Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume Read Free Book Online Page B

her. She begins to cry, but now it is a different kind of crying. She collapses against Bitsy, who takes her in her arms.
    “I’m sorry,” Mom whimpers. “I’m sorry … but I just can’t take any more. I just can’t …”
    “Mommy …” Jason runs to her. “Mommy … don’t do that again.”
    “I won’t,” Mom says, holding him close. “Ijust couldn’t help myself this time.” She looks over at me. I look back, trying to let her know I understand, without saying a word.
    Three of Mom’s toes turn blue and swollen. Bitsy gets an ice pack. Mom yelps when Walter tries to touch her foot. They discuss whether or not they should go to the emergency room for X rays. They decide against it.
    “There’s nothing to do for broken toes but tape them together,” Bitsy says. She once took a first aid course and this is what she learned. Besides, Mom doesn’t want to go. She’s embarrassed.
    But the next day the pain is worse and Bitsy takes Mom for X rays anyway. Two of the toes are broken. The doctor tapes them together. Bitsy is pleased that her treatment was correct. Mom hobbles around in a pair of old tennis shoes with a hole cut out for her toes.
    She can’t decide what to do about the store. She can’t decide what to do about anything. Walter and Bitsy convince her to stay a while longer.
    “I’ll take care of everything,” Walter promises.
    T he next morning I walk down to Central Avenue and buy two postcards in TG&Y. One shows an aerial view of Los Alamos. Greetings from the Atomic City is printed across it. This one I will send to Lenaya. The other is a photo of Camel Rock at sunset. This one is for Hugh.
    I cross the street and go to the post office,where I write messages on each of the cards. Hi, Future Scientist , I write to Lenaya. And then I can’t think of anything else I want to say. So I write in big letters. Lots to tell you. See you soon .
    I address the Camel Rock card to Hugh and write Did you hear about the store? It’s the last straw. I don’t know when we’re coming home now .
    I mail the cards, then remember that I haven’t signed either one of them. Oh well. They’ll know they are from me.
    I decide to go to the library since it is next to the post office. I browse around, picking a book off the best seller shelves, skimming it, then putting it back. I don’t see anything I want to read. Nothing interests me. I’m having trouble concentrating, except on my star book. I am able to memorize what I read in that.
    Outside, I pass a shoe store and in the window is a pair of hiking boots. They are on sale for $32.50, marked down from $59.95. I go in and ask to try them on.
    The saleswoman tells me they are a very good buy, and asks what size I wear.
    “Eight,” I tell her. “Eight, narrow.”
    She goes into the back room and comes out carrying a big box, which she sets down on the floor. She whips off the cover and holds one boot up. “Vibram soles,” she says. “The real McCoy.”
    I nod, as if I understand.
    When she sees that I am wearing my Adidasbarefooted she reaches over for a basket filled with socks. “Let’s see,” she says, rummaging through it. “We want to see how they fit with heavy socks … wool would be best …” She shakes out a heavy gray sock. “Put this on, dear, and we’ll see how they fit.”
    It is the same kind of sock Wolf was wearing. I pull it onto my left foot because I know that that one is slightly bigger than my right. The saleswoman helps me into the boot. It is stiff. She laces it up and tells me to stand.
    “How does that feel?” she asks.
    “I can’t tell,” I say. “I think I should try on the other one, too.”
    She looks in the basket for a matching sock. There is none. Instead, she hands me a pink knitted sock. I pull it on, wondering whose sock it was. I think about a girl, my age, taking off her pink sock to try on a pair of summer shoes, then forgetting it. Maybe that’s how it wound up in the stray sock