Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood by Cheryl Diamond

Author:Cheryl Diamond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

A few weeks after my first normal teenage party, I’m reminded how far away I am from normal. It’s a rainy Sunday, and when both Mom and Chiara are out, Dad tells me to follow him into the den. He opens his closet, lifts a board at the bottom, and shows me the nondescript black backpack hidden there. Only I am to know about the $10,000 in cash, $5,000 in gold Krugerrand coins, and all our passports and birth certificates except Frank’s. He must have hidden that one somewhere else, where even I won’t be able to find it. Also in the bag is a water bottle, flashlight, and a burner cell phone. I’m being put in charge of our family’s escape plan when I’m barely thirteen.

If everything goes to hell, I’m supposed to take the bag and run: run through the woods I know so well, watching the roads for cops and unmarked cars, and get as far as I can before taking a cab into the city center and breaking the trail. The rest is the same protocol we’ve had in every city I can remember; a prearranged meeting place in a busy area. Here, it’s a corner near Dupont Circle. Noon and 6 p.m. every day.

If we don’t find each other, we’ll run an ad in the classifieds of the International Herald Tribune under the heading Lost Ring Engraved Platinum with the new contact or meeting place below.

“I know I can trust you.” His beard tickles as he plants a soft kiss on my forehead.

“Always,” I say.

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