The Truth According to Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig (books to read for self improvement txt) 📕

face in the wind and let my hair blow back again. I put my hand up in it just like Michael Jackson does and smooth it back.

The three people smile at my Forever Dad and turn away. It is like my audience is leaving so I stomp my foot loud against the boards of the floor. A lady looks back but then turns away again and keeps walking.

“Ginny, please,” my Forever Dad says. He puts his hand on his chest and looks away and takes a deep breath. “I can’t get upset about this. I’m not supposed to yell or get too excited. Just come down. Come down now. Get down and we’ll take a walk. Then we can go to the interview and get some lunch. You can pick the place.”

I climb down.

I like my Forever Dad a lot because he’s nice. Not as nice as Michael Jackson. Plus he really can’t dance. Or sing. But he’s still pretty okay.

EXACTLY 10:37 AT NIGHT,

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH

I am on my hands and knees on the carpet. My Baby Doll is somewhere crying but I can’t find it. I don’t know if it’s in my room. I don’t know if I’m in my room. I am awake but it’s dark out and it’s dark inside my brain. When I’m deep inside there it’s all the same place. All the houses I’ve ever been in are still in my head and so when I wake up at night with my eyes open I can still fall into any of them by accident.

The crying is getting louder. I can’t turn on the light because Gloria will see me. Or Donald. I have to find my Baby Doll and hide it before they come. I will put my quilt over it and put it in the closet. Or maybe out the window.

I find a bed. I can feel the mattress and the sheets. I check behind it and under the covers. My hand touches a heat register. I crawl around the whole room looking and looking. My Baby Doll is not anywhere but I can still hear it. I want to turn on the light but I’m scared, scared, scared.

Upstairs I hear footsteps and more crying. Is my Baby Doll upstairs? Because I don’t think I can get up there to find it without getting caught. The footsteps are coming closer. I want to hide but I can’t leave it alone where it is. Wherever it is. I can’t climb out the window by myself because then Gloria or Donald will find it instead of me. So I crawl to the middle of the room and stand. I get ready to go ape-shit so that I’ll be a bigger problem than the crying. I have to make them think about me. Only me and not my Baby Doll at all.

I take a deep breath. With my eyes still closed I start to scream. As loud as I can.

The door opens fast. I feel the light turn on. I keep screaming and squeezing my eyes shut. I have to be so loud that—

“Ginny! Wake up! You’ve got to wake up! You’re safe!”

I open my eyes but I don’t stop. I hear a different man’s voice but I see Donald. I scream even louder so that Gloria will come down too.

“Ginny, wake up. Wake up! No one is going to hurt you!”

And then—

“Stop screaming!”

I hear a woman’s voice now. She sounds scared. “Ginny, please! You’re scaring the baby!”

So I stop and listen.

“The baby is trying to get back to sleep upstairs. That’s all it is. That’s all it is.”

“My Baby Doll is cr—”

I am coming up out of my brain. I see my Forever Dad. He is standing right in front of me. “No,” he says. “It’s Baby Wendy. Baby Wendy is upstairs trying to get back to sleep.”

Which means I am at the Blue House. I am with my Forever Parents. I am safe.

I feel my knees and legs. I fall. Someone catches me before I hit the carpet.

“Can you get back into bed?” my Forever Mom says.

I nod my head yes. My Forever Dad helps me climb back in. My Forever Mom makes a breathing sound and fixes my blankets. Her mouth is a straight, straight line. She stands up straight and crosses her arms. Then my Forever Dad brings a wet washcloth. And puts his hand on my shoulder. I do not recoil even though he is a man. I lie still and let him wipe my face. “It was just a dream,” he says. “Do you want to come sit with us in the living room? Do you want some company?”

I shake my head no.

“All right,” he says. “Do you want to go back to sleep, then?”

I nod my head yes.

“All right,” he says again. “If you need anything, come get us. We’ll be out in the living room for a while until the baby falls asleep. Okay?”

I close my eyes and nod my head yes. I feel the light turn off and they leave.

On the other side of the door I hear them talking in quiet voices. I open my ears big to hear. “Why the hell do you have to be so accommodating?” says my Forever Mom. “I don’t know how we can do this anymore. When it was just us, it was okay, but things are different now. She isn’t safe!”

“We made a commit—”

“Bullshit!” she says. “That’s bullshit! We didn’t—”

“Shh! And yes, she is safe! The circumstances—”

“Now you sound like Patrice! Things were different before the kidnapping! Before the baby and the kidnapping. Before all the—She was manageable! This was manageable! But don’t you remember what she did to that doll? And then she gave that lunatic mother of hers our address, and she came here and threatened—And then all the reporters and police? And you had to bring her to that damn interview and deal with all those lawyers! And then you had to go to