Chapter 11: Come On, Corrie!
That evening...
"What are you doing?"
"Well, mice are said to be rather fond of certain types of coagulated milk products," Katie explained matter-of-factly, continuing to crumble the bits of yellow-orangey stuff she was holding. "And I want to see if my dream was a dream or not. So I'm putting out bits of coagulated and processed milk product for the mouse I saw last night." She put the last pieces on the floor by the door and stood, then walked to the dresser and picked up a brush.
"That is cheese, right?" said Coraline cautiously.
"Yes."
Coraline shook her head. "Katie, you really are a dork."
"Gee..." Katie pretended to sigh disappointedly. "I was hoping that you could come up with something a little more original. Really, Coraline, as my sister you ought to be able to do that."
Coraline rolled her eyes. "So do you think the whole 'danger' thing we got from the neighbors is weird?" she asked, bouncing up and down on her bed.
Katie was brushing her hair. "Well," she said slowly. "Sort of. I mean, yeah, it's weird, but I'd be willing to bet that those actresses are like that most of the time, Mr. B seems like he's not all there, and as for Wybie, well, he's just strange."
"Speaking of the actresses," Coraline said, crossing her arms, "I heard you say, 'They're that kind of actress.' What's that supposed to mean?"
Katie froze. Oops, shouldn't have said that, she thought. Good job, Katie. Now you have to deal with a curious little sister who doesn't need to know any of that stuff yet. If ever.
"Um...how long does it take for poison oak to go away?"
Coraline groaned and scratched her hand. "You just had to remind me of that. Thanks a bunch. Why do you like Wybie?"
Katie—who had been about to mentally congratulate herself that she had successfully changed the subject—put the brush back on the dresser and stared at her sister. "This must be rush hour on the Subject Change highway. First going from cheese and dorks to danger, and then from poison oak to Wybie? You're random tonight."
"Yup, I'm the queen of randomness. So why do you like Wybie?"
"What makes you think I like Wybie?" Katie asked, puzzled.
Coraline shrugged. "I don't know, it just seems like you do."
"Even if I did, why do you care?" Katie said curiously. She began to smile. "Are you jealous?"
"No!" Coraline yelled. "He is so annoying!"
Katie sat down on her bed, facing Coraline. "No comment," she said dryly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Coraline said suspiciously.
"It means that I'm not going to say that's exactly how some couples at my school started out. Thinking each other were extremely annoying," Katie said airily. "So, no comment."
"Argh!" Coraline slid off her bed and scrambled towards Katie.
"No wrestling on the bed!" Katie yelled as she jumped out of the way, out into the middle of the room. "It's dangerous!"
"Like I care!"
"Oof! Not the Corrie linebacker tackle!"
"Admit it, you always knew I was good at football!"
"Yeah, for such a skinny little thing! How on earth do you manage to successfully tackle people when you weigh all of eighty-three pounds and stand four feet four inches tall?"
"Maybe I'm just good at it!"
"Yeah, right!"
The two girls rolled back and forth several times.
"Ugh, I surrender, let me up!" Coraline was on the bottom.
"Only if you say you'll come with me tonight." Katie was on the top, laughing.
"Come where?"
"To the other world. You know, with the perfect parents and food that actually tastes good?"
Coraline groaned. "Aw, Katie, that's only a dream."
"Then it shouldn't be too hard to promise," Katie pointed out.
"Fine. I'll come with you to your non-existent perfect world. Now will you let me up?"
Squeak.
"Mmm..." Katie rolled over. "Wha ma hoddog squeegen...?"
Squeak, squeak.
"Huh...wha...oh!"
Katie came fully awake in time to see three mice hop through the crack in the door. One picked up a cheese crumble between its little paws and hopped back out.
"Corrie, Corrie, wake up, it's happening again!" Katie yelled excitedly, but quietly. She tried to leap out of her bed, but ended up tumbling out instead, tangled up in her sleeping bag. The resulting thud roused Coraline—to some extent.
"Fie mo minnis," she said sleepily, and closed her eyes again.
"Nope." Katie disentangled herself from the sleeping bag, crawled over to Coraline's bed, and stood up to pull back Coraline's sleeping bag. The younger girl protested unintelligibly. Katie paid her no mind.
"You promised, and you'll come, even if I have to carry you." Katie looked Coraline over. "Which I guess I have to."
After some awkward contortions and more sleepy murmuring from Coraline, Katie got her barely-conscious sister onto her back. Looking over at the door, she saw that the last mouse was holding the last bit of cheese and watching her intently. If Katie, as a dork, hadn't known it was anatomically impossible, she would have thought the mouse was grinning. Then it hopped away through the door.
"Okay, show time." Katie followed the mouse, pushing the door open with her foot and nearly losing her balance in the process. She didn't notice that, like the night before, the window showed a misty spiral instead of a night sky. When she—and Coraline, who was mumbling something about fourth down—reached the top of the stairs, Katie saw that all three mice were waiting on the first landing and looking up. Once they saw her, they hopped down the stairs.
