Every day, Sam and Noah walk to the Y. Sam takes Noah to the pool and then she goes to the gym where Kevin sets up new routes. Eric never climbs very high. He’ll try just once to get it over with, and then he opens up his book. Halle is different. She tries hard and learns fast. Kevin says Halle is an athlete. Sam is quick, but Halle has longer arms. She is strong, and she doesn’t worry about anything.
“Have you ever been to Boulders?” Sam asks Halle, after class.
“No, what is it?”
“A real gym.” They are standing in front of the Y and Noah is pulling on Sam’s arm to leave.
“Can kids go there?” Halle asks.
“Yeah, but it’s too far.”
“Where is it?”
“Newburyport.”
Halle’s dad pulls up in a huge black station wagon. Sam has never seen a car so big and black. “Dad,” says Halle. “This is Sam.”
“Hi, Sam. I’m Jim.”
“I like your car,” says Sam.
He smiles. “It’s a hearse.” He says he is a sculptor, and he bought the hearse to transport his work.
Halle and Eric squeeze into the front seat with Jim, and Halle asks, “Dad, can you take us to Boulders on Saturday?”
“Probably,” says Jim. “Or Mom can.” With Sam’s dad, probably means no, but Jim makes it sound like yes.
“They can take me home on Friday and I can sleep over so we can go to Boulders,” Sam tells her mom that night.
“What about Noah?” Courtney says.
“He can come with me to their house, and you can pick him up from there.”
“Okay,” says Courtney.
“I can go?”
“Sure,” Courtney says. “Yes.” She is lying on the couch with her feet up, and she is wearing her red shirt from Staples.
“Can I have two quarters?” Noah asks. He is on the floor with his homework, drawing things that start with G.
“For what?”
“Gum.”
“You don’t need gum.”
Sam explains, “At the Y they have a gumball machine.” She kind of wishes she could get some.
“Please?” Noah says.
“No way,” says Courtney. “It’s a good word, though. Gumball starts with G.”
Halle lives in Beverly Farms and her house is old and full of books. There are even bookshelves in the bathroom. You can see where Eric gets it from. He has a giant bookcase in his room. Halle has a bookcase too. Her dad built it like a castle. She has her own room at the top of the house, and a secret staircase that leads up to it. The stairs are painted blue. All the rooms are different colors. The kitchen is bright yellow. The family room is green. Halle’s room is white with a blue sky and clouds up on the ceiling.
At dinnertime, Jim cooks dinner while Halle’s mom works late at the hospital. Jim’s food is weird and spicy, cauliflower curry, but Sam tries to get used to it.
“I hear you’re an amazing climber,” Jim says.
“I’m okay.”
“When did you start?” Jim looks old for a dad. He is bald and he wears squinty glasses like Noah’s grandpa.
Sam says, “When I was seven, I was going to join a team.”
“Why didn’t you?” Eric asks.
Sam thinks for a second, and then she says, “Transportation.”
On Saturday morning, Halle’s mom, Lucy, drives the girls to Boulders. Lucy pays and signs a waiver for Halle. Then Sam hands over a waiver that Courtney got Boulders to fax to Staples so she could sign it in advance.
“Okay!” Lucy says. “Go for it!” And she heads off to find some coffee. She looks like Halle, except her eyes are tired and her hair is gray.
The girls borrow climbing shoes and take a lesson with a climbing teacher. It’s the STAFF Sam saw that time with her dad, the one who said, My name is Toby. Now Sam is sure Toby is a girl, even though her hair is super short.
“Let’s get started!” Toby says. Luckily, she doesn’t remember Sam and ask about her father.
Sam and Halle take turns climbing with ropes while Toby belays them. Toby likes the way Halle does not give up. “Good effort!” she keeps telling her.
Halle picks her holds and tests them out. She is straightforward on the wall.
Sam can’t be straightforward because she’s not tall enough. Also, she can’t climb so slowly! She finds weird angles and cuts corners. She squinches her feet and crimps her fingers onto tiny handholds. When she sees a hold too high to reach, she lunges for it. More than once, she ends up dangling from the rope. She’s frustrated, but Toby thinks she has potential. Both girls should come on Saturdays for 12 and Unders, Bigger Boulders. Halle’s mom and dad can drive, if it’s okay with Courtney.
“What comes after Bigger Boulders?” Sam asks Halle when they get back to Halle’s house.
“Youth Competitions,” Halle says.
Whenever you win a competition you get points. The top points go to regionals and then nationals and worlds and then you’re famous. You’re a prodigy! You wear patches on your sleeves and companies will send you shoes and water bottles.