The Different Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

parrot in a cage.
    “Parrot,” said Isobel.
    “Cage,” said Caroline.
    “Feathers,” said Eleanor.
    “Prison,” I said.
    “Good. Better. Veronika, if you’d been first, would you have said parrot?”
    I nodded.
    “Is that the best word? Is it better than ‘prison’?”
    “It’s more of the picture.”
    “That’s not what I asked. Is it better ? Which would you say first—not then, but now , now that you know both of them?”
    “I would still say ‘cage,’” said Caroline.
    “Good. Why?”
    “Because there’s a cage.”
    “No. That’s wrong.”
    “But there is a cage,” protested Caroline.
    “And that’s the wrong reason. Eleanor. Why would cage be right?”
    “Because the cage is between the camera and the parrot—you see it first.”
    “Wrong.”
    “But you do.”
    “And that isn’t the right reason, either. Isobel?”
    “I think cage is wrong because I already said the best word which is parrot.”
    Robbert smiled. “Almost. Almost, but just exactly wrong. Veronika. If you were alone and had to say one word and the word you said was cage—why would that be right?”
    He looked at me through his glasses, impatient for the answer but also impatient at being with us at all, to be spending time asking questions whose answers he already knew when there was so much other work, so many answers he didn’t know waiting in his building. This was why, while Robbert was never as nice and we much preferred Irene’s company, we always tried harder to please him.
    “Because the parrot is the biggest thing in the picture,” I said.
    “Explain.”
    “Because it’s the one word you don’t have to say. So if you say cage it’s like you’re already saying parrot at the same time.”
    Robbert looked at each one of us in turn. “That is correct. Do you understand? Who understands? Caroline.”
    “We have to pretend that all four of us are answering the question even though it’s only one of us. We have to sort through.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Why?”
    “What?”
    “Why?” repeated Isobel. “Why do we have to pretend there’s only one of us.”
    “Because that might be the case,” said Robbert. “Just like on a thirty-minute walk. Just like when Veronika found our guest. There may only be time to do one thing. You need to know what that one thing is, and you do it by thinking.”
    We all nodded, but no one asked what they wanted to ask, which was to ask Isobel’s question again, because no one felt Robbert had answered it—not what she had really asked. But no one thought, if it was asked again, that Robbert would get anything but snappy.
    “What is Irene doing?” Caroline had her head cocked, like when she woke up from her dreams.
    “I’m sure she’ll tell you when she’s done.” Robbert looked at his watch, then yawned. “Maybe it’s time for a nap.”
    We didn’t want to take a nap and as it turned out we didn’t have to. Instead, Robbert rubbed his eyes and announced we would go for a walk. He shooed us in front of him and stumped down the stairs, the dangling tips of his shoelaces tapping the wood. We stood in the yard, waiting for Robbert to tell us where to go, but he yawned again and stood staring at the classroom. We stared, too.
    “What are all you looking at?” he called. “Let’s go. This is a thirty-minute walk. Thirty minutes exactly. Alone and in different directions than you’ve gone before. Everyone should be thinking about parrots and cages. Stay away from the water. Go .”
    We all looked at one another, taking half steps and changing directions again and again until we were sorted. Eleanor went to the cliff, Caroline to the beach, and Isobel toward the dock. I ended up walking between the buildings toward the woods. Since both the beach and the cliff could show new things washed up from the storm, and Isobel would be at the dock, I wondered if any of the others would decide to forget about time, too?
    I kept to the path until I reached the palms. The