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    Ducky: Diary Two
    Ducky: Diary Two
    Ducky: Diary Two
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    Ducky: Diary Two

    By Ann M. Martin

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    About this ebook

    All Ducky wants is the comfort of his family—but when they’re around, he feels lonelier than ever
    Ducky has been worried about Alex ever since the party at Jay’s, when Alex “accidentally” tried to hurt himself. He can’t talk to Sunny about it—she’s got enough going on with her terminally ill mom. Jay is still hanging with the Cro Mags, the jocks who push Ducky around. And Ducky’s older brother, Ted, just wouldn’t understand.
    Fortunately, Christmas is around the corner and his parents are coming back from Ghana, so Ducky will finally have the family support he’s desperately been missing. But when they return, the McCraes don’t seem to care about what’s been going on in Ducky’s world, either, and can’t wait to leave again. With no one to turn to for advice, Ducky decides to confront Alex—and his deepest fears are confirmed. This time, there’s no mistaking Alex’s actions for an accident.
     This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Ann M. Martin, including rare images from the author’s collection. 

    Ducky: Diary Two is the 10th book in the California Diaries, which also includes Amalia: Diary Two and Dawn: Diary Three.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateMar 25, 2014
    ISBN9781453298176
    Ducky: Diary Two
    Author

    Ann M. Martin

    Ann M. Martin grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. After attending Smith College, where she studied education and psychology, she became a teacher at a small elementary school in Connecticut. Martin also worked as an editor of children’s books before she began writing full time. Martin is best known for the Baby-Sitters Club series, which has sold over one hundred seventy million copies. Her novel A Corner of the Universe won a Newbery Honor in 2003. In 1990, she cofounded the Lisa Libraries, which donates new children’s books to organizations in underserved areas. Martin lives in upstate New York with her three cats.

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      Book preview

      Ducky - Ann M. Martin

      Ducky: Diary Two

      California Diaries

      Ann M. Martin

      Contents

      Dec. 1

      Wednesday 12/2

      Thursday 12/3

      TOMORROW Also known as Friday

      Sunday

      Monday

      Tuesday 12/8

      Thursday

      Sunday

      Tues. Morning

      Thursday 12/17

      Preview: Dawn: Diary Three

      A Personal History by Ann M. Martin

      Dec. 1

      5:45 P.M.

      Los Angeles International Airport

      Ducky the Fearless strikes again!

      He leaves home late. He hits rush hour freeway traffic. He detours onto back roads through treacherous Windsor Hills and Inglewood, finally reaching the airport—and yes, ladies and gentlemen, he makes it to Gate 21 TWO MINUTES early! 5:35 for a 5:37 arriving flight.

      Ducky the MIRACLE WORKER. Ducky the GOOD SON. HERE for his parents when they arrive from Ghana—on a SCHOOL NIGHT, the day before a math test.

      Why? Because he WANTS TO. Because that’s the kind of guy he is.

      Then he checks the arrival screen. And he sees:

      FLIGHT 407              1 HOUR LATE

      (Cue laugh track.)

      What a fool.

      Okay. Let’s analyze this, Ducky.

      You might have known. This HAS happened before. Mom and Dad’s overseas flights are almost ALWAYS late.

      You could have called in advance to check. If you knew, you wouldn’t have panicked and rushed.

      Now, suddenly, you have time to kill and nothing to do. And this would be a PERFECT opportunity for some badly needed math review. But you can’t do it because—in your hurry—you forgot your review material.

      And why are you here alone to pick up your lucky parents on the day before a math test?

      Well, that breaks down into two questions:

      1. Why are YOU here? Because Ted, Older and More Beloved Son, couldn’t be. You see, Ducky, he’s a COLLEGE boy. You may have homework, but he has a COURSE LOAD.

      2. Why are you here ALONE? Because none of your friends would come along to keep you company.

      Not Jay, formerly known as Jason, once your best friend and now a member of the Vista School Cro Mags, dedicated to the grunt-and-snort school of social behavior. Jay’s helpful comment? Come on, Duckster, they’re old enough to get home by themselves. Which, you have to admit, isn’t a bad point.

      Not Alex. Too depressed, of course. (Which doesn’t surprise you. But because you’re best friends, and because you’ve been HELPING him through the gloomy state he’s in, you still hoped he might come along. No such luck.)

      Not Sunny, even though she’s ALWAYS looking for excuses to get away from her house. She’s busy tonight—with what or whom she won’t say, but you know her slippery-cute tone of voice translates into: NEW BOYFRIEND. Which means you may not see her for awhile…until, of course, this guy turns out to be just like the others, and she comes back to cry on your shoulder. And that’s FINE because Sunny needs you, she’s freaking out because of her mom’s cancer, and the boyfriends are a way of escaping reality.

      You understand everyone’s excuses, because that’s what you do best, Ducky. You think of others first.

      And second. And third.

      Somewhere down the list of concerns—oh, maybe near the price of asparagus and the political situation in Norway—is YOU.

      I.

      Say I when you mean I, Ducky. Don’t hide.

      When am I going to learn?

      Maybe Jay is right. You COULD have let Mom and Dad take a car service.

      You I should think about yourself myself for a change.

      MYSELF. ME.

      God, I hate the way that sounds.

      THREE HOURS LATER

      In Which Ducky, Still Waiting,

      with Nothing Else to Do,

      Sees Scenes from His Life

      Reenacted All Around Him

      For example, you look around the arrival gate and see:

      The toddler, strapped into her stroller and crying madly, ignoring her drippy ice-cream cone as a DC-10 rises into the smog outside the window. Boy, do you remember THAT feeling.

      The two little boys at Gate 22 running into a crowd of arriving passengers and being scooped up by a tired but happy businessman. The mom joins them, making a four-person sandwich, and you can almost hear them squeal, We’re the ham and cheese, you’re the bread!—but no, that’s what YOU used to say. It’s only a memory. But you can taste the hope and excitement in the air. You know what those boys are thinking right now. Today Daddy’s home for good. Today everything will be normal again.

      Maybe for them it’s true. Maybe THEIR parents aren’t professors-slash-international business consultants like yours.

      For YOU, Ducky, things were never normal. Because Mom and Dad always had another trip. And when they were gone, you worried they’d forget you, or find new kids to love, or just plain never come back. You counted the days on a calendar and looked at atlases and encyclopedias, hoping to see Paris through Mom’s and Dad’s eyes, or Boston or Abu Dhabi or Toronto or Sri Lanka. And you wondered why you couldn’t have gone along too and WHAT you did wrong and HOW you could make them want to stay home next time—IF I CLEAN MY ROOM EVERY DAY, IF I STOP YELLING AT MY BROTHER, IF I GET STRAIGHT A’S…

      The trips eventually became a part of life, expected, unavoidable, like breakfast and homework. The fears became hidden away like a scabbed-over wound—and soon even the scab was gone, leaving only a scar.

      Scars protect. Scars heal. But they’re markers too, reminders of what’s underneath.

      So when you see that toddler and those boys, the scar stretches. You feel a little of the old pain.

      And you ask some of the old questions: What will Mom and Dad be like when they arrive? Will they be happy to see you? How long will they stay this time? Until the spring? Until the new year, at least?

      The difference between now and then is that at 16, you KNOW some of the answers.

      You know to settle for reality. Which isn’t too bad, really. Soon 121 Sherwood Road will look and smell the way it used to. Like a house with a real family in

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