4 Unlike me who usually waits lets others pick first gets stuck with the leftovers no one else wants I don't like fights I can't win I know better than to argue with Lila to choose Monopoly when she wants to play Concentration That's why when we're done singing Mrs. Cummings is surprised to find me still in her house I didn't hear your voice Trudie she says Only Lila's
5 Spelling Bee News Daddy comes home from his print shop at six the time I'm supposed to leave Lila's and be home for dinner I run through the raindrops across her yard and mine up the steps to our porch to find Daddy already there waiting to hug me How was school he wants to know like he always does and I tell him Fine like I always do even though it's rarely true Except today I have extra news for Daddy My spelling test 100 percent four weeks in a row It means Mrs. Bryan chose me to represent our fourth grade class in the schoolwide bee coming this Friday My daughter Daddy grins The American
6 Daddy says kids in Germany where he grew up didn't have contests to learn how to spell It's for English he tells me because so many words don't follow rules Daddy knows firsthand there's a lot to memorize And he's helping me learn every night with his red dictionary the one he used to teach himself how to read and write for a new life in America
7 Hamburger When I walk into the kitchen I can smell that Momma's broiling hamburgers the way our family likes with onion soup mix inside It's one of our favorite meals All for different reasons Momma likes how my baby brother puts the soft chopped meat into his mouth not all over his high chair tray or on his head Daddy says he loves hamburgers because he ate them for the first time at a barbecue before he was married when he was learning to love American things including my mother
