As Paige and Toby returned to the cottage, the sound of their mother’s typewriter greeted them, echoing down from the deck through the woods. When they climbed onto the deck, their mother said, “Toby, look at your face! It’s filthy! Go get your bathing suits on. We’re going swimming.”
Paige was surprised when her mother said it was okay to swim. They got on their bathing suits and went down to the dock. Worried about leeches, Paige got in and out of the water fast, washing quickly. The water was refreshing. While they were drying off, their mother told them that Mrs. Cunningham from the IGA had phoned.
“Some of the girls are getting together tonight,” Paige’s mother said. “It’s nothing special.” But after dinner she spent more than an hour getting ready — doing her hair and changing her clothes three times.
Paige and Toby lay on her bed, watching her.
“How do I look?” she asked them, appraising herself in the mirror. She had finally settled on a dark green sleeveless mini-dress, with a white vinyl belt and white sandals.
“Beautiful,” Paige said.
Toby nodded. “Yeah, beautiful.”
Their mother smiled. “Perfume?”
“Yes!” Paige jumped up.
There was only one bottle of perfume at the camp. Paige’s mother sprayed a cloud for Paige and then one for herself. She even spritzed a little at Toby, and he jumped across the bed, burying his face in the pillows, screeching, “Nooooooo!”
Paige laughed, rolling over to him and imitating Eva Gabor from Green Acres on television. “Oh, dahhhhling! You smell deeee-vine!”
Just then there was a knock at the front door.
Paige sat up. “Who’s that?”
“Go and see,” their mother said.
Paige and Toby ran out to the main room and swung the door open. Janine from the ice-cream shack stood on the porch. “Hi,” she said.
They stared at her.
“Well, I’m here.”
They didn’t move.
Their mother entered the room. “Oh, hi, Janine, come in. Don’t just stand there, kids. Let her in.”
Paige and Toby stepped back, and she came inside. “My dad dropped me at the highway.”
“Are you our sitter?” Toby asked.
Paige rolled her eyes. “Of course, she’s our sitter, dummy — or she’s your sitter.”
“Be nice, Paige,” her mother said.
Janine held a large straw purse from which she took out a plastic bag, handing it to Paige. “You left these at the ice-cream stand.”
It was the library books.
“Did you bring ice cream?” Toby asked, peering into the purse.
Janine laughed. “No, I’m sorry. Maybe next time, Toby.” Then she twitched her nose at him. “What’s that smell?”
“I have to get going,” Paige’s mother said, glancing at the clock in the kitchen. “Janine, help yourself to anything in the fridge. Toby’s bedtime is eight-thirty, and —” She glanced at Paige, who frowned, causing her to leave the question of her daughter’s bedtime unsaid. “The kids can have a snack, but not too much pop. I’ll be home by twelve. Phone numbers are on the fridge.” She kissed Paige and Toby and headed out the door. “Bye-bye!”
Janine looked at Paige and Toby. “So what do you guys want to do?”
“Can we play Snakes and Ladders?” Toby asked.
“Sure.”
He ran to get the box from the bookshelf.
“That’s for little kids,” Paige said. “I’m going to read.”
“Okay.”
Paige lay on the sofa, reading Huckleberry Finn, while Toby and Janine played Snakes and Ladders at the kitchen table. She was annoyed that her mother felt she still needed a sitter, but she soon abandoned her resentment, becoming absorbed in the book. Paige had finally finished Tom Sawyer that morning. She had enjoyed reading about Tom’s hijinks and the superstitious townspeople, and about Tom and Becky’s escape from the cave, but Huck Finn was different. He, too, was superstitious, but he was also brave and resourceful, not cocky like Tom Sawyer. His drunken father beat him, and Paige felt sorry for the boy. It thrilled her when he staged his own death and fled down the Mississippi on a raft with Jim, the escaped slave. How horrible it would be to be a slave, she thought, and not own your life.
Janine set out a bowl of potato chips and opened a can of root beer to share with Toby. “Do you want anything to eat, Paige?”
“No, thank you.” Paige glanced at the clock. It was three hours since she changed her pad. She went into her mother’s room, got a new one, and went to the outhouse. The night was cool. She listened to the wind in the trees and a loon calling out over the lake, and she imagined Huck and Jim alone in the dark on their raft, floating down the Mississippi River. Then she thought about Gertrude, alone down by the marsh. It must be frightening to be a mother duck.
