Dance with Me

One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
On the fourth exhale, Samantha said, “She ran away and hid Gretchen.
Then she came back and told me what she’d done. I told her I’d find
Gretchen, and Susie was upset again. Before … that night … she told me
she was going to find a better hiding place for Gretchen, and I’d never find
her now.” Samantha fisted her hands and held them in front of her face.
Then she said, “I think she was thinking about where to hide Gretchen,
and that’s why she got taken. She thought whoever took her would help her
hide the stupid doll.”
Rhonda took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Am I not stuck anymore?”
“I don’t think you are.”
Samantha nodded once. Good.
“Where is the doll now?” Rhonda asked.
“I haven’t found it.”
Susie thought Samantha was unusually talkative today. She hadn’t shut up
since their mom had picked her up from the funny glass house Samantha
visited three times a week. Even though Samantha was talking about boring
stuff, about multiplying and dividing fives, their mom seemed to be okay
with listening. She kept nodding as she drove through traffic. She didn’t
smile, though. Neither did Samantha. Samantha was so stiff she looked like

---

a robot. She sounded like a robot, too. It was weird. She was talking as if
she had to talk or something bad would happen.
If she had to talk, couldn’t she talk about something good?
“How about we talk about cute things?” Susie asked.
Samantha and her mom must not have heard her because Samantha kept
talking about numbers and math. Susie sighed.
What was the point in hanging out with them if they were going to
ignore her?
Susie turned and looked at Samantha’s right ear. Samantha’s ears weren’t
pierced like Susie’s were. Susie liked to wear pretty-colored earrings.
Samantha refused to have hers pierced because she didn’t want holes in her
ears. Susie wondered, 
if I blow hard enough, can I push all the boring
words out of her head?
Turning, Susie blew as hard as she could into Samantha’s ear.
Samantha stopped talking.
Ha! Susie grinned.
“Were you done with your story?” Susie’s mom asked Samantha.
Samantha didn’t answer. She sat perfectly still in her seat.
Susie wasn’t sure the silence was any better than the nonstop chatter. It
wasn’t a soft, comfortable silence, like a cushy plush bear. It was a sharp
silence, like the pointy ends of metal things poking at your skin. The silence
hurt her ears … and her heart.
Susie started singing to drown out the silence. No one sang with her, but
she didn’t care. She sang until Susie’s mom turned onto their road. Then
Susie stopped and waited eagerly to spot her house and check on Oliver.
Susie’s mom paused to wait for a car to pass before turning into their
driveway. The car’s blinker did its click-tick until Susie’s mom made the
turn. Susie mimicked the noise. No one told her to stop.
Oliver had lost a lot more leaves. He only had a few left. Would they last
long enough?
Susie sat on the end of Samantha’s bed and watched her sister read a book.
Samantha seemed tense. She held the book stiffly, and she took a long time
to turn the pages.
“I have a confession,” Susie said.

---

Samantha didn’t look up.
“I miss you guys when we’re apart. And I know you miss me, too.”
Samantha turned a page. Her hand trembled.
“And I miss Gretchen. Do you miss her?”
Samantha kept reading.
Susie never liked it when Samantha ignored her, but she didn’t let it shut
her up. “I don’t know why, but I can’t remember where I hid Gretchen.”
Susie chewed on a knuckle. “I don’t think …”
She stopped talking. This wasn’t working. Samantha wasn’t going to
help her.
Why couldn’t Susie remember where she hid Gretchen?
She remembered how angry and upset she was that Samantha was going
to make Gretchen study. Gretchen was a sensitive doll. Freckled and curly-
blonde-haired, Gretchen’s soft round face was painted with a shy smile, the
kind of smile that told Susie that she was easily scared. When Susie hid
Gretchen, she’d been wearing a pink-and-purple polka-dot dress that Jeanie
made. The dress was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to help Gretchen
be happier.
But then Samantha was going to put pressure on Gretchen to “learn
stuff.” Not even polka dots could win out over that.
Susie knew that Gretchen still needed to be with her. Susie was the only
person who understood her. She knew what it was like to want to be happy
and have fun in a world that wanted you to learn and keep getting better at
things. She couldn’t leave Gretchen alone, lost in some forgotten hiding
spot. She wished Samantha would listen. Susie reached over the book
Samantha was holding. She waved her hand around.
Samantha’s face got white, and she held very still.