being used for something. Maybe it made Lorraine feel important to be needed by someone on the Hill. Well, at least it took care of today.
The next morning before school Lorraine appeared at the front door. “I’ve come to walk Jean, I mean to walk with Jean to school,” she said to Mary at the door. Jean couldn’t understand it. Yesterday Lorraine hadn’t mentioned she would come this morning. She wondered how far she’d walked already.
It was always awkward to walk with a new person the first few times. Lorraine cupped her hand under Jean’s elbow, trying to steer her. Anybody could tell it wasn’t working. It only made Jean’s shoulder cramp up.
“It’s better if you just bend your arm and I take hold,” Jean said. At every curb Lorraine stopped abruptly and said, “Step down.” Embarrassing. Why couldn’t she be more subtle?
“You don’t have to announce it. I can tell if you just slow down.” After a while she added, “I know it’s not easy walking with me. It’s better when I don’t have to carry this stupid case.”
“What is it?”
“A typewriter.”
“Why do you have to?”
“I need it both places, to take tests and do homework. The one I keep at home is being repaired.” It banged against her knee when she stepped up onto a curb. She tried to keep it higher by bending her elbow, but it was heavy and her arm began to ache.
“Do you use it in class?”
“Uh-huh.” Jean stopped and shifted it from one hand to the other and Lorraine walked around to take her other arm. “For tests. Oral ones. I have to type “y-e-s” if the statement’s true, “n-o-period” if it’s false.”
“Why the period?”
“Three keys for every answer. The principal told me to. ‘To prevent cheating by listening,’ he said.” Jean smirked. “He didn’t have to worry. The poor guy who cheats off me will fail for sure.”
“How do you study?”
“Oh, Mother reads the chapters to me and I just try to remember. Sometimes she hires people to read to me. There aren’t any Braille textbooks. It doesn’t work very well. I’m no sparkling student.”
They talked in spurts with awkward pauses in between. They only had a few mutual friends. Finally, Jean asked what she’d been wondering. “How far did you walk this morning already?”
“From across the river.”
“But that’s near school. Why did you come way over here?”
“Just felt like it.”
It didn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t someone she cared about walk with her instead of this person she didn’t even know? It made her uncomfortable. If she had to feel dependent, it would be easier to feel dependent on someone she liked being with. Like Tready.
“Do you know my cousin, Mary Treadway?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. She’s actually a year older but we’re still in the same grade. They put two grades together in elementary school, so I skipped third. Anyway, she only lives a few blocks away. She can walk with me from now on.”
Lorraine was quiet the rest of the way to the high school. Jean didn’t talk either. She knew what she did was rude, cutting her off like that, but she didn’t want Lorraine thinking she could be with her all the time. Lorraine wouldn’t fit in with her friends. Too blah. None of the Hill crowd knew her.
Jean didn’t hear much about her any more that year. If Lorraine rode in the station wagon with her boyfriend at lunch again, she didn’t speak, so Jean didn’t know if she was there.
Every day at lunch Jean switched off from one girl to another, making sure not to ask the same one twice in a row. When she couldn’t get anyone else, Lucy or Tready walked with her. It’d be easier if she could always walk with Lucy. “Can’t you just make Lucy do it?” Jean pleaded to Mother one day.
“That wouldn’t be very fair,” Mother said. “She has her own friends her age that she wants to be with.”
“Can’t Henry drive me back?”
“Well, Jean, he’s got other work to
The next morning before school Lorraine appeared at the front door. “I’ve come to walk Jean, I mean to walk with Jean to school,” she said to Mary at the door. Jean couldn’t understand it. Yesterday Lorraine hadn’t mentioned she would come this morning. She wondered how far she’d walked already.
It was always awkward to walk with a new person the first few times. Lorraine cupped her hand under Jean’s elbow, trying to steer her. Anybody could tell it wasn’t working. It only made Jean’s shoulder cramp up.
“It’s better if you just bend your arm and I take hold,” Jean said. At every curb Lorraine stopped abruptly and said, “Step down.” Embarrassing. Why couldn’t she be more subtle?
“You don’t have to announce it. I can tell if you just slow down.” After a while she added, “I know it’s not easy walking with me. It’s better when I don’t have to carry this stupid case.”
“What is it?”
“A typewriter.”
“Why do you have to?”
“I need it both places, to take tests and do homework. The one I keep at home is being repaired.” It banged against her knee when she stepped up onto a curb. She tried to keep it higher by bending her elbow, but it was heavy and her arm began to ache.
“Do you use it in class?”
“Uh-huh.” Jean stopped and shifted it from one hand to the other and Lorraine walked around to take her other arm. “For tests. Oral ones. I have to type “y-e-s” if the statement’s true, “n-o-period” if it’s false.”
“Why the period?”
“Three keys for every answer. The principal told me to. ‘To prevent cheating by listening,’ he said.” Jean smirked. “He didn’t have to worry. The poor guy who cheats off me will fail for sure.”
“How do you study?”
“Oh, Mother reads the chapters to me and I just try to remember. Sometimes she hires people to read to me. There aren’t any Braille textbooks. It doesn’t work very well. I’m no sparkling student.”
They talked in spurts with awkward pauses in between. They only had a few mutual friends. Finally, Jean asked what she’d been wondering. “How far did you walk this morning already?”
“From across the river.”
“But that’s near school. Why did you come way over here?”
“Just felt like it.”
It didn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t someone she cared about walk with her instead of this person she didn’t even know? It made her uncomfortable. If she had to feel dependent, it would be easier to feel dependent on someone she liked being with. Like Tready.
“Do you know my cousin, Mary Treadway?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. She’s actually a year older but we’re still in the same grade. They put two grades together in elementary school, so I skipped third. Anyway, she only lives a few blocks away. She can walk with me from now on.”
Lorraine was quiet the rest of the way to the high school. Jean didn’t talk either. She knew what she did was rude, cutting her off like that, but she didn’t want Lorraine thinking she could be with her all the time. Lorraine wouldn’t fit in with her friends. Too blah. None of the Hill crowd knew her.
Jean didn’t hear much about her any more that year. If Lorraine rode in the station wagon with her boyfriend at lunch again, she didn’t speak, so Jean didn’t know if she was there.
Every day at lunch Jean switched off from one girl to another, making sure not to ask the same one twice in a row. When she couldn’t get anyone else, Lucy or Tready walked with her. It’d be easier if she could always walk with Lucy. “Can’t you just make Lucy do it?” Jean pleaded to Mother one day.
“That wouldn’t be very fair,” Mother said. “She has her own friends her age that she wants to be with.”
“Can’t Henry drive me back?”
“Well, Jean, he’s got other work to
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