Free An-Ya and Her Diary by Diane René Christian

think he was a good person for me to be spending time with, and I asked her why.
    She said—
    He stole things. He went away for awhile.
    What? So Lex and Jazz didn’t tell me the truth about why he was away? I told Wanna the story that I heard about why Levi left, and she said it was partly correct—Levi was in Arizona and his dad does live in Arizona, but Levi wasn’t living with his dad. He was living at a place to help children who have stolen or committed other kinds of crimes.
    So I said to Wanna—
    I have stolen things. Does that make me a not good person to spend time with too?
    Wanna looked surprised and said—
    Of course not. I didn’t mean it that way. You are right. Maybe Levi was having a difficult time and made bad decisions because of it. Just be careful, An-Ya. I don’t want you to get hurt.
    So Levi stole things. I wish they would have told me the truth.
    105
    Dear Penny,
    It is the middle of the night, but I want to write this down so I don’t forget.
    I was dreaming about Abby again. She was sitting on the floor of the orphanage and staring at the wall with the big animals painted on it. Big tears were rolling down her face as she pointed to each animal and quietly said their names in English— turtle, monkey, butterfly, rabbit, mouse. And then she would point to herself and shake her head and say—no name. Over and over she kept repeating the animal names and pointing to herself and saying—no name.
    It was so sad to watch her and I couldn’t speak to her. She couldn’t see me. She couldn’t see me standing there. I tried to touch her, but I felt nothing and she felt nothing in return.
    No name.
    And I woke up. I woke up and sat up straight in my bed.
    I remembered her name. Just like that her Chinese name came to me as fast as it left me before.
    I ran to Wanna and Daddy’s room and pounded on their bedroom door. Wanna called out—
    What is going on? Is everything ok?
    I opened the door and walked through the dark room over to their bed. Both of them were starting to get out of bed, and both of them looked worried. I have never gone into their bedroom before, let alone in the middle of the night.
    I walked around the bed to Wanna’s side, and she stared at me trying to figure what in the world I was doing. I didn’t even know myself what I was doing and how I ended up in their room.
    I said—
    I know her name. I remember her name.
    Wanna said—
    Whose name? Whose name do you remember?
    And she reached out to me and pulled me close to her. Wanna’s hands were warm, and she held onto my shoulders and stared into my eyes with concern.
    I said—
    Abby’s name. I remember Abby’s Chinese name.
    Wanna pressed my shoulders and said—
    Can you say it out loud? Say her name to me.
    And I did.
    Ye-Bi. Ye-Bi is her name. Yee-Bee.
    Wanna whispered Ye-Bi’s name and then asked me if I wanted to stay. I told her no, that I was going back to bed now. She lifted her warm hands from my shoulders and said— goodnight .
    106
    Dear Penny,
    It was hot today, and Wanna decided to take me and Ellie to the lake. Angel Bones loves going to the lake and will let me carry her into the water when she gets too sandy. I splash the sand off, and she lies still in my arms while I do it and closes her eyes. I think she really likes it.
    On the way to the lake, as we were crossing the covered bridge, Wanna spoke to me about Abby. She wanted me to know that she hadn’t forgotten her promise to search for her and find out if she was ok. Wanna said that maybe it will help now that we know her Chinese name.
    107
    Dear Penny,
    This was a bad, bad day that started out fine.
    Wanna ordered a Chinese cookbook on the computer and it came in the mail today. She was excited to try some of the recipes, so she took Ellie and me to the market next to the ice cream parlor. Even though the market is small, it carries food from a lot of different countries like India and Japan. There is a little section in the back of the market