A Lollipop

That pianist and his wife and daughter really left me with a lasting memory.

“My turn,” Marla says.

Annie licks a lollipop the size of her head. She pauses for a moment to cough and then keeps on licking.

“Come on Annie. You had your turn.”

Annie takes one last long, leisurely lick and hands it over. “Here you go.” Marla takes it and immediately starts running her tongue around the circumference. After a few trips around, her tongue follows the spiral all the way to the center.

She hands the lollipop back to Annie as they turn the final corner on their walk home from school. Marla runs her hand through the ivy overgrowing the fence along the sidewalk.

“Mr. Johansson was so funny today,” Annie says between licks. “I love how he says everything twice.”

“Now listen up class… listen up class,” Marla giggles. “This’ll be on the quiz… on the quiz.”

“It’s like he doesn’t think we’re listening or something,” Annie says.

“The commutative property says that… says that six divided by three equals three divided by six… three divided by six,” Marla spurts out, laughing now.

“Um, I think that’s wrong. Maybe you weren’t listening,” Annie says.

“Oh shut up,” Marla says.

Annie slurps at some lollipop juice running down her arm and starts to choke. She’s coughing, sputtering, and laughing at the same time.

Marla whacks her on the back.

“Ouch!” Annie says.

The two girls stop at a rusty gate. Annie flips the latch open without looking away from the lollipop, holds the gate open for Marla with a flourish, and pushes it shut behind them with a clank. It doesn’t latch and swings open again with a squeak. The sounds of someone playing scales on a piano, gradually faster and faster, can be heard through the front window.

“Shhhh,” Annie says. “Daddy’s practicing.”

Annie carefully opens the front door and they go inside. When she closes the door, the hinges creak. They freeze and hold their breath. The piano scales keep going up and down. They exhale slowly as Annie finishes closing the door.

As they cross the foyer to the stairs, Marla peeks into the parlor and sees Annie’s dad intensely hunched over the keyboard, head down, and eyes closed. He reminds her of Linus from Peanuts.

 

The girls kick back on Annie’s bed. Marla’s on her stomach alternately kicking her butt with her heels. Annie’s propped up against a pile of teddy bears with her feet resting on Marla’s back. They pass the lollipop back and forth, one lick apiece each time.

“God your feet stink!” Marla says.

“I know,” Annie giggles and then coughs. “Marla?”

“What?”

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“About me flirting with Marc?”

Marla is quiet. She stops kicking her butt. Actual music starts drifting up through the floor and they listen.

“Liszt. Daddy’s favorite.” Annie says. “Whenever he plays this, I always feel--”

“It’s okay,” Marla interrupts as her feet start kicking again. “I think Marc likes you a lot.”

“But you went out forever,” Annie says, starting to lick the lollipop again.

“I was thinking about maybe going with Tom anyway. You can go with Marc if,” Marla says.

“If what?” Annie asks.

“If you let me have that,” Marla says and starts tickling Annie until she frees the lollipop from her grasp.

Marla gets off the bed with her prize. “I have to pee,” she says.

In the hall, Marla stops and looks into the master bedroom. Annie’s mom is standing by the window, staring outside. She is repeatedly opening and closing the nightstand drawer.

 

Annie holds the front door open watching Marla leave for home.

“Bye,” Annie says.

“Bye,” Marla says walking to the gate.

Marla opens the gate. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Annie says.

At the house next door, Marla turns up the front walk. “Bye,” she says. Annie laughs.

Marla opens her front door and says, “Bye.”

Annie says “Bye” laughing so hard that she’s crying. They both close their doors. A few moments later, they both open their doors at the same instant and poke their heads out.

“Goodbye.”

 

Marla is in bed. An icy breeze flows in through her open bedroom window. She shivers and rolls from side to side. Her blanket is in a ball around her feet.

There is a faint “pop” sound and she opens her eyes. She listens. Her eyes start to close and then it happens again. “Pop. Pop.” She opens her eyes again and listens. All is quiet.

She pulls the blanket up over her legs and drifts off to sleep again.

 

Marla wakes up and the blanket is now pulled up over her shoulders. There are sounds, but not the usual morning sounds of birds chirping. She looks up and her mom is sitting at the foot of her bed. She looks distraught.

“What’s wrong mom?”

Her mom doesn’t answer. She slides across the bed toward Marla and takes her in her arms.

There is a sound of car doors outside and Marla ducks out of her mom’s arms and goes to the window.

“Marla. Don’t--”

Marla looks outside. Annie’s house is surrounded by bright yellow tape and there are police cars and officers everywhere. Marla sees Annie’s mom sitting in one of the police cars, staring straight ahead. Then she notices Annie sitting in another police car. Marla runs from the room.

“Marla!”

She runs down the stairs and out the front door. She reaches the sidewalk and stops, watching the police car take Annie away.

 

Marla walks down the sidewalk alone carrying a binder and a math book. She turns the corner and runs her hand through the ivy covering the neighbor’s fence. She stops to watch four men with a dolly wrestle a piano down the front steps of Annie’s house.

Marla coughs and sniffs. “Annie, I think I caught your cold.”