You're Just Angie!

By Pierre Lawrence

Thirteen-year old Alyssa, on a walk in the upscale Bergen County New Jersey neighborhood she and her family have just moved to, encounters Angie, a girl two years older than her who has Down syndrome. Angie frets that she's not as pretty as the other girls and will never be allowed to marry and have children, questions Alyssa, a whiz in math and science, is determined to answer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pierre Lawrence
• Release date: Dec 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201758004

Book preview

You’re Just Angie!

I had gone a few blocks looking for the tennis courts when Angela called out from the doorstep of her house and asked if she could come along. Do I know you? I was tempted to snap, but didn’t, being me. She could come if she wanted to, I told her. Whoa, she had Down syndrome. I couldn’t be sure till she got closer.

Her mother came out and gave me the third degree, asking me my name and where I lived and where I was going, and when I said I was looking for the tennis courts, Angela piped up that she knew where they were. Her mother gave me the directions anyway, and a stern warning that Angela had to be back in an hour.

I don’t remember seeing you before. Have you lived here very long? she asked me as we started on our way.

Only a few days, I answered. We moved here last week from Monmouth Beach.

Near the ocean?

Yeah, so close I could walk to it.

I’ve been to the seashore, Alyssa. We go every summer.

Like here, in New Jersey?

Yep. To Point Pleasant. You have to go over a totally high bridge on the Parkway to get there. I like your hair. I think I’ll let mine grow long, too. Do you have a cat? I have one. We named her Sneakers.

That’s a cool name, I said. And it’s nice to have a second opinion on my hair, what with everyone bugging me to get it cut before school started. So far I had resisted.

We named her that because she liked to play with my Nike’s when she was a kitten, Angela said.

We have two cats, I said, answering her question, but one ran away.

What did you name them?

Pepper and Snowball.

Those are cool names too.

Actually they were pretty lame compared to Sneakers.

Is Pepper the one that ran away?

Yeah, the day we moved here.

I thought it might have been him, but he’ll come back! Angela exclaimed. You’ll see!

I hope you’re right, I said as she grasped my arm and smiled up at me.

Do you have any brothers or sisters? she asked.

A brother. He’s the tennis player, I answered. And I’m the geek who always has her nose in a book, he never ceases to remind me.

I wish I had a brother. They protect you, Angela said.

Yeah, but they can be a pain in the butt, too.

I play tennis with my Dad.

Like where we’re going?

Yep. Before it gets too crowded. No one will be there, Alyssa. It’s too early.

But she was wrong. The tennis courts were teeming with guys in baseball caps and baggy shorts and girls in those outfits with the short skirts like Anna, that little Russian tennis star my brother was in love with wore. This is no place for us, Angela, a geek and a—oh God, don’t even think that word Alyssa!

Let’s go up there so we can see everybody better, Angela said, and pointed to a hill overlooking the tennis courts.

It’s pretty up here, she said when we got to the top. I like the trees, don’t you?

Yep. Especially this time of year.

"The people who lived in our house before we did hurt the tree in the back yard, Alyssa. They tied a rope around it to hang clothes