Chapter 1 After soccer practice Jasper John Dooley’s dad gave him change to buy a drink You must be really thirsty after all that running away from the ball he said It’s because of my striped socks Jasper told him I’m just going to ask Coach Ben a quick question You go ahead Jasper took the change and skipped away Dad waited in the parking lot beside Coach Ben’s car Dad’s question was going to be quick for sure It only had three letters W-H-Y During practice Dad had stood on the sidelines shaking his head and asking the other parents the same thing Why Why does Jasper always run away from the ball he meant Why do bees have stripes Jasper wondered but as soon as he reached the vending machines he stopped thinking about bees Two machines stood in front of the community center one for candy and chips the other for drinks Jasper spent a few minutes looking in the candy and chip machine He liked how the things were arranged inside with the chips in the top three rows and the
chocolate bars in the middle two rows In the bottom row were the not-chip and not-chocolate bar things the things that didn’t fit like cookies and gummies Jasper leaned right into the machine so that his breath clouded over the glass If only he had more money He looked at the change Dad had given him but didn’t count it because that would be math Anyway he could tell there wasn’t enough for a drink and chips or a drink and a chocolate bar or a drink and gummies He checked the coin returns He got down on his hands and his knees and looked under the machines Nobody had accidentally left change behind or dropped it so he could buy a drink and something else Then he remembered Dad was only asking a quick question and moved over to the drink machine There were two kinds of drinks good and bad The good drinks had happy face stickers on their labels The bad ones didn’t They were full of things that were bad for you like sugar Jasper was only allowed bad things full of sugar as a special treat and only after he had eaten good things Like celery He might be allowed a bad drink if he ate some celery first But he hadn’t eaten celery for a long long time He hated it So he had to choose a good drink apple juice or water Water Who would buy water The water in the drinking fountain was free Jasper got an idea He’d go into the community center and drink
