Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder

play?” as though it were no big deal, as though it were just something she said to kids all the time. Not something she had to think about at all.
    By the time she stepped down onto the planked porch floor, the girl was on the far side of the gravel drive, heading for the road. Penny mouthed
too
gently, too nervously, “Hey. Hey there!” It was almost a whisper.
    Of course nobody could have heard a timid whisper at that distance, and the girl didn’t even turn around. Penny watched her shining blond head bobbing away. Why wouldn’t her voice work? Why was this so hard? Clearly she needed practice.
    Penny walked down a few steps, took a deep breath, and tried again, louder this time. “Hey there!” she called out.
    This time the girl stopped in her tracks and glanced around her feet as though looking for something. Almost as though she had heard Penny and was thinking about answering.
    Seeing this, Penny felt a little less invisible. She felt a strange rush inside her. It was as though she couldn’t control herself. Her legs and throat took over, and she ran to the bottom of the steps and fairly hollered, “HEY THERE!
YOU!
WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

    This time the girl turned around, and her eyes met Penny’s. But instead of answering Penny’s call, the girl just knelt to pick up the daisy she’d dropped from her bouquet, then looked up again at Penny motionless on the porch. The girl blinked, as though waiting for something.
    Penny waited too. It was the other girl’s turn to say something.
    The silence went on too long. Penny stared, until finally the girl gave a slight shrug and turned back around, continuing on her way. Penny couldn’t believe what had just happened. She knew she didn’t have much experience with making friends, but she hadn’t done anything
wrong
, had she? What else could she do?
    Penny tried one last time. In a sudden burst, she dashed headlong down the steps and yelled at the top of her lungs, from the bottom of her heart, “PLEASE COME AND PLAY WITH ME! PLEASE? PLEASE BE MY FRIEND?”
    Then she clapped her hand to her mouth, mortified.
    This time the girl didn’t even turn around. Sheignored Penny completely, stepped off the drive, and disappeared around the bend of the windy road.
    Penny stood alone at the bottom of the splintery stairs feeling ridiculous. She resolved that she would never, ever do anything like
that
again.
    A door slammed behind her. She turned to face the stairs and found the tangle-haired Luella at the very top of them. Luella was holding open a screen door and wearing the same dirty shorts she’d been wearing the day before. She pointed a finger at Penny and squinted down the stairs. “What’s all the commotion? Who’re you talking to? Who do you want to be friends with?” asked Luella accusingly.
    “Oh, um, nobody,” answered Penny as she felt the flush drain from her face. She walked back up onto the porch, trying not to look directly at Luella as she passed her. “I was just remembering something from a movie I saw one time. I was just saying some lines from that movie. Rehearsing them. I’m—uh—going to be an actress when I grow up.” She blushed as she spoke the lie.
    “Really?” said Luella. “
Really?
”
    Penny nodded and headed for the steps to the second-floor apartment.
    “
Really?
” Luella turned to follow Penny with her eyes.
    Penny nodded again, gulping. She could feel Luella’seyes on her back, just like people always seemed to do in mystery novels. Standing on the third step to the upstairs apartment, she turned and met Luella’s gaze. “Don’t
you
ever do that?”
    “No,” said Luella, staring back. Then she smiled. “
I
don’t, but then, I’m going to be an archaeologist. Either that or an airplane pilot. I haven’t decided.”
    Penny didn’t know how to respond to that, but Luella seemed like she meant to be nice. Her smile was friendly. So Penny smiled back down onto the porch.
    “Where were you all day