The Truth According to Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📗

get to the parking lot at school there are a lot of cars. It’s dark and so it’s hard to see. My Forever Dad reminds me not to open the door and jump right out. I need to wait for him to come and open it. It’s not a good idea to run across a parking lot because you could get hit by a car or a minivan or maybe even a motorcycle. Motorcycles are extremely dangerous if you aren’t wearing a helmet.

As I walk I think about Gloria. If she knew my practice was at six every Wednesday she might come to see it. She might even try to kidnap me. She is impulsive enough to try. And then she would get in trouble with the police. So I look around. I don’t see the Green Car anywhere in the parking lot but I do see a police car. I stand close to my Forever Dad. He waves at the police officer in the car and the police officer waves back.

I put on a frowning face and cross my arms.

In the school we walk to the gym. When we get there I see Brenda Richardson and her mom and dad. Brenda Richardson is a new kid who goes to Room Five. I see Larry and Kayla Zadambidge and a lot of other kids. Some of them are kids from school but some are from other towns. I don’t know their names. They have so many different heads and they are moving so fast that I can’t count them. Larry sees me and waves one of his arm braces.

Ms. Dana is one of the coaches. She shows us how to line up with partners and pass the basketball back and forth. She shows us how to shoot layups and foul shots. She shows us how to put our arms up so that people on the other team can’t pass the ball. There’s a lot to learn but I’m good at learning so I like it.

The other coach is Coach Dan. He’s mostly nice but he’s also a man so I don’t talk with him. I talk only with Ms. Dana.

Everyone at Special Olympics gives each other hugs when they make mistakes but I don’t like hugs so I get high fives instead. I love Special Olympics. It is like Bubbles finding a lot of other chimps or Little Michael Jackson finding his brothers or Michelle Whipple finding a whole bunch of Michelle Whipples even though Michelle Whipple is a real asshole which is mostly an expression. Because a person can’t be an asshole for real. But Special Olympics is the best. It is the bomb which is what Larry says and I can’t wait to come back to Special Olympics next week on Wednesday at exactly six o’clock after supper.

Alison Hill throws the ball to me. It bounces far down the court. I have been practicing only a little while but now I need a drink.

I see my Forever Dad and walk to him. The time is exactly 6:13. He is sitting on the bleachers with the other Forever Parents talking with a man wearing a leather Patriots jacket and a leather Patriots hat. I ask my Forever Dad for my water bottle. He hands it to me and I take a drink. “Are you having a good time out there?” he says.

“Yes, I am,” I say when I finish drinking because if you talk while you drink the water will fall out of your mouth. Juice does that too. And milk. When milk falls out of your mouth you have to wipe it fast with a cloth to soak it up and suck on it. In my brain I see my Baby Doll lying on my quilt.

Then I remember. I remember what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m supposed to be back in the apartment taking care of my Baby Doll. Or up in Canada taking care of it. I am not supposed to be playing a game.

Someone yells my name. I don’t know who it is and I don’t care. Because I am sinking into my brain.

“Ms. Dana taught you a new kind of pass tonight,” my Forever Dad says.

I don’t see him. “I need to go back,” I say.

“All right,” he says.

I turn and take two steps.

“Ginny?”

I come up out of my brain and look around. I see the bleachers and the lights and the gym all around me. I am confused.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” my Forever Dad says.

I look at my hands. I am still holding my water bottle. I give it back to him. He laughs. The sound makes me smile a little.

Then I hear another voice. The man in the leather Patriots jacket is laughing with us but he is laughing more than I want him to. More than he’s supposed to be. It is not a mean laugh but he is laughing way too much.

I look at him hard. He stops and looks away.

“Oh,” my Forever Dad says. “I almost forgot. I was talking with Grammy and Granddad. They asked if you might want to spend a few hours at their house on Saturday while your mom and I go somewhere. What do you think of that?”

“I can’t sleep over on Saturday, November 20th,” I say. The man in the leather Patriots jacket looks up at the ceiling. “Or on Friday, November 19th. Because on Saturday I’m going to the park to meet Rick and on Friday I need to get ready.”

“Good job remembering,” my Forever Dad says. “But I meant this Saturday, the 13th. And how do you feel about going to meet Rick, since you mentioned it?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” I say.

“Good. Now, let’s get you back out on the court! You sure do have some super-duper basketball moves.”

I go back to the court and when I get there Ms. Dana hands me a ball and tells me to pass it to Alison Hill. I look back at the