Minn and Jake Read online

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  To Jenny

  my very tall true best friend from fifth grade

  who taught me how to catch lizards

  without breaking their tails

  1 / Extra Lizardy and Alone

  Do you ever feel

  like

  somehow

  when you were out digging tunnels

  or rescuing worms,

  chasing lizards

  or throwing rocks,

  baking muffins

  or sleeping—

  somehow

  when you didn’t even know

  it was happening—

  you lost your true best friend?

  ∼

  And now you have no one

  you can be your dumb self with,

  no one

  you can be your scared self with,

  no one

  you can be your selfish self with?

  Do you ever feel this way?

  ∼

  This is the way Minn feels today.

  Minn is feeling very empty,

  and very tall,

  and very odd,

  and very pigtailed,

  and very lizardy,

  and very much alone.

  Maybe

  Minn feels empty because

  all she had for breakfast

  was a bruised banana,

  eaten in ninety seconds flat

  after she tied her shoes

  in the car.

  Maybe

  Minn feels tall because

  the class picture came back yesterday,

  and she is standing a full head taller

  than anyone else in her row,

  the tall back row.

  And the top of her head

  is missing.

  Maybe

  Minn feels odd because

  while they were standing

  outside the classroom

  waiting

  for Mrs. Moss to unlock the door

  before school,

  Lola looked

  at Minn’s new red high-top sneakers

  and whispered loud

  to Sabina,

  Is it Valentine’s Day already

  or were those shoes 50 percent off?

  And Sabina,

  Minn’s true best friend

  until last week,

  covered her mouth

  and whispered something

  in Lola’s ear,

  and Lola busted up laughing.

  And maybe

  Minn feels pigtailed

  and lizardy

  and alone

  because

  Minn is pigtailed

  and lizardy

  and an only child,

  the only only child in her class.

  ∼

  Whatever it is,

  this morning

  Minn is feeling

  extra lizardy and alone,

  and is wishing

  she had a new true best friend,

  someone

  who would choose her

  and keep her

  for a true best friend, too.

  2 / How NOT to Choose a True Best Friend

  There are lots of good ways

  to choose a friend.

  You can choose a friend

  because you like the same games,

  or because you live on the same street,

  or because your parents work together,

  or because you need to borrow a pen.

  Or you can choose a friend

  because she smiles at you

  and makes you feel good.

  ∼

  Minn is not smiling at Jake.

  No one is smiling at Jake,

  and Jake does not feel good.

  His new teacher, Mrs. Moss,

  is almost smiling.

  She seems to be trying to smile,

  but she has a worried look,

  a look that says,

  Boy, do I have a headache—

  and how

  are we ever going to finish this chapter

  before recess?

  And all the kids

  are staring at Jake

  wondering,

  Who is this new kid?

  Why is he coming into fifth grade

  in the middle of the year,

  in the middle of the week,

  in the middle of Morning Reading?

  How can a fifth grader

  be so short?

  He should be a fourth grader,

  or a third grader,

  or a second grader,

  or a first grader,

  or a kindergartner, even!

  ∼

  Everyone is staring at Jake

  and Jake is staring back,

  wishing

  his father never took this new job,

  wishing

  his family never moved

  away from Los Angeles

  here to Santa Brunella,

  wishing

  he could move back today

  to be with his old friends,

  who never stared at him.

  ∼

  Jake knows

  everyone is staring at him

  because he is so short,

  and maybe also

  because he has a new spiky haircut

  that he never asked for

  that makes him look

  like a baby crow.

  Jake is feeling bad,

  so bad

  that he is starting to do

  what he always does

  when he needs to feel better,

  which is

  to turn everyone into animals.

  That boy there

  with the striped shirt

  was a tiger in another life—

  no, a snake.

  This boy here

  with the busy hands

  and twitchy nose

  was a housefly

  who died

  stuck between a shut window

  and a screen

  full of fried-chicken grease.

  And her,

  with the freckles

  and the long legs

  and the very long pigtails,

  once upon a time

  she was one giant

  squid.

  ∼

  Jake is ready to turn his teacher,

  Mrs. Moss,

  into a

  walrus—

  then she says,

  Pick a book off the shelf, Jake.

