Well, basically in English cl*censored*, we were reading The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Our teacher gave us some homework: write another chapter for the book. There are actually only 15 chapters in the book. xD
Anyways, if you aren't familiar with the story, it's a bouta girl called Gilly who was abandoned by her mother at the age of 3, and is a bad tempered 11 year old. She's been to multiple foster homes and can't fit in any. Then she goes to Maime Trotter's home, which she shares with W.E, another foster child. At the start, she hates them, but eventually warms towards them. Then, just when she begins to love them, she is taken from her home with her grandmother. She becomes excited, because she is about to meet her mother (Courtney) at long last, but finds her mother not as nice as she thought. Richard is a character I made up. xD
Well, this is it:
The drive home was a long one. She didn’t try to make conversation, but instead gazed outside the car window. Courtney acted as if Gilly, her own Galadriel, did not even exist.
Well, Gilly thought, if that’s how you want it, that’s fine with me. And she ignored her mother the whole way, too.
When her grandmother’s house came into view, Gilly sat up straight, ready to rush out as soon as the car stopped. It was awkward in the car, and anyway, Gilly wanted to get to her room. Then she could write to Trotter and W.E.
As the car gradually came to a halt, Gilly opened the door, about to step out, when Courtney grabbed her arm. Her eyes, the beautiful, beautiful ones Gilly had stroked over and over in her photo, locked on her daughter’s.
“Where are you going?”
Gilly struggled to let herself go. “Upstairs,” she replied hastily.
“Don’t you want to help your mother unpack her things?” Courtney asked.
This enraged Gilly. This woman, this lady who calls herself my mother, how can she ask me to treat her like my mom? She never treated me like her daughter. Gilly was about to voice these thoughts, but instead, let it go. She sighed.
“What do you need help with? I want to get this over and done with.”
Courtney flashed her that perfect smile, and handed her a small luggage bag and a rather large toiletry bag.
“Just take these to my room, love.”
Gilly, clutching the two bags, stalked off.
Dinner that night was quiet. As they ate, piercing the cold turkey meat with their forks, a strange thought occurred to Gilly.
Maybe, just maybe, I might be able to find my dad, Gilly thought. It was an incredible risk, seeing as Gilly had sacrificed everything she had to find her mother. But if this man gave Gilly the love she had always longed for and lacked, it would be worth it.
“Cour-mom?” She was about to say ‘Courtney’, but thought if she wanted a straight answer, she shouldn’t be impolite. “Who is my father?”
Courtney looked startled, but recovered almost immediately. “Why?”
This time Gilly was startled. Wouldn’t it be obvious? If you were starved of a parent’s love, wouldn’t you ask about the other one? Gilly stated this, leaving out the bit about ‘starving of a parent’s love’.
“Well, your father, Richard Greene,” she said the name as if it left a bad taste in her mouth, “lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.” And that’s all she said.
That was all Gilly needed. She tried not to look too excited.
That night, Gilly collected up her things in a small backpack in her room, and crept to where her mother was sleeping. Quietly, she looked around for Courtney’s bag, and found it under the bed. Inside, tucked neatly in a small rubber band, was a small pile of 50 dollar notes.
There must be at least $300 here, Gilly thought to herself excitedly. I can easily get to Nevada.
Within a few days, she was there. Right there. In front of Richard Greene’s house. Quickly, she rehearsed over what she would say.
The conversation seemed to go so perfectly in her head.
“Hello. Who are you?” her father would ask.
“I’m Galadriel Hopkins, your daughter,” Gilly would reply. After a few moments of shock, Richard would scoop her up in his arms and invite her in.
It didn’t work that way. At least, not fully.
First of all, Gilly had had no idea what Richard Greene would look like, but never in her life would she have imagined a young man with shiny blonde hair who looked like he was in his 20s, though that was not possible.
She could see why Courtney had fallen in love with him. He looked like a model.
“Yes?” he asked in surprise, when Gilly had knocked on his front door. “If you’re here to sell Girl Scout cookies, I’m not very interested. I already bought 5 packets of them.”
Gilly shook her head. “No…I came here to talk to you about something important.” She searched his eyes, looking for some kind of sign that told her that he remembered her. There was none.
“Really?” Richard asked, a little suspicious. “About what?”
“Do you remember Courtney Rutherford Hopkins?” Gilly’s eyes remained firm, but her voice couldn’t help but quaver a little when she said her mother’s name.
This time, Richard looked like he might have been slapped on the face. “Yes, what about her?”
Gilly invited herself into her father’s home and took a step forward into the living room.
That night, Gilly was asleep in a bed. Not just any old bed, but a bed at Richard Greene’s home. In the back bedroom.
When Gilly had walked into Richard’s house, she suddenly seemed at a loss for words. She sat down on the couch without expecting an invitation, and stared at her father, who made himself very comfortable on an armchair opposite her. He looked expectantly at her, and finally, the sawdust seemed to evaporate.
“Dad.” One simple word. That was all she said. Dad. She hoped it would be enough to make him remember her. After all, one word can make a lot of difference.
“Dad?” Richard looked confused.
Who was this little girl, he thought. And what is she doing here?
“Dad,” Gilly went on, “my name is Galadriel Hopkins, and you are my biological father.” She paused, to let it sink in. Then she kept going. “When I was three, my mother, Courtney, left me for whatever reason. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because she couldn’t look after me. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to look after me.
“A few days ago, I met her. And she wasn’t what I had hoped I would find when I found her. She didn’t care for me at all, she didn’t want me. So I came looking for you. My father.” She took a deep breath, fighting the tears. “I thought maybe you could give me what I had always wanted.”
Richard was staring intensely into her eyes. “And what is it you want?”
“A parent,” Gilly whispered. “A real parent. Not any of those silly foster parents, but my biological parent.”
And the tears started pouring out. Richard looked bewildered. Not knowing what to do, he quickly ran into the kitchen, got her some tissues and handed them to her. Gilly took them gratefully.
“So now I just have one question to ask you. Will you take me in?” Gilly asked, begging him with her eyes. “Please.”
And Richard scooped her up in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. “Courtney told me she had had a daughter, but she never told me where you had gone. When she gave you up…I got so mad at her, I became a bit violent. She swore that she would never tell me where you had gone, so that I could feel the pain. The pain of not knowing what had happened to you, where you had gone, what you had become. And every day for 9 years, I’ve had to experience the heartbreak of a father who had lost his daughter.” Now Richard was close to tears.
After their conversation, Richard had invited Gilly to sleep in his guest bedroom while they sorted things out.
It just goes to show that if you wait patiently, and if you persevere through the bad times, you will eventually find your happily ever after.
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