Caitlin's Lucky Charm by Lisa Schroeder
When she got into her own room, she shoved the stuff inside, shut the door, and fell down onto her bed, face-first. At last, something felt normal.
After she lay there for a few minutes, she rolled over and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. Totally dead. Of course it would be. She found the charger and plugged it in to the wall and watched it come to life.
She had a few texts from friends, the most recent one from Jade, Caitlin’s best friend since kindergarten, who lived just down the street. This would be the first year they wouldn’t be going to the same school, since Caitlin was transferring to the magnet school. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at just the thought.
After she sent texts letting her friends know she was alive and well and home, she set the phone down and looked at her suitcase with dread. If she were still at camp, reflection time would be up next on the daily schedule, which meant thirty minutes of reading or writing or anything that could be done quietly. Caitlin and her friends had decided it had really been a chance for the counselors to get a few minutes of peace and quiet each day. At first, the girls had thought it was ridiculous, being forced to stay on your bed and be quiet. But after a few days, Caitlin had started to look forward to that time. And as her journal pages filled up, she knew someday she’d be glad she had her memories written down to look back on when she was missing camp and her friends. Like now.
Caitlin rummaged through her stuff until she found the journal she’d received on the first day of camp. The day after they’d gotten the journals, the girls had spent an afternoon in arts and crafts decorating them. Caitlin’s journal had the words BE UNIQUE, BE YOURSELF on the cover. She’d found a magazine with a full-page advertisement for a new brand of jeans called Unique, with those four words as the ad header.
Now, Caitlin flopped back on her bed and flipped through the pages of her journal until she found the page she was looking for.
CAMP JOURNAL, DAY 22
Q OF THE DAY: WHEN YOU’RE IN A BAD MOOD, WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHEER YOURSELF UP?
I GO SURFING IF I CAN. THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT BEING IN THE WATER WITH THE SUN ON MY SHOULDERS AND THE WIND ON MY FACE THAT MAKES EVERYTHING FEEL RIGHT. BUT IF I CAN’T FOR SOME REASON, HERE’S WHAT I DO. I PUT ON A SONG AND I DANCE. I DON’T LET ANYONE SEE ME, BECAUSE I AM NOT A GOOD DANCER, TRUST ME. BUT IT HELPS. LET ME KNOW IF YOU EVER TRY IT!
YOUR CABIN 7 BFF,
MIA
Caitlin grabbed a pen from her nightstand, turned to the last page, and started writing.
CAMP JOURNAL, DAY 42
I’m home. At least, I think I’m home. Things look kind of different, and my family is acting really different. Maybe aliens have invaded their bodies. I don’t know. All I know is everything seems weird!!
I keep thinking about Mia, Libby, and Hannah. Wondering where they are, what they’re doing, and if they might actually hold the luck instead of this bracelet I’m wearing, since nothing about today seems lucky AT ALL.
I’m bummed there’s no friendship circle this afternoon. Instead, there will be the unpacking of the suitcase followed by laundry followed by looking around my room trying to figure out what I’ll keep and what I’ll give away. Wow, so much fun in one day, I don’t know if I can handle it.
I’m thinking maybe I should have a dance party by myself before I start in on that unpacking….
Caitlin went over to her small stereo and turned it on. She flipped through the radio stations until she found a song she liked, and then she let loose.
She moved and grooved, waving her hands and sliding her feet.
When the song was over a couple of minutes later, she flopped back on her bed, her heart pounding inside her chest.
“What do you know,” she whispered with a smile. “It worked. Thanks, Mia!”
“Rise and shine, Caitlin, because we are going to shop until we drop!”
Caitlin opened one eye, wondering if she was dreaming. Her eye landed on her favorite poster — a photo of one lonely yellow flower shooting up through the crack in a sidewalk. She looked down at the clock next to her bed. It was just a little after nine o’clock.
Nope. Not dreaming.
She sat up and found Jade standing there. At least, she thought it was Jade standing there.
“Wow,” Caitlin said. “Look at you.”
