What Friends Are For - Softcover

Zaidman, Harriet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 177203553X ISBN 13: 9781772035537

Publisher: Heritage House, 2025

Synopsis

Set in 1983, at the height of Canada's abortion debate, this powerful, nuanced YA novel follows fifteen-year-old Leesa as she grapples with an unplanned pregnancy.

At fifteen, Leesa is preoccupied with friends, crushes, and schoolwork and looking forward to the freedom of earning her own money and learning to drive. Although she doesn’t think much about politics, she has marched alongside her mother and friend Jenny, protesting the planned opening of an abortion clinic in her city. In her traditional, close-knit community, abortion feels like a black-and-white issue, with little connection to her real life. But after she is raped at a party, Leesa’s life suddenly merges with the headlines of the day. Now she is the one dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, and everything she ever believed is turned upside down. As she struggles to make a decision that could determine her whole future, Leesa comes to realize that she is only one who should have the right to make a choice about her own body. But will opening up to her family and friends mean losing them forever?

About this title

About the Author

Harriet Zaidman is an award-winning writer who applies extensive research to find the voice and detail necessary to animate her novels. She has always been interested in how important historical events impacted people and how we can learn from these experiences. Her middle-grade novel City on Strike was set during the turbulent times of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Second Chances, written for young adults and recipient of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, tells the story of young people stricken during the polio epidemics of the 1950s. A former teacher-librarian, Harriet lives in Winnipeg and is the children's book columnist for Winnipeg Free Press.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: Sunday, March 20, 1983

“He took it all back!” Kim wailed. “My dad took it all away!” She crumbled onto the couch, her pouty frown contrasting with the bright turquoise kimono she’d just been given for her birthday. “All the beer and wine left over from the party he organized for his curling club. I was watching it so I could sneak some away for tonight, but he took it back to the liquor store yesterday—all of it,” she complained again. “And now he and my mom aren’t going out this evening, either. They told me they were going over to their friends’ house. That’s why I planned the sleepover for tonight.” She tugged the kimono over her knees. “What a drag! They’ve wrecked my birthday. It was supposed to be perfect. Ugh!” She pulled a grumpy face.

The other six girls were draped on the chairs and carpet in the rec room, all kitted out in their best nightgowns, pyjamas, or housecoats, a few of them wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags. Pillows were strewn about. They mulled over the trick they were sure Kim’s parents had pulled on her.

“I should have brought some of my dad’s vodka,” Meredith said, crossing one leg over the other and pulling her ankles closer. “I heard that if you replace what you took with water, you can’t tell the difference.” She combed a brush through Sandra’s thick brown hair. “Great hair,” she said admiringly.

“Well, he’d know the difference the next time he poured a drink, wouldn’t he?” Mindy questioned, lying on her back on the opposite couch. She flipped over on her side and propped her head up with her hand. Her sport socks were pulled over the bottoms of her red-and-white flannel snowflake pyjamas. “Like, who do you think you’d be fooling?”

“Yeah, but would he know who took it?” Meredith smirked. “My sister and I never rat on each other.”

“Don’t worry about it, Kim,” Leesa said from the floor. She was wrapped in her quilt, with one arm conveniently freed up to reach into the bowl beside her. “We have Cheezies, so life is good.” Using her orange-stained fingers, she angled a long, orange cornmeal snack into her mouth, then reached for another.

“And cake!” Sandra laughed. “Jeanne’s Bakery—my favourite.” The round cake rested on a TV tray. Happy 16th, Kim had been etched in pale pink icing.  

[. . .]

Kim gushed as her friends serenaded her with a round of “Happy Birthday.” “I’ve already had two driving lessons, guys. I’ll be picking you all up to go to A&W soon!”

They cut the cake and topped it with caramel-and-pecan ice cream from the freezer, and guzzled more soft drinks. “This is fantastic,” Leesa cooed. “I promised my mom I wouldn’t drink until I was eighteen, but she meant alcohol. She never said anything about not eating junk food and soft drinks. I love them so much.”

“I feel sick.” Mindy burped. “But I want more.”

“Gross!” Leesa yelled at her.

They heard a thump from the floor above them. Kim looked upward. “Mama and Papa Bear are telling us something, guys.”

“It is the middle of the night, after all,” Willow said. The clock on the table read 1:45 AM.

Muttering a few oaths at their respective parents (“So strict, I can’t even stay out after ten,” “My mother won’t let me wear makeup to school, so I just put it on when I get there and wash it off before I go home.”), they brushed their teeth, found spaces on the carpet and in the corners and laid out their sleeping gear. Kim turned out the light, but conversations continued about who was dating whom and what turning sixteen meant for them. Leesa continued to deny she and Kevin were going out, but her protests were greeted with quiet snickers.

