Annie's Life in Lists

by Kristin Mahoney

  One last question I asked, after Mom and Ted returned (Mom was carrying a plate of cookies, even though it wasn’t dessert night)

  1. Will we ever move back to Brooklyn?

  Up until now, even though he’d been saying some brave stuff, Ted was mostly looking down, like he was talking to his food. But when I asked that last question, Ted’s head popped up and he looked right at Mom and Dad. He had obviously been wondering the same thing.

  One answer Mom gave that really didn’t satisfy anyone

  1. We don’t know. But why don’t we see how things go here? After a while, Clover Gap might really feel like home to us.

  Dad and Ted both seemed really interested in their cookies at that point. I could tell no one could think of a good thing to say next.

  In the spirit of honesty (and lightening the mood), one thing I told them was on my mind right then

  1. I stabbed myself with a pencil today, and now I have a tiny tattoo.

  Four things I told Millie in my email to her that night

  1. Did you know that if you poke yourself hard enough with a pencil, it leaves a mark that will be there for the rest of your life? Don’t try this yourself; I’ll show you my mark next time I see you.

  2. There’s a lot of snow here.

  3. Kate is an amazing snowball maker. She helped me retaliate when Ted attacked us.

  4. So…guess what. We found out that the real reason we left Brooklyn was that my dad lost his job there. He didn’t tell us because he didn’t want us to worry. And Mom was seriously into trying out small-town life, so she wanted to come here. Anyway, point is…it really wasn’t my fault that we moved.

  Even though this was big news, I didn’t want to call Millie and have anyone overhear our conversation. So I sent the email, and I spent about half an hour after that listening for the ding that meant she had written me back. Finally Mom made me get ready for bed.

  Five things that happened between Amelia and me at school the day after the pencil incident

  1. When we were alone in the coatroom, I asked her how she was feeling.

  2. She said, “Fine. Why?” in a flat voice.

  3. “You know, because you were sick yesterday,” I answered.

  4. She replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  5. “Right,” I answered. “Never mind.”

  Like I said, I wasn’t going to tell anyone about Amelia throwing up. But I didn’t realize I’d have to pretend it didn’t happen with Amelia herself. I’m not sure what the big deal is. I mean, throw-up happens.

  Five inconvenient places I have vomited

  1. In the car on the way to my dad’s cousin’s wedding

  2. On the “new book” cart at the public library

  3. On my babysitter’s shoes

  4. At my dad’s office on Take Your Kids to Work Day

  5. In the prize box at the dentist’s office

  As you can see, this is something I had a bit of experience with when I was younger. Luckily, it doesn’t happen much anymore. But I guess my “upchuck years,” as Dad calls them, made me get used to the idea of throwing up. I used to worry a lot that it was going to happen again at any minute. But now that my stomach has settled down, there are other worries that keep me awake at night.

  MARCH

  Nine things I worry about when I’m trying to fall asleep

  1. Kickball starting again when the weather gets warm

  2. Mysterious noises (There are way more mysterious night noises in Clover Gap than there were in Brooklyn. And of course I secretly suspect bears.)

  3. That Millie is mad at me (She still hasn’t responded to my email about Dad’s job. Did she not get it? Did I annoy her when I said Kate was a great snowball maker? What is going on?)

  4. That Amelia will decide to convince Zora that she shouldn’t be friends with me

  5. That my parents won’t be able to afford the things we need, and that they’ll argue about it, and that the house will fall apart because everything is too expensive to fix

  6. That Dad’s highway job will never end, and we’ll stay in Clover Gap forever, and Ted will always be miserable, and I’ll never have a real best friend again

  7. That Dad’s highway job will end soon, and then we’ll really have money problems

  8. That if we move back to Brooklyn, I won’t have a best friend there, either, because Millie seems to be moving on

  9. Other big things, like people who are treated unfairly. I don’t know if other kids my age worry about stuff like this. No one really talks about it, so it’s hard to tell. But stories like the one about Zora’s mom and the pool party go through my head over and over again.

  When I told Mom about that one, I could tell she wasn’t really sure what to say.

  Four things Mom said when I told her Zora’s mom’s story

  1. You’re right. That is awful.

  2. Unfortunately, that kind of thing used to be pretty common.

  3. Actually, it still happens more than you’d think.

  4. What did you say when Zora told you?

  I told Mom that I’d said I thought it was awful, and that Zora had agreed but hadn’t seemed as shocked as I was. “It’s probably a story she’s known for a long time,” Mom said.

  “But I’m guessing it’s still hurtful for her family.”