Jade grinned as she patted her shoulder-length black hair, now done up in a bunch of tiny braids. “Do you like it?”
Caitlin rubbed her eyes. “It’s super-cute!”
“I know, right?” Jade took a seat on the edge of the bed. “I’m so glad you’re home. I missed you! Did you miss me?”
Caitlin yawned. “Yes. Like a sad cupcake without any frosting.”
Jade laughed. “Summer camp made you a poet. Very sweet.”
“Actually, I think my friend Hannah made me a poet.” Caitlin stood up, pulled her dad’s extra-large T-shirt she wore down to her knees, and peeked through the curtains to take a look outside. It was raining.
“A great day to go to the mall, huh?” Jade said, standing up and joining Caitlin at the window. “Come on. Go shower and get dressed. My mom said she would take us in an hour, so we can be there when everything opens.”
Caitlin yawned again. “I don’t think I can go with you.”
Jade stuck out her bottom lip. Caitlin had seen her do it too many times over the years.
“Please, not the poochy lip,” Caitlin said. “You know the poochy lip makes me feel bad. There is nothing more I’d love to do than go to the mall with you. But my mom is making me go to the store and pick out paint.”
“For what?”
Caitlin waved her arms around. “To paint my room. Didn’t you notice when you came in? My mom was a painting machine while I was gone. Lucky for me, she waited until I got home to do my room. I might have ended up with something like army green.”
“Huh. I didn’t notice.” Jade clapped her hands together. “Probably because I was just so excited to see you.”
Caitlin wrapped her arms around Jade and gave her a hug. Then she went to her dresser and pulled out some clothes. “I’m glad you came over. Things were weird yesterday.”
“Weird? What do you mean?”
“Everything is just really different around here. My dad’s worried he might lose his job. My mom’s turned into Martha Stewart or something. My sister’s suddenly a vegetarian and seems to kind of hate us all.” Caitlin sighed. “Like I didn’t have enough stress in my life with starting a new school.”
“Is it too late to change your mind?” Jade asked her. “About the new school, I mean.”
“Probably,” Caitlin said. “And, you know, I really do want to go there, because the kids are mostly creative types. It seems like a good place for me. But what if I’m wrong, and I don’t make any new friends? Like, what if I’m miserable there?”
Jade put her hand on her hip. “Caitlin, that’s so silly. You’re so sparkly, and everyone loves you. You’ll be fine.”
Caitlin smiled. “Thanks. I hope you’re right.” She turned toward the door. “I’ll be right back. With fresh breath and an empty bladder.”
Jade laughed. “Okay. I’ll be here.”
When Caitlin returned a few minutes later, she found Jade had made her bed for her.
“Wow, you should come over every morning and wake me up,” Caitlin told her friend. “You wanna come down and have breakfast with me?”
Jade shrugged. “Okay. What are we having?”
“How about cinnamon toast?” Caitlin said as she grabbed a Chapstick and went to work putting some on her lips. “With hot cocoa.”
“Mmm, that sounds good.” Jade walked toward the door and then stopped in front of Caitlin. “Hey, what’s this?” She reached out and touched the charm bracelet. Caitlin hadn’t taken it off since she’d been home.
“Oh, I bought it on the field trip into town, with my three friends from camp. We’re going to buy charms for it and take turns wearing it.”
“See?” J
Hopefully Jade was right. It made Caitlin feel better just hearing her say it, anyway. She took the bracelet off and stuck it, along with the Chapstick, into the pocket of her jeans, not wanting anyone else to see it for now. It was hard explaining it to people, and no one would understand how much it really meant to her except her Cabin 7 friends.
After the two girls had made their toast and cocoa, they sat down at the kitchen table. Caitlin’s mom came in a few minutes later.
“Got her out of bed, I see,” Mrs. Rogers said. “Good work, Jade.”
“Thanks. She couldn’t resist my charm and good looks, even in her sleep.”
It made Caitlin laugh.
“Maybe I should have you wake up her sister next,” Mrs. Rogers said.
Jade shook her head. “Nope. No way. I’d like to leave this house alive, please.”
