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Emma
Emma climbed into the Puddys’ minivan, stepped over the broken seat, and settled into the only empty spot. Everyone greeted her excitedly as if they’d never seen another human before.
She greeted them in return, with slightly less enthusiasm, and then asked, “Where’s Victor?”
“Where’s Victor?” Peter repeated in a singsongy voice. “Does someone have a crush on Victor?”
Her cheeks grew hot. “Of course not. I was just wondering.”
“He had to stay home to help his dad with chores,” Mrs. Puddy said. “Peter, zip it.”
Peter zipped it.
Mrs. Puddy looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you sure your mom doesn’t want to come?”
“I tried to talk her into it, but she’s busy trying to figure out her life.”
Mrs. Puddy laughed. “What does that mean?”
“She’s applying for jobs.”
“Oh. Did she hear about the secretary position at your school?”
“What?” That would be awesome! She could have her mom right there at school with her? It would only be for one year before she went to high school, but still!
“Yeah, Miss Bennett fell in love with someone on the internet, and she’s moving away to marry him.”
Peter snickered. “I hope she doesn’t get there and find out he’s really a fat old man with a pet crocodile.”
Mrs. Puddy glared at him in the mirror, and he hung his head.
“Crocodile?” Mary Sue said, giving him a disgusted look. “Really, Peter?” She turned front shaking her head. “I don’t know how you come up with this stuff.”
Emma pulled out her phone to text her mother about the school job, and every Puddy child leaned toward her to look at her phone. She guessed her phone was pretty exciting to kids who didn’t have one. She hurried the text and then hid the phone away. “Thank you for inviting me. I haven’t played mini-golf in ages.”
“You’re welcome. Whether we like it or not, summer is fading fast, so we’ve got to squeeze in some fun.”
“Hey,” Judith said, “did you see that all your mom’s stuff was gone from the church lawn?”
“Yeah,” Peter said. “It didn’t even last a few hours. I guess people really like free—”
“So what kind of ice cream is everyone going to get?” Mrs. Puddy said loudly, and Emma shot her a look of gratitude.
Everyone shouted their flavors out.
“What about you, Emma?” Mrs. Puddy asked.
“Not sure. I need to look at the list.”
“Ah, a wise woman always considers all her options.”
She wasn’t sure she was wise, but she loved being called a woman.
The rest of the drive was taken up by the Puddy children arguing about some detail of the Smurf movie they’d all just watched. Emma hadn’t seen it, so she was grateful when they pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream scoop.
Mary Sue grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the small wooden building that held the clubs and balls. “We have to hurry, or we’ll be stuck with the yellow balls.”
Emma laughed. “What’s wrong with yellow? I like yellow.”
Mary Sue scrunched up her face. “They look all dirty.”
They reached the booth, and Mary Sue announced, “Six players, please,” as if she was in charge of the whole world.
The teenager towering over them moved his bangs out of his eyes. They immediately fell back into his eyes. “Maximum teams of four.”
Mary Sue opened her mouth to argue, but her mother had arrived. “That will be fine. We’ll do two teams of three.” She smiled at Emma. “The big kids can be on one team, and I’ll play with the littles.”
Emma beamed. She was a big kid! Mrs. Puddy had a way of making her feel good.
They got their clubs, balls, and score-cards and headed toward hole number one. But then they had to wait. There were a lot of people mini-golfing on a Saturday afternoon.
“So how did you like our new church?” Mary Sue asked while they were waiting.
Emma shrugged. “It was okay, I guess.”
Mary Sue looked hurt.
“I liked it,” she said quickly. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to go there now. My mom loved your church.”
“What’s this about a new church?” a male voice said from behind.
Emma whirled around, prepared to be harassed, but the face behind her was beaming with friendliness. “Oh, hey, Jason.”
Jason DeGrave stood before her in all his glory with a blond cheerleader on his arm. Apparently, the scandal wasn’t affecting his social life.
“Hey yourself. So you found a new church already? You Christians sure do love your churchgoing.”
The girl giggled, but he hadn’t meant to poke fun. Emma could tell.
“Church is important,” she said and then glared at the cheerleader.
“If you say so. Maybe I’ll come check it out sometime. Hey, sorry to hear about your house. That stinks.”
Her cheeks got hot. “How did you know about that?”
He laughed. “Are you serious? Because your dad showed up at my mom’s house with a bunch of furniture.”
Emma’s stomach plunged toward the ground.
Jason’s smile faded. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”
Mary Sue inched closer to her.
“He’s moved into your house?” She knew she’d spoken the words, but her voice didn’t sound like her own.
Jason laughed angrily. “It’s not my house. Me and my dad left. But yeah, he’s living at my old house. Again, sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you weird news in a joking way.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad to know it.”
They stood there for an awkward moment, and then Jason said, “Well, it was great to see you. I feel like we’ve been through a war together or something.” He forced a laugh. “I’ll see you around.” He nodded toward the first golf hole, which was now open.
“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” She tried to smile, and then turned away.
“See you around the golf course,” Mary Sue mumbled. “They’re going to be following us around for the next hour.”
“Nah, they’ll be following your mom around. We’ll be much faster than them.”
Mary Sue giggled and stepped up to the green. She placed her ball and then swung the club like a pro, but the ball didn’t travel like a pro ball, and Emma laughed. Mary Sue laughed too. “Let’s see you do better!”
She didn’t know if she could. She put the ball down, hoped Jason wasn’t watching, and then gave it a whack. It traveled straight and true, but stopped shy of the hole. She went to stand beside Mary Sue while her brother took his turn.
“Mary Sue?”
“Yeah?”
“Should I tell my mom?”
