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Clearly, I need to exercise more because, with five blocks and five minutes left to go, I completely run out of gas. “One minute,” I gasp. “I. Can’t. Run. Any. More.” Sweaty, red-faced, and wheezing, I involuntarily crumple to the steps of the Capitol Building. Perry folds to the ground beside me. The Capitol looms over us like a giant mushroom cloud. Unable to move, we sit there, panting, staring up. It’s a strange sensation to see something you’ve seen a million times before in photographs. It’s ordinary, yet totally new, as if I’d only dreamed it before. My mind flashes on that night up on Perry’s roof. Thwang night. I felt then as I do now. While gazing at something so familiar, I’m seeing it for the very first time. There on the marble steps, we’re puny in front of the huge white building. But, with Perry at my side, I feel invincible. “I can make it now,” I say, clambering to my feet. “You sure?” “I’m sure.” Even though Perry stands, neither one of us moves. The clock is ticking, but we don’t take a step. We stare up at the Rotunda, our mouths slightly open. I’m aware that we’re almost out of time. But, I feel like time is standing still. It’s as if we’re in a parallel universe. Just Perry and me and our two hearts beating. Suddenly, like some inner marionette controls us, Perry turns to me at the same instant I turn to him. Time stops 158
completely. My body jingles like a giant wind chime. My heart thwangs. It’s now or never. I’m ready. Our new loop is ready to begin. “Perry,” I say quietly. “Ruthie,” he says back, even softer. My breath shallow now, I shut my eyes and tilt my head up. I wait. And wait some more. I practically send out an engraved lipvitation. Slowly, the way a Polaroid develops, I begin to see the situation clearly. Blurry shapes sharpen around the edges. Faces suddenly have features. My entire existence comes into view. What are you doing, Ruthie? I scream in my head. Who tilts her head back, puckers her lips, and waits for a boy to decide he wants her?! Is this the fifties? Are we in the Stone Age? Am I my mother? “Perry!” I bark. His eyeballs get white, he looks scared. I don’t care. I grab Perry Gould’s face and plant a girlfriend kiss smack on his lips. Right there on the Capitol steps. “So there,” I say, when I’m finished. “What do you think about that?” He pulls back, stunned. Then he leans in. And Perry Gould plants a boyfriend kiss on me. What do you think about that? 159
Page 3:
Mary Hogan
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15 IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN
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SHE WALKS INTO CLASS TEN MINUTES AF
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“DUCK.” That’s the first word
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“Wasn’t the president’s daugh
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“If it isn’t P. Nerdy in his ga
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IT WAS DELICIOUSLY WARM OUT, ONE OF
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The two of us were trapped in a mat
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you see all four of them? They’re
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MOM HAS HER FEET PROPPED UP ON OUR
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Mom—her kinky reddish-gray curls
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ping powerhouse, Odessa, Delaware,
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when I’m in love with a boy who h
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four, but it felt like forty. We le
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a giant looping ramp. Suddenly, I s
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and Destruction” lectures. “Eve
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Before I could figure out what to s
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I laughed, too. Tried to look as ca
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“Do you have these in red?” she
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what everyone else did. “These cr
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sure they’d been ironed. Everythi
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in front of other males, about not
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“WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR A DAY ?
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“Who told you?” my mother asked
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The last thing I saw were Aunt Mart
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Far back in the corner of my closet
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emember it. Like the soft, warm com
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asking Aunt Marty for advice about
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un both hands down the front of her
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Mom is speechless. Her hair is a kn
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She slams the freezer door shut in
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WE’RE TOO LATE. BY THE TIME I BRI
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“We have company!” he exclaims.
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ack). He’d round a corner, wearin
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I’d say, “Sure,” without worr
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I wiggle my freshly painted toenail
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“Thanks,” I say, calling after
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But—and this is a humongous but
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Arthur turned into a puppy. I kept
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IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN TH
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the wall that separates the living
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about your birth.” “What have y
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“She was the only member of my fa
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Quietly, she repeats, “There is o
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Swiveling, she turns her back on me
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corn. I want to bury my face in it
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“Check this out,” Perry says, s
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We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
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Aunt Marty steps back and watches o
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“I want my daughter to be prepare
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AUNT MARTY’S CAR SMELLS LIKE HER
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loop of their relationship going. I
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“I know.” Truth be told, it’s
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sunscreen, and something I can’t
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Only, when I see Frankie, she hands
Page 115 and 116: IT’S THE SMELL OF CINNAMON AND BU
Page 117 and 118: Aunt Marty beams. She races ahead,
Page 119 and 120: Lilah impatiently asks, “What siz
Page 121 and 122: “Nothing,” I say. “Good. Now
Page 123 and 124: Shop, the Gap, Tower Records, Banan
Page 125 and 126: Serrano is as excited to see Celest
Page 127 and 128: “A Cosmopolitan, please,” Aunt
Page 129 and 130: Celeste and Frankie excitedly bob t
Page 131 and 132: ultimate ego trip.” Caressing my
Page 133 and 134: oth heart and soul. Trust me. That
Page 135 and 136: “That’s why I’m here in Odess
Page 137 and 138: IT’S ABOUT NINE O’CLOCK WHEN WE
Page 139 and 140: fill my daughter’s head with garb
Page 141 and 142: “You don’t hate me, Fay. You ha
Page 143 and 144: My mother moves even closer to me,
Page 145 and 146: something in Wilmington, but the st
Page 147 and 148: I can barely breathe. “You busy S
Page 149 and 150: “Props?” “You know, setting s
Page 151 and 152: your nose, one eyebrow or the other
Page 153 and 154: “Tell your mother the truth.” M
Page 155 and 156: THROUGH THE BUS WINDOW, WE BOTH WAT
Page 157 and 158: “Let’s jam!” he shouts. The G
Page 159 and 160: scope out each mouth-watering possi
Page 161 and 162: “We’ll make it,” Perry says w
Page 163 and 164: appears on the pay line, an astrona
Page 165: “We can’t.” “We must!” I
Page 169 and 170: fantasies. The reality of it is . .
Page 171 and 172: that. Things are flying smoothly ag
Page 173 and 174: twenty minutes, then twenty-five. I
Page 175 and 176: the blood throbbing through my temp
Page 177 and 178: Aunt Marty brings my mother Little
Page 179 and 180: speaks to the coroner about Mr. Art
Page 181 and 182: emember most about Mr. Arthur. It d
Page 183 and 184: “Me?” At that moment, I realize
Page 185 and 186: of the talking.” Then she added,
Page 187 and 188: my head: For fourteen years, I’ve
Page 189 and 190: As I look at my mother standing the
Page 191 and 192: This year, three weeks after Mr. Ar
Page 193 and 194: last pool of syrup with my last for
Page 195 and 196: much smaller) head. “So do I.”
Page 197 and 198: WE HAVE ONE LAST FAMILY DINNER—TH
Page 199 and 200: makeup somehow remains perfect), Au
Page 201 and 202: in Dover Mall as often as Mom will
Page 203 and 204: “Hey,” he says to me, nodding a
Page 206 and 207: ETERNAL THANKS TO THE AMAZING Amand
Page 208 and 209: THE SERIOUS KISS PRETTY FACE
Page 210 and 211: Copyright PERFECT GIRL. Copyright
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