Read Online Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume - Free Book Online

said, pedalling hard to catch up with Sally.
    “Don’t you know better than to take candy from strangers? He could be a kidnapper or a murderer … or worse!”
    “He’s not a stranger …” Andrea said. “He’s Mr. Zavodsky.”
    “You know him?”
    “Sure … he lives in our building.” Andrea bit down on a piece of rock candy.
    “He could still be a murderer,” Sally said.
    “So could anybody!”
    “That’s what I mean.”
    Sally couldn’t fall asleep. She tossed and turned, trying out different positions. Legs outside the bed sheet, arms at her sides; arms outside the sheet, legs inside. One leg out, one arm out; curled in a ball; spread eagled on her stomach. Nothing worked. I need a story, she thought.
    Sally F. Meets Adolf H
    It is during the war and Sally is caught by Hitler in a round-up of Jewish people in Union County, New Jersey. She has secret information from the head of the east coast underground but she refuses to tell. Hitler can’t send her to a concentration camp because he is just building one in Bayonne and it won’t be ready for a month. He orders the Gestapo to bring her to his private office.
Tell me, you little swine
, Hitler hisses at her.
Tell me what you know or I’ll cut off your hair
.
    Your threats don’t scare me, Adolf
, Sally says.
    Oh no? We’ll see about that!
Hitler grabs a pair of scissors and Sally’s hair falls to the floor in slow motion until there is a great pile at her feet.
Now you will talk!
Hitler screams.
    Never!
Sally answers and she sticks her tongue out at him.
    That makes him still angrier. He lights a match and one by one burns each of Sally’s toes.
Talk … talk, you pig … talk, you kike …
    Sally shakes her head.
I’ll never tell you anything … never!
    So Hitler goes to his desk and gets his knife and he slowly slashes each of her fingers. She watches as her blood drips onto his rug, covering the huge swastika in the middle.
    Look what you’ve done, you Jew bastard
, Hitler cries hysterically.
You’ve ruined my rug!
    Ha ha
, Sally says.
Ha ha on you, Adolf
 … And then she passes out.
    When she comes to, Hitler is asleep and snoring, with his head on his desk. Sally crawls out of his office, then dashes down the hall to the secret passageway of the underground. She gives them valuable information leading to the capture of Adolf Hitler and the end of the war.
    On Saturday morning Sally and her family walked to the 15th Street beach with the Rubins. Ma Fanny packed a lunch in the wicker basket and Mom and Douglas each carried a folding chair from Burdines. Sally got to take the old army blanket and the bag with the towels, suntan lotion and dry suits.
    At Bradley Beach, on the Jersey shore, the waves were very high and the undertow pulled you in if you weren’t careful. Sally clung to the rope there. In Miami Beach there was no boardwalk and no rope. But there were miles and miles of soft yellow sand, bordered by palm trees, and the ocean, even though it was still the Atlantic, wasn’t the same at all. The water here was warm and clear and blue-green and when it was low tide you could walk way, way out and still you would only get wet up to your knees.
    It took a very long time for Mom to lotion Sally and Sally lost patience and began to wiggle around. “You could get sun poisoning or a third-degree burn, God forbid,” Mom said, “so stand still … you have to be very careful here … the sun is different … you should wear your hat …”
    “Not now … maybe later,” Sally said.
    “This isn’t New Jersey, you know …”
    “Please, Mom …”
    “All right … one hour without your hat, but don’t come crying to me if it’s already too late.”
    “I won’t … I promise …”
    When Mom was finished with Sally she called to Douglas. “You’re next …”
    “I’ll do it myself,” Douglas said, reaching for the lotion.
    “You can’t get your back … you want to wind up in the hospital,