“He wouldn’t tell that. How could he? He’d be too embarrassed. And if he did, it would probably make you the most popular girl ever. You’d be a challenge to boys.” She stood up. “Why don’t you take a bath. It’ll make you feel better.” She started to the door.

“You won’t tell Mother, will you?” I was worried about that.

“Tell your mother what?” She smiled again. “You take that bath. I’m glad you had such a good time at the party.”

At first I didn’t understand her; I wasn’t very subtle then. Finally I got what she meant. “Thank you, Bethrah.”

“One girl to another. Good night, Miss Dymphna.” That sounded strange after we’d been so close.

“Bethrah, don’t you call me that. You call me Dee or Dymphnie like everyone else.”

“All right, but just when we’re alone. Your mother might not like it.”

I said okay and she went out. I guess she was right, although Mother is very good about this race business and got along very well with Missus Caliban, just like I did with Bethrah, although I don’t think Missus Caliban ever called Mother by her first name.

So you can see how nice Bethrah was and how smart. She knew how to handle anything. That was before she fell in love with Tucker.

This is how I found out about that. I went into the kitchen one day to get some orange juice and she was looking out of the back window into the garden. I went over beside her and looked too. One of the cars was in front of the garage with two legs sticking out from under it and she was staring at the legs. I couldn’t believe it. She was going back to school and all that. Tucker may have been able to fix anything—he was very handy—but I couldn’t imagine them together. She was smart, not just clever but really intelligent. She and Dewey used to talk about things I couldn’t even understand. And besides, Tucker was even shorter than I am. But there she was staring at his legs.

She turned and saw I didn’t believe she could be interested in him. She looked very serious. “What does he think of me?” she asked. “Does he ever say anything about me?”

“Gee, I don’t know. What’s wrong?” You see, I couldn’t believe it. “Is he mean to you?”

“No. He isn’t ANYTHING to me. I don’t think he’s ever looked at me.”

“Well, he doesn’t say very much to anybody.” I tried to make her feel better.