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Show 81 "I don't know. January, I guess." Eccles looked at his watch. "Say, anybody want to skip the assembly and go out for coffee? I have a car today." Heidi and Jan shook their heads no. "Amy's singing," Jan said. "Besides, the Christmas a cappella's too good to miss." Derek obviously wasn't interested in Dyna or Jeff going along. He didn't even wait for them to reply. Then the bell rang and everyone broke up. Jeff hurried away with the trays, leaving Dyna behind staring at her apple core. Jan walked off with Heidi toward the cafeteria doors. "I'll call you about the skiing," Jan waved back at Dyna. Now, how're you going to do that? Dyna asked herself, feeling suddenly more removed than long distance. How's anybody going to call me? Here I am, about to be featured by the Associated Press . .. Dyna Suggs and her needy friends in "Hard Times at Liberty Park." "And what's your phone number, Ms. Suggs? We'll need to get in touch with you for future press releases." "You'll have to see my agent," she'd reply, disdainful of such trivia. The second bell rang. Dyna leaped, ready to answer it, then rushed out of the near-empty cafeteria feeling foolish. What was she doing, dawdling behind? If you didn't get to assembly early, you had to sit upstairs. Today she wanted to be close, so she could "identify" with Amy. Pretending was what it really was. Later, sitting among the late-comers in the balcony, Dyna realized it was the Christmas music that was making her sad. She was too far i away from the stage for good pretending. She could hardly distinguish Amy from the other singers, so she just scootched down in her seat until her neck rested on the cool metal strip and closed her eyes. Funny, she thought, how some songs can really do you in. "White Christmas," for instance. Her dad had sent it to her on a 45 RPM when she was little. Since Cathy Sedgewick had the only portable player around they'd worn out the record at he£ house. He'd written a letter that time, too, that she'd long since lost, but she remembered what it said: "There's no snow out here in California. I guess this song makes me homesick for the mountains. Hope you and Mom Suggs have a nice Christmas. Love, Dad." |