Monday's Not Coming

Ma was furious when Claudia finally came home after being trapped under Monday’s bed. Daddy was out looking for Claudia. Claudia reflected on the difference; she couldn’t go missing for two hours without her family and congregation looking for her, while no one seemed concerned that Monday had been missing for months. 

Claudia was disheveled, bleeding, and limping from the fall. She confronted her mother about the last time she saw Monday and the fact that Monday never had the flu. Ma knew Monday didn’t have the flu, but it happened right when Ma lost a baby. Ma finally agreed that something bad had happened to Monday.

Ma dressed Claudia’s wounds and iced her knee. Claudia used the key from her journal to unlock Monday’s, jealously noting that the journal was nearly filled. On the first page, Monday had vented about Claudia being unable to read or write, saying maybe she would be better off in “the stupid kids’ class” (343). Claudia threw the journal under her bed.

Consumed with her own routine, Claudia has given up searching for Monday. Monday’s disappearance still tugs at her like a missing limb, but she believes Monday has abandoned their friendship.

At the library one day, Michael sees Monday’s copy of Flowers in the Attic, still in Claudia’s bag. He’s astounded that Monday’s read it. The story is about an abusive grandmother who locks her grandchildren in her attic, starving, beating, torturing, and eventually murdering them. They use the librarian’s computer to look at Monday’s history of checked out books. All deal with child abuse. Monday checked out Flowers in the Attic five times.

Claudia remembers Monday believing that the government monitored people through the books they were reading. She then interprets Monday’s reading list as a cry for help. 

Claudia believes Monday is being held in the closet by Mrs. Charles, so she decides to find Tip and convince him to file a missing person’s report, so the police will be able to search the house. Michael hesitantly agrees to help her. His cousin drives them to the service station where Mr. Charles works. Claudia pretends to be Monday, finding out Tip doesn’t work until two hours later.

Michael buys Claudia dinner while they wait. They talk and flirt over crab cakes. Claudia confides, for the first time out loud, that she thinks Monday is in real trouble. 

When Michael asks about it, Claudia admits she’s struggling with her dance solo. He dares her to dance like a slow motion replay in front of everyone in the station. Conjuring Monday’s bravery, Claudia does it, to everyone’s applause. As they wait, Michael helps Claudia brainstorm about her solo. He tells her he wasn’t drunk at the party and is about to kiss her again when Tip arrives.

When his coworker tells him his daughter is waiting for him, Tip jumps back in his car and squeals away. Michael shouts after Tip, berating him for his cowardice as he flees. 

Michael uses his father’s emergency credit card to get them to the train station. The news on a station television asks for help identifying a young teenage girl’s body. She doesn’t match any of the missing person’s descriptions. The body was found near Baltimore.

Claudia jumps to a conclusion. She feels the body is Monday’s and that Mr. Charles fled because he thought they were the police. She thinks he killed his daughter. Michael acts supportive but says it’s time to call Claudia’s parents.