CHAPTER 11: Moving to Stoneybrook

Over the next three and a half years, life at school kept getting worse and worse, and I was getting exhausted from trying to protect both myself and Bebe. Not too long after we'd returned from Scotland, we'd filed a lawsuit against the school for their negligence in preventing me from getting hurt. Sure, we didn't win a whole lot of money, but at least they took the students' safety more seriously. Thankfully, we wouldn't have to put up with it for much longer, because shortly after I started eighth grade, Mum and Steve had some big news for us...

One Thursday evening in late September, we were sitting around the dining room table, having dinner. Mum and Steve didn't feel like cooking, so they ordered a couple of pizzas. By the way, if you ever order pizza for my family, the two toppings you should avoid are olives, because Bebe's allergic to them, and banana peppers, because they give Mum heartburn.

Anyway, we were all eating when Steve stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "I have an important announcement." We all stopped eating, looked up at him, and he continued, "Earlier this afternoon, I was offered a job as the superintendent of a brand-new apartment complex."

"That's great, Daddy!" Bebe said.

I'd already heard this speech twice in my life: once when we were coming to America, and once when we'd found that flat in Manhattan. I was already used to it; and as it turned out, I didn't have to ask where it was, because Mum beat me to it: "So where is it?"

"It's in this little town called Stoneybrook," Steve answered, "which is just a half-hour drive from Stamford."

When I heard this, I was just over the moon. It meant that I could make a fresh start. And believe me, I was so sick of Long Island, the other kids giving me their crap about my accent, and worrying about Bebe's safety. This was the best news I'd heard in years.

"I think it's great," I said. And believe me, I meant it. "I have to call Luke and tell him."

"Sure, go ahead," Mum said, helping herself to a breadstick.

"Tell him we're not leaving until next Wednesday," Steve called as I put my plate in the sink and headed to the living room.

I called Luke with the news. To my surprise, he took it really well. "We should get together after school tomorrow," he said.

"Sure," I said. "Steve says we're not leaving until next Wednesday, so that works out great."

I was really going to miss Luke, but at the same time, I was happy to be leaving Long Island. Either way, I hoped the next Wednesday would hurry up and come.

Well, moving day finally came. I was in my room, folding up my KISS and MC5 posters, and putting them in my backpack, when Bebe came in. "Hey, Jason, did you hear?" she asked. "We're moving."

"Yeah, I know," I said. Didn't we just talk about that?

"No, I mean, everyone's moving," she said. "Everyone in the whole building. It's going to be torn down."

"What? When?"

"As soon as everyone moves out," she answered. "They have until the end of the month."

This was something of a surprise. I knew we were moving, but I thought it was just us. My first clue should've been when we noticed the walls in the hallway starting to collapse, not to mention the floor boards creaking. Then there was the time that Mrs. Ortega from down the hall was opening her front door. It fell off its hinges and whacked her on the head, not to mention the ceiling from the upstairs apartment falling on her coffee table. I assumed she wasn't exactly thrilled to see a complete stranger reading a copy of Penthouse in her living room. I'd even heard that she'd doused that entire room in holy water.

When the last of our belongings had been packed up in the moving van, we took one last walk through our empty apartment, then got in the SUV. "Let's blow this joint," I said. I couldn't have been happier to get out of there.

As we drove toward Connecticut, "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band was playing on the radio, and we were singing along. I know most parents would be offended by the chorus, which goes, "I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker," but Mum and Steve seemed to be all right with it.

After the song ended, Mum told us about where we'd be going to school. "Now Jason, you'll be at Stoneybrook Middle School, and Bebe, you'll be at Stoneybrook Elementary. Both schools are on the bus route, and you'll each ride a separate bus to school."

"Okay," I agreed. I hadn't ridden the bus to school since before Mum and Steve were married. After that, until I got my motor scooter, one of them took me if the weather was bad. Speaking of which, we'd put it in the U-Haul on the back of the car.

A little while later, I saw the road sign for Stoneybrook, and became very excited. I'm sure everyone else felt the same way. "Stoneybrook—5 miles," I said to myself.

I wondered what the town was like, and hoped things would be better there.

When we finally pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, I saw that it looked really nice: three tan brick buildings with three levels of apartments (four on each floor), a playground on the left, a toolshed and mailboxes near the front gate, and right in the middle, a fenced-in square-shaped pool that was covered with a dark blue tarp. I also saw two or three other families from our building on Long Island, so it didn't completely feel like "Anatevka", if you know what I mean.

Our apartment was on the bottom level of the first building on the far left, and the front door had "SUPERINTENDENT" stenciled in black on it. We also had our own parking space that said the same thing.

When we got inside, Steve and I showed the movers where to put our furniture. One of the things we did was make sure that the TV wasn't in a spot where sunlight would hit it. We'd had that problem on Long Island, and had to keep the drapes shut all year long just so we could watch TV.

For my room, I kept the furniture arrangement the same as it was on Long Island: my bed in a corner by the window, my dresser beside the closet, and my stereo on the dresser. As I unpacked my backpack and put my posters up on the walls, I looked around the room. I decided that Stoneybrook was a town I could live in, and make my fresh start.

Or so I hoped.