  One of the blue ones.

  Quickly!

  Mrs. Moss is pointing

  to the five-shelf bookcase.

  Jake walks to the bookcase

  and reaches for a book

  off the bottom shelf.

  No, Jake,

  not one of those dark blue ones.

  One of these light blue ones,
<
br />   this kind.

  They’re mixed in with the others,

  there,

  on the number-four shelf, see?

  Jake can see them all right,

  there on the fourth-highest shelf,

  two feet above his head.

  He doesn’t even bother reaching up,

  because then everyone will see

  that he cannot reach them.

  This kind? he asks Mrs. Moss,

  pointing to a turquoise-colored book

  on the fourth-lowest shelf.

  Oh no, Jake, no—

  pick someone to help you get one, OK?

  Go ahead, choose a friend to help you.

  Quickly!

  ∼

  Jake looks around the room

  at all the eyes.

  There, in the corner,

  glaring at him,

  is Minn (the squid)—

  the tallest kid

  at Santa Brunella Elementary.

  She is the tallest girl he has ever seen.

  She is taller than Jake’s mom.

  When Minn is sitting

  she is almost as tall as Jake is

  when he is standing.

  I’ll bet she’s tall enough to reach

  the ceiling,

  Jake is thinking,

  looking at her long, thin fingers.

  Her, Jake says, pointing to Minn.

  The one with the red shoes.

  Mrs. Moss says,

  Minn, please stand up and get a—

  RRRRRRRINNNNNNNG!

  As Minn grabs a book for Jake,

  everyone rushes out the door to recess,

  leaving Minn and Jake alone

  with Mrs. Moss, who says,

  Stick together at recess, you two, OK?

  3 / Stuck

  The worst thing that can happen

  in fifth grade

  is being stuck all recess long

  with someone you don’t like.

  But worse than that

  is when you are stuck

  all recess long

  with someone you don’t like

  who doesn’t like you, either.

  ∼

  Jake chose Minn, yes,

  but he didn’t choose her

  to be his friend.

  He chose her to pick a book

  off the shelf.

  Minn hates sticking out.

  And she knows

  Jake chose her because she stuck out,

  because she is tall,

  because of these dumb red shoes

  her mother made her buy

  because they were 50 percent off.

  (She doesn’t know that Jake chose her

  because she is tall

  and also

  because he wonders

  what the life of a reincarnated giant squid is like.)

  ∼

  Jake is practical, and a real diplomat.

  Seeing as they’re stuck together,

  Jake is thinking

  at least he and Minn should try

  to be nice to one another.

  So Jake says,

  Thank you for helping me get the book.

  What’s your name, again? Minn?

  What do you do for recess at this school?

  Minn doesn’t answer.

  She is walking fast,

  straight toward the field.

  Four square?

  Football?

  Soccer?

  Snacks?

  Minn doesn’t answer.

  After they pass Miss Julie,

  the recess teacher,

  Minn breaks into a run.

  Minn is running out to the field,

  running twice as fast as any other kid,

  shouting,

  Come on!

  Hurry up, Jake—

  or it will be too late!

  ∼

  Jake is not sure he wants to hurry.

  But everyone is running to the field,

  at least all the fifth graders,

  so whatever is going on,

  it must be good.

  Hurry up! The worms!

  Jake thinks, Worms?

  At recess they play with worms?

  But everyone is running,

  so Jake starts to run to the field, too.

  ∼

  Minn is almost there.

  She turns around

  to look back at Jake,

  who is the slowest runner she has ever seen.

  He is so slow

  and so small

  that he seems to be a quarter mile away.

  Will he ever get here?

  She is standing watching him

  with her hands on her hips,

  when screams

  come out of the crowd

  on the field.

  Yuck! Oooooooh!

  Don’t! It’s so disgusting!

  ∼

  Minn cannot wait any longer.

  She turns and starts to run again.

  The whole thing will be over

  by the time Jake catches up.

  Minn sprints to the field.

  Three steps before she gets there,

  screams come from the crowd again.

  I don’t believe he did it!

  Wahooooo!

