فصل 16

CHAPTER 16

What I’ve Got

I like Mr. Daniels, but he’s got a thing for reading. Always talking about books and how great they are. Personally, I’d rather have the flu.

The last thing Mr. Daniels said yesterday was that we were going to write stories today and that it would be our chance to show him what we’ve got.

The only thing I’ve got is a plan.

With a big piece of cloth and a safety pin, my writing arm hangs in a sling. How can he ask me to write like this? I’m feeling pretty proud, I must admit. All I have to do is remember not to move it. I wish it really did hurt it would be easier.

He sees me when I walk in and it isn’t long before he comes over to ask me what has happened. I have practiced the story all the way to school. About how I tripped over my cat on the stairs and fell.

You have a cat? he asks.

Yeah.

He nods. Then he glances down at my sling. Is it a new cat?

No, we’ve had that cat forever. A regular member of the family, I say, feeling like I’m starring in a commercial for something I’d never eat in a million years.

He has a weird look on his face when he asks, What’s its name?

Whose name?

Your cat.

I panic. Pork Chop pops out of my mouth.

He laughs. Pork Chop the cat, huh? I bet the dogs in the neighborhood like that.

I’m nervous and embarrassed. Wondering why I have to be so weird. Wondering why I now have to watch the mind movie in my head of a furry, meowing pork chop with a tail.

But when the rest of the class sits down to do their writing assignments, he says I can read a book. I stare at the letters and watch them dance and move on the bright white page. My eyes ache and my head hurts.

Mr. Daniels watches me, so I look down at the page and remember to turn it every once in a while. With my eyes closed, I watch bright movies of me flying—one of my favorite movies. In this one, I’m flying just above the water—my stomach almost touching it. Racing toward a castle filled with blue light.

I open my eyes a bit to watch the others write. I look at the page again. I even try to read some. I really do. But I can’t help wondering why Mr. Daniels keeps looking over at me.