Zoe's Blog

Darkness. That’s all I see. All I ever see. Not because I have a constant blindfold or anything, just because I’m blind. No, I wasn’t in some tragic accident, just because I was born like that. It’s actually not as bad as you might think it is. And yes, I can read Braille.

“Margie, honey! It’s time to do your homework!” That’s my mother. She thinks that when she puts “Honey!” next to my name that makes everything okay. It doesn’t, just to be clear.

“Mom, Abby’s coming over, remember?” Abby is my best friend. Ever since the day in kindergarten, when she had asked me about being blind. She has stuck by my side and told be all about what the school looks like, what the people looks like, and what the world looks like. She’s my only way to see the world.

“Oh, right. Sorry, Margie baby!” She also liked adding “Baby!” to my name. Our bell rings. We have this special kind of bell that senses who is outside of the door.

“Abby! Abby! Abby!” It squeaks. I run down as fast as I can. I know this house so well. It’s the only place that I’ve ever lived. I could draw a map of it.

“Abby,” I yell. “You’re finally here!” I reached out my hand for her to grab, just like we’ve been doing since kindergarten, but she didn’t grab back. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s my parents!” She wailed. “They’re moving our family to Seattle!”

“What?” I said. I refused to believe what I just heard.

“I’m moving to Seattle,” she sobbed out. Then, she did something only Abby would do. She ran away. I could hear her feet pounding the pavement path leading to the street from our house. She ran away from something that scared her. Thousands of questions pounded my brain. Why? I couldn’t believe it. Her family had always loved it here in New Jersey. Then I remembered. Her father had lost his job a month ago. He must had gotten a job in Seattle. Then more questions flooded my head. Who was going to lead me around school? Who was going to sit with me at lunch? Who was going to guide me around the rest of 6th grade?

“Margie? Is everything alright? I heard some crying.”

“No! Nothing is alright! Abby’s moving to Seattle!”

“Honey! I’m so sorry.”

“Mom?” I whimpered.

“Yes, what is it, baby?”

“We have to stop them.”

“Honey, I’m glad you want to help, but it’s her family’s decision. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Yes. Yes I can.” Then something happened which I can’t really explain. I ran out the door. Out the door and into the street. At that point, Beatrice (my older sister), Dad, and our huge dog, Chip, came running back from the dog park.

“What are you doing?” Beatrice asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. I ran all the way to Abby’s house. I knew the way by heart. I knocked on the door once, twice, three times. Someone opened the door and I was able to tell that it was Mrs. Robinson by the smell of her perfume.

“Margie!” She exclaimed, seeming surprised

“Please don’t do it, Mrs. Robinson! You can’t move! You just can’t!”

“I’m very sorry, Margie. I really, truly am, but we are moving. ” I never have liked Mrs. Robinson. Reasons?

1. Too much perfume.
2. Very strict and a little bit mean.
3. She never listens to anybody.
4. She doesn’t like me because I’m blind.

Pretty good reasons, I think.

“Mrs. Robinson, please!”

“I don’t want to hear it, Margie. ” Then, she slammed the door in my face. I waited there, not believing what had just happened. The door opened again.

“I am going to call your parents about this!” Oh! I forgot one reason.

5.    She’s really over dramatic.

Sure enough, about five minutes after I got home, the phone rang. As soon as my mother got off the phone, she started talking to my father in a really quiet voice she only uses in emergencies. When she came in to say goodnight to me, she told me that we needed to have a talk. I was to tired to say anything back to her. She left, and I cried myself to sleep.

As soon as I woke up, my mother came in to talk to me.

“Margie, baby, I think that it’s time for you to transfer to a new school, just like Abby!” I like this idea. Just as long as we were moving to Seattle and to the same school Abby is, I’ll be fine.

“Mom?” I asked.

“Yes, darling?” she replied.

“Are they moving to Seattle because of me?”

“Well, not because of you, exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“The’re moving because they want Abby to be her own person, and not just a seeing eye dog.”

“What?”

“That’s just what Abby’s mom said.”

