Ruby's List

By Mary Mager

When 12-year-old Ruby's mother is called to serve in Afghanistan the family must move in with her grandmother to a house filled with secrets. Lonely and missing her mother terribly, Ruby struggles to fit in at her new school, revealing her heart in the secret lists she keeps. Her worst fears are realized when her mother is wounded, leading Ruby to discover both her true friends and the unexpected answer to an old mystery, one that brings more than one longed-for reunion to the beleaguered family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Mager
• Release date: Sep 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393001362

Mary Mager

Mary Mager is a Nevada – raised writer and songwriter.  She has been a registered nurse, a business owner, substitute teacher, and stay-at-home mom, which; she considers her most rewarding occupation.  Mary has always been a storyteller, and since retirement from the business world she has had the time to work on projects inspired by the special joy of having a grandchild on her lap. She has been a church musician for many years, and that experience led her to compose her own songs, culminating in release in 2014 of an album, “On Grandma’s Lap,” a collection of bedtime songs and lullabies.  At the same time, she has continued to imagine and write stories both long and short for her grandchildren. “Pretend Princess” is the first book in the Concordia series for middle-grade readers. "Under the Summer Sun" is the second in this engaging series. Mary has a Facebook page, On Grandma’s Lap, and a website:  http://www.ongrandmaslap.com. She is delighted to hear from her readers at [e-mail].

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

RUBY DENTON’S SIXTH GRADE YEAR was memorable for beginning with Amanda Seltzer finding a spider in her desk.

It really wasn’t surprising the spider was there, hiding in the back just waiting for some child to stick an arm inside. It was the first day of school after summer break and the desk had been brought up from the basement, a dark and mysterious place known only to the custodian and his buddies. At any rate,Amanda was feeling around for something in the back and felt that unmistakable tickle of web.

AHHH! AHHH! She began screaming and jumped up onto the seat, waving her arm around. GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! Amanda was a small girl, and she looked like a demented elf as she hopped from foot to foot. The spider cowered on top of the desk, trying to decide which way to run before leaping onto the floor.

After a moment of stunned silence at this amazing sight, the entire class erupted into hoots of laughter. Even Mrs. Matson just stood there with her mouth open.

The laughter grew and grew as Amanda continued to do her little dance, Ruby howling with all the rest. But then the Horrible Thing happened.

The other children slowly settled down as Amanda recovered her senses and climbed off the seat. Mrs. Matson came and stepped on the spider, to a collective eewww from the class, but Ruby continued to laugh.

Ruby couldn’t stop. Gradually everyone’s attention shifted from the red-faced Amanda to Ruby as she laughed uncontrollably, now with an edge of hysteria. Tears ran down her face and she dug her fingernails into her arms in an attempt to get a grip on herself, but it didn’t help.

Ruby was out of control.

Mrs. Matson finally took her by the arm and led her into the hallway, closing the classroom door firmly behind them, and breaking the spell. Ruby’s laughter subsided into hiccoughs then tears of embarrassment.

Ruby Denton, whatever is the matter with you? Mrs. Matson, a motherly woman with years of experience teaching, was not easily surprised by her pupils. She knew Ruby from summer school and was flabbergasted by this behavior from a child who had always been well-behaved, as far as she knew. It must have been the sight of the spider, she decided.

I ddddon’t know! Ruby wailed. I couldn’t help it!

Mrs. Matson couldn’t leave her class and stood undecided. Go see the nurse, Ruby, she said, finally. Tell her I sent you to calm down. I didn’t realize you were so afraid of spiders.

Ruby nodded mutely, relieved at being sent to the nurse’s office instead of the principal, Mrs. Bunch. Slowly she turned and began the long walk down the hall, while Mrs. Matson went back into the classroom. Along the way Ruby tried to understand what had come over her. She was humiliated and her stomach was in a knot. What was wrong with her? She tried to wipe away the last of the stubborn tears staining her face with the heels of her hands.

Halfway to the nurse’s room Ruby paused in the alcove where the water fountains were set. She took a drink and splashed a little water on her face, then looked up and down the hall. No one was in sight. Hiding back against the wall she took a small lined notebook out of her pocket and found a pencil. The notebook was filled with lists of all sorts, everything from old homework assignments to shopping and things to do. Turning to a clean page she wrote:

I will not laugh in class

Then she put the notebook away and went on to see the nurse.

CHAPTER 2

RUBY’S WALK HOME was a lonely one. The day had begun with the excitement that always comes with the first day of school, though for Ruby it was dampened somewhat because her best friend, Maddie, was still away on vacation and wouldn’t be back until the following week. At least Maddie hadn’t been there to see her little meltdown, as she was now thinking of it. But she also wasn’t there to talk about it with Ruby, who desperately needed someone to talk to.

