takes a sip of her coffee and brushes a hand over her pile of silver hair I love Grandma Balthazar’s hair It’s gotten even more silvery since we moved to Paris I miss her cat sweatshirt but I like her new hair Yeah maybe I say But I don’t think I will make lots of friends tomorrow And I really don’t think any of them will ever make a fluffernutter sandwich as well as Roxanne I keep my head down on the rainy walk to the Métro I squeeze my necklace the whole way I keep my head down when we step into the Métro station too But then we have to squash past a whole bunch of people who are getting on or off the train I look up while we walk through the station I’m afraid I am going to get separated from Mom and Dad and Grandma Balthazar in the crowd There are too many people It’s hard not to get bumped away from my family 10
If only Grandma Balthazar still wore her pink sweatshirt with the cat on the front Then it wouldn’t be so hard to keep track of her in a crowd But now she dresses like all of the other people in Paris So it is actually very hard to keep track of her in a crowd But I don’t get separated A lady with a giant red purse bumps into me I trip Then I go crashing into a man wearing a real baby on his chest The baby is in some kind of backward baby backpack Sorry I say but the man doesn’t smile at me Maybe he doesn’t speak English I don’t know how to say sorry in French We finally get through and step onto the train I am crammed in the middle of Mom and Dad and Grandma Balthazar And Mom and Dad and Grandma Balthazar are crammed in the middle of a thousand French strangers I feel like a crayon in a too-full box 11
Crayons remind me of school And school makes my stomach feel like a balloon full of bees I reach for my Be Fri necklace It isn’t there I shake my raincoat to see if my necklace falls out the bottom It doesn’t Mom My necklace is gone I push against Mom and Dad and Grandma Balthazar I bend down to look for my necklace on the floor I can’t see anything Just French peoples shoes and boots I stand up again It’s gone 12
What necklace Dad looks concerned My Be Fri necklace from Roxanne Be Fri Dad says He scratches his chin Our train slows down and then stops Lots of the people around us get off when the doors open Now I have lots of room to kneel down and search the floor 13
