We are headed back to Deckawoo Drive today to visit the Lincoln sisters, Eugenia and Baby.
Baby Lincoln is a quiet and sweet old lady who has spent her life being told exactly what to do by her older sister, Eugenia, and frankly, she’s tired of it.
Baby announces that she is going on a necessary journey and packs a suitcase. She hasn’t any real plan, she just knows that she needs to go.
Baby runs into another Deckawoo neighbor, little Stella. Stella is like Baby, in that her brother Frank always seems to get to be in charge. Talking to Stella encourages Baby to go to the train station and buy a ticket for her necessary journey.
First, Baby meets a man who insists she read the comics from his newspaper. Eugenia would never allow that! But Baby ends up laughing through the whole page. (There is one about a super hero squirrel who can fly…Flora & Ulysses?)
Then she meets a girl who shares her jellybeans. Baby enjoys one and then another before the girl convinces her to take a whole handful — what would Eugenia say?!? And what’s more, we find out that Baby’s real name is Lucille; it was Eugenia who decided that she would be ‘Baby’.
The last new friend she makes in her necessary journey is George. He is traveling alone and needs a friend. Baby isn’t sure what to do, but she begins to tell him a story and he loves it! She even promises to write more of the story for him after the trip.
When she reaches her destination, she misses her sister terribly and has no idea where to go from there. Thankfully, Stella has come to meet her with Eugenia, Mr. Watson and Mercy. Baby is overwhelmed with love for her family and new friends.
The very end of the story gives us a view on Baby’s life after the trip. She read the comics each day and she wrote down her story for George.
The necessary journey was indeed necessary. Baby, or Lucille, finds that she is her own person, capable of making decisions without Eugenia. Lucille also learns that she truly loved Eugenia and that the feeling is mutual. Not bad for a short little trip with no definite itinerary, just the feeling that it was necessary.
Advertisements Share this:
