The Road to After by Rebekah Lowell

Author:Rebekah Lowell [Lowell, Rebekah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

Meeting Halfway

Mémère is making us breakfast when

I look out the window

and see a boy walk over to the tree swing.

He swings alone until someone shouts,

“Eric, pancakes!”

“Be right there, Dad!” the boy replies.

Before he leaves, he notices me at the window

and waves.

His father’s voice sounds so different

from my own daddy’s voice,

which always boomed like thunder.

Later, there are two kids out near the swing—

Eric again, and a girl.

Mémère suggests I say hi,

so I walk down our porch steps

into the space between our houses.

They look up at me, and I

nervously shuffle my feet in the grass.

“Hey,” Eric says. “What’s your name?”

“Lacey,” I mumble.

“I’m Lesley,” the girl standing near him says. “That’s Eric.”

“I’m eleven,” says Eric, “and Lesley is ten. How old are you?”

“Same as you,” I say.

I notice Lesley’s neat ponytail, striped shirt, and khaki shorts.

Eric has a short haircut and glasses

and wears a white polo shirt,

khaki shorts, and shiny shoes.

I look down at my old, faded sundress and

worn-out flip-flops.

“Kiddos,” their mom calls from their porch. “Time to go!”

“We have to leave,” Lesley says,

“but you can use our swing whenever.”

I watch them get into their shiny silver minivan with

their mom, dad, and baby sister.

They seem so different from my family,

like they’re from another world,

and it makes me wonder how many worlds there are

and where I might fit in.

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