Pee Emm Escape

By Loretta Morris

Junie Carlson sat atop her bicycle at the corner of Davis and Church, not daring to go right or left, or God forbid straight, onto the next block. Crossing the street or being outside of her mother’s sight was not something that Junie could yet do, a fact that was hard for her to understand. She had training wheels, after all. Didn’t that mean something? Didn’t that mean she could go places? Really go places? And Junie knew exactly where she wanted to go.

The Bookmobile.

It appeared every Wednesday, but Junie didn’t exactly know when Wednesday came; she just knew it was there sometimes, and it was there now. But her mother had said, “No, not today, Junie. Mikey has a cold and I’m too exhausted. We’ll go next time.” Next time. When would that be? On something called Wednesday? Junie didn’t really like taking no for an answer, and she didn’t have a cold, and she wasn’t exhausted. And she had training wheels, which must mean something. Besides, her mother was always exhausted because there was a baby on the way, not that they needed another one. Junie thought Mikey was plenty, and she had a feeling it meant her mother would be too exhausted for lots of Wednesdays to come.

Junie knew that the Bookmobile went away when the pee emm was over. Her sister Betty went to pee emm kindergarten, so when she came home from school on the big yellow bus, the Bookmobile would be gone.               

“Juuuunie! Time to come hoooome!”

Nap time. Something about nap time put her mother in such a good mood. Junie made a wide u-turn, riding on the grass of Mr. Rose In Bloom’s house, who had told her “a million times” not to ride on his grass, but she couldn’t avoid it. She looked behind at the ruts her tires had left in his lawn and pedaled faster.

Junie sat up in her bed, refusing to lie down. “Why do I have to take a nap? Betty doesn’t have to take a nap.”

“Betty’s in kindergarten. Kindergarteners don’t take naps. Lie down now.”

Junie plopped her head down with a dramatic sigh. “I’m not tired.”

“You say that every day, but then you go right to sleep.”

“No I don’t. I never sleep. Not even at nighttime.”

“I don’t know why we have to have this conversation every day, Junie.”

“I don’t know either,” Junie agreed. “When will I be a kindergartener?”

“Next year, thank God.” The crib, just a few feet away, creaked, and Mikey rolled over. Her mother got that look that meant ‘Ok, ok, ok, you win.’ and said after placing a kiss on Junie’s forehead, “Just be quiet. You don’t have go to sleep, but don’t wake Mikey up.”

Victory! Permission to not take a nap! Forgetting about the “just lie down” part, Junie slipped out of bed and into her no-tying-necessary beach shoes as soon as her mother closed the door, and made her way across the room. She was just about to turn the knob and make her escape when a tiny, wheezy voice broke the silence.

“Where Jooie going?”

 Mikey!

“Be quiet, Mikey!” Junie whisper-shouted, “Go back to sleep.”

“Me go wif Jooie.”

“No, Mikey.”

“Me go wif…wif…” his lower lip began to tremble, a sure sign that a storm was brewing.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry!” Junie closed her eyes and thought. “Ok, Mikey, you can come with me, but don’t make a sound.”

Mikey scampered out of his crib with the innate balance of a Wallenda brother.

“Follow me on your tippy toes.”

“Tippy toes,” he repeated.

The conversations of her mother’s boring programs filled the otherwise silent house, and Junie noticed the blond bubble of her mother’s stiff hair-do was not visible over the top of the sofa when she peeked into the living room. Ever since there was a baby on the way, her mother had started “resting her eyes” during nap time.

Junie and Mikey picked their way through the kitchen as if the floor were riddled with land mines. Finally making it to the back door, they pushed open the squeaky screen slowly, slowly, and slipped out into the freedom and sunshine of the yard. Mikey stood on the stoop as Junie made a dash towards her bicycle. “C’mon, Mikey!” But Mikey just stood there in his diaper and t-shirt, shaking his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Shoes,” he said, pointing to his bare feet. “Shoes.”

“Just walk in the grass like a big boy.”

Mikey frowned. “Shoes,” he said, louder this time.

“Ok, ok, don’t cry, I’ll find your shoes. Sit down.”

“Mommy sleeping.”

“Yes, Mommy’s sleeping, so shush.”

Junie crept back into the kitchen and headed toward their bedroom. She hesitated for a moment and suppressed a laugh at the snoring coming from the darkened front room, and figured that having a baby on the way must make you snore as well as make you fat. She grabbed Mikey’s red sneakers with the white rubber tips and headed back outside.

“Here you go, Mikey,” she said as she wrangled his feet into the clammy shoes. “Let’s go.”

“Tie.”

“I don’t know how,” she snapped, suddenly jealous of her shoe-tying-no-nap-taking sister.

