Part 1 (2/2)
”Do you think anyone knows we belong with them?” asked Claudia, indicating the knot of anxious parents, and the kids who were running around.
”I'm afraid so,” I replied. ”They even know the names of my brothers and sisters. We're hard to miss.”
Claud sighed.
Then Dawn spoke up. ”This morning my mom asked Mary Anne and me if we really wanted to go to New York for two weeks. She said if we stayed here she'd take us on a shopping spree. I told her that New York was going to be one big spree all by itself, didn't I, Mary Anne? . . . Mary Anne?”
Mary Anne had opened a booklet about New York and was gazing at it intently. ”You know,” she began, ”if all the coffee shops in New York City were placed side by side, I bet they would - ”'
Dawn groaned, and Mary Anne stopped talking. She went right back to the book, though, and immediately became lost in it again.
”Uh-oh,” I whispered.
”What?” asked Jessi.
”Look.” I pointed to our parents. They had gathered in a pack under the sign that read: NEW YORK-BOUND TRAINS.I.
”Ooh,” breathed Jessi. ”That doesn't look good. You don't think they'll suddenly decide not to let us go, do you?”
”They might,” Mal replied darkly.
”I'll take care of them,” announced Stacey. She marched over to the parents. The rest of us followed her uncertainly.
When the grown-ups saw us coming, they stopped talking - which only proved that they had been talking about us.
”So,” said Stacey, ”my dad's apartment is ready for us. Well, for some of us.” (Mr. McGill's apartment isn't big enough to be overtaken by seven extra people for two weeks, so only Stacey and two others were going to stay with him. The rest of us would stay on the other side of town with Laine c.u.mmings and her family. Laine is an old friend of Stacey's, and she and her parents live in a huge apartment.) ”Dad even had the apartment professionally cleaned,” Stacey went on. ”Exterminated, too.”
”Exterminated?” repeated Mrs. Ramsey. ”You mean it has roaches?” She looked as if she were about to cry.
”No, giant sewer rats,” I whispered, but Dawn poked me in the ribs.
”Well, yes,” Stacey said to Mrs. Ramsey. ”But, see, the important thing is that now they're gone.”
”Besides,” spoke up Mrs. McGill, who was the only sane-looking adult on the platform, ”almost every apartment in New York has roaches. They're like flies or ants in most - ”
”They carry disease,” murmured Nannie, shuddering.
Stacey and her mom exchanged a Look.
The loudspeaker was turned on then, and a tinny voice announced, ”The train bound for New York is approaching the station. Two minutes to boarding time.”
My mother burst into tears.
Dawn's mother said, ”I hope all the dishes and pots and pans were washed after those exterminators sprayed their poison around.”
Mrs. Ramsey hugged Jessi protectively.
Emily fell off my suitcase and skinned her knee.
In the midst of her tears, I spied the headlight on our train, and soon the engine was roaring into the station. ”Here we go!” I cried, but I was caught first in an embrace by Nannie, then by Mom, and then by Watson. All around me, the other parents were hugging their kids. Half of the parents were crying. (None of my friends was. Although Mary Anne was poking her fingers into the cat carrier, and saying, ” 'Bye, Tiggy-Tiggy-Tiggy.”) ”Okay, Watson, I gotta go,” I said, pulling away. I stepped onto the train, followed by Claudia, Jessi, Mary Anne, Mallory, and Dawn. We struggled with our luggage until I noticed that Stacey hadn't boarded the train yet. She was still outside, saying things like, ”I promise 1 won't let them ride the subway alone,” and, ”I don't think anyone would want to buy a hot dog from a street vendor.”
”I would,” said Claudia, but luckily her parents didn't hear her.
”Come on, Stacey!” I cried. ”The train's going to leave without you.” I made a grab for her just as the doors started to close.
When Stacey was safely on board, the seven of us waved and called, ”Good-bye! Goodbye!” Then we found an almost empty car. This was a good thing, since we and our luggage took up fifteen seats.
”We made it!” I said, as if we'd just escaped from prison.
”Okay, lunchtime,” was Claudia's reply.
”Lunchtime? It's only ten o'clock,” Mary Anne informed her.
”Well, I'm hungry.”
The rest of us decided we were, top, so we ate the snacks we'd brought along. Then Mary Anne returned to the stack of maps and guidebooks she brings along on every trip we take.
”Does anyone else have a sense of deja vul” I asked, glancing at Mary Anne.
”Me!” cried Claudia and Dawn, who'd been with Mary Anne and me when we'd visited Stacey for a weekend during the time she was back in New York.
”What could she possibly not know about New York by now?” I wondered aloud.
”That there's a Hall of Chinese History at some place called the Bowery/' Mary Anne replied.
I shook my head. Then I gazed out the window.
An hour or so later, a deep voice was saying, ”All out for New York. This is Grand Central Station. Last stop!”
The train jerked to a halt.
”Ooh, we're here,” whispered Mary Anne.
Somehow we managed to get all of our stuff - suitcases, backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, pocketbooks, and cameras - off of the train. Then we followed Stacey through thick, stuffy air and into the crowded station.
”Dad!” Stacey shouted, waving her hand.
I looked up and saw Mr. McGill running toward us.
Mary Anne.
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