“Nice outfit,” Mom says at breakfast. I’m wearing my kilt with the dragonfly T-shirt and leg warmers I made last night. I used the sleeves of an old sweater. “I noticed Deirdre got the dress you practically lived in last summer,” Mom says. “I’m surprised you gave it away.”
“It was hard to give stuff up at first,” I admit. “Even if it didn’t fit me anymore. But it got easier. I mean, the dress doesn’t mind who wears it.”
“One of my favorite writers, George Bernard Shaw, said people become more attached to their burdens than their burdens are to them,” Mom says.
“Cool,” I say. I wonder if Olive is a burden. Maybe I’m more attached to her than she is to me.
“Hey, Liza?” Leland asks. “Did Silas and I do a good job helping with the clothing exchange?”
“Yes, of course you did.”
“Oh.”
“Why?”
“You never said thanks.”
“I didn’t?”
“No,” Silas says.
“Sorry, you guys,” I say. “Thank you. Thank you very much. You were amazing.”
I take ten deep breaths, reach for the phone and dial Niall’s number. He’s busy on the roof, his mom tells me. She asks if I could swing by. I hop on my bike and pedal through the park. I stop at Richard’s bench for a moment, but I don’t feel that he’s watching anymore. It’s just a little lonely.
Then there’s a rustling in the bushes. A large raccoon wanders out, sniffing at the ground. It’s not at all interested in me.
Niall’s house is what you call ramshackle. It’s an old shingled thing, painted light blue.
Three teenagers are doing surgery on an old car in the driveway. Two ancient-looking cats snooze on frayed rattan chairs on the rickety porch. A mower sits in the middle of the overgrown lawn. Tumbledown as it is, it’s alive. I’d take this place over a five-thousand-square-foot mansion anytime.
Niall’s mom emerges with a pie in her hands and points upward. Niall is on the roof, wrestling with what looks like a black snake. “He’s building us a solar shower.” His mom beams. “Niall, you’ve got a visitor!”
“Niall’s got a visitor!” the teenagers tease. My face gets hot. Niall looks down and smiles. “Come on up!”
His mom sends me up the ladder with a plate of pie and a mug of tea for us to share. It’s an awkward climb.
As we sip tea, I tell Niall my idea and GRRR!’s plans. He immediately starts planning an irrigation system. “I’m glad you want to help,” I interrupt. “I’m also hoping, well, that BRRR! will agree to us using the three hundred dollars from the bike wash. We could use it for plants and tools.”
Niall looks at me funny. He studies my nose, lips, hair. He catches me watching him and gulps.
“Okay,” he blurts. “I’ll talk to the guys. I’ll call you later—or how about I bike to your place?”
“Sure,” I say, while my heart flops about like a fish in a net.
That evening Olive arrives at the back door with a coil of hose in her hands.
I break into a wide smile. “So you’re going to help out after all!”
“No,” Olive says firmly. “Liza, I’m sorry, but I don’t always have to agree with you. And you know I’m a scaredy-cat.”
“Yeah, I know that,” I mutter. We both smile. “This is for the speaking tube you’ve been meaning to make. The tin can phone broke.” She looks me in the eye. I know she knows I broke it. I also know she has been crying. “And I found these.” She pulls out two funnels. All I have to do is tape the funnels to the hose, one at each end, and our speaking tube is done. Wealthy people used to use speaking tubes to talk to their driver from the backseat of the Rolls or with the servants in other parts of the house. Nowadays they’re only seen on submarines and in playgrounds.
“I also want to thank you for the clothing and book exchange,” Olive says. “It was really cool.”
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s okay.”
“And Liza?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you still have that padded bra?”
“What do you need it for?” I ask. But one look at her and I burst out laughing. She has the funnels under her shirt. We laugh together. Then we get out the electrician’s tape and work on our communication system.