The Lady Business

The following is a scene from the coming-of-age novel I'm writing about 12-year-old Anne Charlotte Knight, better known to all as Charlie. Having just graduated from sixth grade, Charlie is anticipating an exciting summer before entering junior high in the fall with her best friend, Gail. The two girls have known each other since kindergarten and are so close they can almost complete each other's thoughts. Both girls are entering adolescence and experiencing the confusing and confounding physical and emotional changes that puberty brings. At the same time, both will experience some drastic events in their families that add to their confusion, creating turmoil that both must come to terms with. In the process, each often reacts to certain events in their lives with uncharacteristic and often negative responses.

At the dime store, Gail and I trolled the aisles. Everything was displayed in open bins and baskets so we could pick up an item and inspect it. In the jewelry aisle, we tried on pearl or rhinestone necklaces, clunky jeweled bracelets, gaudy brooches, and clip-on earrings, pretending to be our mothers as we preened in the mirror.

I picked up a pale pink strand of pop beads, connected it to another string of blue beads, and wound it around my waist like a belt. Not to be outdone, Gail connected several colorful strings together to make a jump rope and started jumping. I wanted to take a turn, but just then the manager popped up across the aisle and frowned at us. We quickly disconnected the strings and put them back in the bins, ducking our heads and trying not to giggle.

We scooted around the corner out of his sight and ran into the tropical fish section. Aquariums of various sizes filled with water, sand, and colorful fish lined the back wall as the fish moved through the water in a sinuous ballet.

Mesmerized by the dazzling colors, Gail and I pressed our noses to the tanks, side-stepping down the wall from aquarium to aquarium.

“I know what I’m getting. I’m getting some goldfish,” I announced. I picked out three goldfish and the clerk put them in a plastic bag filled with water and Gail and I started home.

We had a long walk home and I was worried the fish might die before I got them home and into a bowl of water. The sun was so hot I could feel the heat radiating up from the pavement through the bottom of my sneakers.

“Come on, let’s run,” I said. “It’s getting hot and the fish might die if the sun heats up the water in the bag.” I started to jog down the street, but Gail grabbed my arm.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “I have something to show you.” She stuck her hand down in her pocket, pulled out a gold bracelet, and dangled it in front of me.

I took the bracelet and looked at it. It was a gold link bracelet with red stones embedded in every other link. It was just like the ones we had tried on at the jewelry counter.

“How did you get this?” I asked. “You didn’t buy anything at the store.”

“Just magic,” she said and started running.

I got a funny fluttery feeling in my stomach, like right before the state achievement exams, when the teacher says,“Raise your pencils; you have 15 minutes on this section of the test” and you watch the teacher watching the clock, waiting for her to say “Begin” and wondering if you are suddenly going to forget how to read English or how to do long division.

I ran and caught up with Gail. “Stop right now,” I yelled at her and grabbed her elbow. Gail stopped running, but jogged in place, facing ahead. She was not looking at me, so I pulled her around and got nose to nose with her.

“When did you buy this?” I demanded.

“Hey, you keep it. I’ll give it to you. It’s for you, a gift from me.”

She tried to turn away from me again and I shook her arm. “Gail,” I said, “tell me how you got this.”

She mashed her lips together and cut her eyes at me. “I didn’t buy it,” she said.“I took it.”

And then she started laughing. “It’s just a dumb, cheap bracelet. Nobody cares, nobody will even know it’s gone. It doesn’t matter.”

“What are you saying?” I asked. “What do you mean you took it—you mean you shoplifted it?”

“Hey,”she said. “I did it for you. I’m giving it to you. It’s your bracelet now.”

"It's not my bracelet and I don't want it. You have to take it back right now. Come on. I'll go with you. You can tell them you forgot you had it. Just say it was a mistake."     

“Oh, no, I won’t,” she laughed. “It belongs to you now, not to me, so you take it back if you don’t want it.” She took off running and she didn’t look back.

I stood there holding my bag of fish and that cheesy bracelet, its red stones winking in the sun like tiny stoplights.

“Gail,” I screeched. “Come back here right now." But she was around the corner and out of sight.

I was so mad I almost started to cry. I squinched my eyes shut to stop the tears. I didn’t know what to do. I had to get my goldfish home out of that hot sun and into some fresh water or they were going to die. I didn’t think I had time to go back and return the bracelet. Besides, now the store might think I had stolen it. Maybe they wouldn’t believe me if I said Gail just forgot she had it. They'd wonder who Gail was and why she wasn't the one returning it.

I put the bracelet in my pocket and took off running for home. I had to take care of my fish first. I’d take care of the bracelet later. At least that was my intention. I had no idea at that moment just how much trouble that stupid bracelet was going to cause me.