Full Cicada Moon

Mimi is in gym class in “Cooties,” where she notices Stacey LaVoie’s feet—she is wearing red tights with her big white toes sticking out of a hole. Stacey tries to cover the hole with her other foot, is wearing black eyeliner around her entire eye and dangling earrings. The gym teacher weighs them one by one as the girl next to Stacey tells her to watch out for the cootie hole. In her Southern accent, Stacey asks what she is talking about. The girl points to a hole in the wall, explaining that she’ll get cooties if she touches it. Stacey whispers to Mimi, and they both agree that cooties sound stupid. Mimi learns that Stacey’s father teaches at the college too and is happy to have something in common. Stacey then loses her balance and falls onto her. In a ripple effect, the girls tell them to stop pushing and push back until Mimi falls against the cootie hole. The girls jump away from her and Stacey touches Mimi, saying it’s her fault and now she has them. Though cooties are stupid, Mimi is happy Stacey took them. However, no one pays attention—the girls keep yelling “Mimi’s cooties” as if they’ve been waiting to say that since her first day.

In “Notes,” Stacey slips a note to Mimi, asking if she wants to do something after school. Mimi nods back at her and writes “the drugstore” before passing it back. Mimi knows she has to ask her dad but wants to sit at the soda fountain with Stacey, eat a sundae, and look around the store. The teacher catches them and takes the note back to her desk, telling the girls that they’ll be in her classroom for detention instead of sitting at the soda fountain. Mimi has never had detention before and wonders if Stacey’s heart is pounding as hard as hers. In “Detention,” Mimi tells Papa after school about the notes. His disappointment stings more than getting caught with the note. At detention, Mimi has to sit far from Stacey and listen to the sounds of the end of the school day. The teacher tells the girls that watching the clock will be the longest hour they’ll spend and lets them take five minutes off for each history question they answer correctly. They answer each question together correctly, including the most difficult questions about the first American-manned space mission with astronauts. The teacher is unimpressed and suspects Mimi of cheating. The girls explain that Mimi likes learning about space missions, and that her dad teaches history. They leave detention 25 minutes early and decide to go to the drugstore over vacation. 

In “Science Project,” Mimi talks to Mrs. Stanton about her science project. She shows her a book about lichens, but Mimi explains that she wants to do something about the space program. Mrs. Stanton thinks it’s a wonderful idea and asks on what she will focus. Though there are many things to study about the moon, Mimi decides to focus on the moon’s topography and phases, and Mrs. Stanton agrees. As Mimi leaves the classroom, Mrs. Stanton asks Mimi about her desire to be an astronaut. Mimi admits her desire to be an astronaut, then waits for Mrs. Stanton to laugh and say that all girls want to be mothers, teachers, secretaries, or nurses. Instead, Mrs. Stanton admits that she too wanted to be a scientist, but her parents told her she would be a disgrace and wouldn’t find a husband. Mrs. Stanton admits that she loves teaching if she can help her students attain their dreams, and that when her husband died she was happy to belong somewhere. Mimi is surprised that Mrs. Stanton talks about dreams and belonging. She would do anything to make her happy because she couldn’t attain her dreams and didn’t laugh at her. When Mimi asks why Mrs. Stanton didn’t laugh at her, she asks Mimi why she would, saying, “Our dreams are a serious matter. When you take them seriously, everyone else does too” (76).

In “Stars,” Mimi and her mother watch the stars on a clear moonless night. They don’t need to talk—they are “in awe of the magnificence above— / impossible to understand, impossible to hold” (77). The skies were never clear in Berkeley because of the city lights, and Mimi can’t stop looking at the Vermont sky during the new moon. She holds out her arms and twirls. Mama tells her not to fall before twirling too. In “February Vacation,” the boy from next door calls Pattress as the dog leaps in and out of the snow again and again. The boy throws a snowball at Pattress, who chases it and sniffs where it lands. When the boy throws a snowball that hits the empty turkey coop, he raises his arms. Mimi accepts the challenge by throwing a handful of snow, which doesn’t even reach the fence. When the boy starts laughing, she packs and throws a tight snowball that explodes against a tree, spraying the boy and the dog. They erupt into a snowball fight, laughing. As Mimi reaches the fence, Papa calls out to her and ruins the mood. Mimi and the boy say bye to each other before Mimi heads inside. She turns to see Pattress and the boy still standing by the fence.

In “The Soda Jerk,” Stacey and Mimi spin at stools at the soda fountain. The man behind the counter asks Stacey what her friend wants as if Mimi isn’t sitting there. When Mimi asks for a sundae, the man is surprised that she speaks English—he thought she was a foreigner. Stacey asks if people always ask her things like that and admits that she would want to cuss if they did. Stacey shares that her mother calls the man a “soda jerk.” The man brings them their ice cream and says he has to know what Mimi is. Mimi doesn’t respond, but she pays for her ice cream as they leave. Outside, Stacey says that he is a real soda jerk. 

