and put a silver gym whistle in her mouth. After she’d blown it a couple of times, everything got quiet.

“Thank y’all for making it out here tonight,” she started. “We’ll get the dance going again in a few minutes, but first, Jesse here, who had a big part in planning this shindig for Daddy, wants to say a few words.”

She climbed down from the chair and told me to get up on it so everyone could see and hear good.

I coughed. If Roxanne walked in, I’d let her take over. I waited a couple of seconds, looked at Debbie and mouthed, “Roxanne?”

She shook her head and gave me a thumbs-up sign.

I took a deep breath. “We are here tonight to honor Mr. Alexander Arthur,” I said as loudly as I could, even though my voice was shaking. Any minute, it seemed, I could let it go and it would whirl around out of control, like a kite that’s been let loose, and come crashing to the ground. I took another deep breath.

“Mr. Arthur means a lot to many of you. He means a lot to me.” I held my hands together to keep them from trembling.

“When I was a little girl, he and Ruby gave me the job of dusting the museum. They made me feel special, and I’m sure they made you feel that way, too, when you came to visit.” I saw a lot of people smile and nod.

“A good friend of mine says the only true thing in life is love. Mr. Arthur and Ruby knew how to love. I guess in a way they planted seeds of love in all our hearts. Mr. Arthur, we’ll sure miss you when you’re moved away.” I stepped down from the chair and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

The crowd clapped and cheered and all of a sudden I realized I wasn’t so nervous anymore. Somebody started the music up, and I saw Debbie talking to Harold. She took his hand and pulled him out on the dance floor. He was smiling like he didn’t mind at all.

Mama got Daddy on the floor, too. I watched as Daddy put his arms around her, bumping into our moons and stars with the top of his cowboy hat. They still knew how to do the two-step and they were having a good time.

Things seemed to be working out pretty well, except for the most important part. I was worried, but I figured Roxanne’d probably show up at the last minute. Thankfully, Frankenstein was still sitting between Peter and Matthew, sketching.

I sat down in the wagon with Doris Ray and waited. Rodney was already dancing with someone else and he didn’t look like he’d change his mind about it anytime soon. I kept checking my watch, holding my wrist up to one of the Christmas lights so that I could see the dial.

By nine-thirty people were leaving, hugging Mr. Arthur, telling him they’d see him at Purple Paradise.

I looked at Frankenstein. He didn’t look like he was going anywhere. His parents hadn’t come, so I hoped maybe he’d stay for a while longer. Roxanne could still show up.

“Jesse, Jesse,” Doris Ray tugged at my sleeve. “I want to go see Frankie’s pictures.” I guessed we might as well and pulled the wagon over there next to him.

“Let me see, Frankie,” Doris Ray begged. He flipped through the pages of his spiral drawing pad and showed her a sketch of herself lounging in the wagon, one foot with her toes sticking out of a cast, the other with a glittery high heel propped on a pillow. She giggled.

“That’s good, Frankie. Show me another one. Show me one of Jesse.” He went back â couple of pages and showed her a picture of me chewing on a fingernail, looking worried.

“That looks just like Jesse!” Doris Ray shrieked. “And there’s Mama and Daddy dancing,” she said, pointing to an image in the background.

“You’re a real artist, Frankie,” she said, looking up at him like he was Superman. He stood and walked around the front of the table to the wagon. He bent down and looked right at Doris Ray.

“You think so, kid? Here, I’ve got something for you.” He reached down into his pants pocket.

“Is it bubble gum?” Doris Ray asked.

He pulled out a wad of bills. “No, it’s your money. You accidentally left it.”

“We did? I thought you wouldn’t—” I squeezed her shoulder a little like Mrs. Noble does.

“Ouch!” she said.

“Those pictures are really good,” I told him. “Thank you. I mean it.”

“It’s okay,” he said real soft, looking down at his feet.

