Mimi at Sheridan School

happen to her before she realized its significance. She was hurrying down the hall to English. Cla

door to the room. "Another girl whose hearing is deficient, whose ey

stammered i

in board. Ever hear

to get a bad start so she ducked under Olivia's

" she ask

ammond hasn't time to

she

feel her cheeks burning. Why hadn't she co

ake it for intelligence." Betsy's tone left no alternative. Mimi turned in her most dignified mann

been sure she and Betsy

almost knocked Chloe down. Chloe was drying her face and Sue's roly

Y'all

ara for a week. It would be much worse in College Hall than in Prep Hall. Green Cap Week had started in College Hall for the freshmen. In a year or so the Preps had taken up this light form of hazing and applied Green Cap Week regulations to all new girls regardless of class. Mrs. Cole w

they hustled back to their classe

een dinner and class time. Betsy and two other old girls were t

pologized, "but

ing for her. "I didn't stop for my mail. Bring it up, please

ng under my skin-I mustn't-I mustn'

. Going by any

ng that way, stop in 223 and pick up my laundry and take it

edly. At camp she had resolved to find the beautiful in life, and where it was not, to create beauty. She had chosen as her watchword, "Hojoni," a Navajo word meaning "trail of beauty." In darkest moments she uttered it prayerfull

Mother Dear! All period she tried to concentrate on the fact that "a straight line is the shortest distance between two points," but who could focus her attention o

ym class helped, or

eatest disappointment she had had so far at Sheridan was the fact that there was no swimming pool. Plans for the completion of a modern swimming pool with lights beneath the water were under way but that didn't he

re huddled in the anteroom. Two doctors, two nurses and half a dozen college seniors-yes, Di

imi straggled in. "New girls in anteroo

ssett spoke,

wide-eyed question, Mimi put her arm around her. Chloe looked so small and helpless i

as right. "I took one to get my medical card fo

ng the contagious diseases she had had-measles, mumps, whooping cough-writing yes or no after questions about vaccinat

e, row-shoot the works! Noth

y. Mimi sensed this examination

ere another senior was seated. The senior with the

me first

ond,

ge

urt

ers. When the senior handed her the card with instructions to take it to the

had a new

ch quite close to Mimi's eye. S

. Merely testing

t known s

oth her chest and between her shoulder blades. Carefully he noted her posture

d her to the telephone from the bathtub. One more test and the examination was over. The last nurse wiped the tip of Mimi's finger with alcohol, stu

her, crosswise of the

She ran all the way downstairs and when she got it, it was for Chlo

o anything about it?

lin strings and peck the keyboard and now that old nurse sticks my middle finger. I know my fingers will be so

stayed in our rooms and studied that time like the college girls, but we don't. We have to sit at those desks in the chapel. I'll never live t

e it was t

unkied all week long. They made beds, shined shoes, swept rooms-thank goodness the maids swept the halls-carried towels to the floor showers and wo

so shy the old girls soon let her alone. They picked on Sue and hounded Mimi. It was more fun to tease girls who resented it a

ra and was assigned second violin. Chloe began spending all her spare time in the library or better, the art studio. Betsy tried out for the same things Mimi

her outside. She recognized Betsy's voice immediately. It was tense with repressed excitement

green cap week I ever he

s and it en

ember last year we rolled that trash can down the stairs,

my life. It nearly scared me out of my wits. I wa

Did Mrs.

that outing kimona wrapped around her and her ha

id find out

hatch up something as g

tter, only I can't think of any

-strung girl. She adored Betsy and would run any

, why do

" Betsy certainly knows how to

ot! Name i

s to catch what she was saying. She did not get it all b

t was, Will that be a riot? It won't scare me. I'll be list

what the plot was and what

ries of panic she had heard; how people jumped out windows, trampled each other, fainted from fright. Chloe might faint, and in spite of the resentment she had felt toward Chloe for being

t to

hall. "I'll ask permission to speak to Betsy and tell her I know." No. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't have time to e

t would only get the two would-be culprits in trouble. Mimi had already heard how you received long campus se

ck-tick

e of action, study hall was over. Gathering up her books, which had been open before her b

, one hand in the pocket of her big white sweater with the gre

nnis club." Everything had a number. "That doesn't mean tea

, Dit. Tha

e's B

ad disappeared. Mimi ran up

as brushing her hair one hundred stroke

. Cole gave her permission." Then she changed her hairbrush to

there. Perhaps she should ask Sue what to do. But no, Mimi was a lot like the cat who walked by herself. She could figure this out and act alone. If s

her teeth, and said her prayers. Chloe almost sat o

the darkness. "Please, come sleep wi

ve me your warm p

urbing anyone. Carefully she eased up to a sitting position, then lifted herself noiselessly to her feet. The bed springs squeaked

froze in her tracks, one foot on the first step, as she heard a door close softly and a whisper "sh-sh." Then acting without knowi

ns. Then she decided to have some fun of her own. She'd pay Miss Bets

s the two girls turned right and back. Mimi ran on tiptoe left and back to meet them under the stairs. She

minute to get back to the foot of the stairs so

h it herself. But she had decided on her course. Better to scare one gir

pered tensely. "Le

er other hand she threw her flashlight in her own face so that Madge woul

could feel her trembling all over. Mimi was thinking fast n

" Betsy called

l out of order," Mimi

ing-must be out of fix.

tsy said but she was shovi

Not a word

mised, running tow

reased as she neared Tumble Inn. She was almost safe w

s Cole asked com

n to shake with f

mond, Mrs

ng out of your ro

I started to go to the kitchen to see if

ould fib so readily. Once she

prowl around the building at n

her fib, "and I didn't

n my ro

e Inn and finding Betsy out. She was sure all along Betsy did not ha

have soda wa

" said Mrs. Cole, stirring v

e could

een scared worst of all. But as she finally closed the door of Tumble Inn safely behind her, she kne