And toast in rectangles. I poke at the egg and try to get the slimy parts away from the yellow, but it just sticks to my fork. “Don’t play with your food,” says Dad. He leans against the counter, cradling his coffee mug in his hands. “How was your evening?” I was asleep on Miss Stella’s couch whe...
Jack sat on the long seat where he could watch his grandfather and the road at the same time. This time, Grandpa stopped at the cemetery gates. He looked both ways before he pulled into traffic. At the bottom of the hill, he waited for the red light to change to green. Farther along, he hummed ha...
He throws a yellow tennis ball against the door. Good thing Mom’s at work. She’d be on my case about the noise in a flash. “I can see why you’d be freaked out, dude,” he says as the ball lands back in his hand. “What say we turn the tables on the guy?” “Turn the tables how?” “Give the guy a piece...
“I told you Mr. Littlejohn would lend them to us,” she told Safiyah. “He told me it’s called a collage when you put bits of paper together to make a picture. When you put a collage on a wall, it’s a mural.” Lucky Pendo, learning so many things at school, thought Safiyah. Between taking care of Cu...
Mom’s breathing. The road noise under the tires. A hiss of wind through a crack in the back window. I wanted to speak. But I did not know what to tell her. I willed Mom to talk to me. But I was afraid of what she would say. All she had said since we left the hospital was, “Buckle up.” When we pul...
It’s a split-level with pale yellow siding. The double garage has gray doors. There’s even a basketball hoop fixed to a tree next to the driveway. Jake presses a button on a remote, and the garage doors slide up. They must be soundproof. And smellproof. Before they are even open halfway, I hear c...
When Nan yelled, her voice warbled. Uncle Dannell’s voice was a low rumble. And Mother sounded like a cat with its tail caught in a door. Elsie couldn’t make sense of any of it. All she could hear were lots of words all jumbled together. Scoop broke into a trot. “Let’s check this out.” “Wait up.”...