WANDA WEIRD, page 10
“We’re happy to do it,” Mrs. Weir answered as they sat down and started working on the invitations.
“Here’s my riddle book!” Kevin shouted as he entered the room, waving the book. “Can you read it to me now, Wanda?”
“Okay, but I think you already know every riddle in the book,” Wanda said as she sat down on the couch.
“I want to hear them again anyway in case I forgot any of the best ones,” Kevin said as he sat beside Wanda.
“Okay, here goes,” Wanda said as she opened the book and began reading. “Why did the farmer name his pig 'Ink’?”
“Because he kept running out of the pen!”
“What's orange and purple and has sixteen legs?”
“Hey!” Kevin objected, pointing at the page. “That riddle isn't in the book! The next riddle was supposed to be about how to keep milk from getting sour.”
“See?” Wanda said, smugly. “Like I said, you already have the whole book memorized. You knew what the next riddle was supposed to be and you knew that my riddle isn't in the book.”
“Well, what's the answer? What's orange and purple and has sixteen legs?”
“I don't know, but it's climbing up your back.” Wanda laughed, poking Kevin’s back.
“Oh boy! I gotta tell that one to Marcy and Trixie tomorrow!” Kevin said, laughing in delight. “I'll bet they'll scream and everything!”
“That's what happened when Max told it to Tara,” Wanda said, laughing at the memory.
“Kevin, I do not want you scaring girls in your class with a riddle like that! Do you hear me?” Mom said with a disapproving frown. “Wanda, you shouldn't have asked him that riddle. You know how he is with riddles.”
“Sorry, Mom. Kevin, don't use that riddle on Trixie and Marcy. Ask them how you keep milk from getting sour instead.”
“You leave it in the cow!” Kevin replied. “I'll ask them that riddle, but it won't be as much fun as your riddle. That riddle won't make the girls scream. It's more fun when you can make girls scream. Everybody knows that.”
“Never mind that. You'd better do like Mom says if you know what's good for you,” Wanda said, giving Kevin a stern look. “Well, let's finish with this riddle book. Let's see if you can tell me what the next riddle is.”
“Um, why did the boy tiptoe past the medicine chest? Because he didn't want to wake up the sleeping pills.”
“That's right,” Wanda said, nodding her head. “What's the next riddle?”
Kevin and Wanda continued to read the riddle book together for the next ten minutes. Then Wanda said that she had to finish her homework. “Maybe Dad can read the rest of the book to you when he gets home,” Wanda suggested. “Right now, I have a whole page of arithmetic problems to do.”
The following day after school, Wanda and Misty heard a scream as they entered the kindergarten room. “Get it off me! Get it off me!” screamed Trixie Miller as she jumped around the room, waving her arms.
Kevin, Ralph and Eddie laughed at her. “There's nothing on you! It's a riddle!” Eddie said.
“Kevin, did you use that riddle about the orange and purple thing on Trixie after Mom told you not to?” Wanda demanded angrily.
“No. I told it Ralphie and he told it to Eddie and they both told it to Trixie. And we didn't get to tell it to Marcy because she was sick today. But did you hear Trixie scream when Eddie told it to her? That was funny!” Kevin said, doubling over in laughter.
“It wasn't funny at all,” Wanda scolded, shaking a finger at Kevin. “Don't any of you use that joke on Marcy tomorrow or you're going to be in big trouble.”
“Aw, you're no fun,” Ralph told Wanda, sticking out his tongue. “I'm glad I don't have a sister. Brothers are more fun. I have a brother, so I should know. They don't care if you make girls scream. You should have a brother like I do instead of a sister,” he told Kevin.
“I know. I asked Santa Claus for a brother for Christmas, but I didn't get one. I could ask for a brother for my birthday, but my birthday isn't until August and that's a long way away.”
Trixie saw her mother come into the room and ran to her, crying. “Eddie and Ralphie and Kevin scared me! They said that I had a big orange and purple thing with sixteen legs crawling up my back!”
Trixie's mother held her, talking to her in a soothing voice, “There, there. Boys pull mean tricks like that sometimes.” She glared at Wanda and the boys.
