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

you’re not allowed in by yourself.”
    “Tinsel Teeth,”
Linda called,
“Railroad Tracks …”
    Andrea picked up a handful of sand and tossed it at Linda. “Get out of here, you little brat!”
    Linda ran toward her mother.
    “She’s getting so spoiled,” Andrea said. “I can’t stand it. Just because she almost died my mother lets her get away with murder … and my grandmother’s just as bad …”
    “I didn’t know she almost died,” Sally said.
    “Last April … she had polio …”
    “Really? You can’t tell …”
    “I know it … she’s fine now … but that’s why we’re here … they don’t want her to get sick again …”
    “Sounds like us,” Sally said, “except if I ever called Douglas
Tinsel Teeth
or
Railroad Tracks
I’d really get it … my father’s a dentist!”
    “Mine manufactures bras and girdles.”
    “Really?”
    “Uh huh … he’s coming down for Thanksgiving … want me to ask him to bring you some bras?”
    “I don’t wear them yet.”
    “I noticed … but some day you might.”
    “I hope so.”
    “I don’t miss my father at all … do you miss yours?”
    “Yes, a lot. He’s coming down for Thanksgiving too. I can’t wait!”
    “My father’s very busy … I hardly ever see him at home …”
    “My father’s busy too but he always has time for me.”

Dear Doey-bird
,
    Miami Beach is full of bugs. You never saw so many bugs. Big ones, little ones, they are everywhere. I especially hate water bugs. They give me the creeps. Also, outside you can see salamanders. They are small lizards that change colors. Or did you already know that? Douglas wants to keep one for a pet but Mom won’t let him. But here is the biggest news yet. We had to set mouse traps in the kitchen! Ma Fanny discovered the mice. That is, she heard them running around at night. She says in Miami Beach it doesn’t mean you don’t keep a clean kitchen. Just about everybody has them, and bugs too. Mom bought three mouse traps. We caught our first mouse this morning. Douglas got elected mouse remover and had to throw him in the garbage. He picked him up by the tail!
    I like the beach here very much except Mom makes me change out of my wet suit before lunch. She says Douglas got his kidney infection from sittingaround in wet clothes. I told her, Mom, this is the beach … you’re supposed to get wet. She didn’t think that was very funny. I wouldn’t even mind changing if she’d just let me go to the bathhouse to do it. But she says I might pick up something very bad there. I asked her
What?
but she says it’s better if I don’t know. Andrea’s mother told her the same thing. We think it’s some kind of disease
.
    Do you know of a special disease you can get from bathhouses? If so, write and tell me. If not, write and tell Mom so I don’t have to change out in the open anymore. Mom says no one can see anything because she holds up a towel to cover my front and Ma Fanny holds one up to cover my back, making a little closet for me. I keep my eyes shut the whole time because if anyone
is
looking I don’t want to know. Douglas doesn’t have to change because he never gets wet!
    Do you know about Man O’ Wars? They are bluish bubbles that sometimes float around in the ocean. When there are a lot of them the lifeguards won’t let you go in the water. They’re pretty dangerous. They can sting you. Douglas poked one that had washed up on the beach, with a stick, and Mom got
sooo
mad. She said Douglas chases trouble. But the Man O’ War was already dead. Douglas was just interested in its insides
.
    In school we are studying the history and geography of Florida. Can’t wait to see you
.
    Your loving daughter
,
    Sally F
.
    Sally folded her letter, put it in an envelope, and sealed it. Then she took another piece of paper from her box of Bambi stationery and wrote:
    Dear Mr. Zavodsky
,
    You don’t know me or who I am and you’ll never find out, not if you