The Party

"Now everyone gets a piece and whoever finds a turquoise ring in theirs get to keep it," announced Agatha Samuels as she passed out the pieces of plum pudding to the girls. Marjorie grabbed hers and crammed it into her mouth in a way that made several of the girls giggle.

"This is lovely!" Marjorie exclaimed, between mouthfuls. "Did you bake it?"

"No, mum did. I am learning to cook though and she'll teach me some more over the holidays," said Agatha, delicately taking a sip of tea. "Mum says that a young lady should know how to cook."

Marjorie quickly lowered her head, apparently to brush the crumbs from her dress, but Lucy saw the way her eyes filled up and leaned over to whisper, "Do come over on Christmas Day, Marjorie. Mum or Su will teach you to cook plum pudding."

Marjorie nodded and quickly took another bite of her pudding. Then she gave a little gasp and took out something blue and shining. "The ring!" she gasped. "I got the ring!"

Marjorie held up her ring for everyone to see and several of the girls gave Marjorie jealous looks, especially a girl named Elizabeth Bennett, who had just bought a turquoise-colored dress and had really wanted some jewelry to go with it.

"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Susan.

Privately Lucy thought that the ring couldn't even begin to compare to Narnian jewelry, but it was pretty enough in its' own way.

Marjorie tried to put it on. But the ring was much too small for her plump hand.

'The slipper doesn't quite fit, does it, Cinderella?" asked Elizabeth with a small smile.

Marjorie turned slightly red at this but Susan glared at Elizabeth and told Marjorie, "You can take it to the jewelry store and get it fitted."

"Now let's stop bothering with rings and such nonsense and play a game," said Agatha impatiently. "My older sister heard of this game in America and she thinks it is great fun. It's called Truth and this is how you play: We choose a girl and she gets asked three questions. She has to answer them no matter what they are."

"Oh, but we already know everything about each other," complained Anne Featherstone. Then her face lit up. "Why don't we ask the new girls?" She turned to Lucy and Marjorie with a smile. "I'll ask Marjorie the first question. If you could look like anyone in the world, who would you want to look like?"

Marjorie bit her lip for a second. "Susan," she finally said. The girls all burst into laughter and Susan turned rather red.

"Sweet girl! Be happy with how you look. I think you look perfectly well," she protested but anyone could see that she was pleased.

"Yes, you do look perfectly well, dear," said Elizabeth. "Especially in Susan's dress."

There was more laughter and Marjorie looked around uncertainly as if unsure whether to laugh with them or not.

"All right, now I'll ask," said Agatha Samuels. "Which boy do you like best of all?"

Marjorie took a deep breath. "Edmund," she confessed, blushing. There was even more laughter.

"Which Edmund?" Not my horrid brother!" exclaimed Susan with surprise.

At that Lucy looked like she was about to say something but closed her lips tightly instead.

"Really Marjorie, I don't know what you see in that child. He has no idea how to behave around girls," said Emily with a sniff.

At that Susan frowned and hurriedly said, "I'll ask the next question. What is you fondest wish?"

Marjorie paused. She knew what her fondest wish was. It was to have a mother. But she realized that she didn't want to tell these girls about it. Would they laugh at even that, or even worse, pity her?

"My fondest wish," she lied. "Is to go to the next party Agatha has, especially if it's as wonderful as this one."

At those words, Lucy once again opened her mouth, then, closed it abruptly.

"Oh, you sweet dear!" gushed Agatha.

"Now, let's ask Lucy," said Anne Featherstone.

Lucy sighed. She didn't want to play this silly game. She didn't want to tell her biggest secrets and have the girls laugh at them. She didn't want to be here.

"Who do you think is the most handsome boy in the world?" asked Anne eagerly.

Lucy smiled. She knew how to answer that one. "My brother, Peter," she said confidently.

Some girls chuckled, but this time there was less laughter because most of these girls privately agreed with Lucy. However, Susan gave an impatient sigh and said, "Must we keep speaking of my family?"

"All right, Su, we won't," said Agatha peacefully. "Lucy, what do you do when no one is watching?"

Immediately, thousands of answers came to Lucy's mind. She thought of finding her favorite stars in the Narnian night sky. She thought of quietly speaking to Aslan and knowing he could hear her even when he was far away. She thought of wandering through the Narnian woods at night, but then she wasn't really alone then. And she thought of the things she did in this world all alone. How she cried into her pillow, when she longed for Narnia so much she didn't think she could bear it. How she wrote letters to Mr. Tumnus, letters that she knew he'd never receive. How she practiced Narnian dances in her room when Susan was at a party.

But instead Lucy gave another answer. A truthful answer, but, also a safe answer. The easy way out. She said, "I love to hug coats."

Of course, the girls found this rather amusing and Lucy felt that she was really quite close to losing her temper at this point. Susan saw this and hurriedly said, "I'll ask you the next one."

"No, let Marjorie," said Anne. "She hasn't really had a turn at asking."

"All right," Marjorie said. "Oh, dear, what shall I ask?"

Just a moment ago she had been thinking up thousands of delicious questions to ask the others, but now that she had to ask Lucy, none seemed to fit. And all the girls were staring at her and waiting. Marjorie bit her lip and her gaze fell onto her shiny black shoes that she had gotten from her father last Christmas. And then she asked the first thing that came into her mind.

"What was the best Christmas gift you ever got?"