Homeless, Homesick, and Diseased
The Secret Life of Olivia Knapp
The Green Slippers and the Lady on the Trapeze
Rule 1:
You may bring only what fits in your backpack. Don’t try to fake it with a purse or a carry-on.
Rule 2:
You may not bring guidebooks, phrase books, or any kind of foreign language aid. And no journals.
Rule 3:
You cannot bring extra money or credit/debit cards, traveler’s checks, etc. I’ll take care of all of that.
Rule 4:
No electronic crutches. This means no laptop, no cell phone, no music, and no camera. You can’t call home or communicate with people in the U.S. by Internet or telephone. Postcards and letters are acceptable and encouraged.
That’s all you need to know for now. See you at 4th Noodle.
Dear Ginger,
I have never been a great follower of rules. You know that. So it’s going to seem a little odd that this letter is full of rules I’ve written and that I need you to follow.
“Rules to what?” you have to be asking yourself. You always did ask good questions.
Remember how we used to play the “today I live in” game when you were little and used to come visit me in New York? (I think I liked “I live in Russia” best. We always played that one in winter. We’d go to see the Russian art collection at the Met, stomp through the snow in Central Park, then go to that little Russian restaurant in the Village that had those really good pickles and that weird hairless poodle who sat in the window and barked at cabs.)
I’d like to play that game one more time—except now we’re going to be a little more literal. Today’s game is “I live in London.” Notice that I have included $1,000 in cash in this envelope. This is for a passport, a one-way ticket from New York to London, and a backpack. (Keep a few bucks for a cab to the airport.)
Upon booking the ticket, packing the backpack, and hugging everyone good-bye, I want you to go to New York City. Specifically, I want you to go to 4th Noodle, the Chinese restaurant under my old apartment. Something is waiting there for you. Go to the airport right from there.
You will be gone for several weeks, and you will be traveling in foreign lands. These are the aforementioned rules that will guide your travels:
Rule 1: You may bring only what fits in your backpack. Don’t try to fake it out with a purse or a carry-on.
Rule 2: You may not bring guidebooks, phrase books, or any kind of foreign language aid. And no journals.
Rule 3: You cannot bring extra money or credit/debit cards, traveler’s checks, etc. I’ll take care of all that.
Rule 4: No electronic crutches. This means no laptop, no cell phone, no music, and no camera. You can’t call home or communicate with people in the U.S. by Internet or telephone. Postcards and letters are acceptable and encouraged.
That’s all you need to know for now. See you at 4th Noodle.
Love,
Your Runaway Aunt
As a rule, Ginny Blackstone tried to go unnoticed—something that was more or less impossible with thirty pounds (she’d weighed it) of purple-and-green backpack hanging from her back. She didn’t want to think about all the people she’d bumped into while she’d been carrying it. This thing was not made for wearing around New York City. Well, anywhere, really…but especially the East Village of New York City on a balmy June afternoon.
And a chunk of her hair was caught under the strap on