Wanda remembered the chant that Tara and her friends often used with her. “Wanda Weird, Wanda Weird! It would be nice if you disappeared!” And this was one time she wished that she really could disappear.
“Come on, Kevin, let's get out of here!” she said, pulling Kevin by his arm.
“I'm going to tell your mother what that boy did to my little girl!” Trixie's mother said angrily, pointing at Wanda. “Don't think that I won't!”
“I didn't do nothing!” Kevin protested, as he tried to pull away from Wanda. “Besides, it was just a riddle.”
“Come on, Kevin! Let's go!” Wanda said again, wanting to get away from Trixie's mother as quickly as possible. She gave Kevin’s arm another tug and pulled him out of the classroom.
“Now I'm really gonna get it,” Wanda moaned as they went outside. “If Mrs. Miller talks to my mom, she's really gonna blow her top. She’s gonna be mad at both of us.”
“Maybe Mrs. Miller really won't say anything to your mom,” Misty said, hopefully. “I think she was just a little upset. She'll probably forget all about it in no time.”
Wanda stopped walking, throwing her hands up in the air. “A little upset?” she shouted. “She was furious! I don't think that Mrs. Miller understands little boys. I don't think she has any other kids besides Trixie.”
“Yeah, she should have a boy like me. Then she'd understand us, wouldn't she, Wanda?” Kevin asked with a smirk.
“Well, maybe. But I have you for a little brother and sometimes I don't think I understand you at all,” Wanda said, shaking her head as she began walking again.
“Wanda, I just got an idea,” Misty said thoughtfully. “Before Mrs. Miller talks to your mom, maybe you should talk your dad and tell him what happened. If anyone understands little boys, he would. He used to be one himself, you know. Then maybe your dad could talk to your mom about it before Mrs. Miller gets to her.”
“Well, I guess I could try,” Wanda said doubtfully. “Mom gets pretty mad when Kevin picks on girls. She's real touchy about things like that. I don’t know. Maybe she won't really get mad at me. After all, Kevin didn’t actually use that riddle on Trixie. Still, I think I'll talk to Dad alone first,” Wanda said with a firm nod of head. “I'd feel better knowing that I have him on my side before we talk to Mom.”
Misty put a comforting hand on Wanda’s arm and said, “Don’t worry. I bet he can clear up this whole mess.”
“I sure hope so,” Wanda sighed.
“Hey! What's blue and green and red and yellow and black and has thirty legs and ten eyes and four noses?” Kevin asked with a grin.
Wanda and Misty looked at each other and said, laughing, “I don't know, but it's crawling up your back!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
That night, as her mother was putting Kevin to bed, Wanda approached her dad. He was working in his home office.
“Dad? Are you terribly busy?” Wanda asked after knocking softly on his office door. “Could I talk to you about something private?”
“Of course. I'm never too busy for you, honey. Sit down,” he said, pointing to a chair and closing his office door. “What did you want to talk about?”
Wanda sat on the edge of her seat as she told her father about what happened at school and how angry Mrs. Miller had gotten. “Kevin learned that riddle from me and Mom told him not to use it on the girls, but he told Eddie and Ralph and then they used it to scare Trixie. And Mrs. Miller got really mad, and she said she was going to talk to Mom. Now I'm afraid that Mom is going to be mad at me because I told that riddle to Kevin in the first place.”
“But Mom heard you tell Kevin not to use that riddle on the girls, didn’t she?” Dad asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.
“Yes,” Wanda nodded.
“Well, then, she has no reason to be angry with either one of you. I promise you, she won’t get mad,” Dad reassured her. “Has Mrs. Miller called and talked to Mom yet?”
“Not that I know of,” Wanda answered, shrugging her shoulders. “At least, Mom didn’t say anything to me. But in case she did, I wanted to talk to you first so you can explain things to Mom.”
“Well, if she hasn’t already called to complain, then she probably won’t do it at all. But if she does, I’m sure I can reason with her and calm her down. But believe me, Mom won’t blame you for any of this.”
“Well, if you say so,” Wanda said, doubtfully.