“Seriously, nothing has happened between us. Nothing! I’ll tell you if it does. Promise,” she said. Sandra reported that Angela’s party had been tame, that Kevin took part in a wrestling match on the basement carpet with another boy, that he’d been jovial and had a good time, but, no, sorry, she didn’t hear him ask why Leesa wasn’t there.

“Hey, guys, listen up,” Willow said. “My mom is organizing a summer baseball league at the community centre. How about we all sign up? Summer is boring. What do you say?”

Meredith’s voice came from out of the dark. “Sounds like fun, but I have news about the summer. I have a job as a lifeguard at a camp.” Her announcement was met with a “Cool!” and questions about the details.

“Here’s what’s interesting,” she said. “My parents are happy about it, but you know who was the most enthusiastic? My grandmother! Out of curiosity, I asked her what kind of summer jobs she had when she was my age. None, she said. She quit school at sixteen and got work in a factory, then she got engaged to be married when she was seventeen.”

“Yeesh,” someone said.

“Can you imagine, they got married and she became a mom right after her eighteenth birthday. She didn’t even finish Grade 10. Sometimes I think about how weird that would be, to have a baby, especially so young,” Meredith said.

“Those were the days,” Willow put in. “Just because you had a little fun—like one time—your life was over.”

“Do you think that’s what happened?” Meredith mused, then began to laugh. “Hey, I never thought about it, but my grandparents’ anniversary is in May, and my mother’s birthday is in October. So my grandmother was pregnant when she got married. Jeez!” she said. “I guess it’s lucky they like each other, or at least they seem to. But yeah, her life was over.”

“Or maybe,” Jenny said quietly from a dark corner, “her life began. I mean, isn’t it our role to have children?”

Willow sputtered. “You believe women are just baby machines? Should children be having children? If you got pregnant, would that be okay with you? I mean, seriously?”

“Well, we’re not supposed to have sex until we know we have the right person, aren’t we? But if we make that mistake . . . ”

“What if the guy’s a bozo? Then you have to live with him for the rest of your life?” It was Mindy. “Sorry, Meredith, your grandpa’s not a bozo,” she put in. “But look at me. I mean, I like Andy a lot, I do. He’s a lot of fun, but am I in love with him? I don’t know! I want to enjoy life before I have kids.”

“So . . . ” Jenny said.

“Just because we don’t want to marry the guy doesn’t mean you can’t be with them, if you want. Whose business is it?” Willow said. “Come on, Jenny. We’re supposed to be equal, but women always end up with the short straw. Look who takes care of the kids and look at what jobs we get. Women are always poorer.”

“Tell me about it,” Mindy said. “My mother’s an office manager. She’s a whiz at math and works her butt off. But her salary is terrible and she never gets a raise. She’d like to go back to school, except she can’t afford to quit. My parents had to get married because my mother was pregnant with me, but they were never happy, and my dad left. He doesn’t send the child support cheques he’s supposed to, either. We’re broke, all the time.”

“Is that why you got a job?” Leesa asked. The cover of dark made it easier to ask a personal question. Mindy had already begun working at the neighbourhood convenience store.

“Yeah, but my mom doesn’t want me to work more than two shifts a week. She wants me to concentrate on school, go to university, and get a job that pays decently. I’m giving her most of my cheque, but I think she’s saving it for me, for my tuition,” Mindy said.

“Big Mama’s looking out for you,” Kim said.

“She is,” Mindy agreed. “Really, she is. Big Mama’s a good Mama.”

Leesa blinked. “When do you work?” she asked cautiously. “How do you get home?”

“My mom sends my brother to hang out in the store when I work an evening shift,” she said. “She was spooked when that girl was murdered, so she said if I want to work at night, he’s my shadow. Did you read about the trial? That guy kept insisting he was innocent, but they found him guilty. I don't know what to believe. So even though my brother is annoying, I don't mind having him around.”

“That’s smart,” Meredith said. “My parents were creeped out when that happened, too. I still am!”

A general murmuring followed about how the young girl’s death shook their sense of safety. Leesa let out a breath.

“My present and my future—all determined because my mother got pregnant by accident,” Mindy said. “One generation affected by the other.”

“Isn’t it better to be alive, though?” Jenny interjected. “That Dr. Morgentaler wants women to have abortions if they don’t want to be pregnant, which means you wouldn’t be here. Would you rather not be here? That’s ridiculous!”

