Willa by Heart by Coleen Murtagh Paratore Read Free Book Online Page B

and that I hope anyone who can possibly contribute money or materials will do so. Give as much as they can, as soon as possible. I list the address and telephone number.
Thank you.
    Now I feel a little better.
    After dinner I tell Sam what happened at the meeting. “You’re a natural born leader, Willa. I’m proud of you. Maybe you’ll be mayor or senator or
president
some day.”
    I laugh. “I thought you hated politicians, Sam.”
    â€œNo, I’m just disappointed in the lack of vision in our country. There used to be leaders we could look up to and respect. People who inspired us. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. …”
    â€œYou mean Democrats, right, Sam?” Motherand Sam are always arguing about politics. Sam is a Democrat. Mom’s a Republican.
    â€œI mean leaders, Willa, humanitarians who motivate people to look around and care about others. It was good that you wrote that letter. You never know who your words might inspire.”
    Later, when my homework is finished, I check through my book of famous quotations and head down to change the Bramble Board. There was once a young American president who loved Cape Cod. His family had a home here in Hyannis, and he walked the Cape beaches for inspiration. He was a big believer in community service. In one of his most famous speeches he called on every American to join in and do their part:
    ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY.
    I stand back and read President Kennedy’s words on the Bramble Board. Two new guests, the Carlsons from Connecticut, are coming up the driveway. They stop and read the quote. They smile and nod at me.
    Back up in my room, I finish practicing act 3 of
Our Town.
“‘I can choose a birthday at least, can’t I?—I choose my twelfth birthday…. Oh, I want the whole day.’”
    I look out my window, up at the sky The North Star, the Big and Little Dippers … I wish I could see a shooting star. In all the years I’ve searched the sky, I have never seen one. I imagine it must be beautiful and lucky.
    After I write in my journal, I prop up my pillows, open my bag of taffy, wrap my quilt around me like a cape, and set out onto the foggy, whimsical, windswept moors of
Wuthering Heights.
    Heathcliff is so romantic.

CHAPTER 10
Beach Date

    Try and remember what it was like to have been very young.
    And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you.
    â€”
Our Town
    Saturday is warm and sunny, perfect for my beach date with JFK.
    I find my favorite shorts from last summer. Good thing, they still fit perfectly Unfortunately, so does my favorite yellow T-shirt. When am I ever going to get a chest? I change into a white tank top with a blue chambray shirt over it, knotted in the front, slide on my red sneakers, comb the straight side of my hair and puff up the curly side, and puton sunblock, mascara, my cherry-flavored lip gloss, and then my locket.
    I open the heart and look at the upside-down faces. Our school photos. Me on one side, JFK on the other. I close the heart and polish it shiny. Hopefully I can convince Joseph to try out for
Our Town.
How romantic would that be? Me in a wedding dress, him in a tux waiting for me at the altar.
    Rosie is leaving for the day, but she stays to help me with the picnic.
    â€œAre you sure you don’t mind?” I ask.
    â€œNot at all,” Rosie says. “I hear your boy is quite a catch. I’d like to meet—”
    â€œOh, sure, Rosie, but not today, okay? This is our first official just-the-two-of-us date. Before, we’ve just met at Zoe’s or something with Tina and Jessie. Today will be the parents interrogation day, and I don’t want him to get too embarrassed.”
    â€œNo problem, Willa,”