In “A Girl Who Twirls,” Mimi admits that the only time she ever skated was at an ice rink at the mall. She describes how there was always one girl with a little skirt who would break away from the crowd and twirl in the center, spinning faster and faster into a blur and drilling the ice. Mimi admits she always wanted to be that girl. In “Skating Pond,” Papa brings Stacey and Mimi home after school. He says that since the pond behind their yard has frozen solid, it’s time to skate. Mama gives them cookies and a thermos of cocoa, telling them to be careful. Stacey and Mimi walk down the snowy path to the pond and take turns lacing up their skates. They tiptoe to the edge and start skating, slowly circling the pond side by side. After one circle, they know how the ice feels and swerve around the pebbles and twigs. Mimi skates backwards and wiggles to the center like the girl at the mall rink. Stacey claps, telling Mimi to twirl. Mimi laughs and holds out her arms before stopping. She isn’t the perfect girl with the cute skirt and ponytail—she will never be her. She’s the foolish girl with the cooties who wants to be an astronaut, “all alone at the center / of attention, / not because of what [she] can do / but because of what [she] is” (90).

Mimi wants Stacey to stay longer in “Rendezvous,” but she has to be home for supper. Papa offers to drop her home, but Stacey makes excuses, and he doesn’t insist. When they arrive at school and Stacey’s mom isn’t there yet, Papa offers to wait with her. Stacey says that it’s fine with a brittle smile. Papa says he will drive to the side and wait until she comes. Stacey’s face softens to a sad smile as she thanks him. She starts to apologize when Papa stops her, telling her she is welcome to visit any time. When Stacey’s mother arrives, she turns to look at their car before driving away. In “Snowfall,” Mimi describes how the falling snow drifts down from the sky “flake / by flake / by flake” (92). The snowfall is pretty, graceful, and quiet as it bends low, pours out, and lays down in itself. In “Snow Day,” Mimi wakes up startled, worried that she is late for school. She runs downstairs to find her parents eating together like they do on Saturday. Mama tells Mimi to look outside, and Papa says it’s a snow day. Mimi never had a snow day in California, and snow is falling hard outside. Papa tells Mimi to get dressed to shovel the driveway, despite the fact that it’s still snowing. Mimi asks if they can borrow Mr. Dell’s snowblower, but Papa says no. Mama, Papa, and Mimi all start from different ends of the driveway, shoveling snow “like cutting up a cake” (95). As the three shiver, sniffle, and puff, Mimi hears Farmer Dell’s snowblower and decides to ask him—it would clear their driveway in 10 minutes. 

In “The Mouse Takes the Cheese,” Mimi walks over to Farmer Dell’s house to ask for the snowblower. He hasn’t spread any sand and salt, which causes Mimi to slip. She knocks on the outside door and waits. Mr. Dell asks Mimi what she wants. Mimi introduces herself and explains that they are his neighbors. She continues to explain that it’s really hard to shovel the snow and asks to borrow the snowblower. Mr. Dell refuses to give things out to strangers, asking if she thinks he is a charity. When he starts to shut the door, she asks about the boy who was playing with Pattress. Pattress pushes the door all the way open and barks happily. Mimi asks Pattress if she wants a snowball and the dog’s ears stand up. Mr. Dell tells her there is no boy and to go home. Mimi heads home and shovels a path to the back door.

In “Consequences,” Papa is angry that Mimi asked for the snowblower. He had told her to leave Mr. Dell alone and that some people don’t want to be friends. When Mimi says it was hard to shovel snow, he tells her that there will be harder things in life. Papa then takes Mimi’s hands gently and explains that since they are new to a town where people have lived for many years, they are simply visitors. Mimi asks if he means strangers, to which he responds to some people they are, and to others they always will be. However, he tells her that they have to respect them and their ways. Instead of telling her to obey them, he asks her to think about what she should have done differently and hands her a Life magazine from January. It has a picture of the Earth taken from the moon on the cover, and he thinks it might help her find the answer.

In “Tears on Glass,” Mimi blinks away Mr. Dell’s scowling face and angry words. She wonders if it is her family that makes people mean, despite the fact that they are American, speak English, and eat the same foods. She feels that she has to be twice as smart, funny, nice, and forgiving as everyone else to be acceptable. Mimi thinks that “sad thoughts / make you sadder if you let them” (104), admitting that she is too sad to stop the thoughts from overwhelming her. Her tears turn to ice when she presses her face on the cold window. In “Life in 1968,” Mimi reads the Life magazine. She knew about the Apollo program, Dr. King, and Bobby Kennedy, and remembers Auntie Sachi keeping the TV on to hear the news and crying before switching the channel for life to return to normal. However, she didn’t know about the two widows hugging each other. Both Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. King lost their husbands. Mimi ponders if they wonder why their lives didn’t go back to normal after changing the channel. In “A New Outlook,” Mimi reminisces about how the photo of Earth was taken from the moon when she was in Berkeley, in California, in the United States, in North America, on Earth. From space there are no borders separating countries, states, and people—only borders to separate land and water, earth and sky, dark and light. Mimi explains that “Who I am and / who I become / depend on / what I look at, / what I listen to, / what I touch and smell and taste” (107). Just as the Apollo 8 astronauts were changed when they watched Earth rise above the moon, seeing what they saw is changing her.