Revolution Baby by Alison Anderson, Joanna Gruda Read Free Book Online Page A

to suspect that the pretentious little brat I’d given a thrashing to wasn’t one of the most popular kids around.
    Â 
    The day after my fight, while I was feeding the rabbits in the farmyard at the far end of the park, I saw Arnold’s tall form coming toward me.
    â€œ
Jak tu idzie?
”
    â€œ
Dobrze.
”
    For those of you who don’t speak Polish, let me start again, with a free translation.
    â€œHow are you doing?”
    â€œI’m okay.”
    â€œI see you’ve become acquainted with our little long-eared residents. Which one do you like best?”
    â€œThe gray and white one. It’s as if he can see me coming from a distance, and he’s always happy to see me.”
    â€œHis name is Smartie, but he isn’t really all that smart. I heard about a little misadventure you had. What happened, exactly?”
    I hesitated.
    â€œDon’t you want to talk about it?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI know you can’t defend yourself with words yet. But if there’s anything that makes you angry, anything hurtful about the way the other children behave, I’d like you to come and speak to me about it first before lashing out like a lunatic.”
    â€œI’m not a tattletale.”
    â€œNo, of course not . . . Which is all to your credit. And I don’t want you to squeal on anyone; I just want you to come and see me so I can help you communicate with the other kids. For a start, do you know who he is, this Roland you attacked?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYou know Henri, the director, the one who greeted you when you first got here? Well, it’s his son.”
    The owl was the director’s son! In that case, my stay really was off to a very bad start. And suddenly I had something like a flash of insight, and it all became perfectly clear: Henri, of course, was bound to be in cahoots with Lena and Tobcia, otherwise he would have kicked me out after my little squabble with his beloved little boy. But since the conspiracy was more important than anything, he had no choice . . . So I really was in a pickle.
    One week later, everything was in an uproar at L’Avenir Social. All the suitcases were out on the beds, the oldest kids packing their own, and the littler ones getting help from the instructors. I had to borrow clothes from other kids because Lena still hadn’t had time to come and see me. Thanks to Arnold I knew we were going on vacation to an island, a place called the Île de Ré. I was really glad because I’d see the ocean for the first time. And now I had a friend, too: Bernard, a shy boy who was a little younger than me, he must have been five or so. We promised we would sit together on the train. I knew a few words of French now, the most obvious ones like yes, no, thank you, hello, goodbye, please, eat, drink, and of course,
merde
. And others, too, to describe my life at L’Avenir Social: rabbit, dog, friend, apple, pear, tree, marble, ball, play, run, and the newest one: vacation—but that wasn’t hard, because it was almost the same in Polish,
wakacje.
The kids made fun of the way I pronounced the
r
s, rolling them. I practiced really hard with Bernard, trying to say
poire
the way the other kids did, but for the time being it sounded more like I was clearing my throat.

CHAPTER 8
The Truth
    I loved our vacation on the Île de Ré, because of the ocean, but above all because of the huge green lizards I played with the whole time I was there. I would place one over my shoulder then head off for a walk along the beach. I made my decision: later on in life I would be an animal trainer. I also made friends with a fluffy little white dog called Bibi. He followed me everywhere and would run up to me the moment I called him. Since I spoke to him in Polish, and he listened very attentively, the other children came to the conclusion that I spoke dog language. Bernard, given his status as my best friend, even