Somehow with the tiny lights blinking around him, and the wax Jesus behind him, he looked almost cute. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and I followed his arm from the edge of his sleeve down to his hand. His forearm was muscular and smooth, and his hand gripped his pencil with confidence.

“Where’d you learn to draw like that?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “My mother says I was born with talent, but …” He shrugged.

“You haven’t seen my friend around, have you?” I asked. “The woman who came to church with me?”

“The one who escaped from the gorilla cage?”

“Pardon me?”

“The redhead with the big furry coat.”

“Yes, her. She was supposed to be here.” I was feeling kind of sick inside my stomach.

“Nope, no gorillas here tonight,” he said, thumbing through his tablet. I pulled Doris Ray over to the punch table and poured us each a cup of pineapple juice, then sat down so that I could keep my eye on the door.

Debbie and Harold were talking, standing next to the wall near Mr. Arthur’s buffalo. Discussing the quantum theory or Moby Dick probably.

Elma was going around patting people on the back telling them she was glad they came. She still had on her grass skirt, but she had taken off her heels and was going barefoot. Mr. Arthur had fallen asleep with his party hat sitting crooked on his head.

Mama said it was time to go, but I told her I needed to stay and help clean up. “Roxanne’ll still come,” I said. “She probably had to work late. I’ll have her bring me home. Please?”

Mama agreed, and when just about everyone had left, except the Nobles, Debbie, Frankenstein and me, Elma announced she was going to play one more song. “In honor of the full moon,” she said. “And in honor of Jesse!”

I gazed up at the mermaid angel, which was gently rocking on its wires. Then I looked over at Frankenstein. If Roxanne didn’t come now, right now, she would miss her chance, maybe forever.

At that exact moment, I did the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I didn’t even think, I just walked over to the Lord’s table, straight to Frankenstein. I had to do it. For Roxanne. For me.

“Would you dance with me?” I asked.

He started to say something, but changed his mind and stood up, reaching out his hand. I never thought in a million years I’d be dancing with Franklin Harris, but it really wasn’t so bad.

For one thing, up close he smelled like Daddy’s after-shave, and for another thing, he held me like he was holding glass, real careful and gentle. Not at all what I expected.

We danced without saying a word and I wondered how it would have been for Roxanne to have felt his strong body and to have held the hand that looked so much like his father’.

Just before the song ended, I glanced up at one of the small basement windows where the moon was shining in. I halfway expected to see Roxanne with her face pressed up to the glass, but I just saw kind of a reflection of us, Franklin and me.

The song ended and Elma turned on all the lights. It was like one of those dreams where you suddenly realize you’re in the grocery store without any clothes on. I was standing there holding Franklin’s hand. I let go real quick and tried to think of something to say.

“Excuse me. I mean I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. You probably don’t even like to dance, and—”

“Shhh,” he said. “It’s okay,” and he gave me a little smile.

“Well, I guess I better get busy cleaning this place up.” Debbie and Franklin helped and so did the Nobles. Elma sat in the electric chair exhibit reading the V encyclopedia and barking instructions. Her daddy, who’d awakened when the music ended, had gotten out of his chair and was wandering around the room singing from a bunch of songs, the lines all strung together like mismatched beads on a necklace.

Pretty soon everything was clean and it was time to go. Mrs. Noble said she and her husband would take us home, and we all went out into the night.

After they dropped off Debbie and Franklin, they took me. I stared out the window all the way home. The moon was round and bright, and just as we turned into the trailer park, I thought I saw the mother and baby Roxanne was always talking about, but I wasn’t sure. Was there a mother looking down at the baby at her breast? Or was the moon just a dead planet hanging in the sky, full of tricks like mirages on the highway?

I told the Nobles goodbye and watched them drive off, then I walked across our yard to Roxanne’. Her trailer was completely dark, and there weren’t any cars out front. I went up the steps and knocked. There was no answer. I opened the screen and pressed my ear to the door and listened. I knocked again and called her name. Finally, I gave up. To tell the truth, somehow I knew before I got there that no one would be home.