glanced up at Kate for the first time since she’d entered the flat. The expression in her face begged for understanding. “They’re nice to me, Kate. That may be hard for you to believe, but they are. They don’t try to get me to do, you know, bad things like shoplift or smoke dope.”
“Do they do those things?”
Kate realized at once it was the wrong question to ask. Carla stared down at her lemonade and simply shrugged. After a moment she mumbled, “I don’t know.”
But of course she did, thought Kate, and I’ve just made her rush to their defense. She tried to make amends. “It’s okay, Carla, I’m not asking you to snitch on them. Forget I mentioned it. Go on.”
But there was a wariness in Carla’s voice now and she spoke in a stilted way, as if talking to her social worker. Or a teacher.
“Anyway,” Carla said, “I told Rita I’d help her out when I got home and I would have, only…”
“Only?”
She swallowed a mouthful of lemonade, then said, “I didn’t realize how late it was, and Toni—that’s my friend—said if I waited a couple more hours, her boyfriend would drive me home when he got off work.”
“She has a boyfriend? How old is this Toni?”
“Sixteen.”
Kate took a deep breath. “What are the ages of the rest of the kids? In the gang, I mean.”
“I dunno. Maybe fifteen up to eighteen or so.”
“Carla, you’re only thirteen.”
Carla raised her head, eyes flashing with anger. “Yeah, but they don’t hold that against me, you know. They think I’m, like, cute and funny. They even call me their mascot.”
Kate resisted responding to that, in spite of images of inflated birds and oversize fluffy dogs.
“And you couldn’t have called Rita? Or even me?”
“Like I said, they’d have teased me. Besides, what would have been the point by then?”
Kate leaned forward on the couch. “It might have meant that Rita wouldn’t have worried half the night, wondering if she ought to phone Kim or maybe the police.”
“The police?” Her face paled.
“Carla, if you’d stayed out an hour longer, Rita would probably have called them.”
“So much for trust.”
Kate sighed. Here we go again. “You have to earn trust. There’ve been too many other times like this. Rita feels that she’s expended all of her options. She doesn’t know what to do anymore.”
Carla lowered her head, seemingly intent on picking at a scab on her finger. But Kate noticed the trembling across her shoulders. After a moment, Carla wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Silently, Kate went to the bathroom for a box of tissues, which she placed in Carla’s lap. Then she sat down, waiting for the girl to stop crying.
When Carla had used two or three tissues to daub her face, she set the box down on the coffee table and looked across at Kate. “I know I’ve been giving Rita a hard time, but…but I don’t mean to. I like Rita. She and Eddie have always been good to me. Strict, but fair. I’ve been with them for two years now and I want to stay with them. If they still want me.” She glanced away, her chin wobbling again.
“They do want you, Carla. They’ve never stopped wanting to care for you. It’s just that they’ve never raised a teenager before and—”
“A problem teen, like me.”
“No, Carla. A teen with some problems, yes, but that’s all. The important thing is to keep talking to them. Don’t be afraid to just go to them and say, ‘Look, I know I screwed up and I’m going to try harder the next time.’ They’ll be more sympathetic if they see that you really want to change. Trust me, after all, I’m your Big Sister.”
Carla’s big brown eyes, damp with tears, fixed on Kate. “I hope you’ll always be,” she whispered.
“I will be.” Kate felt the prick of tears in her own eyes, but forced them back. “You know, I just had a great idea Carla. I’ve inherited some property in the mountains and—”
“Wow!”
“Yes, though I don’t know yet how exciting that is because I haven’t seen it for years. I was thinking of renting a car and driving into the mountains for a couple of days. If I get permission from Rita and Kim, would you like to go?”
A confusion of emotions battled in Carla’s face. “Would it be, like, camping or something? Would there be wild animals there? ’Cause I’m not real good with stuff like that.”
“Me, neither. No camping—there’s a lodge with beds—but it may be a bit dusty and cobwebby. Think you could handle that?”
“Yeah! It’d be cool, just you’n me. Will you rent a car with a CD player?”
Kate laughed. Typical teen—getting right to the important things. “If there’s one available. If not, we may have to settle for tape cassettes. Anyway, this means I’ll have a few phone calls to make. Shall I try to plan it for the day after tomorrow? Is that too soon for you?”
“I think that’ll be okay.” Carla frowned. “Do you think my behavior is going to make them say no?”
“I don’t know, Carla. That’s up to Kim and Rita. But I do think another apology and a real effort to help out over the next couple of days will influence their decision.”
Carla stood up. “I will, Kate. Thanks for…everything.” She reached out and gave Kate an awkward hug.
It was the first sign of physical affection Carla had ever shown to her, and Kate knew to play it down. She smiled and tapped the girl’s chin lightly with her finger. “I’m always here for you, Carla, remember that. Now, you’d better head home and I’ll start making my calls.”
After she’d closed the door behind the girl, Kate sagged against it. Yesterday’s impulsive idea to visit Limberlost was now a commitment. She didn’t know whether to curse herself or praise her ingenuity. She took a deep breath and moved away from the door. If she was going to make her promise to Carla a reality, she had a lot to do.
“MISS REILLY? Greg Collier here, returning your call.”
“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Mr. Collier. I wanted to talk to you about Camp Limberlost.”
“Ah! You’ve made a decision already?”
“Well, no, not really. I thought I’d like to visit it before deciding anything.”
After a slight pause, he said, “I see. Now, tell me, Miss Reilly, do you know that area at all? Other than having gone to Limberlost once as a child?”
“Uh…no, but to tell you the truth, it’s a chance to get out of the city for a
