The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (7 page)

Mr. Stone interrupted, “Look, there is a time and a place for everything. I have called all of you together to discuss the student rebellion of which you four are the leaders. What I want from you are the
names of all of the students who are involved in this plot, or you four will be in serious trouble.”

I said, “Oh, no. That’s not fair. No way.”

Mr. Stone turned to my mother. “I told you, Mrs. Lewis. See what she has turned into.”

My mother looked at him and said, “My daughter has turned into someone I’m very proud of, and I’m not sure that she is doing anything wrong. I don’t appreciate your threatening her.”

All of the parents started talking at once. So did we. Everything got noisy and very confused.

The phone rang. Everyone shut up. Mr. Stone picked up the receiver. He listened for a while and then said, “Thank you. That solves a lot of my problems.”

Then he got up and started walking around. That was sort of hard. There were so many people in such a small place. But I guess Mr. Stone thought he would win the “Principal of the Year Award” for his performance.

Anyway, he turned and said, “Your plan has no way of working. The Superintendent’s Office has ordered school to be closed until the Tuesday hearing.”

Then he walked back to his desk. On his way he accidentally knocked over Wolf. Orange pits fell all
over the rug, and Stuart started to cry. My mother ran over to Stuart, and so did I. All of a sudden, everybody in the room started to laugh, except for Stuart and Mr. Stone, who turned around and said, “For everyone’s information, these four student ringleaders are suspended for ten days. It will go on their permanent records, and they will not be allowed to make up work missed. You might as well take them home. I don’t want them on school grounds for the entire time that they are suspended.”

We all walked out of the office and into the hall. I heard my mother inviting everyone over to our house to discuss the situation. Then she, Stuart, and I went to my locker to get my coat and books.

I said, “Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry to get you involved in this.”

“Marcy, do you believe in what you’re doing?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then I’m very proud of you. I wish I had nerve enough to do it. But I’m scared. What is your father going to say?”

“Mom, I’ve spent thirteen years worrying about that, and I’ve never been happy. So now I’ve got to do things that I think are right.”

Then I closed my locker and we walked out to the car.

“Honey, don’t think I’m mad at you, but shouldn’t you clean out your locker? People will think that I never taught you to be neat.”

I just looked at her and laughed. That’s just like my mother—in the middle of everything, she worries about my locker. But she certainly had surprised me. She was on my side.

On the way home, I asked, “Mom, how come all of you came to school?”

My mother explained. “I got a call from Mr. Stone’s office. Naturally, I had to bring Stuart with me. When I got to school, I ran into Nancy’s mother and the other parents. Mr. Stone called us into the office, told us how bad you all were, and how we should support him, especially me, because of the PTA. Mr. Anderson told him that he was proud of Joel and would personally congratulate his son, not punish him. The only one who went along with Mr. Stone was Mrs. Alexander, who cried the whole time. Then he called you in, and you know the rest of the story. Oh, Marcy, what are we going to tell your father?”

“Mom, I don’t know. He’s gonna yell a lot, but I don’t know what to do.”

Stuart sat in the middle and kept pretending to drive. Poor kid. He’s in the middle most of the time.

Getting to our house, we rushed inside to get ready for everybody else.

“Mom, how do you think Mr. Stone found out who the leaders are?”

“He said that a student told him.”

“What a rat.”

“Marcy, you shouldn’t talk about Mr. Stone that way.”

“I meant the kid, but Stone’s a rat, too.”

“Marcy!” But then she laughed.

“Mom, Stone says Ms. Finney never taught us anything, but I know that ‘Stone’s a rat’ is a metaphor. I bet he doesn’t know that.”

“Marcy, stop fooling around. We have company coming.”

The bell rang. Everybody came in. We all sat around for a few minutes, getting food and staring at one another.

Mr. Anderson started. “I’m very proud of our children. Although I think their scheme was drastic, I
feel that Mr. Stone has treated them as mindless children, and they’ve proved him wrong. They know what they want and are willing to accept the consequences. I think they’ve learned a very important lesson.”

Mrs. Alexander just kept crying.

My mother said, “This won’t keep our children out of college, will it? We do want Marcy to get a good education.”

