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New Meaning: Sugar and Spice

Part Five ~ Convocation

By Ariel Montine

Will Betty pass muster on her shoping trip when they run into Mrs Moss the Scout troop leader?

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New Meaning: Sugar and Spice

Part Five ~ Convocation

 

   By Ariel Montine

I remembered just in time that I was not supposed to know them but I should be friendly because that is what girls do when the meet other girls.

"Hi Momma, Guess who I ran into? Krissy and her Mother!" She came close enough and put the knee highs and panty hose in her hands into the cart.

"Cindy, what a pleasant surprise! Your daughter, Krissy gets more beautiful every time I see her! Cindy, this is my daughter, Betty. Betty, this is Jenny's Scout Troop Leader, Mrs. Moss"

I did a half curtsy and took Mrs. Moss's hand that she offered to me. "I am very pleased to meet you, Betty!"

"I'm very pleased to meet you as well Mrs. Moss." I was glad that I had recovered most of my composure and was just thinking 'girl' and doing what felt right at the time.

"Teri, how is it that we haven't met your daughter before? She seems to be the right age for the Girl Scout Troup."

"Cindy, she is the right age. She's a year older than Jenny who is nine years old, which makes her Junior age but she lives far away with her father most of the time."

"I thought Jim was dead?"

"Jim, my second husband is dead but Carl Kessler, my first and ex husband is very much alive. The divorce was very messy, due to things I would rather not discuss in front of the girls. Jim was able to win sole custody of Betty in the settlement and I received sole custody of Tony. Betty, using clues, that her father inadvertently left so she could find them, found out she had a brother and mother alive. Carl and I discussed the situation and came up with this swap for the summer. Tony is with his father and Betty is here with me for the summer."

"Wow, that's quite a story! Betty, how do you like living with your mother and half sister?"

"It's a real eye opener! I've only just gotten here but already it feels like I fit in with my mother and half sister better. Daddy's the best father ever, but he doesn't know much about girls. I've been raised a tomboy, but I hope to discover just what it's like to be a girl!"

"Have you considered, joining our Junior Girl Scout Troup for the summer? We could really use another girl for the cookie event on Friday. We have an allotment of 10 girls to sell cookies at the WNBA game but our last girl, who was Jenny's sales partner, got sick and with the illness going around and the Jonas Brothers Concert at the same time, we haven't been able to scare up a girl that would both be at the sale and also would stay with the troop for the summer so our troop would get credit for the sales instead of it dropping out to the Metro Atlanta Region numbers."

"Jenny was talking to me about it when I arrived and I told her that I would be glad to be her partner. How do I go about joining the troop to participate in the cookie sale?"

"Well, that depends. Have you ever been a girl scout before, at any age group?"

"I've never been a girl scout before. I wanted to join many times but Daddy always had an excuse why I couldn't. I feel like he wanted to keep me a tomboy as much as possible."

"You'll need to get the basic cookie sale orientation and Girl Scout Orientation, before Friday. We can initiate you at the meeting Friday before the event, as long as we have gone over everything before hand. The Meeting will be very short since we'll be caravanning over to Philips Arena for the game. How is her schedule, Thursday, Teri?"

"I was going to get her started in Jenny's ballet class Thursday morning. She's got from lunch on free right now."

"Why don't Jenny and Betty come over on Thursday after Ballet. I can take time out to make sure she is up to speed on the cookie sale and go over some of the basics of Girl Scouting. She'll need the same uniform as Jenny has for the troop, white blouse, Girl Scout Green Sash and skirt. The troop will be wearing white dress socks and Mary Jane's for the cookie sale,"

"The White blouse isn't a problem and Target has skirts the right color in their school uniform department. I can go by the Girl Scout Supply Center in person and pick up a vest along with the starting out supplies that Jenny needed when she joined the troop last fall."

"That would be wonderful, if she could have all the supplies for Thursday. We could get her sash all set up with her own stuff instead of borrowing items to start her sash out."

All I could think to do is smile, smile, smile. I was dying inside of fear and hoping against hope that I would not be discovered. I knew that in order for me to do well, I would have to contain my fear and be confident .

"Betty, are you ready to be a Girl Scout?"

"Ready as I will ever be, Mrs. Moss. I can't wait till Thursday to get started. I will be very proud to help out at the cookie sales event."

"I can tell that you are going to be a girl who just naturally does all the things in the Girl Scout Oath and Law. Jenny, if you can lend Betty your manual until your Mother can get her one, she can start learning about the Girl Scouts."

"I will, Mrs. Moss!"

'Teri, it's been very fortunate to run into you and your girls here at Target. Krissy and I have what we came here to get, so we'll go check out. We have some other stops today before going home in time to get supper ready so Krissy's father can eat with us when he gets in from work."

"Thank you Cindy. The girls and I have a bit more shopping to do. I'll bring the girls over on Thursday after Ballet."

"See you all then. Bye Girls! Come along, Krissy." Krissy delayed just long enough to whisper something in Jenny's ear and give her a hug. Krissy whispered to me, "I'm so glad you are joining the troop! Bye Betty" I whispered back "I'm glad too! Bye, Krissy!" She gave me a little hug and off she went.

When Mrs. Moss and her daughter had turned toward the door and the registers at the end of the aisle and were out of sight, I sagged visibly and let out a breath as though I had been holding it such a long time.

