Authors: S. E. Campbell
How to Get Dirt (9 page)
****
She knew Mrs. Beazley
'
s number by heart. She had called it often when she was at her old foster home.
She
had
hoped she
would
n
'
t
need
to call Mrs. Beazley
for help
while she was with David
and
Miranda
, yet here she was with the phone in
her
hand as she sat in her room. Downstairs, she
knew
her foster parents
were watching a funny adult sitcom on television
and they
would not be up to check on her for a while.
The phone rang three times before Mrs. Beazley picked up.
“
Mrs. Susanna Beazley, social worker,
”
Mrs. Beazley said.
Pickles
could tell by her voice Mrs. Beazley didn
'
t recognize her
.
“
Mrs. Beazley, it
'
s Pickles.
”
Mrs. Beazley
'
s surprised
gasp
made
Pickles smile.
Her social worker
always managed to make her feel loved.
“
Is everything okay, Pickles?
”
Mrs. Beazley asked.
“
Your foster parents
aren
'
t being mean to you, are they?
”
“
No, they
'
re perfect,
”
Pickles said.
“
They are so
perfect it
scares me. I don
'
t know why.
”
“
Could it be, Pickles
, you
'
re
afraid of being sent away?
”
The question was an arrow straight to
Pickles
'
heart. Amid an unstoppable flow of tears, she told her old friend everything
.
By the
time she
hung up the phone forty-five minutes later, she was all cried out but felt much better.
Â
Â
A persistent
sound of knocking
came from
downstairs. Pickles ignored it
and
continued to draw her picture for art class.
Vaguely, she
heard Miranda open the door
and
say something
. But
it was the
familiar voice
who
answered
that brought
Pickles
'
head up
.
Mrs. Beazley
!
It was Mrs. Beazley. With a happy cry, Pickles dropped her pencil
then
left the room
at a sprint
.
She hurtled down the stairs, jumped the last three, and then launched herself
at Mrs. Beazley with her arms spread wide
. Mrs. Beazley hugged her so
hard air
left her lungs in a squeak
. Her heart sang with joy so great it took her breath away
.
“
What about me?
”
asked
a
hopeful
voice
from the doorway
.
Pickles
glanced
around Mrs. Beazley
.
Prudence
stood
behind her
,
grinning and
waving
.
Fierce joy began in her heart and coursed through Pickles.
When she hugged Prudence tight, she realized how lonely she had truly been at school. She missed sending Prudence notes and giggling about teachers. She missed long talks at lunchtime and group projects.
“
I missed you so much,
”
Pickles said, stepping away.
Miranda wore a frown on her face when she turned.
Pickles wasn
'
t one hundred percent sure why.
“
Mrs. Beazley, I
'
ve been meaning to speak with you,
”
Miranda said.
“
David and I were actually going to call you tomorrow.
”
Mrs.
Beazley
'
s face became stony.
“
I
see. Well, I
'
m here now. Why don
'
t we have Pickles show Prudence her room
? We
can discuss what you need to over a cup of coffee before I take the girls to lunch.
”
“
We
'
re going to lunch?
”
Pickles and Prudence both asked at the same time.
“
If it
'
s okay with your guardian,
”
Mrs. Beazley said, looking at Miranda.
“
It
'
s fine,
”
Miranda said, though she didn
'
t smile.
Concern washed over Pickles as she stared at Miranda. What was she thinking?
Prudence grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the stairs.
“
Come on! I want to see your room.
”
“
Go on, Pickles,
”
Mrs. Beazley said.
“
I
'
ll come get you in a few minutes.
”
Even though Pickles didn
'
t want to, she went up the stairs with Prudence
in front of her
.
But her thoughts remained behind, with the adults.
I wo
nder what they
'
re talking about,
she thought, as she reach
ed
the top landing.
After opening the door, Pickles beckoned Prudence inside of her room. Prudence gasped at the ivy wallpaper and the princess canopy bed. Pickles shut the door behind them, then headed over to her bed and flopped down on it while Prudence wandered around the room letting out gasps of awe.
A moment later
,
Prudence
flopped back
on
to
the bed and stared at the ceiling too.
“
What are we doing?
”
Prudence asked breathlessly.
“
I
'
m staring at the ceiling.
”
Pickles
turned her head to stare at her friend.
“
W
hat are you doing?
”
“
Okay,
”
Prudence said, launching to her feet.
“
What
'
s the matter? Mrs. Beazley
said you
called her
â
didn
'
t say about what
â
and she
wanted me to come with her to visit you. Now you
'
re all sad. I don
'
t think I
'
ve ever seen you sad. Your eternal optimism is one of your most loveable and annoying traits. How can you not be happy here? In this place? You have your own room. I mean, how awesome is that?
”
Pickles
told
Prudence
everything. By the
time she
was done, Prudence
fixed a stare on Pickles,
a somber look on her face
.
“
They
'
re having a baby?
That
'
s bad news. Real bad news.
”
“
I know,
”
Pickles
said
, her voice getting more high-pitched.
The fact that her friend had echoed
her own thoughts only made it worse.
“
I just hope they will still keep me around. Maybe I
'
m overreacting.
”
“
Oh, come on, Pickles,
”
Prudence said.
“
Your optimism can only get you so far. You know how it is. We
'
re like the spare
kid nobody wants
. We
'
re the substitute. Like how a cat lady gets cats
because she didn
'
t get a husband or kids
. We
'
re the cats.
”
“
That isn
'
t trueâ¦
”
Pickles said, though she
knew it
was.
A moment of silence went by
.
Prudence got closer in her face and puffed out her cheeks like a chipmunk.
With a laugh, Pickles jumped back.
“
That
'
s better,
”
Prudence said.
“
That
'
s the Pickles I remember.
”
“
But what am I supposed to do?
”
Pickles asked.
“
How am I supposed to get them to want to keep me?
It
'
s
not like I can tell them about the girls at school. That will just be a sign to
them I
don
'
t belong in the
ir
world. I want to belong here. I want to be a part of their family more than anything else.
”
Prudence stared at her.
“
I don
'
t know. I
'
m the troublemaker foster kid, remember? You
'
re the nice
one everybody
wants because you get them money but don
'
t do anything wrong.
”
With a moan, Pickles gripped her head.
“
Okay, fine,
”
Prudence said.
“
I think I know
something you
can try, but you aren
'
t going to like it.
”
Normally,
Pickles didn
'
t like
any plan of Prudence
'
s, but at
that
point
, she was willing to do anything. She
glanced
at Prudence and nodded her head.
“
You have to find out something about them, something so
horrible they
wouldn
'
t want
it spread around
outside of the home,
”
Prudence said.
“
I did it once to Mr. Edinburgh. You remember him? He was kissing another lady,
and
for the
year I
stayed with him, he paid me fifty bucks a month to keep my mouth shut. You can do the same
thing
. As long as you get to stay with them, you won
'
t say anything.
”
“
You want me to blackmail them?
”
Even the word sounded horrible on her tongue.
“
Is that what it
is
called?
”
Prudence asked.
“
I just
thought I
was being smart.
”
“
No,
it
'
s blackmail.
”
On every cop show she
'
d ever watched, those scenarios ended badly.
“
I don
'
t know if there is anything about them to find out. They aren
'
t like Mr. Edinburgh or the
families I
have had before. They are
so kind
.
”
