Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes

Author:Nikki Grimes [Grimes, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101657393
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

Dyamonde Digs for Answers

“Who are you so mad at?” asked Dyamonde.

The question caught Free off guard.

“What?”

“Who are you so mad at?”

“Who said I was mad?”

“Oh, puleeze! All you do is stomp around and glare at people, even teachers, and I have not seen one person do anything bad to you since you got here. Not one. So who are you mad at?”

Dyamonde’s words were sharp as needles, and Free felt like a balloon that she had just poked a hole in. All the air came whooshing out, and instead of looking angry, Free just sort of sagged.

“I don’t know,” said Free, in a tired voice. “I’m mad at my folks. At my dad, mostly. He lost his job and made us move here, and I had to leave all my friends behind.”

Dyamonde thought about her old neighborhood, and her old friends. The face of Alisha came swimming up before her eyes, and Dyamonde had to swallow hard. She wasn’t mad at Mom for making them move, but she understood how Free could be mad at his dad.

“Okay,” said Dyamonde. “You’ve got a right to be mad—but not at people you don’t even know.”

Free sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m always right,” said Dyamonde. The way she said it made Free smile.

“What’s your name again?” he asked.

“Dyamonde, with a y instead of an i plus an e at the end. And yes, I know. I must be a diamond in the rough, ’cause I’m plain as coal, blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard it all,” said Dyamonde, rolling her eyes to the sky.

“Kids tease you about your name all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you stand it? I hate it when kids tease me about mine.”

Dyamonde shrugged. “It used to bug me when I was little. I even changed my name to Diana for a week. But Dyamonde sounds so much more beautiful, and I figured anybody who made fun of it was just plain silly. Besides, there are way worse things in life than being teased about your name. Anyway, who would tease you about Free?”

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