Giant Steps Read online

  “Indeed, you did all of that,” Alice said. “But you asked me for my opinion. I thought you were serious about your writing, so I did you the favor of telling you how I really feel.”

  Bernie snatched her essay out of Alice’s hand. “Just forget about it. I don’t want to enter the silly old contest anyway.”

  Bernie huffed and stamped down the stairway. She didn’t know whether she was more hurt or angry. She stopped in front of the large trash container by the door and ripped the pages of her essay in tiny pieces and let them flutter into it, along with her bitter tears.

  6

  October 1916

  Secrets and Scary Business

  Bernie could not believe her eyes when she looked from her bedroom window to see who or what was causing such a racket in front of her house. A horn blasted repeatedly. Sheppie added to the uproar by barking loudly as he charged out of the house across the front lawn out to the car and back again. Papa sat in the Hupmobile, his new touring car. He had the top down, and he wore a plaid sporting cap that she had never seen before. Bernie shook her head in disbelief. This wasn’t at all like Papa. What in the world had gotten into him?

  “For goodness sake,” Mother called. “Everyone hurry and get into ‘that machine,’” as she called it. “Get in before the neighbors send for the police and we all end up in jail for disturbing the peace.”

  Bernie was still trying to tie the bow on her middy blouse as Mother thrust a large bowl of potato salad into her hands. The boys came clattering down the stairs behind her. Mother immediately loaded their arms with more dishes of food.

  “I don’t want anyone to leave this house without carrying something,” she commanded.

  Sheppie raced around them in dizzying circles as they trooped outside to where Papa waited, still honking. The dog nearly knocked Mother to the ground as she tried to climb into the front seat balancing the large basket she carried. She shoved the dog out of her way, but he managed to clamber into the back seat where he sat panting happily between Nick and Ben.

  “Get that creature out of there,” she ordered. “He’ll slobber all over the food. Bernie, get up here in front with me. I don’t want you to drop the potato salad.”

  Papa, who was usually a model of decorum, continued to honk the horn as they drove away from the house. He waved heartily and tooted at everyone he saw.

  Bernie whispered to Mother, “What’s wrong with Papa?”

  “It’s this new automobile,” she said. “There seems to be something about these machines that cause men to behave in a most peculiar manner.”

  Bernie was flung against her mother as Papa swerved onto River Road. “Do slow down before we spill the food,” Mother insisted, as she and Bernie clutched frantically at the things they held in their laps.

  Bernie felt a bit giddy herself, but it wasn’t Papa’s new car that made her feel this way. It was the crisp fall air. It always revived her after the final blast of late September heat had sucked away most of her energy.

  Hupmobile sedan model N, ca. 1916 (Courtesy of the Hupmobile Club, Rosemead, California)

  Today was Aunt Lolly’s birthday and they were going to a family potluck dinner out at the old Mifflin farm. It was the home place where Mother and Uncle Leroy had grown up.

  Bernie could hardly wait to see the farm up ahead. She loved coming out here. She thought that it must be her favorite place in the entire world. The old house never looked more festive than it did today. Bright orange pumpkins perched in a line on the railings of the wrap-around porch. Dried corn shocks were tied to every post. A large bittersweet wreath with clusters of rust-colored berries hung on the front door. There were baskets of red and green apples beside the kitchen door. She knew there would be a large kettle of hot spiced cider simmering inside. She saw piles of russet, scarlet, and golden leaves raked up in the yard for burning later on. She loved to inhale their fragrance. It was like some exotic tea on sale at Papa’s store.

  It was always a treat to be at the farm in autumn, although she loved every other season out here as well. In fact, she never could decide which time of year was her favorite. In winter she could hardly wait until the pond froze over so they could go ice skating or ride in the sleigh. But, as much as Bernie loved winter at the farm, she was glad when springtime finally burst upon them in a cloud of white dogwood blossoms and they could hunt for mushrooms in the woods. When Bernie and her brothers were small, Grandpa Mifflin had made a swing to hang from the limb of a gnarled old burr oak tree. Both the tree and the swing were still there, although the wooden seat and frayed ropes had been replaced many times. In summer, the cousins gathered as often as they could to swim in the pond on hot, sticky summer days. Bernie still squealed when tiny minnows brushed against her legs in the dark water.

