Author's note: This story is the fourth installment of the "Songs About Jane" series, which revolves around Jane Morgan. The first story is "Calamity Jane," the second is "Paint Them a Picture, Jane," and the third is "Queen Jane Approximately." Reading those stories beforehand isn't essential to this one, but they would just some helpful context.


Diana, Age 10

In the fifth grade, Diana is lucky enough not only to have Jane in her class, but Trixie as well. No more stealing a few words in crowded hallways, or only seeing each other at recess- now she has both of her best friends with her all of the time.

What's even more exciting is the Spring Concert that's taking place in April. The Concert is when the entire school comes together and performs musical acts for their families. Kids can sign up to play musical instruments, or dancers can put on a show. But the fifth and sixth graders are the true stars, getting to sing almost all of the songs.

In the week leading up to the Spring Concert, the fifth and sixth grades have practice every day after school. The practice lasts for an hour and a half. But each day after practice, Jane winds up waiting in the parking lot for one of her parents to show.

Diana feels terrible for Jane when it happens. When practice lets out, all the students go to the sidewalk in front of the school, where one of their parents are usually waiting for them. Sometimes, parents are a few minutes late, and the student is waiting for a little bit longer.

Neither of Jane's parents ever show up. Each day, it's the same old story: Jane waits on the sidewalk for her mother or father to appear. Whichever of Diana's parents is there, as well as Mrs. Belden, insist on waiting with Jane, chatting amongst themselves while keeping one eye on the street. After waiting for a half hour, one of the parents introduces the idea of taking Jane to her house rather than waiting for her parents to arrive.

Both parents then let the supervising teacher know they're taking Jane to her house, with one of them vouching for the other's reliability and trustworthiness, on the off chance Jane's parents actually do arrive and worry about her. Assuring Jane all the while it's perfectly fine to accept a ride, the parent then cajoles her into their car and drops her off at home, where both her mother and father's cars are waiting in the driveway.

When the scenario repeats on Thursday, the last practice before the concert on Friday, no one is especially surprised. But Jane is disappointed.

"Jane, sweetheart," Diana's mother says kindly, "Why don't you hop into our car, and we can give you a lift?"

"One of my parents will be here," Jane insists. "They promised, because they weren't here any day before now. They'll be here, you'll see."

In an attempt to distract her friend, Diana brings up a carnival she's heard of. "There's a spring festival going on in White Plains this week. They have rides, cotton candy, a magic show- everything! I really wish we could go."

"That sounds fantastic!" Trixie exclaims, her blue eyes wide.

"That does sound like fun," Jane agrees quietly. "But Bill already asked my parents, and they said no, that the evening traffic in White Plains isn't worth the drive."

Diana nods. "I wish we didn't have the Spring Concert this week, because I would love to go." Privately, Diana is glad the Concert is the same week, as she knows her family wouldn't be able to afford the carnival, even just for one person.

Another few minutes pass. Everyone else is gone; even the teacher who's supposed to be supervising the student pick-up has left.

"Do you want to call your parents at home, Jane?" Mrs. Belden asks. "I have a cell phone with me that you can use."

Jane's face flushes red. "They're not at home. They'd either be at work, or on their way here, and I don't know any of their other numbers."

Mrs. Belden looks at Diana's mother, and Diana can't quite read their expressions.

"Your parents both have cell phones, don't they?" Mrs. Belden persists. "Are you sure you don't know their cell phone numbers? Or maybe you know their office numbers?"

Jane shakes her head silently.

"Maybe they wrote it down for you?" Diana's mother proposes. "I wrote down all of the work phones numbers Diana would ever need to reach her father or me. The list is pinned inside Diana's backpack so she'll never lose it."

"I don't have anything like that," Jane says flatly.

Another look passes between Mrs. Belden and Diana's mother.

"Honey, why don't you get in the car with Mrs. Lynch?" Mrs. Belden gently suggests. "You parents are probably stuck in traffic. But just in case, I'll call on my cell phone to try to reach your parents at home so they don't worry about you."

Without a word, Jane complies, starting toward the Lynch car. They all climb into their vehicles, and Diana and Trixie wave to each other as the cars split up, going in opposite directions. Jane doesn't talk, only stares out the window.

This time, though, there aren't any cars at the Sammael house. The driveway is empty.

"It's okay," Jane says. "Bill is probably home right now, and we're usually left at home alone, anyway."

Diana's mother switches off the car. "Why don't you go and try the door? We'll stay here until you're inside."

Jne obliges, and Diana spends the next several minutes watching Jane try the knob, then knock on the door and anxiously wait for an answer. Eventually, Jane gives up, walking back to the car with her shoulders slumped.

"No one's home," she reports. "And we always lock the back door if we lock the front, so that's no use."

