Hi it’s me Robby. Well we are listening to Mrs. Poindexter from the library read us a story except she isn’t just reading it she is acting it out with puppets. It’s really cool. She has this one puppet that is supposed to be Greg Heffley like in Diary of a Wimpy Kid and it looks just like him with his hair sticking up and everything.
Mrs. Poindexter is reading from Tuesday in the book when Greg starts middle school and she is making the puppets act it out and it is really funny. And then we have to stop every now and then and talk about bullying and stuff because that is what Greg is talking about in the book. I raised my hand a minute ago and talked about big stupid Ernie on the school bus.
I can’t believe it but Mr. Paul was right because it was nice to talk about it and tell people about Ernie and it did make me stop feeling lonely about it. And Mrs. Poindexter and everyone really listened to me and they gave me good ideas about what to do.
I will ask Mrs. Cortes to tell the bus driver to save me a seat behind him so I don’t have to go to the back of the bus where Ernie is. I will tell Mr. Paul he had a wonderful idea because he always tells me when I have wonderful ideas. I have them a lot. Mr. Paul only has them sometimes.
Now Mrs. Poindexter is finished and telling all of us goodbye. I like her because she is really nice and funny but she is even older than Ms. McIntosh. There are a lot of old people around here but I guess that’s okay because they are nice.
She is opening the door to leave and there is Ms. McIntosh! Mrs. Poindexter hugs Ms. McIntosh so I guess they know each other because you are NOT supposed to hug people you do not know. Mrs. Cortes says that is Stranger Danger and you are not ever ever ever supposed to let strangers hug you or touch you in Private Places. I learned all about it in a class she took me to.
One time a man I did not know put his arm around me at church and I said, “STOP! DO NOT TOUCH ME! THAT IS STRANGER DANGER!” And it really worked because the man jumped very far away from me and then Grandpa came really fast and he said, “It’s okay, Robby. This is just Dennis Lane, Mr. Darryl’s son. He came back to town to run the store for a while. But you did a good thing, yelling like that. You did exactly what you were taught to do in that class. Good job, Robby.”
And I felt very proud because Grandpa said I did a good job. Then Mr. Darryl and Mr. Dennis and some other people came to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for lunch and then he wasn’t a stranger anymore. But he did not try to put his arm around me again. I don’t know why not.
Ms. McIntosh is coming in now and I hope she sees me! I wonder if she got the picture I drew for her. I hope she did because I know it will make her happy because she will have a family.
“Robby!” she says, and I like the way she says my name because it sounds glad to see me. “Thank you so much for the beautiful picture!”
I say, “You’re welcome,” because that is Good Manners. Grandma taught me to have Good Manners.
Ms. McIntosh comes over and sits beside me and she smells like flowers. I wonder how she always smells good. Sometimes I smell good but only for a little while. It doesn’t last like her good smell does. She pulls the picture out of her back pocket and puts it between us on the table. “Do you have time to tell me about it?”
I do have time because Mr. Paul hasn’t told us to do anything yet. He and Ms. Janice are talking. We like it when they talk because then we can talk too. Right now Stacey and Joseph are talking and Marcus is listening to them. Anthony is not talking. He is just rocking back and forth and I hope he isn’t Over Stimulated. Everyone is leaving him alone because sometimes if everyone leaves him alone he gets okay.
I nod at Ms. McIntosh so she knows I do have time to talk and then I point at the moon. “That is the big moon we looked at with the scope. I put the holes in it like it really does have.”
“I know, and I love it.” Ms. McIntosh is happy about that. “You drew it exactly like the real moon.” She points at the bottom. “And is this me? Because it sure does look like me.”
“Uh-huh. I put your ponytail in it.”
“And my jacket. You did such a good job of making it look like me. And here, you drew someone and put Mom. Did you mean for that to be my mom?”
“Uh-huh but not your real mom. Your stepmom. You know, like Stacey has.” Stacey has a real mom and a stepmom. Stacey lives with her real mom and Stacey’s stepmom lives with Stacey’s dad.
I don’t think Ms. McIntosh knows she has a stepmom because she frowns but it isn’t a mad frown. It’s the frown I have sometimes when I am trying to read something that is too hard. For a minute she just looks at the picture and doesn’t say anything.
Then she says, “It looks like Mrs. Huffman. It’s her dress, and her apron. Even her shoes, and I like the way you drew the laces. Is it Mrs. Huffman? Or did you just imagine I had a stepmom that looks like her?”
I am glad she can tell who it is because those laces took a really long time to draw. I am quite talented at drawing. That’s what Mrs. Pruitt says at school. She is the art teacher and she says, “Robby, you are quite talented at drawing.” So I know I am.
I nod again at Ms. McIntosh. “It’s Mrs. Huffman,” I tell her.
“Hmmm,” she says. She likes to say that word but I still don’t know what she means when she says it. She is biting on her lips. My mom tells me not to do that because it will make your lips chapped. I guess Ms. McIntosh doesn’t know that.
“But Robby,” she says, and her voice is slow and quiet, “what makes you think Mrs. Huffman is my stepmom?” She turns her head sort of sideways and looks at me.
And now here comes the big secret and I can tell for sure she doesn’t know about it and I can’t wait to tell her because I know it will make her so happy.
So I tell her, “Because Mr. Huffman is your dad.”