It must have been said Mrs Tuttle The high for the day was ten degrees Aw you don't notice that when you're playing Mom Do you Timmy Tim grunted His fingers had been numb the whole scrimmage but it hadn't really mattered since he'd never gotten near the ball even though John Henry had thrown over and over to the boy he was meant to be covering Trying to make your kid brother look good the coach had said when he finally took Tim out Tim was in seventh grade at Burlington Middle School John Henry in sixth Me and Spider I mean Spider and I con nected for four TDs John Henry said Should have been five The last one hit him right in the bread basket and he dropped it didn't he Timmy Tim mumbled unintelligibly his mouth being full of roll You missed it Yeah I guess you were on your butt John Henry grinned at his mother Spider faked him out of his shorts Shorts on a day like this she said That seems spartan awfully
It's just an expression Mom It means he made Tim look like a dork The rolls were on the stale side but Tim had lubricated his with enough butter to get it down The field was icy he muttered And my glasses fogged up Luckily ice reminded Mrs Tuttle of a pipe that had burst that morning in the storage room of the Burlington Art Museum where she volunteered as a tour guide Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys got soaked she said How ignominious said Dr Tuttle They out fox the British army for the whole Revolutionary War only to be laid low by a burst pipe I imagine they'll survive Mrs Tuttle said They're in bronze Ah a sculpture I was thinking you meant the painting No such luck That's up in the main gallery Every time I have to call it a masterpiece of American historical painting the words stick in my throat
Is it as bad as one of Aunt Winnie's Views John Henry asked smirking Aunt Winnie's paintings are beautiful Tim cried It's not a fair comparison said Mrs Tuttle Winifred doesn't pretend to be a real painter But she is a real painter Tim said I'm very fond of her Views said Dr Tuttle For Christmas and his birthday Dr Tuttle always received one of his aunt's small oil paintings of the view of the Green Mountains from her house Winifred wasn't his real aunt only his aunt by mar riage Long ago during World War II she'd married his uncle but soon afterward his uncle had been shot down in the Pacific leaving her a widow Mrs Tuttle considered her paintings amateurish so Dr Tuttle always took them to hang in his lab at the university Don't you like the chop Trev Mrs Tuttle asked Very flavorful Dr Tuttle said preparing for a second assault But John Henry rescued him by slipping an enve lope from his back pocket and sliding it toward him
Tim felt the opposite of rescued as he watched his father set down his knife and fork and pull out John Henry's report card Uh oh Dr Tuttle said What is it dear said Mrs Tuttle Somebody we know got an A minus in arith metic He spoke gravely What do you suppose could have happened I missed a quiz the week you took us to Balti more for your conference John Henry cried It still counts as straight As doesn't it Of course it does lambie Mrs Tuttle said Your father's just pulling your leg Where's yours Tim You always say bringing reading material to the dinner table isn't polite Tim said Report cards are an exception dear I dropped it on the bus and somebody stepped on it I think it got smudged Well we'll do our best to decipher it To tell you the truth Mom I'm not sure where I left it I think you went straight up to your room when