“So, I’m not transferring to Seattle?”

“No, Margie.”

“Oh. Where am I transferring to then?”

“Well, there’s this school that Mrs. Robinson suggested,” If Mrs. Robinson suggested it, then I don’t to have anything to do with Mrs. Robinson and her stupid “suggestions.” I bet she even “suggested” that her family should move to Seattle.

“That’s just for kids with seeing disabilities, like you.” Nope, no way. I’m not going to a school full of blind kids. I mean, wouldn’t we all just bump into each other?

“I’ll leave you alone to think about it for now, but let me know soon, okay?” She left and closed the door behind her.

No. No, no, no! I’m not changing schools and neither is Abby. There has to be some way. Maybe if I ran away from home and all the way to Seattle. No, that would never work. Seattle was too far. What if I could find some way of sneaking into the school that Abby’s going to. No. What if I did go to the blind school? Would people be mean to me the way people are mean to me here? What if Abby finds a new best friend and I don’t have any friends at all? She can’t move. What am I going to do? Maybe, I can get my mother to homeschool me. No, we would kill each other. Maybe, I can get a private tutor. No, that would cost too much.

I’ll go to the school, make some friends, and live happily ever after. That will never happen. Ever. I don’t make friends well. Why? Why me? I know! I will go to the school, I’ll act so miserable that they’ll take me out of the school and let me go to Abby’s school!

“Mom, I’ll do it.” I say, full of confidence.

“Oh, okay.” She seems shaken.

“When can we leave?” I ask.

“Soon,” she says. “Very soon.”

Very soon turns out to be a month. I wait through paper work and I get really bored. Really, really, bored. Finally, I get to the school. The ride was long and bumpy. I feel cranky. As soon as we get there, I can tell, this is not the place for me. Everyone is wearing uniforms. I hate uniforms. They’re just so dull and boring. I like wearing my own clothes. I start to break down and cry. My mother can tell.

“Could you just give us a second?” she asks the guide.

“Sure,” the guide replies. We walk around to the back of the school. My mother sits me down on a bench and wraps her arms around me. We sit like that for a while.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“I know. I don’t want to.”

“Okay.” We keep sitting like that for another couple of minutes until the guide comes to get us.

“Are you coming?” She asks in a very impatient voice.

“No. We are not.” Go Mom!

“Oh. Well then.” She storms off.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“I know,” Mom says. We keep sitting there. I have no idea what’s going to happen and my stomach is jumping up and down with anticipation. I couldn’t believe it. My thoughts started to wander to Abby. How was she doing? Had she made any new friends? Did she like her new house? Finally, I decided something. I was going to be fine. If Abby could do it, so could I. I would make new friends, sit at a new lunch table. Maybe there’ll be a new student taking Abby’s place. If there is, I hope it’s a girl. We could sit together and talk about things that I used to talk about with Abby. We could become best friends and Abby would have a new best friend in Seattle. We could still get together sometimes. My mother was going to get me a phone for my birthday in December, and that was only 2 months away. Abby already had a phone so we could call and text each other. It wouldn’t be that bad, would it?

Mom took me into the car and we drove back home. On the way back, I had an idea.

“Mom?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Can I call Abby?”

“Sure, why not. My phone is in my purse. You know the number.” I did. By heart. I knew everything about Abby by heart. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Finally, Abby picked up.

“Hello?” Her voice sounded like she had been crying.

“Abby?”

“Margie, is that you?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to stay at our old school. I’ve decided that I’m going to be fine.”

“Margie?”

“Yes?”

“I told my parents how much you meant to me and how much staying at our old school meant to me.”

“And?”

“They said that they knew I would be miserable in Seattle so they’re going to let me stay!” Then I figured out that the tears were from joy! I was so excited! Abby was staying! Abby was staying! I couldn’t believe my ears. Abby was the best friend in whole entire world! What if she had gone? What would I have done? I didn’t want to think about that right now. I guess I’m going to have to learn to not make such a big deal about everything. I mean, everything turns out fine in the end, right?