your brother He seems extra hungry lately The food is from the help yourself table where kids put school lunch items they aren't going to eat He's crammed an awful lot in there Two weeks ago was the first time he brought home food I remember his proud smile as he unzipped his backpack to reveal seven cartons of milk What in the world I said He grinned and bounced on his toes For our cereal In case Mom you know forgets Clever I said but from now on don't take so many at once His face fell Save some for other kids I didn't think about that That's what I'm here for I ruffled his hair We make a good team And the grin bounced back Since then we've both been taking food Never much never when people are looking I guess we haven't been as sneaky as I thought since Bertie noticed I find myself squeezing the horse bathroom pass Gotta relax my grip before I break his other leg Are you both getting enough to eat at home 4
Bertie asks it like an ordinary everyday question Her eyes keep their kindness but her mouth squinches up in a way that makes me wonder what she's not saying I sense a booby trap I think of my backpack hanging on its hook in the classroom Inside are three whole wheat rolls and a chocolate milk I scored as a surprise for Ian Well sometimes Ian starts but I cut him off Of course I'm too loud Too quick I mean yeah it's just that Right now our mom Ian says my eyes Right now Ian is going through a growth spurt I shoot a message into his brain with And he gets hungry on the walk home from school Don't you Um yeah he says and clutches his stomach I'm starving I see says Bertie looking from one of us to the other I slide over to his backpack thrust a bran muffin into his hands and zip it up You've got plenty to eat now The bell rings and we leave her office but I see from the pinch of her fuchsia lips that the booby trap is still wound tight 5
CHAPTER 2 Do you see him yet Ian calls up to Char who's Imade it all the way to the slender branches Ian is munching on his second bran muffin and waiting for me to move up so he can climb too Not yet Char calls down Come up Joy I have a perfect view We'll see his truck as soon as it rounds the corner It's our weekend with Dad and he likes to pick us up at the park five blocks from school That way he doesn't have to wait in the car line I'm crouched in the first Y of branches just two feet off the ground wondering how many crawly things are lurking in the grooves of bark As I reach for a sturdy limb my shirt rides up and a cool breeze hits my belly All my shirts are getting too short and they bunch up in the armpits I need new clothes but haven't found the right time to ask Mom Everything's been dicey since Dad left 6
I test the limb and half the tree sways I don't think it'll hold my weight Sure it will Char demonstrates by bouncing on a branch no thicker than a glue-stick Just because it holds you doesn't mean it'll hold me I see a red truck Char shouts I hop down and race Ian to the corner Ha Beat you he says I don't say I let him win just shade my eyes Is it him Is it him Ian says The more excited we are to see him the more pleased Dad will be He left two months ago but he and Mom still can't agree on the terms of the divorce go back and forth between home and Dad's new apartment But the schedule keeps changing We A red truck swerves into view but it's not Dad's Ian slumps into a whole-body pout He's late again Not so late There's probably traffic I keep my voice light but inside my gears are shifting Could we have the day wrong Or maybe he was going to pick us up after dinner not after school Hey Ian what else did Bertie ask Before I got there He shrugs Don't remember 7