“Where’s Isaac?” Caitlin asked, wondering why she hadn’t seen him wandering around, being his cute-but-annoying self.
“Charlie invited him over to his house for the day,” her mom said. “That way we can go shopping for paint and start prepping your room so it’s ready to paint tomorrow or the next day.”
Caitlin held back a groan and gave her mom a big smile, trying to stay positive about the whole thing. “That sounds great! I just can’t wait!”
Jade ate the last bite of her toast and pointed at Caitlin. “Look at that, you really did come back from camp as a poet.”
“Don’t I know it,” Caitlin said.
“You’re so funny,” Jade said. “And I am so glad you’re back.”
* * *
Caitlin stood in the aisle of the home improvement store looking at the pile of paint sample cards she and her mother had collected. When Caitlin had said she wanted light blue, she had no idea there were about a hundred and one choices of light blue.
Robin’s-Egg Blue.
Summer-Sky Blue.
Turquoise Blue.
And that was just a few of them.
“Can’t I take the money you’re going to spend on paint and buy a new outfit instead?” Caitlin asked. “I’m fine with keeping my room the way it is.”
“I’m using coupons,” her mom told her. “It’s not going to cost very much. You wouldn’t have enough money to buy an outfit, trust me. So which color do you want?”
Caitlin didn’t want a can of paint. She wanted something new to wear on her first day at a brand-new school. How come her mom couldn’t understand how hard this was going to be? A new outfit might help her feel better. Make her feel like she had at least one thing going for her.
Maybe she could ask Jade if she could borrow something. Except, what could she say that wouldn’t sound pathetic? “Jade, can I borrow something to wear on the first day of school because my parents are afraid they’re going to be broke and refuse to buy me anything?”
Caitlin sighed and flipped through the samples one more time. “How about this one? I like the color, and I especially like the name. Bluebell. You know, like the flower.”
“Oh, that’s lovely.” Her mom read the name. “And the perfect choice for you, isn’t it?”
Her mom knew how much Caitlin loved flowers and that she dreamed of owning a flower shop someday. To Caitlin, it sounded like the best job in the world, making up beautiful, colorful arrangements for people.
“All right,” Mrs. Rogers said. “Let’s buy our paint and get home so we can go to work. We need to move all the furniture out, except for your bed, because we’ll wait and do that tomorrow so you can sleep there tonight. Then we have to put masking tape all around the baseboards and window. After that, we’ll …”
As they walked to the register, her mom kept talking, but Caitlin tuned her out. She was thinking about the squirrel feeder they’d passed at the end of one of the aisles. It made her smile as she thought of Hannah and the evil squirrel that had chased her at camp. If only she had some money, she could buy it and send the feeder to Hannah. It would have made her laugh so much. She just knew it.
Caitlin’s heart ached a little bit at the thought of her friend. She missed her. All of her camp friends, actually. She put her hand in her pocket and felt the bracelet there, safe and sound. It made her feel a little bit better. In a way, they were always with her. Now, if the bracelet would just start doing its thing and bring a little luck Caitlin’s way. Or at the very least, bring an amazing new outfit Caitlin’s way.
“This doesn’t look like a soup kitchen,” Isaac said as they walked through the church doors the following evening.
“How do you know?” Caitlin asked him. “You’ve never even seen one.”
“The kitchen is this way,” Mrs. Rogers said, pointing. “Since the church isn’t in use during the weekdays, they let volunteers use the kitchen and parish room to serve meals to people who need one. It’s a nice thing to do, don’t you think?”
Isaac slipped his hand into Caitlin’s as they walked downstairs, following a sign that said OUR DAILY BREAD SOUP KITCHEN.
“I’m scared,” her little brother whispered. “What if they make me cook soup? I don’t know how to make soup.”
Caitlin sort of knew how he felt. She wasn’t scared so much as a little bit nervous about the whole thing. What would they be doing, exactly? And what if people wanted to talk about their problems? Was that part of working there too?
“It’ll be okay,” Caitlin told Isaac. “They aren’t going to make you do anything too hard. And we’ll be right there to help you.”
