I want him to run to the bed. I want him to say Oh my goodness, we missed you so much! and I want Maura to hold my hand. Like she used to.
Instead they tell me that Baby Wendy is with Grammy and Granddad.
I look at Maura. Her mouth is a thin tight line.
“Can you tell us what happened?” says Brian.
So I say, “Gloria tried to take me up to Canada.”
“Did she try to force you into the car?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get away?”
“I said no and yelled.”
“You did?” says Maura.
I nod my head yes.
“Why?” she says. Then her voice gets louder. “Why, Ginny? Because we know you set the whole thing up. We found the cell phone outside your window. You’ve been trying to go with Gloria ever since you found her on Facebook. So why the hell didn’t you go with her when you finally had the chance? Why?”
I don’t say anything. I try to be calm. Brian looks at the door and then back. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” he says to Maura.
“It doesn’t matter? Of course it matters! I want to know why she didn’t go! I want to know why, after lying and stealing and setting the whole thing up, she didn’t go through with it!” Then she looks at me. “Gloria still has your Baby Doll, doesn’t she? Gloria still has little Krystal, right? So why are you still here?”
My throat is tight and that was two very different questions but I know I have to tell them. “Because my Baby Doll is six years old,” I say.
“You saw her, then,” says Brian. “Your sister was there when you went to see Gloria.”
I nod my head yes.
“But you didn’t get in the car with them.”
I shake my head no.
“Tell us why again,” says Maura. “Explain it.”
“Because she’s not a baby anymore,” I say. “My Baby Doll doesn’t need me.”
“That’s it?” says Maura. “That’s why you didn’t get in the car?”
I nod my head yes again. “Plus I know Gloria’s going to get caught.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she’s completely unreliable.”
“Humph,” says Maura. “What did she say when you said you weren’t going?”
“She said I was a real piece of work and a handful. She said I’m too much and she’s just not enough.”
“Really?” says Brian.
Maura steps backward. Her eyes get big like Ms. Carol’s and a space opens between her lips. “Really?” she says.
And that was the same question twice from different people but still I say, “Yes.”
Then Brian says, “It sounds like she was angry.”
“She was very angry,” I say.
“What did she do after that?”
“After what?”
“After she said you were a real handful,” says Brian.
“She told me to have a nice life.”
“I don’t believe it,” Maura says.
And again Brian says, “Really?”
I nod my head yes.
“Then that’s it,” says Brian. “So it’s all over?”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” says Maura. “Not yet. But right now we need to know where Gloria went. Ginny, do you know? Do you know where they were going? We really need to find out.”
I keep my mouth shut tight. Then I shake my head no. Because I don’t want to help the police catch Gloria. I don’t want to be the one who helped find her. The police can do that without me and then my Baby Doll—Krystal with a K—will be safe.
“Well, we’ll let the police figure that out,” says Maura. “You’ll talk with Patrice about it, too, but it sounds to me like we finally might have some closure here. Some real closure.”
“So I’m not going to live here?”
“Of course you aren’t going to live here. You’re coming home with us as soon as the doctor has a look at you.”
I look at the clock behind them. It says 12:42 in the afternoon but I don’t really believe that that’s what time it is. Nothing adds up anymore.
87
EXACTLY 10:58 IN THE MORNING,
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26TH
Patrice is sitting in her flower chair. We have been talking for approximately one hour. I didn’t go to school because there is some more business that I need to take care of. I am petting Agamemnon. Patrice put him on my lap again. He is purring and that makes me relax.
“Well, that’s it, then,” says Patrice. “You’re going to get another chance.”
I reach over to the table next to me and pick up another brownie.
“Now that Gloria is completely out of the picture and you’ve proven that you don’t want to go with her, Brian and Maura are willing to give it another try. Isn’t that great?”
“Mmm-hmm,” I say.
“Is there anything you’re wondering about?”
“Mmm-hmm,” I say again. I swallow and take a drink of milk. “Am I going back to Saint Genevieve’s Home for Girls Who Aren’t Safe?”
“Not yet,” says Patrice. She smiles. “Maura was really surprised that you stood up to Gloria. All of us were completely shocked, really. But Maura sees it as a sign that things have changed for the better. In you. She’s willing to try now. She’s willing to let you stay and see how things go. So, as long as things keep on getting better, you’re not going to Saint Genevieve’s. You’re going to stay right where you are.”
I look around.
“At the Blue House,” says Patrice.
I pet Agamemnon some more.
“But we’re going to have to work hard to get you reintegrated at school. You stole three phones and ran away from Ms. Carol. We’ll need to write some ‘I’m sorry’ letters again. I think everyone will understand. Especially now that Gloria is out of the picture.” She drinks her coffee. “But we need to talk a little more about what happened. There are some details that are missing. Everything doesn’t quite add up.”
I stop petting Agamemnon. Does Patrice know that this is the wrong side of the equal sign? I wonder if the details we’ll find will help me get back to the other side of Forever. I wonder if they’ll help everything work right again.
“So you went to Cumberland Farms,” says Patrice, “and you had a lot of clothes and a gallon of milk in your backpack. It sounds like you were going on a trip. Where was Gloria going to bring you?”
I don’t want to answer the question. Because where Gloria was going to bring me is the same as where Gloria went.
“Ginny?”
“What?” I say. When she says Ginny it sounds different like it isn’t my name anymore. I am still (-Ginny) because I’m on the wrong side of Forever. I’m still not nine like I’m supposed to be.
“I asked you a question.”
“Can you ask it again, please?”
“Where was Gloria going?”
“We were going to drive away with my—with Krystal with a K.”
When I think about Krystal with a K my belly hurts.
“It’s great to hear you use her real name. But Gloria was going to bring the two of you someplace. Do you remember where it was?”
I stop nodding. I shut my mouth tight, tight, tight and shake my head no.