Jumpstart the World Read Online Free Page A

Choose me over your own daughter. And he keeps winning. That’s why I’m even here.”
    “What do you mean?” Molly asked.
    Molly was a throwback to the sixties. She had black hair in a long braid down her back like some kind of Native American princess. She wore purple. She was plump. Mother would disapprove.
    I think part of me was trying to disapprove. I wanted not to like Molly for some reason. But it was hard. She was like Frank in that way. Someone you just almost had to like. You had no grounds not to. And it’s not like me to be looking for reasons to disapprove of someone, so I had no idea what was up with that. For the moment, I just chalked it up to my generally stressed and foul mood.
    But now, looking back, I think part of me might have beenjust the tiniest bit aware of the fact that I was jealous of her. Because she got to live with Frank. And I didn’t. But I’m sure I would have argued strenuously if you’d tried to tell me that at the time.
    “Donald basically just said to Mother, ‘I don’t want a teenager around. Choose.’ And I’m here. So we all know who she chose.”
    “Wow,” Frank said. “That had to hurt.”
    I preferred to think of it as infuriating. Hurtful was a whole other ball game.
    We all ate in silence for a long time.
    The soup was so damn good it hurt me to scrape the last of it out of the bowl. I felt like I could eat it all day long. Like I’d been starving.
    I hadn’t eaten in so long. I mean, really eaten. I’d nibbled. The food was making me feel more grounded.
    I said, “Would it be tacky to ask for seconds?”
    “Are you kidding?” Molly said. “It’s the highest compliment. Besides, you’re so skinny. We need to put some meat on those bones.”
    Frank and Molly had two tabby cats, George and Gracie. They both rubbed against my legs at once. I wished my cat would do that. I reached down and picked one up and held him tight. Or her. I didn’t know if I had George or Gracie. I didn’t care. I loved friendly cats.
    “Well, at least you were eighteen,” Frank said. Then I just waited to see if he was smart enough to figure it out on his own. “Hey. Wait a second. Your birthday is next week? Your mother said you just had a birthday.”
    Bingo.
    “That was a little white lie,” I said. “It’s next week. I’ll be sixteen.”
    In the silence that followed, I watched them look at each other. I think I learned a lot from that look.
    It’s not like I didn’t know that it’s pretty radical to dump a kid in her own apartment at barely age sixteen. I knew. But my mother insisted on acting like it was no big deal. And even though I didn’t believe her, I saw it all over again through Frank’s and Molly’s eyes. It was a pretty dicey thing to do.
    I felt vindicated.
    Also scared.
    “That’s not even legal,” Molly said.
    That scared me even more.
    “Oh, God, please. Don’t say anything. Don’t get Child Protective Services in on this. Please. That’s about the only way this could get worse.”
    “But you have to have someone looking after you.”
    Frank hadn’t spoken yet. I was waiting to hear what he would say.
    “She’ll look in on me,” I said.
    “From the other side of town? That’s criminal!” Molly had a highly developed sense of outrage. I could tell. She wanted life to be fair. I think I’d given up on that.
    “ We’ll look after her,” Frank said.
    It was the sweetest, nicest, most wonderful thing anybody had ever said to me. It was the closest thing to open, unguarded caring that had ever been thrown my way.
    I could have kissed him.
    Then I sat a minute, wondering which left field that weird thought had come from.
    And then I did something I don’t do every day. I said thank you like I really meant it. Because I really did.

THREE
The Heartbreak of Too Many Guys Named Bob
    W hen I woke up the next morning, Toto was up on the bed with me. As far from me as he could possibly get, but up on the bed.
    And get this: he was