  One other worry that keeps me awake at night

  1. Coming up with escape routes in the event of a fire

  Three things I would save in a fire

  Today Mr. Allbright asked us to write about what we would save if our house was on fire and we had to get out fast and could only grab one thing. (His answer: a pocketknife his grandfather gave him.) That assignment stressed me out. When I was in third grade, firefighters came to my school in Brooklyn to talk about fire safety, and one thing they kept repeating was “Do not worry about saving any of your stuff! You can get new toys and clothes, but not a new you!” I guess Mr. Allbright never got that talk. And now that he has asked about it, I imagine that I’ll be standing in my smoky room, thinking, “What should I save?” and I’ll forget to climb out the window.

  But since you asked, Mr. Allbright, here’s what I would save:

  1. My stuffed panda, Natasha (I’ve had Natasha the longest. I know I’d feel bad about not saving the others, but I’m picturing the smoky room and I know I’d have to make tough choices.)

  2. The locket Aunt Pen gave me for my last birthday

  3. My book of lists

  Three things Amelia would save in a fire

  1. Her cashmere sweater

  2. Her heart-shaped jewelry box

  3. Her photo albums

  Two things Kate would save in a fire

  1. The copy of The Secret Garden her grandma gave her

  2. Her glasses (She is very practical)

  Three things Charlie would save in a fire

  1. His fedora

  2. His Lego Millennium Falcon

  3. His Han Solo T-shirt

  Four things Zach would save in a fire

  1. His Lego Death Star

  2. His Darth Vader shirt (definitely a theme here)

  3. His catcher’s mitt

  4. His grandpa’s army medals

  Two things Zora would save in a fire

  1. Her fluffy purple pillow (because she can’t sleep without it)

  2. Her neighborhood map

  She has worked on her map for years, adding to it whenever she discovers a cool new or secret place. She says she can’t make a copy of it because she doesn’t want it to “fall into the wrong hands.”

  Five important landmarks on Zora’s map of the neighborhood

 
1. Skeleton Hill, the best sledding hill in Clover Gap

  2. Hollow Oak, the best place to leave secret notes and treasures like arrowhead rocks

  3. Pond Fort, a small, grassy place on the banks of the pond. It’s hidden from view by the willow trees that bend over it.

  4. The Giant Hole, a pit in the middle of Mr. and Mrs. Sutter’s Y-shaped driveway. The hole is in the spot where the Y forks, and it has a big utility pole coming out of it. All the neighborhood kids make a game out of seeing if they can ride their bikes past the Giant Hole and reach out and touch the utility pole without falling in.

  5. The rock stream in the woods behind her house

  Four cool things about the rock stream in winter

  1. It’s shallow enough that it freezes pretty quickly.

  2. After a light snowfall, if you look closely, you can see the shapes of the individual snowflakes on the ice.

  3. When the ice is thick, the neighborhood kids have sliding races on it.

  4. When the ice is thin, you can see little fish swimming just beneath it.

  Three reasons Zora was determined to catch a fish in the rock stream

  1. She had just watched a TV show about ice fishing and wanted to try it out.

  2. Marcus told her he didn’t think she could do it.

  3. She wanted me to have a pet, and she couldn’t bring a fish into her house or her cat would eat it right away. (I didn’t tell her that I’d asked for a fish for Christmas and hadn’t gotten one.)

  How I came to own Rocky, my pet fish

  1. Zora and I used loose rocks from the creek bank to pound a hole in the ice.

  2. This scared away all the nearby fish, so we had to sit on a big rock poking out of the stream for a while—and wait.

  3. Zora dipped a bent clothes hanger with a piece of crusty bread on the end of it into the water.

  4. Then we waited some more.

  5. And a little more.

  6. Still more waiting.

  7. Finally a few fish started to swim our way.

  8. Zora handed me the wire and picked up a big red plastic cup.

  9. Incredibly, one little fish started nibbling at the bread.

  10. Then another one joined him, and another.

  11. Zora sneaked up on the fish with the red cup and pounced.

  12. She scooped the cup into the water, catching the three fish.

  13. At the same time, she lost her balance and crashed through the ice.

  14. All the fish in the water darted away.

  15. “Grab the cup!” Zora yelled at me.

  16. I grabbed the cup with the three little fish still inside and helped Zora out of the water, which, luckily, was only a few inches deep.