Mr. Anderson put down his coffee cup and lit up a cigarette. “Listen, don’t let Mr. Stone intimidate you. We have bright children, and many schools will respect their minds and their initiative.”

Robert, Nancy, Joel, and I sat on the floor watching the whole scene. Finally Nancy said, “Look. We made the decision to support Ms. Finney, and I’m glad. I’ll use the suspension time to study.”

“Yeah,” I said. “We can get the assignments and do them anyway.”

“But we won’t get credit for it. Why bother?” Robert asked.

Joel said, “We can use the time to learn something, instead of diagramming sentences.”

We all laughed.

“I think you should go to the library and get some books out concerning legal rights and privileges,” Joel’s father suggested. “You can learn some interesting things. This situation can turn into a real learning experience for you.”

Finally Mrs. Alexander spoke up. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but my Robert will be punished. I don’t agree with the stand he is taking or your attitude about it. Come, Robert, we’re going home.” She got out of her chair and turned to leave. “Robert, I told you that we are leaving. Now, let’s go.”

Robert got up. He looked upset and mad. I didn’t blame him. I knew what he was going through.

They left. The rest of us talked about the upcoming hearing. No one was sure that Ms. Finney would win. Mr. Anderson said that he was in a funny position, being a school-board member and everything. He had a feeling that Mr. Stone would try to get him disqualified.

My mother offered to contact those members of the PTA who might help.

Mrs. Sheridan offered to work with her.

Mr. Anderson said that he would help, but it would have to be during evenings.

My mother said, “Perhaps Joel’s mother would like to help during the day.”

Joel looked uncomfortable. His father smiled and said, “My wife and I are divorced. She doesn’t live around here.”

I jumped up. “Does anyone want Coke or coffee or anything?”

They all said no and that it was time to go home for dinner. I said good-bye to Mrs. Sheridan, Nancy, Mr. Anderson, and Joel.

After they left, I turned to my mother. “Why did you have to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Ask them about the mother. If they wanted to say anything, they would have.”

My mother looked surprised. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Do you think they think I’m horrible?”

“I don’t know. I doubt it. But please don’t do it again, Mom. I’m happy that you’re helping me with this school thing.” I hugged her.

“I did a lot of thinking,” she said. “I’m very proud of you. I never could have done that when I was your age. So now, at my age, I’m learning and you’re my teacher. The world is changing . . .and I’m glad.”

I hugged her again. Sometimes it’s very hard to say anything.

“Joel is very nice, Marcy. Do you like him? Does he like you?”

“I don’t know, Mom. Yeah, I like him. But it’s no big romance. Don’t bug me about it. I think he just thinks I’m a good friend. We like some of the same things.”

Stuart walked in and asked for an orange. We both ate one and spent the rest of the afternoon stuffing orange pits in Wolf’s head. Actually, we turned it into a game, putting Wolf in a corner and trying to pitch the pits into the hole. I won, 84 to 39. It took almost all afternoon to get that score.

I heard the car door slam and the front door open. The ritual had begun. Only this time it was a little different. This time he called me downstairs before he was even handed his drink.

I walked in and said, “Hi. How was your day?”

“Apparently not as exciting as yours, young lady. I warned you about getting involved. Maybe it’s about time that you got punished for your actions. I had to hear all about this from a business associate. I understand that both of my girls are involved in this? Is that true?”

My mother said, “Let’s all sit down and discuss this quietly.”

So we all sat down. I looked from one to the other. Then I said, “I’m doing the right thing. I’m not always wrong.”

“Martin, Marcy’s right. You should’ve heard Mr. Stone.”

He just sat there, chewing on his smelly cigar. My mother continued, “She’s got to make her own decisions. And I’ve made my own decision too. I’m going to support and help her. She’s helped me to realize some things.”

My father turned on me. “Are you satisfied now? Your mother and I never disagree.”

“Don’t blame her,” Mom said. “I’ve made up my own mind.”

“Can I please be excused?”

“Oh, no you don’t, young lady. You cause all the trouble and then you try to slip away.”

“Martin!”

