“
In Riverview, we stopped at Larkin’s Drugstore for a cold drink. Leaving the rest of us to scramble out unaided, John offered Hannah his hand. Although I’d just seen her leap out of a tree as fearless as a cat, she let him help her.
At the soda fountain, Hannah took a seat beside John. In her white dress, she was as prim and proper as any lady you ever saw. Quite frankly, I liked her better the other way.
I grabbed the stool on the other side of Hannah and spun around on it a couple of times, hoping to get her to spin with me, but the only person who noticed was Mama. She told me to sit still and behave myself. “You act like you have ants in your pants,” she said, embarrassing me and making Theo laugh.
While I was sitting there scowling at Theo in the mirror, John leaned around Hannah and grinned at me. “To celebrate your recovery, Andrew, I’m treating everyone to a lemon phosphate--everyone, that is, except you.”
He paused dramatically, and Hannah gave him a smile so radiant it gave me heartburn. She was going to marry John someday, I knew that. But while I was here, I wanted her all to myself, just Hannah and me playing marbles in the grove, talking, sharing secrets, climbing trees. She had the rest of her life to spend with stupid John Larkin.
“As the guest of honor,” John went on, “you may pick anything your heart desires.”
Slightly placated by his generosity, I stared at the menu. It was amazing what you could buy for a nickel or a dime in 1910.
“Choose a sundae,” Theo whispered. “It costs the most.”
“How about a root beer float?” Hannah suggested.
“Egg milk chocolate,” Mama said. “It would be good for you, Andrew.”
“Tonic water would be even better,” John said, “or, best of all, a delicious dose of cod-liver oil.”
When Hannah gave him a sharp poke in the ribs, John laughed. “Andrew knows I’m teasing. Come on, what will it be, sir?”
Taking Theo’s advice, I asked for a chocolate sundae.
“Good choice,” John said. “You’d have to go all the way to St. Louis to find better ice cream.
”
”