  Bernie also liked to help around the farm. She remembered going with Grandma Mifflin to gather eggs, even though Bernie had to summon all of her courage to stick her hand beneath a sitting hen. She did not like those menacing beaks.

  “Just stick your hand right under her and take the eggs,” Grandma instructed.

  Bernie looked warily at the vein on the back of her hand. “But what if she pecks me, and I bleed to death?”

  “Well, I expect you would get your name in the newspaper. Of course, I don’t think I ever heard of anybody bleeding to death from a hen peck.” Grandma Mifflin was the exact opposite of Bernie’s very proper Grandmother Epperson. Grandma Mifflin could make everything fun, even gathering eggs. Bernie simply could not imagine Grandmother Epperson in a henhouse.

  As Papa drove down the long lane and parked the car, Bernie saw the screen door to the kitchen closing behind a familiar figure.

  “How come Jack McClarty is here?” she said. “I thought this was supposed to be a family party.”

  “Well, it is Aunt Lolly’s birthday party and it is at her house. I suppose she can invite anyone she wants,” Nick said.

  Papa added, “Well, everybody knows how your Aunt Lolly is. She never turns any stray animal away from her door.”

  Papa’s words hovered like a storm cloud in the air. She wondered if he realized how unfeeling his words sounded. It was that same humiliating feeling that had engulfed her at the Lafayette Franchise League meeting when she had made the comment about the hat Jack’s sister had worn. Now she was embarrassed both for herself and for Papa.

  Bernie knew she ought to say something, but she could not form any words to make things right. The glorious autumn day seemed tarnished. She wished with all her heart that she had not mentioned anything about Jack being here for the party. Would she ever learn to think before she spoke?

  * * *

  As Bernie entered the kitchen, she heard Jack saying to Aunt Lolly, “My sister said to be sure to thank you for inviting her and the children to come to the party, but Georgie was not feeling well enough to come.”

  “I wish they could have been here,” Aunt Lolly said, giving Jack a motherly hug. “Now, you be sure to remind me before you leave to send some birthday cake home for them.”

  Even though he had said it badly, Papa was right. Aunt Lolly did have a reputation for never turning anyone away. Bernie felt a rush of emotion sweep over her. She threw both arms around her aunt. “I’m so proud I have you for my aunt.” She wiped stray tears from her eyes.

  Aunt Lolly seemed surprised at Bernie’s sudden outburst but countered with a hug of her own. “Well, I am proud to have you for my niece.”

  Mother came in, followed by the boys. “Lolly, you shouldn’t be in the kitchen today of all days. It’s your birthday. You ought to sit and let us do the work.”

  “Oh, you know me; I’m never happy unless I have something to do to keep me busy.”

  After dinner had been eaten and the dishes washed up, Papa didn’t even fuss when Uncle Leroy dragged him out to the barn to see his latest invention. Bernie suspected that Papa wo
uld see this as an opportunity to show off his new automobile as they crossed the yard. Mother and Aunt Lolly lingered at the kitchen table, visiting over steaming hot cups of tea.

  The boys started to sneak out the back door, but Alice caught them. “Oh, no you don’t. Everybody, come into the parlor.”

  They let out a groan in unison. Nick said, “It’s not your birthday. We don’t have to do what you say.”

  “I have a new game,” Alice announced. “We need everyone to play it.”

  There were more groans from the boys, but Bernie noticed that they turned toward the parlor. Not for the first time, Bernie wondered what it was about her cousin that gave her the ability to get people to do what she wanted.

