Take a look at this,” Mrs. Ling said, and showed us a picture of an old garbage can.
“And now this,” she said.
“And this,” she said. “And this.
I guess I’d been going to Cathedral long enough now, because I actually understood what Mrs. Ling was talking about. I liked the idea of giving something a whole new life. Kind of what I was trying to do with me these days.
As usual, I was sitting in the back with Matty. He was already sketching ideas like crazy, but then he scribbled something on the corner of his page, tore it off, and passed it over to me.
After class, he told me there were a bunch of places he knew where people threw away good junk all the time.
“And we can just take it?” I said. “Are you sure?”
“Relax. We’re looking for garbage, not robbing a bank,” he said. “You worry too much, you know that?”
I thought that was kind of funny, since most people think I don’t worry enough.
Still, he let me use his phone to call Mom. I told her I was going to be working on an art assignment after school, and she was all over it. She just asked if I wanted her to come pick me up later.
“I’ll take the bus,” I said.
Technically, there weren’t any lies in there. I just left out the part about where I was going to be, partly because I didn’t think Mom would like it, and partly because I didn’t know.
I wasn’t even sure what Dumpster diving was, exactly, but it sounded like fun. It also sounded like just the kind of thing Leo thought I needed more of for my list.
And it was.