Grammy giggled and slapped Pop’s shoulder Let me up Quan He did And then he kissed her cheek Silly man Grammy said But I knew she loved it And she loved him It showed in her sparkly brown eyes And in the way she tickled his cheek with her boa So what’s for supper I asked turning the music off and heading toward the kitchen I smell chè b(cid:823)p Grammy still cooks a lot of Vietnamese foods and chè b(cid:823)p is sweet corn pudding Yummy I couldn’t resist dipping my finger into the bowl before Grammy swiped it away Uh uh uh Grammy’s voice rose higher with every uh What I asked licking the sticky pudding from my finger That’s for dessert Please use your manners Tally 8
Grammy shook her head No Tally We’re really proud of your first semester grades She paused But it is about snowboarding Okay now I was super nervous When I first mentioned snowboarding a few years ago I had to beg my grandparents to let me try it For one thing the drive to practice takes an hour For another they were afraid I’d get hurt But so far I hadn’t I’m not dropping the snowboarding team if that’s what this is about I crossed my arms Forget it Not happening No Pop said We’re not asking you to drop the team But we want you to develop more interests Grammy nodded Snowboarding is fun For now But it isn’t something you can do forever It is too I argued How many grandmas are snowboarders She had me there I’m sure there are some I can teach you Do you want to learn how to ollie Or maybe nail the rails 10
Neither Grammy leaned against the counter And I’m serious Tally Everyone needs life skills Nooooo Not life skills again Last month Grammy signed me up for a candlemaking class Before that it was a coupon clipping workshop Why I don’t have enough cash to even worry about saving money yet Besides most coupons are for products for cats or bladder problems So far I didn’t have either of those Life skills are for people who can’t snowboard I finally said Snowboarders need life skills too Pop said That’s why we talked to Mr Byrd Whoa The band director at my school Why Of course the one at your school silly You’re all signed up for band Now Grammy tried to tickle my cheek with her boa But I hopped off the stool dodging it Congratulations Tally You’re playing French horn and your first practice is tomorrow Pop said 11
