Susan Glickman - Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch

Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch

Susan Glickman

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Glickman, Susan, 1953
Bernadette and the lunch bunch/by Susan Glickman

ISBN 978-1-897187-51-7

I. Title.

PS8563.L49B47 2008 jC813.54 C2008-904618-8

Copyright 2008 by Susan Glickman
Illustrations 2008 by Mlanie Allard

Edited by Yasemin Ucar
Copyedited by Julia Horel
Designed by Melissa Kaita
Cover and illustrations by Mlanie Allard

Printed and bound in Canada

First published in the USA in 2009

The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

Second Story Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council and
the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge
the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program.

Published by
SECOND STORY PRESS
20 Maud Street, Suite 401
Toronto, ON M5V 2M5
www.secondstorypress.ca

For Jesse and Rachel

Everyone agreed that Bernadette Inez OBrian Schwartz was a most unusual child. Her first word was Why? So was her second word, and her third. From the time she could sit in her high chair, she designed experiments to satisfy her curiosity. Which would fall faster, a bottle of milk or a ripe banana? Which would fly higher, frozen peas or fresh blueberries? Which would make a bigger noise when it hit the floor, a bowl of cereal or a cantaloupe?

Soon she was not only asking Why? but also Why not? If you could slide down the slide, why couldnt you slide up? Why does orange juice taste terrible if you drink it after you brush your teeth? And how come china dishes come out of the dishwasher dry while plastic dishes stay wet?

These questions came into her mind at all hours of the day and night. Most of the time people were too busy to answer her because they were on the phone with Grandma Louise, or cooking dinner, or trying to drive through traffic without getting killed by some idiot talking on a cell phone. So luckily for everyone, when she turned four Bernadette started attending Garden Road Elementary School. School was supposed to be a good place for asking questions and getting answers, although some of the questions Bernadette asked were not the kind her teacher could answer. For example, when she skinned her elbow, she asked, Why does everyone like to pull off scabs even though it hurts? and when the teacher read The Pokey Little Puppy, she asked, Why do dogs feet smell like popcorn?

Bernadette was disappointed that her teacher didnt know all the answers, but she tried to be glad about going to Junior Kindergarten anyway. It was fun walking to school with her next-door neighbor Marcus and his dog Sammywhose feet really did smell like popcornespecially when she got to hold the leash and pretend that Sammy was her very own dog. Besides, Bernadette had known Marcus all her life, and he was usually a scaredy-cat. He always cried when he fell off his bike or dropped his Popsicle, so she figured that if he was brave enough to go to school, she would be too.

The next year Bernadette made a real friend. Jasmine was not a cousin, or a neighbor, or the child of her parents friends; Jasmine was the first friend Bernadette picked all by herself. Jasmine had long black braids, knobby knees that were always covered with bruises, and a laugh that lit up the room. She wasnt afraid of anything or anybody, and she loved doing experiments just as much as Bernadette did. In Kindergarten they made a volcano out of baking powder and vinegar and hatched butterflies from cocoons. In Grade One they made sugar crystals climb up a string and convinced the teacher to let them keep a pet toad in the classroom. In Grade Two they discovered cooking and made a different kind of magical mystery food at each others houses every Sunday for three entire months. And then, in the summer after Grade Two, Jasmine told Bernadette she had terrible news.

My mother got an amazing job, Bernadette, she said.

Isnt that good news?

Its good for her, but not so good for me. Her new job is in Montreal. We have to move.

Youre moving? When?

In August. Before Grade Three starts.

No, Jasmine! Youre not allowed to move, ever. Youre my best friend, and my almost-twin, and we always do everything together.

Well still be best friends, Bernadette. My parents promised we could come back for holidays to visit, and you can come stay with us any time you want, said Jasmine, giving Bernadette a big hug.

Bernadette hugged her back, but she still felt sad. It wont be the same, just seeing you on holidays.

I know. Ill miss you so much. But we can be pen pals and invent a secret code so that nobody else can read our letters. That will be something special, wont it?

I dont want special. Special is just another name for different, said Bernadette. And things were perfect just the way they were! I like sitting next to you in class and cooking weird stuff with you on the weekends. I want to keep reading stories to your baby brother and sneaking into your big sisters room to try on her clothes. I dont want anything to change, ever!

I dont either, said Jasmine. But my mom says life is all about change.

The girls still had time to play together over the summer holidays. Their mothers even took them out shopping one day to buy beautiful stationery and lots of stamps so they could be pen pals. And then POOF! Jasmine was gone. Grade Three would be starting soon and Bernadette was really worried. She was going to have Mrs. Hawthorn this year, and Mrs. Hawthorn was famous for being the strictest teacher at Garden Road Elementary School. How could she face the strictest teacher in the whole school without Jasmine sitting beside her?

Just two days before school started, when Bernadette thought things couldnt possibly get any worse, another terrible thing happened. Bernadettes mother said that now that she was in Grade Three, she was big enough to eat lunch at school every day. In Grade Two Bernadette had gone home for lunch three or four days a week, but now she would be stuck in school all day long with mean Mrs. Hawthorn and no Jasmine! Grade Three was definitely going to be the worst year ever.

Besides, Bernadette loved eating at home with her mother. At home, she got to eat her favorite foods: grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, and hot cocoa, and ripe peaches. None of these things tasted as good when you brought them to school. Grilled cheese sandwiches became cold and slimy, cocoa turned into boring old chocolate milk, and peaches got squished. There was an art to packing a lunch box and Bernadette Inez OBrian Schwartz, the girl who usually wanted to know everything about everything, did NOT want to learn it.

Sometimes Bernadettes father came home for lunch, and if she ate at school, shed miss out on that too. On the days that her father came home, Bernadette would set the table with placemats and matching napkins and they would all talk about their mornings at school and at work. Once, on her birthday, her family went out to lunch in a restaurant! When they finished eating their pizza, the manager of the restaurant gave her a brownie with a candle in it, and after she blew out the candle, Bernadette picked a prize from a big glass jar. She got a tiny blue notebook attached to a silver key chain, which was extremely cool, and useful as well.