CHAPTER 1
I was sure happy to say hello to autumn. Not that I didn't like summer, mind you. But this particular year, summer was a roller coaster. A good-bad, up-down, back-and-forth ride, like my sister Janelle had said.
She's the smart one. Even got a few of her stories published in magazines when she was just thirteen years old.
Roxann's real quiet. She's the baby, and I mean that like it sounds. Mama finally gave up trying to get Roxann to stop sucking her thumb.
Except for being in the middle, I never did know quite where I fit in. Till the magic touched my life. Life magic, I call it.
But getting back to that summer, it had been one thing after another. Janelle got famous. Mama lost her job. Daddy came home after being gone a whole year, separated from Mama, and got a new job. And we were a family again.
It was good. And bad. Because it was different. Lots of new rules. That's why I was glad to start school. Or thought I was, till I actually got there.
See, it all started with my sixth-grade teacher. Wanted me to be tested. Said I might have some reading and language delays. That's how she put it.
Mind you, I had never been a shining star in school like Janelle, but I got by. Mama made a big deal about the A's I got on last year's report card to make me feel good. But two of them were in gym and music and the other was for spelling.
So in October, Miss Ross sent a note to my parents. Through the mail, like maybe she didn't trust me to give it to them or something. Said I needed some kind of testing for reading.
Daddy said, "Ain't nothin' wrong with your readin', girl. You just got to do more of it, is all."
Janelle said, "We could start a chapter book tonight, Crystal, if you want." That meant that she'd read a page, then I'd read a page, and so on, and she'd have to help me with the big words. I knew she was trying to be kind, but I felt mad at her for saying it all the same.
Mama sighed. "Better to find out if something's wrong now rather than wait. Might as well have you tested." She smiled, but I knew her teeth would've shown a lot more if I had told her I got an A on a book report or won an English award like Janelle instead.
Maybe Miss Ross was wrong, I thought. I decided to let my strong points defend me. "What about spelling?" I asked Mama. "Stupids don't get A's in spelling."
Mama shook her head and sighed again. "Crystal, nobody said anything about being stupid. Anyway, spelling may be a totally different function. I've known people who can write but can't spell and people who can spell but can't write."
Roxann just sucked her thumb and tended to her new twin dolls, Dennis and Denise. Our Aunt Barbara, who lives upstairs, gave them to her for not crying the first day of first grade.
Right about then, I was wishing my thumb and I were best friends, too. I decided I couldn't wait to ask Aunt Barbara's opinion of getting tested. She was always full of what she called life riddles, little sayings she made up or picked up from other places.
"I'm going to Aunt Barbara's," I said and hurried out before anyone could give me a chore.
Aunt Barbara was making beaded earrings for her friend Ophelia's birthday. They worked together at the public library.
I told her the story about Miss Ross's letter and she said, "There are worse things, and you know, Crystal, sometimes when one door shuts, another one opens."
Before I had a chance to ask her what doors had to do with reading and language delays, she asked, "Gold or silver?" and held up the earr