  Yuck! Ugggh!

  I told you!

  Disgusting!

  And then Henry bolts out of the crowd

  and vomits in the bushes,

  and wipes his mouth on his shirt,

  and smiles.

  Sabina screams,

  Minn, you missed it!

  Henry ate your worms!

  But wait—

  Vik’s going to do it now—

  RRRRRRRINNNNNNNG!

  4 / Minn’s Worms

  The rest of the day is no picnic.

  Of course

  Miss Julie tells Mrs. Moss

  what happened

  with the worms

  and Henry

  and the vomit,

  and Mrs. Moss decides

  that for one month

  fifth graders are not allowed

  on the field.

  And for the rest of the year

  there is to be

  no more eating live creatures

  of any sort,

  bugs

  or spiders

  or worms

  or anything

  anywhere on school grounds.

  No more playing with them,

  either.

  ∼

  This last part really hurts Minn,

  who loves more than anything

  to watch the worms

  wriggle across the mud.

  When it is hot and dry,

  too hot and dry for the worms,

  Minn is the one who squirts the dirt

  with the water bottle

  she fills up at the drinking fountain.

  ∼

  This is how

  she learned the rivers and lakes

  of the United States

  for the fourth-grade geography unit.

  Squirt! Squirt!

  The Snake River!

  Squirt! Squirt! Squirt! Squirt!

  The Mississippi River!

  Squirt! Dig! Splot!

  Crater Lake!

  ∼

  Minn takes care of her worms.

  Once a week

  she scoops up topsoil

  in her two hands

  from under the plum tree

  near the school fence,

  dark black soil

  with bits of rotted plums mixed in,

  and dumps it in the spot

  where she knows the worms are.

  Whenever it rains, after the rain,

  Minn spends her recess time

  searching the basketball court

  for her worms.

  When she finds them struggling,

  she moves them back to the mud.

  ∼

&nbs
p; These were Minn’s worms

  that Henry ate.

  Vik had dared Henry to do it

  to show everyone that he (Henry)

  is not in love

  with Minn.

  (And now everyone knows that he—Henry—

  definitely is in love with Minn.)

  ∼

  This day

  is turning into Minn’s most rotten day.

  Can it possibly get worse?

  5 / Yes

  Yes,

  it can get worse.

  And it does.

  Because

  this is the day that Minn’s mother

  calls the school office

  to say she is stuck in traffic

  a very long ways

  behind some kind of

  must-be-an-accident

  on the jam-packed

  hate-this-stupid-bridge

  and helicopters are flying around

  and Minn’s father is busy

  in a meeting in the city

  and so

  yak yak yak

  she will be an hour late,

  at least.

  Can you send Minn home with a friend?

  Minn’s mother asks.

  Just leave a note on the classroom door

  so I’ll know where she is, OK?

  ∼

  But by the time the office tells Mrs. Moss,

  all of Minn’s friends

  have been picked up

  by parents who came on time.

  All of the kids are gone

  except for Jake

  and his preschooler brother

  and his mother who is busy

  asking questions about homework.

  The secretary has to leave now

  for her dentist appointment,

  and Mrs. Moss has to leave now

  to pick her daughter up from school,

  and the principal went home

  ten minutes ago—

  so Mrs. Moss asks,

  Jake, you like to play with worms?

  Before Jake can open his mouth,

  Jake’s preschooler brother screams,

  Yes!

  6 / Soup

  Jake’s little brother is named Jefferson,

  but almost no one knows his name.

  Everybody calls him

  Soup.

  Soup as in, What a super swimmer!

  And also soup as in,

  What is this water in your bath—

  it looks like mud soup!

  ∼

  Jake’s little brother has been swimming

  ever since he was six months old.

  Soup loves water.

  He swims like a fish.

  He acts like a fish, even.

  (When Jake is feeling bad,

  he imagines that in another life,

  Soup was krill,

  which is a very shrimpy

  kind of shrimp,

  swallowed by the thousands

  by penguins and whales.

  Thinking of Soup as krill

  always makes Jake feel much better.)

  ∼

  Soup is so much like a fish

  that when he hears the word worms