Claudia and the Great Search 6-10
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Chapter 6
Dawn has a sitting job with the Brewers. David Michael wants his friend Timmy Hsu can come over and Dawn says yes. Why do friends always have to come over on a sitting job? I know my mom wouldn’t have let me or my brother go to a house when there was only going to be a thirteen-year-old in charge. Oh, and Kristy plans to bring the Papadakis over later.
When Emily Michelle sees Dawn she buries her face in Nannie’s neck. Nannie says Emily Michelle is shy, but considering that Dawn is the babysitter, I’m inclined to think that it was something other than shyness.
Emily Michelle tries to eat a pebble and Dawn thinks that two-year-olds are usually past the putting things in their mouth stage. Well, two is typically when the anal stage takes place, but if I remember correctly, some people can get stuck in certain stages.
And I think that there can be two-year olds who put things in the mouth. Dawn thinks that Emily Michelle is different from other two-year olds because Marnie and Gabbie are talkers. First of all, Gabbie doesn’t count. She’s not a bloody two-year old; she’s a creature that’s really seven hundred years old or a robot who had the brain of a genius implanted in it. Second, Dawn is judging Emily’s progress based on two other toddlers. Just two. You can’t look at two toddlers and say, “Oh, they’re doing this. The toddler in the corner must be delayed.” You need to have a bigger group for comparison before you start making generalizations like this. It could be that Emily Michelle is just shy. Dawn thinks that even though Emily Michelle is delayed, she tries hard to please her new family. First of all, would a toddler really understand the concept of pleasing her new family? Second, of course Emily Michelle wants to please her new family. As I recall, she was supposed to bring the family together.
Kristy comes over with the Papadakis. They want to play Ring around the Rosie. Emily Michelle doesn’t remember the words to the song and she doesn’t remember to fall down, but she’s having fun. Kristy worries that Emily Michelle is delayed. Everyone says that she’ll be able to catch up on her own, but Kristy doesn’t believe them. She would spend more time with Emily Michelle, but she’s too busy with the Papadakis. You’re not busy babysitting all the time. I’m sure you can squeeze in five minutes to play head and shoulders with your sister. And I know that you probably just want to fix Emily Michelle so that you can brag about how you know everything about children.
I’m not saying there isn’t a problem with Emily Michelle, but Kristy seems like the type of girl who would invent a problem just so she can fix it. A child isn’t playing with the other kids? That kid must have psychological issues. I’d also like to ask why the hell Kristy just doesn’t take Emily Michelle with her on her sitting jobs or sit the Papadakis at her house. It’s not like the BSC has problems with inviting other kids over or visiting each other during sitting jobs.
Dawn says that worrying won’t solve any problems. Claudia agrees and decides to take action to finding her birth parents. You would make a really shitty detective, Claudia. You can’t jump to conclusions based on very little evidence. Hell, a lack of baby pictures and not resembling your family doesn’t mean you’re adopted.
Chapter 7
Claudia doesn’t know how to find her birth parents. At the BSC meeting she begins to compare herself with Emily Michelle. Both of them are delayed for their age, so they must be adopted. First of all, it’s entirely possible that Emily Michelle is just having a rough time adjusting and will catch up to her peers soon enough. I really don’t think you can compare intellectual progress between a thirteen-year-old and a two-year-old. Second, just because Claudia sucks at school doesn’t mean she’s adopted. Siblings have different talents and interests. I’m better at school than my brother, but I need him to help me when I have a problem with my computer. He likes doing art projects. Right now he’s trying to build a suit of armor out of cans. I have no interest in that. I prefer to draw. He has more friends than I do. Does this mean one of us is adopted? No, it just means we have different interests and tastes.
Hell, my aunt is a better cook than my mom and no one in my family was adopted.
The evidence Claudia has is circumstantial. Now I’m imagining this as a court setting and Claudia presenting the evidence as to why she was adopted. Then Janine jumps up and yells, “Objection!” Claudia remembers that Emily Michelle was adopted through an agency called Love Bundles. She decides to call. Would an adoption agency really just give out information about adoptions to random strangers calling? Wouldn’t they have some kind of precautions in place just in case a caller wants to hurt a child or something?
