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anything.

     

six
     

     
    W HILE MAUREEN AND G LENNA WERE AWAY AT B ORTH L AKE, I believed in the afternoon at the river. I believed it meant something that Maureen had gotten out of the Flaibers’ car. She had promised she would call when she got back. So I knew that she would. Maybe they had stayed a few extra days. Then there would be unpacking. That takes time. And probably the Bercks would be doing some family-type activities. I knew she would call.
    Here are some things you can do while you are waiting for a phone call:
    I. Take a wine bottle that is empty. Mateus has the best shape. Or another kind of bottle, or a jar, if your parents don‧t ever drink wine. Which mine don‧t, but Fran gave me some bottles. You rip masking tape into a gezillion tiny pieces with ragged edges and cover the bottle with them. (See diagram.) Then, with a rag, you put brown shoe polish over the whole thing. Wipe most of it off. When it dries, paint varnish on it. It will look old, like an antique. You can use it for flowers or as a candleholder.

     
    Suitable for a gift!
    2. Smash a windshield. No,
wait,.
I don‧t mean like a vandal! You will need parental assistance for this. My aunt Alice told us how. You get thewindshield from a junkyard, and you paint one side of it with all different colors. Let it dry. Wrap it in a large towel or a blanket, and smash it to smithereens with a sledgehammer. Probably your dad will have to do it The driveway is a good place. Then glue the pieces to the outside of a big goblet from Jim‧s Bargain Store, with the painted side in. Don‧t cut yourself! Put grout (like in a bathroom) between the pieces and wipe the surface of the glass bits clean. When the grout is dry, paint it gold. Presto-another candleholder! When you light the candle, it looks like stained glass. You will have enough little pieces of colored glass to make a dozen of these.
    3. So, if you think you now have enough candleholders, find an old wooden cigar box Paint it a nice color. On the lid glue a picture from a magazine. Organically Grown clothing (with the beautiful woman and the deer) or Herbal Essence shampoo ads are good. (“Why do you want your hair to smell like grass?” my dad wants to know.) Varnish over it Inside, on the bottom, glue a piece of felt. Call it a jewelry box.
    You have now made fourteen Christmas presents, and it‧s only August While you‧re in the Christmas spirit:
    4. Blow up a balloon, and knot it Wrap a ton of thread around it and tape the end Dip the whole thing in sugar water with starch in it, and let it dry. Then pop the balloon. The threads stiffen in the round shape, and they make good Christmas ornaments, especially if you hang them near a colored light they have a glittery glow.

     
    If you‧re lucky, a couple of days have gone by.
    If you‧re not lucky, it‧s only time to watch
Hollywood Squares.
    Chrisanne and Tesey and a couple of their friends dragged me along with them up to the pool. They were funny and nice, and they acted as if they were so glad I was there.
    Then Chrisanne suggested to my mom that the three of us go on a shopping trip downtown and maybe even have lunch in Horne‧s Tearoom. My mom said, “Sure.”
    So there we were, driving along and listening to the radio, when my mother decided, right out of nowhere, to pick up a hitchhiker. “Good Lord, look at that god-awful stringy hair,” she said. Then she pulled over to the side of the road to pick him up.
    She told Chrisanne to get in the backseat with me and invited him right into our car. He stooped over to look inside, with his sign that said DOWN TOWN and a wooden box, and asked, “You heading downtown?”
    “Yes, we are,” my mother said. “Where do you need to go?”
    “Krepp Arcade,” he said, “but anywhere downtown is fine.” He climbed in.
    “We‧re going right by there,” said Mom. “We can take you to your doorstep.”
    You would have thought, the way they talked, that he was some long-lost