“I’ll have an answer for you within the week. It’s the best we can do,” Mama said. “Sit tight, pray, and be careful with your spending.”
Louise pictured Mama putting on her Sunday best and going to see Reverend Thompson at his home. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, God, please help me. Please help the good people of Malden find it in their hearts to help me again.”
“Excuse me, are you all right?”
Louise opened her eyes to find Betty Robinson gazing at her from where she stood outside the telephone kiosk.
A sheepish expression crossed Betty’s face. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to rush you. I just saw you lower your head . . .”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Louise slid out of the telephone kiosk and stood. The two women looked at each other uncertainly.
“I’m Betty.” She held out her hand.
“I know who you are. I’m Louise,” she said, taking Betty’s small hand in hers.
“Were you calling home?”
Louise nodded.
“Any luck?”
Louise shook her head. “I won’t know until next weekend. My church will try to raise the money. They paid for me to get here, so I don’t know if there will be more. It’s a lot to ask. Especially because I haven’t qualified for an individual event and am only being considered for the relay.”
“But you did well in the individual hundred-meter. Didn’t you win all your heats?”
“Not the final one. I almost fell and came in last, so I’m nervous. Back in ’thirty-two when I went to Los Angeles as a member of the relay pool, I never raced. What if that happens again? I hate to ask my neighbors to pay all of this money and not even race.”
“I know.” Betty bit her lip and whispered, “I’m being considered for only the relay too, but I can’t ask my family for anything more. They’ve been supporting me in so many ways for too long.”
“So what will you do?”
“It might be a long shot, but after Amsterdam, I was given many lovely gifts.” She raised her hand and a diamond set on a gold band sparkled on her finger. Louise inhaled sharply, admiring it. “Yep, this ring, a diamond watch, some gold charms, and a few other really beautiful expensive pieces of jewelry, and of course, my gold and silver medals. I’m going to ask my brother-in-law to sell it all for me. Maybe it will be enough to get me to Berlin.”
“Your medals? You’re going to sell them too?”
Betty grimaced. “I’ve worked too hard to give up now. I’m not sure if it will be enough, but . . .” She cleared her throat. “I’ve got to try.”
“I hope your plan works.”
“Thank you. I hope you get good news too.”
Louise said goodbye and walked across the shiny marble floor, but slowed as she neared the elevators. She couldn’t bring herself to go upstairs and see Tidye. Not yet. She envied her friend’s guaranteed spot with an intensity that frightened her. Why was this system so unfair? Why did everything always become so difficult? She had done what she was supposed to do; in Providence, she had made it to the finals of the 100-meter sprint. That was supposed to guarantee her a spot to Berlin, so why did the AOC constantly rewrite the rules?
She dropped to a chair and stared at the worn toes of her black pumps. Beside her feet lay a postcard of the Statue of Liberty that someone must have dropped. She picked it up and fanned herself with it. On top of everything else that was going wrong, why did it have to be so dreadfully hot?
“Louise?” Caroline appeared in front of her.
Surprised, Louise clutched at her chest as she took in Caroline’s tear-streaked face. “Oh no, you’re having trouble finding the money to go too?”
Caroline bit her lip and lowered the suitcase in her right hand to the ground. “I’m going home to Chicago. Dee just told me that even if I raise my own funds, the AOC isn’t inviting me to Berlin. My fourth-place finish in the hurdles wasn’t good enough. They’re betting on Tidye and Anne instead.”
Louise’s hand rose to her mouth in shock. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am too.” Caroline’s blue eyes grew shiny with tears. “But now it’s your chance. When you get to Berlin, give ’em hell, you hear?”
Louise’s throat tightened, and she felt her own tears starting down her cheeks as she rose to embrace Caroline. “This is so unfair. We will miss you terribly.”
“The good news is that I’ll get a big happy welcome from Howard and Joan. If nothing else, I’ve shown my daughter that girls can train hard too.”
When Louise and Tidye had been stuck in that awful attic room in Denver, it had been Caroline who climbed all of those flights of stairs to bring them dessert. This woman who had once leapt out of a plane to earn the money to sponsor her Olympic dreams, this woman who had set a world record alongside Babe Didrikson in Los Angeles, who should have won a gold medal in the hurdles in 1932—she was being sent home. What a fickle business this was! They worked so hard, but everything could be lost in an instant; if there was one person who understood this, it was Louise.
“Joan’s lucky to have you.” Despite the heat and humidity, she squeezed Caroline tightly, breathing in her lavender-scented powder.
WHEN LOUISE RETURNED to her room, Tidye was there, lying across one of the double beds reading a newspaper, wearing only her slip. Pearls of perspiration balanced on her upper lip. Despite the open window, the damask curtains didn’t budge and the air felt stagnant. She looked up at Louise. “How’d your call go?”
“I’ll know more by the weekend.” Louise sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off her shoes. She sighed. “I guess you saw Caroline pack her things?”
“Isn’t it awful that she can’t come? I tell you, this whole business brings so much heartbreak. Why do we do this to ourselves?”
Louise shook her head and unbuttoned her damp blouse to pull it off. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. When we didn’t end up racing in Los Angeles, did you ever wonder if it was all worth it?”
“Sure, I’ve thought about that a lot, but even though I felt shattered, I wasn’t ready to give up. This has become about more than running for me. I want people to see us out there, competing for our country. I don’t want to quit until I’ve been seen for what I’m worth.”
“Yeah, but you’re lucky. You’ll get to show them what you’re worth in Berlin.” The words were out of her mouth before she knew it. Calling Tidye lucky wasn’t fair. It dismissed all of her perseverance and effort.
Tidye’s lips pressed together but she said nothing. Instead, she moved to her suitcase, rifling through its contents while a long silence yawned between them. Louise felt short of breath. Why couldn’t she apologize and correct what she had just said?
Tidye straightened and held out a yellow dress. “I’ve gotten a note from Ralph Metcalfe, a friend of mine from Chicago who’ll be racing in the men’s trials this weekend. He’s invited us to meet up with some of those fellas who’ve gotten into town. Come on, put on a dress, something for a night out on the town. We need to get out of here.”
Louise sighed, torn between the temptation to confess she could barely afford to rub two pennies together and wasn’t in the mood to go out, and wanting to make amends. “You’re right, we could use a good caper. It would be a shame to let this beautiful dress that Emily made me languish in my valise.”