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

a hat. He is carrying something over his shoulder. It is a gun.

I want to run and hide. I don’t like men especially if they are policemen and this man is like a policeman even though I don’t think he is one because he isn’t wearing the right uniform. He is wearing what a hunter wears. The brown and green lines tell me he is good at hiding and sneaking.

“’Morning,” says the man in a happy voice as he comes closer.

He stops right in front of me. I am glad he didn’t ask me anything but then he says, “Are you on your way to catch the bus? The school bus came by about two or three minutes ago.”

I want to say Well dang! but instead I say, “No.”

He looks at me. “Someone coming to pick you up, then?”

I shake my head. Maybe if I stop giving answers with my mouth he’ll stop asking questions with his.

“Well, then, what are you doing out here all by yourself on a school day?”

I can’t tell him where I’m going. If I do I’ll get caught.

“I am going for a walk,” I say. Because it’s true. I was walking.

“A walk? Are you walking to school?”

“No,” I say.

“You’re just walking, then,” he says.

“I am just walking,” I say.

“Okay,” he says. And then, “Say, you don’t happen to be wearing a Michael Jackson shirt under that jacket, do you?” He puts his finger out toward me.

I recoil.

When I look back at him he is putting his two hands out like he’s asking me to be quiet. “Sorry,” he says. “It’s just that I heard on the radio that they’re looking for a girl about your age wearing a Michael Jackson shirt and carrying a flute. Well, watch out for moose on your walk, all right? I went out for deer this morning, but moose are still crossing the roads. They’re still out and about. The bulls are crazy this time of year. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say. Then I step around him very, very carefully in case he tries to touch me again. I keep walking but I don’t hear him walking away. I know he’s still looking at me.

So I start counting.

At five I hear footsteps on the road so I look behind me quick. He is walking backward and still watching. I stare at him. He waves and turns and starts walking the regular way.

But now I am anxious because the man might call the police. I stop and count to twenty and then turn all the way around. The man is gone. I start going back the way I came to the driveway. I’m guessing that if I go to town and find the library right now I will get caught. I will try again tomorrow.

Then I get scared because someone else could see me right now. Maybe another car will go by or I’ll see someone else on the road. I step into the woods and walk through the trees and tall grass until I get back to the Little White House at the top of the driveway.

EXACTLY 7:09 AT NIGHT,

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19TH

It is dark outside. I see lights coming toward the house. Tires on the driveway. A car door shuts and someone comes up the steps.

I move fast into the living room.

Then Crystal with a C opens the door and walks right in. “Hey, Ginny,” she says. She walks right past me into the kitchen and puts two plastic bags down on the counter. “How did it go today? Everything at work was fine. No one even mentioned the whole Amber Alert thing, except some new contractor in the break room.” I hear her open the refrigerator. “Whoa.”

I am still in the living room next to the screen door.

“Ginny, the eggs are still here, but where’s the rest of the food?”

So I say, “I ate it.”

“You ate it?”

I nod my head yes.

Crystal with a C walks into the living room. “Ginny, did you really eat all the food in the refrigerator? Except the eggs?”

I nod my head yes again even though I hid the bread and the milk in a closet. She walks to the garbage can and looks inside it. She picks up the empty ketchup bottle and the little papers that went around the butter. And the empty cheese wrapper. “You seriously ate all this?”

“Yes.”

“Did you cook something?”

“No.”

She looks through the garbage some more. She picks out the empty brownie box. “This, too?”

I nod my head yes. It is good in milk.

“Without baking it? Did you get sick? Did you throw up, I mean?”

But that was three questions in a row.

Crystal with a C makes a breathing sound. “I don’t know if I should get you a laxative or worry about diarrhea. Look, tomorrow you have to eat what I tell you. I’ll even write it down. You can’t eat everything that’s in the refrigerator or you’ll make your tummy really upset. You could get constipated. Do you understand?”

I don’t know what constipated means so I say, “No.”

“Just eat what I put on the list, okay?”

“I like lists,” I say.

“Good. Now, why don’t you put these new groceries away for me while I get dressed? Then we’ll make supper together. I’ll show you how to make scrambled eggs.”

She drops the brownie box back in the garbage can.

“Wait,” I say.

She looks at me.

“What town do Gloria and my Baby Doll live in?” I say.

“They’re still in Harrington Falls. Now go get those groceries put away. I need to get changed out of these clothes.”

EXACTLY 6:50 AT NIGHT,

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20TH

I am standing with my toes on the crack at the edge of the doorway trying to figure how to get out of the Little White House without getting wet. Because it rained all day and my raincoat is back at the Blue House. And I don’t like to be wet. I like to be dry all the time unless I’m taking a bath or a shower