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

people come to ask her questions. But she wasn’t expecting Social Services to come visit her again. They brought a policeman with them, too. Can you guess what they found when they went to the apartment door?”

“A Maine coon cat?” I say.

“No. Your little sister. They found your Baby Doll.”

I stop chewing and listen.

Patrice makes a loud breathing sound and then she is quiet but I hear a loud ringing in my ears getting louder and louder. I can feel every single hair on my head like it is electric.

“The social workers knocked on the door, and when Gloria opened it, the police officer walked right in, and there she was. Your sister. And yes, there was quite a scene, but the bottom line is that we were wrong, Ginny. And I’m sorry. For five years now you’ve been telling us that your Baby Doll was a real baby, and you were right. Krystal with a K is completely undocumented, as it turns out. That’s why no one knew. Gloria did an amazing job of keeping her hidden. She must have been really scared that the police were going to take her away.”

I nod my head. “Gloria doesn’t like the police,” I say. “And she’s a smart cookie.”

“No one will deny that,” says Patrice. “But we’re starting to piece everything together now. It’s almost as if there was a big puzzle right underneath our noses, and now that we see it, we can finally put it together. So again, I’m sorry. But I’m excited, too, because now I’m beginning to understand. I understand why you know so much about taking care of babies.”

I want to tell Patrice that I’m happy. I want to tell her that I’m so, so glad but I’m falling deeper and deeper into my brain and I can say only what I see. What I remember.

“It was my job to take care of it,” I say. “Gloria said I need to take excellent care of my Baby Doll and keep it quiet.”

“She said that?” says Patrice.

But I don’t hear anything else Patrice says. I hear only Gloria. Take excellent care of your Baby Doll, Gin. Don’t let anyone see or hear her. Donald is coming over tonight and I want it to be magical. That was when I learned how to put my finger on my Baby Doll’s lips so it could suck on it and be quiet. And when I learned to pick it up and say, Ush, ush, ush. To make it quiet. To put milk or mayonnaise on a spoon to feed it because after a while there wasn’t a bottle but still I had to make it quiet.

Quiet is what scares me the most even though it keeps me safe. I see Gloria go out to meet her dealer. The door closes behind her.

“Gloria left you with Krystal with a K all the time,” I hear Patrice say. “She used to go away for hours and hours to parties or to get drugs. You kept Krystal with a K hidden so the neighbors wouldn’t see her. And the worst part is that when Gloria was there, she was too angry to take care of the baby herself or was just plain high.”

“I did a good job of taking care of my Baby Doll,” I say. “Can I please go back to take care of it again?”

Patrice looks at me funny. “You know, I was wondering how old Krystal with a K is now. Do you know? I mean, I don’t even know when her birthday is.”

“November 16th,” I say.

“November 16th? I wonder how old that makes her. Let’s see.”

Patrice looks up at the ceiling and starts counting on her fingers. I know she is trying to do some math.

I swallow what’s in my mouth and take a drink of milk. “My Baby Doll is approximately one year old.”

Patrice doesn’t move her mouth at all. It’s like her smile is frozen. “Only one year old?” she says. “That means she’s not old enough to go to school yet.”

I nod my head yes. “You have to be five years old to go to kindergarten.”

“And how many years has it been since you left Gloria’s apartment?”

“Fo—” I start to say but then I stop because I remember that my birthday was September 18th. I used to say four years all the time when people asked me how long it’s been since I was in Gloria’s apartment but now it’s five. Because another year passed. “Five years,” I say.

“Exactly,” says Patrice.

“Exactly,” I say too but I don’t know why I say it. I am too busy thinking.

“It was a big surprise when you told everyone her name this weekend,” says Patrice. “No one knew she had a name.”

“I called her my Baby Doll,” I say.

“Right. Because she really was like your Baby Doll. You carried her around and took care of her all the time. But it’s been—How long has it been again? Oh, I remember now. Five years. Five whole years—and that’s why you want to go see her so badly. A lot could have happened in that time. You want to make sure she’s safe.”

“Right,” I say. “I need to see if Gloria is changing its diaper and if it has food to eat. Plus if no one is there to make it quiet when Gloria has her man-friends come to—”

I stop talking and look down at my lap. It has a lot of crumbs on it. Then I say, “I need to make sure no one hurts her.”

“I think we can help with that,” says Patrice.

I look up.

“Social Services is going back to the apartment,” she says. “They’re going to send some people over to verify the facts and get some things straight. They’re going to visit the jail to talk with Crystal with a C, as well.”

“What does verify the facts mean?”

“It means some social workers are going to go to the apartment to figure out why there’s no record of Krystal