California Diaries # 11: Dawn III: Missing Read Online Free PDF Page B

it.
    What is wrong with Sunny? Why doesn’t she want to make up and be
    friends again? I’m trying to keep in mind the things Carol told me, but they aren’t
    helping much.
    Okay, Sunny. You’ve had your chance.
    I think Ducky is going to have to separate us in the car. Put me next to him
    in the front and Sunny directly behind me so that we can’t see each other. Then
    I’ll play Ducky’s tape player really loudly so nobody will be able to talk. (Often
    Ducky’s tape player doesn’t work, so maybe I’ll bring a backup system.) I am not
    going to let Sunny ruin Pierre and the concert for me.
    Saturday morning 2/27 9:22
    I tried to forget about Sunny but she kept me up all last night. I could
    hardly sleep. I have an idea. I’ll call Ducky and suggest that somebody else drive
    Sunny to the concert.
    What a good idea. I’ll call him now.
    Saturday morning 2/27 9:28
    When I told Ducky my idea about sending Sunny in a separate car, he
    said, “Why would I do that?”
    Good question. Hmmm. Why would he?
    I had to come up with a stupid answer and then change the subject.
    Saturday morning 2/27 9:31
    It has just occurred to me that I don’t even have permission to ride in
    Ducky’s car. I stil haven’t talked to Dad and Carol about the concert.
    Saturday night 2/27
    I think I’ll call Ducky again to talk to him about Sunny and the concert. I
    don’t think I introduced the subject in a well-thought-out manner this morning.
    Later Saturday night 2/27
    Boy, does Ducky sound depressed. Really awful, actually. He was in such
    a good mood this morning, and tonight it’s like I’m talking to a different person.
    (How do I wind up with all these moody people?)
    Here is my conversation with Ducky:
    Ducky: Hello?
    Me: Hi!
    Ducky: Hi, Dawn.
    Me: What’s going on?
    Ducky: Not much. I just got home.
    Me: (I look at my watch. It’s, like, almost 10:00.) Yeah? Where were you?
    (I’m not nosy, just curious.)
    Ducky: Out scoring dinner.
    Me: What?
    Ducky: There’s no food in our fridge. Wel , practical y none. Just
    condiments. And there was nothing in the freezer except ice. So I went out to get
    something to eat, but at each place I’d decide I didn’t want the food there. So I
    drove around forever before I finally settled on fried rice.
    Me: That was your entire dinner? Fried rice?
    Ducky: Yeah. Nothing else appealed to me. I went to KFC first and
    decided I didn’t want chicken. Then I went to Wendy’s and decided I didn’t want a
    hamburger. Then I went to Poppy’s and decided I didn’t want pizza.
    Me: (All the time Ducky is talking I know I should be feeling sorry for him
    or something, but what I can’t help thinking is how nice it must be to have your
    own car.)
    Ducky: (Continuing.) Then I went to IHOP, but I didn’t want pancakes. I
    was just about to give up and go home to eat mustard and ice cubes when I
    drove by the Lotus Garden and suddenly I decided I just had to have fried rice.
    Vegetable fried rice. So I got fried rice and a fortune cookie and came home.
    Ducky was in such a weird mood. I couldn’t tell whether this story was
    supposed to be funny or just sort of pitiful, so then I didn’t know whether to laugh
    or make sympathetic noises. And then I didn’t know whether to bring up the issue
    of Sunny. But I had to bring it up sometime. I couldn’t keep not bringing it up or
    Sunny and I would end up together in the backseat of Ducky’s car for sure.
    Me: Ducky?
    Ducky: Yeah?
    Me: I real y need to talk to you about something.
    Ducky: (His mouth is ful of either vegetable fried rice or this fortune
    cookie.) Okay. (He sounds uncertain.)
    Me: Wel , it’s Sunny. And the concert.
    Ducky: Dawn…
    Me: But it’s so uncomfortable being with her.
    Ducky: Daw-awn. (Now he sounds annoyed.)
    Me: But it is! Uncomfortable, I mean.
    Ducky: Look, al you have to do is sit in the same car with her. The concert
    is going to be real y crowded. You know that. You don’t have to be anywhere near
    her if you