Serendipity and Me (9781101602805)

Serendipity

&

Me

BY

Judith L. Roth

Viking
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Viking

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published in the United States of America by Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2013

 

Copyright © Judith L. Roth, 2013

All rights reserved

 

The three poems quoted in Serendipity and Me, “The Look,” “I Shall Not Care,”
and a section from “A November Night,” come from the collection Love Songs,
by Sara Teasdale (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917).

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roth, Judith L.

Serendipity and me / by Judith L. Roth.

p. cm.

Summary: “Sara and her father start to heal from her mother's death when a white kitten lands on their doorstep”—Provided by publisher.

[1. Novels in verse. 2. Grief—Fiction. 3. Loneliness—Fiction. 4. Cats—Fiction. 5. Animals—Infancy—Fiction. 6. Fathers and daughters—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.5.R74Se 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012014395

 

ISBN 978-1-101-60280-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

FOR MARC
, in gratitude and love—from that first
dorm kitty to children, grown, our life together
has been a blessing. . . .

I remember

my mom quoting

“The fog comes

on little cat feet”

And my dad replying

“More like big elephant feet”

 

because the fog here

in Central California

is a dense gray wall

that bellows in its silence

 

Tule

sounds like
toolie

named for grass

growing in wetlands

where this fog forms

 

Tule

sounds like
boonies

like out in the boonies

where this fog is thickest

 

like out in the Tule boonies

where my mom

was lost to me

 

forever

 

 

 

It starts as a tickle

in the back of my throat.

 

But I can't pay attention

because Mrs. Detweiler

(the other sixth-grade teacher, not mine)

is going over prerehearsal notes,

is saying,
Channel your mother, Sara,

thinking she's being cute

because you only channel someone

who's dead.

 

She doesn't know, I guess.

 

My teacher shoots her a look

and tells me,
Just be gentle

when you tuck in the Lost Boys. . . .

Wendy is very nurturing.

 

I look down at Miss Conglin from the stage

and put my hand on my neck

that feels wider than usual.

Put my hand on my neck

where my throat feels

like it's swallowing knives

 

and wish someone

was mothering me.

 

 

 

Today is Monday of our

last week of rehearsing

before the performance

Saturday night.

Our first day for dress rehearsal. . . .

 

I am in a nightgown

in front of Garrett.

It is long and thick and white

and buttoned high on my neck.

But still . . .

it is a little embarrassing.

 

He sees me blush and says,

Are you kidding me?

So you're in a nightgown—

I have to wear freaking tights!

 

And just like that

he gets me smiling again.

He sees the smile and jumps into

his Peter Pan pose,

fists on hips

and chest held high.

How clever I am!
he quotes from his lines.

 

And I am about to give him

a gentle Wendy-bashing

but I am too tired

 

and it's not the nightgown

that's making me feel sleepy.