The Doll in the Garden

Chapter 16

Talking to Miss Cooper

WHILE I WAS eating breakfast the next morning, Kristi came thumping up the steps and barged into the kitchen. Taking a seat, she helped herself to a slice of bread and spread a thick layer of jam on it. "Did you hear Snowball last night?" she asked.

"I think he's mad because Miss Cooper won't give Anna Maria to us," I said. "That's why he was yowling at her."

"Miss Cooper must be scared," Krisd said.

"Maybe we should try talking to her again," I said. "She might give us Anna Maria just to get rid of Snowball."

Kristi wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, smearing blueberry jam across her cheek. "Not me," she said, "I'm never speaking to that mean old woman again."

"We have to get Anna Maria," I reminded her.

While I rinsed my breakfast dishes, I watched Kristi help herself to another slice of bread and jam. She was acting very nonchalant, but I knew she was trying hard to think of some reason not to visit Miss Cooper.

When the kitchen was clean, I opened the back door and started down the steps. Kristi pattered behind me, mumbling to herself.

"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," I told her. "You can hide in your old tree house like a baby and spy on us."

Kristi glared at me. "Just because I'm younger than you doesn't make me a baby," she said.

While Kristi hesitated, Miss Cooper suddenly appeared in person. Leaning heavily on her cane, she confronted us in the driveway. She looked fiercer than usual, and I backed away from her so fast I stepped right on Kristi's bare toes.

"That white cat," she said abruptly. "You girls put him in my yard last night, didn't you? You were trying to scare me."

"You know who that cat is and where he comes from," I said. I was feeling pretty brave, but my voice sounded shaky. "He's here to get Louisa's doll, and you better give it back before it's too late!"

Miss Cooper gripped her cane tighter and backed away from me. "It's already too late," she said. "Louisa's been dead since 1912. Nothing can change that."

She paused a moment, breathing heavily. "If you don't believe me, go to Cypress Grove Cemetery and see for yourself, missy. Just look for the pink angel her aunt put up for her!"

Kristi looked at me, her eyes full of tears, and I glared at Miss Cooper. "How could you be so mean?" I asked. "Louisa was an orphan, and she was sick. You must have known she was going to die, but you took Anna Maria anyway."

"You had no business digging that doll up!" Miss Cooper snapped at me.

"And you had no business burying her!"

Miss Cooper looked from me to Kristi, her mouth pursing and unpursing. "I just borrowed the doll," she said at last and lifted her chin, daring us to contradict her. "I meant to give her back, but that aunt of hers wouldn't let me in the house. She said Louisa was too sick for company; she said to come back when she was feeling better. I didn't think Louisa was going to die. What does a child know of death?"

"Why didn't you just give Anna Maria to Aunt Viola?" I asked.

Miss Cooper turned her head away, her eyes seeking Louisa's yard. "That woman didn't like me. Nobody did. I was always in trouble. Do you know what Papa would have done if he'd known I'd taken the doll?"

The old woman stared at me, and I shrugged and looked down at my bare feet. I was starting to feel sorry for her, and I didn't want to. Not when she'd been so mean to Louisa.

"He'd have beaten me with his belt," Miss Cooper said, "and then he'd have locked me in the coal cellar and left me there in the dark till he was sure I'd repented."

"Is that why you buried her?" I asked. "So no one would know you took her?"

Miss Cooper nodded. "When they told me Louisa was dead, it seemed the right thing to do. I sneaked out of the house late at night and buried her under Papa's best rosebush. I knew nobody would dare dig near its roots."

She paused a few seconds and then added softly, "I even said the right words, the very ones I heard at Louisa's funeral."

Miss Cooper rummaged about in her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled handkerchief. She blew her nose carefully. "Don't you think I haven't felt bad about it all these years?" she said. "You're too young to know, but the things you do when you're a child stay with you all your life."

"But you can change it now," Kristi said. "You can give Anna Maria to Louisa."

"How can I do that?" Miss Cooper peered at Kristi as if she thought she was crazy. "Louisa's been dead over seventy years. Time doesn't run backward, you know, and things that have been done can't be undone, no matter how hard you wish."

"But Snowball can take us through the hedge to Louisa's garden," I said. "The house is there, and she's there, and so is Aunt Viola. We've seen Louisa and talked to her, that's how we know how much she wants Anna Maria."

"Why are you telling me lies?" Miss Cooper's voice rose and quavered as she leaned toward me. "You are a wicked child."

"I'm not lying!" I was getting angry. "Just give us Anna Maria so we can take her to Louisa before she dies."

Kristi began crying. "Don't you see?" she said to Miss Cooper. "If she gets the doll back, maybe she won't die. We want to save Louisa's life."

I don't know what would have happened if Snowball hadn't come walking across the grass at that moment. Miss Cooper saw him first. "Louisa's cat," she hissed. "Get him away, get him away!"

Picking Snowball up, I caressed his white fur. "He won't leave till you give Anna Maria back," I said. "Won't you please get her? Please!"

The three of us stood facing each other like children frozen in a game of statues. At last Miss Cooper said, "The world's full of white cats. They all look just the same." Her voice was shaking and the hand clutching her cane trembled.

"But they have shadows, right?" While she watched, I set Snowball down on the grass. "All except this one."

Miss Cooper, Kristi, and I looked at the ground at Snowball's feet. His fur shone in the sunlight, his pink nose glistened with health, his big green eyes stared up into ours, but no shadow anchored him to the earth. Meowing softly, he took a few steps toward Miss Cooper and she backed away.

"I knew it all along," the old woman whispered, more to herself than to us. "But I didn't know what they wanted. I told myself they were just tormenting me because I didn't go to see her before she died."

Miss Cooper paused and Snowball rubbed against her legs, purring. She flinched a little, but she didn't move away. Slowly she bent down and ran a hand lightly over his fur. "You feel so real," she said.

Then she straightened up and looked at me. "You say it's the doll. If Louisa gets her back she'll rest quiet and leave me be?"

I nodded, and the old woman sighed. "All right," she murmured. "All right."

Letting out my breath in a long, slow sigh of relief, I watched Miss Cooper hobble around the side of her house and climb her steps. Krisd clutched my arm, and Snowball purred as he watched the house, too, waiting for Miss Cooper to come back with Anna Maria.