The Dear One Read Free Page B

it as a quiz.” The class groaned. In front of me a note was passed. Someone giggled and Ms. Temple looked up. Soon after I finished my quiz, the bell rang.
    â€œSomeone is coming,” I said to Caesar after class. We were standing in front of my locker, watching the halls fill up again.
    â€œWho?” Caesar asked excitedly. Her hair was pulled back away from her face like mine. It was black and brown and had blue dye in the front.
    â€œI can’t believe your mother let you put that stuff in your hair,” I said, reaching out to touch the streak of blue.
    â€œShe didn’t. I put it on in the girls’ bathroom this morning. I’m gonna wash it out before I get home.”
    â€œIt looks cool.”
    â€œWho’s coming?” Caesar asked again.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said. “A girl. Her name’s Rebecca.” Suddenly, Rebecca’s face came to me clearly. A long time ago, when we were living in an apartment waiting for our house to get built, Clair and her kids visited us. The kids tore through the apartment, knocking over things, breaking my toys. The oldest was Rebecca. She had evil gray eyes and yelled at the little kids. They listened to her for a while, then tore through the house some more. Rebecca watched the television. She asked me if there were old movies on. I was seven then and didn’t watch movies. Rebecca looked in our refrigerator when she thought no one was watching. She touched our stuff and frowned.
    I told all this to Caesar and her eyes opened wide.
    â€œWhy is she coming?” Caesar asked.
    I shrugged. For some reason this was the part I wanted to keep to myself for a while. “Me, Ma, and Marion are going to talk about it tonight. Maybe later you can come over. For cake and stuff.”
    Even before she shook her head no, I knew what the answer would be. “I can’t,” she said. Then she looked at me. “I’m sorry.”
    â€œThat’s okay,” I said, feeling my stomach close up. “She’s not drinking anymore.”
    Caesar nodded. “I know. It’s just kind of hard.”
    A long time ago, drunk, Ma had said some not-so-nice things to Caesar, and Caesar had left the house. She had not been back since.
    â€œShe hasn’t drunk in a long time.”
    â€œThat’s good. I’m real glad she stopped.”
    â€œYou think you’ll come over soon?” I asked, fidgeting with my notebook so I wouldn’t have to see her say “no.”
    Caesar reached out and touched my shoulder. “Yeah,” she said.
    When I looked up, she was smiling.
    We held hands walking down the hall and went in different directions at the stairway.
    Halfway up the stairs, Caesar stopped. “You going to Jack and Jill tonight?”
    â€œCaesar, I hate Jack and Jill.”
    â€œI know, but they’ll probably have a party for you.”
    â€œYou know what I hate more than Jack and Jill?” I asked.
    â€œA Jack and Jill party.” Caesar laughed and headed toward her class.
    In study hall, which is actually the giant auditorium, we were supposed to sit and read. But I could not stop thinking about Rebecca. I could not stop wondering about how she’d gotten pregnant.
    I pulled out the silver frame and stared at Grandma. Her eyes followed me. They wanted to know more about Rebecca too. They wanted to know why.

Three
    MARION HAD BEEN A PROSECUTOR FOR FIVE YEARS when she walked into her office one day and quit. The next day she stopped drinking. A week later she got a job as a legal-aid attorney, defending poor people who couldn’t afford to hire lawyers. The night she won her first case we had the biggest party in Seton.
    Marion arrived for my birthday dinner at eight o’clock wearing blue jeans and a sweater. When I came downstairs, she held me away from her, turned me from side to side, and shook her head. “I knew you when you were just a thought,” she said, and