Ruby wasn’t alone on her walk. Her little brother, Francis, circled her like a six-year-old whirlwind, chattering nonstop as he darted ahead and back, pausing only to inspect the occasional interesting bug or rock.

Ruby, Freddie gets to sit by me! And our teacher is really nice! And we get our own books! We don’t even have to share! Francis kept this up all the way on the short walk home, not noticing that his sister barely looked at him.

Elmcrest Elementary was only two blocks from their grandmother’s house, but Ruby was so absorbed by her own thoughts she noticed nothing at all along the way.

The house on Maple Street was a faded, two-story home built almost a hundred years ago, one of many in a neighborhood slowly sliding into poverty. A wide porch stretched across the front and an old-fashioned swing hung at one end. The once-white paint was now almost gray and the shutters and trim needed repair but at least there was grass and a few flowering shrubs, which was more landscaping than some of the neighbors had.

Ruby was glad no one from her class was around to walk with her; other than the missing Maddie she didn’t want to have to talk to anyone from school. She had managed to stay in the nurse’s office until after lunch, claiming a stomach ache, and by the time she was forced to either go back to class or call her father everyone seemed to have forgotten the incident. There were a few muffled  snickers but no one said anything to her. Now she only wanted to go hide in her room.

Climbing up the brick stairs to the front porch the children were met by their grandmother, who was no doubt lying in wait for them. Eleanor Bohannon, wearing shorts and sandals that showed off bright red toenails, stood holding the screen door open. Called Nama by the children, she didn’t look like anyone’s grandmother unless you looked closely and saw the tiny lines around her eyes. Eleanor’s hair was still a deep brown with only a hint of gray creeping in. She was often mistaken for Ruby’s mother; an easy assumption to make as Ruby and Francis’s mother was not present. It was Eleanor who took care of them.

Nama, Nama! Freddie sits next to me! Francis immediately launched into a long story about his day. Ruby saw her chance to escape after a quick tell you later to her grandmother, squeezing by and running up the stairs.

Ruby closed her door with relief and sat on the edge of her bed, sweating in the warm room. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her limp hair up off her sticky neck. Getting up, she went to the window and opened it fully, hoping for a breeze in the still afternoon. After a minute she took her notebook out of her backpack and opened it to the new page, studying the line she had written by the water fountain. It needed more, she thought. She added a line and read:

I will not laugh in class.

I will not let them see me cry.

Writing this last made her start up all over again.

RUBY MADE LISTS. SHE didn’t understand herself why she did this, though it seemed everyone in the family did it to some extent. Nama made shopping lists, her father wrote to do lists, and her mother used to write down things she wanted to remember. But Ruby wrote lists for everything.

She had the usual sort: homework assignments, birthdays of family and friends, and important dates she needed to remember. Most of these were posted on her mirror or the back of the bedroom door. But at some point in her twelve years Ruby had begun to write other kinds of lists, ones she didn’t share.

Once Maddie had caught her writing.

Why do you do that, Ruby? she had asked. But Ruby couldn’t tell her. It had something to do with keeping things in order, when it seemed there was no order in her life. It gave her a feeling of control, when there was nothing else she could control. Like her mother going off to war. Like her father too busy to pay attention to her. Like anything that was important to her.

After that day, Ruby didn’t share her special lists even with Maddie, and they shared everything in those days.

Ruby went to her little desk in the corner and opened the drawer where she kept her important things. She pulled out the framed photo of her mother in her Army uniform, smiling and looking serious at the same time the way the Army made them do it, and gently cleaned the glass with the corner of her blouse. Ruby found it too painful to look at this picture every day, so she kept it in the drawer and only took it out when she was especially missing her mother or she needed something else from there. Like now.

Feeling around, Ruby pulled out an old-fashioned journal. It had a padded pink cover with pictures of yellow daisies on it, the kind of thing you never saw any more. It was an ugly thing, but it had once belonged to Ruby’s mother, who had given it to her, and that made it precious. The journal was unused except for an inscription on the inside cover, written in pencil in a youthful hand but then erased. It was still barely legible, though, and appeared to read: "For Claire, from your best friend forever ­– J."

Who’s J, Mom? Ruby had once asked. But her mother had just shrugged and changed the subject.

Inside the journal were Ruby’s important lists, the ones she never showed anyone.

One of these was Ruby’s prayer list. It read:

Take care of Mom

Don’t let her get hurt.

Take care of Daddy, Nama, and Francis

Take care of Maddie

Nowhere did it say, Take care of me.