Читать книгу Taking Terri Mueller - Norma Fox Mazer - Страница 7

For as long as she could remember it had been the two of them. “Me and Daddy. Daddy and me.” That was a song she sang when she was little. “Me and Daddy. Daddy and me. Oh how nice it be. Daddy and me.” She sang herself to sleep at night. “Daddy and me, Daddy and me. Oh how nice it be.”

Once there had been a mother, also. Terri, Daddy, and Mommy. She didn’t remember. She had been four when her mother died. She didn’t remember. That was funny. Not funny that made you laugh. The other funny. Sad funny. She didn’t remember what her mother looked like, how she smelled, or if she was tall or short. Daddy talked to her about everything, but he didn’t like to talk about her mother. It made him sad.

She knew what sad meant. Mostly she was happy. But sometimes she was sad. She didn’t know why. It was silly to get sad. Daddy told her stories about Sally the Mouse who traveled with her father, Mustafa the Mouse, in their Mousemobile. Sally the Mouse was very smart, but sometimes she was sad, and sometimes she had a Bad Temper. But mostly she was a good little Sally the Mouse who made her father Happy and Proud.

Terri sat on her father’s lap, her arms around his neck. Tell me a Sally the Mouse story.

Have you been a good girl?

Yes, yes, yes.

Did you learn a lot in school today?

Yes, yes, yes.

Were you an outstanding first-grade girl?

Yes, yes, yes.

Well, let’s find out what Sally the Mouse has been up to.

Yes, she was a good girl. She was Daddy’s good girl. They liked to travel and visit places. They had a car, a red Pinto. Her name was Terri Mueller. Daddy’s name was Phil Mueller. Terri and Phil. Phil and Terri. Hurry, Terri. I will, Phil. You’re a berry, Terri. You’re a pill, Phil.

She loved the Pinto. She loved Daddy. They lived in lots of different places. “My, what a memory,” her teacher said. “She learns so fast.” Daddy was Proud.

Every year she had a birthday in April. Every year Daddy took her out to dinner on her birthday. They got all dressed up. He let her sip his wine and gave her nice presents. One year her present was Barkley. So you never have to be alone again, Daddy said, even when you’re waiting for me to come home from work. Barkley hardly ever barked. She loved him very much.

She was eight years old . . . she was nine years old . . . she was ten years old. She and her father had fun together. He even made it fun when they cleaned house. Once, cleaning windows in a new apartment, he wrote messages on the windows with spray cleaner. “HELLO, TERRI. DO YOU LIKE THIS PLACE?” “THE MICE ARE HOLDING A CONVENTION UNDER THE SINK.” His best message was written over the last three windows. “HELP! I CAN’T CONTROL MY URGES. STOP ME BEFORE I CLEAN MORE WINDOWS.”

They had lived in so many places—big cities like New York and Chicago, and little towns like Hap Falls, Amber-ville, and Roarin. She could remember all the cities and towns, and all the different apartments, and all the people she had met.

She was eleven years old... twelve years old... thirteen years old .. . Her head was full of faces and places and names, but even when she tried very hard she still couldn’t remember her mother.