Take a Chance, Gramps! - Hardcover

One
 
 
"Janie!" Mom shrieked, "TELEPHONE!" Her face was bright red, and she was dripping with sweat as she poked her head around the corner.
I trotted down the hall, glancing in at Gramps as I went by. As usual, he was just sitting in his room slumped in his chair. I wished I could do something; it made me sad about Gramps.
In Mom's room I picked up the phone. I knew it was Alicia, even though she didn't sound like herself at all. She sounded awful.
"Alicia? What's wrong?"
"Can I come over?" She choked out the words.
"Sure. Come on--I'll be here." I jammed myself in the corner, facing the walls, and squished my hand on my ear, pretending I was in a phone booth. I get claustrophobia using the phone in my parents' room, especially with Mom riding her exercise bike in the corner. I've been trying to convince her that I need an extension in my room, but she thinks our present phone situation is perfectly satisfactory. To me it is perfectly unsatisfactory. It's perfectly crummy; I could hardly hear Alicia, between the wheels' whizzing and squeaking and Mom's puffing and panting.
"Alicia, what happened?"
No answer. Just sniffling.
"Want to wait to tell when you get here?"
"Yes," she said between loud sniffs.
"Maybe we should meet at the tree?"
"Okay." She sniffed again and hung up.
I knew something terrible must have happened. Alicia Haglund, my best friend since the fifth grade, is not the kind of person who falls apart easily. I looked at my watch; I'd have to leave in exactly eight minutes. We called it the Higgins-Haglund Precision Meeting System; if I left eight minutes after we hung up, and she left two minutes after she hung up, we'd meet at the tree in the park between our houses at exactly the same time. We had it down cold.
"Is everything all right?" Mom gasped, wiping her forehead on the shoulder of her T-shirt. "Was it Alicia?"
I nodded. Actually, I wondered who else Mom thought it could be; no one ever calls me except Alicia.
"She sounded as if she has a cold. Is she sick?" Mom asked. Then she started pedaling like a maniac. I guess she had slowed down while I was on the phone so the bike wouldn't be loud. It hadn't helped.
"No, something's really wrong. She was crying."
"Well, I hope it's nothing big," Mom said, wiggling from side to side, her knees flying up and down.
The minute Mom said that, I got worried. "What if someone in her family has a terrible disease--and there's no hope?"
"What?" Outside, Dad had started up the lawn mower. He must have been right under the window; it sounded as if he were mowing the bedroom rug instead of the yard.
"I SAID, 'MAYBE SOMEONE IN HER FAMILY HAS A TERRIBLE DISEASE.'"
"JANIE, I DON'T THINK--" Finally Dad headed across the yard. "Janie, I don't think speculating will do any good," Mom continued, trying to talk in her normal voice, although she was panting after every word. "Try-to-think-it's-something-small," she gasped, leaning forward on the handle bars, completely wasted.
I tried to think of some small things it could be while I left Mom's room; but I couldn't imagine even a middle-sized disaster that would make Alicia sound that miserable.
As I headed past my brother's room, he poked his head out the doorway. "Hey, Janie, come here--look at this one! It's great! I know this will get us on the show," he hollered.
I checked my watch: precisely six minutes until departure. "Okay, but it'll have to be quick. I hope it's better than when you tied that American flag to her tail, and she was supposed to wag in time to the 'Star Spangled Banner.'"
"That trick wasn't so bad."
"The flag flew off before you got to the 'dawn's early light.'"
"The tricks are supposed to be stupid," John said seriously.
"Not that stupid."
"Stupid pet tricks. That's exactly what they want on the David Letterman show."
"I know, silly, but they have to be good stupid pet tricks. The pet has to do the trick right. When that flag kept flying off, it wasn't--"
"Okay, okay. But just watch this--it's great!"
"Go ahead--but make it fast."
"MR. LETTERMAN...LADIES...AND...GENTLEMEN. I BRING YOU...JULIET, THE MAGNIFICENT BUBBLE EATER!" My brother presented a bottle of Miracle Bubble, displaying it like a magician. Next he presented the Miracle Wand, grandly waving it around in huge arcs.
"Hurry up, John."