  17. We headed back to Zora’s house, where we got

  a. Dry clothes for Zora

  b. A talking-to from Zora’s mom about being very careful on the ice

  18. I took the fish home and put them in a big pickle jar.

  19. Mom told me we could go to the pet store over the weekend to get a proper fishbowl.

  20. Two of the fish died overnight before I could think of names for them.

  21. One of the fish stuck around, and I named him Rocky, after the stream where I found him. So I finally got a fish after all. I wasn’t going to get too attached to him, though. Two things I’d learned from Millie: fish and friendships are unpredictable.

  Not long after that, the ice started to melt, and spring was on its way. The fish were harder to catch in the warm weather, so we stopped trying. Now our favorite thing to do was ride our bikes, especially around the Giant Hole in the Sutters’ driveway.

  APRIL

  Three names Aunt Penelope said when I emailed her and told her to guess who fell into the Giant Hole

  1. Annie

  2. Annie

  3. Annie

  Yes, it was me. I was still a little annoyed that Aunt Pen was so sure of herself, though.

  My pet peeves

  1. Ted’s drumming

  2. People dotting their i’s with circles or hearts

  I think that’s it. Maybe I’ll have more when I’m older.

  Five things I learned about the Giant Hole

  1. It’s been in the fork of the Sutters’ Y driveway for years, ever since the town of Clover Gap used it as an access point for some underground water-main repairs.

  2. Mr. and Mrs. Sutter wanted to have it filled in a long time ago, but their kids (who are now in college) had already created the ride-past-the-hole-and-see-if-you-can-touch-the-pole-without-falling-in game, so they (the kids) talked them out of it.

  3. It actually is pretty giant. I mean, my bike and my whole body both fit into it, and the ground was still about a foot above my head.

  4. The walls of the giant hole are concrete, and lots of people have declared their love in graffiti there. Lots of people have drawn some pretty gross pictures there too.

  5. Lucky for me, there were metal rungs on one wall so I could climb out.

  Three bad things that came from me falling into the hole

  1. Split and bloody lip (which luckily did not require stitches)

  2. Ripped jeans

  3. Zora had to go back to both of our houses and get Ted and Marcus, because we couldn’t get my bike out of the hole ourselves. (It was in pretty deep, and I wasn’t much help since I was holding a tissue against my lip to get it to stop bleeding.) Zora decided it was a three-person job. But we knew Ted and Marcus would laugh.

  Three unsurprising things that Ted and Marcus did when they got to the hole

  1. Laughed. A lot.

  2. Asked us what we would give them if they rescued the bike (Answer: Two items of their choosing out of our secret candy stashes.)

  3. Acted really tough and strong when they were able to lift out the bike

  Three surprising things that Ted and Marcus did when they got to the hole

  1. Gave me a tissue to stop my lip from bleeding (Ted)

  2. Checked my bike for dings and scratches (Marcus)

  3. Started talking to each other about drumming (Ted and Marcus had met before and kind of grunted at each other in that way that boys do.) But this time Marcus noticed Ted’s drumsticks sticking out of his back jeans pocket, and he asked him about his drums. Since Ted could talk forever about his drums, and Marcus is really into music too, they didn’t pay any attention to Zora and me after that, which was fine with us.

  Three things that were different at dinner that night

  1. Dad seemed happier. He said wildflowers were starting to bloom in the median on one of the new stretches of the highway he was working on. He hummed while he set the table, and he was full of ideas for the yard (bird feeders, hammocks, etc.). He also said Zora’s dad was going to lend him his chain saw so he could cut back some dead branches on our maple tree. (Dad was excited about this; Mom looked nervous.)

  2. I could only eat mashed potatoes and applesauce because my lip was so banged up.

  3. Ted was super chatty.

  Four things Ted told us about Marcus

  1. Marcus is a really good guitar player. (Ted heard him play the national anthem in a pep rally at school.)

  2. Marcus wants to start a band.

  3. They need a drummer.

  4. Marcus said Ted can play for them in their garage this weekend to see if they can “jam.”

  Two emails in my inbox that night

  1. One from Aunt Pen, asking how I was recovering from my bike ride into the hole

  2. One from Millie (almost two months after I had last emailed her) saying just the following:

  a. That’s a crazy story about your dad’s job.
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  b. Even crazier about your pencil mark.

  c. Gotta go; I’m going to the movies with Juliette and Charlotte.

  Hardly the shocked reaction I was expecting. Instead, it was my turn to be shocked. She took TWO MONTHS to respond to me?! And she was going to the movies with Juliette…and Charlotte? Charlotte Devlin, my second-grade peanut-butter-cracker nemesis?!

  Three things I wrote back to Millie right away

  1. Wow, I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me!

  2. What movie are you seeing?

  3. Are you going with Charlotte Devlin?