Peace, Locomotion

Remember I said, One day, we’ll be together again? I know that day is taking a lot longer to come than it should, but I still believe it’s gonna get here, Little Sister. And that’s why I’m trying to write you lots and lots. Because I love writing and I love you and when me and you are together again, I’m gonna want us to remember everything that happened when we were living apart. I’m gonna hold on to all these letters and when we’re living together again, they’re gonna be the first present I give you. A whole box of the Before Time. That’s what this is, Lili, even though I know when me and you get sad, all we think about is the other Before Time—before the fire, before we lived apart from each other. But this is a whole new Before Time. And it’s cool because we’ll be able to re­member a whole other set of good things, right? So I’m writing. And I’m remembering. For me. And for you, Lili.Also by Jacqueline WoodsonAfter Tupac and D FosterBehind YouBeneath a Meth MoonBetween Madison and PalmettoBrown Girl DreamingThe Dear OneFeathersFrom the Notebooks of Melanin SunThe House You Pass on the WayHushI Hadn’t Meant to Tell You ThisIf You Come SoftlyLast Summer with MaizonLenaLocomotionMaizon at Blue HillMiracle’s BoysG. P. PUTNAM’S SONSA division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Published by The Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.). Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England. Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.). Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd). Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India. Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd). Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa. Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England. Copyright © 2009 by Jacqueline Woodson.All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Woodson, Jacqueline. Peace, Locomotion / Jacqueline Woodson. p. cm.Summary: Through letters to his little sister, who is living in a different foster home, sixth-grader Lonnie, also known as “Locomotion,” keeps a record of their lives while they are apart, describing his own foster family, including his foster brother who returns home after losing a leg in the Iraq War.[1. Foster home care—Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 3. Orphans—Fiction. 4. Peace—Fiction. 5. African Americans—Fiction. 6. Letters—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.W868Pe 2009 [Fic]—dc22 2008018583 ISBN: 9781440699160For Tashawn and Ming And eventually, for RyleighTable of Contents Remember?Also by Jacqueline WoodsonTitle PageCopyright PageDedication Imagine PeaceDear Lili,Little Things by Lonnie C. MotionDear Lili,Imagine Peace Again Discussion QuestionsAn Excerpt from Brown Girl DreamingAn Excerpt from LocomotionAlso by Jacqueline WoodsonLast Summer with Maizon The Dear One Maizon at Blue Hill Between Madison and Palmetto I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This The House You Pass on the Way If You Come Softly Lena Miracle’s Boys Hush Locomotion Behind You Feathers After Tupac and D FosterPOEM BOOKThis whole book’s a poem ’cause every time I try to tell the whole story my mind goes Be quiet! Only it’s not my mind’s voice, it’s Miss Edna’s over and over and over Be quiet! I’m not a really loud kid, I swear. I’m just me and sometimes I maybe make a little bit of noise. If I was a grown-up maybe Miss Edna wouldn’t always be telling me to be quiet but I’m eleven and maybe eleven’s just noisy. Maybe twelve’s quieter. But when Miss Edna’s voice comes on, the ideas in my head go out like a candle and all you see left is this little string of smoke that disappears real quick before I even have a chance to find out what it’s trying to say. So this whole book’s a poem because poetry’s short and  this whole book’s a poem ’cause Ms. Marcus says write it down before it leaves your brain. I tell her about the smoke and she says Good, Lonnie, write that. Not a whole lot of people be saying Good, Lonnie to me so I write the string-of-smoke thing down real fast. Ms. Marcus says We’ll worry about line breaks later. Write fast, Lonnie, Ms. Marcus says. And I’m thinking Yeah, I better write fast before Miss Edna’s voice comes on and blows my candle idea out.ROOFAt night sometimes after Miss Edna goes to bed I go up on the roof Sometimes I sit counting the stars Maybe one is my mama and another one is my daddy And maybe that’s why sometimes they flicker a bit I mean the stars flickerLINE BREAK POEMMs. Marcus says line breaks help us figure out what matters to the poet Don’t jumble your ideas Ms. Marcus says Every line should count.MEMORYOnce when we was real little I was sitting at the window holding my baby sister, Lili on my lap. Mama was in the kitchen and Daddy must’ve been at work. Mama kept saying Honey, don’t you drop my baby. A pigeon came flying over to the ledge and was looking at us. Lili put her hand on the glass and the pigeon tried to peck at it. Lili snatched her hand away and screamed. Not a scared scream, just one of those laughing screams that babies who can’t talk yet like to do. Mama came running out the kitchen drying her hands on her jeans. When she saw us just sitting there, she let out a breath. Oh, my Lord, she said, I thought you’d dropped my baby. I asked Was I ever your baby, Mama? and Mama looked at me all warm and smiley. You still are, she said. Then she went back in the kitchen.