“Mommy tie shoes.”

“Mommy’s sleeping. C’mon.” She grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her bike.

“Ok, get on,” she said as she pointed to her handlebars.

Mikey raised his arms and stood on his toes.

Junie put her arms around her brother’s middle and hoisted him with all her might about three inches off the ground. “You’re too fat. Just walk with me, ok?”

“Walk!”

Junie climbed onto her bike, the training wheels keeping her from tipping over, and started pedaling.

“Jooo-ie,” Mikey wailed, and Junie abruptly stopped and looked behind her. “Don’t just stand there, Mikey! Hurry up!”

Mikey ran to catch up and immediately tripped on his shoelaces and fell into the grass. Junie doubled back to pick him up and brush him off. “No crying. We have to keep going.”

Mikey nodded. “ Kee going.”

They continued past the Mitchells, the Reynolds, and finally the Rose In Blooms.

Junie slammed on the brakes at the corner and looked down at the street, which was way, way down there. When her father took her to the park she had to get off her bike when it was time to cross, and he had to lower her bike off the curb and onto the street, and then she got back on, and pedaled across. Then she had to get back off when she reached the other side, and he had to lift up her bike to the sidewalk. Sometimes he said, “Just forget it,” and he carried her bike all the way across the street with one hand and held her hand with the other. Her father was strong. He said he was the strongest man in the whole world, which Junie had no reason to believe wasn’t true.

She wished he had been there to pick up Mikey. “Just forget it,” she said to Mikey and dismounted, abandoning her bike. She took his sticky hand. “We have to wait until we can’t see any cars, and then we can cross. Don’t let go of my hand.”

A fire truck, in no particular hurry, chugged down the street. “Fi-tuck! Fi-tuck!” Mikey hollered. There were waves all around.

Then, across the street, a stranger walked a dog.

“Doggie!” Mikey cried and tried to pull away from Junie.

“No, no, Mikey. You can’t cross the street and we’re not supposed to pet strange dogs.”

“Doggie. Bye-bye doggie.”

“It’s safe now, let’s go!” She tugged at Mikey, who was still fascinated by the dog, but managed to get him to the other side of Church Street without catastrophe.

They made it! Junie ran to the gleaming blue bookmobile. She could see Miss Suzanne through the windshield, her red hair tied up with a colorful babushka and pencil stuck behind her ear. “C’mon, MIkey, run!” She was close enough to touch it, and then… and then… the doors closed.

“Hey, Junie, I didn’t see you there,” said Miss Suzanne, opening the doors back up. “Sorry, but I gotta fly. I’m filling in at the main branch today. Where’s your mama?”

“But, but…”

“Where is your mama, Junie? You didn’t come here all by yourself, did you?” Miss Suzanne looked out through her windshield and then took the few steps down to the parkway.

“No…Mikey’s with me.”

“Oh Junie!” she frowned and shook her head “That was very bad. You better get in. Mikey too.”

Junie stepped up the stairs and into the Bookmobile. It was beautiful. Shelves and shelves of books held in place by a bar across them in case of sudden turns. One long aisle down the middle, built-in seats toward the back. A perfect little space.

 Miss Suzanne collected Mikey, closed the door, and revved up the engine. “You two sit on the floor and don’t budge. You’re just over here on Davis Street, right?”

Junie squeezed her eyes shut and announced, ”FIFTY-TWO FORTY-TWO DAVIS STREET, SKOKIE!” Her father, who was big on things such as children knowing their address and phone number, had made her practice and practice.

It seemed Miss Suzanne had barely started driving when they came to a stop in front of her house. “Now I’m really late. You get into the house now, I’ll call your mama later.” She got out of the Bookmobile and crossed the children, depositing them safely on their front lawn.

“Bye Miss Suzanne.”

Mikey waved bye-bye.

They tiptoed back into the house and climbed into their own beds. “Don’t tell Mommy what we did, Mikey….Mikey?”

But he was already fast asleep.

Junie laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.

“Time to get up. Did you have a good nap?”

Junie stretched and rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t sleep. I told you I never sleep.”

Mikey sat up. “Book-o-beel!”

“No Bookmobile today, Mikey,” her mother said, “Maybe next Wednesday.”

“Book-o-beel!”

“He’s just like you, Junie, always wants to go go go somewhere.” She took a closer look at him. “Mikey, why do you have your shoes on, and is that grass on your knee?” She looked over at Junie. “Junie? What’s been going on in here?”

Just then, the back door slammed and Betty shouted, “Hi Mommy, I’m home! Hey Junie, why is your bike at the corner? You want someone to steal it?”

Her mother frowned. “Junie…”

The phone rang.

Junie pulled her blanket over her head and tried to go to sleep.