When You Believe by Deborah Bedford Read Free Book Online Page B

its place. As she did, she was the first to notice a woman standing at the counter, her fingers
     in a prim, tight weave, leaning on her elbows.
    When Lydia turned back to her files, the woman rang the bell for help. Lydia glanced over a shoulder toward Marie’s chair,
     a little disgruntled because no one else would step up. “Hello,” the woman said to Lydia’s shoulder blades, her voice as thin
     as a ribbon. “I just need to pick up my daughter’s homework. I’m Tamara Olin.”
    The metal drawer trundled all the way open of its own accord. Lydia got ahold of the handle and clanged it shut. “You’re Shelby
     Tatum’s mother?”
    In a warm, embarrassed voice the woman said, “I know I should have called earlier to excuse her.”
    “We’ve been trying to reach you all day.”
    “Oh, you know.” The woman waved it away as if she was shooing a fly. “It’s been one of those crazy mornings.”
    Just then, several cheerleaders came charging in. One of the most anticipated events for Shadrach homecoming was the annual
     powder-puff football game. In a turn of roles each year, the eleventh- and twelfth-grade girls played against each other in
     a gridiron match-up while the boys rooted them on from the sidelines. This year a group of senior boys had offered to dress
     up as cheerleaders and do stunts. The kids had been whispering about it for weeks.
    The girls were excited. “Is Kevin here yet? They said they were sending somebody from yearbook.”
    “Why is somebody from yearbook coming?” Lydia asked.
    “Didn’t you hear?” At last, Marie returned with Mo and a first-aid bag in tow. “L.R. caught wind that the boys have decided
     to dress up in skirts. He’s making all of them come in today to have their outfits approved.”
    “Right now?”
    “He won’t let them dress that way unless the school board says yes.”
    “Do you have homework for Shelby Tatum?” Lydia asked Marie.
    “Right here.” The wire baskets were stacked as high as a St. Louis skyscraper. Marie pointed to the top tier. “If anybody
     put stuff together for her, it would be there.”
    Lydia thumbed through. Sure enough, she found a folder with Shelby’s name scribbled on it. She opened to the first page and
     saw that Mrs. Brubaker had slipped a note and an assignment inside. Mr. Newkirk had added a reading list for French II. Lydia
     closed it, handed it over.
    But Mrs. Olin didn’t quite get a grip on the folder. Papers fell out and scattered everywhere. “Oh, so sorry.” Mrs. Olin shook
     her head in frustration and began scraping everything across the counter toward her. “I’ll get this.”
    Lydia remembered her grandma saying once, “There’s no reason having a double-duck fit, saying things you don’t want to say.
     A conversation doesn’t please you, you just don’t have it.” She touched the strap of the woman’s wristwatch; there was a long,
     poignant meeting of eyes.
    “I’d like to discuss something with you.”
    The woman’s eyes moved to the countertop again. “Oh, sorry I dropped all of this.” She finally had the papers organized, almost
     in a stack. That’s when Lydia noticed the top corner of one page sticking out, a note with Shelby’s name on it, scribbled
     in Charlie’s hasty, heavy hand.
    “I just—” Lydia reached for it.
    “Oh, no. No.” Tamara Olin picked Shelby’s assignments up and tamped them on the counter. “I’m the one who scattered these
     all over the place.” Unceremoniously, she slid them back inside the folder for safekeeping and tucked the folder under one
     arm.
    “If I could just—” Lydia’s fingers stopped in mid-air. The familiar shape and form of Charlie’s script, the slanted, slender
     forcefulness of the
S
, the
h
a pointed tent as distinct and identifiable as a thumbprint.
    Oh my word, Charlie. What are you doing?
    Just then the door flung open; the hooting and catcalls rang out. In traipsed an entire roster of senior boys, raucous and
     free in