“Oh, all right. Marcy, I want you to go to bed without your dinner. You may leave.”

I went up to my room, closed the door, and looked in the mirror and searched for emerging acne. There was none. So I sat down at my desk. Then I realized
that I didn’t have anything to do. I’d been suspended. Me, of all people. So I spent the next hour thinking of Joel.

Joel was a special person, I decided. He was smart. He was brave. He was cute. And he liked me. Amazing.

I stayed in my room all evening and watched television. TV comes in handy when people can’t talk to each other. Then I went to bed and dreamed about going to Nancy’s party and falling down a flight of stairs.

T
he next morning my mother came into my room and woke me up.

“Marcy. I let you sleep late today, but it’s time to get up. We’re going shopping for your dress. And I want to talk to you.”

I hate waking up out of a sound sleep. She expects me to talk and make sense immediately. So I rolled over on my stomach and put the pillow over my head. She started to tickle me. I hate that too.

It was easier to get out of bed than to be tickled. My mother thinks she’s being cute when she does that. I think she’s being a pain.

“Mom, what do you want?”

“I’m getting nervous about what’s going on. I don’t like to fight with your father. I’m not used to it.”

I flopped down on the bed and put the pillow back on my head. I could feel her sit down on the edge of the bed. I tightened up, expecting to be tickled again. When that didn’t happen, I peeked out from under the pillow. I could see her crying.

Sitting up, I reached over, and touched her hair. “Aw, Mom, please don’t cry. It’ll be O.K. I’m sorry.”

“Marcy, it’s not your fault. It’s not anybody’s fault. It just happened. I never really thought much about women’s liberation. Now I’m beginning to.”

“Look, Mom, let’s go shopping. Don’t worry.”

So we went shopping, taking Stuart and Wolf with us.

I hate to go shopping. I love clothes, but they always look awful on me. All those skinny tops, and the clothes that expect you to have a waist. And when you find something you like, they never have it in your size. It’s horrible. One of the worst things is that
I have to go into the store, go past the junior boutique, and step into the “Chubbies” section. They should give out paper bags to wear over your head while you shop there.

So there we were at the “Chubbies” section. Stuart was swinging on one of the coat racks. My mother was looking at ugly dresses. I was trying to avoid the saleslady.

She waddled up to my mother. She was what the store people would call a “stylish stout.” She was what I would call a “senior blimp.”

“Can I help you, dearie?” she asked.

“We are looking for a party dress for my daughter.”

“Oh, isn’t she sweet. What do you want, honey?” she asked me.

“I want a pair of size five bluejeans.”

“Marcy,” my mother began.

“Mom, she asked what I wanted, not what I was going to get.”

“You’ll have to excuse my daughter. She gets upset when she shops.”

The lady smiled and said, “I can understand. I used to be that way myself.”

I felt like throwing up when she said that.

My mother must have understood, because she said, “Perhaps it would be best if we browsed by ourselves. We’ll be sure to call you if we need help. Thank you.” My mother’s O.K. sometimes, even if she is skinny.

We took lots of stuff into the dressing room. Finally, I found a purple pants suit that I liked. My mother liked it, even if it wasn’t a dress. I guess she gave in because she was getting tired of pulling Stuart out from under racks, and of searching for the perfect outfit that was going to turn me into an all-American princess.

Then we went to the jewelry department. That’s fun. It doesn’t matter what size you are when you buy a necklace. I bought a pair of hoop earrings, a necklace, and a ring. I felt really good. And it was nice to see my mother happy. Even Stuart was happy. My mother bought him a pair of sneakers, and the salesman gave him a balloon.

In the afternoon I went over to Nancy’s house. She’s going out with a tenth-grader at Hoover High School. Nancy’s been going out since seventh grade, and she knows lots more about guys than I do.

“Nancy, do you think Joel likes me?”

“He asked you out, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. But I don’t know why.”

“Oh, Marcy, come on. You’re not so bad.”

“Yeah. But he’s so nice.”

“So are you. Listen, Marcy, Joel’s a great guy, a little too serious sometimes, but nice. I don’t think he goes out much, though. So if he asked you out, he must like you.”

“Really think so?”