“I do. Trust me.” A smile crossed Dad’s face as he said, “Come to think of it, I remember using that riddle on several girls in my class when I was just a few years older than Kevin.” Dad laughed at the memory. “The description of the thing changes – yours was orange and purple and had sixteen legs? If I remember correctly, mine was blue and green and it only had eight legs. In fact, I used that riddle on your mother when she was about in first grade. She had pretty much the same reaction that Trixie did. She had a terrible fear of creepy crawly things.”
“She still doesn’t like spiders much. Remember that time she saw a big spider in your bedroom? She wanted you to kill it and she just about died when you caught it and put it outside instead,” Wanda said, laughing. Then turning serious, she said, “But I still can’t help worrying that mom will be upset about what happened in school. You know how she gets when Kevin teases girls. Why is she like that, Dad? He's not being mean or anything. He's just being Kevin. He's just being a kid.”
Dad turned serious as he leaned forward in his chair. “I think I can explain that. There's something about your mom that we never told you. It's not that we were trying to hide anything from you, but we wanted to wait until you were old enough to understand it. This might be difficult for you to hear, but I think you're mature enough to understand it.” Dad took a deep breath and continued, “I've known your mom since she was in kindergarten and I was in third grade. She lived just down the street from me. Back then, she had an older brother named Rob. He liked to tease your mom. It was usually good- natured teasing, something like you and Kevin do with each other. But other times, he would go too far and he would say very hurtful things to her. One day, he said something really nasty to her. It was so nasty, I won’t repeat it, but she got so mad at him that she told him she wished he was dead.”
Wanda’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “No! Mom wouldn't do that!”
“She wouldn't do that now, but she was just a little girl then,” Dad said gently. “It's hard not to get angry at people who are mean to you. And sometimes you get back at them by saying things that you don't really mean.”
“You’re right. Like when I wished it would rain on Tara's spring break. I didn't really mean it, though. Well, maybe I did mean it a little,” Wanda admitted, with her face turning red with embarrassment. “But I never wished her dead.”
“And your mom didn't really mean it when she said it either. She just spoke out of anger.”
“Well, what did Rob say after Mom said she wished he was dead?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Dad said, shaking his head slowly. “He just laughed at her. That made her even more angry, so she refused to speak to him at all. He kept trying to get her to speak to him, but she wouldn’t do it. Not even after he apologized for hurting her feelings.”
“So, then what happened? I didn’t know we had an Uncle Rob. Where is he now? What happened to him?”
“I’m coming to all that,” Dad said, holding up one finger. “A few days later, Rob and some of his friends went boating out on the lake. The boat tipped over and Rob and his friends all fell into the lake. He couldn't swim and he wasn't wearing a life vest. His friends were all able to swim to the shore, but Rob drowned.”
Wanda covered her mouth with her hands and gasped, “How awful!”
“Yes, it was,” Dad nodded. “And your mom took it very hard. She blamed herself for her brother's death. She thought that if she had not wished him dead, he would still be alive.”
“But it wasn't Mom's fault that her brother died!” Wanda shouted, jumping out of her chair. “It was his own fault, not Mom’s! Things like that don't happen just because you wish them to!”
“I know that sweetheart, and your mom realizes it now, too. Rob should have been wearing a life vest. That could have saved his life. He died because he was reckless and careless. It had nothing to do with your mom wishing him dead. But back then, Mom was filled with guilt over it. I'm sure you can understand how she felt. What hurt her most was the fact that her last words to him were that she wished he was dead. And that's why she doesn't like it when you kids fight or when Kevin teases girls. Because if there is ever an accident, you don’t want the last thing you ever said to each other to be an unkind remark.”
“Poor Mom! Having your only brother die like that is bad enough, but it’s even worse if you feel like it’s your fault.” Wanda moaned as she sank slowly back into her chair. “But I can understand why she got so mad when her brother called her names. Tara and her friends do that to me a lot. They’re always calling me making fun of me and calling me Wanda Weird.”
