These untranslatables may be my favorites—although, at the same time, with their bridges always drawn, they also make me feel (to use a word you used to use) forlorn
Amy and Zoe are taking time off school
This is because Zoe can’t go to school anymore because she has to have surgery, and surgery is expensive, so Amy can’t go either, because they can’t afford to pay. Their mom says the public schools won’t let Amy do her Kumon, and they’ll make her do everything at grade level like addition and subtraction. This makes Amy laugh because she finished addition and subtraction a long time ago, but then she sees their mom seems serious and tries to correct her face.
The girls watch a lot of TV now, not only the cartoons on Saturday mornings. Sometimes Amy reads out loud to Zoe. Zoe likes Dr. Seuss books, and Amy does different voices for different characters. She practices at night in the bathroom so she doesn’t get tripped up on the rhymes. Zoe’s favorite is The Cat in the Hat. Amy’s favorite is Horton Hears a Who!, but Zoe says she doesn’t like that one because it’s boring. Amy says she doesn’t like The Cat in the Hat because it’s stupid, although she reads it to Zoe anyway.
Eventually they compromise on Green Eggs and Ham. Gradually Amy teaches Zoe to read it herself.
Amy and Zoe both know that the surgery is coming up soon. But they watch TV and read their Dr. Seuss books and ride their bikes with their dad. Amy makes Zoe keep practicing their address. Zoe laughs when she remembers and cries when she can’t. Zoe never knows the zip code.
Their parents tell Zoe that she can have any present she wants after her surgery in exchange for being brave. For several days the girls make lists. Zoe paces up and down their bedroom like she might explode. Finally she decides on a pair of cowgirl boots. Amy says she should ask for something better than cowgirl boots, like moccasins, but there is no reasoning with Zoe, she wants the boots.
A fight breaks out between their parents. Their mom stays at home with Zoe while Amy and their dad go to Drysdales North South East and Western Wear. They look around at the bandanas and silver buckles, and then they choose a pair of little square toe ropers with yellow tops with stitching in different colored threads that looks like a cross between a happy cat and a fireplace. Their dad puts his hand on Amy’s shoulder and says for the second time that money is no object. She doesn’t look at him.
They take the boots to the salesgirl and realize they don’t know Zoe’s size. Amy hears her dad make a noise. She is trying to calculate what size her sister wears based on her size and how long it usually takes for Zoe to fit into her shoes. Then she realizes that their dad is crying, sitting down on one of the benches for trying things on. She says a size. The salesgirl disappears into the back to find it.
On the day before the surgery they all go to their grandparents’ house and have root beer floats and watch TV and Sleeping Beauty. Amy and Zoe huddle very close together as though the air conditioning is making them cold
Amy and Zoe huddle very close together as though the air conditioning is making them cold. After the movie’s over Zoe and their parents get up and start to walk out to the car. Their grandparents stay where they are, sitting on either side of the entertainment center. Amy sits with them until she hears the car doors. She runs to the shut front door and stands on her tiptoes and watches them through the bottom blue square in the stained glass window while they pull out of the driveway and into the street, the glass fogging up except where her nose is pressed against it. Slowly her fingertips slide down the slick groove of the wood.