Claudia calls the agency and finds out that they’ve only started operating five years ago and only work with Vietnamese children. Claudia looks up adoption agencies in the phone book and says that she’ll call all over Connecticut as a last resort. I hope she does. Then Claudia thinks that she might have been adopted privately. Or maybe she was left on the Kishis doorstep or one of the Kishis was infertile so Claudia was kidnapped. Why isn’t she making up ridiculous scenarios about how she came to be placed with the Kishis so I can laugh?
Claudia goes to get her birth certificate so she can see where she was born. How will that help prove she was adopted? I can understand if she thought that her certificate would list her birth parents’ names, but she’s concerned with where she was born. Oh, the birth certificates are at the bank. Is Claudia seriously going to go to the bank now? Yes. Why doesn’t she just ask her parents about this? Hell, Janine can probably do a DNA test.
When Claudia gets to the bank the teller tells her that she needs a key and some I.D. Claudia doesn’t know what the hell the teller is talking about. Typically safe deposit boxes have keys. You really can’t have safe deposit boxes be open. I’m sure that can lead to theft. Of course Claudia doesn’t have the key. Did she really think that she could just go to the bank and the teller would just let her see any box she wanted, especially without I.D. or a key?
Claudia is embarrassed and leaves. She decides to go to her pediatrician. She’s worried that Dr. Dellenkamp might tell her parents that she came in thinking she was adopted. She thinks about saying Janine came down with a rare blood disease and only the blood of a close relative (her sister) would save her. Unfortunately, Dr. Dellenkamp would call the Kishis. And if Janine really was suffering from a rare blood disease, why the hell would the Kishis send Claudia to tell the doctor instead of calling or bringing Janine in themselves? Claudia considers pretending she has to write an autobiography and needs information about her birth. Hey, I remember reading Claudia’s autobiography. Was this ever mentioned? And why would Claudia go to a doctor instead of her family to ask about her birth? Does she really want to know all of the technical details? Wouldn’t she just get bored? Wait, would Dr. Dellenkamp be able to just hand out Claudia’s birth certificate?
After a few minutes to prepare herself, Claudia goes into the office. The receptionist tells Claudia that she didn’t start seeing Dr. Dellenkamp until she was two. Of course Claudia thinks that’s fishy and wants to know why no one told her or why she didn’t remember. Claudia, you were a two-year-old. Do you honestly expect to remember events from back then? I can’t remember events from high school, never mind when I was a toddler. And I thought that people typically didn’t remember memories before they were two. Why would your parents tell you that Dr. Dellenkamp wasn’t your first doctor? Does it make a difference? My parents never told me the name of my first doctor. It’s really not that important. Just because Dr. Dellenkamp wasn’t your first doctor doesn’t mean you’re adopted. Maybe Dr. Dellenkamp specializes with children of a certain age. It’s entirely possible that you had a different doctor before Dr. Dellenkamp because you were a baby.
I hope the BSC never goes into law enforcement. They’ll jump to conclusions based on ridiculous evidence. Then they’ll stalk and harass the suspect. Kristy will brow beat them into confessing and Dawn will probably take a chance to be self-righteous and ask them if they feel ashamed of themselves. Then Mary Anne will try to be the good cop and start to cry because she’s so empathetic that she can’t help but feel sorry for the suspect having a horrible childhood. Of course there was no crime and the suspect is just sitting there with a “What the fuck?” look on their face.
Claudia bikes home thinking that Mrs.Wilson is covering up a secret. There is no secret, you twit! You’re just jumping to conclusions and being a drama queen!
Chapter 8
Claudia has another sitting job with Emily Michelle and David Michael. The students on the bus act like brainless morons. I’m so glad I never rode the bus. David Michael leaves to go to Timmy’s house, so Claudia is left alone with Emily. She asks what Emily Michelle wants to do, and Emily Michelle starts baby talking. Claudia doesn’t know what they’re going to do.
