When I take the cloth off the baby laughs and laughs again.
I look at Maura. She doesn’t say anything. Her eyes look wet. “How long did you take care of your sister?” she says.
I am confused. “Do you mean Baby Wendy?”
“I mean your Baby Doll.”
“For approximately one year,” I say.
“One whole year,” she says. “While your mother was taking drugs and selling cats and running from the police.”
That wasn’t a question so I don’t say anything.
“And you used to scream whenever the baby wouldn’t stop crying?”
I look at Baby Wendy. It is chewing on its hand. I don’t want to answer but I have to. “Yes,” I say. Because it’s true, 100 percent. That was how I used to get Gloria and Donald to leave my Baby Doll alone.
Maura shakes her head. “It’s too much,” she says. “It’s all just too much at once.”
69
EXACTLY 9:18 IN THE MORNING,
SATURDAY, JANUARY 15TH
“Ginny, I have to feed the baby,” says Maura.
I am in the dining room eating breakfast. I have my cereal and my grapes and my milk.
“So we’re just going to try this, okay? We’ll see if we can get through it. I can’t go upstairs every single time Wendy needs to eat while keeping an eye on you at the same time. So I need you to keep eating. Just keep eating, and don’t stop until you’re done. And when you’re done, bring your bowls and spoon into the kitchen and put them in the sink. Then rinse the bowls out and put the bowls in the dishwasher. Then you can go to your room and start cleaning it up.”
I eat grape number six.
“And your cup, too. Don’t forget your cup.”
I eat grape number seven.
Now Maura is on the couch holding Baby Wendy. I’m not looking at them but I know they’re there. Because I saw them sit down. I always know where Baby Wendy is.
I hear Maura moving. With my eyes I look. The white cloth is over the baby’s head. It is breast-feeding.
“There,” says Maura. “Now, like I said, just keep eating. And by the way, have you seen Wendy’s bunny? The little one with the bow?”
I open my mouth to answer. Cereal falls out. I pick up my napkin quick.
“Never mind,” says Maura. “Just keep eating for now. And when you’re done, go into your room and start cleaning it.”
I finish at 9:21 and stand up. I bring my bowls and spoon and cup into the kitchen. Then I go into the living room and stand in front of her.
“You l—”
“I said to go into your room and start cleaning,” says Maura.
“But y—”
“Ginny, now.”
I turn and walk out of the living room. When I get to the hallway she says, “Wait. I’m sorry. Stay there. Just tell me what you wanted to tell me.”
I stop walking. “You left your purse in the car.”
“In the car? What’s it doing in the car?”
“You left it there.”
“My purse? Wait—you mean the bunny is in the purse?”
I nod my head yes.
“When did I leave it in there? I mean the purse in the car, not the bunny.”
“Yesterday when you picked me up from school.”
“Ginny, just come here.”
I walk into the living room. Maura turns her head and looks at me. Her hands are still under the blanket. “Are you sure my purse is in the car?”
I nod my head yes.
“Of course you are. You keep track of everything. But why didn’t you tell me yesterday? Why did you wait this long?”
But that was two questions so I don’t say anything.
“Sorry. Why did you wait?”
I make sure my mouth is shut tight. I think hard. Then I shrug.
Because after she left her purse in the car I went out to see if the charger to her phone was in it. Sometimes she keeps it in her purse. The phone I got from school yesterday won’t turn on. It’s the exact same kind as Maura’s. I made sure.
So I went outside to the car to look for the charger when she was in the bathroom but when I got there I remembered that if I opened and shut the car door she would hear. But while I was standing next to the car looking through the window I saw the bunny’s ears poking up out of her purse.
Maura is quiet. Then she says, “All right. I see now. When I said I was looking for the bunny, you remembered when I put it in my purse. And then you remembered that I left it in the car.”
I am glad she didn’t ask a question.
“Well, that makes sense. Do you think you could go outside and bring it in for me?”
I nod my head yes. I am excited because now I can look inside the purse. I go to the closet to get my coat.
70
EXACTLY 9:44 IN THE MORNING,
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16TH
There wasn’t a charger in Maura’s purse. I need to find it soon. Or find someone else’s.
We didn’t go to church this morning because Brian is coming home. Grammy is staying with me while Maura goes to get him. When Grammy told me that they would be home by lunchtime I was glad. I have all morning to find a new hiding place for the things in my backpack. So I told Grammy I was going to make my list.
When I got into my room I made my list fast and then I took Kayla Zadambidge’s phone out of my backpack. Her wallet too. I didn’t want to get them from Kayla Zadambidge but I needed to. Because Michelle Whipple pulls her backpack up close to her every time I walk by. I took Kayla Zadambidge’s phone and wallet on Friday in Room Five when she was talking with Larry because I’m guessing I might need some money when I leave to go to Canada. Even though it’s wrong to steal. Her phone and her wallet were together in the front pocket of her book bag. I need to find a better hiding place for both of them because Brian always helps me clean my room. Maura never comes in here anymore.
The house is very quiet. I stand with the wallet and the cell phone in the middle of the room. I look around. I could hide them under my bed. I could put them in my closet. I could put them in one of my game boxes in my closet. I could pick Sorry! or Chutes and Ladders or Life, the Game of Chance. Or maybe even Chinese Checkers. I pick Chinese Checkers because it is my favorite game. Plus it’s the game that Maura used to play with me all the time when I first came to live at the Blue House. Seeing Chinese Checkers makes me feel happy and sad at the same time which is what I feel when I think about stealing or running away or getting kidnapped.
I take the Chinese Checkers box down from the shelf and put the wallet and cell phone inside. Then I put the box back on the shelf and close the door. And sit down with my Snoopy pad to check over my list. It says, Empty garbage in room
Clean room
Put laundry in dryer
Read for exactly 30 minutes
Listen to Michael Jackson
Go outside to get some air