24

THE TEST

Flip and I trained all that night and then the next day after school at the park. Halley had to do some last-minute paperwork stuff with her mom to get the final okay from the Read to Rufus people that we could set up the program at the library, but she was definitely going to be with Flip and me for the test the next day, which was Rosh Hashanah, so no school. The test was at ten thirty, the last appointment available until November. I couldn’t wait that long. The Read to Rufus people said the kids were psyched and ready to go, as soon as Flip passed the test.

I woke early that morning of Rosh Hashanah, of the test. I probably didn’t sleep the night before either. I wore the shirt Leo gave me to make him happy. I brushed Flip so he’d look sharp for the test. Aunt Jeanie got her lint roller out and picked up the like two hairs that fell on the carpet before she went to work. I took Flip for a good long walk and fed him some cheddar bits. It was nine forty-five, and there was no sign of Leo.

I went to the bedroom door and knocked, and then I knocked louder. Nothing. I went in. Flip hung back in the hallway. “Thanks pal,” I said.

Leo looked dead, except dead people don’t snore so loud you feel like Darth Maul’s jabbing your eardrums with a serraknife. I shook his foot, hard. “Leo? Leo!”

I sat on the edge of the bed. I guess I wasn’t surprised. Expecting to be let down didn’t make it hurt any less. Just when you think things are maybe going to be okay, why does everything have to get messed up?

I called Halley to tell her the bad news. She was pretty mad. She wanted me to take a pair of cymbals and smash them together right by Leo’s ear, except who ever has any cymbals lying around? “Okay, look, we’re not going to be defeated,” she said. “Just get on the train and get over there. I have an idea.”

• • •

Halley was waiting for us out front. So was Mercurious. He must have come from teaching a magic class, because he was still in his sparkly purple sweat suit. He wore a glittery Brooklyn Cyclones baseball cap. Halley wore no cap. Instead she wore a bright pink wig, a short one, with the hair spiked up. She looked totally freaking awesome. “Um, that shirt,” she said.

“I know,” I said.

“‘Caddy on’?”

“I have no idea either.”

“Never mind. Let’s do this.”

We went in. “Huddle up,” Halley said. The three humans held hands, and Flip stuck his paw in there too. “Coffin? You rock. Flip? You rule. Take no prisoners. I have no idea what that means. Whatever. Dad, any words for the boys?”

He mussed my hair. “Just remember this one thing,” he said.

“Okay?”

“You’re magic.”

The testing guy called out, “Ben Coffin?” His name tag said Mr. Thompkins. I said, “Thanks Mr. Thompkins,” and stuck out my hand to shake his.

“For what?” he said, and he didn’t shake my hand. “The examination shall commence in five seconds, four, three, two, one.”

We had to pass nine things. Here’s what they were.

1. GREET THE TESTER. Flip gave the guy his paw. Check.
2. STAY. I told him to, and then I walked away. He looked sort of totally suicidal and slumped to the floor, but he stayed. Bingo.
3. COME. Like he wouldn’t?
4. IGNORE THE STRANGER. Some really mad-looking guy came in yelling about how somebody stole his bicycle. Flip checked him out until I said, “Flip, I got it.” Flip kept his eyes on me. Halley mouthed “Nice!” and Mr. Lorentz clapped until Thompkins said, “No encouragement allowed. Thank you.” He did a double take on Mr. Lorentz’s sparkly purple clothes.
5. VISIT A SICK PERSON. Thompkins sat in a wheelchair. “Go say hi, Flip.” He went to the chair and leaned into the tester’s leg.
6. STARTLE. Thompkins tried the old drop-the-aluminum pan trick. Flip yawned.
7. LEAVE IT. Puh-lease.
8. MEETING ANOTHER DOG. A German shepherd came into the room. Flip trotted up to her, sniffed her butt and then rolled over at her feet into the upside-down flying squirrel pose.
9. APPROPRIATE AFFECTION. Here it was, the one place we could fail. Thompkins sat on the floor and called Flip over. Flip sat at Thompkins’s feet. “Flip, cuddle,” I said. He nestled into the grump’s lap. Just when I thought we were home free, Flip reached up to Thompkins’s face and stuck his tongue in the old man’s mouth. Thompkins made a yuck face. Halley and Mr. Lorentz looked like they were watching a ship sink.

Thompkins went to his desk and frowned while he wrote all over his stupid test sheet. He stamped it really hard and called me over. “I suppose the gentleman in the lavender exercise apparel is your sponsor?” he said.

“Yup.”

He waved over Mercurious. “Sign here, please.” Then he passed the paper to me and told me to sign it. This is what it looked like.

THIS LICENSE CONFERS TO HANDLER THE LEGAL RIGHT TO BRING THE THERAPY ANIMAL NAMED HERE INTO HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS AND ANY SUCH ESTABLISHMENTS WHERE THE ANIMAL’S GIFTS ARE NEEDED OR DESIRED.

HANDLER: BEN COFFIN

SPONSOR: MICHAEL LORENTZ

THERAPY ANIMAL: FLIP COFFIN

There was another page, a SPECIAL COMMENDATION. Thompkins wrote, Mr. Coffin exhibits true grace with Flip. Rarely have I seen such genuine trust between man and dog. I expect this exceptional dog and his equally exceptional handler will go on to mend many hearts. The world is about to become a lovelier place.

Halley put up her fist for a pound. I bumped her knuckles. “You so slay,” she said. When I bumped Mercurious’s knuckles, sparks shot up from his fist, but not like the Santa magician’s sparks, the ones that came out of the magic box. Those were blood-colored, and Halley’s dad’s were pink and blue and softer, quieter, like a whisper instead of a scream. Halley scooped up Flip and we went outside and then the craziest thing happened.

A pigeon’s shadow raced up the side of a building and met the pigeon on the ledge, and that’s when I cried, and so hard I thought my eyes might drip out of my head. I know, it was just some totally random thing that set me off, but it was really beautiful. Like even when the bird was darting about here and there so fast, all up in the air, her shadow was always with her, even though she couldn’t see it. But when she landed, there it was, touching her again. This would have been the best day of my life if my mom was here to see it. I didn’t say that to Halley and Mercurious, though, and I didn’t need to. They hugged me and patted my back and didn’t say “It’s okay,” and I really appreciated that.