"Courage, Betty!" Jenny came over and supported me in a big hug. "Krissy told me when she said goodbye that she was jealous of me for having such a nice sister who was willing to help out. From both Krissy's and Mrs Moss's body language, they took you to be exactly the girl that you are now."

"I agree with Jenny on that, Betty. Both of them treated you exactly the way that they would have treated any other girl. Our cover about you just now learning about me, makes them appreciate your service to the troop, that much more since you are giving up precious time at home to be out with the troop."

"I guess I come across genuinely about that because it's true. Tony may know all about living with this family but it is a brand new experience that I, Betty, am having. I like the idea of service to the troop in order to be able to serve the community. I'm glad that it's no longer missing from my life."

Believe it or not, Momma actually was still holding up dresses on me and I was doing my best to enjoy the process even though the conversation was going on when it wasn't a spot where it was more polite to stand straight and face who was speaking, Momma had a number of dresses in the buggy for us to go over to the dressing room for me to try on.

When we arrived at the dressing room, we gathered up 5 dresses (the most that they would let us in with at a time) and Momma gave some more directions to Jenny to gather up some more items that she wanted for me. Momma went into the dressing room with me and helped me off with the dress that I was wearing and one by one, I tried on the five dresses and we found one out of that group that we both liked. This one was a solid Kelly green dress made out of silk and it was just wonderful with the details and the fact that the skirt puffed out because there was a built in petty-skirt underneath it. It was just the color that it brought out my green eyes and my golden blonde hair just shown out. "

"Betty, I admire your taste already. I haven't had to veto your decision once on the dresses you've tried on. Lets go back and see if we can find at least of the less formal occasion dresses that we like,"

"Thank you Momma!"

We left the rejects with the attendant who was nice enough to get right to us even though she was answering the phone too. The last five went with us into the dressing room. We found a sporty white dress, that we both loved and immediately decided to buy it. We found a pretty denim dress with roses embroidered at the hem which was just darling and we decided to buy that one too. The rest were tried on and rejected. I had stacked the deck with the 2 I liked best being on the top of the stack when we came into the dressing room.

'Betty, along with the things that I sent your sister after, you should be set."

We met Jenny who transferred the contents of the red basket she was carrying to our shopping cart. "You can really get a lot of items in that hand carry basket!."

"Betty, you have really good taste! I'm going to be borrowing from your closet, for some occasions as long as you aren't wearing them!"

"Thanks for the compliment, Jenny. I guess that is what sister's are for!"

We filled up the conveyor belt with our purchases. Jenny started removing the hangers for the purchases and I followed her example.

"Greetings, Ladies! How are you all today?"

If she saw anything out of the ordinary, she did not show it . She genuinely seemed interested in her work and glad to see us.

"Fine!" Jenny and I chorused.

"I'm doing quite well shopping with my daughters! How are you, my dear?"

"I feel great, and I'm glad that you and your daughters are doing well too

Momma went straight to the credit card reader and swiped her Target card.

"Do you have any Target Gift Cards or Rewards to use towards this purchase?"

"I do have a Target Reward and I also have several coupons."

She handed the busy cashier a bunch of coupons including her 10 percent off shopping spree day coupon. I was handy to collect the register receipt at the end while Momma and Jenny were gathering up the bags.

"Thank you Ladies, and I hope you all have a wonderful evening!"

"I hope you too, ma'am" I told her with a smile.

She grinned right back, "I'm planning on it!" I really liked that cashier and she treated me no differently than any other girl going thru her line. I hoped we would get her again the next time we shopped at Target.

I had been shooed to the front of the register so that I wouldn't see some of the surprises being scanned before they went into the bags. All told, Momma had managed to save over a fifty dollars from the coupons not counting the savings that she made by selecting sales and clearance merchandise. All told the receipt said that she had saved over $100 over regular retail prices.

Jenny pushed the cart over to the car, joyfully, as though it was the evidence of a triumph which I realized that it was just that. They had me to be seated in the car while they loaded the purchases in the trunk.

"Betty, how did you like your first real shopping trip?"

"Momma, it was a real joy and adventure. I am glad that you two were there with me. You really helped me when Krissy and her mother showed up!"

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Sweetheart. With the progress that you are making, I will predict that it is only the first of many outings that you will participate in this summer."

"That's a really good thing, Momma! I can't wait till I can get everything home and try everything on again!"

Momma and Jenny smiled warmly at me. Somehow I read the unspoken message in their eyes, "She gets it!"

I was really glad that I seemed to be doing things right but I also realized that I was fairly tired from everything that had happened already.. We carried everything upstairs and Mother and Jenny put it away for me. I guessed that the surprises had either been tucked away among my things or else were transferred elsewhere for an unveiling later.

Mother saw that I seemed exhausted and just running on adrenaline.

"Sweetheart, why don't you just lie down for a little while. Jenny and I will go downstairs and cook supper, You have had a physically and mentally exhausting day so you should rest for just a little bit."

"Thanks, Momma! I don't know why but I do seem tired, Thank you."

"Rest well Sweetheart. I'll call you when Supper is ready."

I closed my eyes and rested but sleep would not come. Something needed attention in my mind before it would allow me to completely calm down enough to sleep. I tried my best to let sleep come with every relaxation technique that I knew, yet I still lied on my bed awake.