Little Women and Me - By Lauren Baratz-Logsted Page 0,16

now, “she can still tap her foot smartly whenever a lively tune is being played.”

“Except,” Amy put in, “she will probably be standing in front of another fireplace while she is doing so … and she will burn her dress all over again!”

Amy laughed as Beth tried to look serious but instead started laughing herself.

“I know,” I said excitedly, wanting to join in, “and if that Laurence boy is there, Jo’ll think of a way to get him alone so she can get to know him better.”

The other two stopped laughing and just stared at me.

“Oh no,” Amy said way too seriously as Beth gazed on. “I am quite certain that even Jo would never do that.”

It was all I could do to keep from snorting aloud, because if memory served me correctly—

But then our two older sisters were there again, bobbing back in like bobbleheads, only bobbing a little more slowly this time because Meg had her arms draped around Jo’s and Hannah’s shoulders as she hopped on one foot.

“What happened?” Beth said, alarmed.

“Meg sprained her ankle in those ridiculous heels,” Jo said.

“That Laurence boy offered us the use of his grandfather’s carriage,” Hannah put in. “He rode all the way here on the box, even though it was cold out, so that Meg could put her foot up on the seat inside.”

And then Marmee was there, all capable movements.

Where had Marmee been hiding herself all this time?

But there was no time to ask about that now as she settled Meg in her own best seat beside the fire, propping Meg’s foot on a low stool and sending Hannah for a warm towel to wrap around Meg’s ankle.

The invalid comfortably settled, Meg and Jo began chattering about their evening.

“I was trying to escape a redheaded boy,” Jo said, “who wanted to dance with me.”

This sounded familiar. A redheaded boy, I wondered. Should I know that redheaded boy?

“He was a fine boy,” Meg said, “and a marvelous dancer. I know, because I danced with him.”

“I’m sure that’s all true,” Jo said. “But I couldn’t dance in front of the others in this dress and let them see the burn on the back, could I?”

Meg grudgingly agreed that this was true.

“So I slipped into a curtained recess,” Jo went on, “where I just happened to bump into the Laurence boy.”

I knew it!

“He is called Laurie,” Jo went on as though this was the most exciting detail ever, as if the whole world didn’t know the boy next door to the Marches was called this. “His real name is Theodore, but he doesn’t like it because some of the boys at school called him Dora, for which he thrashed them, making them call him Laurie instead.”

Laurie was an improvement on Dora?

“And,” Jo rushed on breathlessly, “he has been to school at Vevey—that’s in the Swiss Alps—and he will be sixteen next month, talks a lot about going to college, and longs to live in Italy. Oh, and he dances marvelously too, no doubt far better than that redheaded boy.”

Amy’s blue eyes went wide. “So you danced with the Laurence boy?”

“In that dress?” Beth added.

“Well,” Jo said, barely blushing, “at first he asked me and I said no, showing him the burn mark at the back of my dress—”

“Josephine!” Now even Marmee was scandalized.

“But Laurie found a long hallway that was deserted and where no one would see us,” Jo went on, as though there’d been no interruption, “and we romped up and down the length of it. It was wonderful because, as I explained to him, there was plenty of room and nothing for me to harm as I am normally so likely to do in my usual galumphing way.”

“Jo!” the three other sisters shouted at her.

“What?” Jo said, all innocent confusion.

While all I could think was:

Boys, boys, boys.

Earlier, I’d been excited that there was finally at least the idea of a boy in the story. But maybe that wouldn’t be such a good thing. Sure, they were all “scandalized” by Jo’s behavior now. But before long, they’d mostly all be fighting and falling all over each other to get to this Laurie character. That’s what happens when a cute guy comes into the picture, even if he does have some features in common with Scrabble the rat.

“Let’s make a pact,” I said impulsively.

The others stared at me, puzzled.

“It just seems to me,” I said, “that we all get along well. But now that this … Laurie boy has been introduced into