Katie groaned. "I can't go that fast carrying her! Wait up!" She slowly made her way down to the landing. "I can't believe I'm talking to mice." Turning to descend the rest of the staircase, she realized that the mice were once again waiting for her at the bottom. Now they hopped off down the hallway, in the direction of the living room and the little door.
"Well," Katie whispered in surprise. "I didn't actually think they'd wait for me. Maybe they can understand what I'm saying?" Carefully she went down the last two pieces of staircase and set off down the hall. When she entered the living room, the mice were all waiting in the middle.
"Thank you."
Squeak.
Squeak.
Squeak.
And they hopped over to the door and through the crack. Katie walked over and carefully set Coraline down, propped up against the wall, then crouched down so they were face to face.
"Okay Corrie, time to wake up. I can haul you out of bed, I can carry you down the stairs and into the living room, but I can't push you through the tunnel."
"Unngh..."
"Wake up!" Katie gently shook her sister.
"Whazza hooza? Where am I?" Coraline rubbed her eyes.
Katie rolled hers. "You're in the living room, silly."
"How did I get down here?"
"I carried you."
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh, and I am not letting you start arguing. It's time for you to keep your promise."
Coraline groaned. "Katie, that world doesn't exist."
"Oh yeah? Watch this." Katie pulled Coraline over until she was sitting in front of the door, then grabbed the door and yanked it open. Light streamed out, turning the girls' skin blue and purple and pink, and out of the tunnel came the faint silvery sound Katie had heard the night before. At the end they could see the crack of light made by the other door.
Coraline's mouth dropped open. "That's—that's—that's impossible!"
Katie laughed quietly. "I told you it was there. After you." She gave Coraline a little push.
"Oh no, no, I couldn't possibly, it's your world after all," Coraline stammered, scrambling backwards. Katie reached out and grabbed her.
"You promised," the older girl pointed out.
"There is that," Coraline admitted. She slowly crawled into the tunnel. Katie followed her, smiling. When they reached the other end, Coraline pushed open the door and crawled out. "We went in a circle," she said confusedly, standing up and looking around.
"That's what I thought too," said Katie, standing up herself. "But look at the painting above the fireplace."
Coraline looked. "So?"
"So, he's happy. Look at him. He's licking his ice cream cone with a smile. Not crying because it fell."
"Huh. What's that humming?"
"Isn't it pretty? That's the Other Mother. Let's go see what she's cooking tonight."
"Okay," Coraline said doubtfully.
"You'll like her, I promise." Katie thought a moment. "At least once you get past the button eyes." They walked down the hall and through the dining room, which tonight was dark, and stopped at the kitchen door.
The kitchen table was set for four. In the center was a large basket lined with a white napkin and piled high with various types of large muffins. There were also a pitcher of orange juice, a container of syrup, and a stick of butter on the table. On the counter behind the table was a huge stack of waffles next to a wafflemaker.
The Other Mother was standing at the stove, humming. Tonight she wore black pants with a thin red band above the cuff, red slippers, and a black hip-length dress with small white polka dots and red trim. When she turned and smiled, they could see that over the dress she wore a dark pink apron that tied in the back and had a thin white scalloped edging, as did the triangular pocket on one side.
"Welcome back, Katie. Hello, Coraline."
"Geez, you weren't kidding about the eyes," Coraline whispered. Katie elbowed her.
"Hi," Coraline said nervously.
"Hi!" Katie exclaimed, walking over. Coraline followed her.
"So thoughtful of you to send this nice cheddar, girls," said the Other Mother.
"Cheddar?" Coraline asked. She and Katie looked down. On the stove were two frying pans. One held small sausages that were browning; the other, the one directly in front of the Other Mother, was full of cooking scrambled eggs. The Other Mother was grating cheese onto the eggs.
"Oh!" Katie said in understanding, and whispered to Coraline, "The mice bait."
The Other Mother finished grating, tapped the grater to loosen any stuck bits of cheese, and set it down on the counter. She turned to the girls. "Would you go fetch your father? I bet he's hungry as a pumpkin by now," she said brightly.
Katie and Coraline looked at each other. "You mean our other father," Katie said, emphasizing the "other."
The Other Mother held up one finger with a slight frown. "Your better father, dears." She smiled again and gestured toward the window. "He's out in the garden."
Coraline looked at her quizzically. "But our parents don't have time to garden."
"Sh sh!" The Other Mother reached into a bowl on the counter and pulled out two strawberries. She popped one into each girl's mouth.
"Mmm!" Coraline and Katie exclaimed, looking happily at the ripe, tasty, dark red berries they held.
"Go on," the Other Mother said laughingly, gently prodding them. Katie and Coraline finished their berries with smiles as they walked off toward the side door, which would lead them to the garden.
The "I'm the queen of randomness" was intended as a belated birthday present for a faithful reviewer who has since changed her name.