"Okay, okay." He stuck the wand in the gunk, blew on it, and a few bubbles puffed out.
"Woof!" Juliet barked, sprang into the air, and chomped down one of the bubbles.
"Woof woof!" She leaped up and scarfed down two more.
"Woof!" She pounced on another, flew up to bite one floating near John's hand, hit her head on the bottle of Miracle Bubble, and dumped bubble goo all over the floor.
I watched the puddle of Miracle Bubble seeping into John's blue rug. "Great trick."
"Don't tell Mom."
"Don't worry. I have to meet Alicia, anyway. Maybe you should go back to the flag trick again," I advised, heading out the door.
Juliet stepped in the middle of the bubble puddle and followed me out. I still had a couple of minutes before I had to leave, so I went in to see Gramps. Juliet came, too, making little soapy footprints all across his rug on her way to nuzzle him. Juliet and I are a lot alike--we both keep trying with Gramps.
"Hi, Gramps!"
"Buszhbgumph."
"How are you, Gramps?"
"Rrezphrtz bpstzr."
I wished my grandfather would wear his teeth. They just sat in a glass on his dresser. He looked terrible without them, and you couldn't understand anything he said. My grandfather's name is George P. Bliss. Lately, it was more like his name should be George P. Misery. Poor Gramps. He just sat in front of the TV all day with his arms folded across his chest and his teeth out. I don't think he even cared what he was watching. My whole family was worried about him. He came to live with us last January, right after my grandmother died. That's when he stopped wearing his teeth.
"See you later, Gramps." I gave him a cheery wave, but he didn't seem to notice. Juliet trotted after me. She still goes in and sits next to Gramps, even though he never pats her anymore. I never knew a person could change so completely. He used to be crazy about her! If he were his old self, he would have been helping John get Juliet on the David Letterman show. Gramps would have thought up the world's greatest stupid pet trick. He always used to have all kinds of ideas. But now, even though his body still sits there, it's as if he's gone away somewhere. I sure wished I knew how to get him back.
I checked my watch; one minute and thirty seconds. I'd have to fly. The door slammed behind us as Juliet and I rushed out. She always met Alicia at the tree with me. As I ran toward the park, I pretended I was Flo Jo going for the gold, while galloping beside me was Lassie, world-famous film dog. Actually, there's nothing much spectacular about Juliet. Or me, for that matter. We even look alike: medium-brown hair and brown eyes. Juliet is a mediumsized dog, and I am a medium-sized person for being twelve. I guess you might say "plain-Jane" fits me perfectly.
When I got to the park, two guys from our sixth-grade class rode by on their bikes, Rick Novito and Ben Caldwell. I wanted to wave, just casually wiggle a few fingers, but by the time I got up the nerve, they had already zoomed past me. It's always like that, but I'm mostly used to it. I don't get noticed unless I'm with Alicia.
I saw her at the edge of the park near McClellan.
"Alicia!" I called to her, waved, and raced toward the tree. Usually Alicia ran, too. But this time she walked so slowly you'd think she was going to the dentist to get all her teeth drilled. I got to the tree way ahead of her. Alicia didn't even wave; she just trudged along looking at the ground.
I leaned back against the trunk. Juliet and I were panting like steam engines. How come Flo Jo seems to take almost regular breaths after a race? I was thinking about Olympic runners and wondering if they have some special way of breathing, but the minute Alicia got close enough so I could see her face, I forgot all about Flo Jo. Alicia looked terrible. Her eyes were all red and bloodshot, and her nose was red and shiny, like a plum.
"Alicia--what happened?"
She just sniffled, plopped down next to me, and leaned back against the trunk.
I patted Juliet, who was practically vibrating from panting. Alicia patted her, too.
"What happened?" I asked again.
"We're moving."
"What?" She was sniffling so much I could hardly understand her.
"We're moving."
"Moving? Who's moving?"
"We are--my family. That's what I'm trying to tell you."
"You mean you're moving to a new house." I wasn't sure what the big deal was.
"Not just a new house. A new city."
"A new city?" My heart pounded.
"It's not even in Washington. We're moving to San Jose, California."
