Stop, Don't Stop by Jonah Black

Author:Jonah Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061756252
Publisher: HarperCollins

Nov. 7, 3:15 P.M.

I’m in Miss Tenuda’s class and we are stranded in the most boring part of American history, the dead zone between the Founding Fathers and the exciting rush up to the Civil War. It is so totally depressing that I’m doing this whole year of school over again, but I don’t care. Now that I have Posie, nothing else matters. I’d repeat eleventh grade a third time to be with her.

I have to say Miss Tenuda has been acting a little strange. She keeps pausing in the middle of a sentence and to look out the window, and we’re not sure if she’s ever going to start talking again. Not that that would be so bad.

I have to write about what happened after I got home from my night at sea with Posie. I got back to the house around eight in the morning. And when I walked into the kitchen, Mom was there, back from her book tour. She was just arriving, so she hadn’t been up all night worrying about where I was or anything.

I went over and gave her a big hug. It was weird how glad I was to have her back.

Mom hugged me hard and then stepped back to give me a once-over. “Jonah, look at you! I can’t believe how you’ve grown,” she said. She got up to put the kettle on the stove and then turned around, beaming proudly at me.

I kind of liked that Mom said that. I felt like I had grown since I’d seen her last. So much had happened.

“How was the book tour?” I said.

“Fantastic. Amazing,” she gushed.

“Great,” I said. “I’m glad.”

“Listen, Jonah,” Mom said. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

“What?” I said.

She seemed nervous, and I wondered if what she had to tell me had something to do with the guy that had answered the phone in her hotel room.

“I just wanted you to know that you’re never going to lose me,” Mom said. “I’m always going to love you, and I’m always going to be your mom.”

“Lose you?” I said. “Why would I lose you?”

“Because I might become famous. I mean, you’ve never had to share me before,” she said, her eyes shining. She looked really happy.

“It’s fine, Mom. I’m glad you’re famous,” I said.

“Really?” Mom said. It seemed as if I’d touched her deep inside. Her eyes were tearing up. “Really really?”

“Yes, Mom, really,” I said. “It’s exciting.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you feel that way.” She sighed. “I was afraid you’d experience it as loss. You know, recapitulate in your unconscious the dynamics of your father’s and my divorce?”

I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Mom always uses that self-help mumbo jumbo. It’s the only way she knows how to communicate. I hugged her again. “I love you, Mom,” I said.

Tears began to spill down her cheeks. “That is such a validating thing to hear,” she said.

“I know it,” I said.

She dabbed her eyes with a table napkin. “You’ll be glad of my other news, then,” she said.

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