The Truth According to Ginny Moon Benjamin Ludwig (books to read in your 30s .txt) 📖

give me a hug and I say okay. Then she gives me one and she leaves.

EXACTLY 6:23 IN THE MORNING,

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19TH

I stand waiting until I hear Crystal with a C’s car pull out of the driveway. Then I start to hear some of the empty sounds I used to hear when I was alone in the apartment. The refrigerator and the ringing sound that comes from all the walls and rooms. I almost hear the sound of my Baby Doll breathing quiet, quiet on my shoulder. But then I hear the wind in the leaves outside and so I let my fingers go out straight again.

I go to the front porch and put my toes on a crack at the edge of the doorway. Outside I don’t see neighbors or a street. I don’t see any buildings. I see only white trunks and yellow, yellow leaves.

I turn back into the house and go into the kitchen. I stand in front of the refrigerator and think about the rule We do not open the refrigerator. My Forever Mom and Forever Dad made that rule because they know I have issues with food. But they’re not here right now. And I’m not at the Blue House. I’m in Crystal with a C’s Little White House.

My hands shake. I open the refrigerator.

Inside I see one carton of twelve eggs and one carton of nine and some ketchup and twenty-two slices of bread in a bag and seven onions and an eight-ounce block of Grade A pasteurized cheddar cheese. Four sticks of butter in a box. Two unopened half gallons of milk. I see other things too but I pick up the cheese. And the ketchup because ketchup is quick and easy.

I start eating.

When the cheese is gone I take one of the half gallons of milk out of the refrigerator because I want a drink. The one that belongs to Crystal with a C. The other half gallon of milk is the one I brought from the Blue House. I don’t remember putting it away. Crystal with a C must have moved it. But I wonder if my Forever Parents are angry that I took it. I wonder if my Forever Mom needs the milk for my new Forever Sister who isn’t born yet. Baby Wendy. Last week my Forever Mom said they were going to the hospital any day now.

Any day now.

I am glad that Crystal with a C found my Baby Doll in the suitcase. I am glad she took care of it and went over there every day but I’m also anxious about Gloria taking care of it herself. I know she won’t give it food or keep it clean. I know she sometimes has strange men come sleep over. Plus there’s Donald. I believe everything Crystal with a C says and I trust her 100 percent but there are some things she just doesn’t know because she wasn’t there all the time. Some things I remember deep in my brain and won’t ever, ever talk about.

Which means I have to go find Gloria’s apartment right now. I can’t wait.

EXACTLY 7:02 IN THE MORNING,

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19TH

I walk into the living room. I need to find a computer so that I can look for Gloria’s address because I don’t know where I am or where she is or how to get there.

I look at the woodstove which has a fire in it. I look at the couch and at the chair. There’s no TV. I look around for a computer but I don’t see one. I walk down the hallway and find the bathroom. I pee. I find a bedroom with Crystal with a C’s things in the dresser. Then I find another bedroom with a bed and a desk. The desk has a light on it and nothing in the drawers. The bed has sheets and a wool blanket and a pillow.

I look in all the closets and the cabinets. There is no computer in this house. There is nothing that can tell me what town I’m in or where Gloria is. I don’t know her address.

So I will go find a library.

The library is where you go when you want to get on a computer to find something out. Or when you want to send a message to Gloria. I’m guessing Gloria might not be able to send me a message on Manicoon.com because the police are watching it but she might have her address on the page. I remember that there was a button that said Contact Me.

I take the half gallon of milk I brought from the Blue House out of the refrigerator for my Baby Doll. It really likes milk. Milk is what all babies need. I put the half gallon back in my backpack with my flute and my quilt. Then I zip my jacket and go to the bathroom again and put my backpack on and walk out the door.

The driveway leads down through the woods. Tall grass grows on the side of it. It brushes my pants as I walk. The wind is loud all around me and the air is cold. At the end of the driveway I come to a road. It goes left and right. There are trees across the street and trees on this side of the street and no other cars and no buildings.

I stand and think. A car goes by. A red car that comes from the right and goes to the left. I don’t know if it’s going to or from town. I’m guessing if I was in the car I would be going to school. And school is in town. So I start walking that way.

Right away I see a man coming toward me.

I start picking at my fingers.

The man comes walking up over a hill. He is dressed in clothes that are all green and brown with crisscrossed lines all over. He has big brown boots and