Cindy Jones by Margaret Pearce Page B

man-eater. She doesn’t care about you! She doesn’t care about anyone except herself.”
    The professor looked at his watch and jangled his car keys. “It’s time to leave.”
    â€œIf you think so much of her, go without me,” Cindy yelled.
    â€œCindy!”
    â€œMake your choice! It’s her or me.”
    The professor turned and left without answering. The front door slammed. Cindy heard the car start up and drive off with shocked disbelief. Her father had gone without her!
    â€œOh,” she wailed, and ran into her bedroom, buried her face into her pillow, and sobbed as loudly and noisily as Prunella.
    After awhile, she wiped her eyes. She wasn’t a crybaby like Prunella, and what good did it do to howl anyway? Her father was getting married tomorrow, and there was nothing she could do about it.
    She stared at the patch of sky visible through her window. It was a clear night, and one-by-one the stars were brightening and deepening across the sky. The ache in her throat eased.
    â€œStar light, star bright, grant this wish I wish tonight,” she chanted, as if it was a spell to remove her heartache.
    She thought about all the things that she could do to Mrs. Barry if wishes really got granted. She could have her nailed up in a barrel and rolled down an endless hill — Mt Everest for choice. Or tied to an old fashioned ducking stool and ducked in a muddy pond until she drowned.
    A knock on the front door interrupted this pleasant thought. It sounded again. Hooper gave a bored bark. Cindy pattered down the stairs to open the front door. Miss Hopkins, wearing a long sleeved gray blouse and a long black skirt that rustled as she moved, waited on the doorstep. She held a bad-tempered, bedraggled looking Horace.
    â€œYou’ve got him back for me,” Cindy said as she took the cat.
    â€œNonsense!” Miss Hopkins said. “He turned up at my place a little while ago. Aren’t you feeding or grooming him lately, Cindy?”
    â€œHe must have escaped from the cattery,” Cindy said, hugging the comforting warmth of Horace tight against her.
    Hooper barked again, a reproving sort of bark. A blue shadow streaked through the open door between them. It was Pearl, as bedraggled as Horace.
    â€œShe must have escaped, too,” Cindy said.
    Pearl led the way in the kitchen and waited by the refrigerator. Cindy switched on the light, put down Horace, and filled the bowls with cat food. Both cats started eating.
    â€œWhat are you doing home, Cindy?” Miss Hopkins had followed Cindy into the house.
    â€œThe professor went without me.” Cindy didn’t feel up to explaining the choice she had given her father.
    Hooper barked again. There was another knock on the door. Cindy opened it. There stood Jennifer, smiling, in a dress that shimmered blue and showed a lot of her golden-brown shoulders. A tall man with sun-streaked curly hair and a beard stood beside her. Jenny vaguely recognized him as a teacher who had left the school the previous year.
    â€œThis is my fiancé, Mike Williams,” Jennifer explained.
    â€œYour fiancé?” Cindy was shocked.
    Jennifer had had a fiancé in the background all the time! All the roses Cindy had sent were completely wasted.
    â€œMy new fiancé,” Jennifer said. “We saw the professor come in with the Barrys. Prunella said you were sick, so we came back to see how you were. You don’t look sick enough to miss tonight.”
    â€œDo you want to go to the dinner-dance?” Miss Hopkins asked.
    The lump in Cindy’s throat got bigger. She swallowed. Of course she wanted to go. Everyone was going to be there and all wearing new clothes.
    â€œWearing this?” she asked bitterly.
    Three pairs of eyes examined the ordinary-looking pink-and-blue nylon dress with the black lace-up school shoes beneath.
    â€œI have something that will be just right for Cindy,” Miss Hopkins said.