In the dark, someone yawned.

Mindy ruffled her sleeping bag. “How would I know the difference? My mom says they were always squeezed for money—so they probably didn’t have a chance from the beginning. I listened to all their fights about money, money, money. So shouldn’t she have been able to decide if she should have a baby—any baby?”

“Mindy, I can’t believe you think that way, really!” Jenny was almost breathless.

“I do,” Kim piped in. “It’s her body. And look at us. I mean, I’m sixteen. What if a guy pushed me—or I pushed him too far one day? And then it registers that he’s just become a habit, that I don’t really love him at all.”

“So don’t go too far with him.” It was Meredith’s voice, tinged with sarcasm.

Someone clucked their tongue.

“Kidding!” Meredith chimed. “It’s what some people say!”

“You never know what can happen,” Willow said. “Why should a girl have to miss out on school, a career, a life she wants for herself, just because of one moment? The boy can go off and do whatever he wants with his life, can’t he?”

“But there’s a baby, a life. It’s not our right to take life away,” Leesa said. “You could give the baby up for adoption. What’s wrong with that?”

“Maybe, but that’s not always the greatest idea.” Sandra volunteered. She spoke in an even, quiet tone. “My mom and her brother were adopted.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jenny interjected.

“Yeah, well,” Sandra said. “She said my grandparents—the ones who adopted them—were always nice and she loves them—and I love them, but she always wondered who her real parents were, or if she had other sisters and brothers. She wants to know where she came from.”

Leesa was insistent. “She was loved. She had parents. Isn’t that the most important thing?”

“You know, my uncle doesn’t care at all—he says Grandma and Grandpa were the ones that raised him, so that’s enough for him. But Mom said she always felt different, since she didn’t look like either of her parents or her brother. She got ribbed about it from kids at school and even from her cousins, which really hurt her. She said she would never have given up a baby, that it would have tormented her to know what happened to it.”

“Can’t she find her parents?”

“Nope, and they can’t find her. She asked for the records, but it’s against the law,” Sandra said. “So think about it—I look like my mom, but who does she look like? I have other grandparents out there somewhere. I wonder about them, too.” 

“Okay,” Leesa said. “But adoption is still better than abortion. A baby has a chance for life and love. Like, you might give birth to the next Einstein. How can you defend abortion when you think of it that way?” She turned over. “Anyway, that doctor is supposed to help, not harm.”

“It’s murder,” Jenny said firmly. “Dr. Morgentaler murders helpless babies. I can’t believe they let him call himself a doctor.”

Kim punched her pillow. “News flash, people. Abortions have always been illegal, but women have always had abortions. Dr. Morgentaler admitted he had done lots of abortions for women, and so do a lot of doctors, just secretly. He decided to go public because he felt like a hypocrite. At least he’s being honest. He wants the law changed.”

“I thought it was legal now. Isn’t that what they say on the news?” Sandra asked.

  “It’s sort of legal,” Kim replied. “I hear you have to convince four doctors your life is in danger, so girls pretend they’ll commit suicide. I think trying to convince four doctors would make me want to commit suicide. It’s ridiculous.” She flipped her pillow again.

“It’s murder, whether you admit it or not,” Jenny said again, her voice firm amid the darkness. “It’s against God’s law and should be banned, any way it can.”

“Well, anyone who wants an abortion will find someone to do it, Jenny, never mind God’s rules, and even if it’s against the law,” Meredith said. “My mother says there are people who will give you one. She calls them backroom butchers—guys with knitting needles or coat hangers. They’re not doctors. And women die because those guys don’t know what they’re doing.”

“That sounds awful,” Kim said.

  Meredith went on. “I can’t imagine it. I don’t know what kind of God thinks that’s okay. You and Leesa parading with your mothers outside that clinic isn’t going to stop women from having abortions, either.”

Leesa gasped. “Hey!” She felt shocked at the views her friends were expressing, shocked at what it all meant.

“This conversation is far too heavy for a sleepover,” Sandra said. “Come on, guys. Let’s put it to bed.”

“Yeah, or I’m going to need a good stiff drink,” Willow added. “Except you don’t have one.”

“Shut up, ladies,” Kim said. “You’re giving me a headache—no, a hangover. Go to sleep.”

Pillows, blankets, and sleeping backs were shuffled and rearranged for a few moments. After that, silence descended, punctuated only by a few yawns and finally, rhythmic breathing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Heritage House
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 177203553X
• ISBN 13: 9781772035537
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224