Chapter Eleven

The phone rang in the dormitory, and with trepidation Melody picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
A man with a rich baritone responded, asking, "Is this the Mariel Simwell Hanover dormitory?"

Melody was confused. "Uh -- yes this is."

"May I speak to a Miss Melody Tinker?"

Melody took a deep breath. "Uh, speaking. Who is this?"

"My name is Darren Dreamer. I judged the district student art show. I received this number from the headmistress --"

Hearing Darren's voice sent Melody close to hyperventilation. "Um, what... what can I... what can I do for you?"

"Miss Tinker, the reason I'm calling is because I have a job offer for you. How would you like to become my personal apprentice this summer?"

Melody could not believe what she was hearing. THE Darren Dreamer had offered her a job working in his studio! The whole notion of it was too much.

"You don't have to give me your answer right away, I'll give you some time to think about it. I'll be in touch." Just as soon as she hung up the phone, she took a deep breath.

The whole conversation seemed positively surreal. "Who was that?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, it was nobody," Melody lied.

"C'mon, Mel, I know you --"

Melody barely looked up, hesitating before replying, "It was Darren Dreamer, Sarah. He offered me a job at his studio this summer."
"C'mon, Mel, are you kidding me? This is the chance of a lifetime. If you refuse this, I'll kill you myself."

"I told him I'd think about it."

"Mel, you're joking, right? There's nothing to think about. You can't say no to Darren Dreamer. He's an icon. Taking you away from your canvas is like cutting off your hand. It's what you've wanted to do forever. And now you get to have Darren himself looking over your shoulder. I'd kill to be you right now."

You really don't want to be me, Melody thought to herself.

Melody had gotten very good at keeping secrets. She'd gotten a lot of practice throughout her life. Now, though, she was keeping not one, but two whoppers from her parents.

"I don't know who she is," Wanda told her husband during one of his now-rare days off. "I thought she was my daughter, but she's not even the girl I sent off to school. She's someone else entirely. It's like she's built herself this wall that no one can break down."

And Stephen's distance was wearing on Wanda, too. "And I hardly even see you anymore, Stephen. What happened to us? We used to be so close!"

"I've been busy, working. Trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. And let's not even mention the baby..."

"I'm here with the baby all the time, Stephen!"

"Well, you wanted the child, now you've got her."

"Correction, Stephen, we wanted the child, and now we've got her." Wanda heaved a very deep sigh. "And I'm really worried about Melody --"

"Relax, Wanda," Stephen said, wrapping his arm around his wife. "You know she marches to her own drumbeat, always has."

"I know, Stephen, but still -- she's keeping something very important from us, and I'll worry constantly until she tells us."

Wanda later went outside to check her mail, and among the stack of bills was an invitation with the letter "H" emblazoned in gold. "This must be from Melody's school," she thought to herself as she opened the letter addressed to "the parents of Melody Autumn Tinker."

"You have been cordially invited to Hanover Academy's annual honors convocation and banquet...which will take place on May twenty-second at seven p.m. in the school auditorium."

"Honors banquet?" asked Stephen. "That means she's doing great over there! I would go, but I think I have to work that night. Are you going, Wanda?"

"I'd have to get a sitter for Harmony, though," replied Wanda, "but I'll try to make it."

The honorees at the honors convocation arrived at the auditorium at six-fifteen, wearing their chosen formals. In an odd way, what they chose to wear to the banquet was a direct reflection of their personalities. Bold, sassy Sarah chose a short, fire-engine-red number with a bow in the back. Elegant Tracy Glick chose a silver floor-length gown equally as classy. And Melody -- her outfit was a simple, knee-length green lace piece that Sarah dismissed as a 'grandma dress.' "I wish I could have taken you downtown to shop for clothes," Sarah said, "you have no taste."

When Superintendent Harrow arrived in his dark suit, he said hello to everyone and then greeted Miss Hanover with a peck on the cheek. "Oooh," Sarah whispered to Melody, "is something going on between those two?"

"Not everybody thinks like you, Sarah."

"Of course they do," laughed Sarah. "They just don't admit it."

Just then Wanda arrived, wearing a dusty gray floor-length gown. Snickered Sarah to no one in particular, "If that's Melody's mom, I guess bad taste runs in the family." Wanda's arrival was followed by that of Edna Glick, a tall, sophisticated blonde who looked like a carbon copy of her daughter. The Glicks had been a recent arrival to Pleasantview after Tracy's acceptance at the school. After the Superintendent presented his awards and made a brief speech, the girls and the guests went into the school cafeteria to eat the food. And such a feast it was. Turkey, salmon, gelatin, crepes suzette, baked alaska. Such a feast, Melody had never seen.

Miss Hanover, who was ravishing in a sapphire tea-length cocktail dress, decided to sit with her girls instead of with the adults. Since she never had children of her own, it was easy to see she regarded each of them as her surrogate daughters, in a way, and genuinely cared about their individual development. She looked into the faces of all of them -- from Tracy, her student body president, to fun and funky Sarah, to quiet, reserved Melody. At one point their conversation turned to careers. Ambitious Tracy said she wanted to become the first woman mayor of Sim City. What Sarah said surprised everyone at the table: "I'm going to be a doctor," she stated.

"Somehow I can't imagine you as the type," snapped Tracy. "I always thought you'd be a rock star or something."

Melody, true to her nature, did more listening than talking. Miss Hanover interjected, "Melody, I just thought of something, have you thought about the journalism track? I think you'd make a great writer."

Tracy nodded. "You should read the stuff she does in English class..."

"You write too?" Sarah asked."I was thinking you'd be good on the yearbook staff. I'm pretty sure you have some ideas."

"The yearbook staff?" Sarah asked, giving Melody a slight nudge. "Mel, that's a great idea!"
Meanwhile, Wanda Tinker was sitting with Edna Glick and Superintendent Harrow. "Which girl is your daughter?" Edna asked Wanda.

"The one in the green lace dress."

Edna stole a glance at her. "Tracy was telling me, she's quite the talented artist."

Wanda nodded. "Painting is all she's wanted to do, really. And writing. She writes a bit, too. And then there's the fact that she took apart every appliance we had and read every book on our shelves more than once. What about your daughter?"

"Student body president. All she talks about is wanting to save the world."

"Melody doesn't want to save the world, she wants to create one of her own." Wanda laughed. "I was skittish about her coming here, knowing how she is with other kids -- but she was the one who wanted to come, even applied to the school behind our backs."

"Really?" inquired Edna. "So you and your husband decided to let her come?"

"Only after she literally twisted our arms. Frankly I think she wanted to get away from the pressure of working in our toy shop. You know, even though we own the toy shop on the other side of the Village, she has never once worked in it?"