You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) by Ruth White

Author:Ruth White [White, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-89860-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

• 19 •

David Speaks

Living in the Land of the Fathers, we settled into routine. We don’t feel the same bliss that Ulysses’s men felt in their lotus stupor, but we are temporarily reconciled to the idea of living in this mundane world.

Mom and Gramps go to work early each day, while Meggie and I take care of the apartment and do the food shopping. We’ve learned that in Fashion City boys and girls our age are expected to develop homemaking skills in preparation for having a family someday. In the afternoons we obediently do our monotonous schoolwork. For some reason Meggie’s class lasts longer than mine. Then we go for a walk with Colin and Jennifer, or if the weather is bad, we meet inside. Sometimes we go to their place, which is exactly like ours, but usually, just out of habit, we gather at our place.

Gil has decided that our night group will always meet on our balcony, because he says it’s inconsiderate to expect Mom and Gramps to climb up through the trapdoor. Sure, it’s nice of him, but if he’d ever seen Mom and Gramps doing chin-ups or playing sports with me and Meggie, he’d know Mom is no buttercup and Gramps isn’t feeble. Still, it’s okay with us, so we let Gil be the gentleman and have his way.

Jennifer is a shining star in this otherwise dreary world. In fact, I’m torn between wanting to be with her and wanting to leave this place forever. Which do I want more? I can’t say. I’ve been so wrapped up in her spell, it’s taken me a while to notice Meggie’s crush on Colin. As her big brother, I feel obligated to discourage her—for her own good, of course.

“You know, he’s not interested in a girl your age,” I tell her one day.

“I’m little, but I’m old,” she says to me.

“That line was so much funnier when Dill said it in To Kill a Mockingbird,” I tell her, just to make her aware that I know those words are not original with her.

“You know what I mean,” she says. “Our minds are equal.”

I have to laugh at that. “Why, you haven’t even achieved blue yet,” I remind her—once again.

“Blue means nothing to him,” she says. “Furthermore, you dork, it means nothing to me either. In this world, it’ll only get you in trouble.”

I chuckle because I know she doesn’t really feel that way. I’m not blind to her habit of checking the mirror two or three times a day. She’s dying to see blue.

But Meggie’s crush on Colin isn’t nearly as hysterical as Gil’s crush on Mom. He is sooo obvious, it’s embarrassing. He picks up small gifts for her—chocolates, flowers, a fruit basket. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. And both of them pushing forty.

Occasionally we come across Bonnie, the woman next door who is afflicted with gross vacillation, and we see Tom each evening at lockdown, or when he’s collecting schoolwork. Sometimes he brings our work back to us for corrections, but only when we’ve been careless.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.