As she came back inside the camp, she heard Toby saying, “And we made a secret camp to guard the nest.”
“Toby!” Paige yelled.
He stopped.
“It’s okay,” Janine said. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Well, it’s not true. He’s just making it up.”
Janine said nothing.
“It’s almost his bedtime, anyway, and he’s not supposed to be drinking so much pop.”
“Mom said it was okay!”
“And he wets the bed.”
“I do not!”
“Okay, okay,” Janine said. “Toby, let’s go get your pajamas on. Then we’ll come back and finish our game.”
“He’s big enough to put his pajamas on by himself.”
“Well, I’ll just help him this time, if that’s all right.”
“Fine.” Paige spun away. She opened the fridge and took out a can of Orange Crush and returned to the sofa.
Janine and Toby went into the bedroom. A few minutes later they came back and finished their game. Toby won. Then it really was his bedtime, and Paige heard them talking in the bedroom, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Janine returned alone and closed the hall door. Paige watched from the corner of one eye as Janine carried the bowl of chips and her straw purse over to sit in one of the wicker chairs opposite the sofa. Janine switched on a reading lamp and pulled a movie magazine from her purse.
Paige hid her face in Huckleberry Finn and pretended to read. After a minute or so, she snuck a glance at Janine, who was absorbed in the magazine, nibbling chips, legs folded underneath her. She was wearing cut-offs again, and leather thong-sandals, which were now on the floor. A billowy white peasant blouse revealed the outline of her bra through its thin fabric. The silver peace sign twisted on its choker beneath her chin, and her messy chestnut hair was pushed behind her ears.
Suddenly, Janine sighed and looked up. “Don’t you think Ali McGraw is beautiful?” She turned the magazine, and Paige saw a photograph of the movie actress from Love Story. The star had long, straight black hair and dark eyes.
Paige nodded. “I’m sorry for yelling.”
“That’s okay. People get cranky sometimes. What are you reading?”
Paige showed her.
“Oh, I know that one. We had to read it for school. Do you like it?”
“Yeah, though it’s kind of sad.”
Janine nodded. “I know. Hey, do you want me to French-braid your hair?”
“Sure.”
Janine took a brush from her bag, and Paige sat on the floor between her feet. “You and your mom have such beautiful hair,” she said, running the brush over Paige’s head.
Goosebumps rose on Paige’s skin, and she relaxed, letting her chin fall forward. She studied Janine’s toenails, which had been painted purple, but now showed only small blotches of chipped colour, like little bruises.
Janine tugged gently on Paige’s hair. “Head up.”
Paige raised her chin, and Janine began hooking and gathering locks, weaving one over the next.
When Janine was done, she twisted an elastic band around the bottom of the braid. “Where’s a mirror?”
They went into Paige’s parents’ bedroom, and Paige stood with a hand mirror, inspecting her new braid in the big mirror on the back of the door. It was thick and taut down the back of her head like a seam. She ran her hand over it. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
Janine was at the dresser. “No problem.”
“You should do it with your hair.”
“Oh, I don’t care about my hair.” Janine picked up the perfume bottle and sniffed it. “Hey, why was Toby wearing perfume?”
“My mom sprayed him.”
Janine grinned, sprayed her neck and wrists, then rubbed the wrists together. “Now I’ll cut your bangs.”
Paige sat in a wooden chair in the middle of the bedroom with a towel around her shoulders. Janine bent close, combing down Paige’s bangs and holding a pair of barber’s shears she had gotten from her purse. The bangs tickled Paige’s eyelashes and the bridge of her nose.
“How can you see anything with these things in the way?” Janine asked, pressing the bangs flat against Paige’s forehead.
Janine raised the shears, and Paige felt their cool, blunt edge press against her left temple. The girl began snipping, and tufts of hair floated past Paige’s eyes. As Janine concentrated on her work, Paige studied the girl’s eyes. She had long, dark eyelashes that meshed at the corners like the whiskers of a Venus flytrap, and the edges of her eyelids were pink and glossy like sea-shells. In the whites of her eyes, pale yellow fans spread out from the corners into tiny red lightning bolts. Her brown irises revealed rings of mossy blue-green around their edges, and thin striations, like twigs, ran in toward the pupils. The pupils themselves — black and opaque — held miniature reflections of Paige, distant and bug-like, as though seen through the reverse end of a telescope. Paige felt the warmth of Janine’s breath on her face, and as Janine’s wrist hovered in front of her nostrils, the heady perfume made her swoon, so she closed her eyes.
