"Ah ha!" Miss
Angela nudged our shoulders, to propel us forward through the door. "Did you
discover another facet of your gifts, Lanie?"
"What's a facet?"
he asked.
"It's like the flat
part of a diamond." Yes, I must confess, there was some scorn in my voice.
I had a habit of devouring every book I could get my hands on. After I had learned
where the tiny library was at NCH, I had read through the entire encyclopedia. Between
the start of school and Thanksgiving. That put me in possession of a great deal
of scattered, unrelated bits of knowledge, and I felt rather superior every time
one of those pieces became useful.
"Hmm, accurate, if
not totally… Well, maybe it is applicable. There are many faces or sides or dimensions
to what you can do, or possibly could do someday," Miss Angela said. "There
are many futures, full of possibilities, and no true means exist to see clearly
which one is for sure." She guided us upstairs, to her living quarters on the
second floor. Both of us were astonished and enchanted, because it had never occurred
to either of us that someone could actually live in the same building as their business.
While we put together
a lunch of sandwiches and soup and hot chocolate, Miss Angela made phone calls.
First, she called Mrs. Silvestri and told her not to worry. We had made a slight
detour and come to see her about advice for Christmas shopping. She promised Kurt
would get back to school before the lunch hour was over. Then she called Mr. Longfellow
and asked him to come to the shop. Then she called the school and left a message
for Mrs. Longfellow, who was Kurt's teacher, and told her Kurt was helping her and
Mr. Longfellow, and might be late getting back to class. That was when we learned
Mr. Longfellow's first name was Ford. Then she told us to set the table for four.
We were sitting down to
the most incredible chicken soup we had ever had in our lives when Mr. Longfellow
came into the shop. He ran right upstairs, knocked once on the door of Miss Angela's
apartment and walked in before she answered. Then he flung his long rusty black
pea coat onto the ottoman, and slid into the fourth chair at the table.
"Hey, kids. How come I'm not surprised it's you?" He winked, and then nodded to Miss Angela.
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