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.
With this thought, Christopher tiptoed to his sleeping bag. He got out one of his old tube socks. He reached in and pulled it out.
His pants money.
Then, he tiptoed around his mom and put it at the bottom of her purse. Jenny Hertzog could say “Floods!” to him for the rest of his life for all he cared.
Chapter 16
Floods! Floods!” Jenny Hertzog called out in the hallway.
But this time, it didn’t bother Christopher. He just felt sad for Jenny like he would for his mom. That didn’t make sense. But that was how he felt. He just thought Jenny was someone who had a lot worse things than “Floods” said to her. Or maybe her dad had a lot of bills at home and was cranky all the time. Whatever it was, he was glad he gave his mom the money. And he couldn’t wait for Ms. Lasko to give them their tests back today, so he could show his mom his first perfect.
When math period began, Ms. Lasko passed back all of the tests. Christopher looked around the room. He saw Kevin Dorwart got a 7 out of 7. Brady Collins got a 6 out of 7. Special Ed got a 2 out of 7. Matt and Mike got 5 each. But Christopher’s test didn’t come back. He didn’t know why. When the bell rang, and all the kids left for recess, Ms. Lasko kept Christopher after class.
“Christopher,” she said gravely. “I know you were gone for two weeks, and that you didn’t want to get behind. So, did you…did you look at anyone’s answers when you took the math quiz?”
Christopher swallowed. He shook his head no.
“I won’t be mad. But I don’t want you to cheat yourself out of learning how to do this for yourself. So, one more time, did you look at anyone’s answers for the pop quiz? Maybe Kevin Dorwart’s paper?” she asked.
“No, Ms. Lasko.”
Ms. Lasko studied his eyes closely. Christopher felt like a frog on a dissection