  The younger girls, Peggy and Susie, begged to be allowed to play the game with the older cousins. Motherly Lizzie, who treated her younger sisters as though they were her beloved dolls, pleaded their case. It was clear that Alice had not counted on this turn of events but she gave in with a pained smile.

  The game was called “Truth or Dare.” Each person was handed eight slips of paper. Alice instructed them to write down one question on each piece.

  “Should they be arithmetic problems or history questions?” ten-year-old Peggy wanted to know.

  Alice started to explain, “They should be questions that make you.…”

  “She means stuff that embarrasses you,” Nick interrupted. “Questions that nobody wants to answer. Questions like: ‘What’s your secret ambition?’ or ‘What scares you the most?’ or ‘Have you ever cheated in school?’”

  “I’ll help you,” Lizzie offered as she sat down beside Peggy.

  After much pencil-gnawing and giggling, each paper was folded and put into an old felt hat, which Alice had dragged from the closet beneath the front stairs.

  “Hey, why don’t you use your beautiful hat that got dunked in the river this summer?” Ben wanted to know.

  Alice ignored him as she continued to describe the game. “Each person has to take a turn drawing one of the folded papers from the hat.”

  “Let me go first,” eight-year-old Susie insisted. Before anyone could stop her, she reached into the hat and stirred the papers.

  “Just pick one,” Lizzie instructed.

  Little Susie read her question aloud, “Who have you kissed?”

  Bernie glanced at Alice. Alice had probably written that question. She was even more certain that her cousin had not intended for her youngest sister to get it.

  “You don’t have to answer that,” Alice said and tried to remove it from Susie’s hand. “Let’s pick another one that suits you better.”

  Nick, who was sat between Jack and Ben, nudged them with his elbows and grinned broadly.

  “I like this question just fine,” Susie said. “I want to answer it.”

  Alice sighed as Susie replied happily, “I kiss Calico all the time.”

  “Calico is a cat, not a person,” Lizzie said.

  “Well, I kiss Mama and Father, too,” Susie said, while everyone roared with laughter. “What’s wrong with that?” the little girl asked. “They are persons, aren’t they?”

  “It’s okay, Susie,” Jack said, “That was a fine answer.”

  Alice said, “Okay, Susie, put the slip of paper back into the hat and choose someone to be next.”

  Again Susie took a long time to make her choice. She walked around the circle three times. Twice she started to offer the hat to someone but snatched it back.

  “Try to make your choice before midnight,” Ben said.

  “Right. You’ve only got four more hours,” Nick added.

  Finally, Susie held out the hat to Lizzie, who stuck her hand into it and pulled out a tightly folded paper. She pursed her lips and then read it aloud. “Tell your most closely guarded secret.”

  Everyone laughed loudly. Lizzie stared at them. “What’s so funny about that?”

  Bernie said, “It’s funny because we all know you don’t have any closely guarded secrets. You always tell everything you know to everybody.”

  “Oh, well, then you will be surprised to know that I am going to enter a very important contest. If I win, it will get published in the newspaper. Furthermore, my English teacher said that if I win that contest, she’ll give me extra credit. Then I’ll be sure to get an ‘A’ in the class.”

  No one seemed especially interested in Lizzie’s deepest secret—except Bernie. She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise in hackles. Lizzie had to be talking about the Lafayette Franchise League Essay Contest. Furthermore, Lizzie had persuaded their teacher to give her extra credit. That meant Bernie would have to work that much harder to get the top grade in their English class that semester. She simply could not bear the thought of Lizzie getting ahead of her. She wished now that she had not torn up her essay when she had decided not to enter the contest.

  Bernie saw Alice glance at her. She could guess what her older cousin was thinking. She had read Bernie’s essay and found it wanting. With her big sister’s advice, Lizzie had a very good chance of winning. There was no way Bernie could ask for Alice’s help now.

  “Okay, Lizzie, it’s your turn to choose somebody,” Alice said.

