I giggle. “What did your boss say? Did he think you are weird?”
My dad continues to laugh. “Actually, he has a six-year-old daughter who makes him do it everytime they say something at the same time. So, he just linked pinkies.”
Savannah and Dylan come running into the room.
They are really laughing.
They are holding something behind their backs.
“Guess,” Dylan yells. “You’ve got to guess what we have.”
I hate this game right now.
I like to HAVE someone else have to guess, but I don’t like it when I have to be the guesser.
“You’ll never guess.” Dylan is jumping up and down.
Even more than having to guess, I hate being told that I’ll never guess.
Finally, Dylan pulls something out from behind his back.
It’s a lollipop, attached to the back half of a rubber rat.
Savannah has one that is a lollipop, attached to the back half of a rubber frog.
Gross. Really gross.
I have to get one!
“Merry Christmas early,” Savannah says, handing me a badly wrapped present. “Since you aren’t going to be here until after Christmas, we’re giving this to you early.”
It’s a lollipop, with the back half of a rubber fish on it.
I really like it.
“Thank you,” I say.
We all put the lollipops in our mouths and look like we have a fish, a frog, and a rat coming out of our mouths.
It’s truly disgusting…and I really, really like it.
Something tells me that I’m really going to have fun living in the same house with the Marshalls.
Chapter
Fifteen
Dear Amber,
Surprise……. a Christmas card from your old friend, Justin Daniels. (Remember me??????) Mom said I should write to you. (You know that I hate to write. I wish that you still lived next door…. even though the boys around here really tease if a boy is friends with a girl…but we would be friends anyway…you’re still the same…you don’t do anything dumb like collect Barbie dolls or Beanie Babies, do you????)
The package from you and your mom just arrived at our house…. but mom said that we can’t open it until Christmas…. but even wrapped, Danny and I have figured out what you sent us. (We’ve been bouncing the wrapped presents from you around…. the bows came off but it still looks good.) Anyway, we hope that we are right about what’s in there…. and that it is unbreakable…. or my mom is going to be really mad at us.
Only two more days until Christmas…. I can’t wait.
Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
P.S. My parents said that as one of my Christmas presents, I’m going to get a gift certificate to go away to camp this summer. Why don’t you ask your parents if you can go too?
Chapter
Sixteen
Dear Justin,
Finally, FINALLY, a letter from you!
I am soooooooo glad.
Actually, your Christmas card arrived right after Christmas. (Do you still turn your homework assignments in late??????)
A late Merry Christmas and an almost Happy New Year to you! (And Happy Hanukkah to you even though you don’t celebrate it ……I do now……and actually I think it’s great to know about everyone’s holidays…. next year I’m going to learn all about Kwanza.)
There is so much to tell you…. but I’m getting ready to return to my mom’s and my house. (I’m at my dad’s and my house right now.)
I live in two houses now….. it’s not always easy.
Sometimes I want to wear something, and it’s at the other house.
Sometimes I want to finish reading a book, and it’s at the other house.
Sometimes when I’m with my dad, I get homesick for my mom.
Sometimes when I’m with my mom, I get homesick for my dad.
…. And when I’m at one house and not the other, I wonder what I’m missing at the house that I am not at.
Phew.
But I am definitely glad that my dad has moved back.
He’s really sorry that he left, but we’ve talked about that…and I understand it a little better. (I wish that I didn’t have to think about things like my parents’ breakup and how they felt afterwards and why they did the things they do…. but I do, especially with my father.) Sometimes all of this makes me feel more grown-up than I want to be…but what the heck!
At my dad’s house, there is a family that lives upstairs.
I think that you would really like the boy, Dylan….. he’s a couple of years older than us…. but he’s funny a lot of the time. (When he’s not being a pain.) Yesterday, he put half of a plastic rat under my pillow so that when I went to bed and pulled back the covers, there it was. (My screaming scared everyone in the house…. everyone but Dylan, that is!!!!!!!) He’s a real trickster…and a pain, sometimes…. but I think that the two of you would really get along.
Guess what!?!? My ears are pierced!!! I did it without my mom’s permission…I know, Bad Amber! You thought that my ears would have to be closed up……or, even worse, kept open, OR that I could only wear Barney or Barbie earrings. BUT that didn’t happen. I had to repay my dad for the piercing, pay if they got infected (they haven’t), and I can only use the starter pair until I am twelve. I know…you, Justin Daniels, are saying, “Girl stuff. Piercing your ears. Yuck!” But it is important to me.
There’s lots more going on…. but I know that you don’t like to talk seriously, so I talk to Brandi and Kelly about a lot of stuff…and now I can also talk to Brenda, my Ambersitter…. and to Polly and Savannah, the other two kids who live upstairs.
I know that you hate when I say things that sound “mushy,” but I still miss you lots…. and I think it’s a great idea for both of us to go to the same camp this summer. I’m going to BEG my parents to let me go.
So, I hope that you have a Happy New Year…that lots of good and interesting things happen. (And when is your new baby brother or sister going to be born????)
I wish you a Happy New Year…
And I wish me one, too.
Love,
I, Amber Brown Page 6