Benjamin Ludwig - The Original Ginny Moon

At 9:42 I go to homeroom for Break. Mrs. Wake comes with me.

At 9:55 I go to band practice. Mrs. Wake comes with me.

When I get to the band room she sits down near the door and I go to my music stand and take out my flute. Mr. Barnes the band teacher says that the Harvest Concert will be on Monday, October 18th. He says that we’ll play two songs about autumn and one about Halloween and one about the harvest moon.

At eleven o’clock it’s time for social studies. Mrs. Wake follows me down the hall past the cafeteria and the lockers. She follows me all the way to the social studies room and sits down next to me on my left.

I make sure my mouth is closed so no one can see what I’m thinking.

Ms. Merton the social studies teacher is writing notes on the board. She does that every day. We’re supposed to copy down the notes in our notebook.

I look at Mrs. Wake. “I don’t have my notebook,” I say. And it’s true because my science notebook isn’t with me.

“Where is it?” she says.

“In Room Five.”

Mrs. Wake looks at the board. Ms. Merton has already written three sentences. All the other students are copying them.

“Do you have to write the notes in your notebook?”

“Yes,” I say.

“All right,” she says. “I’ll run back to Room Five to get it. For now, copy the notes on a blank piece of paper. We can staple it into your notebook when I get back. Can you tell me what color it is?”

I think hard again. “Green,” I say. “It’s on my shelf.”

Mrs. Wake leaves. As soon as she’s gone I raise my hand. Ms. Merton sees me and says, “Yes, Ginny?”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” I say.

“Go ahead and sign out,” says Ms. Merton.

So I stand up and go to the doorway and sign out on the sign-out list. I start walking down the hallway toward the library. It is three rooms away. I am almost there when I hear my name. “Ginny?”

I turn around. It is Ms. Merton.

“The eighth-grade bathroom is the other way,” she says. “We’re not supposed to use the one near the library because that one is for teachers.”

I want to say Well dang! Because I’m not going to be able to get on the computer to chat with Gloria. Teachers and Forever Parents have stopped me from using the internet for four whole years. For a while I gave up and tried running away and looking in the phone book but none of those things worked. I have to be a smart cookie and make this work. I’m so mad I want to hiss.

But I don’t. Instead I walk back down the hallway. I pass Ms. Merton and then I pass Mrs. Wake coming out of Room Five.

“Ginny, where are you going?” she asks.

“Ms. Merton said I could go to the bathroom,” I say.

“All right,” she says. “Let’s go fast so we can get back to social studies. Oh, and I found your notebook.” She holds it up so I can see. “It seems to have only your science notes in it, though. Let’s check your backpack to see if the other one is in there.”

8

9:08 IN THE MORNING, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH

On weekends I get up at nine in the morning. It takes me only two minutes or sometimes three to stretch and put on my glasses and my watch and have a drink of water before I come out to go to the bathroom. Then I walk into the kitchen. I am standing in front of the refrigerator listening. I hear nothing. In the refrigerator there are grapes and milk. There are a lot of other things too but grapes and milk are what I need. I need to have nine grapes to start my breakfast and a glass of human milk but it’s a rule that We do not open the refrigerator. And We ask for food when we’re hungry.

I stand there waiting. If my Forever Parents were here they would say I was hovering which is when I stand really, really close to something. And wait.

My Forever Mom walks in. Her hair is still wet and she is wearing makeup. She never wears makeup in the morning unless she’s going somewhere. “Good morning, Ginny,” she says. “Someone is coming to visit today.”

Or if someone is coming to visit.

So I say, “I don’t like surprises.”

“Oh, it’s not a surprise,” she says. “It’s Patrice.”

Patrice understands mostly everything that I tell her. She even understands some things that I don’t say. I like her a lot but she knows how to see into my brain. I have to be careful around her and keep my mouth closed when I’m not talking.

“When will she be here?” I say.

“In about an hour,” my Forever Mom answers. “Around ten. She’s making a special weekend trip to spend a little time with you.”

Patrice has never been to the Blue House. I always went to her office but I would like to show her my room and all my Michael Jackson things and I want to tell her about Gloria and the tire tracks and the Tic Tacs. I will not tell her about my secret plan to go on Facebook or on Manicoon.com at school because she might tell my Forever Parents.

At ten Patrice’s car pulls into the driveway. Patrice gets out. She has her purple fuzzy sweater and her hair is short again. I run out to her car. I give her a hug and neither of us recoils.

“And how is my adventurous friend?” she says.

She is talking about me. She calls me my adventurous friend because she saw me every time I ran away and after what happened with Gloria at the apartment and after I tried to escape from my other Forever Homes. She says I have a lot of adventures.

So I say, “I am fine, thanks.”

I stand there looking at her.

Then Patrice says, “Why don’t you walk me inside, and we can talk with your Forever Mom for a little? Then you can show me your room. And did I hear that you’ll be going to see the tall ships tomorrow?”

I bring Patrice inside and she says hello to my Forever Mom. They talk about the baby in my Forever Mom’s belly. Patrice says to me, “Ginny, are you going to help your mom take care of Baby Wendy when she arrives?”

I don’t know what Baby Wendy will look like but I’m guessing it will wear little overalls. My Baby Doll didn’t have overalls but I wanted to get some for it. Gloria said we couldn’t afford them. Michael Jackson had a chimp named Bubbles who wore overalls just like a real baby. Because when Michael Jackson was little he wanted a chimp so bad that he asked his mother over and over and finally I’m guessing she said yes, okay, fine, Michael Jackson, you can get a chimp. Michael Jackson used to pick Bubbles up just like I used to pick up my Baby Doll. Only Bubbles got so strong that Michael Jackson didn’t have to hold him under his bottom anymore. He tucked Bubbles into bed every night but Bubbles got too big so Michael Jackson had to give him away. Because Bubbles might attack. He gave him away to a zoo and now Bubbles lives in a big cage where he can’t hurt anyone. I saw him on television.

“Ginny?”

“What?”

“Do you think you’d like to help your mom take care of Baby Wendy when she gets home from the hospital?”

“Yes,” I say.

“That’s great!” says Patrice. “You can help pick things up when your mom is holding her. And when the baby is bigger, the two of you can learn how to play together. She’s going to want to be just like you, you know. She’ll want to do all the things her big sister does. Won’t it be fun to be a big sister?”

“Mostly,” I say.

“Good,” says Patrice. “Now, do you know why I’m here, Ginny?”

“Because you want to look at my room?” I say.

“Not quite. I’m here because I want to talk with you about some things. I understand that Gloria came here to the Blue House a few days ago.”

And I say, “She came on Thursday, September 9th, while I was at school. She is completely unreliable.”

I stop talking and make sure my mouth is shut tight. There’s a lot in my brain that I don’t want Patrice to see.