You can sit and play with her. It’s too bad she’s language-delayed or else you could have put on some big production. Just let her play with some toys or sing songs to her. Emily Michelle goes to play with crayons and Claudia gets her to give her a crayon. Emily Michelle doesn’t know her colors yet. Neither did my cousin. Okay, Claudia is trying to teach Emily Michelle her colors. I’m getting bored. She does learn that being a teacher is tougher than she thought and has a new respect for them, especially when they have to work with her. Yes, it is frustrating to work with a student whose attitude is “Fuck school.” I wonder if Claudia will have more respect for Janine. Janine does have to tutor her from time to time and Claudia’s attitude is really annoying. I would probably just lose my patience and tell Claudia she can flunk her damn test if she’s going to be a little brat.
Elizabeth asks Claudia to be Emily Michelle’s tutor. I hope this job teaches her patience and gives her a new respect for tutors. I’m sure Emily Michelle will be a much better student than Claudia. She doesn’t seem to have an attitude of , “I hate school and I’m not going to be like Janine so I’m not going to try at school so I don’t have to be like Janine.
Chapter 9
Oh fuck, another sitting job. Fuck it, I’m skimming. Stacey mentions that she learned something about Claudia’s adoption. Myriah and Gabbie want to make cookies. I want cookies. I think I’ll eat lunch after I finish this snark. Of course they were able to bake the cookies without a recipe. I hope the cookies taste horrible. Can five-year olds really bake perfect cookies without a recipe? Oh, the dog is trying to get to the cookies. If he has one he’ll react like Stacey.
Here’s the big secret. Stacey finds a book about a girl searching for her adopted parents. What the hell does that have to do with Claudia? Does she think the story is about her? Does she think Claudia can use the book as a how to guide to find her birth parents?
Chapter 10
Claudia has to get her hands on a book. The librarian is shocked to see her. I would be, too. It would be even more shocking if Claudia was actually there to check out a book for pleasure instead of for a hare-brained search. Claudia doesn’t want to go to the public library because she might run into her mom. Someone might mention that Claudia was looking at a book about adoption and might tell her parents. Do you really think people care, Claudia? I’ve been going to my library for ten years. The library doesn’t call my parents when I check out a book about schizophrenia.
Also, so what if the librarian tells Mrs. Kishi that Claudia was broadening her literary horizons? Does Claudia seriously think her mother will suspect something if Claudia brings home a book about adoption? And let’s just say Claudia is adopted. Does she think she can never tell this to her parents? Suppose she wants to meet her birth parents and they live far away? What will Claudia do then? Run away? Make up a prestigious award and say she has to go for the ceremony? Suppose her birth parents want to come over to the house? Why doesn’t Claudia want her parents to know she’s looking for her adopted parents?
Claudia is a slow reader unless she’s reading Nancy Drew. That could be because Nancy Drew is only 150 or so pages and it isn’t very complicated. Of course some people are faster readers than others. That’s why I hated read alongs in class. I could finish the chapter first and then I’d have to wait. In tenth grade we just spent the entire class time reading the designated book and answering questions. I finished before my classmates and just spent the time reading a book I wanted.
Reading a book that isn’t Nancy Drew wears Claudia out. The next day she thinks about the book. Natalie’s parents are open with her about the adoption. Elizabeth and Watson are open about Emily Michelle’s adoption. Like I said before, I don’t think it matters right now. I doubt Emily Michelle understands the concept of adoption. Once she gets old enough to understand they might have to tell her, seeing as Emily Michelle is Vietnamese. Wouldn’t that lead to a few questions? Unless they’re just going the Jessi route- Oh, Emily Michelle is Vietnamese but we don’t even notice!
Unfortunately Claudia has to go to the library. The horror. She might see her mother and her mother might actually think she wants to read a book other than Nancy Drew. Why hasn’t Claudia gone to her parents? Actually if she did they would tell her she wasn’t adopted and then Claudia wouldn’t believe them. Claudia looks up birth announcements and doesn’t see hers. Claudia decides to stalk three families because she thinks she’s adopted.
Claudia, your logic fails. I don’t know if there is an equal amount of pictures of siblings. There could be a logical reason why there are less pictures of you. Siblings can have different interests than each other. Siblings don’t always look alike. It’s entirely possible that you had a different doctor before Dr. Dellenkamp because you were a baby and therefore went to a baby doctor. I don’t know if all babies have announcements in the papers when they’re born. Can parents choose to do so? If so, maybe the Kishis just didn’t put in an announcement. Or maybe the announcement was published in a different paper.