The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts

She’d wondered if it would be different in the city from the way it had been at home, near Delaney. The way people often ran away from her, Katie thought. Pollard quickly snatched up his papers and edged around her, almost running the rest of the way down. And then, when she had said nothing except, “I’m sorry,” and stared at him, Mr. He had dropped some papers he was carrying, and Katie had stepped on them, after which he had sworn at her. He lived in 3-A, right across from Miss K., and she’d collided with him on the stairs last night, her first whole day at The Cedars Apartments. Katie pressed her face against the cold bars to see who was calling after Miss K. Or, her second choice, blonde like her mother. When she grew old enough to have a choice, she thought she might like to be redheaded, like Miss K. Her hair was an ordinary color, a sort of pale tan that was not quite blonde and not quite brown, and as straight as it was possible for hair to be. Even if she hadn’t had to wear horn-rimmed glasses, she knew that her face was plain. Katie admired pretty people, like Miss Katzenburger and her mother she wasn’t pretty herself. Miss Katzenburger had red hair and was quite pretty. She’d seen which apartment she went into-3-B, one floor up-and had looked at the nameplate beside the door. Katie hadn’t met her yet, but she knew who she was. She saw Miss Katzenburger emerge from the front door below and head toward the street. Except when people were going to work, of course, the way they were now. It was wide and shaded with big trees, and most of the time there wasn’t a lot of traffic. This seemed interesting, however, and it was a nice street. Katie had always lived in the country, and she had liked that.

So for the moment she sat on the balcony, looking through the iron bars that formed the sides of it, and watched the activity in the street. Her mother had been concerned about that, for though there was a park two blocks away, she did not want Katie to go there alone. There was no yard, except for a narrow strip of grass between the parking lot and the street. KATIE SAT ON THE SMALL balcony of apartment 2-A, looking down over the front sidewalk.

The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts