Ginny Moon

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

    If this story tells us nothing else, it screams “Pay attention!”  Pay attention to Ginny, pay attention to children like Ginny.  They may think differently than us, they may act differently than what we think is normal, but pay attention!  They have something to say.

   Ginny was removed from her mother’s non-care when she was nine years old. She was emaciated, abused and on her own.  She is also autistic, so while her reality may have seemed skewed to others, she did figure out how to survive her mother.

   After several false starts in foster care, she finally found her Forever Home with her Forever Father and her Forever Mother.  She has everything she needs now except the one thing she left behind in her mother’s home, stuffed in a suitcase under her bed.  And Ginny is determined beyond all reasoning to return and get her Baby Doll.  It’s now five years later and she still can’t get anyone to listen to her.

   In the past she’s set fires, run away, stolen and schemed in ways that made sense to her (planning her own kidnapping,) but she can’t make anyone believe she needs her Baby Doll and her Baby Doll needs her.

   There are many issues in Ginny’s life.  Her hoarding and gorging on food, a throwback to being starved by her mother. Her refusal to accept another doll to replace Baby Doll and not being able to make her new family understand she does indeed know how to take care of the new baby born to the family even though they just saw her abuse the doll they bought to replace Baby Doll.  There are always new rules to follow and break in her attempts to find her mother so she can find Baby Doll.

   Simply, ultimately, Ginny just wants to belong somewhere.  This is a beautiful story. Read it.