Amber Brown Is Green with Envy (9 page)

So here I am at his place, and there he is, out on a date with someone who he just met today at the Grand Union.

I am not very happy about it.

In fact, I am VERY NOT HAPPY about that. My dad keeps saying how upset he will be if I move away. He keeps saying that he is going to get a lawyer to make sure that I don’t move out of town…. that he will spend as much time and money legally as it takes to spend time with me.

And then he leaves.

On a date with someone he doesn’t even know.

I am not only not happy. I am very sad. I am very angry.

I’m here at his house, without him.

Steve is also not here.

He’s gone to a party.

Savannah is also not here.

She’s gone to a friend’s pajama party.

I could have gone to Kelly’s house. Brandi’s there tonight. We could have had a pajama party too.

Dylan is here, in his room playing computer games.

I am not alone, though.

Brenda, Polly and I are giving each other facials.

I’m hanging out with the teenagers.

If I weren’t so angry with my dad, I would be having a totally great time.

Now it’s only a sort of great time because I’m feeling sad and mad.

“Leave it on for twenty minutes and be careful not to get any of it in our eyes.” Polly looks up from reading the instructions. “Also, maybe we shouldn’t put it on our lips. We don’t want to swallow it.”

Soon our faces are totally green.

We’ve got scarves so that the gunk does not get into our hair.

It’s really nice of Polly to share the Christmas present that she got from Brenda.

The green gunk hardens on our faces.

We can’t really talk.

We can’t even smile.

Dylan walks into the kitchen and looks at us.

He pretends to be terrified. “Oh, no. It’s the creatures from the Green Latrine.”

Dylan starts talking to himself. “Okay. I won’t let them get me. I know there is a way to save myself. Let me think. With vampires, it’s garlic. With the creatures from the Green Latrine, it’s….. !”

He goes to the freezer, pulls out an ice cream sandwich, goes back and takes two more. “Now I’m safe.”

Polly makes a face. The gunk cracks and flakes. “That boy will find any excuse to eat as many ice cream sandwiches as he can.”

We go to the sink and wash the mess off our faces. Then we put this clear smelly stuff on and then the moisturizer.

I look in the mirror.

My face looks exactly the same except for the green face mask still in my eyebrows.

We all look at ourselves in the mirror for a while and then start playing Go Fish.

It’s a lot of fun spending time with Brenda and Polly.

Sometimes I wonder if they would be hanging out with me if it weren’t for the Ambersitting money…but then there
are
other times that they do just hang out with me.

Brenda’s boyfriend had to go with his family to Pennsylvania, to visit his grandmother.

Polly doesn’t have a boyfriend.

Neither do I.

I don’t want one.

I think that Polly does want one.

She keeps mentioning a boy named Lenny, who is in her political science class. Brenda and Polly keep calling it “poli sci.” Then they joke that Polly sighs over Lenny in that class.

I hope that I never get that silly over boys when I am a teenager.

I decide to change the subject. “I need to ask you something.”

We stop playing Go Fish.

I ask, “Do you think that you are part of a normal family? Do you know normal families?”

Both of them laugh.

It’s not a mean laugh, though.

They are not laughing at me.

“Describe normal,” Brenda says.

I shrug. “I don’t know….. parents who aren’t divorced….. kids who don’t feel bad sometimes….. people who things go well for….. normal.”

“I’ve heard rumors that there really are normal families,” Brenda says, and smiles.

“Yes. We’re discussing them in poli sci.” Polly giggles. “Look, Amber….. there are families that are intact, not divorced, not separated, that are considered normal. Talk to any of them….. and you’ll see…. they have problems too.”

“I think that the biggest problem is that people think that just a few things are normal…. and that’s not true,” Brenda says. “People judge too easily.”

“Do you think that the only families that are normal are the ones who are married, never divorced, perfect?” Polly asks.

Thinking about it, I sort of nod.

“Sometime you should ask the kids in those families if they think that their families are normal. I bet that some of them will say yes….. and some of them will say no,” Brenda says.

I look at Brenda, who has dyed her hair green and red for the Christmas holidays. She also has dyed some of the tips of her hair blue and silver for Hanukkah. Some of the tips are also black to go with the green and red for Kwanzaa.

I’m not sure that Brenda is an expert on normal.

