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day, after school let
out and after the Chante Chanteuses had an hour-long practice,
during which Tabby and Rachel got to know each other a little, they
walked together down those same long, wide concrete steps in front
of the school.
    When they got to the bottom, Tabby
said: "Well, here's where I wait for my boyfriend."
    "Sheldon Beasley?"
    "That's the one."
    "Is he at football
practice?"
    "They're done, unless they're
having a chalkboard session. But he'll be here shortly. I guess
it's too late for the bus. How are you getting home?"
    "We don't live far enough out to
qualify riding on the bus," Rachel said. "But that's OK, I'll walk.
It's not that far."
    "Where do you live?" Tabby
asked.
    "Uh, just up the hill, past the
cemetery," Rachel said.
    "Rachel," Tabby said. "That's four
or five miles."
    "Doesn't seem that
long."
    "Hey, Sheldon has a car," Tabby
said. "He'll be here in a minute. Wait here with me and we'll give
you a ride home."
    "Oh, no, that's OK, Tabby, I can
walk."
    "Did you walk to school this
morning?"
    "I did."
    "Rachel, that's crazy," Tabby
said. "Are you going to have to do that every day?"
    Rachel shrugged.
    Tabby was dumbfounded.
    "You can't do that!" she said. "I
mean … I don't mean … What I'm trying to say is, it's bad enough to
walk that far every day now, when the weather is nice, but this
ain't Tennessee, Rachel! We get snow here, lots and lots of
snow."
    Rachel still resisted, but Tabby
kept pressing.
    "I really wish you'd let us take
you home, Rachel. Then you could meet Sheldon. He's a very neat
guy. Wink, wink," Tabby said.
    "My brother plays football too,"
Rachel said.
    "You have a brother?"
    "He's a sophomore. Rodney," Rachel
said.
    "Oh, wow," Tabby said. "Now
you have to let
us take you home. We'll all ride together. It'll be
fun!"
    Rachel looked at the ground. Her
silence came like a subtle warning. Maybe, Tabby thought, she had
pushed things too far. She was reminded of Rachel's clothes,
something she had completely forgotten when Rachel started singing.
Rachel's family obviously was poor. Maybe, Tabby said to herself,
Rachel was too embarrassed to show anyone where she
lived.
    "You could just drop us off at the
cemetery," Rachel said. "We could walk the rest of the way, if
that's OK."
    "Deal!" Tabby said.
    A few minutes later, Sheldon,
Bull, Jimmy and Rodney came running down the concrete
steps.
    "Hey!" Sheldon shouted. "Whassup,
girls?"
    After all the introductions were
made, the six kids piled into Sheldon's 1951 Ford for the ride up
to the cemetery.
    "I don't think you've ever had
this many people in this old beater," Bull said. "Are you sure you
can make it up the hill?"
    "We're gonna find out," Sheldon
said. "I might have to dump you out half way. You know, to lighten
the load."
    "Or, more likely, to get him to
shut up," Jimmy said.
    Bull turned around from his seat
in front and engaged Jimmy in a little slappy-slappy play
fight.
    "Children, children," said Tabby,
sitting in the front seat between Sheldon and Bull. "Behave
yourselves."
    "Yes, Mommie," Bull
said.
    "I'll tell you one thing about
this old car," Jimmy said to his back-seat mates, Rodney and
Rachel, "and let this be a warning to you. Do not, I repeat, do
not, ride in this car in the winter."
    "Amen!" Bull shouted.
    "Because this car does not have a
heater," Jimmy said.
    "Wrong!" Sheldon said. "This car
does have a heater."
    "OK, but it doesn't work," Jimmy
said.
    "Well, yes, there is that,"
Sheldon said.
    "Plus," Bull said. "Plus. The
tires on this car are as bald as Mr. Nelson's head. If we get more
than an inch of snow, and we always get way more than that, this
car is totally useless. It gets stuck before it gets out of the
garage."
    "I just might have to lighten the
load sooner than I thought," Sheldon said. "Quit picking on my
car."
    "Snow?" Rodney said. "You get snow
here? Nobody told me that."
    "Oh, man, do we get snow here? Is
the pope a Catholic?" Jimmy said.
    "Let me out, Sheldon," Rodney
said. "C'mon, Rachel,