Confectionately Yours #4: Something New by Lisa Papademetriou Page B

It’s a pretty good trick, since the carrot is almost the same size as her entire body.
    “Get the carrot, Rupert!” Chloe shouts.
    Rupert looks at her with his eyebrows lifted over the top of his glasses.
    “Sorry.” My sister blushes. “I just got carried away.” She dives for Tessie, and the dog streaks under the table. Rupert tries to stop her, but his knee knocks against the table, spilling my tall glass of iced tea all over my homework.
    “Chloe!” I shout.
    “Oh, sorry, sorry!” Chloe tries to herd Tessie out of the way, but the little dog is already trotting off — still holding the giant fuzzy carrot — to her bed in the corner.
    Rupert dashes to the kitchen and comes back with a bunch of paper towels.
    “What’s going on in here?” Mom asks as she walks through the door holding a paper bag full of groceries. Chloe takes the towels from Rupert and starts trying to dry my homework, but the ink has run all over the page. “Homework catastrophe,” I say. “I’m going to have to start all over.”
    “Chloe?” Mom turns to my sister.
    “I was just trying to teach Tessie to fetch,” Chloe wails.
    “Next time, outside,” Mom says. “Are you okay, Hayley?”
    I shoot a glare at Tessie, who is curled around her carrot and looking at me with guilty eyes. I’m super irritated with that dog. I’m about to say so when I look over at Chloe, whose eyes are filled with tears. Kyle’s words, “Yelled at two puppies, huh?” come back to me, and I sigh. “Yeah, it’s — it’s no big deal. I can still read most of what I wrote. I’ll just copy it over.”
    Mom nods. “Chloe, at least get Hayley another glass of water.”
    “Okay!” Chloe darts toward the kitchen, clearly glad to have something to do.
    “It was iced tea!” I call after her.
    “I’ll tell her,” Rupert says, and hurries after my sister.
    “Thanks, Hayley,” Mom says, balancing the bag of groceries on the living room table.
    “What for?”
    Mom sits down in one of the chairs. “Just … for not yelling at the dog. I know you wanted to.” She smiles a little, then catches sight of my feet, sticking out on the other side of the coffee table. “Have I seen those shoes before?”
    “Uh — no.”
    Our eyes meet for a moment, and I feel my ears getting hot.
    “Dad got them for you?” Mom says.
    “Yes.”
    “They’re nice.”
    The air feels full of things she isn’t saying, and I feel them falling on me, like rain. I wonder if my father ever paid his half of the textbook. I wonder if he paid the dental bill. I wonder how I could possibly ask, and I know that I can’t.
    Chloe and Rupert come back into the living room. “I put one teaspoon of sugar in it, just how you like it,” Chloe announces.
    “And I got out the ice cubes,” Rupert adds as she places the glass on the table, in just the same spot where the old one was.
    I can’t help laughing a bit at how earnest they are. “Great,” I say. “Perfect, thank you.”
    Chloe crosses the room and kneels down beside Tessie. She strokes the dog’s head gently. “And I’m sorry I chased you around the room,” she says gently. “I just wanted you to fetch your carrot.” She puts her cheek to Tessie’s head, and the little dog licks her face.
    “Dinner in half an hour,” Mom announces, picking up the grocery bag and heading into the kitchen. “Chloe, you’re on table setting. Hayley, you’re on dishes. Gran’s at her bridge club, so she’ll be home late.”
    Chloe is still nuzzling Tessie and whispering into her floppy little ears. Rupert sits beside Chloe, gently stroking Tessie’s back.
    I get back to work on my Spanish, wondering how people can be so wonderful and cause such problems at the same time.

“B rilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!” Meghan crows as she flings open the door to the café. Everyone turns to look at her. “Go on about your business!” she announces in a general way as she waves at the customers. Artie is trailing in her wake,