Free It's Not the End of the World by Judy Blume Page A

me unless you say I can. Well, because she doesn't know Val or Mrs. Lewis. . . . Okay, I'll tell her you're going to be home. Thanks a lot, Daddy. I'll see you Saturday. Bye."
    After that my mother said I could go.
    The next night my father called to invite Jeff and Amy to stay over at his apartment Saturday night. Amy said she couldn't wait, but Jeff told Daddy he already made other plans. I'll bet they have something to do with Mary Louise.
    On Saturday, before I left for Val's, I made my mother promise to take good care of Mew and to feed her canned food in the morning. I think Mom would give Mew food from a box if she could get away with it.
    I picked Mew up and kissed her good-by. I am not allowed to kiss her. It has something to do with the possibility of her carrying germs. So I take her into the bathroom with me, lock the door and kiss her as much as I want to.
    Later, when Daddy called for us, me and Amy were waiting by the front door. As soon as we were in the car Amy said, "Jeff doesn't like me any more."
    My father said, "Oh?"
    "And he doesn't like Karen either. He doesn't like anybody. He's so mean! He's almost as mean as Mommy. She won't get me a Talking Jessie Doll. The kind with the hair that grows."
    "Your mother's not mean, Amy," Daddy said.
    "How do you know? You don't live at home."
    "Because I know your mother and if she doesn't think you should have a Talking Jessie Doll right now she must have a good reason."
    "She's always leaving us alone," Amy said. "That's mean, isn't it?"
    "I can't believe she leaves you alone," Daddy said.
    "She doesn't," I told him. "We don't use Mrs. Hedley any more, that's all. Jeff is in charge when Mom goes out."
    "That sounds reasonable to me," Daddy said.
    Amy sulked the rest of the way to Daddy's apartment.
    I rang Val's bell. She let me in. I got there in time to meet her mother's boyfriend, Seymour Chandler. He doesn't really look anything like a boyfriend. He looks more like a grandfather to me. His hair is silver and he's kind of fat. But Mrs. Lewis looked beautiful. I wouldn't want to have a mother that good looking. I'd spend all my time worrying about how I was going to turn out compared to her. Not that Val is ugly. She's okay. But she doesn't look like her mother.
    Val introduced me to Mr. Chandler. She said, "Seymour, this is my friend Karen. Her father lives upstairs. He's getting a divorce." Then Val told me, "Seymour's divorced too."
    "That's right," Seymour said. "I am. Twice, as a matter of fact." Then he laughed.
    Twice! I never even thought about getting divorced more than once. That must really be awful!
    "Well, girls . . . Seymour and I are leaving now. You have a nice time," Mrs. Lewis told us. She leaned close to Val and kissed her good night. I noticed that her lips didn't touch Val's face. It was an air-kiss. "Go to sleep by eleven, Valerie."
    "I will, mother," Val said. She closed the door behind them and fastened the three extra locks on it.
    It must feel funny to see your own mother go out on dates.
    "Well. . ."Val said. "What do you want to do?"
    "I don't know. I usually watch TV on Saturday nights."
    "TV ruins your mind," Val said. "Let's wash our hair."
    "Mine's not dirty," I said. "I just washed it Monday night."
    "Oh, come on, Karen. It'll be fun. Then we can soak in my mother's bubble bath. I always do that on Saturdays. Tell you what . . . I'll wash your hair first, then you can do mine."
    We went into the bathroom, where Val attached a rubber hose to the sink. "It's like a beauty parlor. You'll enjoy it," she said.
    "Well. . . okay."
    Val fixed up a chair for me and spread a towel under my neck so it wouldn't hurt from leaning back so far. Then she went to work. I have never had such a good shampoo in my life. When I do it myself I
    don't get out all the soap, because my hair is so thick. But Val got it squeaky clean. She even gave me a cream rinse so I wouldn't get tangles. When that was done she wrapped my head in a big green towel.
    Then