when mimi pranced into tumble inn and did a fan dance using her tennis racquet for a fan, chloe jerked something off the table and stuck it in her portfolio. betsy and sue stepped between chloe and mimi, making a screen.
“wouldn’t keep anything from me, would you, pals?”
mimi zipped her finger across her neck making a cutthroat gesture.
chloe paled but sue giggled. betsy told.
“we were having a private art exhibit.”
“but why can’t i see it?”
“you might not appreciate it as much as we.”
the elephant-child’s curiosity was on a rampage now. mimi, and the other girls too, knew that there would be no peace until mimi saw.
hesitantly chloe slipped the paper from its hiding place and handed it to mimi.
a tense pause, then mimi laughed. she doubled up and rolled over on the bed.
“you’ve got me exactly, chloe. i didn’t know you were that good.”
on the paper was a charcoal sketch of mimi awkwardly sprawled out on the icy lake at wildwood. chloe had caught the humor amazingly well.
“why did you hide it? that’s the first time i ever posed for an artist and i’m pleased.”
“we didn’t intend for you to see it.”
“what were you going to do with it?”
no one answered.
“what were you going to do with it?” mimi shouted.
still silence prevailed.
knowing all the vulnerable points, mimi made for roly-poly sue and began to tickle her.
“we—were—wrapping it—to—please, mimi, please, i’ll tell—to mail to honky.”
“you’re worse than traitors,” mimi cried.
“hold her, sue,” betsy called. snatching up the picture, she and chloe fled.
as soon as mimi wrenched herself free, she hunted high and low and could not find them. they had succeeded in making a getaway. for thirty minutes mimi stood guard in the post office. then she gave up. she had something else to look for besides two silly girls. she had lost two of dit’s good tennis balls practicing, and if she didn’t find them, it would take the rest of her week’s allowance to buy new ones. forty-five cents apiece. two times forty-five was ninety cents! mimi ran toward the tennis courts.
she had lost the first one on a hard serve. that was all right, but losing the second had been unnecessary. taking jill’s advice she had sent the second ball after the first. that meant she had stood in the same place and served the second ball as nearly like the first as possible. it had gone wild, too, and disappeared before her very eyes. she’d be glad when her serve was under control, when she could serve both balls hard the way dit did. the way mimi served now, she batted the first one as hard as she could, but in case it did not go in the proper court, which was more than half the time, she eased up on the second. she could drop an easy serve anywhere in the court she pleased.
her game was improving. she was hopeful of getting at least to quarter-finals in the tournament unless she drew a crack player for her first sets. there were not enough preps interested in tennis for them to have a separate tournament. those desiring to enter must take their chances against the college girls, too. mimi turned over her chances in her mind as she went around behind the backstops and burrowed in the leaves for the balls. she could not find them. goodbye ninety cents. she gave up and hurried in for her shower bath.
on the way, she poked her head in the office and asked the girl on duty to order two wright and ditson balls from sweirs.
“come in, mimi. we’ve been wanting to see you. the girls have been talking so much about those grand bean-hole beans you cooked and didn’t get to eat, that i want the recipe.”
“i’m glad you liked them.”
“glad i liked them! the whole school has been raving about them. don’t tell me you didn’t know? i’ve decided that if you will write down the recipe and the full instructions for digging the hole, etc., that i’ll mimeograph it and give the girls copies.”
“keen!”
mimi was delighted. heedless of the fact that supper time was near, she plopped down in a swivel chair and demanded paper and pencil. no time like the present to get a job done.
after supper the girls went to miss bassett’s office and drew for their places in the tournament. mimi was lucky. she drew a bye. the matches were still three days off and mimi would have four days.
she was spending all her spare time on the courts. she watched the college girls play. she studied the lazy, relaxed manner dit had when she addressed the ball; how careful she was not to “foot fault”—step inside the base line when she served. more and more she was understanding that points were won by thinking the ball out of the opponent’s reach rather than by “main strength and awkwardness” as the adage goes.
she was developing an effective base line drive and dottie would never recognize her serve. wait ’til she got back to b.g. she’d make them sit up and take notice.
the first day of the tournament, mimi led small groups on the side lines in cheers. the preliminaries were not very interesting as the competition was not keen. dit mowed her opponent down without getting up a sweat. a free-for-all tournament had to get well under way before the players were fairly matched. mimi and her group moved from court to court where the matches were the hottest.
not playing that first day, mimi kept her eyes open and learned tournament etiquette. she also had time to stir in her trunk and get out her white linen shorts with the red pin stripe which she had worn for “bests” at camp. she cut the sleeves out of a shirt and faced the arm holes. when she appeared on the courts for her first match, she could hear girls complimenting her costume. then before them all, she pulled a navy bandana from her pocket and tied her hair back. she thought of dottie’s beloved red bandana at camp and smiled. she wished dottie and the other campers were here to root for her. however, she had a group of supporters—madge, olivia, chloe, sue and enough others to make considerable noise were huddled on the side lines of the number two court where she played and won her first match.
she won again next day and for three straight days, she moved up a bracket. this landed her in the quarter-finals. she couldn’t wait any longer to tell how well she was doing so she wrote honky and dottie both. if she had not written before the quarter-final match, she would not have written at all, for she was defeated.
at least mimi did not cry like jill did when she was defeated. nor did she accuse her opponent of cheating. she was defeated fairly and squarely and went down smiling. she was pitted against a college girl who played rings around her.
mimi was licked before the set was called. the girl across the net from her was taller, stronger and a far more experienced player. in the face of such odds, mimi battled spunkily. the few times she did score—oftener by her opponent’s poor playing rather than her own good playing—olivia and the other rooters whooped loud and long.
mimi hated to lose at anything but when sue put a sweater around her at the end of the match, she knew she had done her best.
“nice match, girls,” miss bassett said in passing.
that helped but something else helped more.
the day mimi lost out, dit moved up to semi-finals. the next day she advanced another bracket and the day she played in the finals the whole school, faculty and all, turned out. mimi had far more than half of them marshalled in her section to cheer for dit. sometimes she was so enraptured watching dit serve and volley and chop that she forgot to yell. someday she would be able to play like dit. dit was no happier than mimi when after three grueling sets she was declared winner.
mimi rushed up with her white sweater and threw it around dit’s shoulders, shouting her congratulations. she took dit’s racquet from her perspiring hands and put it in the brace. then she retrieved the balls and put them in the box before joining the procession which trailed dit in to the showers.
the morning the trophies were awarded in assembly, mimi scrambled for a front seat. she didn’t want to miss a word. she knew she would be able to hear dr. barnes and miss bassett no matter where she sat, but she wanted to hear what dit mumbled. some day she would be winning a tournament and she wanted to know how to accept it. when dit said, “thank you,” and reached out her hand for the trophy, mimi tingled to the tips of her toes.
she was even happier weeks later when the annual was out to make another discovery. instead of her picture on blue boy being in the beauty section by chloe’s, it was in the sports section opposite dit’s. that was even better.
