Chapter 5
Mom-asaurus
“Mother’s Day is Sunday,” Ms. Harvey said. “Write a story about your mother and later in art we’ll illustrate the stories.”
Cody got out a sheet of notebook paper. He looked at the paper and thought about his mother. What should he write?
My mother has brown hair.
My mother sells computers.
My mother likes to unpack boxes.
His mother, he realized, was boring.
A plain old mother.
He wished his mother was a spy, or an astronaut, or an American Gladiator ....
Why not?
He thought about the Gladiators on TV. . They all had names like Ice or Dragon or Tiger.
He needed a ferocious name—like a dinosaur.
He began to write.
When he read his story to the class, not one mouth was closed.
“Well,” Ms. Harvey said. “That was quite interesting.”
She didn’t say anything after the other kids finished reading their stories. No one, Cody was pleased to notice, had a mother as exciting as his.
“Time for art,” Ms. Harvey said.
The kids lined up.
“Where are we going?” asked Cody.
“To the art room,” said Chip.
They didn’t have an art room at Cody’s old school. They had an art cart.
Cody loved the art room. It was a sunny room with long tables. In the center of each table was a cluster of baby-food jars filled with paint. A brush waited at each place.
“Oh boy,” said Holly. “We get to paint.”
She turned to Cody. “Do you like art?”
“I love art,” he said. It was the first truthful thing that he had told about himself.
“Me too,” said Holly.
He sat by Chip. Holly sat across from him.
They painted with the brushes.
Holly painted her mother in a white dress. Her mother was a nurse.
Chip painted his mother wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt. She was holding plants. She liked to work in their vegetable garden.
Cody painted his mother in her Gladiator costume.
“I need brown,” Holly said. “For the patient’s bed.”
Cody showed her how to mix the red and blue and yellow paints together to make brown.
Music played while they painted. For one whole hour Cody forgot that he was a new kid.
“Can I come over after school?” Chip asked as they walked back to Ms. Harvey’s room.
Cody stopped.
He really wanted Chip to come over, but how could he say yes? He couldn’t let Chip meet his mother or Pal. And there were teddy bears marching around his room!
“My mom’s still unpacking,” he said. “I can’t have friends over.”
“You want to come to my house?”
Cody was filled with joy, like a balloon that had fresh air blown into it.
“Sure!” he said.
“We can stop by your house and ask your mom,” Chip said. “I want to see your mom, anyway. Does she have her costume at home?”
The balloon popped.
He shook his head.
“I shouldn’t play today. I have to unpack.”
When Cody came back into the room there was a white envelope on his desk. On the front of the envelope it said NEW KID.
Holly turned around. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t remember your name.”
“Cody.”
“It’s for my birthday party Saturday. Everyone in the class is invited.”
She smiled at him. At least he thought she smiled at him. He wasn’t sure. Maybe she didn’t smile at him. He looked down.
Cody took the envelope and put it in his pocket. He smiled. He had been invited to a party!
He waited until no one was watching and then he opened it. On the front of the invitation was a giant roller skate.
Come to a skating party! the invitation said.
Cody’s heart sank. He remembered his words from yesterday. I’ve won a lot of skating trophies. Dozens.
He wished that he had never started being Super Cody. Chip and Holly seemed to like him, but who did they like? Cody or Super Cody? How could he ever know for sure?
The bell rang for them to go home.
“Cody?” Ms. Harvey came up beside him. “I have something for you.”
She handed him a small rectangular box. “Flash cards,” she said.
“Oh.” Cody took the box. It was one more painful reminder of the things that he could not do.
“Work on them at home with your parents. I’m not going to count your math grades for a while.”
“Thanks.” Cody stood up and went to the table at the back of the room. He wanted to check his paper cup one last time before he left. The dirt was still smooth. No sign of life.
“Ms. Harvey?”
“Yes, Cody.”
“Do you think it’s going to be okay?” He was still looking at the paper cup. “My seed, I mean.”
“Yes,” Ms. Harvey replied gently. “It just takes time, Cody.”
“How much time do you think it will take?”
“Oh,” she said, smiling, “time enough.”
How much is enough? Cody wondered.
