Whatever Normal Is PDF
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WHATEVER NORMAL IS ALSO BY JANE ST. ANTHONY PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS Grace Above All The Summer Sherman Loved Me Isabelle Day Refuses to Die of a Broken Heart JANE ST. ANTHONY University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis • London Copyright 2019 by Jane St. Anthony All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401- 2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data St. Anthony, Jane, author. Whatever normal is / Jane St. Anthony. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2019] | Summary: In 1960s Minneapolis, seventeen-year-old Margaret and her best friends Grace and Isabelle contemplate whether having a job, car, and boyfriend are as fulfilling as they appear to be. Identifiers: LCCN 2018024167 (print) | ISBN 978-1-5179-0677-1 (hc/j) Subjects: | CYAC: Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Interpersonal relations—Fiction. | Minnesota—History—20th century—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.S1413 Wh 2015 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024167 For Curt DiCamillo and Kate DiCamillo 1 Margaret reclined on the hill of thirteen bumps. A long time ago she had believed that a witch lived here, in the park, in the foreboding house behind her with the gabled windows. Two neighborhood boys, Sherman and Roger, once peeked in a basement win- dow and saw the witch as Margaret waited, trem- bling behind the thick trunk of an elm. Still, with all its mysteries, childhood had been an easier place than the present. To the north stood the water fountain where first- grade classmate Tommy Brindle had seen her fall as she rode in circles to impress him. In front of her were the thirteen bumps that her neighbor Sherman had once biked down in the dark, leaving Margaret to believe he was dead at the bottom. Lake- wood Cemetery in south Minneapolis loomed in the distance, reminding her of a long and uncertain eternity. In three years of high school, she had not found her footing. Confident girls with aspirations over- whelmed her. 1 WHATEVER NORMAL IS She was seventeen years old and dreamed of singing and dancing on Broadway, but she had never taken a dance class or sung where anyone could hear her. She was an inch taller than Twiggy but weighed twenty- one pounds more than the world’s most famous model. Her hair was a shiny brown with red- dish highlights, but in order to emulate Cher, she had to iron it regularly. She wanted to be madly in love but hadn’t been since she was thirteen— except for Paul McCartney. She wanted to be beautiful without effort. She wanted a future in which she wouldn’t be a housewife. When she considered it all, she felt as if she were falling down an elevator shaft. Then she thought of the very best things she did have: her friends, Grace and Isabelle; the summer ahead; and this park, which demanded nothing. “It’s a tramp,” someone said. Margaret stirred, recognizing the voice but not knowing where she was. “Let’s get the park police.” It was a lower voice. “Maybe someone can identify the body.” That voice made Margaret want to keep her eyes closed. A clump of damp grass fell on her cheek. “At least someone can identify the uniform,” Isa- belle said. 2 WHATEVER NORMAL IS “Ugly, isn’t it?” said Margaret’s fourteen- year- old brother, Mark. Margaret opened one eye and looked at Isabelle. They had walked home from school together. “Your mom wondered where you were,” said Isa- belle, who lived across the street from Margaret. “I thought you might be here.” “Why would you think that?” “Because when I turned around to wave, you were crossing Thirty-E ighth Street instead of going down your alley.” “Why would you turn around?” “I always do. It’s a little habit.” “I would never have tried to find you, but Mom made me,” said Mark. “It’s peaceful here,” said Margaret, ignoring her brother as she looked at Isabelle. “I needed to be alone.” She waited for Mark to say something like, “That must have been a relief for everyone else in the world.” But he didn’t say anything, which was slightly unnerving. “Well, the park isn’t going anywhere,” said Isa- belle as she picked up Margaret’s textbooks. “You can come back another day. Let’s eat at my house. I asked your mom. Maybe Grace can come, too. After all, it’s Friday.” Mark struck an invisible ball with an invisible bat. “It went over the witch’s house,” he said, looking 3
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