Free Tell Me by Joan Bauer Page A

involved and they need to be stopped!
    The other thing is, you’ve got to help the girl not give up. You’ve got to do it.
    Thank you for horses, grandmothers, librarians, strawberry muffins, and Homeland Security.
    Anna M

Fourteen
    I’m waiting . . .
    First I get a headache.
    Then a stomachache.
    Then I chew my thumbnails down even more.
    I’m doing all this at the long table at Flower People. Burke is hanging around this table, too, not because I’m here. Taylor is sitting next to me.
    Right now, he’s inspecting mum plants that look fine to me.
    Taylor hasn’t really looked at him. Me, I just look people in the eye.
    Burke takes the mum plants, says, “These are for the library,” and heads outside. Taylor watches him through the window. I give her a look, and she says, “Okay, well.”
    Whatever that means.
    Lorenzo says the best part about being twelve is you’re close to being a teenager, but you don’t have tocommit to the whole exhausting experience.
    Mom is supposed to call me back this morning, and I don’t know how that is going to go.
    I keep trying to write something to Dad, but all I can think of to say is:
    Â 
    Please change back. I need a seriously good father right now!
    Â 
    Every kind of flower imaginable is on this table. I’m not great at arranging flowers, but Mim wants to change that. She takes a rose, cuts the stem. “Basically, nature tells us what to do.” She puts the rose in a vase and adds some greens. “Flowers don’t grow without green, so we need to add that to be natural.” Mim clips another rose and places it in the vase. “You don’t want them too tall. See? You pick the best flower you’ve got and make it your focal point.”
    I take an orange one, Taylor goes for pink. Burke walks by, shakes his head at me. I put the orange flower down, pick up a puffy blue one. Burke nods and walks off.
    â€œNow we build around it.” Mim clips flowers quickly and puts them in the vase. “See how easy it is?”
    I clip flowers and put them in the vase and it doesn’t look anything like Mim’s.
    Taylor puts three big flowers in a vase surrounded by greens. “Get along, you guys. Make me proud.”
    Burke laughs from the other room. Taylor smiles slightly. Her design looks much better than mine.
    We change and arrange, I stick myself with rose thorns and cut a snapdragon too short. Mim fixes it. “That’s pretty good. Stick this here to make it better. See?”
    She wraps ribbon around the vase. “That’s the ticket.”
    That’s when Mom calls.
    â€œI’ve been thinking,” she says, which can be good or bad, depending.
    â€œMom, I’m sorry if it seems like I’m not listening to you.”
    â€œAnna . . . listen to me.” Mom says that she and Mim have been talking, and Mim has explained what’s going on with the girl I saw.
    â€œI have to stay, Mom. It’s hugely important. I need something that’s not about me, you know? I need to help somebody else! I’m not trying to be a pain.”
    I wait.
    Mom sighs. “Honey, I hear you. I understand how important this is. For now, you can stay.”
    â€œMom, thank you!”
    â€œFor
now
. But, hear me—if your helping this girl gets out of control, you’ll need to come home. You are dealing with a lot of stressful things all at once, whether you know it or not.”
    Oh, I know it!
    My chest feels tight.
    â€œYou can’t carry all of this on your shoulders, Anna.”
    â€œI won’t, Mom. Now there’s Homeland Security.”
    â€œWhat!”

    I can’t rest at all!
    At dinner we light a candle for the girl and pray that God will keep her safe. I want to pray that twelve guys from Homeland Security will drive their tanks to wherever she’s at and rescue her. Then she could get adopted by good parents in Philadelphia