Free Birthday Blues by Karen English Page B

include every house and also Global Tire and Brakes, the re-sell shop and Babe's Barbecue—
everything.
Their map was going to be the best one of all.

    "Okay, okay." Nikki gets up and looks around at the mess on the floor: socks, barrettes, pennies, wire coat hangers, playing cards. Slowly, she begins to pick up the cards. She plucks pennies and paper clips from the carpet and drops them into a paper cup that is on the floor as well. She sighs. "You have to clean under your bed.
I'm
not cleaning there."
    "Yeah, yeah..." Deja thinks of Nikki's room. In Nikki's room, everything has a place, and there is a place for everything. Nikki never has to search for her other mitten or her muffler or the mate to her flip-flop.
    Just then the front door slams. They both stop to listen. It's Auntie! She'll be coming upstairs any minute.
    "Auntie Dee's back!" Deja says, hurrying around the room, stuffing various articles into drawers and under the bed. She throws an old backpack covered with ink stains and dark smudges to Nikki to shove into the closet.
    Auntie Dee's footsteps sound on the stairs. Deja pulls up the sheet and blanket on her bed, then yanks the comforter into place. She grabs the pillows off the floor and props them against the headboard. When Auntie Dee walks into the room, Deja and Nikki are sitting on the bed side by side with their hands in their laps. Auntie Dee stops in the doorway. "What?"

    "Nothing," Deja says.
    "Then why are you sitting there like that?" Auntie Dee looks around the room and squints. "Mmm," she says. "Dare I check under the bed?"
    Deja keeps her mouth closed.
    Auntie Dee chuckles to herself. She moves out of the doorway and goes back down the hall.
    "Can we go to the store?" Deja calls out while scrambling off the bed. She picks up Bear and pulls Nikki after her. They hurry out of the room.
    "As a matter of fact, we do need milk," Auntie Dee answers. She digs around in her purse and pulls out her wallet. "Here's some money. Make sure you bring me back the right change."
    "Okay," Deja says. She grabs Nikki's hand and they start down the hall.

    Out on the porch, Deja sets Bear on the swing. Just before they skip down the front steps, Nikki stops and puts out her hand. "The ring," she says.

    "You didn't really help me that much," says Deja.

    "I did so. And you promised."
    Reluctantly, Deja twists at her ring. "I don't know if I can get it off."
    "You promised, Deja."
    Deja pulls and twists, but the ring stays on her finger.
    "Lick your finger."
    Deja sucks her teeth, then licks her finger. With a little more tugging, the ring slides off. She rolls her eyes as she hands it over. Nikki takes the ring out of Deja's hand with the hem of her T-shirt and proceeds to rub the leftover spit off it. She slips it on her ring finger, then holds up her hand.
    "You've got to give it back to me on Monday."
    Nikki doesn't seem to hear. She wiggles her fingers slowly to make the ring sparkle.
    "Monday, Nikki," Deja insists.
    "Okay. I already heard you."
    Nikki is looking at Deja's citrine ring as if it is now hers. Deja wants to snatch it back, but it is firmly on Nikki's finger.

2. Mapping the Neighborhood

    Mr. Delvecchio is sitting on a stool behind the counter reading the newspaper. He says he reads the entire paper every day. He'll tell you that every time you go into his store. "Helps the day pass during the slow times," he says before he lowers it to peer at Deja and Nikki. Occasionally Mr. Delvecchio comes from the other side of the counter to straighten the canned goods on the shelf. Deja suspects he might be checking to make sure they don't take anything. That doesn't feel too good, but she likes Mr. D. anyway. Some kids do take things, so that makes him be on guard.
    "I think somebody's got a birthday comin' up soon," he says, surprising her. That's the funny thing about Mr. Delvecchio. One minute he's stern, and the next his eyes are crinkling with a smile and he's saying something nice.

    Deja