Beautiful Dreamer
	by Allen Morgan
	novel
	no illustrations
	nine chapters - 107 pages

Chapter Three (part 3)

Susie was out with a friend so Max and Katie had dinner by themselves that night. Max cooked and Katie cleaned. She was just finishing the dishes when the phone rang. Max answered it.

"Hello? Yes, this is Mr. Moore." He gestured to Katie to fill his teacup while he listened. "Who did you say? Oh yes Mrs. Crandell, what can I do for you?"

Katie was pouring the tea when she heard Mrs. Crandell's name. She froze in mid-pour.

"It's about Katie is it, Mrs. Crandell? What seems to be the problem?"

He listened carefully as Mrs. Crandell explained. Soon he was frowning.

"Yes ... yes ... I see ... hold on, I want to ask her about this."

He put his hand over the receiver and looked at Katie. "You didn't really kick the lady's front door, did you?" he asked.

Katie licked her lips. She wanted to explain but she didn't know quite how to start. She decided to pour tea instead.

"Look out," Max cried. "You've already done that."

The tea ran over the sides of the cup and onto the table. Katie closed her eyes and wished it wasn't happening. But it was! Tea - all over everywhere and Mrs. Crandell too!

"What's that Mrs. Crandell?" Max said into the phone. "No, I was just talking to Katie ... yes, I agree it was a terrible thing to do. Yes.. . yes ... she's admitted the whole thing. Now what do you think we ought to do about setting this right again? ... Yes ... yes ... I see ... Well that sounds reasonable enough. I'll see that she comes over to your place the first thing in the morning. Thanks for calling. Goodbye."

He hung up the phone and watched Katie clean the table. "That was Mrs. Crandell," he said after a long silence.

"I know," said Katie.

"It seems that you had an argument with her door. Don't you like her door?"

"I got mad," explained Katie.

"At her door?"

"At Mrs. Crandell. Gale and I were collecting for the paper route and Mrs. Crandell pretended that she wasn't at home. She wouldn't open the door."

"So you kicked it?" finished Max. "Very smart, but Mrs. Crandell didn't think so. She's very upset about it. It seems that you scuffed it. She wants you to come over and clean it tomorrow. You will, won't you?"

Katie nodded. She wasn't very happy about it but what could she do?

"You know Katie, that was a very childish thing to do," said Max. "Little kids go around kicking things when they get mad. Adults don't go around kicking things. They have more control."

"You kick things when you get mad," Katie reminded him.

"Don't change the subject, and when did you ever see me kick somebody's door? I'd never do that."

"You kicked the kitchen door last week when the lock wouldn't work."

"That's not the same thing," Max cried. "That's my own door."

"Well what can I kick? I don't have my own door," shouted Katie. "All I have is my bedroom door and I can't kick that; it's half Susie's and she wouldn't like it."

"Then for goodness' sake go out and buy yourself a door with your next allowance. Just don't kick Mrs. Crandell's door anymore. Nobody in their right mind would kick Mrs. Crandell's anything."

Katie went upstairs to see Gale as soon as she could get away. The phone rang just as she walked in. Gale's mother, Ellie, picked it up. "Hello? What did you say? Beautiful Dreamers? I'm afraid you must have the wrong..."

"Don't hang up," cried Katie. "That's for me. For Gale and me actually. I'll take it." She grabbed the phone.

It was Mrs. Thompson. "Hello Katie, is that you? I've just been reading your flyer. Would you come over tomorrow afternoon and baby-sit Henry for me?"

"Oh absolutely," Katie said and they set the time and hourly rate. Katie hung up the phone and went back to tell Gale the good news.

Gale was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling when Katie burst in. She listened to Katie without moving and her face hardly changed expression the whole time.

"That's nice," she said when Katie had finished.

"Nice?" exclaimed Katie. "Is that all you can say? It's ten times better than nice, it's wonderful! We're in business now, don't you understand? Beautiful Dreamers is off and rolling."

"I'm very glad about the job, really I am," said Gale. "It's just that I've got something more important on my mind right now."