“There is no such thing as normal,” Polly says. “Look at my family…. a lot of people at school who don’t know me look at me and think I come from a normal family. And I’m sure that if they knew us, they wouldn’t call us normal…. but our life is normal to us….. My dad is here…. my mom went to South America with some other guy….. is that normal?”

I, Amber Brown, never knew that.

“Are they divorced?” I ask.

Polly shakes her head no. “My mom doesn’t answer any of her mail, and she doesn’t contact us.”

I stop thinking about what is normal and think about what is going on in their family.

“Do you miss her?” I remember how I used to miss my father when he was in Paris…. but he always kept in touch.

Polly shakes her head no and then yes. “I do…. but mostly I am mad at her…. especially when I hear Savannah cry…. or Dylan cry.”

I think about how hard that must be.

I’m a little surprised to think about Dylan crying.

I’m not surprised about Savannah.

Polly continues. “I have had to take care of my brother and sister much more than I would have had to if my mom was around. I love them, but sometimes it would have
been nice to be able to be a kid who didn’t have to act like an adult so much of the time.”

“Poor Polly,” I say.

She smiles at me. “It’s not easy, but it’s the way it is around here…. and not all of it is bad. I’m a lot less spoiled than some of the people I know. I just worry about how everyone is going to manage when I go away to college in two years.”

I didn’t know all of this about the Marshalls…. wow….. no wonder Steve looks so tired some of the time….. and so does Polly.

Polly looks at me. “So now you know…my family would not be considered normal either…. but it’s the family I know, and I love them…. well, all of them except for my mother.”

Brenda says, “And I think that my family is normal…. what’s left of it….. My dad died, so there is just my mom and me…. but that’s still a family.

“I’ve thought about this a lot,” Brenda continues. “At school, there are kids who are adopted, kids who were born into the family where they are living, kids who have stepfamilies, kids who have two mothers, kids who have two fathers, kids who live with guardians….. so many different ways to live….. and who gets to decide what’s normal?”

“It bugs me when one group tries to decide what’s normal for everyone.” Polly shakes her head. “That causes problems everywhere…. in school, in the country, in the world. Fights and wars can start that way.”

“The way I figure it,” Brenda says, “as long as it doesn’t hurt yourself or others, then it’s fine.”

We all smile at each other.

Then we go back to playing Go Fish.

Polly and Brenda start discussing the butts
of boys in their classes….. rating them from asinine to buttacious.

I decide that it’s time to go.

This may be normal behavior for them, but I’d rather go read a book.

My mother puts the bowl of cereal on the table in front of me. “Honey, be outside right after school. Max and I will be there to pick you up.”

I pour milk into the bowl.

I’m the one who has to do it because I know just the right amount to pour.

If I put in too much, then it gets soggy.

I hate soggy cereal.

If I put in too little, then it’s dry.

Then I have to add more milk, and then there’s leftover milk, and I have to add more cereal.

I stir the mixture.

“Amber,” my mom says, looking at me, “did you hear what I said?”

I nod. “Be in front as soon as school is over. You and Max will be there to pick me up.”

She moves closer to me, putting her face right in front of mine. “And you do know why we are picking you up, right?”

I pick up the spoon of cereal and try to put it in my mouth.

Some milk dribbles down on both of us.

My mom backs up and sighs. “Amber. Why are we picking you up? Why have I taken several days off from work?”

It’s my turn to sigh. “You and Max are looking for a new house….. and I have to go to school.”

She nods. “You can’t miss school. Even if your grades were better, I still wouldn’t take you out of school for this. But we want you to be part of the decision-making, so we
are narrowing down the choices….. and now there are some that we want you to see.”

I look around the kitchen. Under one of the cabinets is a plaster of paris mold of my handprint that I made in preschool with a nose print in the middle made by Justin.

Miss Emily, our teacher, had to clean the plaster of paris out of his nose before it got hard.

By the stove are pot holders that I made in first grade. I never could get all of those loops closed off correctly, but Mom said that they were beautiful anyway.

On the wall is the corkboard that I made at day camp. We tack things on it, like appointment reminders, pictures and coupons.

I wonder if we will put up all of these things in our new kitchen when we find the house.

I wonder if I hate the houses, will they buy one of them anyway…just saying that my opinion matters but not meaning it.

The doorbell rings.

It’s Max.

He’s driving me to school today.

We go out to the car.

On the front seat is a wrapped present.