Read Online The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson - Free Book Online Page A

wake to Trout in the room sitting cross-legged at the foot of her bed.
    “The floors are cold here,” Trout said. She was barefoot, dressed in dark pajamas. She had braided her hair, and the braids hung down beside her ears.
    Staggerlee sat up, pulling the covers with her. Creek sat up too, went over to Trout, and rested his head on her lap. She stroked it slowly.
    “How long were you standing there—in the doorway like that?”
    Trout shrugged. “A little while—maybe twenty minutes. I was watching you sleep. You’re pretty when you’re sleeping. So peaceful.”
    “That’s weird to me.” Staggerlee frowned. “You standing there.” It gave her the creeps to think of someone watching her when she didn’t know they were there. “Do you always watch people like that?”
    “I had a bad dream. I dreamed I didn’t have a family. I was standing out in this field and there was all this snow around and I just kept calling everybody’s name. People I knew kept turning and looking at me like I was some kind of crazy stranger.”
    “They probably just thought you were some kind of crazy,” Staggerlee said, wiping sleep out of her eyes. “They probably knew you were going to be standing in my door in the next minute staring at me.”
    “You were there,” Trout said. “You walked right by me.”
    Staggerlee looked at her. “It was a dream, Trout.”
    “When I’m walking in the woods sometimes, my mind is all filled up thinking about you, Staggerlee.”
    Staggerlee shivered and pulled the covers tighter around her.
    “Have you ever kissed anyone?”
    “Once,” Staggerlee said softly, looking away from Trout. “I kissed a girl once.”
    She had never even said this out loud.
    “What happened?”
    “She found a way to never speak to me again.”
    “I used to tell Hallique everything,” Trout said softly. “The first time I kissed a girl, I told her.” She crawled up beside Staggerlee and climbed under the covers. Staggerlee moved over to make space for her. “She said that I’d get crushes on lots of people, boys and girls.” Trout frowned. “I asked her . . . I said . . . , ‘But what if I always want this?’”
    “Did she say it was bad?” Staggerlee asked. She could feel Trout’s leg pressed against hers. She wanted to push it away. She wanted to pull it closer.
    Trout shook her head. “She just said it was something I should keep to myself.”
    “But she told Ida Mae.”
    Trout turned toward the window. Staggerlee could see the outline of her throat moving up and down. “I know,” she said softly. “And then she died before I could get mad at her.”
    “Nobody ever told me I had to hide it,” Staggerlee said. “I think I just told myself. I read this book once where this woman fell in love with another woman and she couldn’t deal with it, so she jumped off this cliff. It scared me. I hadn’t thought about it again until I kissed—I kissed Hazel.”
    “Where’d you find a book like that?”
    “It was this old book. I was into reading stuff written a long time ago. I didn’t even know what it was about until I got halfway through it.”
    “You think your parents would still love you?” Trout asked.
    “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
    Trout rested her head on Staggerlee’s shoulder. “But one day you’re going to find out.”
    They didn’t say anything for a long time. The sun was almost up now. Staggerlee watched the dust-filled rays seep through the shutters. She could not believe she had told someone about Hazel. She could not believe how easy it had been, how safe it felt.
    “Who’s that girl who calls you, Trout?”
    Trout sighed. “That’s my friend Rachel. She’s on a mission to find me a boyfriend.”
    “I thought it was your girlfriend.”
    Trout laughed. “Oh, God—Rachel would drop dead standing if she heard that. Every time she calls, it’s to tell me about some guy or some party she went to and all the guys that were into her there.” She turned