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

but in my brain I remember neither of them is Gloria’s because Gloria said she was going to drive a different one. I stand here looking and looking and thinking hard. Then someone calls my name.

It is Gloria. She is at the corner of the store wearing a yellow hat with a pom-pom on top. I start walking toward her but then there is a loud noise and a car stops fast right next to me. The driver puts his hands up and shakes them. Through the glass I hear him yell.

Gloria runs to me. She takes my hand and we hurry past the gas pumps. She brings me behind the building to a blue car.

“Ginny, you need to look where you’re going!” Gloria says to me. “Shit. I need to hug you.”

She gives me the biggest hug I have ever had. She is hugging me so tight that I can’t move. I feel her bones under her coat. Her shoulder bones and her back. She’s still really, really skinny.

Finally Gloria lets go. She pushes back from me. “Honey, you can’t walk out in front of cars! You have to look both ways. Shit, you got tall,” she says. “You haven’t really filled out yet, though. How many boyfriends have you had?”

I start to say that I have had zero boyfriends but I hear a tapping sound and when I look I see the Other Ginny right there in the car. She sees me and I see her. She puts her hand flat against the window.

“Do you recognize her now?” says Gloria. “It’s Krystal with a K. That’s your sister.”

I shake my head. “No,” I say. “Krystal with a K is my Baby Doll.”

And Gloria says, “Right. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. That’s Krystal with a K. Don’t you see? That’s the surprise I was talking about on the phone. She grew up. Well, got older, anyway. Just like you did.”

I don’t know if Gloria is teasing me or not because the Other Ginny is way too old to be my Baby Doll. My little sister will always be my little baby and this girl is much, much older than that. I shake my head no. “That’s the Other Ginny,” I say.

Gloria laughs. She makes a motion in the air with her hand and then the Other Ginny opens the car door and walks to us. She is skinny and her hair is brown and her eyes are green.

Which means she looks approximately like me.

“Hi, Ginny,” she says.

That was not a question so I don’t say anything. I don’t have to say anything at all to the Other Ginny unless she asks a question.

“There,” says Gloria. “You recognize your Baby Doll, don’t you?”

“That’s not it,” I say.

“Don’t you remember me?” says the Other Ginny. “I have your picture. Mom gave it to me, and I’ve been carrying it with me everywhere. I showed it to you on Sunday.”

I want to say Well Dang! because she asked me something. So I say, “I don’t remember you. My Baby Doll is one year old.”

“Not anymore I’m not,” she says.

“Ginny,” says Gloria, “I know it’s been a long time, but you have to accept this. Your sister isn’t a year old anymore. What your aunt said was just an expression. When we talked on the phone after her trial, she told me all about how you took her at her word when she said your sister would always be a baby. But that’s not what she meant, Gin. That’s not what she meant at all.”

I am breathing faster and faster. “Crystal with a C doesn’t use expressions,” I say. “Crystal with a C is the one who tells the truth. She said my Baby Doll will always be my little baby.”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean by she’s the one who tells the truth, but what your aunt said is definitely an expression,” says Gloria. “And you can’t flip out about that. No one can stay one year old for five years. She’s six now. Look at her hair. Look at her eyes. The two of you look a lot alike.”

“Here,” says the Other Ginny. “Look again. It’s really me.”

She holds out the picture and this time I take it.

I see that her face looks approximately like my Baby Doll’s. Then I bring the picture up to my eyes. I put it back down and look back at the Other Ginny. Then I bring the picture up again and move it to the side so I can see the Other Ginny and my Baby Doll at the exact same time.

And I see that they are the same person.

Which means that Krystal with a K is the Other Ginny. My Baby Doll turned into a little girl. Patrice was right.

I can’t see anymore because my eyes are wet. “It isn’t one year old?” I say.

Gloria laughs. “Nope,” she says.

I am confused. If my Baby Doll is six years old then it doesn’t wear diapers. It doesn’t need me to pick it up and hide it. It doesn’t need me to give it human milk. It doesn’t need me to take care of it at all.

I look in Gloria’s car just to make sure there isn’t a car seat in the back. To see if Gloria is playing a trick. What I know and what I used to know keep trading places in my brain. “My Baby Doll isn’t in the apartment?” I say even though I already know the answer. Then I don’t know it anymore. Then I know it again.

I stand there blinking.

Gloria makes a breathing sound. “I knew this was going to be hard for you. We can talk about it while we drive. Let’s get in the car.”

“No,” I say. Because what I know is still switching back and forth. In my brain I write,

Baby Doll = Krystal with a K = Other Ginny = Six Years Old

and that is way too many equal signs.

My voice won’t work