Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Why don’t you like him?”
“He always says I’m the teacher’s pet, but I can’t help it if Mr. Ingraham calls on me and I know the answers. You’re supposed to know them because you have to read stuff the night before. It’s all written down on the board.”
Toby was both a curious and logical child. It made perfect sense to him to be prepared for the next day’s lesson. “And lemme guess, when your teacher picks Brick, he never knows the answer.”
His eyes got big as he stared at me. “How did you know?”
I was going to say been there, but instead I said, “Lucky guess.”
“At recess, he’s always mad and tries to hit me in the head when we play dodgeball.”
“For starters, dodgeball shouldn’t be a thing anymore, but maybe Brick is having trouble learning or reading. Maybe he needs a tutor.”
“I don’t know, but he’s mad all the time.”
“Have you offered to help him study?”
“No,” he answered like I was insane. “Why would I do that?”
“Well, since you’re smart, and it sounds like he’s having trouble, you could see if he’d accept some help, and maybe you two could become friends.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Okay,” I said, smiling at him.
“I have a question,” he said after several minutes of us listening to the wind, which was something we did.
“You know you can always simply ask whatever it is,” I told him as JJ started dropping daisies off for me and I started weaving them into a chain.
“Missy Campbell said magic is evil.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think magic is evil?”
He shook his head.
“You won’t hurt my feelings, I promise.”
JJ sat down beside me in the grass, having carried many daisies with them in their shirt. They rained down on me as Toby seemed to ponder what to say.
“Tell me,” I prodded the seven-year-old before turning quickly to JJ. “Are you wanting a crown, or a lei like you had when you went to Hawai'i?”
“Crown, please.”
“Okay.” I smiled at them before returning my attention to Toby. “Sorry. I’m listening.”
“You’re magic, and you’re not bad. You help people.”
“Thank you, Toby. I try.”
It was so nice outside with the sun and the warm breeze, I could almost forget about anything at all troubling. When JJ leaned their head against my side, I gave them a gentle hug.
“Who’s Missy Campbell?” I asked Toby.
“She’s a new girl in my class. She just moved here with her family last month.”
“I see.”
“She goes to Bible study and her youth pastor is Tanner Murphy.”
“I’ve seen him driving the church van,” I threw out.
“Me too. I didn’t know who he was until Missy introduced him to me when he came to the youth center.”
“Gotcha. Was he nice?”
He shrugged.
“You don’t know if he was nice?”
“I mean, he was okay, but then yesterday at recess she told me what he told her about magic being bad, and I didn’t understand why she said that.”
“Are you worried she’s right about magic?”
“No. I’m worried we can’t be friends, and she has a drone.”
Ah, priorities. “Is the drone amazing?”
He nodded.
“And if she says magic is evil and you say it’s not, then you might get in a fight and then you can’t play with her or the drone.”
He was quiet then, which was his way. He was a very thoughtful child, had been since he was a toddler. He never ran around and screamed, never threw things, bit people, or jumped up and down on their bed. His penchant for self-reflection had spoiled Amanda, as she was certain JJ would be similar.
JJ was not.
Her youngest was a thunderstorm contained only by their present size.
There were benefits to both.
Toby sighed deeply. “This is dumb. I’ll just save up my allowance for a drone. Dad said I could get one as long as I don’t buzz the squirrel.”
“The squirrel?”
“He’s eating all the birdseed. But I can get him his own squirrel feeder now since…” And then he stopped talking.
“Since what?” I prodded him.
Toby glanced at JJ, then back at me. “I can’t tell you right now.”
But one look at JJ told me they were dozing. “Tell me super quiet.”
Toby moved in close and dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “There used to be cats that would come into our yard, so Dad didn’t want to build a squirrel house in case the squirrel got too busy eating and one of the cats got him.”
“Makes sense.”
“But the cats are gone now.”
“What cats are gone?”
“Ghost, who lived behind us, and Dragon, who lived on the other side. Mrs. James and Mr. Diaz have been looking for them, but they can’t find them. And Mom said they should have kept them in the house, like we keep Doug, who gets to watch the squirrels from the kitchen window, but I still feel bad that they can’t find them.”
“Yeah, me too.”