Today we are interviewing Barney, the younger sister of David Albacore, and Malik Kaplan\’s not-quite girlfriend in Being God the sequel to the award-winning Pull.
- Who are you and what is your story?
Barnetta Murhaselt. Barney to the people who care about me. The girl who is six-feet tall with two left hands, so no basketball team for me.
I was born. I was happy until my parents started fighting. I was miserable when they divorced, but at least Mom could get on with her life. Until the night he came back and killed her. I tried to kill myself after, but the doctors convinced me that was wrong. Now I live with my younger sister and my aunt. I try to do my best in school. Maybe even find a future.
Name five items in your purse, briefcase, or pockets.
Papers, pens, my cell phone – I can’t give that up. Oh, and pepper spray. I’ve been told we moved into a dangerous neighborhood so I should never to leave home without it. But no matter how dangerous things are, it’s not as bad as what my home turned into.
If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you rather be stranded with, a man or a woman?
A good book
I did hear that you liked school and were a model student. But that wasn’t one of the choices.
But I don’t like your choices. Fine, then could I be stranded with my brother and sister? No? Then let me just be alone. I don’t think I trust people anymore. Especially not guys.
Do you have a hero?
My brother, he’s like the best brother anyone could ever have. Of course, he is bossy, and always thinks he knows how I should live my life. Like, he wants me to stay away from Malik. I know Malik causes trouble, but I swear, sometimes I think I see something more in him. I know he could be more, if he would stop drinking.
God, does that make me sound like my mother? She kept hoping my father would change.
What do you think about Malik Kaplan?
He’s like the most confusing person ever. Like someone took the pieces of two puzzles and tried to force them together, there’s so much that doesn’t fit. The stories about him grow more impossible every day. They say he robbed a bank, tried to kill his enemies in their sleep, and even planned to blow up the school. I know what he’s like. After all, we dated for two weeks before he stole my diary and tried to blackmail me. But I can’t believe any of that stuff.
Malik blackmailed you?
He tried to, in Pull. Just when I thought he liked me. Malik hated my brother, but he didn’t know I was David’s sister, no one did. So when he acted nice at first, I thought he really liked me. I mean, why else would he pay any attention to me at all?
Was there a major turning point in your life?
I think my life will always have two parts. Before Dad lost his job, and after. Before he began drinking, before the divorce, before he came killed Mom.
I’m sorry. I guess you don’t have much to do with him now.
Guess again. I live with my aunt, my father’s older sister, and I have to go with her when she visits him in prison. She says I should forgive, but then, it wasn’t her mother he killed. I just wish I were strong enough to tell my father what I really think of him.
Do you believe in forgiveness?
I used to. Back when I was little. But I’m grown up now. I\’m fifteen. Okay, in two months. But I feel older. So much has happened in my life.
Does that mean there\’s no chance you would ever forgive Malik?
He has never, ever asked me to forgive him.he doesn\’t care about me. Not one bit.
For more about Being God check out the review at http://www.thepiratetree.com/2013/02/14/being-god-by-b-a-binns/
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