Free Tallahassee Higgins by Mary Downing Hahn Page B

we swung and played on the monkey bars.
    While I was hanging upside down, Jane yelled, "There she is, Talley!"
    I was so startled, I almost fell right off on my head, but I managed to twist around like a cat and save myself. "Where?"
    "Right over there with her dog. See?" Jane pointed to the other side of the tot lot. Sure enough, there she was, looking the other way while her dog relieved himself on the grass.
    "Come on." Jane jumped down from the monkey bars and ran toward Mrs. Russell. I followed her, my heart pumping, my mouth dry.
    "What are you going to do?" I yelled at Jane, but she ignored me as she skidded to a stop in front of Mrs. Russell.
    "Hi, Mrs. Russell." Jane smiled her best smile. "Have you met Tallahassee Higgins?"
    Mrs. Russell shook her head. "I don't believe I have." She glanced at me with no more interest than a person might show in an ant crossing the sidewalk.
    "You probably knew her mother," Jane said helpfully. "Liz Higgins."
    "Liz Higgins?" My mother's name certainly got a reaction. First Mrs. Russell's eyes widened like a camera lens when there isn't much light, then they narrowed down again as her forehead creased. "I didn't know Liz had a child."
    To my chagrin, Mrs. Russell did not embrace me. In fact, she did not even smile at me. If anything, she frowned.
    "Talley's staying with her Uncle Dan," Jane went on despite the uncertainty creeping into her voice. "Liz is in California, trying to be a movie star."
    "Is that right?" Mrs. Russell tugged her dog away from me. "Sit, Bo."
    Bo sat, but he kept his tail going a mile a minute. His head tipped to one side, his tongue hung out, and he grinned at me. Unlike Fritzi, Bo liked me.
    "You sure have a nice dog," I said, finding it a little hard to talk past the lump of disappointment in my throat. Why hadn't she noticed how much I looked like Johnny?
    "Yes, he's very nice." Mrs. Russell smiled for the first time. "A little rambunctious sometimes, but he's only a year old. He'll settle down as he gets older."
    "Does he like to chase sticks?" I was remembering Roger's dog and the great games we used to play on the beach. Bo reminded me a little bit of him.
    "I'm sure he'd enjoy it if he had the chance." Mrs. Russell scratched Bo behind his ears. "But the leash laws are so strict in the park, I don't dare let him loose."
    "Maybe I could come over to your house sometime and throw some sticks for him," I heard myself saying. "You have a real big yard."
    Mrs. Russell looked at me hard then, and I smiled, hoping she'd notice my big old rabbit teeth. "I'm sure Bo would enjoy that," she said slowly. Twitching the dog's leash, she started walking toward the street. "Come on, Bo. Time to go home."
    I trotted by her side. "Could I hold his leash for a little while? Me and Jane are going home, too."
    She handed me the leash. "Don't let him pull ahead," she said. "I'm training him to heel."
    We walked along silently for a while. A cool breeze tugged at our clothes and hair, making us all shiver a little. I guessed winter wasn't quite gone, but at least the birds were singing instead of wheezing and the leaves were getting bigger and greener.
    "My mother says you used to be her English teacher," Jane said.
    Mrs. Russell nodded. "I taught her and Liz and both your aunt and your uncle," she said, turning to me.
    "I bet my mother was one of your worst students," I said, giving Bo's leash a little tug to remind him to heel.
    Mrs. Russell made a funny sound, a sort of barking laugh. "Liz could have been my best student," she said. "But she was more interested in other things."
    "Like what?" We were on dangerous ground, but I never have known when to keep my mouth shut.
    She shook her head. "I know it must be ancient history to you girls, but I taught Liz in the seventies, and most of the kids were caught up in protest marches and demonstrations and all kinds of things. It was hard to convince them that Shakespeare was relevant."
    "You mean Liz was against the war in