The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond

ALSO BY BRENDA WOODS

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach

A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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brenda woods

Nancy Paulsen Books
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Copyright © 2014 by Brenda Woods.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Woods, Brenda (Brenda A.)

The blossoming universe of Violet Diamond / Brenda Woods.

pages cm

Summary: “A biracial girl finally gets the chance to meet the African American side of her family”—Provided by publisher.

[1. Racially mixed people—Fiction. 2. African Americans—Fiction. 3. Families—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.W86335Bl 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013024241

ISBN 978-1-101-58501-6

Chapter opener art courtesy of IZO/ Shutterstock.com.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

In loving memory of my brother—Arthur Preston Woods, Jr.

D
id you ever have a dream that's so good, you wish you could save it forever instead of having it go back to that place in your mind where dreams become quieter than whispers, quiet like snowflakes falling?

And it's such an awesome dream that makes you so happy that right after you wake up, you rush to write it down because you can't just let it evaporate into nothing?

Did you ever have a dream like that? Last night, I did.

In my dream I was walking along one of those picture-perfect beaches you see in vacation ads, where seals sunbathe on rocks and tropical fish swim in see-through-blue water. In the distance, dolphins leaped from the ocean, and even though it was daytime and the sun was shining bright, a crescent moon hung in the sky. My mom was on one side, my dad on the other, holding my hands. Daisy, my older sister, was walking ahead of us. In my dream we all looked alike, same skin, same hair, same big white teeth that gleam when we smile.

Barefoot people walked by us on the beach and smiled. Everyone could tell, just by looking at us, we were a family. There were no question marks in their eyes, no looks on their faces that remind me of puzzles with missing pieces, no under-the-microscope stares.

But the absolute best part of the dream was that my dad was there with us. I snuggled close to him, his arm hugged my shoulder, and he looked at me with love in his eyes.

And then, my alarm went off and I woke up. Outside, the rain was pouring and a nearby lightning strike lit my room like a camera flash.

I grabbed my 500-page journal where I write down words I've never heard before along with their definitions, lists of all sorts of things, and my wishes that never seem to come true. I read the first wish I'd ever written.

1. I Wish My Dad Was Alive Instead of Dead.

Somehow, my wish had found its way into my dream.

I flipped to some blank pages at the back, started a new section called
Dreams I Always Want to Remember,
and began scribbling down the dream. Suddenly, I stopped writing and thought about the dream at the beach, my dad holding my hand, the smile that was in his eyes. Father's Day, a day I sometimes wish didn't exist, was coming up. I could feel my dream happiness vanish and the sadness coming, and even though I tried hard not to let them, all at once the gloomy clouds from outside got sucked in through my ears and invaded my brain. Did you know violets actually shrink? They do, and I did.

T
omorrow was the last day of school before summer vacation, but my best friend, Athena, was leaving tonight for Greece, where her grandparents live in a house that overlooks the beach. Lucky for her but unlucky for me because it meant I'd have a whole summer without my best friend. It was no secret that I wished I was going with her.

A dead and dull summertime awaits me.

Lately, I'd been imagining all of the boring nothing I was going to fill the summer with.
If boredom was something you eat,
I wondered,
what would it taste like?
Maybe like chicken broth when you're sick, mashed potatoes without gravy, or macaroni minus the cheese.

The sky was blue and it was a little hot except under the shade of trees. “My mom said I could have a cat this morning,” I told Athena as we strolled along home from school.

Athena smiled. “She finally said yes?”

“Yep. She must have gotten tired of me begging all the time. She's going to take me to the shelter.”

“A recycled pet?” Athena smiled again. There is one thing Athena Starros is full of—smiles.

I nodded. “We might go this weekend.”

Athena flipped her long, straight, light brown hair. “My cousin had a cat and once it pooped in her bed. She forgot to make her bed one day, and that night, when she climbed into bed, she got cat poop all over her. Gross. Plus they caught the cat eating the Thanksgiving turkey that they'd left on the table after dinner and had to throw it away. Also gross. And then they found it in the crib with her baby brother and her dad decided it had to go.”

“I'm still getting a cat, Athena.”

“Just saying. Pets are a lot of work.” Another thing Athena is full of—advice.

“Some pets,” I corrected her.

“They should have a place where you could rent a pet for maybe a week, and if you like it you can keep it, but if you don't you can bring it back.” Sometimes Athena talks too much and this was definitely one of those times. “Plus cats are boring, don't you think?” she added.

“Yep, usually they're quiet.” I stopped walking and put my finger to my mouth as if to say shhh.

Athena got the hint and changed the subject. “We might go to Italy for a week. My grandma wants me to see Rome.”

“Yay! Athena goes to Rome. I'll be thinking about that while I'm in my room with my boring cat and stinky litter box all summer.”

Athena made a sad face. “Sorry . . . Wish you could come, too, V.”

Because I knew she meant it, I smiled. But in my mind, I daydreamed that I was going with her. Then, I silently wished I had grandparents who lived far away and wanted me to come for a long visit. All I have are Gam and Poppy, who live right around the corner.

My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Athena blurted, “Would you stop the sad looks? I'll keep in touch. Plus, it's not like you're friendless . . . you still have Yaz,” she reminded me.

Yaz, short for Yazmine, is my kinda-sorta-good friend, a girl who doesn't go to school with us but who I know from the ice skating rink. For Yaz Kilroy, ice skating is everything.

“But she hardly ever does regular stuff like us, only skating,” I said.

Athena agreed, “Yeah, I know.”

A little silence followed.

“You're flying all the way by yourself, huh?”

Athena put out her hand and shook it nervously. “For the first time.”

In minutes, we reached her house, which is right down the street from mine.

“You gotta send me a gazillion postcards like you said. And if you meet a cute boy, promise not to forget about me like Daisy.” Since my sister, Daisy, got her new boyfriend, Wyatt, it seemed like she barely had time for me anymore. Another reason I could safely predict this was going to be a summer of boring nothing.

“I won't,” Athena promised, and we stared at each other for what seemed like a long time until tears got in our eyes.

Finally, Athena gave me a big bright grin and hugged me tight.

I smiled what Poppy calls a counterfeit smile, daydreamed once more that I was going with her, said good-bye, and headed home.

If boredom was like macaroni without cheese, what I felt right then was worse. Lemonade without sugar, soda without the fizz. Pitiful.