“Wait a minute,” Dad said, standing and walking up to Wanda. “They do that? I didn’t know about that. Why didn’t you ever tell me that you were being picked on?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Wanda said, looking down at the floor and shuffling her feet uncomfortably. “I guess I didn’t want to sound like a crybaby or a tattletale. Besides, what could you do about it? I kinda felt like it was something I should handle myself, I guess. I don’t know.”
Dad put a finger under her chin and lifted her head so her eyes met his. “Sweetheart, you know there isn’t anything you can’t talk to me or Mom about, don’t you? If something or someone is bothering you, you can always come to us to talk about it so we can help you. Why didn’t you tell us about this?”
Wanda stood up and began pacing around the room. “I don’t know. It’s sorta hard to explain. I guess it’s partly because when I told my teacher, Miss Perkins about it last year, she told me that if I ignored them, they’d leave me alone. I tried that, but it doesn’t work.” Turning to look at Dad, she said, “When you ignore them, they just see that they can get away with it so they do it even more. I bet Miss Perkins was never bullied or teased when she was a kid so she doesn’t know what it’s like. I think if it never happened to you, you can’t really understand it. The hopeless way it makes you feel because you don’t know how to make it stop.”
“But didn’t you go to Mrs. Nelson and let her know?” Dad asked, walking up behind Wanda and putting his arms around her.
Wanda moved away and continued pacing around the room. “No, I was afraid she’d just say the same thing.”
“Well, Mrs. Nelson isn’t Miss Perkins. Mrs. Nelson has been a teacher for a long time and she is very smart. I’m sure she could have helped you.”
“Misty kinda told me the same thing. But I don’t know. I just feel so mixed up; I don’t know what to do. Besides, sometimes kids make fun of you even more if they find out that you told on them. It feels like no matter what you do, it’s never the right thing,” Wanda said as she stopped pacing and turned to look at Dad. “It’s like they’re not gonna stop picking on you until they want to, or when they’re thirty or at least until we all go away to college and we don’t see each other anymore. Like I said, it’s hard to explain why I didn’t tell you or Mom or Mrs. Nelson. I guess I was afraid that if I did, it would only make things worse. Like that maybe you’d go to their parents to talk about it and then Tara and her friends would get really mad and they’d call me even worse names.”
“You know it’s not your fault, though, don’t you? Just like it wasn’t your mom’s fault when her brother drowned.”
Wanda sat back down and said, “Yeah, I know that, but I don’t understand why they call me names. I never said or did anything to Tara or Olivia or Kayla to make them not like me. And why do they always gang up on me? I mean, when I see Kayla or Olivia without Tara, they don’t bother me. They only pick on me when they’re with Tara.”
“Maybe Olivia and Kayla are just following along with Tara and they might not really be so bad. They might just be afraid to stand up to her. Do they do anything besides call you names? They don’t hit you or anything, do they?” Dad asked, taking Wanda’s hands in his own.
“No, they just call me names and try to make me feel bad.”
“Well, honey, try not to let their mean words get to you. I know that is easier said than done. But it is important to never let the mean girls have power over you. That can only make things worse. And don’t try to get back at them by being cruel to them in return.”
“Misty told me that, too. She also told me that sometimes, if you say something nice to them, that will make them stop because you’re taking the fun away from them. But that’s hard to do when somebody is being mean to you. But do you think that could really work?”
“I think that is good advice. Keep being the nice person I know you are. If they say mean things to you, try saying something nice in return.”
“You mean like I did when Tara was bragging about her trip to Florida? She kept going on and on like she felt sorry for me because all I did on my vacation was take care of Minnie the guinea pig and look after Kevin. So I told her I was glad she had a good vacation. I even told her that she should have sent me a post card,” Wanda covering her giggle behind her hands.
“You did that?” Dad said, smiling. “What did she say about that?”
“She didn’t seem to know what to say. She just sort of stammered and said she had to catch her bus.
“Well, I’m very proud of you for not letting Tara upset you and for telling her you were happy she had a good vacation. Keep trying to be nice to her and her friends. I know it won’t be easy, but maybe they’ll soon see what a truly good person you are. Another thing you could try is to use humor. If they call you Wanda Weird, you can just agree that maybe you are a little weird.”
