Read From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun Online
Authors: Jacqueline Woodson
From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (11 page)
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Later on, when we walked back to the blanket, I looked over at Mama. I would be fourteen in a month and a half, and we were both afraid. Groping for some sort of light on the other side of all of this. Something that would guide us somewhere, help us find our way back to each other. We didn't know how any of this would end. But maybe it didn't matter. We had each other. We would always have each other.
When Kristin lay back against Mama's shoulder, I had to look away, tears burning at the edges of my eyes. It wouldn't be easy. All the hate and gossip and fights and maybes. . . .
I looked at Mama. She was squinting up at me and smiling.
“Hey, Mel.”
“Hey yourself,” I said, trying to smile, walking backwards away from them, toward the water.
I didn't know what would happen tomorrow or the next day or the next. I didn't know what would happen with Ralphy or Kristin or Angie. . . . I didn't know if it would ever stop mattering what people thought. But I was sure of Mama, sure of my notebooks. And for the quickest moment, walking backwards against the sun, I was sure of me.
Maybe that's all that matters.
About the Author
Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, is the author of Newbery Honor winners
After Tupac and D Foster
,
Feathers
and
Show Way
, National Book Award Finalists
Locomotion
and
Hush
, and
Miracle's Boys
(recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award and a
Los Angeles Times
Book Prize), among many others. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
After Tupac and D Foster
,
Feathers
and
Show Way
, National Book Award Finalists
Locomotion
and
Hush
, and
Miracle's Boys
(recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award and a
Los Angeles Times
Book Prize), among many others. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
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