Missing Pieces

by Norma Fox Mazer

Overview

Jessie’s father has always been a missing piece of her life—but if she were to find him, how would he feel about her?

Jessie Wells thinks four is a good number. Things with four sides are sturdy and strong. A box, a chair, a room with four walls. But ever since the day Jessie’s dad left, Jessie, her mother, and Aunt Zis have been a triangle—three-sided, though solidly linked.
 
Jessie has heard the story: Her beautiful young mother had married a prince who disappeared one day, so she had raised her daughter with the help of Aunt Zis. But lately, the picture in Jessie’s mind seems incomplete. Who is James Wells? she wonders. He must be more than just a deadbeat dad who deserted his wife and child, and Jessie is determined to find out, even if she has to call every Wells in the phone book—and there are a lot of them.
 
But if Jessie finds her father and asks him all her questions, will she like the answers?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504011297
Publisher:	Open Road Media Teen & Tween
Publication date:	06/16/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	196
File size:	832 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Norma Fox Mazer (1931–2009) was an acclaimed author best known for her children’s and young adult literature. She earned numerous awards, including the Newbery Honor for After the Rain, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for Dear Bill, Remember Me?, and the Edgar Award for Taking Terri Mueller. Mazer was also honored with a National Book Award nomination for A Figure of Speech and inclusion in the notable-book lists of the American Library Association and the New York Times, among others.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

The Disappearing Dude

When I was small, my mother always began my favorite story by saying, "This is the story of my life, Jessie. It starts when I was a little girl, just like you."

Sitting on her lap and staring up into her face, I was amazed to think that my big, soft mommy had once been a child, too.

"I had a mother and a father," my mother continued, "and everything was nice until I was nine years old. My father went fishing on a big lake, Oneida Lake, and a storm came up, and the wind blew and there were big waves."

"How big?" I asked.

"Big, Jessie! Big! My father didn't know how to swim, and he wasn't wearing a life jacket. The boat went over and he drowned. Jeez!"

She always said jeez like that when she got upset. I petted her cheek and said I would never get drowned and make her sad. She hugged me close, and I snuggled in, because now the story got even sadder.

"My mother got married again," she went on, "and you know, her husband was my stepfather, right? Well, he didn't like me. Every day it was, 'Maribeth, you make too much noise. Maribeth, shut your big mouth. Maribeth, you are a brat.'

"But your mama loved you," I said.

"Yes, she did."

"Just like you love me."

"Then my mother got cancer and died. Now, don't cry," she said quickly. "Are you going to cry?"

I shook my head hard. "You won't die, will you, Mama?"

"Not for a long, long time, sweetie. Not till I'm an old bent lady with no teeth." She showed me her teeth. "See how strong they are?"

"Will Aunt Zis die? Her teeth aren't so strong."

"She won't die for a long, long time,either."

"Promise?" I would sit there, my four-year-old heart beating fast, waiting to hear her promise, as if her words alone could keep her and Aunt Zis safe.

"Want me to stop, Jessie? Are you getting too upset, baby?"

"No! Keep telling." It was a thrilling story, scarier, sadder, and much better than any of the stories Aunt Zis read me at night, which were usually about bunnies and bears.

"After my mother died, my stepfather told me he was going to move to Denver. He had a son there, from when he was married before. He didn't want to take me with him. He didn't exactly say that, but he told me he didn't know how he got stuck with a fourteen-year-old girl."

The part about Denver and the son was a little confusing, but I knew what came next. "You said, 'I don't want to go with you.' And he said, 'Well, hell, that's fine with me, but you better find somebody to live with.' 'I

"You got it. I didn't know what I was going to do. Who could I live with? I didn't have anyone. Then-"

"I know! 1, know!" I sat up, excited. "Just like in a

fairy tale, you remembered that your mama had an aunt! "

"And she lived in New York City. But how was I going to find her? New York City! One of the biggest cities in the whole world. Millions of people, Jessie. It was a miracle I found her. And you know what she did?"

"What?" I knew, but I wanted to hear my mother say it.

"She got right on the train and came up here. Day one, I talked to her. Day two, she was here. Day three, she said to my stepfather, 'Go! We don't need you.' She rescued me. She saved my life. She didn't have to do that, did she? She could have said, 'Sorry. I'm not a young woman. No fourteen-year-old girls for me, either. ' 9 "

"But she didn't say it!" I quickly kissed my mother. "And you know something else she could have said? 'Maribeth, you come live with me in New York City.

"Anybody else would have said that." I said it before my mother could, and I got another hug for remembering.

"Aunt Zis said I didn't need to change schools and cities and friends, besides everything else. She said I'd had enough stuff in my life, we would just live right here."

"And so you did! Now tell me the James Wells part."

My mother took a breath. "I was seventeen, and one day I met this guy in a record store and-"

"This guy in a record store who had a big voice, like me," I reminded her.

"Right."

"And beautiful eyebrows, like me."

"What else?"

"Strong as a little horse."

