If you had two nickels, one dime, and one quarter, how much money would you have?
It didn’t even occur to Christopher the first time through. This was a math test after all. Not a reading test. But there were so many letters. And he realized he didn’t switch his letters back. Not once. He had read the sentence without even sounding it out. He thought there must be something wrong, so he read it again.
If you had two nickels, one dime, and one quarter, how much money would you have?
45. Or forty-five. There were so many e’s. Seven, to be exact. But that didn’t stop him. And nickels didn’t look like…
ncikels
They were nickels. And one quarter was one quarter, not…
Qautrer
His chest was pounding now. He looked up at the posters around the room. The ones that had given him trouble all month.
RAEIDNG IS FNUDAEMANTL
He didn’t even have to sound it out. He did it all in his brain.
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL
All the sound faded away.
DRAE TO KEEP KIDS FOF DRUGS
There was only the room and the sound of Christopher’s mind.
DARE TO KEEP KIDS OFF DRUGS
Christopher could read!
He put his head on his desk and tried to hide his excitement. He wasn’t stupid anymore. And his mom didn’t have to pretend anymore. She would never need to say, “Don’t worry. Keep trying. You’ll get it.” He finally got it. He would make his mother proud with his test.
Not Mom proud. Real proud.
Christopher was about to put his big green pencil on his desk and raise his hand for Ms. Lasko when he stopped. Christopher looked around and realized all the other kids were still taking their tests. Heads were down. And big green pencils were going swish swish swish like the doctor’s pen in the hospital. Most of the kids were still on problem number two, including Brady Collins.
That’s when Christopher finally looked up at the clock. The test had started at eight o’clock that morning. Christopher didn’t even need to do the math in his head. He just knew.
He had taken the test in forty-two seconds.
He was so proud that he didn’t even notice the beginning of a headache.
Chapter 15
By the end of the day, Christopher’s headache was pretty bad. But he was too excited to show his mother his new reading skills to care. He went to the library to pick out his practice books. Mrs. Henderson was there to help him as always. He chose Bad Cat Steals the Letter E, which she set aside for him special. She was about to give him another Snoopy when he stopped her.
“Mrs. Henderson, is there a harder book I can try?”
“Let me see what I can find,” she said with a smile.
Mrs. Henderson came back with Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Christopher couldn’t believe how thick it was. For a moment, he thought he should pick something a little less advanced. But when he opened the old book, all of the letters stood still long enough for him to read.
Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Not bad. Plus, the cover looked promising. Pirates and treasure? Win win.
“Do you want something easier?” Mrs. Henderson asked.
“No. This looks fun,” he said.
He thanked her and threw the books in his backpack. The clock finally hit three. And the bell rang. And the students filled the hallways like ants in an ant farm. Christopher grabbed his windbreaker from his locker. He said goodbye to Special Ed and the M&M’s.
And when he got outside, the sky was filled with clouds.
When his mother pulled up, he climbed in the car, excited to show her his first grown-up book. Until he saw that she had a sad face.
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
“Nothing, honey,” she said.
But Christopher knew better. She looked tired and worried. Just like the week before they ran away from Jerry. Something was wrong. But he knew his mother well enough to know that she would never tell him what it was. She didn’t want to worry him.
And that’s what always worried him.
He wanted to tell her about his reading all day, but it never seemed to be the right time. She barely talked on the drive home. She talked even less during dinner. And she was in a bad mood about the motel getting so messy and how she “couldn’t be the only one who cleaned up around here.” By the time the nightly news finished the lead story about the Middle East, she had apologized for being cranky and was already asleep in her twin bed.
So, Christopher let his mom sleep, and he picked up around the motel room. He was hoping if she woke up to a clean room, she wouldn’t be so worried that week. Then, they could have a great Friday night together. He had it all planned. Christopher would wait until Movie Friday to give her the special surprise. Not only would he show her his reading. But he would have his pop quiz back by then, too, and he could show her his perfect math score. She would be so proud that she would insist they go to Bad Cat 3D again. He might even get McDonald’s. Probably not. But maybe!
Christopher turned off all the lights and then slowly turned down the volume on the TV, so as not to wake her from “resting her eyes.” He went to the desk to read Treasure Island by the window light. He wanted to make it through a chapter by Friday for her. Maybe even two. The desk was messy with stacks of paper. At first, he just picked up the coffee cup, which left a ring on the top. But then, he looked a little closer and realized what they were.
They were bills.
Christopher had seen his mom do bills before. She hated them more than anything except maybe parking tickets. But whenever Christopher would ask what was wrong, she would always smile and say the same thing.
“Nothing, honey.”
Christopher picked up the first bill. It was from the phone company. In the past, he wouldn’t even have tried to read grown-up words like this. But now, he saw them.
Third Notice
Past Due
He turned the bills over. One at a time. Until the coffee mark went from a wet spot to a small circular dent. On every bill, he saw the late payments and the penalties and the past dues.
If you had two nickels, one dime, and one quarter, how much money would you have?
Not enough.
Christopher couldn’t add all the numbers together. They were way too big. But he knew she couldn’t afford to take him to Bad Cat 3D again no matter how well he did on a test. And she probably couldn’t have afforded it last week, either.
He suddenly felt very ashamed for all the things he wasted, like Froot Loops. And his hospital and doctors. He cost her too much. Just like his dad did. She put his father’s funeral on a credit card, so he could be buried with some dignity. And she never recovered. He overheard her talk about it to a nice neighbor back in Michigan over one too many beers. And later, when he asked her what was wrong, she smiled and said, “Nothing, honey.”
Just like she did today.
So, he promised himself that when she saw his perfect math test and wanted to take him to McDonald’s, he would say no. And if they went to a restaurant with Special Ed’s mom again, he would only buy things that were “market price” on the menu because if they only charged the same price they did at the supermarket, then that would be a good deal for his mom. But most of all, he would never go to a rich 3D movie again. He would get an old movie from the library. And he would read a book out loud to her, so she would know that all of her hard work paid off.