Katie came over and sat down next to her on the bed. She and Gale had been best friends for a long time and she had a pretty good idea what was wrong.

"You're worried about your father again, aren't you?" she asked.

Gale nodded. "You know how my mother and dad decided to try a trial separation for six months?"

Katie nodded. "It's almost over, isn't it?"

"Next week," said Gale. "We haven't had a letter from dad for almost a month now and whenever I ask my mother about it she won't say anything. She just tells me to wait and see what happens and I don't think she knows herself what's going to happen. But I know what's going to happen."

"What?" asked Katie.

"Divorce," said Gale. "That's what's going to happen. I bet dad likes it in Calgary all by himself, and he's going to divorce us."

"He won't divorce you," said Katie, "only your mother."

"Well if he divorces her I'm going to divorce him," said Gale angrily. "It'd serve him right for going away."

"Maybe they won't get divorced at all," said Katie hopefully. "Maybe your dad will come home from Calgary and everything will be okay."

"I sure hope he does," said Gale. "No, I mean I hope he doesn't. Oh I don't know what I hope for. All I know is I feel all mixed up. Sometimes I feel one way, sometimes I feel the other. But no matter which way I feel about it, I don't feel very happy. You know what I mean?"

Katie nodded. She knew exactly what Gale meant. "At least you can always see your dad again, even if he does get divorced."

Gale agreed with her. "I guess it's worse for you. You know you'll never see your mother again - ever," she said.

Katie considered for a moment. "It isn't so bad anymore," she said finally. "At least it's all decided for me and I can get used to the way it is."

Gale nodded. "Yeah, that's the worst part, just not knowing how it's going to end up." She was silent for a moment and suddenly had an idea. She sat up and laughed.

"Hey, I just thought of something. If my mother gets a divorce she could marry Max. Wouldn't that be great, eh? We're already in the same house and everything. You could move upstairs and we'd be sisters."

"That's an absolutely stupid idea," said Katie and she stood up.

"Well I'm not saying it would happen or anything," said Gale.

"It's not even worth thinking about," said Katie. "My dad is never getting married again - not to anybody. Your mother and my dad are just friends, that's all they are. You already have a father and I don't need another mother."

" Listen, I was just joking," said Gale. "Forget that I ever said it."

"I will!" said Katie and she went back downstairs.

But Katie couldn't forget it as easily as she thought. The idea of Max and Ellie together kept sticking in her head. "Oh, it could never happen in a million years," she told herself as she put on her pajamas.

But after she turned out the lights she lay in bed and worried about it just the same. Even if it wasn't possible, it wasn't exactly impossible either. Max and Ellie - Ellie and Max - the two names went round and round in her head as she fell asleep ...

It was late at night and Katie was standing on the beach, looking out at the harbour. A large ship was anchored in the water, its lights blinking and twinkling in the warm summer night. Katie was sure that all sorts of strange and wonderful people were on board. As she watched the ship drifting in the harbour, she wondered if the people inside looked back at the beach and thought about the ordinary people living on the land. Then, all of a sudden, she saw an amazing thing. A tiny sailboat left the side of the big ship and started sailing in toward the beach. A woman was sailing it and Katie knew who it was without even thinking. It was her mother. She hadn't died after all. She had been living in some distant city just as Katie had always known and now she was finally coming home.

Katie stood as still as a statue and watched as the tiny sailboat glided in to shore. Then she noticed something else. A man was waiting at the edge of the water watching the sailboat. Katie knew who he was too. She was sure of it. It was her father.

The sailboat came closer and closer. Suddenly it was skimming out of the water and onto the sand. The woman jumped out and ran into the man's waiting arms. Katie started running too. She dashed straight towards them shouting and waving, "Mummy, you've come home again. I always knew you would."

The man and the woman turned to look at her. Katie gasped. She saw their faces for the first time. The man was her father, all right, but the woman wasn't her mother. It was Ellie.

"Katie? What are you doing here?" Ellie asked her

Katie couldn't answer. She just backed away from them shaking her head. Then she turned and ran away as fast as she could across the loose, shifting sand.