by Susan Vaught
“Sure, we could pop tar bubbles. It’s hot enough.”
“I was thinking more like the path in the woods, only west, not south, away from the Abrams farm.”
“Okay.” I was about to ask him if he wanted to pick up horse apples to put in the road for cars to hit so their tires would stink, but I realized he was pulling something out of his pocket.
A box, wrapped in purple paper, with a tiny golden bow on top.
He held it out to me, his expression shifting to nervous and worried.
I dropped the slingshot onto the marshmallow bag and took the box. It was months to my birthday. Why was he giving me a present now?
He looked too nervous for me to ask him, so I slid my finger into the paper and unwrapped the box. When I pulled off the lid, I found a leather bracelet inside. Its center held a pretty brass flower, painted white with soft pink tips on the petals, just like clover. On either side of the brass clover flower, one of the bracelet’s leather strands had been strung with shimmering green rocks.
“Those are aventurines,” Peavine said when I touched one smooth stone. “They’re for courage and luck. You got a lot of the first, but I figured you could use some of the second.”
“Yeah, I could,” I whispered, letting the box drop on top of the slingshot and marshmallows and holding on to the bracelet. The soft leather must have been worked a long time before it got turned into jewelry. When I touched the flower petals, they were still cool from being in the box. I fastened the bracelet around my right wrist, since it wouldn’t fit over my cast. As soon as it settled into place, my fingers went straight back to the aventurines.
“They’re green like your eyes.” Peavine sounded less nervous. “That’s why I picked them.”
I looked at him to see if he was kidding.
He wasn’t.
He seemed to be waiting for me to understand something, but I just kept touching the aventurines. Their smooth perfection made my worries feel small and distant and fading, like birds flying toward the sun.
Peavine pointed to the brass clover, then one of the aventurines. “Flower and rock, see? It’s the answer to that question you asked me, out on the playground that day when—you know.”
That day when I kissed him. Yeah, I knew. I stared at him, right at his face. He was standing so close to me that I could have counted his freckles. How many freckles did I have? Had Peavine ever wanted to count my freckles?
My face got hot all over again, and not because I was trying to be mad.
“You asked me if I thought you were more like a flower or a rock.”
“Okay.” I kept my fingers on the bracelet, but my gaze stayed firmly on his face. Had his eyes always been this blue, or did the sun make them brighter?
“Flowers are soft and pretty and bloom over and over again. Rocks are pretty too, but stronger, and they last longer.” Peavine’s grin came so naturally that I had to smile back at him. “I got that bracelet for you because you’re both to me, Footer. You’re a flower, but you’re a rock, too.”
If I kissed him after lunch, he would probably taste like hot dogs, or maybe the sweet brown sugar and bacon from Captain Armstrong’s baked beans.
That would be okay by me.
“A walk would be real nice later,” I said to Peavine.
He kept grinning, and so did I.
Then we went to eat lunch with Mom and Dad and Ms. Jones and Steph and Captain Armstrong and Cissy and Doc, and no copperheads, no walruses, and no serial killers. I thought about taking pictures on my phone like a good journalist, but sometimes pictures don’t say everything, and besides, I didn’t want to be a journalist anymore.
Maybe I could make jewelry like my beautiful bracelet, or be in the army like Dad and Captain Armstrong and join a police department when I got out, or make bright, colored casts like the orthopedist who fixed up my wrist. There was always dancing, too. Maybe I shouldn’t have given up so easily on being a ballerina or a poet or an artist. Social worker recently made the list too, thanks to Steph—or maybe I could just win some lottery money like Ms. Jones. After all, I had luck now, right?
I’m a flower and a rock, I thought as I passed Peavine a plate full of hot dogs and a big, giant helping of baked beans. I held up my bracelet, loving how the green stones winked and glittered in the sun. I’m a flower and a rock, and later I’ll take a walk with my best friend.
That seemed like a pretty great afternoon to me.
Acknowledgments
Writing middle-grade fiction was a new venture for me, and so many people deserve thanks and recognition.
Of course my family gets a nod, for putting up with my writing process, and listening endlessly to all the chapters. Gisele, JB, and Gynni, you are great. Karen, thank you, too, for sitting through all the readings and never beating your head against a wall.
