Free Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume Page B

and watched as the ripples distorted her face. Invisible … invisible, she thought, closing her eyes.
    When she opened them another reflection appeared in the pool, next to hers. She turned around and caught her breath.
Mr. Zavodsky!
He was standing very close to her. Close enough to reach out and touch her. Close enough to push her into the goldfish pool.
    “Hello, little girl … you want some candy?”
    “No!” Sally jumped up and tore off into the house. She rushed up the stairs and burst into her apartment. “Do you know Mr. Zavodsky?” she asked Mom.
    Mom was sitting in the stuffed chair in the corner, one hand covering her eyes. “I know of him … why?” She sniffled and took her hand away from her face.
    “I don’t like him!” Sally said.
    “Why … did he do something to you?” Mom looked concerned.
    “He offered me candy.”
    “I hope you didn’t take any.” Mom wiped her nose with a Kleenex.
    “I didn’t … but one time Andrea did.”
    “She should know better.”
    “That’s what I told her.”
    “Stay away from him,” Mom said, “… and where’s your brother?”
    “Out on his bike … exploring …”
    “Oh, God … what am I going to do?” Mom asked, her voice breaking.
    “About what?” Sally said.
    But Mom didn’t answer. She ran to the bathroom.
    On Thursday schools were closed because of a teachers’ meeting. Sally went down to the lobby to wait for Shelby, who was coming over for lunch. She wondered if Mr. Zavodsky would be there, with his bag of candy. If he was, she’d have to warn Shelby. She’d tell her he was a dangerous stranger, but no more.
    Mr. Zavodsky wasn’t in the lobby but BubblesDaniels from next door was, talking on the pay phone. Sally sat down on the sofa. Bubbles had pretty hair, the color of carrots. She was almost seventeen. Sally wound her braid around her finger, thinking, Bubbles is older than Tante Rose when she had Lila.
    Bubbles put her hand over the mouthpiece and spoke to Sally. “I’ll just be another minute.”
    “That’s okay,” Sally told her, “I’m not waiting for the phone.”
    “Oh … then could you possibly go outside?”
    “What for?”
    “So I can finish my conversation.”
    “I don’t mind if you finish.”
    “I’d like to finish in
private
,” Bubbles said.
    “Oh … why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Sally walked outside. As she did, she heard Bubbles say, “Will I be glad when we finally get a phone upstairs!”
    “Everybody’s got secrets these days,” Sally muttered to herself.
    Sally met Shelby out front. “I brought my Jolly Roger game,” Shelby said.
    “Good.”
    They went into the lobby. Bubbles was still on the phone. “Just a minute …” she said into it, giving Sally and Shelby a nasty look. When they were on the stairs, Bubbles went back to her conversation.“The
children
in this house are driving me crazy!”
    “She’s my next door neighbor,” Sally told Shelby.
    “Lucky you!” Shelby said.
    Sally opened the door to her apartment and called, “Shelby’s here …”
    Shelby looked around. “Your place is so pretty!”
    “Thanks … you should have seen it before …” Sally had to admit that Mom and Ma Fanny had done a nice job. The apartment was bright and cheerful now, with plants and curtains and plaid slipcovers on the day beds. There were pictures of boats and sunsets hanging on the walls and Ma Fanny’s collection of family snapshots standing on all the small tables. There were twenty-two photographs in silver frames, four of them showing Tante Rose and Lila at different ages. Sally picked up her favorite. “This is Lila, my cousin, once removed. She died in a concentration camp.”
    “That’s too bad.”
    “Doesn’t she have big eyes?”
    “Yes.”
    “You can tell she’s happy even though she isn’t really smiling, can’t you?”
    Sure.
    Sally wanted to grow up to look just like Lila. She hoped her eyes would get bigger and her