The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love
Page 24
“Me?” It is a testament to how much things can change in a short period of time that Maya isn’t acting at all. “You thought I liked Cody?”
“Yeah, well, you know… He is pretty good looking.”
“Do you think so?” asks Maya.
It is another testament to how much things can change in a short period of time that although, at this very moment, Cody Lightfoot is walking past them, smiling that smile that not so long ago would have turned her toenails to glue, Maya doesn’t even see him.
Acknowledgements
As the characters in my novel discover, it is sometimes easy to feel very alone when you decide to “go Green”. You look around and everybody’s eating hamburgers and filling their plastic shopping bags with things that aren’t very friendly to the environment. They may love their dogs and cats – give them names and personalities and dress them up for major holidays – but they don’t spend much time worrying about the life of your average battery chicken. They may accept the fact of climate change, but they don’t think a lot about trying to at least slow it down.
When I did the research for this novel, however, I realized that there are a lot of concerned and aware people and groups, eager to share information with the world – and even more eager to try and save it. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for being out there. Thank you.
In addition, I thought I’d like to mention some of the many books, films and websites I found that helped me the most.
Books: The Last Green Book on Earth? by Judy Allen, illustrated by Martin Brown (Red Fox, 1994); What’s in this Stuff?: The Essential Guide to What’s Really in the Products You Buy in the Supermarket by Pat Thomas (Rodale, 2006); Endgame v. 1: The Problem of Civilization and Endgame v. 2: Resistance by Derrick Jensen (Seven Stories Press, 2006); How it all Vegan, Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002); Not On the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate by Felicity Lawrence (Penguin Books, 2004) and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (Penguin Books, 2002).
Websites: www.vegansociety.com; www.vegsoc.org; www.peta.org.uk; www.revbilly.com (web home of the dynamic – and very funny – Reverend Billy and The Church of Life After Shopping) and www.seashepherd.org (official site for the dedicated Captain Paul Watson and crews of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society).
Documentaries: Food, Inc. (directed by Robert Kenner); An Inconvenient Truth (directed by Davis Guggenheim); What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire (directed by Timothy S. Bennett); The Age of Stupid (directed by Franny Armstrong); Whale Wars (from the Animal Planet series) and The Witness (directed by Jenny Stein about the Brooklyn animal rights champion, Eddie Lama). The Witness, though thought-provoking and very moving, was probably the most entertaining. Some of the documentaries I watched, I have to honestly say, were pretty distressing. One of the best, Earthlings (directed by Shaun Monson), is the film Clemens shows that turns Ms Kimodo into a vegetarian in my novel. I closed my eyes a lot when I screened it.
Dyan Sheldon is the author of many books for young people, including Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen; My Perfect Life; And Baby Makes Two; and My Worst Best Friend, as well as a number of stories for younger readers. American by birth, Dyan lives in North London.
For all eco-warriors everywhere.
¡Sigue la lucha!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used
fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information
and material of any other kind contained herein are included for
entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for
accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published 2010 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2010 Dyan Sheldon
Cover photograph © 2010 Johnny Greig/Alamy
The right of Dyan Sheldon to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-3252-0 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-4063-3253-7 (e-PDF)
www.walker.co.uk
Table of Contents
Chapter One Sicilee Kewe is not happy
Chapter Two Why Waneeda and Joy Marie were in Sicilee’s way
Chapter Three And now it’s Maya Baraberra’s turn to be in Sicilee’s way
Chapter Four What a difference a minute can make
Chapter Five Sicilee Kewe – Girl Detective
Chapter Six This is how stalkers are made
Chapter Seven There’s a chance that reality begins in dreams
Chapter Eight Sicilee doesn’t understand it when things don’t go the way she wants
Chapter Nine Sicilee isn’t the only one who is unhappy about being ignored
Chapter Ten Waneeda, at least, is used to being ignored
Chapter Eleven “Come on, gang! Let’s save the planet!”
Chapter Twelve Desperate times call for desperate measures
Chapter Thirteen Waneeda and Joy Marie discuss motivation
Chapter Fourteen Ms Kimodo can be forgiven for thinking she’s gone to the wrong room
Chapter Fifteen More than one person thinks of leaving, but doesn’t
Chapter Sixteen Climate change
Chapter Seventeen Warrior greens
Chapter Eighteen The times are a-changin’ – whether Clemens likes it or not
Chapter Nineteen Seen to be Green
Chapter Twenty Juanita, Mary Jo and Whatshername
Chapter Twenty-one It isn’t easy being Green
Chapter Twenty-two Waneeda builds a plane
Chapter Twenty-three Sicilee goes out with her friends
Chapter Twenty-four Maya goes shopping
Chapter Twenty-five If you don’t know the words, hum the tune
Chapter Twenty-six One great idea deserves another
Chapter Twenty-seven Waneeda finally volunteers for something
Chapter Twenty-eight How to lose friends and not influence people
Chapter Twenty-nine Late but not late enough
Chapter Thirty Sicilee loses an argument with her mother
Chapter Thirty-one Waneeda and Clemens agree on several things
Chapter Thirty-two Maya wins an argument with her mother
Chapter Thirty-three Waneeda and her mother have an argument that neither loses or wins
Chapter Thirty-four It seems that Sicilee’s changed her mind about more than one thing
Chapter Thirty-five Plastic girl in a plastic world
Chapter Thirty-six Truly great reasons not to save the trees
Chapter Thirty-seven Shop and drop
Chapter Thirty-eight The last person to leave doesn’t have to turn out the lights
Chapter Thirty-nine Joy Marie drinks flowers and Waneeda plants them
Chapter Forty Spring brings more than bugs, buds and birds
Chapter Forty-one Clemens makes a spontaneous decision
Chapter Forty-two Dr Firestone isn’t the only one up a tree
Chapter Forty-three Last man standing
Chapter Forty-four The spell’s been broken
Chapter Forty-five Waneeda can’t remember that she ever had the teensiest crush on Cody Lightfoot
Chapter Forty-six All systems normal
Acknowledgements
Other titles by Dyan Sheldon
About
the Author
Dedication
Copyright