The Sky’s the Limit: My Journey with Maryellen

A few minutes later, Mrs. Larkin pups are heading into the room and says that Carolyn just called. She forgot her ticket to the sock hop. Mrs. Larkin has to watch Tom and Mikey and make pies for Thanksgiving, so she asks us to find Carolyn’s ticket and get it to her. Carolyn will meet us at the high school gym. Maryellen pops to her feet and says that we can drop our poster off at the plant store on the way. Maryellen and I search hard, but it’s Beverly who finally finds the ticket in Carolyn’s top drawer, hidden under bobby pins, cold cream, fingernail polish, sunglasses, and head scarves. Beverly proudly says that she’ll give the ticket to Carolyn.

When we drop off Maryellen’s poster inside at the new plant store, the owner is surprised at how young Maryellen is, but he asks Maryellen to write her name and phone number on the back. Beverly says that she might win, and Maryellen just shrugs and says she doubts it. Probably a grown-up artist will win. But it was fun to make the sign anyway.

When we get to the high school, we find Carolyn waiting in the hall outside the gym. Beverly hands the ticket to her and I tell Carolyn that Beverly found it all by herself. Carolyn thanks her sister and gives us a wink before heading into the dance. Maryellen, Beverly, and I peer through the open doors at the sock hop. Old-time rock ’n’ roll music shakes the gym and makes the floor thump under my feet. I can see why the dance is called a sock hop. Shoes are lined up along the wall and the kids on the floor are dancing in their socks. And they really are dancing. Carolyn is dancing with a boy who expertly twirls her under his arm. One time, I saw my cousin Tucker’s high school dance, and it was nothing like this. The kids were all in jeans, the gym was dark, and most of the kids were standing in groups next to the walls. And the kids that were dancing were jumping up and down, not dancing at all. But in Carolyn’s dance, the girls are wearing pretty, swirly dresses, and the boys are wearing sweaters or jackets and ties. The gym is decorated with loops of colorful, crate paper strong between the basketball hoops in the windows.

Maryellen asks if it looks like fun and I nod. When I ask if it looks like fun to Maryellen, she says mostly yes. Except for having to dance with a boy. What if she had to dance with a boy like Wayne? She makes a horrified face and Beverly and I laugh. I tell Maryellen and that some of the girls at my school are interested in boys already. They think I should be, too. Maryellen says it’s going to be a long long time before she is interested in any boys. Beverly asks if we want to get married, like Joan. Maryellen reminds Beverly that Joan is nineteen. I’m surprised. In the twenty-first century, most girls would think nineteen is very young to be married. But Maryellen continues and says that nineteen is a long way off, and she wants to go to college first. Then she wants to be an artist.

When we get back to Larkins’ house, we are hot and sweaty. Mrs. Larkin says now we can go to the beach. She uses the back of her wrist to push her hair off of her forehead because her hands are floury. She said she could use a swim after being elbow-deep in apple and pumpkin pie. Maryellen waits until we’re in her bedroom before she tells me that I don’t have to swim if I don’t feel ready. I grin, but it’s wobbly. I tell myself firmly that Maryellen faced her fear at school this morning, so maybe today is the day for me to face mine.

Maryellen finds a bathing suit of Carolyn’s that will fit me, and she gives me a rubber bathing cap decorated with fish. I try it on and look at myself in the mirror. I look really funny. The bathing cap has a strap that goes under my chin and fastens to a snap near my ear. I almost look bald in it.

Maryellen, Beverly, and I help Mrs. Larkin load the station wagon, and we climb into the car with Tom, Mikey, and Scooter. It’s a short drive to the beach. When we get there, I help unload the car and carry the stuff across the hot sand. Then I help Mrs. Larkin set up a chair for herself under the umbrella and I spread a towel by her feet. I set Mikey up with a pail and a shovel. But even with all those delaying tactics, I can’t postpone facing the ocean any longer.

I take off my sunglasses and take sweet little Tom by the hand. He doesn’t know that he is the one steadying and supporting me as we walk to the waves. They crash and boom against the sand. Each wave seems bigger than the last. Tom tells me not to be scared. Maryellen comes up behind me and tells me I don’t have to plunge in, but am I ready to get my feet wet?

I nod, swallowing hard. Maryellen takes me by one hand, and Tom takes me by the other. Beverly follows as I walk forward until the waves lick and curl up around my ankles. The water isn’t very cold, so I step forward again until the water is up to my knees. Maryellen, and Tom and Beverly all cheer for me. I wish I could say that after a few minutes, I’m running and diving headfirst into the waves as fearlessly as Maryellen. But that wouldn’t be true. Instead, I spend some time splashing in the shallows with Tom, where I feel comfortable, and then Mrs. Larkin holds me as I float on my back in waist-deep water. Once, a wave lifts me up and I feel weightless. Is this how it feels for astronauts? I try it again, and get salt water up my nose. Clearly it’s going to take me a while to feel at ease in the ocean.

Later, I’m using my bathing cap as a pail for water to fill the moat around a sandcastle that Tom, Mikey, and Queen Beverly built. Maryellen says that’s nice of me to help them. Maybe I can be a babysitter to earn money for my telescope. I tell her that that’s a great idea. I’ve never met anyone with more good ideas than Maryellen.

When the sun gets low, Mrs. Larkin says it’s time for us to leave the beach. We pack everything up and drive home, all sandy and salty, hungry and tired. Mrs. Larkin asks us to wash the sand off our feet in the spigot outside the kitchen door. I’m helping Mikey, who jiggles and giggles as cold water hits his feet when the phone rings inside. It’s for Maryellen.

Mrs. Larkin hands Maryellen the handset part of the phone. The long spiral cord stretches out the door. Maryellen asks who it is and then she says some things back and forth with the person on the phone. After she hangs up, she shouts that she won the contest! Maryellen and I hug and jump up and down and Beverly squeals with delight. Mrs. Larkin asks what contest, and Maryellen explains that there’s a new plant store in town that had a contest to make up a name, slogan, and logo, and Maryellen won. The prize is twenty-five dollars.

I tell Maryellen that she can buy a great new bike with that much money. And that will show Wayne. Maryellen says that I’m right, but she might just keep on riding Davy’s hand-me-down bike. That will show Wayne that she doesn’t care what he thinks. I tell Maryellen that that sounds like an excellent plan. Beverly, always the practical person, asks what Maryellen’ll use the prize money for. Maryellen says she’ll buy some art supplies. And save the rest for college. That’s what she really wants.

When Maryellen says that, it jolts me. I wonder if the time has come for me to go home to see if I can get what I really want: peace with Emma, friendship with Gran, and maybe someday, a telescope. Thanks to Maryellen, I might finally be ready.