“Your mom told me you got your first period,” Janine said.
Paige’s eyes shot open.
Janine pulled the scissors away. “Oh, hey, don’t be embarrassed. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I know,” Paige said.
“All girls get it. It’s totally natural.”
“I know.”
Janine looked at her. “You okay? You getting any cramps?”
“No, they’re gone.”
“Lucky you. I get them terrible.” Janine growled, clawing at Paige’s bangs with her fingertips. “And then I turn ferocious.”
Paige laughed.
Janine began cutting again. “I know you don’t need a babysitter. I’m just here for Toby because your mom said you weren’t feeling well.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you’re here.”
Janine smiled and tapped her nose. “I was worried about you.”
When Janine finished, she combed down Paige’s bangs and checked to make sure they were even. She made two final snips, then said, “Close your eyes,” and gently blew the hair off Paige’s face and neck. Then she removed the towel. “Voilà, you’re gorgeous!”
Paige turned and peered at the mirror. The bangs were cut to follow the arc of her eyebrows. She shook her head, and they fluttered.
“If only the boys could see you now,” Janine said, going out to the deck to shake off the towel.
When Janine returned, Paige asked, “Is Billy your boyfriend?”
Janine nodded. “Yeah, but my parents don’t know. If my old man knew, he’d kill him.”
“Why?”
“He’s just like that. He has a nasty temper. Billy’s a bit wild. Gets into a lot of trouble when he drinks. My old man figures he’s good enough to work for him, but not good enough for his daughter. Do you have a boyfriend in Toronto?”
“No.”
“What grade are you in?”
“I start grade ten in September.”
“They won’t be able to keep their hands off you.”
“I don’t want a boyfriend.”
“Especially when your breasts get bigger.”
“And I don’t want big breasts.”
Janine smirked. “Not like Mrs. Thorvald’s?”
“Oh, God, no! Hers are enormous!”
Janine laughed. “I know.”
Paige grabbed the towel and bunched it under her T-shirt over her chest. “Who vants pie?” she asked, imitating the old woman’s accent and wobbling around the room, sticking out her newly formed bosom.
Janine stuffed a pillow under her blouse like a potbelly. She began rubbing it, and in a deep voice said, “Oh, my little apple shtrooodel! It’s me, your Wilfypooodle.”
Paige bumped against the pillow belly and giggled. “Oh, babushkapoodle! Kiss me, dahhhhling!”
They puckered noisily at the air, and Janine grunted, her tongue lolling. “Ugh, let me get my hands on those big melons!” She started squeezing and kneading the towel.
“Ewwww!” Paige squealed, pushing Janine’s hands away and skittering toward the bed, laughing.
Janine grunted after her like an ape and tackled her, lying on top of her, panting and snuffling.
Paige giggled hysterically, her eyes filling with tears. “Stop! Stop!” Her body became rigid, her lungs fighting for air. Janine rolled off and flopped onto the bed. Paige caught her breath and looked over. Janine was silent, her back turned, breathing deeply, as though asleep. Paige pushed a big toe against her behind. “Oh, babushkapoodle!”
Janine didn’t move.
Paige heard a sniffle. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Hugging the pillow, Janine rolled over and stared at the ceiling. A moth was fluttering in a spider’s web. “Men are such pigs.”
Paige didn’t reply.
Janine’s eyes teared, and she turned away.
“I think my dad’s having an affair,” Paige said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Something I heard my mom say on the phone. He hasn’t come up for the past two weekends.”
“You’ll probably be better off without him. We should have a voodoo ceremony to punish him.”
Paige laughed.
Janine rolled over. “Hey, maybe I can come visit you in the city sometime.”
“That would be great.”
“I don’t want to get stuck in this town like my mother.”
Just then the sound of motorcycles came from outside. Janine sat up, wiping her eyes. The engines stopped, and a moment later two voices drifted down the hill, male voices, whispering and laughing.
“Oh, God!” Janine bolted from the room, and Paige ran after her.