我的姐妹金纳The Story of Gina（1/2）

梅利莎·内维利斯/Melissa Nevels

The sur I turned fourteen we were, y other and I, livgCorp Christi, Texas.We rehis little apartnt on North BeachJune 1981.Jt a few days after we oved , I t this girl nad Ga who lived with so peoplea hoe behd .I say“people,”becae they were to so stuff I had very little knowledge of,y hey oasionally had a Jaai guest who would e , stay a few days, then leave.I realized so years ter the significe of the Jaai visitor.I didn’t know uch about these people Ga lived with, and didn’t get to know the too well.There were always a lot of adults that hung around, but they ually werethe front part of the hoe where the ic was, ato our owertant.

Ga lived with these people becae, I guess you uld say, she was holess,a sense, she was about a year and a half youhan .Very pretty, beautiful sile, pretty blonde hair and big green eyes.But at thirteen, she knew far ore about the streets than she should have.She didn’t know who her father was, aher was a drunk.She had an older sister who was arried to a anthe navy, and livedectiobody wanted Ga, except .I loved her like a sister.

In the begng, we bristled at each other on the school b.Ga was a tough kid, and I guess as a defense is, she at on that tough-kid aror when necessary.After a week or so of school, we started talkg.And sce she was the only kidthe area y age, we really kd of felltogether.My folks were divorced and barely spoke uhey had to.I’d jt oved 600 iles fro the only ho I’d ever knownMississippi and I was hosick, and she had no real ho.Once we realized we both had wounds to lick, it clicked, and we beca separable.She was a grade beh , so we had no csses together.But as soon as we’d board the school bthe afternoon until it was ti for bed, we were together.

We lived on the beach.It was a five-ute walk fro where we lived, jt a atterthe road.If it was war, I’d get off the b and hurriedly do y chores that had to be fished before y o got ho fro work.Then quickly get to y bathg suit.We’d et up with our towels and sokes and head for the sand.I’d jt started sokg when I t Ga.She soked, not surprisgly, and when I was with her, I didn’t thk about what y o would do if she found out.In a way, I guess I wao eute her free spirit.It wasn’t years ter that I realized the tense sadness she t have felt.

About idway to the school year, Ga’s sister asked her to e and live with theecticut.I never uood why it took her so long to ask.She knew Ga’s circes and where she was livg.Ga’s o stayed drunk all the ti, and I thk they had a big failg out, and Ga left ho.That’s when she ca to live behd .Her o didn’t want her, at least that’s what Ga said.

So Ga left .I was heartbroken.But at the sa ti, I was so happy that she was gog to be with her sister.I thought that if she was with faily, she’d be OK.We wrote each other letters at least ice a week, but four onths ter she ca back.I got several stories fro Ga as to why it didn’t work-out.I have y own theories.

Ti went on, the school year was g to a close, and y 15th birthday was jt around the rner.My o and I oved to Taft.Ga stayed behd with yet another person sowhererp, but we wrote letters, atouch.Taft was only 18 iles away.After we were there about 6 onths, Ga was aga without a pce to live, and the nuns were lookg for sobody to take her so she wouldn’t be pceda foster ho.The story I got is Ga started havg a thg with the dy’s(that she lived with) 19-year-old son.Ga was jt fourteen at the ti, and she asked Ga to ove.Actually, she saw this guy off and on for a while.Ga was loose.She was desperately lookg for sobody to love herthe only way she knew how.And it st her.

So we beca her foster faily, of sorts.I was worried.My o and I were livg so skipily as it was.We barely had oo pay the bills, and a uple of tis we had our electricity turned off for nonpaynt.I was worried about havg another person to feed.But I loved her, and y o felt sorry for her.She uld see a little of herselfGa too.We had so uch fuh soon had steady dates, and we went out together every weekend.We even pyed hooky together, even got caught odetention for a whole day, and we issed havg our school pictures taken that day.In the school yearbook, for that year, where y picture should be, there’s a little character an with a barrel around his iddle and a sign on it that says:“photo not avaible.”Actually, I believe it was one of the factors that started the begng of the end to Ga’s stay with .I thk y o was afraid she’d“rub off on ”.I’ a o now and Ibetter uand.

