Page 10

"Okay," I said, standing. I paused for a moment and looked back at the front door.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm just wondering if I should tell my mother." "Your mother? Oh, they make you check in and out?"

"No."

"So? We're just going down the street?'

I nodded. Since I didn't expect to be away long, I decided not to interrupt her soap opera.

It wasn't until I walked up to Helga that I realized she was at least three inches taller than I was. She had patches of tiny freckles over the crests of her cheeks, and it looked as if someone had dotted them with a ballpoint peiiin light brown ink

"Those are pretty thick glasses you're wearing," she said.

"I have astigmatism."

"Bummer," she said. "You oughtta go with me to the mall one day and get nicer frames. Maybe prescription sunglasses, too. You'll look better."

"I don't wear them for looks. I wear them to help me see and read," I said.

She laughed. "Sure. Until someone like Tom MacNamara looks your way. He's so cool, but he's a senior this year and probably won't even look at us. He also happens to be captain of the football team."

"I probably wouldn't be interested in him anyway," I said, and she stopped walking.

"Sure you wouldn't." She bounced her weight from one leg to the other. "Did you have a boyfriend at the orphanage?"

"No. I have never really had a boyfriend," I admitted.

She stared a moment and then started walking again.

"Me, neither," she confessed. "Oh, I pretended to like Jack Martin one year just so it looked like I had a boyfriend, but I never even kissed him, and when he went to kiss me, I turned my head so he kissed my cheek like an uncle or someone. You see this big house?" she said, pausing. "Clara Seymour lives here. She's a senior this year and will probably be senior prom queen. Her father's a heart doctor, a cardiosomething."

"Cardiologist," I said.

"Yes, I think that's it." She tilted her head and squinted at me. "You are smart."

"I'm thinking of becoming a doctor myself someday."

"A doctor!" she said. "It costs a lot, I heard." "I hope to win scholarships, too," I added.

"I'll be glad just to get my diploma. I haven't the slightest idea what do. I was thinking I might become an actress, but I didn't even make the junior play."

"What do you like to do?"

"Party," she said, laughing, "and watch television.

Oh!" She stopped and took my arm. "Watch out for the dog at this house," she said, nodding at a small A-frame. "Old Lady Potter lives there, and she has a mean rottweiler for protection. Last year, he bit a UPS delivery driver and there was a big commotion with the police and everything."

"I'll definitely stay out of that yard." I laughed. "Thanks for the advice."

"If you turn right at the corner and go two blocks, you reach the Quick Shop where you can get magazines, gum, and stuff. We're not far from the school, only about two miles. You going to take the bus?"

"I guess so," I said. "I don't think Karl wants to drive me every day, especially since there is a bus."

"You call him Karl?" she asked quickly.

"Right now I do," I said, looking away.