didn’t even take her eyes off her book. “No thanks,” she called back.
“I bet she doesn’t want to get her hair wet,” Carolyn said to Maryellen. “She has a tennis date with Jerry later.”
“Oooh, a date!” said Maryellen, instantly interested. Jerry was Joan’s boyfriend. He went to college and had a car. Maryellen thought Jerry was a dreamboat. He reminded her of David Nelson, a college boy on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, because he was so handsome. Even though she was still mad at Joan for the crabby, critical things she’d said that morning, Maryellen had to admit that pretty Joan and handsome Jerry were the perfect couple.
A brilliant thought came to her. If Joan married Jerry, she’d move out and go to live with him. Then she’d stop picking on Maryellen all the time—and Maryellen would have only Mom to win over about the All Girls Room.
Maryellen turned to Carolyn, who knew all about love and marriage because she was in high school, and asked, “Do you think Joan and Jerry will get married?”
“Well,” said Carolyn, lighting up, “millions of girls do get married after high school. And Joan and Jerry are already going steady. The next step is for Jerry to give Joan his fraternity pin. That means they’re engaged to be engaged. Then he gives her an engagement ring, and then comes the wedding.”
“Gee,” said Maryellen. “I didn’t realize there were so many steps. I was sort of hoping they’d get married soon.”
“Me too,” said Carolyn. “I love weddings! I wonder if Joan would let us be bridesmaids.”
“Maybe you and I could encourage Joan and Jerry,” said Maryellen.
“How?” asked Carolyn.
“Well, first of all, we could give Jerry a little nudge,” said Maryellen, “and tell him to hurry up and propose to Joan.”
“Yikes,” said Carolyn. “I’m too chicken to do that.”
“I’m not,” said Maryellen. “Jerry’s not scary.”
“It’s not Jerry I’m scared of,” said Carolyn. “It’s Joan. She’d skin us alive if she found out.”
“She doesn’t need to know,” said Maryellen. “We’ll just talk to Jerry sometime when Joan’s not around.”
Carolyn began to say, “Joan won’t—” But right then, Davy came splashing back into the water.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s do backward somersaults.”
“Okay!” said Maryellen and Carolyn, putting the topic of marriage aside.
The three kids curled up with their knees under their chins and used their arms to spin themselves around backward, swirling under the water and then up into the dazzling, sunny air. One of Maryellen’s favorite TV shows was a broadcast of the waterskiing and synchronized-swimming show at Cypress Gardens, which was right in her own state of Florida. Maryellen pretended now that she was one of the Cypress Gardens mermaids, and practiced smiling for the television camera every time she came up for air after flipping and twirling underwater.
In a little while, Joan called, “Okay, kids! Time to go.”
Normally, everyone would beg to stay longer. But today, Maryellen, Davy, and Carolyn ran up to the umbrella and toweled off and put their shoes on, and Beverly and the little boys picked up their sand pails and shovels and got ready to walk home without a murmur. Today Betty and Florence were coming!
Maryellen rushed to help Joan shake the sand off her beach towel and fold it neatly. Joan said nothing, but raised her eyebrows at Maryellen’s unusual eagerness to be neat. Then Joan tucked her towel and book under her arm, put Mikey in his stroller, and took Tom by the hand. Carolyn, Maryellen, and Beverly hoisted the beach umbrella onto their shoulders and carried it, all in a row, with Maryellen in the middle. Davy brought up the rear, herding sluggish Scooter homeward.
The Larkins lived in a housing development in Daytona Beach called The Palms. The development had its own community pool, but the Larkin kids weren’t allowed to go there for fear of catching polio. There had been a polio epidemic two years ago—that’s when Maryellen had had it—and ever since then, Dad had put the kibosh on going to the community pool. It was forbidden.
Maryellen knew just about everyone who lived in the houses on her street, most of them in big families like hers. She had always liked how safe and familiar her neighborhood was, and how homey the pretty little matching houses were, all lined up in rows, facing one another cheerfully across the street. Each house had a driveway, a carport, a small lawn, and a palm tree. But suddenly, today, the sameness felt flat to Maryellen. Today, it occurred to her that The Palms might look dull to Betty and Florence. They lived in New York City, for heaven’s sake! Maryellen had never been to New York, but she knew that it was an exciting, bustling big city full of action and variety. And she could tell that Mom wanted to impress Betty and Florence. How could their home be impressive if it was just like all the other houses on the street?
“You can hardly tell these houses apart,” Maryellen said aloud. “About the only difference is that some houses have pink plastic flamingos on their lawns and some don’t. We should do something to make our house stand out.”
“Like what?” asked Carolyn.
“I don’t know yet,” said Maryellen. “But I’ll think of something.”
As they walked up the driveway, Maryellen thought hard about what she could do to make their house extraordinary instead of extra ordinary. Davy waved good-bye and went next door to his own house. Mom met them at the kitchen door, standing in the shade of the carport. She was wearing a dress and a hat and high-heeled sandals, and the car keys jingled in her hand. “I’m on my way to the airport to pick up Betty and Florence,” Mom said.
“Wow, Mom, you look beautiful,” said Maryellen. “You look just like a mother on TV.” That was Maryellen’s highest compliment. It worried her a little bit that most of the time, Mom distinctly did not look like one of the mothers on TV who vacuumed their spotless houses wearing high heels and pearls and always had a chocolate cake on hand. Instead, Mrs. Larkin usually wore sneakers, pedal pushers, and one of Dad’s old shirts. But today, Maryellen saw that Mom’s fingernails and toenails had fire-engine-red polish on them. They were as red and shiny and eye-popping as Mom’s red lipstick. Now Maryellen was absolutely positive: Mom really wanted to impress Betty and Florence. Oh, she ached to help Mom do just that!
That’s when Maryellen had a great idea about how to snazz up their house. She thought of a surefire way that she, all by herself, could make their house stand out from every other house on the street. She couldn’t wait to make it happen.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Larkin was saying, “Thank you, darlings. Everything is spick-and-span and perfect for Betty and Florence, and I want it to stay that way. So everyone, please hose off your feet before you go inside. I don’t want you tracking sand all over my clean kitchen floor.”
“Okay, Mom,” said everybody automatically.
“What smells so good?” asked Carolyn.
“Oh, I’m glad you reminded me,” said Mom, a little bit flustered. “There are brownies in the oven. Take them out when the timer dings, okay? But don’t