"I--I don't believe this--" I mumbled. I felt dazed, like the time I had to play goalie on the Mt. Baker Bombers and the ball kept smacking me in the head. For the second half of the game, I could hardly tell the Bombers from the Lake City Kickettes. I felt like that now. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't have heard right. But as I looked at Alicia's red eyes and her plum nose, I knew I had.
"My parents didn't want to tell me that we might move because they didn't want to upset me for nothing if it didn't happen. My father applied for a new job six months ago. They just found out this morning that he got it."
"But what about school?"
"Mom doesn't want me to have to switch schools after I start, so I'm supposed to go stay with my aunt in San Jose."
"What? You won't start school here? You won't be here a week from next Tuesday?"
Alicia shook her head. "I'm supposed to go to school there with my cousin. Dad's going to be down there, too, and start his job, and then Mom's coming after she sells our house."
"You have to sell your house!"
Alicia nodded again and sniffled some more. "We'll all stay at my aunt's until we buy a new house in San Jose."
I was numb.
I just sat there. Frozen. Then I felt tears running down my cheeks. That made Alicia start sniffling and crying again. I looked over at her. What were we going to do? I had been excited about starting the seventh grade, but nervous, too. Actually superscared is more like it. But at least I wasn't scared alone--I'd always had Alicia.
The two of us had promised to help each other if we got lost trying to find our classrooms. If we felt wimpy being the youngest people in the school, or if we got our period in a class with a man teacher, we said we'd have each other to talk to; and even if we didn't get the same lunch, we knew we could always count on sitting together on the bus.
"I hate that your dad did this!" I blurted out, but I felt bad the minute I said it. I looked down at the grass and began picking at it. "Alicia--I'm sorry--I said that about your dad."
"It's okay. I'm mad at him, too."
We sat in silence, as if somebody'd died. I looked at the bottom of the trunk where we had carved our names last summer. Some moss was growing in the "A" and the "L".
"I wonder if there are any cute guys in San Jose?" I said, finally.
"I don't know. My cousin says so."
"What's she like?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen her since second grade--I don't even remember her. I hope she's not a nerd. That's all I'd need starting out there--is getting stuck with a nerd."
"That'd be the worst." I agreed. How terrible if that happened to Alicia. But then it hit me--there wasn't anyone for me to get stuck with!
For the past two years, in fifth and sixth grade, I'd spent every second with Alicia. I knew other people at school, but they were just people you knew, not people you'd count on. One time I even decided that if you had just one friend to be with, you could stand watching Friday the Thirteenth on Halloween night in a dark house with your parents out. You could scream together and hug each other during the scary parts, and everything would be okay. That's all you need for most things, just one friend. That's what I always believed. I never thought about what would happen if the one friend moved!
I didn't have a cousin or even a single person from sixth grade I could call up. I felt like a soccer ball had clobbered me in the stomach. I felt like I had lost my best friend. And I realized...I had. My best and only friend.
Copyright © 1990 by Jean D. Okimoto

Grade 5-7-- Jane Higgins is devastated by the news that her best friend is moving and won't be starting junior high with her. Alicia isn't just her best friend, she's Jane's only friend. Gramps, too, is grieving, and he seems to have lost interest in everything since his wife died. Jane's mother enlists Gramps in an effort to cheer up Jane, and Jane in an effort to cheer up Gramps. Together they set off for Seattle Center, a former favorite haunt for both of them. There they find a senior citizens dance, which interests Gramps, and a teenage boy who brings his grandmother to the dances. He definitely interests Jane. Gramps and Jane begin attending the dances regularly. Jane encourages Gramps to wear his false teeth and ask some of the ladies to dance. Gramps advises Jane that friends "don't come down the chimney," and she in turn begins to be a friend to win a friend. En route to the happy ending there are a few bumps and scrapes, but these are people with some common sense and family cohesion who help each other over the rough spots. Good pacing; smooth writing; nicely sketched characters; and the right mix of humor, romance, and couldn't-you-just-die embarrassment make a winning combination. Readers might even learn a valuable lesson from Jane's "popularity project" without ever realizing that this book really does have a serious point to make. --Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Lib . , Randolph, MA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.