"You don't have a house key?" Diana asks, surprised. She has a key to the apartment, in case of an emergency. If her parents could afford to give her a key, surely Mr. and Mrs. Sammael could afford one to give to Jane.

Face flushing again, Jane avoids eye contact. "They never gave me one. Bill doesn't have one, either." She then changes the subject. "Would you like to wait in the back yard? There are a bunch of trees for shade. Cars heat up so fast."

"That's an excellent idea, Jane," Diana's mother says warmly. "Lead the way."

They only sit in the back yard for a few minutes before they detect the humming motor of an approaching car.

"That's my mom!" Jane exclaims in obvious relief, and she races to the driveway at the front of the house.

Diana moves to follow, but her mother stops her.

"Diana," she says seriously. "I might need to talk to Mrs. Sammael about some things Jane doesn't need to hear. I want to you take Jane inside the house and play with her until we're done. I'll come get you when I'm ready to go."

"Okay," Diana says, though she's not quite certain about what she's agreeing to.

Angry yelling from the front yard interrupts them, bring them to hurry around the house.

"- no idea where you were!" A dishevelled Mrs. Sammael shouts at an oddly blank-faced Jane. "No phone call to me or your father! No one at the school to help! Here I was getting ready to call the police-"

"Excuse me, Elissa," Diana's mother breaks in apologetically but firmly. "It's not fair to be angry with Jane for what happened. I convinced Jane to let me give her a ride home. She wanted to wait for you, but I insisted. Because Jane didn't know any of you or your husband's phone numbers, Helen Belden offered to return to her house and try to contact you. I didn't think anyone would mind me taking Jane home, because a precedent for it had been set in the past few days. We've been waiting here for either you or your husband to arrive, as Jane doesn't have a key to let herself inside the house."

"Oh," Mrs. Sammael says breathlessly. Her usually perfect makeup is smudged, her lipstick smeared at the corners, and she's carrying her suit jacket rather than wearing it. The makeup around her eyes looks somewhat streaky, as though she was crying and hastily tried to clean up. "Oh." She runs her fingers through her loose blonde hair, which is starting to puff and frizz in the humid spring air, and sweat beads on her forehead.

A silence briefly commences, as Mrs. Sammael appears to be absorbing what Diana's mother told her. Jane stares at the ground.

Finally, Mrs. Sammael laughs oddly, wearing a smile that reminds Diana of a plastic doll. "Thank you for explaining to me, Betty." She nudges Jane with an elbow. "If only Jane had told me all of that from the beginning, I wouldn't have had to get so upset. Sorry you had to see that."

A few minutes later, Diana and her mother leave to go to their own home. Mrs. Sammael has already vanished inside the house, but Jane remains outside to wave goodbye to them.


Worried about Jane, Diana spends most of the evening agonizing whether to call her or not. Eventually, she does call, reasoning that if Mr. or Mrs. Sammael answers, she can lie and says she needs to talk to Jane about homework.

However, her worries are in vain, as it's Jane who picks up the phone.

"Are you okay?" Diana asks in a hushed voice. "Your mom seemed so angry."

"I think she's asleep right now," Jane tells her. "She locked herself in her room right after you and your mom left, and she hasn't come out yet. But I know she told Dad about what happened. He's really angry with me. Again."

"But didn't your mom tell him what my mom said?" Diana can't believe Jane's in trouble over something that's not her fault at all. "Didn't you explain what happened?"

"I tried," Jane says, and Diana can picture her shrugging her shoulders as she speaks. "But I don't think my mom really wanted to listen to your mom, and my dad really doesn't want to listen to me."

"I'm sorry, Jane," Diana says desperately, because she really doesn't know what else to say.

"Don't worry about it," Jane tells her. "One thing, though. Could your parents give me a ride to the concert tomorrow?"

"Aren't your parents going to take you?" Diana asks curiously.

"I guess not," Jane replies. "My dad is taking Bill to the carnival in White Plains. He gave Bill his own cell phone today, and right now he's having him call up a bunch of his friends, and invite them, too."

"I thought your parents thought the carnival wasn't worth dealing with the White Plains traffic," Diana says, puzzled.

"I guess it's worth it for Bill," Jane says bitterly.

"And your mother?" Diana is aghast. "Why isn't she going to the Concert?"

"I don't know , Diana." Jane starts to sound impatient. "She just isn't . Look, if your parents can't give me a ride-"

"No, no," Diana says hastily. "Of course we can."

As promised, the next night Diana and her parents go to pick up Jane for the Spring Concert. Once again, Jane is wearing a beautiful dress, and her shoes and headband still manage to be the prettiest Diana's ever seen. She could easily be a princess who just walked out of a fairy tale. Diana feels awful when she looks at her, though, because she knows Jane's life isn't like a fairy tale at all.