Margot Dalton - Memories of You

Camilla knelt beside the girl’s desk and put an arm around her shoulders. “I know it feels pretty overwhelming at this stage,” she murmured, “but it’ll all fall into place within a week or two. Trust me, you’re going to feel a whole lot better after a few more classes. In the meantime,” she added, “drop by my office anytime and I’ll do what I can to help out.”

The girl looked up, her face clearing a little. “Really, Dr. Pritchard?”

Camilla got to her feet, one hand still resting on the student’s shoulder. “I was a freshman once, too,” she said. “And I was even more terrified than you are. I’ll be glad to help.”

The girl managed a trembling smile. Camilla smiled back, then moved up the steps to watch as the others toiled away at their essays.

They’re my children, Camilla thought. All these young people are the children I’ve never had.

Involuntarily, she glanced at Steven Campbell’s bent head and felt a deep wave of sadness.

CONSIDERING ALL the bizarre things that were happening to her this term, it took a lot of courage for Camilla to head over to Gwen’s classroom after lunch and keep her appointment with the study group.

She went down the hall and knocked on the door of a comfortable suite of rooms where the gifted children learned everything from chemistry to judo.

“Come in,” Gwen called, and Camilla entered to find a lively session in progress.

The students, about a dozen of them ranging from six to ten years old, were constructing a solar system out of papier-måché, hanging their planets in proper scale from a sunlamp in the center of the room.

“Children, this is Dr. Pritchard,” Gwen told the students. “She’s going to be dropping in to play games with us and ask some of you a whole lot of questions. Say hello, class.”

“Hello,” Camilla said, smiling at them.

“Hello, Dr. Pritchard,” the children chorused, then went back to their project.

Gwen drew Camilla aside. “Look, I don’t know how you were planning to begin your study, but could you possibly take the twins for a few hours?” she whispered. “I need to work out a special program for them, but I haven’t had time yet.”

She indicated a corner of the room where two curly-haired children lay on their stomachs near the aquarium, sharing a book.

“What are they reading?” Camilla whispered back.

“A. A. Milne. They like to memorize stories.”

Camilla chuckled. “Definitely children after my own heart. Why aren’t they making planets like the others?”

“They’ve already done this same project at home with their father, working out the orbits and distances all by themselves. They’re bored with the whole idea by now. The thing is, I still haven’t had time to work out something that’s going to challenge them properly. So if you could…”

“Would I be able to include both of them in my study, do you think?” Camilla asked.

“Kiddo, if you can take those kids off my hands for a few hours a week, I’ll be eternally grateful,” Gwen murmured.

“Would it be okay if I took them down to my office? I need some time to get to know them properly before I start testing.”

“Sure. But you’ll find they’re pretty tense little kids,” Gwen warned. “It’s hard to get them to relax and open up, unless…Jason,” she called to the group, “I think we need to move Neptune a little farther out. You’d better check the book, okay?”

She turned back to Camilla who was frowning thoughtfully.

“How about my apartment? They might be more comfortable if they could sit around in a homey setting and play with my cats.”

“That’s a good idea,” the teacher said. “Just tell me before you take them out of the building, okay? I need to know where they are.”

“Of course.” Camilla moved closer to the two children, accompanied by their teacher.

“Ari and Amy, listen to me.” Gwen stood above their prone figures. “This is Dr. Pritchard. She’s a very, very nice lady who’s going to be working with us quite a bit over the next few months.”

Two pairs of wide eyes looked up at them, green and gray, quietly watchful. Camilla was relieved to find that these children, at least, looked nothing at all like Jon Campbell.

She knelt beside the twins, then sat next to them on the carpeted floor while Gwen returned to the rest of the group.

“What are you reading?” she asked.

“Stories about Pooh and Piglet,” Ari said. “We like to memorize them.”

“Why?” Camilla asked.

“So we can say them to each other when we don’t have the book.” He pointed at one of the pictures. “See? Pooh’s got his head stuck in the honey pot and he can’t get out.”

“Piglet’s coming to help,” Amy chimed in. “But Pooh keeps getting lost.”

“Eeyore is my favorite,” Camilla said. “I like his cheerful outlook on life.”

Ari and Amy exchanged a glance. Camilla could see the silent message passing between them and sensed to her relief that for some reason they’d decided to trust her. Ari giggled, then moved closer to lean against her. “I like Baby Roo. It’s neat the way his mother takes such good care of him.”

Camilla touched the little boy’s rounded cheek, “I like that, too.”

Amy smiled and edged toward them, pressing against Camilla’s other side. Together they finished reading the story, speaking quietly to avoid disturbing the others, and laughed over the whimsical illustrations.

At last she got up, drawing the twins along with her. “Let’s go somewhere to talk, okay?” she said. “I want you kids to help me with something I’m working on.”

Ari began to look anxious again. “We’re not supposed to go anywhere with strangers. Daddy says…”

“It’s all right, dear.” Gwen came back across the room. “Dr. Pritchard is a teacher, too, and you can go anywhere she wants to take you.”

“Does Daddy know we’re going?” Amy asked.

“I told your daddy that Dr. Pritchard will be working with you and he knows we’re all taking very good care of you,” Gwen replied. “Now, Dr. Pritchard wants to take you to her office and play some games with you, that’s all.”

“What kind of games?” Ari asked.

“The kind of games that are your very favorite, dear. Flash cards and films, memory games, things like that.”

Ari brightened and turned to Camilla with a questioning glance.

“That’s right,” she told him. “Lots of games.”

“Better have them back here by four, okay?” Gwen called. “That’s when their housekeeper comes to pick them up.”

“We’ll be back,” Camilla promised.

She walked down the hallway, enjoying the feeling of a little warm hand in each of hers. “What’s your housekeeper’s name?” she asked.

“Sixty-four,” Ari muttered, apparently counting the tiles under his feet. “Amy, what’s the square root? Quick!”

“Eight,” the little girl said absently. “Margaret,” she added with a smile for Camilla.

“The housekeeper’s name is Margaret?” she asked.

Ari nodded. “Eighty-one.”

“Nine,” Amy said.

“Margaret has a boyfriend,” Ari said. “His name’s Eddie. He works way up north on the oil rigs. And Tom has a girlfriend, but Margaret says they’ll never get married.”

“Who’s Tom?” Camilla asked.

“He’s the foreman at the ranch.”

“Your father’s ranch?”

Amy giggled. “Once, Ari put Tom’s brand-new cowboy boots into the rain barrel.”

“They were made out of alligator skin,” Ari said. “I wanted to see if they’d float.”

Camilla laughed. “And did they float?”

Ari shook his head, looking glum. “Tom was real mad at us. He wouldn’t let me ride my pony for a whole week. But after that, he said it didn’t matter because those boots needed to shrink a bit anyhow.”