Free Keesha's House by Helen Frost

know,
    I should say me , not “you”—some people aren’t
    afraid of anything.) But dogs don’t make fun
    of you. They don’t hit you in the back
    of your neck with an ice-covered
    snowball, and if they did, and
    it made you cry, all their
    friends wouldn’t stand
    there laughing
    at you.
    (Me.)

 
    Three
    votes! Did they
    have to announce that?
    Why not just say, Congratulations
    to our new Student Council representative,
    Richard Olenka . Why say how many votes each
    person got (12, 7, 3)? I don’t know why I decided to
    run in the first place. A couple people said I should,
    and I thought, Why not? (I don’t like staying after
    school, and no one would listen to me even if
    I did have anything to say, which I don’t.)
    Now here I am, home right after school,
    and as soon as we finish feeding
    the dogs, Dad says, Willow,
    could you help me clean
    out the woodshed?
    I say, Okay, but
    it feels like
    I’m getting
    punished
    for being
    a loser.

 
    We’re
    cleaning
    the woodshed,
    and I lift up a tarp.
    An old gray stick falls out.
    Just a stick. Why does it even catch
    my eye? Dad, what is this? I turn it over in
    my hands a few times; Dad studies it for a couple
    minutes, and then he gets so excited he almost pops.
    Willow, let me tell you about this! What you have
    found is more than just an old stick. This is the
    diamond willow stick I found that afternoon,
    just before you were born! Can it be—
    let’s see—twelve years ago already?
    All this time, I thought it was lost.
    He hands it back to me like it’s
    studded with real diamonds.
    This belongs to you now.
    Use your sharpest knife
    to skin off the bark.
    Find the diamonds.
    Polish the whole
    thing. It will
    be beautiful,
    Dad says.
    You’ll
    see.

 
    I
    came
    out here to
    the mudroom
    so I could be alone
    and make a mess while I
    think my own thoughts and
    skin the bark off my stick. But it’s
    impossible to be alone in this house.
    Mom: Willow, don’t use that sharp knife
    when you’re mad. I say, I’m not mad, Mom,
    just leave me alone! and she looks at me like
    I proved her point. Then, on my very next cut,
    the knife slips and I rip my jeans (not too bad;
    luckily, Mom doesn’t seem to notice). Maybe I
    should go live with Grandma . I bet she’d let me
    stay out there with her and Grandpa . She could
    homeschool me. I think I’d do better in math if
    I didn’t worry about how I’m going to get a bad
    grade while Kaylie gets her perfect grades on
    every test, then shows me her stupid paper,
    and asks how I did, and, if I show her,
    offers to help me figure out where
    I went wrong, “so you can
    do better next time,
    Willow.”

 
    I
    want
    to mush
    the dogs out
    to Grandma and
    Grandpa’s. By myself.
    I know the way. I’ve been
    there about a hundred times
    with Dad and Mom, and once
    with Marty when he lived at home.
    Their cabin is close to the main trail.
    I know I’m not going to get lost, and I
    won’t see a baby moose or any bears this
    time of year. Even if I did, I’d know enough
    to get out of the way, fast. But Mom and
    Dad don’t seem to see it this way. What
    do they think will happen? Dad at least
    thinks about it: She’s twelve years old;
    it’s twelve miles. Maybe we could
    let her try. Mom doesn’t
    even pause for half a
    second before
    she says,
    No
    !

 
    Maybe
    they’ll let me go
    if I just take three dogs,
    and leave three dogs here for Dad.
    I’d take Roxy, of course—she’s smart
    and fast and she thinks the same way I do.
    Magoo is fun. He doesn’t have much experience,
    but if I take Cora, she’d help Magoo settle down.
    Dad would want one fast dog. I’ll leave Samson
    here with him. Lucky might try to get loose
    and follow me down the trail again , like
    the last time we left her, but this time
    Dad will be here to help Mom
    get her back. Prince can