Ginny Moon
Page 29
The one I was going to use to set the kitchen on fire.
“Mrs. Taylor says her dog is going to have puppies,” says Maura.
I look behind her at the stove. The burner is cold and dark.
“Brian—I mean your dad—was thinking of maybe getting a dog this summer when school gets out. He thinks it might be good for you. For all of us. Does that sound like a good idea?”
I think. In my brain I see Gloria’s apartment with the two sets of cages against the wall but the cages are all open and all the Maine coon cats are gone. I look around to see where they went.
Somewhere far behind me a door opens. Tiny feet scamper away.
“Ginny?”
I look up. “Dogs like to play Frisbee,” I say.
“Yes, I suppose they do,” says Maura.
“They like to go in the car with you when you go to the lake.”
“Right.”
“They like to run through the leaves when everyone is outside raking. They like it when you throw snowballs for them.”
“Right again,” says Maura.
“They do not like to be by themselves.”
Maura swallows. “No, they don’t. You’re right, Ginny. You’re right about all those things. I promise that I’ll do my best to let you be more involved. But you have to try, too. I know it’s a struggle, but please try to be less...inward. I know that that’s part of who you are, but...you’ll try, won’t you?” She wipes her eyes and looks away and when she looks back I see that they’re wet. “So what do you think? Is it a good idea for us to get a dog?” She closes her eyes and looks sideways and smiles. And puts her finger up. “No, wait—just the second question.”
“Yes,” I say. “I think that getting a dog would be a very, very good idea.”
Maura puts the towel over her shoulder and measures some rice cereal into the bottom of a baby bottle. She pours a tiny bit of human milk into it and stirs. Then she puts the bottle in a pan of water and the pan of water on the stove.
I pull Wendy closer and look over at my watch. The time is 5:08. The date is still Thursday, January 27th. From now on I’m going to spend a lot more time trying to help out a little more with Wendy. Because even though I come from a different place and my head is different I still have my first name and my eyes are still green. I don’t have to be (-Ginny) if this Forever Family wants me around. I don’t have to be (-Ginny) if they let me do things and help take excellent care of my little sister. My new secret plan didn’t work but mostly that’s okay because in the Aftermath things never add up the way you expect. Plus two wrongs don’t make a right and what I was doing with the dish towel would have made me be (-Ginny) forever. So I’ll stay here at the Blue House until the cows come home which is mostly safer than looking for giant equal signs or waiting for the police.
Which means, I’m guessing, that I’m finally staying put.
* * * * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A lifelong teacher of English and writing, Benjamin Ludwig lives in New Hampshire with his family. He holds an MAT in English Education and an MFA in Writing. Shortly after he and his wife married, they became foster parents and adopted a teenager with autism. Ginny Moon is his first novel, which was inspired in part by his conversations with other parents at Special Olympics basketball practices. His website is available at www.benjaminludwig.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m an adoptive parent as well as a writer, and so in writing this book I’ve worn two hats. It follows that I need to thank all the people who supported my writing, as well as everyone involved in my journey in deciding to adopt. And so, in chronological order—
I’d like to thank my mother and father, who always made it clear that children were to be cherished above all things, and welcomed at every stage of life.
Thank you to Claudio and Liz, who read page after page of my work when the three of us were in seventh and eighth grade. You kept asking for more pages and said you were hooked, but it was I who hung on your words.
Thank you to my undergraduate mentor, Professor John Yount, at the University of New Hampshire, who told me, Don’t teach. Wait tables if you have to, but don’t teach. I taught anyway, but your warning showed me that my writing might be just as important as teaching, perhaps even more so. To Professors Margaret Love-Denman, Mark Smith and Sue Wheeler, also from my undergraduate years at UNH.
I’d like to thank my wife, Ember, for her eagerness to explore foster care and adoption, and for reading so many manuscripts so, so many times. Thank you to Ariane, our daughter, whose love of Michael Jackson inspired Ginny’s.
Thank you to Karen Magowan and Patricia Pettegrow, and all the other social workers at both Maine DHHS and New Hampshire DCYF. Thank you to all the foster parents, adoptive parents and parents of special-needs children I’ve met over the years. You continue to serve as my mentors and role models.
Thank you to Jeff Kleinman, my agent at Folio Literary Management, for responding to Ginny’s voice, and for believing in her. To Molly Jaffa, Director of Foreign Rights at Folio.
Thanks to Russell Dame, who read tirelessly through the manuscript, and whose comments were invaluable in its revision. To James Engelhardt at University of Illinois Press, who offered feedback on an early draft. To Justin Pagnotta and Mark Holt-Shannon from Dover Middle School, both of whom offered insight, support and advice at various stages. To Kate Luksha, Jimmy Roach and Jayce Russell, who read short sections in workshop at the University of New Hampshire. To Ann Joslin Williams, our workshop director.
Thank you to Liz Stein, my editor at Park Row, for celebrating Ginny’s humanity and championing her dignity. And to copy editor Libby Sternberg, proofreader Bonnie Lo, and Amy Jones, Julie Forrest, Sheree Yoon, Stefanie Buszynski and Shara Alexander in marketing/publicity.
We tend to listen to people who shout the loudest, who demand our attention. With all the noise, it’s easy to forget that others aren’t capable of making their needs known. Some people—displaced children, and children in the system, especially—often don’t believe that their needs matter at all. How could they, considering what society has taught them by their experiences? One of my hopes in writing Ginny Moon was to give a voice to people who might, as Ginny does, have trouble self-advocating. I also hope the book inspires people to help kids in foster care. There are an awful lot of them. I’ll have some things to say about these issues at www.benjaminludwig.com.
“Phaedra Patrick understands the soul. Eccentric, charming, and wise… This book will illuminate your heart.”
—Nina George, New York Times bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop
Phaedra Patrick’s debut novel, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, was hailed as “poignant” and “utterly endearing.” Now she returns with Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone, a gem of a novel about family, forgiveness and one man’s second chance at happiness.
Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone
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ISBN-13: 9781460397961
Ginny Moon
Copyright © 2017 by Benjamin Ludwig LLC
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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