She nodded. "He worked in lots of countries, on high ways and bridges. He worked in Canada, Brazil, Saudi Arabia. He had two leather jackets and a BMW. He once paid fifty dollars for a silk tie. When he got dressed up, he looked like a prince!"

"And then you got married to the prince, even though Aunt Zis didn't want you to, so young, and you were beautiful."

"Uh-huh. And then he wanted to buy a house, one of those brick ones with three fireplaces and three garages and three bathrooms. Don't I wish! But I found this little old house, which is so great, and all we could afford, anyway."

"Our house," I said with satisfaction. "And you moved in, and I was born, and I was wonderful.' '

"One hundred percent right on the mark! And then one day-"

I couldn't wait for her to say it. "James Wells said, 'I'm going out for a while.' "

"Uh-huh. And I said, 'Where are you going?' And he looked at his watch and said-"

"Nowhere special, be back in a few hours.' " This always bit my funny bone. "Nowhere special,...

Table of Contents

Contents
1 The Disappearing Dude 1
2 The Tiniest Punctuation Mark in the World 6
3 Worlds and Anti-Worlds 8
4 Love-Hate Relationship 14
5 The D Zone 22
6 My Little Secret 31
7 Unmentionable Acts 34
8 Jealous Eyes 41
9 Buckets of Sound, Lakes, and Oceans 48
10 Take Two Aspirin and Cheer Up 52
11 Say It with Conviction 54
12 Somebody Good Like Me 58
13 A Large, Grape-Colored Menu 61
14 Jimmy 66
15 Red Flags and Green Garbage Bags 71
16 Flecks of Paint 77
17 Things Too Numerous to Mention 81
18 Station WJES 89
19 In a Heartbeat 94
20 Wall of Ice 97
21 This Is the Air He Breathed 103
22 Little Pearls 113
23 A Bizarre Layer Cake 116
24 Disobedience, Disorder, and Defiance 121
25 Monkey Bars 124
26 A Storm 127
27 Scared to Death 131
28 Twenty Questions 134
29 The Phone Number 135
30 Raspberry Ice Cream 140
31 Jumping for the Sun 142
32 Blue Lake 146

Editorial Reviews

MISSING PIECES Norma Fox Mazer. Avon/Flare, $4.50 ISBN 0-380-72289-5. "Mazer demonstrates her continued mastery of YA themes and concerns with this densely packed story about a 14-year-old girl searching for the father who abandoned her in her infancy," said PW. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Although 14-year-old Jessie's father left when she was just a baby, she has been wondering about him all her life. These simple questions gradually become a compelling quest as Jessie reaches young adulthood and starts to compare her relatively happy but fatherless home life to that of her friends. How Jessie manages to find her father and come to terms with her own identity is skillfully interwoven with the story of her growing relationships with her mother, great great-aunt, two girl friends, and a first boy friend.

Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

Gr 6-8-James Wells, strong as a horse, clothed in silk ties and driving a BMW, a prince of a fellow; that's the picture 14-year-old Jessie has always had of her father, whom she refers to as ``the disappearing dude.'' When she was small, the story of his vanishing seemed amusing; but now, she finds it vaguely disturbing and definitely incomplete. When a school assignment about family history launches Jessie on a search for more information, her mother resists fiercely. Although this plot has been done numerous times, Mazer's skill at characterization, her intricate weaving of subplots, and her ready understanding of teen dialogue and concerns make this book special. Jessie's black friend Diane pursues perfectionism in a defensive mode because she has an emotionally brittle family life and the additional challenge of facing a middle-class, white world. Beloved Aunt Zis raised Jessie's mother and used to be on top of everything; now she gets lost in familiar places. Jack provides a sensitive love interest. And there is the common decency of strangers who respond to Jessie's vulnerability. Through it all, the young woman pursues James Wells, an apparently emotionally blocked, abusive man who has himself been victimized. A brilliant and subtle portrayal of a teen seeking her father and finding herself.-Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY

School Library Journal

Fourteen-year-old Jessie Wells seeks a missing part of her life and self. Her quest centers on the father who abandoned her years ago. While she carries on her external life of school, relationships with her two best friends, and the beginnings of her first romance, she listens to an oddly familiar inner voice. She begins her search through the telephone book, and, though her mother tries to discourage her, Jessie reaches her father's cousin, who gives her a childhood picture of her father. The photo and an old belt buckle are Jessie's only relics of her father's existence. Her continuing attempts to find him create a rift between Jessie and her mother. When Jessie's father unexpectedly passes through town, her boyfriend tells him who she is. Her father seems to look at her, then shrugs, gets into his car, and drives off. Mazer's beautifully written story of a strong young girl's search for the "missing pieces" of her identity contains psychological realism, an engaging plot, and a heroine who is able to accept and resolve a painful situation. A bittersweet and complex coming-of-age story.

Merri Monks

"Beautifully written . . . A bittersweet and complex coming-of-age story."
--Booklist

From the Publisher