Their cubbies were the same, too, side by side, boots on the bottom, coats in the middle. Izzy kept a plastic dinosaur on her top shelf, and Tiffany kept a soft baby brush on her top shelf. But they both had glitter nametags. Same, same--that's the way they liked it.Izzy liked to go outside with Jong in the first group. Tiffany liked to go out with the first group, too. That way they had lots of time to play wild horses. Izzy liked to pretend she was a brown horse, and Tiffany liked to pretend she was a gray horse, but they both liked galloping around the playground, shaking their manes in the wind and neighing.
So when Jong stood by the door and called, "Who's ready to go outside in the first group?" Izzy and Tiffany galloped out the door together. Same, same--that's the way they liked it.But when they needed coats outside, they had to wait. Izzy couldn't zip her jacket by herself yet. Tiffany couldn't either. They knew how zippers slid together. They knew how to pull them up. They practiced and practiced, but their zippers never stayed together long enough to zip. So they sat side by side in their cubbies waiting for Cynthia to help them zip up and take them outside in the second group. Same, same--at least they could wait together.Then one day Tiffany zipped up her coat herself. She lifted the skinny end. She slid it into the thick end. It stayed! She pulled the zipper up. Her coat was on! "Look, Izzy, I did it!" said Tiffany.
Izzy tried to look, but her hands flew up and covered her eyes. And even though Tiffany waited right next to her till Cynthia zipped Izzy up and took them both outside in the second group, Izzy felt sad with little sharp bits of mad mixed in, too. Izzy and Tiffany weren't same, same any more. And Izzy didn't like it.
She told Daddy as soon as they were in the parking lot that night, "Tiffany can do her zipper all by herself but not me."
"That's okay," said Daddy. "You'll do it yourself before you know it."
She told Papa while he buckled her car seat, "Tiffany does her zipper all by herself, but not me."
"Don't worry," said Papa. "You'll zip up your own coat any day now."
But Izzy did worry. She worried all the way home while Daddy and Papa listened to the news. She was so worried that she couldn't eat her dinner, even though Papa made her favorite, chicken and peapods."Isabel," said Daddy, "are you feeling okay?" Izzy just shrugged.
The next day when Tiffany zipped up to go outside, Izzy still couldn't look. She sank back into her cubby, hiding her head under her coat.
"Hey," said Tiffany loud and sharp. "Why don't you look? Izzy, I want you to see!"
Tiffany even stomped her foot, but Izzy would not come out. When Izzy heard Jong call, "Who's ready to go outside in the first group?" she burst into tears."I don't want you to leave me," Izzy cried from the back of her cubby. She rubbed her stocking feet on the cool tile floor. She couldn't see Tiffany, but she could feel Tiffany looking at her.
"I won't leave you," Tiffany said. She sat in her cubby next to Izzy's and waited. They weren't same, same any more, but at least they were still together. Izzy poked her head out from under her coat.
After a minute of waiting, Tiffany said, "You can do your boots. That would make you more ready." Tiffany put Izzy's ladybug boots in front of her. Izzy slid out from under her coat."Wrong feet," she said with a sniffle. Tiffany switched them. Izzy wiped away her last tears, smushed her feet into her boots, and pulled up hard on the loop in back. She could put her boots on all by herself, just like Tiffany. Same, same--just the way she liked it.
Then Izzy got a brave idea. She leaned close to Tiffany. "Maybe you could zip me too," she said."I could try," said Tiffany. Izzy put her arms into her coat. They stood up close together. Tiffany slid the skinny end of the zipper into the thick end, and it stayed. Izzy pulled the zipper up all by herself.
And Izzy and Tiffany galloped outside together, shaking their manes and neighing. Same, same-- 'cause that's the way they liked it.Copyright © 2005 Amy E. Brandt. All rights reserved.
