While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin Read Free Book Online

gone. Nice Mrs. Mendel who baked honey cake and cookies was gone, too. Now the synagogue had been destroyed and Mr. Mendel had been rushed away in an ambulance. Esther’s world was slowly coming apart, unraveling like the favorite pink sweater she’d once had. It had begun with a small hole after she’d snagged the sleeve on a nail, and as time passed, the broken strand of yarn kept growing longer and longer until the hole was so huge she could no longer wear the sweater. Tomorrow Daddy would leave her, too.
    And she couldn’t do anything about it.

C HAPTER 5
    P ENNY AWOKE BEFORE DAWN , too excited to sleep. Today she would move into Eddie Shaffer’s apartment! The anticipation was like that moment in the movie theater when the lights dimmed and the music began to play. Music should be playing right now as the sun rose on this wonderful day. A huge banner should stretch across the sky saying, This Is Chapter One of Penny Goodrich’s Brand-New Life .
    She got out of bed, eager to begin, and carefully smoothed the bedspread and fluffed the pillow, making her bed for the last time. The only thing that could dampen her excitement would be another argument with her parents – which was why she had decided to leave home early, before they woke up. Penny had tried as hard as she could to explain to them why she needed to help Eddie, and they had done everything they could to talk her out of it. The arguments had gotten louder and angrier every day for the past two weeks, but nobody’s mind had changed – not Penny’s, and certainly not her parents’. She had gone to bed early last night to avoid another fight. She wished her mother would hug her good-bye this morning and give Penny her blessing, but that was about as likely to happen as a blizzard in July.
    Penny tiptoed into the kitchen with her two bags of belongings and fixed a bowl of cereal instead of toast so the aroma wouldn’t awaken her parents. She was putting the milk bottle back into the refrigerator when she heard her mother’s voice behind her.
    “You’re making a big mistake, Penny. It’s not too late to change your mind, you know.”
    “Yes it is. I promised Eddie I would help him. He’s counting on me.”
    “His mother is the one who should be helping him with those children, not you. I told you I would go next door and talk to her for you.”
    “Please don’t. It’s all arranged. I promised to stay with them, like I explained.”
    “And I explained why you shouldn’t go. Your father and I are very angry with you for defying our wishes this way.”
    “I know. I know you’re angry.” Penny sank down at the table and bowed her head to say grace before gulping down her cereal. She wanted to run out the door right this minute rather than endure any more lectures, but she needed to eat something first.
    She glanced up at her mother and saw her standing in the kitchen doorway with her arms folded. She had such an angry expression on her face that it brought tears to Penny’s eyes. She knew she was supposed to honor her father and mother – they had quoted that Bible verse to her repeatedly in an effort to convince her to stay – but did that mean that Penny had to live here with them forever? Didn’t other daughters grow up and leave home and start lives of their own? Penny wanted so much to be like everyone else, but as her mother constantly reminded her, she wasn’t like other girls.
    She gulped the last spoonful of cereal and rose to put the bowl in the sink. “I’ll stop by in a day or two and let you know how everything is going.”
    “No, Penny. You will call me as soon as you get there. If you insist on leaving home against our wishes, then the least you can do is call and let us know you made it there safely. I don’t think I need to remind you of all the things that could happen to you on the way.”
    “Okay, okay. I’ll call you.” She longed to add that she was only traveling across Brooklyn, not to the moon, but Penny had