Charlie Barts was keeping watch out the window. “Mrs. Wilson is coming,” he yelled.
The children reacted instantly. Kelly opened her metal lunch box, took out her sandwich and cupcake, put the snake inside, closed the lid and latched it. With the speed of light, the kids righted the desks, picked up books and papers, and sat down.
When Mrs. Wilson entered, everyone was exactly as she’d left them. She didn’t notice the fast breathing or the red faces. At lunch, she saw that Kelly Exton, who usually had a dozen kids sitting by her, was isolated at the end of a table with the new boy. Kelly’s blue lunch box was in front of them on the table. Good, Mrs. Wilson thought. Kelly’s bringing that odd little boy into the fold.
On the Day of the Snake, as they came to call it, Kelly got off the bus with Paul and walked to Dr. Carl’s house, with his clinic next door. She’d always loved animals, but that day, when she saw the doctor’s surgery, with animals being kept under his watchful eye as they recovered, Kelly knew what she wanted to do with her life. She was going to be a veterinarian. When she told Dr. Carl, he smiled. “Not many girls become vets,” he said.
“I will.” She was so solemn that he stopped smiling.
“In that case, why don’t you come over Saturday morning and help me clean cages?”
She agreed readily. As for Mrs. Carl, which, to her annoyance, was what everyone in town called her, she was thrilled that her son had brought home a friend. And that Kelly was pretty and “normal” made her nearly frantic with happiness. She fed the children, asked Kelly a barrage of questions and called her son “Pauly.”
As Kelly was leaving, she heard Mrs. Carl say, “She’s not a Hatten, but she’s better than nothing in this hick town.”
That night, as Kelly’s father was tucking her in bed, she told him what Mrs. Carl had said and asked him what she meant. Her father frowned. “The Hattens are rich but we’re not. And Mason doesn’t have subways and tall buildings.”
“But we have cows,” Kelly said.
Her dad smiled. “I’d rather have cows than skyscrapers.”
“Me, too.” Kelly yawned.
He stood up. “Let’s not tell your mother what you overheard, okay?”
Kelly turned over. “I want to go to Dr. Carl’s again, so I won’t tell her.”
Mac chuckled. “What a smart child I have.”
“I’ll be Dr. Kelly,” she said as she closed her eyes.
“I’m sure you will be.” He shut the door behind him.
* * *
It was in the fifth grade that she realized Pauly didn’t want the same things she did. Kelly and Pauly spent so much time with animals that she had assumed he wanted to be a veterinarian, too.
They’d only been in the fifth grade for a week when Paul contradicted Mrs. Acton. The class gasped. They knew Paul was strange, always quiet, never joining in their games, but correcting a teacher was too much! If the teacher told a parent, there’d be a belt applied to a backside.
Mrs. Acton had told them of Johnny Appleseed, who went all over the country planting seeds to grow apple trees.
Paul spoke up. That was odd enough, but when he said, “That wasn’t a good idea,” the room became silent.
“What did you say?” Mrs. Acton asked.
Any of the other kids would have backed off at that tone, but Paul kept on. “That’s not good, as apple seeds aren’t true to the parent. A seed from a green apple doesn’t necessarily grow into a tree with green apples. They could be red or yellow, or any color or size. The only way to be sure to get a specific apple is to graft a branch onto a sturdy rootstock.”
No one had ever heard Paul say that many words before and he’d sounded so adult!
They all turned to look at Mrs. Acton. She was a new teacher. She could congratulate or punish, all based on her whim.
“On Monday, I want you to give us a report about that. And I want pictures and drawings and...and an apple tree on a graft.”
The kids didn’t move. They weren’t sure if that was a punishment or a reward.
They looked at Paul and, for the first time, they saw him smile. In fact, he was so pleased all he could do was nod.
After class Kelly asked Pauly if he knew how to draw. “No.”
“Do you have any apple trees?”
“No.”
Kelly rolled her eyes. “My dad would say we’re up the river without a paddle.”
“What does that mean?”
“That we need help.”
“My dad can—” Pauly began.
“Dr. Carl doesn’t know an apple tree from a cactus. Let’s get your mother to bully people into helping us.”
Kelly was usually so nice that he blinked at her statement.Then he smiled. “She bullies me all the time.”
“And Dr. Carl, too. Come on. Let’s run.”
By the next day, everyone in Mason knew of Dr. Carl’s stepson’s project, and they loved the idea of helping. Dr. Carl was well liked in town. Kelly got all the kids in their class to use their talents.
On Saturday, Mrs. Carl was ecstatic when eight children showed up to help with posters and handouts and dirt-filled pots for demonstrations. One of the kids was the principal’s daughter and she coaxed her dad into having an assembly so Pauly could tell everyone about fruit trees.
The big nursery in Ottawa lent four apple trees, and a parent offered a truckload of horse manure.
Kelly said no to the manure, but her mother took it for her roses.
Pauly’s presentation was intelligent and interesting, well thought out and made every kid in school tell their parents they wanted an apple tree for Christmas. “One that’s been grafted,” they stipulated.
The local nursery took out a full-page ad in the Ottawa Herald offering 40 percent off on apple trees. “Buy now, give a gold-rimmed certificate for Christmas and the trees will be delivered in the spring.”
After that day, Paul was still a bit different but he was accepted, and he and Kelly were forever considered a twosome. In high school, when the girls played “Who will you marry?” for Kelly it was “When will you and Pauly get married?”
Smiling at the memories, Kelly turned to Xander. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should be happy. And excited. I’ll soon be a full-fledged veterinarian. Dr. Carl is going to expand so I’ll have my own space to work in and I’ll see clients. Pauly and I will marry and move in with Mom and...” She couldn’t go on. The truth was that she’d miss her sister very much. Vera was interesting. There was never a second when she wasn’t creating something, coming up with ideas, and she was always passionate. Every moment, Vera was in a frenzy about some injustice. Every nightly newscast sent her into anger.