Putting Boys on the Ledge Read Online Free PDF Page A

a massive attack of zits and puffed out like the Pillsbury dough boy.
    The rest of us aren't so lucky. Well, me, at least. I guess I'll have to figure out how to master the Attitude, because my looks certainly aren't going to send any boys out onto The Ledge.
    But first I had a much bigger problem on my hands. "So anyone have any good ideas for tackling my mom?"
    "I think we were on the right track at dinner the other night when you started working the 'well-rounded individual' angle," Allie said. "Don't your parents worry because you have no interests?"
    I grinned. "They're more concerned because I actually eat meat and things that might have been treated with chemicals. I think when I'm sleeping they sneak into my bedroom to make sure I don't have another arm growing out of my back."
    "Hmm...so, can you work the musical into a nature-organic deal?" Frances closed her book and set it on the step, her indication that she was giving my problem her full attention. "I don't suppose it has an environmental message or anything?"
    "I don't know. I haven't read the script. But I doubt it. Not if Vladimir has a lover."
    A lover. Heath probably had love scenes with that girl. And I was going to play his mother. The odds were definitely stacked against me, even if I managed to get my parents to let me be in the show.
    "Too bad you couldn't have gotten the lover part," Allie said.
    "Then I would have had to sing," I pointed out.
    "Oh. Guess that wouldn't work then."
    All my friends have heard me sing. Let's just say it's not a pretty sight. Or sound. It's just ugly all around. I'll never sing in front of anyone other than Allie, Natalie, and Frances. Ever.
    "We're not making progress here," Frances said. "We have to stay focused."
    Frances was the orderly one among us. She always had a goal or a plan and she was always focused on it. Her homework was always done Friday night, in case she had an emergency later in the weekend and couldn't finish it. Not that Frances would ever allow herself to have an emergency, of course.
    "You brought up the Theo situation, right?" Natalie asked. "Pointed out that they make adjustments for him?"
    "Yep."
    "I've got it!" Frances jumped to her feet. "Work the female angle."
    "I don't think it's going to work for Blue to flaunt her wares at her parents," Allie said. "That usually only works on males you aren't related to."
    Frances wrinkled her nose at Allie. "I meant the equal-rights thing." She looked at me. "Your parents are all about equal rights for everyone and everything that has ever suffered at the hands of the more fortunate or more powerful, right?"
    "That's why we have seventeen previously homeless animals at our house. They suffer; we save them."
    "Exactly." Frances was beaming now. "By your parents enabling Theo to pursue other interests but not supporting you, they are contributing to society's inherent bias against women being equals to men. Their actions can be extrapolated to the workplace, to positions of power, and even to emotional strength and independence." She folded her arms across her chest and grinned smugly. "If your parents want you to live in a world where women can do anything they want, they have to give you those same opportunities and teach you that women are equals with men."
    "Wow." I couldn't believe it. It was perfect.
    Natalie and Allie were staring at Frances with stunned expressions.
    "That's brilliant," Allie said.
    "Phenomenal," Natalie added.
    "I am so glad you spend all that time studying," I said.
    "It's the girls-school influence," Frances said. "We hear about that sort of thing all the time."
    "In fact, our assembly last week was about sexploitation," Allie added. "But I never thought to apply it in real life. Maybe I should start listening when people ramble on about that stuff."
    "Sexploitation?" Now, that sounded much more interesting than our assembly on student government day. "What's that?"
    Allie shrugged. "Frances can probably explain it better. I