“It’s hard to believe, Penny, that I can stand on this beach and look across at the other side, four miles away, and know in my heart that I could swim across if I wanted to.”
“You want to do it without the canoe sometime?”
“Sure. Maybe we could get one of our parents to meet us on the other side.”
“Let’s do it as soon as the weather gets warmer,” Penny said.
“Okay. Let’s get wet right now!”
We sprinted out to the channel buoy together and then just splashed around.
“Do you think Michael’s going to do stuff with us again?” Penny asked, floating on her back.
“Yeah. When he decides about his jobs.”
We swam back and rode to Penny’s house to look at old dishes and stuff.
May was almost over, and I was getting lonely at school. Michael was still lost in himself. I had started eating lunch with a girl I knew. She was athletic, but not at all like a Sprite. I’m not sure why, but none of the athletic people at school ever seemed like Sprites to me. They were too into their athletic greatness, I guess. But at least she was friendly, so we hung out sometimes.
“How come you never join a team or anything, Ariel?” she asked me one day.
“I don’t know. I like to do things with just a couple of friends. If I was on a team, I wouldn’t have time to see them very much.”
“A lot of the teams could use you. What would you do if your Search and Rescue thing went off right now?”
“A guy who drives like a devil would fly by the school in about 30 seconds, and I’d be out in the street to meet him.”
“How old is he?”
“About
40.”
“Oh. Can you believe that guy with glasses in Social Studies asked me out?”
“I think he’s nice.”
“He’s too weird! I’ve gotta go. See you later, Ariel.”
I went to class with the feeling she hadn’t understood anything I’d said.
Not really understood.
When I got out of my last class that day, there was a smiling eighth grader waiting for me.
“Michael!”
“You are looking at a baker’s apprentice!” he said.
“You decided!” I wanted to wrap my arms around him, but stopped myself because it might embarrass him.
“I know I was pretty gone for a couple of weeks there. I had to make my own decision.”
“I figured you needed some space. Want to go climbing with me and Penny?”
“Sure! But I have to be careful with my hands.”
I nodded that I understood.
We ran to Penny’s house, as best we could with our books, and her mom made snacks for us. “You should see things popping up in my garden! And Penny insisted we plant a vervain in the middle of it all. I wonder if that has something to do with companion planting.”
The sun was out, so we walked to the park. “I realized something I did wrong,” Penny said as we walked, looking at Michael. “I shouldn’t have let you tell us which job was which. Because we knew, you might think we’d be
mad if you picked one that was different from what the Tarot cards said.”
“Good thinking, Penny,” I said. “That would only make it harder for him to choose.”
“I knew you guys would still be my friends, no matter what I did. The hardest part was accepting what I knew even before you read the cards —
people would laugh if I became a baker’s apprentice. But I did it!”
“What will you do?” I asked.
“I’ll work from 3:00 to 7:00 a.m.”
“Wow!” Penny said.
“I don’t get paid anything for the first year. Well, I sort of do. I get a big breakfast. The apprenticeship laws say you get a meal every four hours.”
“Doughnuts for breakfast every morning?” Penny asked with a grin.
“They have deli sandwiches, too. What really made me decide was how nice the people are. Frank’s the master baker, and there are two journeymen, Beth and Issa. Issa’s really nice. He’s 18, and he just finished being an apprentice. I think he’s Jewish.”
“How old is Beth?” I asked.
“She’s about 30. I’m really glad my hands healed fast, or I wouldn’t have gotten it. They had me knead some dough while we talked. Everyone there is constantly chatting about anything and everything, while working.”
We climbed into a maple tree and sat in the branches while Michael told us more about it. He was really excited about learning to make pastries and stuff. He said he would be working six days a week, so he couldn’t stay out late very often.
I was glad Beth was a lot older.