Ga was wild, and you ’t cage a wild anial for long.She was withabout eight onths.I reber it was ter aga.Money was tight, and food was scarce.Ga liked the wild life.My o didn’t allow the type of life, for a teenage girl, that she was ed to.So Ga called soone else she knew, and ade arras to leave .

I reber the night she left.It was the st ti I ever saw her.We’d shared a roo for so any onths, and it was so epty after she left.I issed her terribly.I reber her puttg her stuff to the back of a white car.I’ll never fet watchg her shut the lid down, and turng towith a sile and sayg,“Well, this is it, I guess.”I replied“Yeah...you take care of yourself.Don’t drk and soke too uch.”We ughed and hugged.She said,“Speak for yourself!”Then we cried.She’d been y best friend for the better part of o years and I knew, sothg sidekhat I would never see her aga.

I didn’t get aers this ti.Jt one fro the pce she went to fro ours.Then about o years ter, I got a letter fro her, and she wasMissouri.She’d had a baby, by a arried an.“But he loves ,”she wrote.I felt very sad, and wondered if she’d ever really fd what she so desperately wanted.Or what she thought she wanted, but not necessarily what she needed.

I never heard fra, after the seer.I wrote back, but never got a respoo this day I don’t know what happeo her, if she’s alive, or where she is.When she left, she took part ofwith her.We beca like s, and when she was gone, I felt like I’d lost sothg side .Sothg deep, spirit-like.She was so full of life, and didn’t dwell on her situation, at least not ouardly.And we were close, we shared everythg.

I still thk of her often, after all these years.Two young girls reachg woanhood on different paths.Yet each path failiar to the other.She still has the ability to akesile, and appreciate all that I have and all that I a.

在我14岁的那年夏天，母亲带着我住在得克萨斯州的科珀斯克里斯蒂港。1981年6月，我们在北海滩租下了这套小公寓。搬进去没几天，我遇到了一个叫金纳的女孩，她与其他一些人住在我家公寓后面的房子里。我之所以称那些人为“其他人”，是因为天真的我对他们的了解少得可怜。有时候，一些牙买加人会去拜访那些人，他们在那所房子里住几天，然后就离开了。几年后，我才了解了牙买加人的重要地位。对于与金纳一起住的人，我了解得不太多，后来也没有兴趣去了解。许多成年人经常会聚在那所房子的附近，不过他们只是在那所房子门外的前面，那里有音乐，我们这些孩子则自由地玩耍。

金纳比我小一岁半，我想，人们会说，她是因为在某种意义上无家可归，才与这些人住在一起的。金纳是一个长相漂亮的女孩，有着美丽的笑容、漂亮的金发和蓝色的眼睛。虽然才13岁，可是她对街道的熟悉程度已经超出了同龄孩子。金纳不知道她的父亲是谁，她的妈妈是一个酒鬼。金纳有一个姐姐住在康涅狄格州，姐姐的丈夫是一个海员。除了我，没有人要金纳，我就像对待妹妹一样爱护着金纳。

起初，在学校的公车上，我与金纳总是怒目而视。金纳是一个性格强硬的孩子，必要的时候总是摆出一副凶恶小孩的架势，我想这是她采取的一种自我保护。在学校里过了一周多，我们开始说话了。因为在住的地方，只有我们两个孩子年纪相仿，于是很快就变得形影不离了。我的父母离婚了，除非有什么非谈不可的事情外，他们两个从来不说话。金纳没有一个真正的家，而我只是从600公里以外的密西西比的家搬到了现在的这个地方，不过我想念以前的家。当意识到我们两个人有着同样的伤痛时，我和金纳走到一起，成了无法分开的朋友。我和金纳不在一个班级上课，她比我低一个年级，然而从下午放学坐上学校公车直到晚上上床睡觉前的这段时间，我们都在一起。

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