  Lizzie went over to Jack. He seemed reluctant to play, but he finally drew a truth or dare slip from the hat and read it. He laughed when he read it aloud. “What is your worst subject in school?”

  “That’s easy,” he said. “Almost every subject I take is my worst.”

  Everyone groaned. Ben said, “That’s not fair. Too easy. Who put that one in?”

  Jack quickly passed the hat to Bernie.

  Bernie closed her eyes and selected a tightly folded piece of paper.

  “Read it aloud,” Alice said.

  “What was your most embarrassing moment?” Bernie paused just long enough for Nick to shout out, “How about the time you baked cookies for Mother’s tea party and used salt instead of sugar?”

  Ben said, “If she had let us taste the dough like we wanted to, we could have told her how bad they were. But I think her most embarrassing moment was the time she dropped the offering plate in church and the coins rolled around under the pews. It made a terrible racket on the wooden floor.”

  “Wasn’t it right after that the church ladies had a fundraising drive to buy carpeting for the church?” Nick asked.

  Lizzie seemed to be enjoying this and added, “Or, the time in school when you didn’t know Miss Pringle was standing right behind you and you.…”

  “I thought this was supposed to be my question,” Bernie cut in. “But since you’ve all answered it for me, I guess I don’t have to.”

  “If you don’t answer, you have to take the dare,” Ben insisted.

  Bernie stood up, hands on her hips. “Okay, I’ll take your dare,” she said defiantly. She would show the boys she could handle anything they could dish out.

  Ben and Nick looked at each other. They whispered briefly before Nick announced, “We dare you to walk all the way around the pond by yourself.”

  By this time, it was as dark as a cavern outside. The boys knew full well how frightened she was of the dark. Nevertheless, she would do anything to get out of this room where everyone was laughing at her expense.

  Ben said, “She’ll never do it. She’s a scaredy cat.”

  “What is there for her to be afraid of? Any smart wolves would probably run in the opposite direction if they knew her as well as we do,” Nick added.

  Bernie glared at him. “Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll show you.”

  “Take a flashlight,” Alice said. “So, you can see and not fall in a hole or trip over a log.”

  “Yeah, and that way we can watch the light and make sure you really go all the way around,” Nick said.

  Bernie squared her shoulders and marched from the room and out the front door. As she trudged past
the barn, she wished she hadn’t been so brash. By now the air had turned cold. She was glad she had worn her new mohair coat to keep warm. But nothing could shield her against her fear of the darkness she was entering. She didn’t dare turn back, though. She would never hear the end of it if she did. A screech owl’s unsettling cry made her scalp tingle. She shivered at the sound of small animals scurrying through the stubble at the edge of the field.

  Bernie’s heart thudded inside her chest as she got farther from the farmhouse. She paused for a moment until she heard Nick’s taunting voice call out, “We can see where you are. What are you waiting for? Keep going.”

  Bernie sucked in a deep breath and gripped the flashlight in her hand. It was as much a weapon as a beacon. She started into the small grove of scrub cedar near the shoreline and tried not to pay any attention to the strange noises in the bushes. It was probably just rabbits or raccoons. She heard a shrill howl. She heard wild yipping and hooting. She knew that it was probably Ben and Nick trying to scare her.

  Although a farm pond can be a fun place to play during the day, at night it can be a treacherous place to walk, as Bernie discovered. (istock photo 99582105)

  As she moved deeper into the woods, Bernie kept reminding herself that she had walked around this pond dozens of times before. But those walks had always been in daylight. Things always looked different and more frightening at night.

  Even with the flashlight, Bernie couldn’t really see anything. She stumbled over a root and fell to her knees, dropping the light, which rolled just beyond her reach. She tried to stretch out and grab it, but she could not move. She was held back by a thorny bush that clawed at her, scratching her hands. As she struggled to free herself, Bernie heard the sound of fabric ripping. She started to cry softly. This was the expensive new coat she had coaxed Papa to buy for her.