A big, sparkly bow to Stelmo, for reading. Thanks to Judy and Julie and Shannon and Jennifer for encouraging me with my writing. Blushing appreciation to Charlotte and Mom and Lindy and Valerie for being proud to show people my books. Massive hugs to Rondell and Tina for giving me social-work advice and opinions, and special kudos to Chris, who answers every technical and mechanical question I come up with—and without ever laughing at me! Thank you, Jim, for keeping my spirits up during a dark time.
For my wonderful agent, Erin—what can I say? You knew I wanted to do this, and you knew I could, and you held my hand. Thank you so much for searching with me until we found the right thing for me and for my writing. Sharyn, thank you for breaking the Facebook wall and giving me encouragement, too. One day when the time and the story are right . . .
And now for Sylvie, my editor. I’m so happy to be working with you! I can’t express enough gratitude to you for taking the chance, fighting for my book, finding a title I didn’t hate, and being SO EASY to work with, on little things and big things and everything in between. I love your style and your feel for character and voice, and your willingness to teach me in this area I know so little about. Thank you also for the cool mailer, for using the actual U.S. Mail to reach me in rural Kentucky, and for thinking my giant dog is adorable. And big. Yes, he’s big. I promise to find someplace the monster can’t reach, so I never have to actually call you and tell you the dog ate my edits (hey, it was a near miss).
Author’s Note
From the Notebook of Sylvie Frank, Editor (‘Cause Ms. Malone is right, interview notebooks are totally fun
Interview of Susan Vaught, Author (who really did want to be a detective and an astronaut and a dancer and a painter, but turned into a psychologist and a writer instead)
Location: In her living room, in her cabin in the woods, on the telephone next to her parrot’s cage (hello, noisy parrot!)
Editor: Let’s start with a hard one. Why’d you write this book?
S. V.: Because walruses are creepy.
Okay, okay. I wrote this book for the same reason I write all my books—characters start talking in my head, and I really want to give them a story. Footer didn’t just talk in my head, she drew, so that made this extra-special fun as I worked on it. The sketch of the doodlebug started it all, and Footer’s opinion that whoever named her town after lice was not right in the head.
Editor: Is any of this story based on real life?
S. V.: When I was eight years old, in Corinth, Mississippi, my mother actually did shoot a snake off our back pond using my stepfather’s elephant gun. It sounded like enemy aircraft had dropped a bomb in the yard. The windows shook, leaves fell—and Mom knocked herself backward up several steps and badly bruised her shoulder. None of us could hear right for a week. Neighbors came to check to see what on earth had happened, and everybody got a huge laugh out of it. The snake was dead. Really, really dead. Have to give her that much!
Editor: Footer’s mom has bipolar disorder, and Footer worries that she might also have it. First of all, what is bipolar disorder? And second, is her fear justified?
S. V.: To answer your first question, th
e National Institute of Mental Health defines it as “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They are different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through from time to time. Bipolar disorder symptoms can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives.” Translation: big ups and downs in mood that can cause a lot of trouble for people experiencing them, and their friends and family. And to answer your second question, 5.5 to 6 million people in the United States are diagnosed with this disorder, which comes to 2.5 to 3 percent of the adult population. It does often run in families. If a parent has bipolar disorder, there is a higher risk that the children will have it—about one out of every ten children with a parent who has bipolar disorder will also have it (around 10 percent). If both parents have it, then the odds jump to 30 percent. So sure, Footer is within bounds to worry. She has a 10 percent chance of getting the disorder—but she has a 90 percent chance that she won’t. The odds are in her favor.
Editor: When will Footer know if she’s going to have bipolar disorder?
S. V.: That’s a harder question to answer. Most people develop symptoms that doctors recognize around age twenty-five. Some people do get symptoms earlier, even in childhood. Others get symptoms later. It’s an uncertainty Footer’s going to have to live with for a while.
Editor: If Footer gets bipolar disorder, is everything going to be horrible for her?
S. V.: No, but having bipolar disorder isn’t easy. She would face more challenges, but with education and medication, bipolar disorder can be managed just like other medical illness, like diabetes or hypertension.
Unfortunately, many societies, including our own, are still not accepting or understanding of brain disorders. In the United States we have tended to think like Footer’s teacher Ms. Perry and literally lock away groups of people who are different from other people. Until the 1980s, if somebody was born with intellectual impairment or brain impairment, they were placed in institutions, never given any choices or options in their own lives, and never allowed to be out in society for people to begin to learn about their challenges or strengths and to see how much they can contribute to our world.
