The Same Stuff as Stars

If you wish on a star, your wish comes true. Always. Angel felt sick to her stomach.

THREE

“The Bear Went Over the Mountain”

Hurry up, and I mean both of you. I swear, sometimes you kids act like snails on Valium....Get a move on, will you?”

How could Angel hurry? She stared dumbly into the closet. Verna had said she could take only what fit into the green plastic suitcase that Welfare had given her last year so she wouldn’t have to carry her stuff around in a garbage bag. She turned to look at the suitcase gaping open on the couch. It seemed to shrink between glances. A garbage bag would have held a lot more stuff. She put her winter jacket into the suitcase. There was hardly any space left. She took the jacket out. Even though it was August, she would have to wear it. She sure wasn’t going to leave an almost-new jacket behind. Someone might steal it.

She had to take Grizzle. The huge blue plush bear was the last present Daddy had given her before he went to prison. But she couldn’t close the lid with Grizzle inside. She’d have to carry him. He was the only one of her animals she cared about. Sweat was breaking out on her forehead as she pulled out both of her drawers and dumped the contents on the couch beside the suitcase. She should leave behind the clothes she hated and those that she was about to outgrow, even if she still liked them, like the Disney World T-shirt with Goofy on it that Verna had bought at a yard sale. Most of her clothes were getting too small and went back into the drawers.

Underwear. She would have been glad to leave most of that behind, but even if it was holey, she supposed it was necessary. Shoes. She looked at the pairs lolling against each other on the closet floor. Well, she could wear the one pair of sneakers that fit. Her sandals were too worn to bother with, and she hated the red plastic dress-up shoes, which pinched anyhow. Dresses. She had two and she hated them both, but if she didn’t have at least one, Verna would be sure to yell at her. Not that they’d be visiting Daddy wherever they were going. Where were they going? Maybe to Florida, where it would be warm all the time and all you needed was shorts and T-shirts. Florida. That’s where Disney World was. She imagined Verna taking her and Bernie to Disney World. Bernie might be scared of some of those rides, but she wouldn’t be. She’d ride everything there, including Space Mountain, which was liable to kill you if you had a weak heart. Hah! It wouldn’t bother her a teeny bit.

She put the Disney World T-shirt back in the suitcase. She just might need it. Sweaters. Well, if they were going to Florida, she probably wouldn’t need any. Still, Verna hadn’t really said anything about Florida. She’d better take a sweater and a sweatshirt. She had a purple one that said BEN AND JERRY’S, which was almost big enough for her, so she stuffed it in. Bernie would like it when she really outgrew it.

Verna stuck her head in the door. “I’m telling you, Angel, quit dreaming and get on with it!” She disappeared across the hall into the bedroom she shared with Bernie.

Even from that distance Angel could hear Bernie whining over everything Verna was packing for him. “Shut up, Bernie. No, you can’t take your bed. It belongs with the apartment. There’ll be another bed in the new house. Now shut up.”

The apartment looked like a hurricane had ripped through it. There was stuff thrown in every direction. Angel stood in the kitchen, waiting for Verna, who was still fighting with Bernie. Now it was over his tricycle. “It’s broke, and there won’t be no place to ride it anyhow.” Was that a clue? There wouldn’t be sidewalks where they were going? Maybe a beach. That was it. Florida was nothing but one beach after another. She’d never seen the ocean. A beach, wow! She was roasting in her winter jacket, sweating, and clutching the huge bear and the suitcase. She was afraid to put anything down to open the door for fear Verna would make her leave it behind. Why were they leaving so much behind? Sure, the furniture came with the apartment, but the TV was theirs. She was sure it was, and at least some of the pots and pans. Verna hadn’t made any move to pack up the kitchen.

“Are you going to lug that stupid bear?” Verna asked, coming into the kitchen. She was dragging Bernie with one hand and carrying a large brown plastic suitcase in the other.

She put down the suitcase to open the back door. “Leave the suitcases for me. You get your brother and yourself into the truck,” she ordered. “I’ll be right there.” With that, she let go of Bernie’s arm and left the kitchen.

Angel was afraid Bernie wouldn’t follow her out, but he did. He was whimpering, but he’d given up the fight over his broken tricycle. “I hate her,” he said when they got to the truck. “She’s mean.”

/> “No,” said Angel. “She’s just...’’Just what? She wanted to stick up for their mother. Kids needed to love their moms no matter what, but she didn’t know how to say it right. “You heard her, Bernie,” she said, opening the passenger door. “Get your butt up into this truck. Now.”

She had them both buckled in, Grizzle lying wideeyed at their feet, when Verna came out of the house. She locked the door behind her, let the screen slam, and threw the suitcases into the back of the pickup. When she climbed into the driver’s seat, she looked much less grim than she had all day.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s get outta here.”

Angel was desperate to ask where they were going, with just two suitcases and an oversized bear for the three of them, but there was something inside her that really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Angel won’t let me sit by the window,” Bernie said as Verna cranked the balky motor.

“Oh, let him have the window, Angel.”

“He always puts his hand out. It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t put your hand out, okay, Bernie?”

“Okay,” he said.

Angel made the change and buckled them both up again. “Mom, you ought to wear your seat belt.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Verna. “You’re a regular little highway patrol, aren’t you?” But she buckled up. At last the truck motor caught. Verna pressed the gas pedal and made the engine roar a few times before she shifted into reverse and backed out of the driveway. “Say goodbye to Misery Mansion, kids.”

“Misery what?” Bernie asked.

“Nothing,” said Verna. “Forget it. It’s a new day dawning.”

“I’m hungry,” said Bernie.

“You’re always hungry, boy.”

“I didn’t have no lunch.”