Free Me and Fat Glenda by Lila Perl Page B

cream!”
    â€œThat does it,” Glenda exclaimed. “I’m getting hungry. It’s nearly suppertime anyway so why don’t we go over to my house and cook M-burgers. I’m dying to try them.”
    â€œWill it be okay?” I felt odd about going over there now that Glenda’s mother was so upset about us Mayberrys. “I mean, with your mother not liking us very much.”
    â€œOh no,” Glenda said. “She likes you very much. Know what she said about you last night?”
    â€œNo. What?”
    â€œShe said you seemed so nice and normal she wonders what you’re doing in that family.”
    Oh no, I groaned inwardly to myself.
    â€œThat sounds like Mrs. Hinkle,” I said to Glenda.
    â€œWho’s Mrs. Hinkle?”
    â€œOh, just a lady. Well, our landlady in California if you want to know. She lives about three thousand miles away. But she and your Mom must have mental telepathy. Or something.”
    P.S. I guess you’re wondering what Glenda and I finally decided on for M-burgers .
    Mozzarella-burger That’s the Italian cheese. You put a slice on a grilled hamburger and stick the whole thing under the broiler until the cheese melts and oozes and gets all golden-brown. When you bite into it, the cheese stretches into long, skinny strings, like bubble gum. You’ll like it .
    S.M .

7
    It began to be more and more noticeable that people in Havenhurst were talking about us.
    One of the people I found this out from was Roddy Fenton. I saw Roddy around school, of course, but he usually kept at a distance, especially if Glenda was around. Then, two weeks after Mrs. Waite’s visit, Glenda was absent for a couple of days.
    â€œHi,” Roddy said, catching up with me as I was walking home from school on the second day of Glenda’s absence. “Where’s Fat?”
    Before I could answer he leaned over and took a couple of heavy schoolbooks out of my arms. It felt lots better with just my notebook and a skinny math book left to carry.
    I was annoyed with him for calling her “Fat,” though, so instead of saying thanks, I said, “If you mean Glenda, she’s sick. With a virus or something.”
    Roddy just loped along beside me looking straight ahead. “Oh, too bad.”
    â€œI don’t think you really mean it.”
    He stopped short and stood in the middle of the sidewalk looking at me.
    â€œListen, if you two want to be friends, what do I care? In fact, you want to know the truth? I think you two make a real freaky pair. So go ahead and be friends for life.” He started walking again, shaking his head as though he was agreeing with himself.
    It was my turn to stop now. “Okay, give me back my books. You don’t have to bother acting like a gentleman, carrying lunch trays and books around for me, because I don’t think you are one.”
    Roddy pulled back. “Hold on a minute. Don’t get sore. What’d I say that was so terrible?”
    â€œPlenty. And the way you said it, too. So Glenda and I are freaks, huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œIt means what it says. She’s a freak. That’s what. Fat as a house. Crazy, too. That kid’s not normal. You just got to admit she’s freaky.”
    â€œAnd me, too, I suppose?”
    For the first time Roddy seemed uncomfortable. His face turned kind of pink.
    â€œWell,” I said, “I’m still waiting. What’s freaky about me?”
    â€œYou?” he said blankly. “Uh . . . nothing. You look okay to me.” He stopped and stood there rubbing his ear, then started walking again. “But, I’ll tell you something. That family of yours. Wow! Some kids and I passed yourhouse the other day and this dame was out in the yard boiling something in a big pot. Looked like a witch. And there was this whole pile of junk sticking up in the middle of the yard, only it was all connected like it was supposed