Editor: Is this changing?
S. V.: Yes! The United States is beginning to join with other countries in adopting the Recovery Model, which is more about building supports to make sure that anyone with a brain disorder can get the treatment he or she needs, help people understand and cope with these disorders, and help people make choices and become productive in their own lives. It is also about getting rid of all the unnecessary challenges people face due to society’s attitudes, lack of knowledge, and fears and prejudice.
Editor: How do you know all this stuff?
S. V.: I have two jobs! Being a writer is one of those. Most days, though, I work at my other job as a clinical neuropsychologist. I have a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and intellectual disability research, and I specialize in helping people who have severe brain disorders due to genetics, injury, or severe mental illness. So I keep up with all the latest research and information. You don’t have to go to school to be a doctor to learn a lot of what I know, though. You can look at the links I put together, right after this note.
Editor: Okay, okay, but now the REALLY important questions. Does Footer have bipolar disorder? Does her mom keep getting better? Does she marry Peavine and get to be a journalist?
S. V.: Well . . . if Footer does have bipolar disorder, she’ll still have an amazing life because it’s manageable and she’s an amazing person. If Footer’s mom can keep working with her doctors and find treatment that works for her and that she can adhere to, she’ll be able to be the mom Footer believes she needs. As for Footer and Peavine, well, I’m definitely rooting for them.
Further Reading
Books and E-Books
Nonfiction
Covey, Stephen R. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Free Press, 1989.
Grass, Gayle. He Shoots! He Scores! Perth, ON: Iris the Dragon, 2010.
SANE Australia. You’re Not Alone: A SANE Guide to Mental Illness for Children. Australia: SANE Australia, 2003.
Fiction
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. New York: Macmillan, 1998.
Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: HarperTeen, 1999.
Trueman, Terry. Inside Out. New York: HarperTeen, 2004.
Vaught, Susan. Freaks Like Us. New York: Bloomsbury, 2012.
Websites
CAMH
www.camh.ca/
Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health offers a guide just for kids who have parents with bipolar disorder, answering a lot of common questions.
Iris the Dragon
www.iristhedragon.com
Iris the Dragon offers a number of free e-books on mental health issues, designed for younger people.
Mental Health Reporting
depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php
The University of Washington’s social work department has a wonderful mental health reporting website, to help people who are learning about mental health and disorders sort out fact from myths. They do it “by the numbers,” summarizing actual research results.
NIMH
www.nimh.nih.gov
The mission of the National Institute of Mental Health, “Envisions a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured.” This site has a lot of free information booklets about disorders and also discusses all the research being done to cure them in the United States and worldwide. Parts of the website are pretty technical and heavily science oriented.
SAMHSA
http://www.samhsa.gov
In their own words, “The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA’s mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities.” The website is packed full of information about recovery and resources, and they have a great newsletter.
SANE
www.sane.org/sane-media
SANE Australia has a lot of good guides about mental illness, written for people of all ages. You can read about mental illness overall, or about each specific disorder. You can read guides for people who have family members or friends experiencing problems, or guides for you, if you have a brain disorder.
SUSAN VAUGHT is the author of many books for teens, including Trigger, which Horn Book called, “Poignantly affirming of life and love” in a starred review, and which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Insanity; My Big Fat Manifesto; and Freaks Like Us. She works as a neuropsychologist at a state psychiatric facility, specializing in helping people with severe and persistent mental illness, intellectual disability, and traumatic brain injury. She lives on a farm with her family in rural western Kentucky.
A Paula Wiseman Book
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2015 by Susan Vaught
Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Jennifer Black Reinhardt
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by John Hendrix
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Book design by Laurent Linn
The text for this book is set in Minister Std.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vaught, Susan, 1955–
Footer Davis probably is crazy / Susan Vaught.
pages cm
“A Paula Wiseman Book.”
Summary: Eleven-year-old Footer and her friends investigate when a nearby farm is burned, the farmer murdered, and his children disappear, but as they follow the clues, Footer starts having flashbacks and wonders if she is going crazy like her mother, who is back in a mental institution near their Mississippi home.
ISBN 978-1-4814-2276-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4814-2278-9 (eBook)
[1. Mental illness—Fiction. 2. Arson—Fiction. 3. Missing children—Fiction. 4. Family life—Mississippi—Fiction. 5. Friendship—Fiction. 6. Mississippi—Fiction. 7. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.