Free Just as Long as We're Together by Judy Blume Page B

straight A's without even trying."
    "I'm not talking about grades," Mom said.
    I didn't say anything.
    "You're not going to let this math class come between you, are you?"
    I played with the lace ruffle on the pillow. "I guess not. . . unless Rachel does." I didn't want to think about Rachel anymore. So I looked across the room at the group of family photos on the
    wall. There's one I especially like of Mom and Dad. He's carrying her piggy-back and she's laughing so hard her eyes are closed. "I can't wait until Thanksgiving," I said. "I can't wait to see Dad!"
    I told Dad I was counting the days when he called the next night.
    "So am I," Dad said. "What's new in school?"
    "I made symphonic band. . . percussion."
    "Congratulations!"
    "And in math we're following the stock market."
    "That sQunds interesting."
    "It is. We each get to pick three stocks and pretend they're ours. I picked Reebok, Revlon and Jiffy Lube."
    "That's quite an assortment."
    "I know."
    "How's the weather?"
    "It's been raining," I said. "But today the sun came out again." I paused, trying to come up with something else that would interest Dad. "Have you heard about Bruce?" I asked.
    "What about~him?" •
    "Well . . ." I began, but Bruce grabbed the phone out of my hand and said, "I'll tell him myself."
    Bruce has entered a national contest. Kids for Peace it's called. He's made a poster and sent it to Boston, where it will be judged. The three winners will get a free trip to Washington where they'll meet the President. In some ways I hope Bruce does win the contest. In other ways I •hope he doesn't. I don't know how I'd feel having a famous brother. Probably everyone would compare me to him and ask, What contests have you won, Stephanie? And I'd have to think of some clever answer like, I don't believe in contests. Contests don't prove anything.
    I wonder if Jessica and Charles feel that way, having a younger sister like Rachel. I wonder if they're always trying to prove that they're as good as she is. Lucky for me Bruce isn't gifted. He's just a regular kid who happens to have made a great poster.
    20.
    Things.
    Mom and Aunt Denise are trying to decide whether to make a vegetable stuffing or a chestnut stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey. They don't actually put the stuffing inside the turkey. They make it as a side dish. Mom says it's healthier to roast the turkey without stuffing it. I don't see why they call it stuffing when it isn't.
    We're going to have fourteen to dinner. Everyone is family except for Carla, Mom's best friend from college, and her little girl, Katie, who is eight. Carla is a widow. Her husband was killed while he was crossing the street. Some guy in a van plowed into him. The guy didn't even have a driver's license. Katie was only a baby at the time. She never got to know her father. Mom
    says some people have more than their fair share of trouble. But Carla has a very good job. She produces a news show for NBC.
    I asked Mom if I could make place cards this year because everyone always stands around at Thanksgiving waiting to be told where to sit. And while they're waiting the food gets cold. Mom said place cards sounded like a good idea. I made them out of purple colored paper. I drew a flower on each one and tried to keep my letters from going uphill when I printed the names.
    Then I made a seating chart, like the one Mrs. Remo used the first week of school, before she'd memorized our names. I put myself between Dad and Katie. I put Bruce next to cousin Howard. I would never sit next to Howard. He's seventeen and disgusting. He burps after every mouthful. Then he tells us that in some countries burping is considered a great compliment to the cook. If you don't burp, Howard says, you're a very rude guest. Howard also lets it out the other end. I asked him at our Passover seder, last spring, if that's also considered a compliment in some countries. He just laughed. I'm so glad I don't have a brother like him.
    Mom says he's just