“This is ridiculous,” Jessi mumbled under her breath, so their mom couldn’t hear her. Jessi had been told she would come along to the soup kitchen or her cell phone bill would go unpaid indefinitely. Since indefinitely probably meant forever, or at least a very long time, Jessi gave in and agreed to come. But she was making it completely clear she would much rather be just about anywhere else.
They walked through the parish room, where lots of long tables were set up. Caitlin noticed that each table had a centerpiece of flowers, which made the room seem bright and cheerful. As they made their way toward the kitchen at the far end, Caitlin noticed whatever was cooking smelled really good. Like lemon and spices.
Once in the kitchen, they met the lady in charge, Mrs. Watson, who wore bright pink lipstick, had silver hair that was almost blue, and wore a big, round button on her apron that said FRIENDLY EAR, RIGHT HERE. She smiled and seemed truly happy to meet every member of Caitlin’s family. When she shook Caitlin’s hand she said, “You’re a real friendly one, aren’t you?”
Caitlin felt her cheeks get warm. “I guess so. I mean, hope so.”
Mrs. Watson slapped her leg and said, “I knew it! I have a sixth sense for these kinds of things. I could see it in your eyes. The eyes are a window into the soul, you know.”
Caitlin wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, so she just smiled and nodded her head. Mrs. Watson introduced the Rogers family to the other volunteers. Caitlin felt funny when she realized they were the only kids there. But Mrs. Watson continued to try and make them feel welcome.
“I’m so glad to have you here,” Mrs. Watson said to the four of them as she handed out red aprons. “After you wash your hands and put on your plastic gloves, I’m going to put you to work preparing the salad dressing and buttering bread. Sound good?”
“Sure,” Mrs. Rogers said for all of them. “Whatever you need us to do is fine.”
Caitlin and Isaac teamed up with the bread, knives, and butter, while their mom and Jessi went to work preparing the small cups of salad dressing. For thirty minutes, Caitlin and Isaac buttered bread until they had four trays full.
“That was fun,” Isaac said. “And easy. Can I have a piece of bread now, Caitlin?”
“No,” she whispered. “It’s not for us, it’s for the people who come here and are hungry.”
“But I am hungry,” Isaac said.
“We’ll have dinner when we
Mrs. Watson came up to them and said, “Would you two mind passing out the bread and cookies as people come through the line?”
“Sure,” Caitlin said. “We can do that.”
“Great. I’ll put you down at the end. Each person will get a piece of bread and a cookie after they’ve gotten their lemon chicken with pasta and salad.”
Isaac rubbed his stomach. “That sounds good. And they get all that for free?”
Mrs. Watson laughed. “Yes. And you know what, Isaac? For being such a good helper, I’ll put aside a cookie for when you’re done, how’s that? We have plenty.”
“Is it chocolate chip?” Isaac asked.
“How’d you guess?” Mrs. Watson said. “That’s my favorite. How about you?”
Isaac nodded.
“Okay, come down here and get ready,” Mrs. Watson said, leading the way. “I’m going to go and open the doors, and then it’ll be real busy for a while. I know you kids will do a good job at being kind to these folks. After all, a lot of them are hungry for more than just food.”
“What’s she mean, Caitlin?” Isaac asked after Mrs. Watson left. “What else are they hungry for?”
“Shhhhh, Isaac, not now.” The truth was, Caitlin wasn’t exactly sure what Mrs. Watson had meant either.
People started streaming through the doors at the other end of the parish hall. The volunteers took their places by the food they were serving and started dishing it up as people came through the line.
Caitlin wasn’t sure what she had expected exactly, but the people all looked … normal. There were old people, young people, single people, and families. Some had light skin; some had dark skin. It reminded Caitlin of going to the mall and seeing all kinds of people there. Mostly what she noticed here was how grateful everyone seemed to be. She listened as people came through the line, and they often didn’t say thank you just one time but to every single server.
Isaac and Caitlin started making a game out of saying, “You’re welcome” at the same time. It made some of the people laugh.